Featherish Healthy Living Blog
Featherish Healthy Living Blog
Counting Calories Is Important When Trying To Lose Weight
Sep 1st
One of the key components to any successful weight loss attempt is calorie control.
Despite the confusion that many weight loss products have caused, losing weight is still largely a matter of calories in versus calories out. One pound of fat is comprised of 3,500 fat cells, so in order to lose a pound of weight you need to burn, or deficit, your body 3500 calories.
That’s why dieters are wise to keep track of the calories they eat. Keeping a detailed food journal can help you develop healthier eating habits by making you aware of exactly what you eat in day, the number of calories you’re consuming and steps you’re taking to eat healthier. Although this isn’t a cure all (you still have to follow through on making the right choices) this discipline can help you repair a wrecked diet one step at a time.
As a calorie counter, dieters should also be aware that serving sizes count, and one 20 ounce bottle of your favorite sugary beverage is actually 2 1/2 servings, making the calorie count much higher than you might have thought. It’s also important to count all calories, including beverages, snacks, a donut at the office meeting, because they all add up to extra unwanted weight.
Luckily counting calories has never been easier. Savvy technology users can easily download calorie counting apps to their cell phones or mobile devices to keep track of their daily consumption. Calorie counting books are available for those that like to rely on a more traditional way to count calories.
Don’t wait to start counting your calories – it’s the first move you can make to solve your unique weight loss equation.
Water Exercise For Health And Fitness
Aug 19th
If you’ve been thinking about starting an exercise plan but you’re unsure of where to start, you should consider water exercise as a way to achieve better health and fitness.
Water exercises, sometimes referred to as “aquatic” exercises are ideal for people of all ages and fitness levels, as the weightlessness of water causes little to no impact on bones and joints. Warm water pools are often used to help treat those with arthritis and for recovery from sports injuries.
Water exercises help condition muscles, improves range of motion, increases flexibility and helps to relieve pain and stiffness. It also provides a full body workout that incorporates all body parts – arms, legs and your core. It is considered a safe method of exercise for those suffering from hypertension and obesity.
Water walking and water aerobics are two popular water classes offered. Water walking is easier, as participants just do walking laps and use the resistance and the buoyancy of the pool for conditioning. Water aerobics is more challenging, as this type of class is comparable to a land class, only in the water. Water dumbbells may be used in either of these types of classes.
To find out more about Water exercises available in your area, visit the local YMCA, recreation center, or pool equipped gym. This could be the start to a brand new you!
Healthy Eating Diets For Weight Loss
Apr 21st
Healthy eating diets are one of the best ways to approach a successful weight loss attempt. Sure, exercise is important as a way to boost your metabolism and burn calories, but the calories you take in on a daily basis can really be the difference between shedding extra pounds, staying even or even gaining weight.
Unfortunately, there are hidden (or forgotten) calories in almost everyone’s diet. A perfect example is calories that are consumed by the way of beverages like sodas which are packed with sugar. This sugar laden beverage is easily stored as fat if the calories it contains aren’t burned off through the course of a day. Although these calories might not seem like much individually, collectively they can be disastrous to someone that really wants to lose weight. If you’re trying to implement a healthier lifestyle, you’d be well served to seriously restrict (or eliminate) soda from your diet altogether. Try to replace these sugary beverages with clean drinking water, instead.
Remember, one pound of excess weight is equal to 3,500 calories!
Other healthy eating diet tips:
1. Try to avoid or limit processed foods. Processed foods are great in a pinch, but their ease of preparation also means that they contain chemicals and other agents to preserve it and flavorings to make it taste better. The golden rule of thumb – if it comes in a bag or a box, check the ingredients. If the food is made of words that you can’t pronounce, don’t eat it.
2. Increase how many fruits and vegetables you eat. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recommends that Americans eat 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit daily. For maximum health benefits your vegetables shouldn’t be deep fried (think french fry) and are best if eaten raw or slightly heated, since cooking removes a lot of the vital nutrients the plant is supposed to supply. Garden salads and cut up celery, carrots, cucumbers are great ways to eat smart and are low in calories.
3. Limit your consumption of red meat and other fatty meats. Steaks, burgers and bacon might taste terrific but they pack a lot of calories. Processed meats like bacon might also contain nitrates, a known carcinogen. Instead, choose
boneless, skinless chicken breast, turkey or fish – or just avoid meat altogether and eat more vegetables instead. The consumption of red meat has been tied to cases of colon and other cancers, so this change in the way you eat could end up having additional health benefits.
Making changes is never easy, so if it’s too difficult for you to radically uproot your habits, just try and focus on one thing at a time. For example – drink more water for two or three weeks and once you’ve made that a habit, tackle the next thing on your list.. chances are you’ll be more successful if you cross each bridge as you come to it.
I hope that these healthy eating diet tips help you get started on the road to a better way of life!
Rejuvelac For Weight Loss
Apr 15th
Rejuvelac is an interesting drink, that many have touted for weight loss. The drink was originally created by Dr. Ann Wigmore, who swore by its consumption. These days, many “raw foodists” make the drink and claim that losing weight is one of the benefits of drinking Rejuvelac.
The good news about Rejuvelac is it won’t cost you much money to see if it works for you. Here’s a very good instructional video from YouTube, made by “Rawlee.”
Following the instructions in that video, you’ll have your first batch of Rejuvelac in a few days. Once you do, you can use it as a base for “green smoothies” or you can drink it just like it is. There are a great number of comments online concerning how it smells/tastes, but I didn’t find anything objectionable about it. (If the batch smells or tastes bad, don’t drink it!)
The idea behind Rejuvelac is that when the wheat berries sprout, you’re getting a lightly fermented product that packs a wallop when it comes to nutritional value. It’s also said to add probiotics to your diet, which should increase beneficial bowel flora, making your time on the pot a true wonder.
11 Weight Loss Tips You Can Use Today
Jan 22nd
Weight loss is something that’s on the mind of millions of people worldwide as modern living has caused many people to suffer from being overweight. Despite the myriad number of products available that claim to help people lose weight, the stark reality is that folks keep on getting heavier.
11) Beware of snack foods that make health claims. The supermarket is full of new products that make dubious claims such as “high in fiber.” Although a food may be high in fiber, which is a good thing, it might also contain a lot of sugar or be high in fat. Judge all foods on their merits, regardless of their packages.
10) Count your calories. You don’t have to count religiously, but at least keep a running tab throughout the day. The only way you can lose excess weight is if you cut your caloric intake and increase your caloric deficit.
9) Don’t neglect exercise. The excess weight you’ve gained won’t leave without exercise. Diet alone is not enough. Even if you lost weight, you’d still be flabby anyways. Start a fitness program at the same time you change your diet.
Don’t become obsessed with “bad” or “good” foods. Total caloric intake is still the key to losing weight. Sure, some carbs seem “worse” than others, but you didn’t gain weight solely from eating a certain type of food. You gained weight eating too many calories.
7) Don’t make food restrictions you can’t live with. If you can’t maintain your diet, you’ll end up gaining back the weight. It’s not worth having to start all over again.
6) Be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was a lumpy body. It took years to amass the extra weight and it won’t be gone in days or weeks. Think in terms of months or years if you have a lot to lose.
5) Don’t obsess about the day to day details. If you’re doing the right thing, you’ll have great results.
4) Be positive. Never put yourself down. In order to change your body, you first have to change your self image. You can only do this by fixating on what your body will be like, not by obsessing on how far you have to go.
3) Find a weight loss partner. It’s better to try and lose weight with a buddy, rather than going it alone. But try and find a reliable person who won’t leave you in the lurch.
2) Ignore non supportive comments from relatives or friends. People say a lot of stupid things that can bring you down. Screw them. Stick to your guns and the results are guaranteed. Don’t forget: Misery loves company and some people might just be bringing you down.
1) Exercise consistently for three weeks. If you do something for three weeks, it becomes a habit. Push yourself for the first month and exercising should get much easier.
Losing weight involves making fundamental (but simple) changes to how you’ve been eating and whether or not you’ve been active. In order to drop pounds you need to burn more calories than you consume. If you decrease the calories you consume through eating and increase the number of calories you burn through exercise, you’ll see dramatic, permanent, and safe weight loss.
A Diet And Exercise Plan For 2009
Jan 7th
2009 is underway, and if you’re like many people, the thought of losing some extra weight has probably crossed your mind. Now’s the time to make a cohesive diet and exercise plan. If you stick with it, 2009 may ended up being the year where you put your struggle with being overweight behind you.
When you choose a diet and exercise plan, there are some factors you need to consider.
- Is the program something you can stick with? There’s no point in starting off like gangbusters in an attempt to lose weight, only to revert back to bad habits
- Is the plan affordable? Sure, certain diet and exercise plans might be attractive, but if you can’t easily afford them, there’s no point in signing up. Eating and exercising don’t need to be pricey.
Like any endeavor that’s worthwhile, losing weight the right way takes time and effort. A big key to success is to not get down if results appear to be taking longer than you’d like. You didn’t gain the weight overnight, so it’s to be expected if it takes a long time to take it off.
As usual, in 2009 it’s best to ignore the trendy fad diets that will likely pop up. I’m sure Oprah Winfrey will soon be talking about a new diet that helped her lose weight (or maybe not). Don’t buy into it. The only thing anyone needs to do to lose weight is to burn more calories than they consume. That simple fact never changes, despite how often it may have been distorted over the years by marketing companies.
Stick to the basics. A diet that’s high in whole grains, vegetables, and protein is great. Make sure to eat decent amounts of dietary fiber. Make sure you exercise consistently, focusing on both cardio and strength training, and you just can’t fail.
The rules of success never change from year. Good luck on choosing the best diet and exercise plan for 2009.
Walking Exercise Weight Loss
Dec 22nd
Walking is always brought up as a great way to lose weight. Now, certainly some walking is beneficial to anybody, but is walking an effective exercise program to lose weight? In reality, for people with a great deal of weight to lose, walking alone as exercise will not be enough.
Walking is a decent way to burn calories, but it doesn’t burn them at a rapid clip. The fact is, walking doesn’t give you that much of an aerobic lift, so you’ll end up having to walk for long periods of time to start seeing a depreciable result. In fact, you’d have to devote hours to walking in order to cut even a small amount of calories.
So does that mean walking is a bad thing? Of course not. And if walking is what you plan on doing to lose weight, then so be it. You can always make your walking more difficult by pumping your arms and increasing the speed at which you walk. The faster you move, the more exertion you’ll feel. If you can maintain a strong gait without slowing down, then your workout will be roughly equivalent to that of a treadmill. But one thing you’ll know from treadmills, they stay constant. If you keep slowing down and pretending you’re out for a leisurely stroll in the park, you won’t work your heart hard enough to be in the cardio zone.
If you are serious about walking, then by all means give it a go. You don’t need any special equipment or training. You’ll need to put in 60-90 minutes daily for weight loss, though. If that sounds like too much time, then you’ll want to do something more strenuous. If the time isn’t that daunting to you, then walking might just be the right way to go.
Walking has advantages in that you already know how to do it and you aren’t likely to get hurt. Plus, there’s no expensive gym to join, and you can do it whenever you want. Walking exercise for weight loss can be effective if you stick with it.
Exercising Your Abdominals
Dec 21st
Tips for exercising your abs
In this day and age, many people are concerned about their looks and pay attention their physiques. If you’re considering embarking on a fitness regimen, strengthening your abdominals is definitely a good starting point. Not only do strong abs make you look great at the beach, but they also lend core support for many other exercises you’ll want to attempt in the future. In order to best strengthen your abdominals, one of the best exercises you can do is called “the bicycle exercise.”
Fast Weight Loss Tips
Dec 19th
Fast weight loss is what just about everyone is interested in. Sure, you probably didn’t become overweight overnight. But that doesn’t mean you’re content to keep the pounds on while you patiently embark on an exercise and fitness regimen. Weight loss tends to take a long time, so what can people do when they wish to lose weight fast?
Walking Is Better Than Weight Lifting
Dec 18th
A new study says that walking is a better way to lose weight than lifting weights. The reason is the walking ends up suppressing your appetite more than weight lifting.
Walking is a great exercise
David J. Stensel of Loughborough University in England and colleagues said a vigorous 60-minute workout on a treadmill affects the release of two key appetite hormones, ghrelin and peptide YY, while 90 minutes of weight lifting only affects the level of ghrelin.
The researchers said ghrelin is the only hormone known to stimulate appetite, while peptide YY suppresses appetite.
Of course, weight loss takes more than just suppressing your appetite, so you can’t ignore the many other benefits of strenuous weight lifting. Lifting weights actually increases your lean muscle mass, which helps you lose weight when you’re not active. For this reason alone, many experts still recommend the basic bodybuilding diet of high protein along with strength training to train your body.
No matter what method you use to lose weight, the key remains embarking on a plan that can be incorporated as part of your daily routine for the rest of your life.