Jul

9

Ask the Trainer: When is the best time to workout?

Filed Under Ask the Trainer, Diet, Weight loss | Leave a Comment

When is the best time to workout?  

Many popular diets insist that the best time to exercise is first thing in the morning, before you eat breakfast.  The theory is that your body doesn’t have the fuel it needs to complete the exercise, so if goes to the only source of energy it has…your stored body fat.  There are two problems with this theory…

1)All that matters when it comes to weight loss is total caloric intake.  Are you eating less than you burn. If so, you will lose weight…simple as that.  Your body can’t tell time.

2)You need energy to exercise.   And to have that energy, your body needs food.  If you exercise before eating, you will not perform as well and your workout will suffer. 

 So what is really the best time to exercise?  The simplest answer?  Whenever you will do it.   Are you a morning person? If so workout in the morning.  Are you a night owl?  If so, you are better off exercising at night.  If you need to do it on your lunch break, do it the.  Do whatever works for you.

Jul

5

Weight Loss: Competition Made Easy

Filed Under Diet, Internet Resources, Weight loss | 2 Comments

For those of you out there who are driven by winning, one of the most effective ways to lose weight is to be part of a weight loss competition. Competing against other people provides something that traditional weight loss programs fail at: motivation, accountability and incentive.

There is a website, WeightLossWars, that will run your competition for you, so all you have to do is worry about losing weight.

From Weightlosswars.com:

The site allows you to create weight loss or exercise competitions among your friends and family. You can compete belly to belly, or team against team. It is your competition, you build it how you want, and compete against who you want, for the prizes you want.

For every competition you receive a personalized “Arena” that displays the status of everyone you invited into your competition. The “Arena” includes:
• A Leader board to show up-to-the-minute who is leading the pack
• A Discussion board where you can post motivating or trash talking messages
• Interactive graphs to chart the progress of your competitor or to compare them to movie stars or barn yard animals
• The treasure chest that everyone is competing for
• Links to weight loss professionals and best of all…
• the “Sabotage” button

Each competitor also receives their own “Personal” page where they can record their exercise and food intake into helpful logs. The “Personal” page includes:
• Exercise and Nutrition Logs
• Goal management center
• Weight loss history
• Personalized progress graphs

Each competitor also has access to other helpful tools, including:
• The infamous “Sabotage” feature. Finding yourself behind in the competition? Find out how the WeightLossWars “Sabotage” can help!
• Access to Personal Trainers and Dietitians that can help personalize your weight loss efforts.
• The WeightLossWar Store! Filled with helpful weight loss products for your competition.

Jun

29

Weight Loss: Ten Best and Worst Foods

Filed Under Diet, Weight loss | Leave a Comment

“Welcome to McDonald’s, can I help you?”

“Yes, I would like a 10 piece Chicken Selects, one large order of fries, and a Chocolate Triple Thick Shake”

That one meal at McDonald’s will cost you 2900 calories and 123 grams of fat. For some people trying to lose weight, that is more than two days worth of calories.  You would have to spend 8-10 hours on the treadmill to make up for that indulgence.

 With all the fast food and junk food out there it doesn’t take a lot to undo the progress you make through diet and exercise.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest a think-tank in Washington DC has a great list of 10 best and worst foods.   Take a look, it is pretty eye opening and pretty scary.