Posts Tagged ‘“muscle building”’

Retaining Your Muscle Mass

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Retaining your muscle mass, while on a weight loss program, is one of the most important aspects that you need to concentrate on, as this will help you to keep your fat percentage down long-term.

On the ultra low calorie diets, the body begins to cannibalize its own muscle tissue as its defense mechanisms come into play.

An example of this is shown with some of these apparently slim fashion models who have quite high levels of body fat in proportion to their overall size.

The reason for this is the fact that they haven’t done any form of exercise or resistance training to maintain any reasonable level of muscle mass and this is only made worse by the fact that they are often eating a very low quality diet and nutrition is lacking.

It is not uncommon to see skinny models with cellulite and that is a sure sign that they are retaining fat in a higher percentage than they should be.

They would find that if they added a little bit of resistance training or even some form of decent exercise to their daily routine, they would be able to still retain a slim figure but the body fat percentage would be considerably lower and they would look a lot more toned and healthy.

And healthy is what you should be aiming for when you go on a weight loss program and not simply losing weight, as actually improving your overall health and well-being will help you to live a better lifestyle for a lot longer.

Increasing your muscle mass also improves your metabolic rate whereas body fat has a very low level of metabolic activity. Nutritionists regard muscle as the furnace that burns in the body and this is what you should be aiming for.

If more weight loss programs focused on retaining muscle mass, people would be unlikely to put the weight back on rapidly once they finished the program.

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(PUN) ==>Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie<==

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There Is More To Weight Loss

Friday, November 14th, 2008

If you are willing to put in the extra effort, you can lose considerably more weight a lot faster by adding resistance training to your weight loss program.

Lifting weights will help to burn body fat quicker than aerobic exercise which is something that a lot of people don’t understand. Aerobic exercise for an hour or so will burn more calories than lifting weight for the same hour, however, weightlifting gives additional benefits after that hour that aerobic exercise doesn’t.

After resistance training, your muscles need to repair themselves and in doing so, this process burns even more calories consequently, you are getting the benefit of the calories that are burned during the exercise, combined with the calories that are getting burned as the muscles are getting repaired.

There is also another benefit that is obtained by weightlifting and resistance exercises and that is the fact that you will be building muscle mass.

Now many women get concerned thinking that they are going to look like a female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his younger days), but not only is this unlikely without the use of steroids, it is impossible, particularly for a woman.

Muscle burns fat and by building up your muscle mass, you are creating a fat burning machine that will help to use up excess body fat throughout the day.

This is why people who supplement their weight loss programs with suitable resistance training, will reduce fat and get considerably better results in less time.

You also get the additional benefits of becoming fitter, improving your heart and bones and it also has a positive effect on your mental attitude. To some people,  just feeling better about themselves can solve a lot of the reasons why they overeat in the first place.

You don’t have to lift excessive weights for this to work as even light resistance training will be an added benefit to your weight loss program.

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==>Failure is the chance to begin again more intelligently<==

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Nutrition Basics

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Good nutrition is as important as the exercises we perform. By eating wisely, we are assisting our body to perform better in our chosen fitness program or sport.

The food we choose needs to be of high nutritional value to supply us with the necessary building blocks, in the form of vitamins and minerals to aid in recovery after strenuous workouts and to give us the energy to perform better during our exercise time.

Not only do we need to be supplying our body with the right vitamins and minerals, but they also need to be in the correct balance. When any one of these are out of balance and we are getting more or less than we should be, there will be an imbalance that will affect our progress. This imbalance can even lead to illness, so buying good quality supplements is essential and knowing how much to take is also vitally important.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is your calorie intake, as this will determine whether you are getting enough fuel to benefit your workouts, or whether you are getting too much and adding fat to your body.

Foods high in refined sugar or animal fat should be avoided where possible, as they will be detrimental to your health.

If you are on a bodybuilding or resistance training program, then you will need additional protein, as this is the muscle building food. These foods, such as red meat will also supply you with the necessary B vitamins and Iron that are essential for strength training. Other quality protein foods such as cheese, eggs, fish, poultry and milk should be included in your diet so you are getting a good variety in your diet. These foods contain the essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of the body.

Vegetables are also another good source of amino acids, however, they generally have certain aminos missing and that is why the base protein foods listed above need to be included in your diet for complete nutrition.

A mix of foods is required as relying solely on meats for your protein can lead to other problems such as high levels of cholesterol. Meat also is relatively high in fat which is linked to the hardening of the arteries and heart disease.

It is all about getting the correct balance with both your nutrition and exercise.

 “The first part of success is ‘Get-to-it-iveness’;

the second part of success is ‘Stick-to-it-iveness’.”

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