My Weight Loss Journey

Probably the most popular fitness class in recent years is Zumba. The popularity is down to a few things. The fitness class incorporates fun energetic dance moves in a group environment which makes it a great social event. Not only that you able to burn a lot of calories, as you are constantly moving. Therefore this fitness class is particularly of interest to people wanting to lose weight. Zumba does require a certain amount of co-ordination to accomplish, but because it is so fun, if you can’t get it the first few times around, it doesn’t matter as everyone is very light hearted and generally are laughing and having a good time.

Improved Cardiovascular Health

One of the best benefits of zumba is that it will drastically improve your cardiovascular health, when done consistently. A good cardiovascular system means a good, strengthened heart, and if this system is weak, you may experience shortness in breath, and find day to day tasks difficult. In some cases can lead to a heart attack.

Weight Loss

Did you know that in 1lb of fat there are 3500 calories!

So that means if you were to shave off 500 calories a day from your diet you would lose a 1lb a week. Sounds good? Well if you managed to get in an 1hr of Zumba a day than you would burn approx 400-800 calories leaving you only to cut out 100 calories less than you would normally to reach your goal of losing a 1lb a week! Sounds even better doesn’t? Less sacrifice on cutting back to the food

Improved Coordination

If you have little co-ordination then this is a great place to start to improve it. Keeping good co-ordination becomes very important and apparent as you get older as many fall and can cause serious injury and even death. Maintained or improved co-ordination will reduce the likelihood of a fall as you get older.

Improved Mood

Everyone loves endorphins! Endorphins are what your body produces during exercise and give you that feel good factor. People with depression are advised to take up exercise as a kind of release and natural mood booster. The highest amount of endorphin is produced when taking part in cardio exercise such as dance.

Overall, Zumba is a great workout class. With a vast array of benefits, regularly going to a class will benefit you physically, psychologically, and socially. Also if you are uncomfortable with dancing in the presence of others, there are plenty of ways you can join in and be a part of the Zumba craze such as purchasing the Wii zumba fitness game which you can do in the comfort of your own home.

There is a lot of information about the best ways to lose weight without a lot of effort. The most important question in your mind likely pertains to the truth of these claims. After researching the subject, the following list emerged as the most effective methods to accomplish your weight loss goals.

Exercise is very important in any weight loss program you choose. The reason for this is not only the fact that exercise burns calories, but it also helps your body become more efficient at using the calories you consume. Muscle burns more calories than fat does, and as your body replaces fat with muscle, your metabolism also increases.

Maintaining a healthy diet is very important for weight loss. Eating the empty calories of foods high in sugar and fat is counter-productive to losing weight. Those unhealthy foods will give you a burst of energy which does not last, leaving you hungry and craving more food. Foods high in protein and whole grains provide energy for a longer time, which helps you eat fewer calories in the same time period. If you feel satisfied for a longer time you will not be tempted to eat more calories than your body needs.

Counting calories takes time and effort, but the payoff is learning which foods to eat while losing weight. Buy a little calorie counter book to carry with you, or print a list from an online site. After using the calorie information for a while you will know how many calories are in the foods you eat most often. People of different sizes and genders have varying calorie requirements. Once you know how many calories your body requires for maintenance, you can lose weight by taking in a couple hundred less calories each day. You can also estimate how many calories you burn while exercising and allow that many more added into your daily allowance. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of exercise to burn enough calories to lose even one pound of weight.

Water is very important to weight loss because it flushes toxins from your system and also supports a healthy digestive system. Water can make you feel more full and discourage you from eating more than you should. You can supplement your water consumption by drinking green tea and other healthy drinks such as flavored water. Avoid any drinks containing caffeine or sugar because they can give you a false sense of energy which quickly fades, leaving you unsatisfied.

You may find eating small meals during the day helps you feel satisfied with less food consumption. Plan those meals and snacks carefully so they do not add up to more calories than you should consume.

Losing weight is really a matter of mathematics. You need to burn more calories than you take in, which results in your body beginning to use its own fat for energy. You are going to feel hungry at first, but as your body adjusts, this will be less of a problem. Begin your diet by using some or all of these tips, and you will lose your excess weight.

Most of you going to the gym are training because you want to lose a little bit of weight and to tone up, especially those problem areas such as the bum and thighs. However, very few of you will know how to train the legs effectively to lift and tone these areas. Nor will many of you know the environmental and lifestyle factors that can cause fat storage on the hips and thighs.

Training the legs is an art and a science and first I’m going to lift the lid on some of the secrets that the fitness models use to have the perfectly tone thighs and round pert butt. Then I will talk about how to eat to drop fat in the dreaded saddle bag area.

When you are training your legs you need a periodised and progressive plan targeting different muscles of the legs such as the glutes, the quads, the hamstring and the calves. Your first stage of leg training should focus on unilateral exercises to correct any imbalances in tone and shape between the legs. This is perfect if you have one butt cheek that is slightly less pert than the other, or if the cut of the hamstrings isn’t quite right between sides. Start by focussing on one exercise for the quads and one for the hamstrings, like so:

A1. Dumbbell step up on 30cm box, 3 sets of 15-20 reps, tempo 1010, rest 60 seconds.

A2. Seated hamstring curl, 3 sets of 8-10 reps, tempo 40X0, rest 60 seconds.

(The tempo prescription 1010 means to execute the up movement in 1 second with no pause at the top and then the down movement in 1 second with no pause at the bottom. An X in the tempo prescription means you need to execute the movement as fast as possible with good form.)

Next you want to perform an exercise that focuses on developing tone throughout the entire quadriceps, whilst performing an exercise that develops the glutes and hamstring together. You might choose the following exercises:

B1. Dumbbell split squat 3 sets of 10-12 reps, tempo 3010, rest 60 seconds.

B2. Romanian dead lift with bar 3 sets of 10-12 reps, tempo 3010, rest 60 seconds.

Your final pair of exercises can target the calves and abdominals to help give your legs that slender look when you are in heels and to flatten your tummy. These exercises could include:

C1. Single leg calf raise 3 sets of 12-15 reps, tempo 2010, rest 60 seconds.

C2. Abs crunch 3 sets of 12 reps, tempo 2010, rest 60 seconds.

Hopefully you will now see that training these muscles will help, but there are no specific exercises that are going to burn the fat off the hips and thighs. Most people don’t realise that the deposition of fat in those areas is hormonally mediated. Basically the more oestrogen you have in your body (either in total – or unopposed by other hormones such as progesterone) – the more fat you will store on the lower body. This doesn’t need to be the oestrogen that your ovaries produce (as many menopausal women have saddle bags as well) but the oestrogen that is made in your fat cells and the oestrogen you come in to contact with through your environment.

The best way to lose fat off the bum and thighs is to eat a Palaeolithic style diet. The basic premise of this is so easy it’s insane. Before you eat a food ask yourself – “was this food around 10,000 years ago?” if you answer “yes” then eat it, if you answer “No” don’t eat it! For example was a chicken, nuts, carrots or an apple around 10,000 years ago – yes so eat them. Was a doughnut, snickers, pasta or bread and jam around 10,000 years ago – no so don’t eat them. Eating Paleo means you basically eat protein in the way of meat, fish, seafood or poultry with lots of vegetables and snack on nuts, seeds and fruits.

The liver’s job is to detoxify chemicals that we come into contact with, and it also has to detoxify steroid hormones such as oestrogen. The liver has 3 ways to do this – through methylation, glucuronidation and sulphation. So eat foods that provide you with a host of B vitamins (this is not grains – the best source of B vitamins is animal protein and vegetables), foods that contain sulphur (which is eggs, onions, leeks, garlic) and foods that contain glucuronic acid which is broccoli, apples and grapefruit.

There is another group of foods that are “super foods” for the liver packed full of indoles, sulphur and other nutrients that help oestrogen detoxification – cruciferous vegetables. These include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, radishes and chard. Watercress is also particularly good and is packed full on these nutrients.

Another area where women constantly fall down with their diet is that they don’t eat enough protein. Women MUST eat enough protein, especially vegetarians, as liver detoxification is also determined by amino acids not just vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Once again meat, fish, seafood and poultry provide amino acids – so doing things like juice fasts as a detox is a bad idea as juice does not contain any protein.

In this short article we’ve covered the main ways to get the toned, sculpted bottom often seen on the catwalk runways of Milan and Paris. As you can see there are no magic pills or secret workouts that bring about these results. Simply focus your workouts on the areas involved namely the bottom, thighs and hips while eating a clean diet of animal protein, fish, vegetables, fruit and nuts. If you’re new to any of this it may take a couple of months before you see substantial changes to your body but keep at it. If you’re doing a lot of these things but just need to tweak one or two key areas then your gorgeous glutes and the Rear of the Year award may be just around the corner.