Become Strong And Lean To Lose Weight

Glitzy advertisements will tell you that the most effective path to losing weight is to diet, and there are loads of fad diets to choose from that each claim to be the simplest, fastest, easiest, tastiest way to lose weight. But stop for a moment and think: if you "go on a diet" the implication is that you will, sooner or later, "go OFF the diet". It's a temporary solution! I'll show you how you can make tiny and incremental changes to your lifestyle that, taken together, will leave you feeling great and give you a set of tools that you can use to lose unwanted fat and keep it off.

Increasing your resting metabolic rate is a well known and well documented method for losing extra body fat and keeping it off. By increasing your resting metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest, also known as your RMR) you can shed extra pounds and keep them off. Muscle tissue burns calories; adding muscle tissue to your body will cause you to burn more calories even at rest, increasing your RMR. You'll feel better, have more energy, and you'll maintain all of the weight loss that you achieve as your body burns more calories even when you are resting.

Loss of muscle mass is a very well documented problem that arises as a result of aging, and it has major health care implications. After the age of forty both men and women begin to lose between 1/2 and 1 pound of muscle mass per year. Over several years this decline in muscle mass can result in significantly reduced body strength. This is known as Sarcopenia (loss of muscle strength and mass due to aging) and it's estimated to account for over $18.3 billion in health care costs. As individuals age and become less active they feel worse overall and are more susceptible to disease, especially heart disease, one of the top killers worldwide. As for appearance, this loss of muscle mass results in a reduction in the number of calories that an individual metabolizes while at rest, so the calories he or she eats turn into fat! Loss of muscles actually accelerates an increase in FAT retention!

The temporary nature of diets don't address the long-term issue of losing fat and keeping it off, and the gradual loss of muscle mass over time accelerates the rate at which you put on fat. The best approach to losing fat and keeping it off, then, is to find an acceptable level of exercise that will keep you fit, strong and lean. Here are a few guidelines that will help you develop just such a plan:

1) Start slow, keep it simple. Most important if you're new to exercise. If you are new to exercising, you're in for a surprise: your routine does not have to be difficult at all to start with in order to make a big difference in the way you feel. Start by making simple changes to your everyday activities. Take the stairs when you can, don't use that elevator or escalator. It doesn't matter whether you are at home or at your place of work, walking, even if it's just for a short distance, is a great form of exercise and a wonderful way to break the tedium of a workday.

2) Set a goal and keep it. And don't make this a difficult goal. Set a goal for yourself that is easy to reach and simple to understand and explain. For example, you could start with a goal of just five minutes of exercise per day, and then you can grow this to 10 or 15 minutes at the end of a month. The key is keep it easy, especially in the beginning! You don't want to set an initial goal that is hard to reach - it's a recipe for failure.

3) Write down your progress against your goal, and share it with your friends. If you have chosen a good goal and written down what you've done to reach it every day, you'll see progress and changes in the way you feel in very little time. This is a gigantic point, and a key to success. And another thing: if you share your progress toward meeting your goal with other people such as your friends and family, you'll discover that you feel more motivated - you don't want to let them down - and you will be more honest and faithful in sticking to your goal.

4) Grow your goal. Gradually increase your goal by adding increments of time, and adding more strenuous exercise.

The initial steps described above are designed for people who are new to exercise as a way of losing weight - if you follow these steps for several months you'll find that you feel better and are in better shape. In time you will exhaust your personal knowledge and ability to determine the next best approach for growing your exercise program. By the way, this happens frequently with those who are very familiar with exercise and its benefits - the pros who still need guidance in growing or aligning their exercise routine to fit their goals. (Even Tiger Woods has a coach!) You could build in new and fun additions to your workout such as jogging, swimming or weight training. These are just a few examples of exercise that all will permit you to place dramatic increases on the demands that you place upon your body (gradually!), and will result in an increase in the returns that you gather - returns such as improvements in your sense of well-being, your appearance and weight loss. When you're ready for more action, there are wonderful written training guides and professional advice available that can lead you to a stronger, leaner you.
To learn even more weight loss secrets visit our site. We have over 27 years of experience coaching strength training techniques to men and women.

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