A pound of muscle burns more calories in a day than a pound of fat, without any extra effort on our part. Unfortunately, you're not going to burn an extra 50 calories a day from an extra pound of muscle as many websites claim. The extra pound of muscle will, however, prove very valuable in the long run.
2 calories vs. 6 calories:
Studies indicate a pound of muscle will burn 2 calories a day while a pound of muscle burns 6 calories a day. So you're burning an extra 4 calories a day with each pound of fat you convert to muscle. BIG WHOOP! Right? Actually it is. That 4 extra calories really adds up. Read on.
One Year Later:
Let us say a good month at the gym results in a loss of 1 lb of fat and a gain of 1 lb of muscle. Your net weight has not changed. Each day you maintain this loss of fat and gain of muscle, your body will burn an extra 4 calories. In a week, you'll burn 28 extra calories. In a year, that's equal to 1,456 calories. That's almost an extra half pound worth of fat calories burned! For males who are looking to burn fat, one should consistently work to build muscle. No, you do not have to be a body builder or at the gym everyday. If you can maintain a routine of 3 days a week of lifting, it's very feasible to gain half a pound of muscle a month. A year routine could result in 6 more pounds of muscle. And don't forget, you're losing fat with your workouts. Now, if you can gain 6 pounds of muscle in a year, that's 8,736 extra calories burned a year by just the new muscle. (Actually it's more. I calculated that based on 4 calories burned a day. A pound of muscle really burns 6 calories a day. Expect to loss some fat, but not 6 pounds of fat from just lifting). If you're not looking to loss weight, well then that's just an extra 8,736 calories you can eat a year without gaining weight in fat. That's 58 extra beers of 150 calories a year!
Females
Most females do not want to gain 6lbs. of muscle. However, it's important for females to lift weights, even if it's just a light workout. A gain of 2 lbs of muscle over the course of the year is not going to make you look like a body builder. The idea of lifting is to become more toned, not bulky. Replace fat with muscle. A 2lbs gain in muscle with a 2lb loss of fat will result in nearly an extra pound worth of calories being burned off each year. Plus you'll be more toned!
Extra muscle helps us to naturally burn calories and maintain our weight. If you're looking to loss weight, it's great to have any extra help you can get. Those who want to gain weight, lifting is the fasted way to do so. Those of us who want to maintain our weight, converting fat to muscle will allow us to enjoy a couple more burgers a year!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Motivation to Exercise
Excuses:
Isn't it so easy to say you're headed straight for the gym when you get home from work while you're sitting in the 7am rush hour? Have you ever looked out the window at the rain and said "Well, it's raining, so I will have to push my 3 mile run until tomorrow." Yet whenever that moment arrives, another excuse replaces the old. How can we motivate ourselves in such times?
A Motivational Tip:
Motivation is key to maintaining a healthy exercise regime. I am an active runner. While training for the Chicago Marathon, I had many days in which my motivation was lacking. The last thing I wanted to do was run. I found reading a great way to get myself motivated when my energy was low. I would pick up my "Runner's World" magazine and read an article or two. Before I knew it, I wanted to get out the door and be just like the runners I read about. Use a magazine or internet article to remind you of your goal. This will push you out the door.
Workout Buddy:
Another awesome way to get motivated is a workout buddy. On days when you feel like mopping around, it's great to have a friend call you up for a night at the gym. The social aspect of the gym helps individuals get out the door. A work out becomes more fun. Join a gym that your good friends belong to, and before you know it, you wont have to motivate yourself everyday. Your friends will do that for you.
Isn't it so easy to say you're headed straight for the gym when you get home from work while you're sitting in the 7am rush hour? Have you ever looked out the window at the rain and said "Well, it's raining, so I will have to push my 3 mile run until tomorrow." Yet whenever that moment arrives, another excuse replaces the old. How can we motivate ourselves in such times?
A Motivational Tip:
Motivation is key to maintaining a healthy exercise regime. I am an active runner. While training for the Chicago Marathon, I had many days in which my motivation was lacking. The last thing I wanted to do was run. I found reading a great way to get myself motivated when my energy was low. I would pick up my "Runner's World" magazine and read an article or two. Before I knew it, I wanted to get out the door and be just like the runners I read about. Use a magazine or internet article to remind you of your goal. This will push you out the door.
Workout Buddy:
Another awesome way to get motivated is a workout buddy. On days when you feel like mopping around, it's great to have a friend call you up for a night at the gym. The social aspect of the gym helps individuals get out the door. A work out becomes more fun. Join a gym that your good friends belong to, and before you know it, you wont have to motivate yourself everyday. Your friends will do that for you.
The 100 Calorie Diet
The 100 Calorie Diet:
No, I'm not suggesting you only eat 100 calories a day. First, calculate how many calories you need to consume to keep your current weight. Then, reduce that number by 100 calories to obtain your new calorie daily intake for weight loss. For example, if you must eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain your weight, eat 1900 calories a day to loss weight.
Expect Results:
Weight loss is all about the numbers. If you eat 100 calories less a day than you expend for an entire year, you will have eaten 36,500 calories less during that year (365 days times 100 calories). A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. A reduction of 100 calories in you diet equates to a loss of almost 10.5lbs of fat. If you're looking to just drop 5 lbs, then just reduce your recommended calorie intake by 50 calories. Attempting to lose more than 10 lbs in a year is doable, but the diet is likely to be unsustainable, read on...
Why This "Diet" Works:
Even though this technically a diet, I consider it more of a lifestyle change. If you want to loss weight, you have to change your eating habits over the course of a lifetime. Eating 300 to 400 less calories a day than your body needs to maintain it's weight is unsustainable. Even though you may see quick results, this style of eating cannot last a lifetime. Starving ones self is just not a practical way to lose weight. Most diets end before goals are reached. By reducing calorie intake by only 100 calories, the weight will come off in time. Patience is a virtue, especially with weight loss. If you start now, you can drop 6 lbs before summer 2010!
No, I'm not suggesting you only eat 100 calories a day. First, calculate how many calories you need to consume to keep your current weight. Then, reduce that number by 100 calories to obtain your new calorie daily intake for weight loss. For example, if you must eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain your weight, eat 1900 calories a day to loss weight.
Expect Results:
Weight loss is all about the numbers. If you eat 100 calories less a day than you expend for an entire year, you will have eaten 36,500 calories less during that year (365 days times 100 calories). A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. A reduction of 100 calories in you diet equates to a loss of almost 10.5lbs of fat. If you're looking to just drop 5 lbs, then just reduce your recommended calorie intake by 50 calories. Attempting to lose more than 10 lbs in a year is doable, but the diet is likely to be unsustainable, read on...
Why This "Diet" Works:
Even though this technically a diet, I consider it more of a lifestyle change. If you want to loss weight, you have to change your eating habits over the course of a lifetime. Eating 300 to 400 less calories a day than your body needs to maintain it's weight is unsustainable. Even though you may see quick results, this style of eating cannot last a lifetime. Starving ones self is just not a practical way to lose weight. Most diets end before goals are reached. By reducing calorie intake by only 100 calories, the weight will come off in time. Patience is a virtue, especially with weight loss. If you start now, you can drop 6 lbs before summer 2010!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Simple Tips to Reducing Calorie Intake
A simple way to reduce calorie intake is to monitor the calories consumed by mentally keeping a tally of the calories consumed throughout the day. This takes some effort in the beginning because you will have to do some research on the foods eaten on a daily basis. However, after some time, it wont be difficult to have a relatively good idea of how many calories are on your plate without looking it up. Not only is the research useful for general knowledge, it can be very revealing in how many calories are in many of societies favorite foods.
Each meal, keep a mental tally of your estimation of the calories consumed. Even though it's not scientific, people find monitoring calories on a daily basis will reduce overeating. Based on my height, weight, and activity level, I usually give myself a range of 2,200 to 2,500 calories to work with a day. As I tally up my meals and snacks, I keep in mind how many calories I have "left" in my daily total. This stops me from munching on extra snacks before bed or eating that extra piece of chocolate at lunch knowing it will cost me too many calories.
Why does this mental tally work? It makes individuals conscious of what they are eating. As individuals learn about the foods they consume, they can start to substitute the high calorie foods with lower calories substitutes, making it easier to stay in one's own daily calorie range. It also allows individuals to estimate their fat loss over time. By constantly keeping a tally of calories consumed and comparing it to an estimated number of calories expended, one can get a great idea of how much fat they can expect to lose. Remember, 3,500 calories equals 1 lb of fat.
So start tallying your meals. Here's a great site to get calorie information: http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/ It's fun to then compare your estimated calories expended to see if you're plus or minus for the day. Here's a site for that: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc
Greetings
The goal of my blog is to provide healthy living tips that I have found extremely helpful in my life and are easy for others to implement in theirs. Hopefully others will find these tips as useful as I have!
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