Tag: Loss

5 Fitness Tips on Fat Loss and Muscle Gain

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One of my challenges for the month of May is to add a decent amount of muscle while losing fat. I have not done any measuring. I weigh myself once a week or less and look at myself in the mirror a lot. I am also well aware of my energy levels throughout the day as well as my fitness progress.

About a week and a half ago I did 14 straight pull-ups. I will test myself again in June. If I manage to do 20 then I would say its pretty clear I have gained a fair amount of muscle while losing fat. If I beat my 8:33 time in the Primal Blueprint Fitness Challenge then I will be certain that my fitness capacity has expanded.

The following tips are my personal fitness tips in order to gain muscle and lose fat. I do A LOT of reading. This includes The 4 Hour Body which I dove into last night. I am not an expert but am progressing at a reasonable rate while loving life.

1) Quit Cardio

It is completely unnecessary. Two summers ago I thought I enjoyed running. I ran in 9 5 Kilometer runs over 2 summers in shoes. My best time was 21:03 which is about a 6:47 mile pace. In reality I hated it. I love to compete but running sucked ass. I love to hike and jog barefoot or in my Vibram Five Fingers. I will run in 5 kilometer in the future but will gladly take a 30 minute finishing time while running barefoot.

When you engage in long and intense cardio you get hungry. You then eat to make up for it. This is the main reason why most diets fail. Unless you want to starve yourself then quit cardio. It does nothing except harm you.

A brisk walk, jog, hike or any other activity that has you moving frequently at a slow pace is perfect.

2) Don’t Go to Failure

When lifting heavy things, such as your body, go as close to failure as possible without going to failure. Why do I advise that you don’t go 110%? Because you will be sore the next day and will hate it. At least this is where I stand. I engage in a very intense primal fitness challenge once per month. I am sore for the next 2 days. I would literally hate my life if this was the case after every intense strength workout I did.

Go intense. Be smart. Enjoy the workout. Feel amazing.

3) Focus on Proper Form

I have been really focusing on form this month. Ten picture perfect push-ups is a hell of a lot better than twenty quick, half-hearted push-ups. Go slow and concentrate on what you are doing.

I also think of symmetry. For a pull-up most of us will pull ourselves up and then drop down as quickly as possible. I have been slowly lowering myself down. Guess what? I am able to do …

The Health Benefits of Juicing and Weight Loss

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You can take fruits as whole, blend them with the pulp or juice them. Juicing is the process of squeezing the juice out of fruit or vegetable without the pulp.

When juicing, you are restricted on the food groups and maybe calories. Many people are skeptical of the health benefits that come from juicing.

However, if you are looking forward to losing weight, juicing is a great way to achieve your objective quickly. This is especially true if you make juice out of vegetables and reduce fruits with high sugar content like mangoes and bananas.

Health benefits of juicing

1. Juicing ensures more nutrient absorption in the body. This is because the body doesn’t have to digest fiber. When you take the juice, nutrients are introduced directly into your blood stream. Juicing therefore ensures effective absorption of nutrients without having to eat too many vegetables during the day.

2. Juicing allows you to intake a wide variety of vegetables. You can juice carrots, kales, spinach, celery and so much more. There are so many recipes and options; you are only limited by the vegetables and fruits available to you.

3. Juicing can improve digestion by introducing healthy enzymes which make the gut work optimally. Introducing good bacteria to the gut and removing toxins improves your overall body health. Vegetables and fruits are rich in prebiotics which introduce healthy enzymes and bacteria into the gut.

4. Juicing lowers high cholesterol levels in the body. While juicing, you significantly reduce your intake of high cholesterol foods and your body turns to fat for energy which lowers cholesterol and overall body fat percentage. But it is not the juicing in itself that lowers high cholesterol; it is the overall change in diet! Avoid intake of fried foods and unhealthy fat.

5. Juicing helps to detoxify the body. It removes toxins from the gut and replenishes the same with nutrients. Juicing also gives your digestive system time to rest since there is no intake of fiber that the gut needs to digest.

Juicing and Weight Loss

In a study to show whether juicing aids weight loss, 20 healthy participants consumed 6 bottles of different juices a day for three days. After the three days, the participants lost an average of 1.7 kgs. Two weeks after the cleansing, it was found out that their weight remained an average of 0.91 kgs less than before.

Juicing is effective in aiding weight loss; and it works even better when accompanied with a complete change in diet. You should also engage more in physical activity and avoid a sedentary lifestyle.

There are many juice blends or recipes you can use when juicing. You can also choose to do juicing together with a diet: only take juices for a certain period or take them together with supplements. However, it is important to note that juicing is not a long term solution to weight loss or wellness. It should be done occasionally to improve gut health or aid in weight …