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New Year = Healthier You

December 28, 2017

Weight management is about metabolism. Calories = energy. This simple formula can help you maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.

The muscle in your body is like a machine, and needs calories to run. Like fuel for your car, the better the fuel, the better the machine runs.

However, when too many calories are consumed without enough physical activity, the body goes into fat storage mode. Humans have evolved, and yet our bodies still operate as if we live like cavemen. Our bodies see the lack of activity as the time to store fat for future energy, when food is scarce. Obviously, we don’t live in caves and don’t have to starve before we hunt and find food again, but you get the idea.

This is one of the reasons many people suffer with weight control challenges. There are too many readily available ways to feed ourselves and we often consume too few quality foods.

In order to burn fat and gain lean muscle, we must eat clean carbs, proteins and fats. We also have to eat enough to support our muscular and nervous systems. We cannot starve ourselves! This is what happens on crash diets, and it causes people to get frustrated and regain unwanted fat, again and again.

So, how do we put all this together?
Step 1: Become a fat burning machine from increased muscle composition.
Step 2: Maintain healthy eating habits by eating clean sources of nutrients (carbs, fats, proteins).
Step 3: Consistently work out with intensity.
Step 4: Stay hydrated.

Food and recovery are two things many people overlook. Our bodies DO NOT build muscle when we are in the gym. They do in the 72-hour window after we exercise, so, this is where rest and proper foods are important. We have to feed the machine properly for the machine to run at peak performance.

Things to remember:
• Consuming an additional 100 calories per day can cause a gain of 8-10 pounds of fat per year. The reverse is true, so if you reduce your calories by 100 per day, you should lose 8-10 pounds.

• Most people sleep an average of 7 hours a night. If you work, that’s another 8 hours a day, with an added 1 ½ hour commute. Based on that, you still have 7 ½ hours left in your day. One hour of working out daily constitutes only 13 percent of those 7 ½ hours. Yes, you have the time.
Here’s why those two items important:

• Keep a five-day food journal and add up where the calories for each meal/snack come from. I would bet you easily could find 100-200 calories you could cut.

• The weight didn’t go on overnight. That means it won’t come off overnight. It takes daily activity, effort and commitment to meet any goal.

• If you don’t want to change your eating habits, you will have to work harder by exercise to lose weight. If you simply cut 100 calories a day, that’s 3,000 calories a month, instead of burning 750 calories per week.

• You simply have to see your health, wellness and fitness as a priority. Think of it as preventive medicine.

A simple plan that’s easy to follow:
1. Eat five balanced meals a day that include fibrous fruits and vegetables with approximately 25-35 grams of protein per meal.

2. Add up your current calories per day and cut them by 100-200. More importantly, replace junk food with real food.

3. Exercise 15–20 minutes every day or pick four days a week and commit to one hour workouts on those days.

4. Strength train with weights every workout.

5. Drink water throughout the day.

Example Routine:
45 minutes (30 strength/15 cardio)
• Two body parts 15 minutes each = total 30 minutes
• Start: 5 minutes of cardio = 50 calories
• 15 minutes for first muscle group
(three exercises, five sets of 10 reps each) = 150 reps
• 5 minutes of cardio = 50 calories
• 15 minutes second muscle group
(three exercises, five sets of 10 reps each) = 150 reps
• Finish: 5 minutes of cardio = 50 calories

NOTE: The 30 minutes of strength sections need to be done quickly, with intensity and effort.

By Marcus Shanahan, contributing writer and co-owner of R2 Total Fitness.

Filed Under: Feature

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