Things to avoid when trying to lose weight

March 5th, 2007 webmaster

Dieting is not always easy. In fact, it can prove a tough challenge for many people. So here’s a little guide to avoiding things that could make you lose control and start eating. Avoid them like plague if you wish to succeed.

1. Don’t rush into the toughest diet you can find.
This is a common mistake. Many people decide in a moment of desperation to follow a super-strict diet and fail. Don’t rush into a diet that may be too strict for you. If you don’t have any dieting experience and are not 100 percent sure you can stick with the diet, then choose something else.

2. Don’t lose touch with reality.
You can’t realistically expect things to happen over night. When choosing your goal, start small, but be prepared to go far. If you hear someone saying that he lost a large number of pounds in a short time, don’t make it your goal to match his performance. Diet results are different from one person to another.

3. Don’t go to the gym too often
Another common mistake is to use the enthusiasm of the first days to hit the gym every day. This won’t help you at all. Your body needs time to heal and expand the muscle mass after each training session and going to the gym every day interferes with this natural process. Besides, a week of non-stop training could never offset ten or twenty years of couch potato lifestyle.

4. Don’t get hard on calories.
We all know that cutting down on calories is one of the building blocks of all diets, but you have to be careful about it. Cut down on too many calories and your body will start storing anything it possibly can. This is not a good way to lose weight.

5. Don’t skip meals.
Some people think that skipping one or two meals could help them lose weight faster. They don’t understand that dieting is all about eating the right food and not starving yourself.

6. Don’t check the bathroom scales everyday.
Everybody is eager to see the confirmation of his or her efforts in the shape of lost pounds, but you should not let this drive you to checking your weight everyday. The daily fluctuations of your weight will soon have you depressed and ready to quit dieting. And this is something you want to avoid.

7. Don’t let emotions drive you.
Aside from the eagerness that drives people to check their weight every day, there are other emotions that influence dieting. If you know you’re used to reaching out for ice-cream or snacks when you are bored, frustrated or angry, then you should deal with these issues and not allow them to come between you and your purpose.

8. Don’t refuse to seek help.
Not everyone was born with iron will and nerves of steel. If you need advice or help, don’t hesitate to ask it from your friends or from professionals. Don’t try to solve all problems by yourself.

9. Don’t deny yourself your favourite foods.
Treats are a great way of raising your willpower and determination. Diets are just food control methods, not prisons. So what if you eat something forbidden once in a while, especially if that food is a favourite of yours? If such treats are not frequent, then they will make no difference in the long run.

10. Don’t rely on your willpower alone
Use your head as well. If you wish to know how much you eat, then write everything down and analyze the list for things that should not be there. Sometimes hunger creeps up on you and make you eat something you shouldn’t. Be honest with yourself and keep a clear head.

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Fitness made simple: Stair Sprinting

March 3rd, 2007 webmaster

Anybody can lose weight; it’s no big deal. You only have to be careful about the food you eat and to make more effort than you usually do. Dieting doesn’t have to mean food deprivation and money spent on gym subscriptions. You can keep your body in shape with simple exercises that do not require gym equipment or professional advice and supervision.

A simple exercise that anybody can perform at home or the park is called Stair Sprinting. The name is pretty self explanatory. All you have to do is run up and down the stairs between several floors; the more floors, the better off you’ll be.

It’s a good idea to start small, even if you’re in a good physical condition. Run up and down four floors two times. First timers and overweight people are unlikely to manage more than two reps anyway. However, it’s no big deal if you can’t do more than two reps in the beginning. Resistance to effort is built in time. Do the two reps every other day for two weeks.

After two weeks increase the number of reps to either three or four, depending on how you feel. If you can take four reps up and down four flights of stairs, then by all means do so. If you can’t, then stick to three reps. As the weeks go by, you can add even more reps to your routine in order to increase your endurance and to really put the muscles to work.

This exercise is perfect for the legs and ass. Ladies and gents looking to build shapely asses and strong thighs ought to try stair sprinting. Having to carry your own weight up the stairs instead of flat terrain puts more stress on the muscles and helps the feet gain more endurance. However, be very careful when doing this exercise. Running up and down the stairs makes it very easy to trip or miss a step and splay an ankle. Even more serious injuries might happen if you’re not careful enough.

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Fitness made simple. Sit-ups

March 1st, 2007 webmaster

Getting up in the morning and going straight to work or other chores can be a bore. There are days when one simply doesn’t feel like getting out of bed. And this is where exercising can actually help you with a kick start. A quick workout session at the beginning of the day can do wonders for your health, especially if you’re also trying to lose weight.

Sit-ups are one of those exercises that can be performed at home. To perform sit-ups you need to lie on your back on the floor and bend your knees at 90 degrees. Then, you have to sit up without moving your legs at all. It is very important not to use your leg muscles to balance the body, compensate or supplement the effort made by the abdominal muscles or you will get no benefit from this exercise.

You may want to perform the exercise on a workout mat or pad in order to make it easier on your back. Some people find it uncomfortable when the lower back bones press into a hardwood floor, which is why mats and pads are recommended.

However, if you want sit-ups to be fully effective, you should coupled them with generic cardio exercises, such as running, which will lower the overall body fat and leave the abs exposed. If you experience lower back pain, you should stop performing sit-ups and settle for crunches or other exercises that do not involve lower back movement.

This exercise will help you get those cool looking abdominals that everybody wants to show off. Today, both men and women are eager to acquire that “tough to the core” look that a well defined six-pack gives. It’s a sign of a body kept well in hand and of a strong will behind it.

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