Guide to Weight Loss
Weight loss is important for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it promotes health in a number of ways; it places less strain on vital organs such as the heart, kidneys and liver for example. It also promotes immunity by preventing infectious diseases and by increasing good cholesterol. Not only this, but weight loss can create an aesthetically pleasing appearance. It improves the feel-good factor and also makes you feel more recognised in society for the right reasons.
There are lots of different techniques to aid weight loss which can be accompanied through exercise and diet.
Diet
As the saying goes; you are what you eat! By eating well will aid in living a long healthy life. The general rule with dieting is to consume less calories than you burn. This looks at your metabolic rate or Basal metabolic rate (BMR). To calculate the BMR you must use this formula
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)
Source : http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/bmr-formula.php
The purpose of calculating your BMR is due to the fact that you can calculate your daily calorie intake. Not only that but it creates a more specific approach to your weight loss goals. For instance, your needs will be completely different to someone else who wishes to lose weight.
If someones BMR is 1600 calories and another persons is 1900 calories. If both were consuming 1600 calories, then the person consuming 1900 will lose more weight. Now you see how important it is to establish your BMR for your weight loss goals.
Exercise more and well
There are all sorts of techniques you could use to achieve your weight loss goals. For example, you could primarily use cardiovascular training or use weight training or use a combination of the two.
Cardiovascular training is both popular and useful for weight loss in a variety of ways. Firstly, any exercise of this magnitude increases your metabolic rate. This means that your body will be more ‘tuned’ to burn excess calories and lose weight. CV training can be associated with the fat burning zone. This refers to the number of beats your heart pumps per minute and the zone in which will burn fat. The formula of the fat burning zone is (220 – Age) x 0.75
Example of a 20 year old: (220 – 20) x 0.75 = 150
By applying this to a 20 year old, we can see that it takes 150 b.p.m (beats per minute) to burn fat and promote weight loss.
In conclusion, it is important to accompany both exercise and diet to establish an effective weight loss program. It is also important to look at yourself as an individual and look at various formulae such as your BMR and fat burning zone to make it more specific to your needs. This will enable you to create an effective program.
Go for a Group Fitness Class!
It is not easy to push yourself to exercise and work out just by yourself. Many find it difficult to know what routines to do without the help of a personal trainer. With that said, group fitness becomes the latest trend today. What are the benefits of group fitness classes?
1. Classes fit right to busy people, for those who are overloaded with work, busy with their daily obligations. On average, the fitness class meets about twice a week and lasts around 40 minutes to an hour.
2. You will see the results in no time. Anyone who commits to a fitness routine expects to get results. Experts agree that group fitness is one of the fastest ways to get your body in shape.
3. In every session, muscles of the body are targeted and strengthened. Thus, the body gets toned all at once.
Group fitness workouts come in a few different varieties. You may opt to play team sports; sign up for aerobics classes at the local gym or form your own fitness group.
