Posted by Maria Dimitrova

Gain: a life-time strategy to maintain good-looking and healthy body

Cost: about 2,5 hours per week training and some money for home sports equipment or gym cards depending on your preferences and budget

When I first started researching the subject about weight loss, I decided to find out how much exercise is needed to achieve this goal. The more I researched, the more I became convinced that the wide-spread term “losing weight” is incorrect in terms of healthy changes to your body. A person can lose weight in different ways including losing bone density and losing muscle mass nobody should want to attain. So to target the extra body fat which is possibly unhealthy and certainly ugly, we need to know not only how much exercising to do but also what kind of workouts will guarantee us good results.

What does the Department of Health and Human Services has to say:

• At least two hours and 30 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity (think brisk walking or swimming) or one hour and 15 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity— preferably spread throughout the week.
• Strength training exercises at least twice a week.

If you add 30 minutes of brisk walking to your daily routine, you could burn about 150 more calories a day. At that rate, you’d lose about another 1/3 of a pound (0.15 kilogram) a week. The more you walk and the quicker your pace, the more calories you’ll burn. Aim to walk at 3 to 4 miles per hour. But how can you be sure that you are taking enough steps to get results? Using a pedometer can help you set and achieve fitness goals. Don’t try to get slimmer too fast. Doing it at a moderate speed is healthier and it brings long-lasting results.

Why strength training is vital to body fat loss:

Most people think that becoming slimmer requires only aerobic training. So why does the Department of Health and Human Services include strength training in their recommendation?

Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and Editor of NaturalNews.com, explains the necessity of strength training in a really simple and comprehensible way. If you starve yourself, you’re going to lose all the muscle resources you already have. This will result in slowing your metabolism which in turn will make maintaining the good figure very hard. Besides, having a toned, healthy look is what makes people attractive. Mike Adams draws upon his own personal experience not just what he has learnt in theory:” Losing weight by calorie restriction alone is very, very difficult. In fact, personally, I’ve never been able to do that. The only way I’ve been able to lose body fat (I lost over 50 lbs of body fat, and I’ve kept it off for several years now) is to engage in exercise that includes both a strength training component and a cardiovascular component.” Sounds convincing, doesn’t it?

Combining both types of physical activity – aerobic and strength training is not only an effective body fat reduction strategy but also a way to add some variety to your workouts. Your body will be more responsive to sports activities if it is challenged with movements and intensity that vary over time. Not to mention that it is much more interesting if the workout program consists of walking, swimming, yoga, Pilates and strength training.

From my personal experience I have noticed that varying physical activities or cross-training works perfectly for me because it keeps exercise boredom at bay. Cross-training also reduces the risk of injuring or overusing one specific muscle or joint.

Which sport to choose:

To decide which sports suit you best, consider what type of person you are – an extrovert or an introvert. You may choose to follow your main attitude to life and if you are a communicative person, you are likely to opt for dancing classes or a collective sport. But don’t be afraid to experiment. Maybe you will achieve a better life balance by doing something which is different from what you usually do in your daily life. Don’t buy a gym membership card before you’ve had one or two trial sports classes to see if this particular sport gives you pleasure or not.

If you prefer training at home, you can buy different sports equipment. For many people having invested some money in dumbbells, Pilates ball, a mat or an elliptical trainer, means getting more motivated to start the training, especially if you keep them in a place where they are easy to see or reach.

Another useful tip to increase your motivation is to surround yourself with images of people doing sports ( put them on the walls at home or on your desktop) and watch videos of workouts in youtube.com. Within minutes you will get in the mood for a physical activity.

Make it a lifetime change!

Once you’ve succeeded in reducing your body fat, don’t be tempted to stop the workouts.  I’ve been asked by friends and acquaintances:” Why do you need to train or be careful what you eat, you are in a good shape”.  Well, because to maintain a good shape, training and healthy eating should be a way of living not exerting yourself to get slimmer for a short period of time each year before the summer comes. It is like learning a language – it doesn’t stop after you’ve passed the final exam of the highest level.  You need to practice it all your life.

Something is better than nothing!

For some people, who are ambitious by nature, setting a definite goal and striving to achieve it by careful planning and sticking to the plan is the most effective and useful way to do something. But if you aren’t such a person, don’t feel discouraged.  Just accept the attitude “Something is better than nothing”, follow it on a daily basis and you will see results. As Mike Adams says, using a muscle just for 15 seconds a day gives a signal to the body that it needs that muscle and it’s important to keep it around. It’s as simple as that!