The Importance of Keeping Your Heart Strong and Healthy

The heart is the most important organ in your body and there is absolutely no doubt about that. The heart is a muscle and just like any other muscle, it needs to be worked and kept healthy.

The unfortunate thing is that most people neglect to strengthen their hearts. Even avid gym goers, especially the guys who lift the heavy weights neglect to exercise their heart which is actually the most important muscle.

The heart can only be worked through cardiovascular exercise. You will need to be panting and gasping for air when you exercise for your heart to get a good workout and get stronger. Resistance training though beneficial has only limited benefits.

Cardio training is usually tiring, involves sweating profusely and generally is not fun. Being breathless at the end of an intense workout is your body’s way of saying that your heart got a good workout. The question is… Are you willing to endure the pain of an intense cardio workout?

This article hopes to convince you that the answer should be a strong yes.

A strong heart does not tire easily. You can go about your day actively and not feel drained or exhausted by the end of the day. You heart will be better able to handle life’s daily stresses. For example, if you are running late for work, you will be able to sprint to your office and make it just on time without feeling half dead by the time you reach. This is a simple example, but you get the idea.

A healthy and strong heart also beats at a lower rate when it’s resting. Overweight people have hearts that are overworked. That’s why you see them panting for small things like walking to the shop or climbing a flight of stairs. The heart is weak and not able to function well.

The heart is a miraculous organ and has the ability to heal and restore itself. It is never too late to train your heart. Daily exercise will show improvements within about 3 weeks because the heart is a very responsive muscle.

Many out of shape people who start walking or jogging daily are able to report improvements in their stamina and recovery. The heart craves exercise and responds very well. It’s much easier to build stamina than it is to build muscle. Yet, this is neglected because it’s tiring and you can’t show off a strong heart the way you can flash a big bicep.

Even a heart that has been affected by heart disease can be healed and helped through exercise and a healthy diet.

A 15 minute workout with just you and a skipping rope will be wonderful. The beauty about working out your heart is that it does not require hours of hard training. A short 15 minute heart pounding workout three times a week will keep your heart in great shape and working well. Of course, if you can afford more time, that would be great and will keep your heart in tip top shape.

Finally, common sense will indicate that other than exercise, you should avoid smoking, sleep well, have a diet rich in fiber, avoid excessive consumption of alcohol and see your doctor every now and then to check up on your health. If you do all this, you will have a strong and healthy heart that will keep going for a long time.

The Best Fat Burning Workouts

Losing weight and burning fat requires time, effort and sacrifice. It goes without saying that you will only lose weight in a healthy way if you combine the right exercises with a proper diet and keep up the regimen with consistency and purpose.

This article will focus on the exercise aspect of your weight loss program. You will need to do the correct exercises to burn as much fat as possible. If you’re not maximising your workouts, you’ll not burn fat fast.

This will demotivate you and make your fat loss journey a struggle. Like a hamster spinning a wheel, you’ll be doing a lot but not getting anywhere. Observe the tips below and watch the fat melt off your body in record time.

The key to losing fat quickly is combining cardio with resistance training. The reason most people don’t reach their fat burning potential is because they only do one and not the other.

Cardio refers to cardiovascular activity and it is the cornerstone to weight loss. Walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing and skating are examples of cardio activities. Basically, any exercise that raises your heart rate for a continuous period of time can be considered a cardio activity.

The more intense your cardio workout, the more calories you will burn and if your diet is good, you will burn off more fat. Cardio activities should last for 30-60 minutes. It should never go on for more than an hour at a time.

There is often strong debate about whether one should engage in fast cardio or slow cardio. Another hot topic is if you should do cardio on an empty stomach.

The best advice I can give you is this. Cardio at any time is good but you will burn fat faster if you do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. However, do it at a moderate pace. If your cardio is too strenuous, you’ll burn precious muscle.

It’s always advisable to alternate between slow and fast cardio on different days to spice up your training and keep your body guessing.

The next part of your workouts should be resistance training. That means working out with weights, resistance bands or other muscle building apparatus.

The heavier the weights, the more calories you burn and the faster you drop those pounds. Your body burns more calories when it has more muscle.

Women often feel that working out with weights will give them a masculine body. This is a common misconception. Weight training will tone up their thighs, butt and give their body a fit, feminine shape.

Building muscle is not easy and most men themselves, struggle with it. So, women can rest assured that resistance training will make them fit and fab without turning them into the Hulk.

Resistance training should last for about 30 to 45 minutes. That should be sufficient to raise your metabolic rate and make you a fat burning machine. The goal here is to burn fat, improve your muscle tone and raise your metabolism.

Both cardio and resistance training must be combined for you to have the best fat burning workouts.

For example, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays you could do weight training. On the other days, cardio would be your choice.Or you may wish to work out with weights for about 30 minutes and follow it up with a 30 minute run.

This would be an excellent workout. Combine both and you will have workouts that will burn the most stubborn fat in no time at all.

Is It Difficult To Lose Weight?

If you look at the ads for diet pills or the weird contraptions being sold on those late night infomercials, you’ll probably think it is easy to shed those pounds. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Losing weight is one of the hardest things to do. This probably explains why so many people give up on their fitness goals or break their New Year’s fitness resolutions.

Losing weight is a long, tough road paved with sweat and in some cases tears. The concepts of weight loss are pretty straightforward. Consume less calories than you expend. Combine cardio and resistance workouts. Eat healthy. Avoid the fatty foods and so on so forth.

So, what makes it so difficult?

Implementation. It’s applying these concepts that is so difficult. Eating less requires sacrifice. Most people are into the habit of eating whatever their hearts desire. Cakes, ice cream, pizza and all the other comfort foods make people happy. Giving up these high calorie foods means sacrificing short term happiness and nobody likes that.

Furthermore, eating poorly is a habit. So, by attempting to eat right, you’ll be breaking a bad habit. This is extremely difficult. Most habits are hard to break.

To make matters worse, exercise is required to burn fat. Often for periods of 30 to 60 minutes. This involves sweating, panting, gasping and pain. Exercise is not exactly fun for those who are fat or obese. They are not used to it. Once exercise becomes a part of your life, you’ll do it more willingly but even then, it’ll take motivation.

Not only is it painful to sacrifice your favourite foods but now you have to torture yourself with exercise daily. It’s a double whammy. Sacrifice and effort. It’s so much easier to gain weight. Just sit on the couch, watch tv and eat whatever you want , whenever you want.

It doesn’t take effort to gain weight. In fact, gaining weight is not only easy but it’s fast. This is the third annoying fact.

Why?

Because it takes a much longer time to lose fat that it does to gain it. This is the main reason that most people give up.

They do not see the results fast enough. An hour of intense exercise only burns about 400 to 500 calories. One slice of pizza contains about 300 calories. Eat two slices and you have cancelled your workout.

Can you imagine that? 1 hour of sweat and hard work gone with just two slices of pizza. That’s enough to break most people’s hearts.

Losing weight is a slow process. You will need to be on the right diet for quite some time. Depending on the amount of weight you need to lose, it could be a diet that you have to keep up for months. During this time, you will need to exercise as often as you can and not slip up on your diet.

A long, difficult process, to say the least. As difficult as it may be, you should stay on the path and not give up. You will reach your goal if you persist.
Once you have lost the fat and reached your desired goal you will feel a sense of achievement and happiness that no comfort meal can give you. The daily exercise and training will have you looking fit and feeling good. All the sacrifices will be worth it.

Is Going On a Detox Diet Plan a Good Idea?

The theory behind a detox diet plan is that our bodies and organs accumulate toxins through years of eating the wrong foods, breathing in polluted and drinking water which have chemicals in them. By going on a detox diet, we’ll be able to flush out the nasty toxins and rid our body of them.

Is this theory valid?

Unfortunately, it is. There are several negative effects of having toxins build up in our body. Skin that ages faster, cellulite, headaches, constant fatigue and aches are all symptoms of toxic build up in your body.

Therefore, it is an excellent idea to go on a detox diet plan for a few days before embarking on a weight loss program. The fat in your body is filled with toxins. Fat binds the toxins in your body to keep you safe.

Once you go on a detox diet, you’ll flush your body of toxins and it will be much easier to burn the fat. A detox diet plan can last for 3 days up to 7 days. A detox plan is not meant to be long term and it’s not meant for fat loss. It’s to detoxify your body.

So what is a detox diet plan like?

Before going on a detox diet plan, you should be aware that not all plans are created equal. Some are too strict and torturous to the point that they are not advisable. You need to do due diligence and see if the plan you are embarking on is sensible and not unbearable.

There are several examples of detox diets.

One method is to only consume 1 particular type of fruit for a period of 3 days. You are not allowed to eat anything else but that one fruit. You will also need to drink copious amounts of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it.

During a detox diet, it is advised that you only consume distilled water. You will have to drink about 64 ounces a day.

There are several detox diets that can be found online using Google search. Listing out all the detox plans is beyond the scope of this article. However, what I wish to impress upon you is that detox diets are good for you.

Embark on a simple 3 day program and enjoy the benefits of a healthier body. If a detox diet plan seems too harsh, you may wish to slowly detoxify yourself over a long period of time. You will eat only single ingredient foods such as broccoli, chicken breast, carrots, etc.

These are foods that are not processed and don’t have preservatives added to them. Steam your food and eat while hot. The less salt and artificial seasoning you use, the better. The theory behind this is simple.

If you stop overloading your body with toxins from bad food choices, over time your body will automatically cleanse itself of toxins. This is a less trying method and easier to follow.

You will need to change your eating habits and constantly think about how to eat healthy. In the beginning, this will not be easy. But with time, it will come naturally and the results will amaze you. You will feel so good that you will adopt healthy eating for life.

2 Secret Methods for Easy Weight Loss

Anybody who has been struggling to lose weight will testify that burning fat is anything but easy. After a week of slogging it out at the gym, they may lose half a pound. It can be very disappointing. 

This article will give you 2 secret methods that will help you to lose weight without too much torture. Of course, you will need to do the harder workouts and watch your diet too but these 2 methods will help you lose more weight.

Secret 1 – Go for a 30 minute brisk walk every morning when you wake

In the morning when you just wake up, your stomach is empty and your body’s glycogen levels are low. When you engage in cardio activity in this fasted state, your body immediately starts burning your fat as a source of fuel.

At any other time, your body will burn the food that you ate for energy.  So, by walking on an empty stomach, you will burn the fat immediately.

The secret here is to walk at a moderate pace. It has to be brisk but not too fast. You should be able to hold a conversation and not be panting. At the same time, your brisk walk should raise your heart rate.

Do this daily for 2 weeks and you should see your weight dropping. It goes without saying that your diet must be sensible.

Secret 2 – The power of intermittent fasting

This technique is not talked about much because many people are not even aware of it. In a day there are 24 hours but you will only eat during an 8 hour window.

First, you will need to calculate your calorie requirements for the day. You can do this by visiting this website http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Check and see how many calories you need to consume to achieve fat loss. Once you have that number, you will know exactly how much you should be eating.

Now, assuming you wake up at 7am, you will want to start eating as late as possible. Contrary to popular belief, breakfast is not the most important meal of the day.

I understand that this may be a shocker but if you will give this method a try, the results will speak for themselves.

Back to the example, if you wake up at 7am, you may wish to have your first meal at 11am. From the time you start your first meal, you have an 8 hour eating window. That means, you should have your final meal for the day by 7pm(eight hours later).

Within this 8 hour window, you must consume all your required calories for the day. This would be the number you got earlier.

So, you will still be getting all your nutrition and calories for the day but you can only eat within the 8 hour window. What this does is that it gives your body 16 hours to digest the food and burn fat during this time. 

In the beginning, getting used to this way of eating may be difficult and inconvenient. However, once you figure out the arrangements and get used to eating in this manner, you will be stunned by how fast you shed the pounds.

This is one of the most powerful and effective methods of losing weight. Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised.