Forget What You Can't Do...

...and instead, do what you can! 

I walk a lot for my fitness.  I am not able to run because of ligament damage, but I CAN walk so I do it a lot.  Recently however, I also had a problem with the tendons in my ankles and was told by my Dr not to go for walks until they have recovered.  For the first couple of days I was a bit fed up as what seemed like the only activity I had available had been taken away too... but then... I dusted off my dumbells and really started hitting the weights properly after a gap of (well, a few too many) years!  I am loving it and really strengthening up my muscles quicker than I imagined would be possible.  I can't go out for walks but then, when using weights I tend to be standing still, laying or sitting down so that works out brilliantly.

I also resurrected my bicycle and have been cycling an average of 10 miles a day.  Again, there is no impact or strain on my ankles so I have found something else I CAN do too :) 

I know you don't need to know about my injuries or issues, I am simply using them here as an example of how you can continue helping yourself in your fitness despite health issues that may permanently or temporarily affect you.  There is always a way if you are prepared to look for it!  I also believe that everyone should be grateful to have the ability to use your body and that it is a terrible waste to not do whatever you are able to.  Imagine if tomorrow you found yourself totally paralysed and unable to bounce on a trampoline, take a walk, kick a ball etc etc... wouldn't you desperately wish you had made the most of your time before your body was paralysed?  I know I would if I wasn't making the most of it now.

To wrap up, I just want to share this inspirational video with you... after watching, you will realise that you really CAN do it!  Whatever it is! :)

Lift Your Butt and Strengthen Your Back

Have you heard of Tube Walking?  I hadn't until recently but it is used in physiotherapy to help strengthen the hips, thighs, buttocks and back.  Now it is becoming very popular in the fitness world as one of the best exercises to perk up you posterior!  The results can be quite remarkable and, recently, and the X-Men actress, Rosie Huntington-Whitely apparently perked up her bottom so much in just a few weeks that her costume had to be adjusted!  I don't know how you feel about it, but I have started spending 5 minutes a day Tube Walking!  Here is an instructional video for you, it will be quicker than me explaining how you do it....

The bands are available from here --> Resistance Band Loops  <--  and a book with even more exercises to do with the bands is available here -->  Clean and Lean Diet and Exercise <--

Happy Butt Shaping!!! :)

Making Your Weight Loss Plan.

Since excess weight puts you at risk of many health problems, if you are carrying a few extra pounds, you may need to make some weight loss plans to help avoid those risks and prevent disease.

But what should be your long-term goal? And what short-term goals should you set to help you get there? You have a better chance of attaining your goals if you make sure that the weight loss techniques that you choose to use are sensible and reasonable right from the outset.

Here are some guidelines from the experts in choosing weight loss plans and goals.

1. Be realistic

Most people’s long-term weight loss plans are more ambitious than they have to be.

For example, if you weigh 170 pounds and your long-term plan is to weigh 120, even if you have not weighed 120 since you were 16 and now you are 45, that is not a realistic weight loss goal.

Your body mass index or BMI is a good indicator of whether or not you need to shed of pounds. The ideal BMI range, according to the national Institutes of Health, is between 19 and 24.9. If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, you are considered overweight. Any number above 30 is in the obesity range.

With this in mind, you will need to find or create a sensible weight loss plan that will help you achieve a weight range that falls within the ideal BMI range for you.

2. Set appropriate objectives

Using a weight loss plan just for vanity’s sake is psychologically less helpful than losing weight to improve health.

You have made a big step forward if you decide to undergo a weight loss plan that includes exercise and eating right so that you will feel better and have more energy to do something positive in your life.

3. Focus on doing, not losing

Rather than saying that you are going to lose a pound this week, say how much you are going to exercise this week and what you plan to eat.  This would definitely be much more beneficial to you in your success and continued sensible weight loss plan.

Keep in mind that your weight loss within a span of a week is not completely in your control, but your behavior is.

4. Build bit by bit

Short-term weight loss plans should not be “pie-in-the-sky.” This means that when you have never exercised at all, your best weight loss plan for this week should be based on finding three different one-mile routes that you can walk next week, or aiming to ascend and descend a set of stairs 5 times in a row, 3 times each day.  Everything you do will add up and start making a difference.

5. Keep up the self-encouragement

An all-or-nothing attitude only sets you up to fail. Learn to evaluate your efforts fairly and objectively. If you fall short of some goals, just look ahead to next week. You do not need to have a perfect record.  Just keep on with your objectives and you will surely make progress in time.

After all, self-encouragement should definitely be a part of your weight loss plans. Otherwise, you will just fail in the end.

6. Use measurable measures

Saying that you are going to be more positive this week or that you are going to really get serious this week is not a goal that you can measure and should not be a part of your weight loss plan.

This is another reason why you should incorporate exercise on your weight loss plan and focus on it. You should be able to count up the minutes of exercise in order to be successful in your plan.

The bottom line is, people often make weight loss plans that will only remain just that, plans! They have to put it into action by incorporating measurable goals that will motivate them to succeed.

What About Those Calories?

Hmmm, yes, what about those calories?  Where do they come into it?

There is a lot of debate over calorie control and several conclusions have been drawn.  I would like to offer my thoughts on calories here.

Firstly, what is a calorie?  Well, it is the rate at which a certain thing produces energy.  Most people think of calories only in terms of food but this is not so, they apply to anything containing energy.  A calorie unit is measured as follows...  specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). One calorie is equal to 4.184 joules, a common unit of energy used in the physical sciences.  So, in every day language, calories are the measurement used to determine the amount of energy a thing can provide, strictly speaking, as heat energy.

In scientific terms, energy IN must equal energy OUT.  In the world of weight management, the energy IN of course is food/drinks consumed.  Our body then very cleverly converts it from the form it was received in, into a form it can use to produce the energy a person needs to function.  Many of you will have heard of the Basal Metabolic Rate.  This rate varies from person to person according to muscle mass, bone density etc and it is simply the number of calories your body requires to maintain itself in it's current condition if you were to do absolutely nothing except lay still at all times.  Of course, most of us do actually move, some more than others! So we need additional calories on top of those required by our BMR to provide us with the energy for these activities.  So, if our BMR is 1400 calories per day, and our activity for the day will need and additional 600 calories, we need then to consume a total of 2000 calories for the day to maintain our weight because we will have used up exactly the amount of energy that we put in.  If we consumed 2200 calories that day, then technically, 200 calories remain in our bodies!  The body has to find a way to store these extra calories, to save them up for the future when they may be needed... and the body's calorie storage mechanism is... you guessed it... FAT!

So, the principle behind that is fairly straight forward, and it therefore stands to reason that, if you want to lose weight, you should reduce your calories to a lower intake than the amount you expend, and you will create a deficit, and your body will delve into it's reserve stores (your body fat) to fuel the extra energy output required.  The result, fat/weight loss!  Yay!  Now here is where we need to be careful though...

A pound of body fat, in a controlled scientific experiment, will produce 3500 calories.  It then follows that for every 3500 calories you expend over that which you consume, you will lose 1lb of fat...  well, almost.
If you take your time and cut back only a small amount of calories from what you require daily, you should be okay, but you must not cut back by too much.  Research has shown that humans can extract approximately 31.4 calories/pound of body fat daily. After that, the body will have to burn muscle instead.  So, let's say you are carrying an extra 10lbs of body fat, your body cannot supplement your energy intake with more than 314 calories from FAT per day.  If you eat any less than 314 calories per day below what your body requires, it will use up your muscle instead!  Muscle mass really bumps up your BMR so you DO NOT want to reduce it!

In conclusion, I would say that there is little wrong with calorie counting for weight loss and weight management.  You just have to be sure to do it in a sensible and thought out way, don't just start eating 1000 calories a day!  Do this and I'm sure you will lose weight but then, after a while, your body will adapt, the weight may stop coming off and where do you go from there?  You have already gone so low on your calorie intake!  You will then have less muscle mass, so your body won't require nearly as many calories as it did before and this will make maintaining any weight loss even harder.  Be sensible, get your body fat measured and do the 31.4 calories per pound of body fat calculation.  Let's do a quick example of that:

Let's say a person weighs 150lbs.  They get their body composition measured.  They are carrying 33% body fat which is 50lbs.  50 x 31.4 = 1570 calories.  If their BMR was calculated at 1400 and they use 600 on daily activity, and they choose to consume 2000 calories per day, they will maintain their weight.  If they cut their calories to 1500 a day, but maintain their 2000 calories expenditure, they will get 500 calories a day to use from their body fat quite safely, and without using up thier muscle because it is well within the 1570 calories that can be withdrawn from their 'fat bank' daily.  When they have lost 20lbs, they will only be able to 'withdraw 942 calories from their fat bank' daily, and when they have only 10lbs to lose, they will only be able to withdraw 314 calories daily... meaning they will need to increase the calorie consumption to 1686.  By maintaining the muscle, and therefore the BMR, with careful calculation along the way, a person should be able to lose their weight and increase their calorie intake back up to a comfortable 2000 a day to maintain their goal weight once they get there :)

You may need to read this a couple of times to really grasp it, but that is how the calorie equation balances out.