How to lose weight
Exercise is one of the
two key components to losing weight the other, controlling your food intake will
never be effective by itself. The only way to lose weight is to create a calorie
deficit - burning more calories than you consume. Restricting the amount of food
you eat can do this, or increasing the amount of energy burnt through day to day
activity. Better still a combination of both. Whilst all activity is good,
regular exercise can force your body to change by burning fat and boosting
metabolism, in a safe and controlled way making your weight loss permanent.
Women's Workout
members have achieved amazing weight lose results without resorting to diets -
just by following a healthy eating programme and increasing their activity
levels. And the truly wonderful thing is that the results can be permanent - you
don't need to struggle with a maintenance diet! To understand how, you need to
know about metabolism.
Understanding metabolism
Metabolism is made up
of two major parts: your basal metabolism - the energy you need just to lie in
bed; and the energy you use in daily life moving around (Activity). The third
part thermogenesis -which is the process of heating the body only has a small effect.
Your base metabolism
is set mostly by the amount of lean tissue (muscle) in your body. It takes
around 40-50 calories a day to look after 1lb of muscle but only 2 calories for
1lb of fat. So the only way to significantly increase your metabolism is to be
more active or grow more muscle. Supplements and special foods/drinks design to
boost metabolism only have a small effect on the thermogenesis which is just a
small part of your energy needs.
When you don't
use muscle you lose it - a process called atrophy. So just being inactive
will cause a drop in metabolism. Over the years this can have a large effect,
explaining why most people gain weight as they get older and their natural
activity drops.
Calorie restricted
diets (all diets work by cutting calories in one way or another) are however the
major cause of lean tissue loss. They can be responsible for a 30% reduction in
your natural metabolism! Because each time the body is starved of calories
(food), it actively reduces the lean tissue - before it starts to burn the
fat! In fact the large initial weight loss that many dieters experience in the
first week or two is water and lean tissue.
An other problem with
very low calorie diets is that your body will respond by producing more enzymes
that store fat and less fat burning ones. Making it more efficient at extracting
all the energy from your food.
When you stop the diet and return to your normal eating levels – you will now be
consuming a lot more calories than you need, due to the reduction in your
metabolism and you will be prone to significant weight gain. This can give rise
to Yo Yo dieting.
The secret to reversing this cycle? -
maintain and grow more muscle! It’s that simple! And the great news is that your
body will reverse muscle loss just as soon as you ask it to!
All you need to do is
to perform progressive resistance or weight bearing exercises. Traditionally
these have involved free weights or machines designed primarily for men and are
quite daunting for most women to use. Women’s Workout circuit has been designed
by fitness experts specifically for women, to help you tone and boost your
metabolism without bulking up, in an easy to do routine.
The programme consists
of hydraulic resistance machines alternated with aerobic resting stations
arranged in a circle so you can have fun at the same time as exercising. Also
you won't get bored as your only on each machines for a short period of 30-60
seconds. This is known as interval training which is the most effective way of
exercising. By using interval training you can get both the aerobic exercise you
need for a healthy heart AND the resistance exercise to boost your metabolism
(which will also helps protect you from Osteoporosis, Cancer and other many
conditions) in just a 30 minutes workout session.
The key to using the
circuit is to challenge your body to change. Working hard on the resistance
machines, going as fast as you can to the point were your muscles feel exhausted
at the end of the interval. Then allowing your body to recover on the resting
stations. In a few short weeks your body will respond and start the process of
rebuilding your metabolism.
Food
Intake
The other component of weight loss is your food intake. Exercising at the
gym regularly but eating 3000 calories of fruit and vegetables will not help you
with weight loss. It's still necessary to eat the right amount of food, at the
right time and of the right type.
Women's Workout believes in eating a wide range of foods that are as natural and
unprocessed as possible. Eating at the right time is important. If you go all
day without eating, you will overeat when you finally sit down to food. People
who successfully lose weight eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Lord and
Dinner like a pauper. Plus they could have 3 snacks a day!
To avoid hunger pangs, eat foods that are low on the glycaemic index (developed
by scientists to help diabetics manage their blood sugar levels) and eat
regularly. This will leave you feeling full for longer and stop the problem of
overeating. Rick Gallops book Eating the GI way is a useful source of
information on how to do this.
We have a new product WeightWize -
based on years of experience of helping women lose weight in development. Some
parts of which are available today to our members. Find out for yourself how
easy it is to lose weight, feel great and have fun.
Come and give our free trial a go,
talk to other members and see for your self how easy it can be to lose weight
and feel great.
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