Myth No. 4: Too Much Focus
Don’t be fooled into thinking that because this is a short blog, it plays an insignificant part of your weight loss plan – it’s a trap may fall into and makes the difference between success and failure, quite literally.
Speeding up your metabolism and achieving your weight loss goals involves a certain degree of focus; after all, there’s a lot of things competing for your attention (including that delicious Chef’s Special pecan pie!), and you certainly need to be able to keep your eye on the goal in order to maintain your program.
Yet sometimes too much focus can be a bad thing; and some dieters understand this all too well. Remember: speeding up your metabolism is a holistic effort that includes exercise, lifestyle, and diet changes.
Focusing on only one of these at the expense of the others (either one or both) can be detrimental. In fact, in some cases, it can be counter-productive. So the myth here is that you shouldn’t go all out and focus on becoming an exercise guru, and then move onto lifestyle, and then to diet.
You have to integrate all 3 aspects into your life at the same time. True, based on your unique situation, you will likely emphasize one more than the others. That’s fine and normal. But it’s a myth – and a mistake – to ignore any one of these.
It takes all three aspects to speed up your metabolism and propel you towards your weight loss goals for the long-term.
Coming up next time, we conclude our Boosting Your Metabolism series, and help you take that all important first step – your first step into your new life and your new body!
See you then
Best Wishes
Sandra
Showing posts with label boost your metabolism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boost your metabolism. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 23 - Common Metabolism-Boosting Myths
Myth No. 3: Low Intensity Workouts
It’s fair to say that any exercise is better than no exercise. So if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, then even walking around your block for 10 minutes a day is going to do something positive for your body and its metabolism.
True, that difference may be imperceptible to the naked eye (or it may not?), but the bottom line is that exercise is good. This being said, some people believe that they should perform low-intensity workouts even when they could be performing more high-intensity workouts. For example, instead of jogging for 20 minutes with their heart at the top end of their aerobic zone, they opt for low-intensity jogs that barely break a sweat.
Low intensity workouts simply don’t lead to a faster metabolism; they can’t. Remember, as we discussed very early in this blog, metabolism is a process. And that process is really one of two types: taking energy and making cells (anabolism), or breaking cells down to make energy (catabolism).
If you don’t achieve a high-intensity workout, then your body can’t achieve catabolism; it won’t need to. So the only way your body is going to go and break down existing cells is if it needs to.
So keep this in mind as you exercise, either at home or at a gym. Low intensity workouts are better than nothing at all; and they may be necessary if you’re recovering from injury, or just starting out on the exercise journey.
But once you reach a level of basic fitness, only high intensity (aerobic) workouts will make a difference in terms of your metabolism. High intensity workouts force your body to find energy to help you maintain that level of exercise; and it does so through catabolism.
Next time we’ll cover Myth No. 4, and why too much focus can put up a barrier between yourself and the body you always wanted.
See you then
Best wishes
Sandra
It’s fair to say that any exercise is better than no exercise. So if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, then even walking around your block for 10 minutes a day is going to do something positive for your body and its metabolism.
True, that difference may be imperceptible to the naked eye (or it may not?), but the bottom line is that exercise is good. This being said, some people believe that they should perform low-intensity workouts even when they could be performing more high-intensity workouts. For example, instead of jogging for 20 minutes with their heart at the top end of their aerobic zone, they opt for low-intensity jogs that barely break a sweat.
Low intensity workouts simply don’t lead to a faster metabolism; they can’t. Remember, as we discussed very early in this blog, metabolism is a process. And that process is really one of two types: taking energy and making cells (anabolism), or breaking cells down to make energy (catabolism).
If you don’t achieve a high-intensity workout, then your body can’t achieve catabolism; it won’t need to. So the only way your body is going to go and break down existing cells is if it needs to.
So keep this in mind as you exercise, either at home or at a gym. Low intensity workouts are better than nothing at all; and they may be necessary if you’re recovering from injury, or just starting out on the exercise journey.
But once you reach a level of basic fitness, only high intensity (aerobic) workouts will make a difference in terms of your metabolism. High intensity workouts force your body to find energy to help you maintain that level of exercise; and it does so through catabolism.
Next time we’ll cover Myth No. 4, and why too much focus can put up a barrier between yourself and the body you always wanted.
See you then
Best wishes
Sandra
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 21 - Common Metabolism-Boosting Myths
Hi again, as we move towards the end of our ’Boosting Your Metabolism’ series, we thought it might be useful to talk about the 4 most prevalent myths concerning metabolism and metabolism-boosting.
Since this blog has been about reality and not myths, we didn’t cover any of them in the actual blog. Yet, considering how common these myths are, it is still useful for you to know them; and to know that they’re myths.
That way, if you come across them in a magazine, at a fitness club, or just from the well-intentioned but misguided advice of a friend, you can confidently say (or at least just think), sorry, but that’s a myth and I’m not going to fall for that one!
Myth No. 1: Diet Pills
The general consensus on diet pills are contained in two powerful words: BUYER BEWARE.
The problem here is that many makers of diet pills offer claims that simply aren’t realistic; and if you read the fine-print of most of these advertisements, you’ll see that they’re really too good to be true. Little notes like the claims made in this advertisement are not typical should be enough of a wake-up call to realize that there’s more to the story.
In some cases, diet pills can help boost metabolism temporarily. This, however, can be risky and generally shouldn’t be done without a doctor’s say-so. Unfortunately, people can become somewhat addicted to diet pills, which can lead to disaster.
Remember that some diet pills are water loss pills. That is, they are diuretics that promote water loss, usually through excess urination. The jury on water-loss diet pills is somewhat less open-minded than diet pills in general – three words this time …… THEY DON’T WORK!
Seriously: water loss diet pills are taken on the principle that you’ll lose weight through water. And, yes, that’s true: if you urinate 15 times a day, you’re physically going to weigh less.
But this is not actual weight loss! This is merely unhealthy temporary weight loss, and it will come roaring back the minute that water stores are replenished through diet.
Or, worse still, if a person taking these water pills fails to restore their body’s fluid needs, they can actually suffer dehydration; which can, and has, led to coma and death.
Now granted, that’s a pretty bleak picture, so it is wise to keep an open mind and a balanced view. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of pills available on the market that can aid weight loss in healthier ways that water loss, it’s just that ‘BUYER BEWARE’ has been written in capital letters for good reason!
In the next blog we’ll look at Myth No. 2 – Drop Calorie Intake.
So until then,
Take care
Sandra
Since this blog has been about reality and not myths, we didn’t cover any of them in the actual blog. Yet, considering how common these myths are, it is still useful for you to know them; and to know that they’re myths.
That way, if you come across them in a magazine, at a fitness club, or just from the well-intentioned but misguided advice of a friend, you can confidently say (or at least just think), sorry, but that’s a myth and I’m not going to fall for that one!
Myth No. 1: Diet Pills
The general consensus on diet pills are contained in two powerful words: BUYER BEWARE.
The problem here is that many makers of diet pills offer claims that simply aren’t realistic; and if you read the fine-print of most of these advertisements, you’ll see that they’re really too good to be true. Little notes like the claims made in this advertisement are not typical should be enough of a wake-up call to realize that there’s more to the story.
In some cases, diet pills can help boost metabolism temporarily. This, however, can be risky and generally shouldn’t be done without a doctor’s say-so. Unfortunately, people can become somewhat addicted to diet pills, which can lead to disaster.
Remember that some diet pills are water loss pills. That is, they are diuretics that promote water loss, usually through excess urination. The jury on water-loss diet pills is somewhat less open-minded than diet pills in general – three words this time …… THEY DON’T WORK!
Seriously: water loss diet pills are taken on the principle that you’ll lose weight through water. And, yes, that’s true: if you urinate 15 times a day, you’re physically going to weigh less.
But this is not actual weight loss! This is merely unhealthy temporary weight loss, and it will come roaring back the minute that water stores are replenished through diet.
Or, worse still, if a person taking these water pills fails to restore their body’s fluid needs, they can actually suffer dehydration; which can, and has, led to coma and death.
Now granted, that’s a pretty bleak picture, so it is wise to keep an open mind and a balanced view. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of pills available on the market that can aid weight loss in healthier ways that water loss, it’s just that ‘BUYER BEWARE’ has been written in capital letters for good reason!
In the next blog we’ll look at Myth No. 2 – Drop Calorie Intake.
So until then,
Take care
Sandra
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Boost Your Calories to Boost Your Metabolism
For many of us, information concerning metabolism has related in one way or another to eating, in that we are told of metabolism-friendly foods, or metabolism unfriendly foods.
But really, while we may be basically aware that, all else being equal, a stalk of celery is better for your metabolism than fries with gravy, our understanding of diet and metabolism is actually pretty low.
To help overcome this, here are some powerful and scientific diet-related tips that will boost your metabolism. Indeed, as you will soon learn, it’s not just the case of what you eat that matters; it is when, and how, too.
So calories – yes, the word calorie has a bad rap. We frequently come across low calorie or calorie reduced foods. And it is not uncommon to overhear someone gasp about the immense calorie content of certain foods, such as a rich and creamy desert, or a giant fast food burger.
All of this anti-calorie rhetoric has therefore made a lot of us pretty calorie-phobic; as soon as we see something that has lots of them, we run away. But is this wise?
Well, yes and no. Yes, it is wise in the sense that avoiding that double-layer chocolate fudge cake for dessert may be a good idea. The calories that come from the cake are really going to be the so-called empty calorie kind; which means there is no real nutritional value that your body can squeeze out and make use of.
But in the bigger picture, it is definitely unwise for your metabolism to become calorie-avoidant.
Why? Because your body is a marvelous machine that tries, at all times, to do what it can to make your life easier. Indeed, even when is does not function at optimal levels (for a variety of reasons, including genetics), it still tries to do its very best. The body, for all of its limitations, is not lazy!
The body is always trying to keep us alive and functioning in the manner that it deems to be healthiest, so that is why if you suddenly decrease the amount of calories you need, your body will not try to do more with less. In other words, your body will not respond in the way that you want it to, it will not necessarily provoke catabolism and thus reduce weight and fat cells.
To the contrary, your smart and wise body will try to keep you alive by slowing down its metabolism. Whether you are genuinely trapped somewhere without food, or are deliberately slashing your calories, to your body the circumstances are irrelevant – it will simply believe something is wrong and become very stingy with energy.
The end result? If your body needs 2000 calories a day to survive, and you suddenly slash it to only 1000, it will not begin to burn off 1000 calories worth of cells that you have lying around on your love handles. Instead, your body will slow down its metabolism. It will really try to squeeze as much energy out of those 1000 calories, because it does not want to waste anything.
Physically, you will naturally feel more tired because your body is being very miserly with energy, and will devote its 1000-calorie ration to essential systems, like blood and oxygen supply (and others). Slash your calories and the bottom line is, metabolically, you will not be burning off extra calories. In fact, you can actually gain weight by dramatically reducing your calorie intake!
The flipside to this is of course, that you should consume a daily caloric intake that is proportionate to your body size, type, and weight loss goals. Once you have got an idea on the amount of calories that you need you can provide them to your body via healthy, efficient calories.
For instance, if your body needs 1500 calories per day, and one slice of double-fudge chocolate cake delivers a whopping 500 of those, then obviously, eating just one of these slices will take up a full 1/3rd of your daily caloric needs and worse still, they are empty calories, which means you are going to be very tired and lethargic.
On the other hand, drinking a tasty fruit smoothie made with yogurt and nuts can deliver half as many calories, and provide you with essential nutrients, vitamins, and other elements that your body needs.
So, the healthy way to lose weight is not by slashing your calorie intake; and if you are looking for easy ways to lose weight, banishing all the bad calories you enjoy in your diet is certainly not the answer either. But if you understand where good and bad calories come from, and ration the bad rather than the number of calories in themselves, you will find that boosting your calories really can boost your metabolism, and it is a whole lot easier than you might think!
Until next time, CLICK HERE and find out how you can boost your metabolism without going hungry!
Sandra
But really, while we may be basically aware that, all else being equal, a stalk of celery is better for your metabolism than fries with gravy, our understanding of diet and metabolism is actually pretty low.
To help overcome this, here are some powerful and scientific diet-related tips that will boost your metabolism. Indeed, as you will soon learn, it’s not just the case of what you eat that matters; it is when, and how, too.
So calories – yes, the word calorie has a bad rap. We frequently come across low calorie or calorie reduced foods. And it is not uncommon to overhear someone gasp about the immense calorie content of certain foods, such as a rich and creamy desert, or a giant fast food burger.
All of this anti-calorie rhetoric has therefore made a lot of us pretty calorie-phobic; as soon as we see something that has lots of them, we run away. But is this wise?
Well, yes and no. Yes, it is wise in the sense that avoiding that double-layer chocolate fudge cake for dessert may be a good idea. The calories that come from the cake are really going to be the so-called empty calorie kind; which means there is no real nutritional value that your body can squeeze out and make use of.
But in the bigger picture, it is definitely unwise for your metabolism to become calorie-avoidant.
Why? Because your body is a marvelous machine that tries, at all times, to do what it can to make your life easier. Indeed, even when is does not function at optimal levels (for a variety of reasons, including genetics), it still tries to do its very best. The body, for all of its limitations, is not lazy!
The body is always trying to keep us alive and functioning in the manner that it deems to be healthiest, so that is why if you suddenly decrease the amount of calories you need, your body will not try to do more with less. In other words, your body will not respond in the way that you want it to, it will not necessarily provoke catabolism and thus reduce weight and fat cells.
To the contrary, your smart and wise body will try to keep you alive by slowing down its metabolism. Whether you are genuinely trapped somewhere without food, or are deliberately slashing your calories, to your body the circumstances are irrelevant – it will simply believe something is wrong and become very stingy with energy.
The end result? If your body needs 2000 calories a day to survive, and you suddenly slash it to only 1000, it will not begin to burn off 1000 calories worth of cells that you have lying around on your love handles. Instead, your body will slow down its metabolism. It will really try to squeeze as much energy out of those 1000 calories, because it does not want to waste anything.
Physically, you will naturally feel more tired because your body is being very miserly with energy, and will devote its 1000-calorie ration to essential systems, like blood and oxygen supply (and others). Slash your calories and the bottom line is, metabolically, you will not be burning off extra calories. In fact, you can actually gain weight by dramatically reducing your calorie intake!
The flipside to this is of course, that you should consume a daily caloric intake that is proportionate to your body size, type, and weight loss goals. Once you have got an idea on the amount of calories that you need you can provide them to your body via healthy, efficient calories.
For instance, if your body needs 1500 calories per day, and one slice of double-fudge chocolate cake delivers a whopping 500 of those, then obviously, eating just one of these slices will take up a full 1/3rd of your daily caloric needs and worse still, they are empty calories, which means you are going to be very tired and lethargic.
On the other hand, drinking a tasty fruit smoothie made with yogurt and nuts can deliver half as many calories, and provide you with essential nutrients, vitamins, and other elements that your body needs.
So, the healthy way to lose weight is not by slashing your calorie intake; and if you are looking for easy ways to lose weight, banishing all the bad calories you enjoy in your diet is certainly not the answer either. But if you understand where good and bad calories come from, and ration the bad rather than the number of calories in themselves, you will find that boosting your calories really can boost your metabolism, and it is a whole lot easier than you might think!
Until next time, CLICK HERE and find out how you can boost your metabolism without going hungry!
Sandra
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Boosting Your Metabolism – Part 6: Strategies, Techniques and Tips
If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you’ve tried – at least once in your life – to boost your metabolism.
Perhaps (like most of us) you weren’t quite certain what metabolism is, and perhaps (again, like most of us) you probably didn’t quite know all that you needed to know in order to accomplish your goals.
Maybe you started a rigorous exercise program of jogging and muscle toning, or eating several small portions a day, rather than three large traditional meal-sized portions, or maybe you even started taking all kinds of supplements that promised to boost your metabolism.
The thing is, is that all of these methods can indeed work. Exercise, eating strategically, and ensuring that your body has catabolism-friendly supplements are but three of many generally good ideas.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is that many of us have no real scientific understanding of what methods boost metabolism, and how or why they work. Some of us, in fact, don’t really even know if they work, we just think that they do.
To give an example, supposing a person were to start a vigorous exercise program that includes significant aerobic cardiovascular movement, such as jogging or cycling. And indeed, after a week, they noticed a drop in weight.
The obvious reason that many would conclude for this is because that person has boosted their metabolism. But have they really boosted their metabolism? May be, may be not. Could it be due to water loss through perspiration that hasn’t been adequately replenished? May be, or may be not.
The point here is that many people – at risk to their health and wellness – don’t quite understand what methods boost metabolism, and the strategies, techniques, and tips, to make it happen for them. And that’s what we’re going to rectify in the blogs ahead.
You won’t come across any casual information that a friend of a friend heard on TV. Nor will you be subjected to off-the-cuff information of how to boost your metabolism.
Rather, we’re going to look at the popular, easy, fun (yes, believe it or not), and successful ways to boost your metabolism.
To most easily introduce and discuss them here, I have taken key ideas and broken them down into 3 broad categories:
As you go through each of the key points, you are bound to note that there is some overlap between them. For example, it’s hard to imagine that introducing exercise into your life isn’t, in many ways, a lifestyle choice.
Similarly, integrating all kinds of metabolism-boosting foods into your diet is surely going to influence how you spend your time (less time in fast food line-ups for sure!).
So, please don’t get bogged down in the categories, they are merely provided here to help organize key points, and to help you easily refer to them in the future. The important thing for you to do is understand each of the points, and evaluate how you can responsibly integrate them into your life.
Till next time
Best Wishes
Sandra
Perhaps (like most of us) you weren’t quite certain what metabolism is, and perhaps (again, like most of us) you probably didn’t quite know all that you needed to know in order to accomplish your goals.
Maybe you started a rigorous exercise program of jogging and muscle toning, or eating several small portions a day, rather than three large traditional meal-sized portions, or maybe you even started taking all kinds of supplements that promised to boost your metabolism.
The thing is, is that all of these methods can indeed work. Exercise, eating strategically, and ensuring that your body has catabolism-friendly supplements are but three of many generally good ideas.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is that many of us have no real scientific understanding of what methods boost metabolism, and how or why they work. Some of us, in fact, don’t really even know if they work, we just think that they do.
To give an example, supposing a person were to start a vigorous exercise program that includes significant aerobic cardiovascular movement, such as jogging or cycling. And indeed, after a week, they noticed a drop in weight.
The obvious reason that many would conclude for this is because that person has boosted their metabolism. But have they really boosted their metabolism? May be, may be not. Could it be due to water loss through perspiration that hasn’t been adequately replenished? May be, or may be not.
The point here is that many people – at risk to their health and wellness – don’t quite understand what methods boost metabolism, and the strategies, techniques, and tips, to make it happen for them. And that’s what we’re going to rectify in the blogs ahead.
You won’t come across any casual information that a friend of a friend heard on TV. Nor will you be subjected to off-the-cuff information of how to boost your metabolism.
Rather, we’re going to look at the popular, easy, fun (yes, believe it or not), and successful ways to boost your metabolism.
To most easily introduce and discuss them here, I have taken key ideas and broken them down into 3 broad categories:
1. Exercise
2. Lifestyle
3. Diet
As you go through each of the key points, you are bound to note that there is some overlap between them. For example, it’s hard to imagine that introducing exercise into your life isn’t, in many ways, a lifestyle choice.
Similarly, integrating all kinds of metabolism-boosting foods into your diet is surely going to influence how you spend your time (less time in fast food line-ups for sure!).
So, please don’t get bogged down in the categories, they are merely provided here to help organize key points, and to help you easily refer to them in the future. The important thing for you to do is understand each of the points, and evaluate how you can responsibly integrate them into your life.
Till next time
Best Wishes
Sandra
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