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Mar 07

5 reasons why you should forget the scale

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Articles, Fitness and Diet

by Slavko

You can hear people say that the scale is their best friend. Some claim that it is in fact your worst enemy.
So let me ask you something. What is your opinion? How often do you climb on the scale?
 
Many people going through some weight loss program are now probably thinking “well, every day” or “couple of times per day”. But looking more objectively on this matter may result in realizing just how stupid that is.
 
I stand firmly on the belief that the scale is your worst enemy when it comes to weight loss, shaping your body the way you like and improving your lifestyle in general.
And here is why :
 

  1. Unreal expectation

    The Scale
     
    Seriously, what did you thought? That somehow, overnight you will see such changes as if someone threw a spell on you? Even though the fat burning process is on its highest somewhere in the night (That is if you’ve incorporated strength training in your program), chances are that it will NOT reflect on the immediate measuring the day after.
     
    It all happens on molecular level, so it’s downright stupid to expect that your body made couple of days progress during just one night.

    2.  

  2. Gives you the wrong impression

     
    How come? Well if you are one of those who take every chance to hop in on the scale, then you probably get all the mixed signals all of the time. The days you thought you made the biggest progress, are not showing as well as you thought on the scale, and vice versa. And measuring yourself all the time just doesn’t gives you the feeling of progress since it’s always so little at a given time.

    3.  

  3. Kills your motivation

     
    As I mentioned in the one above, you can surely tell what will happen as a result of that wrong impression. And if you guessed questioning your progress, or loosing motivation, than you are right.
     
    You see, making tremendous effort to stick to your diet, your exercise schedule, new acquired healthy habits… All of that is not easy at all, and the last thing you need is to question whether you are doing well or not.
     
    That alone can demotivate you in a way that you will soon lose confidence in what you are doing, and certainly lose your determination more quickly as a result of that.

    4.  

  4. Simple mathematics


     
    I’ve seen many people exercising a lot while hoping to lose some weight. And the interesting thing about many of them is going on the scale after doing couple of days strength exercises.
     
    What is wrong here? Can you guess it? Well I know I can. If you are doing some strength or bodybuilding exercises then hopefully your muscle mass will in turn increase.
     
    So the next time when you go to the scale you not only get the picture that you are not doing some progress, but you also see some set back- you’ve gained some pounds. And while this is a good thing if you are doing those types of exercises, many will simply get plain confused.

    5.  

  5. You focus on the wrong thing

     
    Tell me something. Why do you want to lose weight? Is it in order for you to fit into your favorite jeans? Or is it because you want to be fit, therefore more energetic and younger? Or you just want to look good, plain simple as that?
     
    Well no matter which one of this you choose, neither one of them is in any way connected with the scale and the way it measures the progress.
     
    If any of the above are your reasons, than other things are more important. For example whether you’ve built some muscles and gave your body more form; whether you defined your muscle mass in a way that you are now looking fitter; whether you are losing fat on certain areas, therefore being able to fit into that jeans of yours, or finally wear that tight blouse.
     
    I’m speaking through my head now, but all I want to say is that your progress was never centered on numbers.

 
Count more on things like looking into the mirror, explore things with touch. You will for sure have better understanding that way, and stop the obsession with the numbers.
 
Can you share your thoughts about this? You are addicted to the scale, or you measure your progress otherwise?
 
 
 
 

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Feb 22

Jogging towards a healthier lifestyle

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Articles, Fitness and Diet

by Bojan

Jogging is really just a fancy word for a form of running, consisting of slowly and steadily focusing on maintaining a similar rhythm during longer distances, with intentions on building up stamina and resistance, while also a highly effective way of burning calories and to some extent losing weight, among the whole other number of positive stuff.
 
The role of jogging in one’s quest for a healthy lifestyle along with the eternal question “How to be healthy“, was rapidly popularized during the second half of the last century, probably as a counterweight against the almost parallel increase of the obesity rates in the world’s most developed countries.
 
So, the running i.e. jogging from a second nature of the earliest humans, crucial for their survival, through the ancient world and the mythical runner Pheidippides considered as a father of the marathon, through the middle ages, to this modern time, descended to a level where people have to constantly explain the benefits of jogging as one of the simplest, natural, elementary form of exercise. Isn’t that just downright sad…
 
But the cool thing is: it’s never really too late for you to engage in this fun activity. Although with age the bone structure and the bone connecting ligaments lose their strength and flexibility, the jogging as a light exercise for maintaining the form and the fitness, is not only totally safe, but also recommended. Of course, with considerably lower intensity and duration.
 
As for the others, younger ones, there is just no excuse for you not doing it already.
Why? Well, let’s see:
 

The benefits of jogging

 

    Sheer satisfaction of doing a favor to your body.

  • It’s no secret that after long jogging, you feel satisfied, almost proud of yourself, while also keeping the positive mood, ending with a smile on your face. It’s all caused by a certain chemicals called endorphins, which can cause that cheer euphoria at the end. So, getting high while doing something truly good for you, what are you waiting for?

    • Burning a lot of calories and possibly losing weight.

  • Jogging is in fact one of the most effective way of burning the excessive calories, and it’s certainly a funny one, ok, maybe not as funny as swimming, but still, while this fact alone, also puts you on good track with losing that extra pounds in your body, to achieve this you must do just one little simple and paradoxically, herculean, task, try to keep the number of calories you burn, higher than the ones you consume. If that condition is not fulfilled, not even running for three years like Forrest Gump is going to help here.
    With that in mind, mixing jogging with short sprinting is one of the best methods possible for fat loss. This high intensity interval exercise will additionally aid you in your battle with that annoying excessive fat.

    • Building up your stamina and resistance level while also toning the muscles.

  • There is not whole much explaining here, obviously the more you jog, the better for your stamina and body resistance, e.g. increased duration for the next jogging session.

    • Significantly lowering the triglyceride level, high blood pressure and blood sugar.

  • It’s well known that jogging has a positive effect on these conditions, in fact it’s the one of the recommended exercises for this purpose.

    • As a cardio work out.

  • Your hearth will pump more blood and oxygen, which makes you feel fresh and full with energy. Just a little fact you already probably know, also closely related to the first point I made in this list.

 
Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, (apparently :|), so you should also take a look on the few potential bad things.
 

The potential health hazards:

 

  • There are multiple recommendations against running excessively long distances, i.e. more than 40 miles, as there are high risks for an injury. Simply said, DON’T jog more than that. Try to listen to your body signals, your body knows best when you should take a break.
  • Fainting can be caused by high intensity jogging, complemented with a lack of water and oxygen. It’s really just a simple matter of passing over your body limits again.
  • Joints pain, in your knees and/or ankles, the most common form of jogging injury. Something that can be quite painful, and really common amongst joggers.

 

Fortunately, one can always take some recommended precautionary measures in order to put the risk of injuries to the minimum. Which are they? Read along.

 

Minimizing the chance of any injury:

 

  • Regular hydration, small amounts of water every 15-20 minutes. Keep in mind that too much water before or during the jogging can cause some discomfort.
  • Breathing regularly, you should try finding your rhythm and synchronize the breathing with the speed of jogging.
  • Warming exercise before and after. For beginners it’s usually best to start the jogging with some walking, gradually speeding up and maintaining the tempo to the end, with a similar gradual slowing down, and walking for a couple of minutes until the final stop.
  • Everyone with some past injuries, especially on knees and ankles, should ask for doctor’s permission, because of the ever present risk of aggravating the injury. Or maybe consider starting it slow on a treadmill, should be considerably safer. But, again, your doctor’s opinion on the matter should come first.
  • Running shoes can lessen the impact of the foot with the ground and probably save you from some injuries or pain on the long term. Especially if you’re jogging on rough terrains.

 

And that’s about it. The first couple of weeks can be the most difficult, feeling somewhat uncomfortable that period, while the brain and the body are still accustoming to the new routine. The best thing you can do is to take somebody with you, jogging with someone else is so much funnier than jogging alone. Although, there are certainly a bunch of people who prefer jogging alone, listening to music or some motivational speech on their phones or iPods… In the end, it doesn’t really matter, whatever rocks your boat.
And remember, it’s not just an opportunity for a better lifestyle, it’s an obligation towards your body, ergo yourself.

 

Have you been jogging before? How do you feel after it ?
Share your opinion with us in the comments below.
 
 
 
 
 

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Feb 20

How important exercise really is?

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Articles, Fitness and Diet

by Slavko

Now many would ask, what for? Well frankly, everything. Not only athletes and models need to work out. It’s an inevitable part of a healthy lifestyle, habits, and really a complete individual by default.

 

If you are serious about promoting your lifestyle in general, and taking it to the next level, you will not fail to realize that this is something that you should include without question. Nowadays we are presented with the picture of a person working out, jogging, doing some sports, and many people copy that without ever thinking what is behind all of that. But I guess that’s really OK. However, on the other hand the rest never try to embed this picture in their lives.

 

So it’s important for them, as well as for the first ones to understand how physical activity, especially planed, is something that we should not only incorporate in our lives, but know the benefits from it as well.

 

And there are bunch. Just read ahead and you will see how much you are missing on stuff, if you are not the fan of doing some exercise.

 

First of all we must realize something. Working out, and exercise is NOT doing some heavy bodybuilding as some may think. It doesn’t have to be boot camp hard. It is downright peculiar if you go behind these excuses. It is not true that the more complex the exercise, the more numerous are the benefits. Actually everything that makes your hearth go faster, or breaks you some sweat can go under this category. And that’s really it.

 

It’s something that everyone can do. Not a biggie there. So the excuses of the type: “That is not for me”…forget about them. The lethargic nature of some of us is just trying to lure us furthermore in that circle. You just need to start. The benefits are so overwhelming that this post is not long enough for them to fit here. However, I’ll do the best I can in order to explain some of them.

 

Exercise in lifestyle

 

First of all consider this: Physical exercise is something of a visible achievement. How come? Well, no matter what you do in order to improve your lifestyle, this is perhaps something that is visible the most. You are witnessing your own improvement, your own success just by seeing yourself exercising, and others can witness the change in your lifestyle too. That alone is maybe the most encouraging thing. Every time you have the feeling that you are moving in a straight forward direction. And it just feels great.

There is sometimes a tough line to draw- between going outside of your comfort zone and exploring some new stuff (ones that can in turn change many aspects of your life), or enjoying the familiar and never try to undertake any change whatsoever. If you are now at crossroads thinking whether or not you should investigate how exercise can add up to quality of your life in general, I will advise you to go for the first option instead of the latter, and leave things up to you from there.

 

Now about the health related benefits:

 

Here maybe I should forward you a link to a book, or resend you to Wikipedia. There is that much. But here are some of them that maybe sound more important in a way:

  • Coping with the overweight problem… We all know that all of the solutions here start and end with physical exercise. More calories are burnt, more fat is used, and muscles are toning, thus speeding the whole process.
  • Bad Cholesterol is lowering, the cardio system is having a nice exercise, and by that many hearth related conditions are less likely to occur. It is proven that only with a mild change in your exercise routine, your chances of never having hearth problems are tripled.
  • The lungs are starting to increase their capacity, bringing more oxygen into the body, your breathing is improved in general, and by that you really don’t need antioxidants, your body is taking care for all of that.
  • Hmm, what more? Oh, the immune system of course.
    Don’t let me start on this one. Tell you what, instead of going on and on about how this is affecting your immune system, I’ll try something else. Start with doing some exercise in the comfort of your own home. Or maybe go for a speed walk, or jogging. One week. That’s all it takes. Only one week, and you will see. The ones, who do some physical activity I guess, are probably nodding along now. They know what I’m talking about. Being active, actually keeps me well and healthy during flu season, and throughout the winter when the immune system is more dormant in general. The body will instantly raise its shield and you will come to appreciate the update you’ve just made to your lifestyle.

 

So if after all of this I add things like lowering the risk of osteoporosis, promoting bone health, lowering back and neck pain and many others, you probably get the picture.

 

Another thing that is also worth mentioning is improving cognitive focus. And boy, oh boy, do I like this the most. You will come to realize that with adding some exercise in your daily routine, nothing would be the same again. You will be more alert, all the time at your best. The attention to anything that surrounds you will never go down, no matter if you have to be stuck let’s say in the office for whole day. “Exercise can make you far more alert”-said Robert Brooks, PhD and co-author of “The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence, and Personal Strength in Your Life”. “And I’ve noticed that when I don’t exercise because I’m trying to squeeze in another half hour of writing, I don’t feel as alert.” That’s right; the physical activity actually brings your brain more focus. And what’s more important, it’s on the long run. The effects here are usually visible after just couple of days.

 

However, maybe the most important benefit that exercise has nowadays is the ability to cope with stress. And there is no better remedy for that. The perfect combination of chemical processes that happens during some activity (among which is the release of endorphin in our system), mixed with focusing on the moment and letting your worries drift away is the most powerful weapon against stress, period. Also sound sleep comes along with this one under the same category. You will never, ever have problems with falling asleep. How that sounds?

 

Oh, and the looks. We all like this one. Exercising tones your muscles, burns the fat from your body. It actually keeps you young in a way. And makes you look great. This however is achieved by being persistent and applying this on the long run. But the results are great. It’s worth the while.

 

And just if I haven’t convinced you so far, how about this: We see many successful people adding this to their daily routine. It’s a known fact that most of the presidents of each country have time especially dedicated to some physical activity during the day. And that’s each and every day. And if they can do it, given the schedule they have, than I guess I should say no more.

 

Try it for a week, and you will soon be addicted. You will use every chance you have to go for a quick run, or maybe some tennis session, or workout in the comfort of your own room perhaps. You will enjoy.
 
 
 
 
 

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