Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Battle of the Bulge can be Won

By Roland du Preez

Most people that are trying to lose weight will go about it the wrong way. Let your body work with you, instead of against you. A starvation diet will turn your body against you, and will mess up your metabolism.

Try these natural, yet quick ways, of losing weight.

Tip #1 Changing Your Cooking Habits

Our way of cooking will have a huge effect on our weight. The preparation of your food makes a big difference if the food is healthy and lower in calories.

Frying your food in oils and fats must stop! It only adds calories. Instead, use a non-stick pan. You won't have to add any oil. If you must add oil, chose Extra Virgin Olive oil. This is the healthier option since it is more natural and lower in cholesterol. It's also better for your heart.

Always remember that baking your food is better. If you can broil your steaks and chicken is even better than baking. Try to boil or steam some of your food and vegetables, as this will keep more nutrients intact, and it tastes better.

No. 2 Eating

Enjoy the food you are eating, take smaller bites and appreciate all the flavours. A meal used to be a ritual where the whole family would sit down and eat and talk. That has changed drastically. We tend to wolf our food down in such a hurry.

When you eat slower, your body has a chance to feel full. It's just a fact of life. As you slowly chew your food, this gives your saliva a chance to kick in and help digest everything. Eating slower helps you lose weight!

3. Lose weight by Exercising

Admittedly, if all you did every single day was run about 20 miles per day, you could probably eat anything you wanted to. You also might drop dead from a heart attack or stroke. Losing weight is a balance between eating right and exercising correctly. They go hand in hand like ham and eggs! Sorry about that.

The right exercise is important to burning calories and staying healthy. Aerobic exercise is what we would want to target to melt off the pounds.

Exercises such as running, swimming, rowing, jogging, or dancing are examples of aerobic workouts. These will kick-start your metabolism into burning those calories.

If you workout with aerobics for a minimum of 30 minutes per session, you will keep your metabolism running for the rest of the day. Have as a goal to do this 4 times a week, combine with your healthy and will see magic happen. Your fat cells will actually burn off. You will burn more calories the longer you exercise.

A. Beware: Start this new routine slowly if you haven't been working out lately. You need to build yourself up to be able to manage the longer sessions with out hurting yourself. Your body needs to get used to the exercise, and then you slowly add on more time.

B. It's very popular to use treadmills, exercise bikes or rowing machines. Some will even install pools the size of the Mediterranean in their backyards. In case you don't have the budget for that, the good news is that you don't need any equipment for aerobic workouts.

If you enjoy swimming, depending on where you live, many communities have swimming pools you can use for either a fee or free.

A lot of malls will open early so that you can use the area for power walking in a safe way. When you start looking for ways you will soon find many ways of doing aerobic workouts with paying a dime.

If any of the malls close to you open up early, you can use the area for power walking. By being a bit creative you will soon find that there are many ways to workout with aerobics without costing you an arm or a leg. - 15255

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