The thing is we all have the resources to become healthy and fit. We theoretically shouldnt have to spend a penny on it, we have roads and parks to walk/run/exercise outdoors. Most of us have stairs either at work or home to climb and do step exercise and more importantly we have our own bodies to perform numerous kind of exercises.
But we all need motivation and guidance to perform the exercise. The X box kinnect fitness is a nice system that gives you programs, monitors your progress, and sets you goals. That's what we all need. Motivation and education to fill that missing element of pursuing our goals. I see the attraction of Weightwatchers, it has a group motivational factor which is great. I personally dont approve of WW myself, unfortunately because diet is actually focussed only on just losing weight but not on adapting a healthy/nutritious lifestyle for LIFE and does not focus on the fact the weight you should be losing is body fat. You lose weight all right with all these fad diets but not necessarily in the most healthy way, I see too many people losing the weight, but then putting back on with a vengeance. The reason is simple, you just cant sustain a strict fad diet for the rest of your life. Its all about reducing bit by bit (the magic 500 calories per day deficti for those who are a little distant from the healthy body fat percentage region).
I dont want to deter anyone who are currently on weightwatchers or other fad diets but I just want to add to your knowledge for your comtemplation. Something to think about.
Similarly with nutrition, the right stuff is out there to b*y but we are all b*ying the wrong stuff. You shopping is your where your diet control is. Get your shopping right and your nearly already there.
I lost 40kg or rather I reduced my body fat from a quite obese 41% down to 15% in by making simple changes gradually over time. and reducing my calories per day by 500. And of course exercising.
Why 500 calories? Its a magic number and forms part of a simple piece of arithmatic, here goes:
500 calories per day X 7 days in a week = 3500 calories per week
As you should know calorie is energy. Body Fat is a storage of energy. And it so happens 1lb of body fat = 3500 calories.
Therefore you lose 1lb of body fat per week by making your calorie consumption deficit by 500. Add exercise and you burn further fat up to the healthy maximum of 2lbs per week.
Now I only recommend you lose 1.5lbs per week, which is still a great rate. BUT NEVER try to lose more than 2lbs per week, in fact from my personal experience I will now say 1.5lbs per week. There are several reasons. You will suffer fatigue, both physically and mentally, your metabolism lowers, ie your body will think there is a shortage of food and will try to PRESERVE THE FAT instead and you will lose muscle and water instead. It simply is not HEALTHY to lose the weight too quickly and unfortunately many fads diets make you do this.
I lost my weight by an average of 2lbs per week. I adapted and evolved a healthy eating lifestyle that I am comfortable with for the rest of my LIFE. 2lbs is actually the official maximum rate of losing weight. I SAY 1.5lbs. Why, well, everything worked out fine for me, I had gained 10% muscle, become an ametuer athlete, everything but one thing happened that wasnt very welcome...I had a little lose skin at my waste. Thankfully, its not a lot and its gradually binding back to my abs and within a year it will be ok as long as I continue exercising and eating well. So if LOOSE SKIN frightens the fmuk out of you more than anything else, please adhere to my warning. Be patient.
Thats the basic and that got me off to a great start on my own jourmey. We all need mentors and guidance. I had 2 during my journey. I first read an E book by Tom Venutu educating me in much of what I have been preaching tbh. Second, in a few months I had already made great progress and lost about 10-15kg but I was constantly stuttering with my progress by this time, so I had hired a personal trainer (an investment of £120 every 6 weeks). I basically got him to give me 4 workout session in the first week. I then continue the program on my own for the next 5 weeks, then hire him again. Why I needed to keep hiring him? Because ourt body adapts to the routine, and needs to be challenged again to avoid plateua. This approximates to 4-6 weeks. I chose 6 weeks simply to keep the costs down slightly, lol.
If you have money to invest in Losing body fat, then hands down that money is best invested in a personbal trainor, not fad diets. My PT actually gave me a diet program to follow too. Perfect. A PT shows you how to maximise the efficiency of exercising. When you exercise, dont just ride an en exercise bike while reading a magazine, no point. The whole idea of exercising is to push your body to WORK, burn those calories. When using weights (and you must do resistance exercises to compliment the cardio), use low weights in the early stages of your fat loss journey, and HIGH reps.
Anyway, good stuff boys and girls. Sorry I am not posting much for the last few days anywhere on this forum has been so busy with the work I have inthe new year, so much to do, I might be a bit scarce for the next week or 2 but not completely! And I really want to know what you're all up to.
Keep each other motivated
Oh by the way, for those of you that have an Iphone or HTC Desire or any Android based smart phone, Runkeeper Pro is now free until end of January. Get it! And please join my team, so we can motivate each other. You can use it for just simply your walks. Then we can see you've done som many miles or kilometers of walks/runs and set goals for total miles in a week. Its great.
My Marathon training is going well, as a build up I've actually enter 3 other running events which are all half marathons but one of them is in Leith Hill which apparantly is one helluva challenge because of its very steep slopes. That I will be doing in March and the other 2 on February, one in Tunbridge Wells and one in...uh I forgot!
So please hook up with me on the runkeeper if you are a walker or runner, I dont like to be alone
