Thin Blog

Posts Tagged ‘cardiovascular exercise’

So you trying to lose weight and that last 20 ponds it is starting to be elusive. Maybe you are starting out on your weight loss journey and need to lose 100 pounds. Regardless of your goal you need to do one thing and only this one thing will make it all happen for you. The single most important thing you can do to lose weight is eat less calories in a day than you burn off during the day. With that being said you must take it from the back of your mind and bring it to the front of your conscious thought each and every moment of your day.

If you go into the big burger shop and order a double cheese burger with bacon and all the fixings, even the healthy tomato on top will do you little good. In order to lose 20 or even 100 pounds you need to burn more calories than you eat. It is that simple! No comes the difficult part. The part that slips up most people is the fact that you need to exercise. What is recommended by oodles and oodles of people is that you do cardiovascular exercise at least 30 to 60 minutes a day at least 4 times a week. The problem is that all too many people get into a rut and do the same exercise everyday. Monday they walk the treadmill. Tuesday they walk the treadmill. Wednesday they walk the treadmill. Thursday they walk the treadmill. Friday they are bored and stop exercising.

When you start an exercise routine do not let it get routine. There are actually two reasons for this statement. The first one is obvious, YOU GET BORED! The second (and actually more important reason) is that you need to trick your metabolism. Your body is no dummy, so when the weight loss gets tough you should shake up your exercise routine. What is really meant is that if you do the same cardiovascular exercise every time, your body will adapt and actually start to resist the weight loss.

What you need to do is more like this. Monday walk the treadmill. Tuesday use the elyptical. Wednesday go for a bike ride. Thursday you do something else. What you are doing is that you are messing with your metabolism in a positive way which will help you shed those pounds you are trying to lose.

One important aspect of cardiovascular exercise is that you need to raise your heart rate. I do not suggest you cause yourself a heart attack (go see a doctor before you start any weight loss program) but you need to go through a routine of increasing your heart rate and then allowing it to recover, all while exercising. This stress and recover cycle is very important in not only your health but also in your weight loss.

You really should consider either joining a health club or purchasing a bike or some gym equipment if you decide not to join a health club. In your decision to buy equipment you may opt for some inexpensive equipment or some top of the line equipment. If you decide to buy something you will still need to combine it with a mixture of other exercises. Bikes, Treadmills, Health Club, stair steppers or an elyptical or just plain old walking shoes. A guy or a woman, walking is still great for your health. Whatever you decide to do will require you burn more calories that you eat. It is that simple. If you choose to do nothing, chances are that choice will take a few years off your life, but hey!, it really is your choice. What ever you decide to do I wish you all the best and a long healthy life!

God Bless,

Mr. Keith

Everyday is a day to make choices when it comes to losing weight and fitness. For most people getting out to do the cardiovascular exercise on a daily basis can be most of the battle. You may have a great weight loss morning and afternoon, in your food choices, and then blow the whole day that same night. All too often people get motivated to “get healthy” and start a program and get positive results for awhile but then wander into failure. If you are, or have been in this situation then you by no means alone.

All too often individuals get discouraged or distressed and then wander into a repetitive situation that breeds failure and then more discouragement. What is meant by this is that all too often a person is dieting to  lose weight and then one day has a candy bar. Up until that point there was an imaginary barrier and that candy bar was on the other side. After the candy bar is eaten there is a feeling of failure and dejection. If not “checked” this emotion will result in more candy bars and less exercise and then total abandonment of the weight loss / fitness goals. This is, more often than not, the continuation of a perceived cycle of dieting failures because this was just one of many attempts to lose weight that resulted in failure.

A simple cure for this is to skip the “diet” and change the lifestyle. What is meant by this is that if you just try to exercise for the fitness aspect, losing weight becomes part of the equation without the ups and downs of perceived diet failures. If you can start an exercise routine you will be able to “blow” your “diet” on a Friday night every now and then. This is because if you try to get your body healthy through exercise you will not only change your body but you will also change your thinking. If you get into a routine and stick with it for awhile you will actually enjoy performing the exercise.  After it becomes a habit (14 days) your mindset starts to change and eating right is less of an issue.  It is less of an issue because the focus of your attention isn’t to just lose weight, it is to become healthier.  This will begin to manifest itself in eating less bread sticks or not loading up the baked potato.  The choices you make to eat will not be limited to diet foods but will expand to any foods.  You will just learn, and desire, to to be smarter about your food choices because you want to be able to exercise better because you want to be healthy.  When you start to eat right you will be able to stray every once in awhile because ultimately you will be back at the gym on Monday.

By starting an exercise regiment before starting a “diet” you will allow your mind to adjust to the fact that you are doing good things to your body. After awhile the food choices will become easier to decide in the direction of being healthier.  By trying to be healthy you will not have to diet because you will make better choices in not only diet, but also in quality and quantity.

I have read so many debates as to what is the best type of exercise to lose weight. For me it is a simple answer because I have found what works for me. Maybe this will help you discover your “zone” in your quest for a workout.

I have discovered that when I do interval cardiovascular training it is easier for me to drop some weight on a weekly basis. (I say weekly instead of daily because that is a more accurate tracking system.) What I mean by interval cardiovascular training is that I do not just work my heart rate to a certain point and meander through the time alloted. What the desired objective is to first warm up and then ramp up the heart rate for a about two minutes and then allow recovery time. You do not stop, you just slow down and allow yourself to catch your breath. Then after a few minutes you do it again and repeat this process over and over until you have completed your alloted time of exercise.

I find that what works for me is to take my MP3 player and listen to music that fits the format of faster and slower. I love to listen to music and it also helps my mood. I sometimes show up with no desire to even move and then after awhile I am all sweaty and wondering why I even debated on not going to the health center. The music that I chose to record really helps to satisfy my mind while the sweating is in progress.

In closing I just want to advise that what I wrote works great for me. If you want to try it then great, good for you and I hope you the best. What I have learned is that I cannot just take someone else’s ideas and go to the gym and make it work for me. You can read about it and talk about it all you want. Unless you get up, get out and start moving it is all just theory. You know you need to get up and you know you need to get moving, you just need to get started. If you struggle to get out then you are not alone. I can promise you this though….if you do get out and get moving you will feel better about yourself, your life, your marriage, your work life, your self esteem and so much more.

Cardiovascular exercise is great as long as you just do it! Save the debate for which is better for later when you are in good shape.