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| "The Way to Health & Vitality" |
By:
John Williamson |
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It's time to start a Healthy life:
your 7 days program
How many times have you gone to sleep at night, swearing
you'll go to the gym in the morning, and then changing your
mind just eight hours later because when you get up, you
don't feel like exercising?
While this can happen to the best of us, it doesn't mean you
should drop the ball altogether when it comes to staying
fit. What people need to realize is that staying active and
eating right are critical for long-term health and wellness
-- and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.
The more you know about how your body responds to
your lifestyle choices, the better you can customize a
nutrition and exercise plan that is right for you. When you
eat well, increase your level of physical activity, and
exercise at the proper intensity, you are informing your
body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fuel.
This translates to burning fat more efficiently for
energy.
In other words, proper eating habits plus exercise equals
fast metabolism, which, in turn gives you more energy
throughout the day and allows you to do more physical work
with less effort.
The true purpose of exercise is to send a repetitive message
to the body asking for improvement in metabolism, strength,
aerobic capacity and overall fitness and health. Each time
you exercise, your body responds by upgrading its
capabilities to burn fat throughout the day and night,
Exercise doesn't have to be intense to work for you, but it
does need to be consistent.
I recommend engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise four
times per week for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and
resistance training four times per week for 20 to 25
minutes per session. This balanced approach provides a
one-two punch, incorporating aerobic exercise to burn fat
and deliver more oxygen, and resistance training to
increase lean body mass and burn more calories around the
block.
Here's a sample exercise program that may work for you:
* Warm Up -- seven to eight minutes of light aerobic
activity intended to increase blood flow and lubricate and
warm-up your tendons and joints.
* Resistance Training -- Train all major muscle groups. One
to two sets of each exercise. Rest 45 seconds between sets.
* Aerobic Exercise -- Pick two favorite activities, they
could be jogging, rowing, biking or cross-country skiing,
whatever fits your lifestyle. Perform 12 to 15 minutes of
the first activity and continue with 10 minutes of the
second activity. Cool down during the last five minutes.
* Stretching -- Wrap up your exercise session by stretching,
breathing deeply, relaxing and meditating.
When starting an exercise program, it is important to have
realistic expectations. Depending on your initial fitness
level, you should expect the following changes early on.
* From one to eight weeks -- Feel better and have more
energy.
* From two to six months -- Lose size and inches while
becoming leaner. Clothes begin to fit more loosely. You are
gaining muscle and losing fat.
* After six months -- Start losing weight quite rapidly.
Once you make the commitment to exercise several times a
week, don't stop there. You should also change your diet
and/or eating habits,' says Zwiefel. Counting calories or
calculating grams and percentages for certain nutrients is
impractical. Instead, I suggest these easy-to-follow
guidelines:
* Eat several small meals (optimally four) and a couple of
small snacks throughout the day
* Make sure every meal is balanced -- incorporate palm-sized
proteins like lean meats, fish, egg whites and dairy
products, fist-sized portions of complex carbohydrates like
whole-wheat bread and pasta, wild rice, multigrain cereal
and potatoes, and fist-sized portions of vegetable and
fruits
* Limit your fat intake to only what's necessary for
adequate flavour
* Drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water throughout the
day
* I also recommend that you take a multi-vitamin each day to
ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your
body needs.
I suppose that's all I can think of for now. I should extend
my thanks to a doctor friend of mine. Without him, I
wouldn't be able to write this article, or keep my sanity.
Enjoy life, we all deserve it.
You'll find many more useful information and articles
at Health & Vitality - to Enjance Your Life.
Health & Vitality for all your life-enhancing and personal
development products and offering FREE Health eBook
and regular Health & Vitality Newsletter.
http://www.health-vitality.com |
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