Daily tip #44| Clearing it up 201

Fat loss. Very daunting words for many. But.. Are they really?
 
In my honest opinion - not at all, losing weight is simple - not matter what you've heard on TV before, be assured that you can lose weight as simply as making a minor change in your meals.

It's not like you have to work out two hours a day, 6 days a week - no, not even close to the truth. And you also can't buy a 6 pack, or a magic weight loss pill, they're gimmicks, placebos at best.

So what in the world is so simple to losing weight? Well, to start off, you should make a change in your meal plan, right here, read this for clarification.. The second thing you have to do is run.

Noooo, not away! On second though, you might not even have to run. Cardio is what you need, 30 minutes per day, to be exact. Every day sounds impossible for many, you can start off slower, 4-5 days per week. BUT I am almost completely sure that you can squeeze in 30 minutes of cardio every day, as long as you want it. What is cardio? Anything that makes your heart beat at the 70% - 85% of it's maximum. Sounds easy, and it is. For many walking fast is enough, sports count too. Obviously, younger people will need to walk quite fast, so swimming or playing sports is much easier for them. There are many things you can do if you don't like walking, for example, this. If you're already doing simple cardio, you can try this out.

To conclude.. Why do any of this? Well, obviously to lose weight! However there are many benefits to cardio, such as this. If you are thinking of taking up cardio, make sure to not make common mistakes, and, water!

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Daily tip #39| DOMS

You might have seen a very fit and/or strong/bulky guy taking the elevator..


   Now why would he do that when he looks like he could outrun it with stairs? He might have the time to do it, is he lazy? But then if he's lazy, how is he strong/bulky or fit? It might be DOMS (Delayed onset muscular soreness).


  If you work out hard enough, you get micro tears in your muscles which your body then repairs. Delayed onset muscular soreness starts 1-2 days after a workout and can last for a week ( Yep! That truly is no pain no gain.) This delayed muscle soreness is great, it is by far my favourite.  It is a great indicator that you've had an effective workout, you are constantly reminded that your hard work did not go to waste! Delayed onset muscular soreness is also a great reminder that you have to keep feeding your muscles nutrtion, afterall, nutrition is the key to the lock of a great body!


Do not forget to drink a lot of water, not underestimate sleeping properly, stop making common mistakes to become happier! 

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Daily tip #32| How to cheat

Cheating can be a great pressure valve to release yourself once in a while, you can only eat rice, chicken and steamed vegetables for so long before you pig out on creamy, frosty and sweet stuff. Let me walk you through on how to properly cheat without destroying all of your work just because of a small temptation..


What you first should realise is that a cheat meal is not a cheat DAY. It should not be two pizzas and two six packs of beer - it should just be two or three slices of pizza and a few beers.

In my opinion, everyone should have a cheat meal atleast once a week. You might go a week without it, then go on the second week, and then the third week the pressure will make you explode into and eating frenzy, ruining a few weeks if not a month of your work, also demotivating you greatly.




Do not let that happen to you, have atleast one cheat meal per week, even if you feel like you don't need it. A cheat meal is designed to prevent the binging, it is not a scheduled meal, so have it whenever you feel like, it is a safe way to get that kick up your behind to get you going on your regular plan again, because I'm sure you'll feel just a tad bit guilty after having it, making you want to keep on eating better.


Do NOT have more than TWO cheat meals per week. One is good, Two are okay, Three is a NO. Remember, a cheat meal is not a cheat day! I know what goes through ones mind when they crave, I really used to crave all the time while starting out, I had cheat days and random cheat meals all throughout the week - it went nowhere, I achieved nothing. It was like I wasted my time and work all for nothing. Then, I realised I can continue on with my plan while releasing the pressure with just two random cheat meals per week.


Have anything you want, but do not have the whole thing. Pizza? Have a few slices. A six pack of beer? Have half.

Got it? Okay, good.


Do not forget to drink a lot of water, not underestimate sleeping properly, stop making common mistakes to become happier! 

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Daily tip #31| Nutrition 103

On my last two posts, we went over the substitute method, and the standart 3 solid meals a day plan, now, we will learn what is even more healthy.


Eating healthy can be a lot of work while you're starting out, it's not to be scared of, though, because you can get ripped abs or a fit belly and waist. It is not too hard though, basically, it is about limitation.


You should try getting most of your calories from wholegrains, fruits, legumes and vegetables. Limit bad things, eat only lean meat, if you're going to eat chicken, do not eat the skin. You don't really have to eliminate the bad things, just try to limit them as much as you can. In a few weeks you should start to see the big difference in your feelings, your decisions and the quality of sleep/staying fresh and awake through the day.


Try and eat 3-5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day. Eat fiber rich whole grains. Only eat lean cuts of meat like chicken and fish, remove the skin. Limit alchohol, limit snack foods, limit cookies, cakes etc.


Water. Water. Water. Water. It helps lose weight, it helps clean your body, and a lot more!

Sleep is very, very important too!

Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, explained why in daily #30.

These are three very simple things which people take for granted all the time - they seriously can improve your life.




Do not forget to drink a lot of water, not underestimate sleeping properly, stop making common mistakes to become happier! 

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Daily tip #30| Nutrition102

On my previous post I gave you a very simple solution to start getting on track and shed some weight off easily, the substitute method.


Let's say you followed the method for a few weeks, and the weight slowed, so you want to continue on forward.


The the next appropriate step would be to start following an eating schedule. A basic eating schedule consists of three balanced meals per day. It will not go to harsh on your body, meaning it's completely safe for anyone. I'm saying this because cutting down on many calories at once can be bad for your body, it becomes a health risk. It is not to be taken lightly. You should aim for about 20% calorie reduction from where you are now-- But don't count calories yet, counting calories is not a pleasureful activity, and if you're just looking to shed off some weight, you don't have to!


This is very simple nutrition. What you should start doing is eating three regularly scheduled(spaced out throughout the day) meals. Each one of them should be home made and, atleast relatively healthy. You can really go far with this, you will be able to gain muscle and shed weight at the same time. Ofcourse, way slower than 6 meals per day, but this is only the beginning, I'm guessing if you start up hardcore now - you'll get demotivated pretty soon after the results slow down. You lose weights on certain periods of time, more on that later on.


Don't have any idea of what is considered healthy and could be homemade? Oatmeal with two eggs and a glass of milk or yogurt - that would be breakfast. A tuna sandwich with an apple or two - that's lunch. Dinner? Have meat and potatoes with a salad. Do not go hard on salt or sos, they are unneccessary.


Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Your body is in a great need for energy, as you haven't eaten for eight hours! Assuming, you slept for atleast 8 hours, which you should be doing.


Do not forget to drink a lot of water, not underestimate sleeping properly, stop making common mistakes and you'll be much happier! 

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Daily tip #29| Nutrition 101

Lately I've been getting into some intermediate stuff, I don't see many people actually reading the article, so let's start keeping it short, and novice-based, most of the days.

What might be your daily meal plan? Is it.... 3 to 6 fast food meals per week? Lots of fried foods? Lots of snack foods? Candy, cookies, sweets? Barely any vegitables? Almost no fruit, no fiber and lots of salt? Is that atleast half of you? You're doing it wrong.

If you're eating like this, you might not realise how much you could accomplish with a simple change.. If you added 30 pounds over the last 5 years, it is only because you ate 57 calories per day too much. Yep. 57, that is nothing! It actually doesn't take much to change the whole situation around, it is very easy, and I really thought everyone knew this! 

So.. What do you do? You substitute. But how? You choose two meals that you eat often, and substitute them with a healthy solution! Yes, just two. If you drink a lot of coke, substitute it with water. If you have fried foods often, eat baked potatoes. That's it. Two meals, and the weight will start shedding off! It really is that simple. None of these sacrifices are too great to cause any deprivation, or any hard thinking to do - yet, it is a very powerful method. And it will work, 100%.

I'll be starting these nutrition dailies, after all, nutrition is key to losing weight and gaining muscle. I'll be progressively getting into more advanced stuff each day. I'm hoping this short format will make you, the visitor, actually read what I write.

And yes! Drink a lot of water, not underestimate sleeping properly, stop making common mistakes and you'll be much happier!

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Daily tip #19| Abs

Let me ask you something.. Do you hate sit ups? I hate sit ups. And there is a very solid reason for it..


Before that, how many times have you seen the commercial where ripped models are using the product X and 'working out on it'? Many, I bet. Maybe you've bought one of those things too, and now it's just collecting dust. Never fall for those commercials, NONE of the things there work. Some of the commercials claim the product will get you abs only with 7 minutes of exercise per day!


... Now that is just outrageous. You can't get abs with a cheap plastic toy which bends and does nothing else, you get abs with 101% dedication, 90% work 120% rest and 200% nutrition. That's how you get abs, and that is how you get ripped, don't spend your money thinking 'maybe this one will work'. It will not, it never will. You can go to the gym, destroy yourself in there for two hours a day, three days a week and you're not going to achieve ANYTHING if you come home and eat pizza.


If you are buying these products, and believe me, A LOT of people are falling for these, you probably don't know how to work out your abs. The only exercise you might think of to get abs is sit ups, right? Well..



Sit ups.. They don't work. Sit ups are useless, and they can mess up your back. Do NOT do them. Ever. They're a complete waste of time. Your abs are not going to get the workout they need, it might seem like it's helping in the beginning, but you could've actually gone way further if you were doing something else, and you're probably going to start having problems with your back soon.

There is something, far greater than sit ups..


 And that something is crunches. Crunches are just plain wonderful. You lay down flat on your back, legs bent, hands behind your head lightly supporting your neck, looking up to the ceiling, you move your face towards the ceiling together with your shoulders. Do not begin doing a sit up, this is not a sit up, this is a crunch, concentrate on contracting your abs and as far as possible, as soon as you're at the most you can move your shoulders forward, HOLD. Hold that position for atleast two seconds, then slowly lower your shoulders down. Repeat. So what if you can do 20 sit ups, try 20 of properly done these, you'll see the HUGE difference. So, you work your way up to 20 of properly done these, now, take a big book, or a brick, or just something heavy you can fit, and hold it under your head while doing the crunches. This'll be like exercising with crunches all over again.


Form is KEY in this exercise. Do not concentrate on how many you do, concentrate on your abs, and the perfect form. If you don't, you'll end up working out your neck, or your hips. If you want to do that though, feel free, but it's not going to make your abs stronger.  Remember to move your shoulders straight up, no arms flailing around, no moving your head around. Try to lessen the tension in your neck, you have to learn to support it right, try different ways, just do not hurt yourself.



Why you would want to do this? This will strenghten your abs, and strong abs stabilize your lower back and protect you. They also look great!



Do not forget, nutrition is key to achieving abs. You can have rock hard abs, but nobody will be able to see them! Make sure to not make common mistakes, and sleep right!


Cheating a day is better than quitting.

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Daily tip #10| Post-work out meal.

Today's tip is about nutrition, the post-workout type. Yes, you should eat after your workouts. Not eating after your workout is just plain horrible, the workout is worthless.

Yes, I did say worthless, that was not a long, 9 word typo. Building muscle could be like... Building a house. Now, building a house without bricks is going to leave it very unfinished. Nobody is going to buy the house, and you wouldn't want that, would you?


Same applies to muscles, building muscle without proper nutrition will leave the muscles carbohydrate resources depleted, and the fibers damaged. Depleted and damaged sounds plain awful, doesn't it? It actually is good, but just for short periods of time. Why? Muscle breaks down in order to repair itself into a stronger version, to accomplish the action you wanted to do.


Now that you know this, let's get into the fun part. Eating.

After your work outs, you simply need two things. Carbohydrates and protein.

Do you want some suggestions? Sure:

Nuts ( not many ) and dried fruits.

Fruit juice with chicken/fruit sandwiches.

Vegetarian omelet with toast

Cereal with milk

Eggs and toast

A protein or energy bar

A protein or energy shake

I do not recommend eating the last two more than once per day, you don't want your diet to be all shakes.

Now, what should you not eat? You should not eat anything that contains FAT. Fat slows down the  digestion. Meaning it would slow down the digestion of the carbs and protein you just ate, which you don't really want. You're not sure why you don't want that, you might say "it's going to be digested sooner or later, anyways.". Well, there's this thing called 'the golden hour', it's the first hour after your work out. 

During the first hour, your glycogen stores are depleted. So enzymes which convert glucose to glycogen are rushed to your muscles in order to quickly repair the stores. The post-workout meal is very important in order to replace the nutrients and fluids. You should also not forget to drink a lot of water. 

However.. Any small amount of carbohydrates won't do. You must eat enough carbohydrates in order to trigger insulin. Insulin is the harmone which shoves carbs and amino acids into your muscles. In doing this, the carb resynthesis speeds up and protein start to rapidly repair the broken tissue of your muscles.

You should always consider and think about your post-workout meals, without properly eating after work-outs, you may be possibly working out for nothing.

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