Why some people can never lose the weight

Losing weight is straight forward. You eat a good diet and you work out regularly ensuring you are burning more calories than you care consuming and voila...weight loss will follow.

However, if I had a gold coin for every time someone has told me that they are different and they are the exception to the rule and that no matter how much they work out and eat salads, they are still fat - I'd be very wealthy. I've just been reading an article based on some new research that may just prove those people right. Maybe there are some people out there who have the fat gene and there's nothing hours in the gym can do about it.

Steven Blair, a professor of exercise science has discovered that genes and hormonal balance can have a huge impact on your weight and size. Here's a selection of his findings:

1. Some people have more fat cells
Some people could have as many as twice as many than then next person which would help to explain why they may struggle so much where other find it easy to shed extra weight. Fat cells never go, they can reduce in size but they are always there - waiting to be filled up.

2. The Fat Gene is real
Fatso - that's what the fat gene is called and those with the genes are 60% more likely to be obese than those without. This may explain why some people do so many sports and physical activities and eat and balanced diet and still have a lot of extra body weight.

3. Your mother's pregnancy sealed your fate
If your mum ate very unhealthily during her pregnancy, according to these findings, a sugary and fatty diet can cause havoc to you before you're even born if the womb has higher levels of glucose and free fatty acids floating around than it needs.

There's plenty more nuggets of research in this report which are worth a look but I'm a little skeptical. I'm willing to accept that you don't have to be thin to be fit - slightly overweight people can be fit to but just unable to shift that last 10 pounds. But I'm not convinced yet that fat can be blamed wholly on genes. Maybe this report will convince you?

To discover more on the 13 things you never knew about your weight, read the full article here.


Photograph by insecurity (flickr)

Kick the bad food habits

Many people come to me frustrated that they just can’t get the results they want with their fitness and their body. Usually this happens simply because they are stuck with habits that don’t help them in their efforts to reach their goals. For example, recently someone approached me complaining they had difficulty sleeping. On further discussion it transpired they were in the habit of drinking up to 8 coffees in a day so it’s no surprise they weren’t able to sleep well. You hold the solution to everything that's stopping you losing weight and feeling fit. Only you - so isn't it time you kicked the bad habits and got on with reaching your goal? Here are some tips to make that easier.

Another common complaint is a difficulty with losing weight which often turns out to be due to a daily treats of cake or chocolate with every cup of tea and a pastry with every morning coffee. Its time to be honest with yourself about whether or not you want to lose weight and get fit and time to stop with the excuses.

Time to be honest.

Think about which of your habits may be slowing your progress, write them down and then apply the following 3 rules to kick the habit.

1. Always have a substitute. It can be difficult just to ‘not have coffee’ or ‘lay off the cakes’ so make sure you have an alternative ready for the times when you’d usually indulge. Green tea is a good alternative to coffee. Nuts are a good alternative to sugary snacks.

2. Mind your language. Stop thinking of yourself and talking about yourself as someone with the habit you’re changing. Don’t say, ‘I drink a lot of coffee’. Say instead, ‘I’m someone who’s happy with one or two coffees a day’. Or, ‘I used to drink a lot of coffee but I don’t any more’. Or even better, ‘I’m a person who drinks the right amount of coffee a day to make sure I feel great!’ Listen to what you say to others and catch yourself everytime you slip up.

3. Plan ahead. Often people picture themselves following their old routines and falling back into old bad habits so this is exactly what happens. You must picture yourself with your new habits as often as possible to make sure they stick. Visualise yourself throughout the coming day saying no to the old routine and yes to the new one and you’ll find it really easy to get through each day with new routines that support you in your desire to get in shape.

Don't waste time and energy resenting having to give up cakes / mochas / dessert - you've decided to give them up because you don't like the effect they have on your belly / skin / butt / waistline etc. * delete as applicable.

Good luck.

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photograph by anaulin (Flickr)

2 Fitness Tips To Help You Lose Weight Fast

If you’re looking to fire up your fitness results you need to consider changes you can make in two areas of your routine. 

Firstly, what you do when you work out to make each workout a maximum fat burner and maximum exertion.   

Secondly, what you can do to increase your activity levels during the course of each day so you're really burning calories all day long.

1.Play Mind Games
Earlier this week I only had time for a short run so I wanted to make the best use of the time I had. Once I’d got warmed up I followed a pattern of running 100 steps as fast as I could and then recovered for 100 steps. I kept this up for around 15-minutes and the overall intensity of the workout was definitely higher than I would have achieved had I just run at a consistent speed for the same amount of time.

You can follow the same routine to shake up with your workout. If you row, try alternating 25 tough strokes with 25 recovery strokes. If you prefer the bike try 100 hard pedal turns with 100 easy ones to get your breath back. These workouts are challenging but fun and you’ll be amazed at what you’re capable of. Prepare to sweat!

2. Get Moving
OK, this will make me sound a little strange but this morning I had a call to make which I knew was going to last an hour. As an experiment I strapped on a pedometer and did the call standing and strolling around instead of sitting at my desk. I managed to clock up 866 steps without even trying!

If I followed the same pattern for the rest of a 7 hour working day, that would make 6062 steps which is well on the way to the recommended 10,000 steps per day.

It would also mean an extra 3 miles of walking per day. That’s a marathon every 9 working days. So if you're struggling to make time for a workout, bring the workout to you! Multi- tasking is the way.

Is Wii Fit Worth All the Hype?

Since its launch, the Wii Fit has taken the US and UK by storm. Cynics have said its only useful to the VERY lazy who never workout anyway whilst others seem to rave about it. So, what if you put it to the test with various guinea pigs all of whom have different levels of fitness. Who'll still love it then? Well that's exactly what they did in this article.

Who got a good workout and would come back for more? Not who you'd think. Meet the guineapigs...

The multitasker mum who has no time to work out
The sweat hound who loves a bit of cardio
The yoga master who knows her shapes
The fitness professional
The couch potato...say no more

I could tell you know what the results were but it's a fun, short article so do try to read it if you get a moment. 

Read the full article here.

How To Get A Small Waist

Following on from fitness tips on how to get rid of bingo wings or underarm cleavage (!), and tips on getting your bum into shape for the summer, it's now the time to pay attention to defining your waist.

Health benefits apart, a defined waist makes you look good, makes your clothes look great and apparently, makes you very attractive to the opposite sex. No time to waist then....

1. The Plank

• Lie face down with your body supported on your forearms
  
• Keeping your knees in contact with the ground, life your hips off the ground until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Then lift your knees from the ground so your body forms a straight line from shoulders to ankles.
• Hold your stomach tight to keep the bridge straight while breathing deeply and evenly
  
• 
  
  Hold for 10 seconds then relax
  
  
  
• Then hold for 15 seconds and relax
  
• The more you practice this exercise, the longer you can aim to hold the position - try aiming for 60 seconds off the ground by the end of your first week.

2. Lower body twists

• Lie face up with your knees and hips at 90-degrees
• Breathe deeply and tighten your stomach muscles
  
• Keeping your knees at right angles allow your legs to roll over to one side but make sure your body remains flat on the ground - both shoulders should remain in contact with the floor
• Keep your feet and knees together throughout the movement.
  
• Repeat x 15 each side
  
  

3. Cardio work

• 
  
  If you're flabby, all the abs definition in the world will barely show through so you must carry on doing cardio work to lose the weight around your middle. You want to do this quickly so here's how: -
  
  
  
• 
  
  Forget the fat burning zone, you don't have time for that right now. Instead, do short, focused work outs pushing yourself hard. 15 minutes really building up a sweat is better than 45 mins of going through the motions.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Think of it like this, if you work at 50% of your maximum effort, getting the results will take twice as long. So knuckle down to it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Coming Up tomorrow - 2 more waist defining exercises that target the abs!
  

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I Can't Stop Craving Food!

Have you ever had the overwhelming desire to reach for your favourite meals, snacks or drinks. Have you ever felt that you’d kill for a coffee or knock old ladies out of the way to get to your favourite fast food?

Many of the people I know believe their cravings are signs that their body is crying out for some missing vitamins or nutrients contained in whatever it is that they suddenly feel they can’t live without. Safe in this knowledge they can feel less guilty about giving in to the cravings.

Sadly for many of us, scientists have yet to find any evidence that this theory holds up.

So if cravings are indeed more to do with our mental attitude than biological needs, how do we handle them?

1. Distract yourself. Whenever you feel a craving coming on, get up and do something, preferably something that immediately removes you from the part of the office where the donuts are. If you are at your desk, get up and visit the water cooler. If you’re at home, step away from the cookie jar! In both cases, when you return your craving will have passed.

2. Keep substitutes handy. If you know what you regularly crave, keep a healthier option close to hand and reach for this when the cravings begin. If cravings are due to your brain seeking pleasure, you need to train your mind to find pleasure from different sources. Try swapping chocolates for grapes & nuts.

3. Everything in moderation. No food is totally bad, most problems associated with diet these days are caused by quantity more than quality so decide in advance how much you should really have and stick to that. 2 cookies and not 6. And then allow yourself this quantity, and only this quantity, when the cravings strike.

4. Retrain your brain. Most people are on the lookout for instant pleasure and gratification. Satisfying your cravings provides this but is then often followed by guilt. If you can, train your brain to focus on the pleasure and (smug) gratification you’ll experience by being strong and resisting. You’ll be unbearable to be around but think of the good you've done!


Photograph by lamusa (Flickr)