Three Steps to Preparing Your Body for SummerWritten by Marjorie Geiser
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The final important step to preparing for summer is to increase your intake of water. Sixty percent of our body is water. Studies have shown that a diet adequate in water helps with weight loss, helps moisten skin, decreases dryness, can help prevent development of wrinkles, keeps hands and lips moist, can help fight heat exhaustion, and even has shown to decrease bladder cancer in men. Although there is a lot of debate over just how much water each of us needs, a good individual rule of thumb is to drink enough water so that your urine is clear by afternoon. Worry about staying up all night going to bathroom? Then drink most of your water in first half of day. Don’t like water? Then experiment with various temperatures of plain water, or add a slice of lemon or orange to your water. Perhaps you can find a flavored (not sweetened) water. Even eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and getting plenty of other fluids can be adequate for some, because these foods and other fluids also provide free water for body’s needs. Now is time to start getting ready for summer! It’s not too late. If you start on these steps now, you’ll be well on your way to feeling great, looking great, and be prepared for a new you this summer, strutting your stuff in those brand new shorts that are sitting in your closet.
Marjorie Geiser has been teaching health, fitness and nutrition since 1982. She is a nutritionist, registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and life coach. As the owner of MEG Fitness, Marjorie’s goal for her clients is to help them incorporate healthy eating and fitness into their busy lives. You can learn more about Marjorie from her website, www.megfit.com, or contact her via email at margie@megfit.com.
| | 16 Tips to Looking + Feeling GreatWritten by Jesse Cannone
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9. Make time to stretch! It has so much benefit and takes very little time. So many people suffer from various aches and pains of which most can be eliminated by basic stretches! Try to spend at least 5 minutes after each workout stretching. For more information on stretching and how it eliminates aches and pains, please call 240-731-3724 to request a FREE copy of my special report “No More Back Pain”. 10. Don’t think you need to exercise 5 days a week! I touched on this earlier. Many people feel they’re getting fat because they’re not exercising. Totally not case! Exercise is not answer! It’s all in your eating habits. However, exercise can aid in burning body fat, plus there are numerous health benefits. Think of exercise as a bonus. How many people do you know who exercise 3-5 times per week, but still fail to meet their weight loss and fitness goals? I’ve met hundreds! First look at your eating habits, such as: when you eat, what you eat, how much you eat, where you eat, and how often you eat. 11. Never skip breakfast, or any meal! If you want to maximize your fitness or fat-loss efforts you’ve got to eat breakfast! So many people skip breakfast, and it’s worst thing you could ever do when it comes to fat-loss. Skipping meals throws your blood sugar all out of whack and it sets you up to store your next meal as fat, almost guaranteed! 12. Eat fat to lose fat. Healthy fats are necessary to your body for numerous reasons: regulating hormonal production, improving immune function, lowering total cholesterol, and providing basics for healthy hair, nails, and skin. The key is to eat right types of fats. The “good’ fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and avocados, to name a few. The “bad” fats are partially hydrogenated oils, and trans fats. Most processed foods contain large amounts of these bad fats. For more information on different types of fats, please call 240-731-3724 to request a FREE copy of my Healthy Eating Guidelines. 13. Drink plenty of fresh, clean water. Yes, I know that you have probably heard this one over and over again. But there’s a reason for that – it’s that important! The recommended daily intake of water is 8 glasses, or 64 oz. You should even be drinking even more if you are active or exercise regularly. And no, soda, juice, coffee, and tea DON’T count! Nearly every chemical process place in your body, takes place in water! Proper blood flow and digestion are both affected by how much water you drink, and poor blood flow and digestion can be linked to numerous health conditions. 14. Stabilize your blood sugar! If you want to burn fat and prevent your body from putting it back on, you must stabilize your blood sugar. In order to do this you need to eat small, balanced meals or snacks every 2-3 hours. Fasting, skipping meals, and overly restrictive diets will enable you to lose weight – in short run. The weight you lose is primarily water weight and muscle tissue, and in long run has opposite effect of what you want. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it’s being starved and shifts into a protective mode by slowing down metabolism and storing nearly all calories as body fat. Plus, losing muscle tissue is last thing you want to do. Muscle burns calories, even while you sleep. You should be focused on increasing, or at least maintaining muscle tissue. 15. Focus on increasing muscle tissue. As I mentioned previously, muscle burns calories, so if you want to increase your metabolism, you have to increase your muscle. The best way to do that is with progressive strength training. That doesn’t mean you have to join a gym, buy expensive fitness equipment, or follow some bodybuilding workout program; it simply means you need to challenge your muscles! You can do that at home in just 15-20 minutes, 2-3 times a week. 16. Get help of an expert! Obviously, meeting your health and fitness goals is important to you, so why not eliminate guesswork and start seeing results you have always wanted? With help of a qualified professional you can! If your car breaks down, where do you take it? Mechanic, right? How about if you have a cavity? Dentist. So why is it that so many people attempt to solve their health and fitness problems without consulting an expert? I don’t know exactly, but I encourage you to make investment in yourself- in your life- by hiring a professional to educate you and help you meet your goals. So there you have it. The 16 essential strategies for an effective weight loss and fitness program that will have you looking and feeling great!
Jesse Cannone is a certified personal trainer and author of the best-selling fitness ebook, Burn Fat FAST. Be sure to sign up for his free email course as it is full of powerful weight loss and fitness tips that are guaranteed to help you get the results you want. http://www.guaranteed-weightloss.com
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