What’s your 2009 health resolution?
Wishing all of you, a very happy new year! Hope you have a fantastic 2009. Don’t forget to include your fitness as part of your resolutions!
Whether your goal is a six pack, or getting into that size 2 dress, packing on serious muscle, or just to kick start your weight loss … Cheers to all our 2009 fitness resolutions!
Photo - 2009 Resolutions
So, what is your resolution for 2009? I always keep goals that have clear targets. I’ve met some. Here’s my list for the past few years:
2006- My goal was to be able to run 10 miles (16 km). I ran my first half marathon that year- 13.1 miles (21 km). In 2006, I also did my first stair climb- race up a 50 floor skyscraper. I completed it in 7.17 minutes, and ranked 26th out of over a 1000 people.
2007- My goal was to beat that time for the 2006 stair climb. I did it in 6.51 minutes and ranked 17th.
2008- The last quarter of 2007 was not good for my fitness, due to personal reasons. So, my goal was to get back into my 2007 shape. I’m still working on it. Oh well, here’s 2009 
2009- My goal is to to start swimming again, bench press 1.5 times my weight and to squat twice my body weight.
Now, you tell me yours!
Fitho is with you to help you achieve those goals. If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact us. You can email us at shridhar@fitho.in, or comment on any of our articles. We do our best to respond to comments, with our own comments!
… and some of our readers have already shared their resolutions!
10 Eating tips to reduce weight & lose fat
Our previous post was on Eating Habits that Make you Fat- how many are you guilty of? Whatever that number might be, Fitho is here to help you fix those, and convert them into eating habits that make you reduce your weight and lose the fat!
1. When you pass by a bakery, don’t walk in to get something to eat. If you’re truly hungry, eat a fruit. If you don’t have other options, get a wheat bread sandwich or a salad.
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2. During office hours, keep eating every few hours. Stress can reduce your hunger pangs, so people don’t eat assuming they’re not hungry. On the contrary, you should keep feeding your body every few hours. It has a double benefit. It keeps your metabolism up, and it helps to distract you from your work, so it reduces stress levels.
3. When you’re stressed, go for a run or play a sport. Its a great stress buster. Don’t eat. Or take your kids to the park and play with them.
4. When you’re not hungry, say no to food. Compulsive eating is big reason for obesity. People don’t know when to stop or how to stop till all the food in sight is over.
5. Instead of dessert, end your meals with a fruit. Its sweet so it satisfies your sweet tooth, and its good for you- because sugary desserts make you fat
6. When you see junk food, think of how long it will take you to burn it off, and you will not eat it. Read this to know how much exercise to burn chocolate cake calories.
7. If you see a plate of cookies, have one and move the plate out of sight. Simple trick to control your brain- ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
8. When you’re feeling down, go shop, or go for a walk, or call a friend. Don’t over-eat- it only makes you fat.
9. If you over-eat, then serve yourself 60% of your regular serving. Finish it, wait for 10 minutes, and then see if you really are hungry, or just greedy for more food.
And finally, the carnal eating habit to get fit:
10. Eat a good breakfast. It gives you energy, increases your metabolism and reduces your junk food binging. do you need more reasons?
So, adopt these habits now and start losing the fat, and the weight! To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..
..
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- Free consultation: Call 98718-00943 or SMS ‘FITHO WT’ to 56070
- Get Fitho’s Weight Loss Diet Guide worth Rs 275, for free- click here.
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10 Eating habits to gain weight
There are certain habits, that make people fat. And we’ve compiled a list of them for you. Check them out and tell us how many of them you are guilty of:
1. When you pass by a bakery, you always enter and buy some goodies.
2. During office hours, you don’t feel hungry if you’re loaded with work.
3. When you’re stressed, you find it relaxing to eat.
4. Even when you’re not hungry, you can’t say no to food.
5. Lunch and Dinner are not complete without a dessert.
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6. When you see junk food, you can’t resist it.
7. Only God can save a plate of cookies in front of you.
8. When you’re feeling down, you eat to feel better.
9. You keep eating till you feel stuffed. Basically, you over-eat.
And finally, the carnal eating habit to gain fat:
10. You don’t eat breakfast.
So, what was your count? Don’t worry if your count was high. In the next part of the article, we’ll give you a list of eating habits to make you fit!
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Lose Weight at the Bar- Drinking Strategies
Have you ever been to a bar, and seen someone really hot, but they always look like they’re drinking? Ever wondered how they are that way even though they’re pounding down the alcohol and still look so good, while you’re working your ass of in the gym, and still have that extra fat!
In the first part of this article, we gave you a list of low calorie alcoholic drinks and a list of unhealthiest alcoholic drinks to watch out for. Here, we give you some smart drinking tips.
Switch with water: After each drink, have a glass of water. It will help to fill you up, so you drink less empty calories. Alcohol dehydrates your body. With lack of water, your metabolism slows down, so you burn fewer calories. So, hydrate yourself with water.
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Eat less before the party: No, don’t starve. But if your intention of hitting the bar is to get tipsy, then you should eat less before drinking. That way, fewer drinks will get you tipsy. Fewer drinks means fewer calories.
Equate to workout: Before you order your next round of alcohol, try to think about how much work it would take to burn it off! to burn a 100 calories, an average person has to jog about 1.5 kms. A glass of red wine is about a 100 calories. Now, you want to order another 4?!
Beat the pressure: Your friends will pressure you to drink, but be stronger than that. Your friends will understand.
Be a poser: If being strong doesn’t work, order a drink that looks like alcohol. Like a dark cola with a slice of lime, or a aerated soda with a squirt of lime. No harm in posing when its good for health!
..
- Lose weight with diet plans: call (0)98108-20937 or email neha@fitho.in
- See Fitho’s weight loss success stories- lose weight, look younger & healthier
- For quality whey protein powder, weight gain supplements, email order@fitho.in
- For fitness tips on email: Simply register, or email thelist@fitho.in, or use our feed!
- Got specific questions on heath/fitness- Get health/fitness answers from experts
- Meet experts and discuss health, weight loss, muscle in our discussion forums
Low Sugar Calorie Alcholic Drinks
Most of you know that alcoholic drinks contain loads of calories and alcohol promotes fat storage in the body. If you didn’t, now you do. But we still enjoy a few drinks. Like food, not all drinks are equally bad. There are some lower calorie options. So watch what you drink at the bar, and it could be less damaging to your waistline. Below is a list of alcoholic drinks that are low calorie and low sugar as well. They are all around 100 calories:
1. Champagne, Red Wine: Per glass, both these drinks contain less than a 100 calories.
2. Diet Lime Vodka: A 30 ml shot of vodka, with diet lime soda and a splash of lime.
3. Gin & Tonic: This classic drink is also low on calories. Better yet, if its diet Tonic.
4. Diet Cuba Libre: A 30 ml shot of rum, a splash of lime and top off with diet cola.
Photo- cokctail (shrtbutfast@flickr)
Some popular drinks that are loaded with calories are: Long Island Iced Tea, White Russian, Pina Colada. Basically, all large servings of alcohol mixed with sugary juices, cream, liqueurs, etc can bust your weight loss plans.
So, next time you order that drink at the bar, order smart. Watch out for our next part- strategy on low calorie bar drinking!
To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..
..
- Get your Fitness Plans- Weight Loss, Diabetes, Personal Training, etc
- Free consultation: Call 98718-00943 or SMS ‘FITHO WT’ to 56070
- Get Fitho’s Weight Loss Diet Guide worth Rs 275, for free- click here.
- See our Weight Loss Success Stories | Health Fitness Discussion Forums
- Whey Protein| Weight Gain Supplements | Weight Loss Supplements
Eat healthy and still eat at McDonalds
Sounds unbelievable, but if you are at a McDonalds and still want to eat healthy, we have a fantastic news for you- You can do it!
The Mexican Chicken Wrap at McDonalds is a tasty and healthy option at McDonalds India. Since its got chicken, it has protein which will help build muscle and burn calories. Its not fried with much breading (the crisp stuff coating the chicken), so its not ridden with bad carbs, and will less breading, it also absorbs less fat. The most amazing part is still not over, which is the bread that it is wrapped in is not made from refined flour! We confirmed this from employees of McDonalds. The wrap bread is made from whole grains! Whole grains are high on fiber, and have a low glycemic index, so they keep you full for longer, so you won’t snack on unhealthy food.
Photo: Burger (debbiedoescakes@flickr)
The wrap is stuffed with crisp vegetables , which seem relatively raw, so they should have some fiber. The down side is that these vegetables are in a sweet, cheesy sauce- So, there is probably some sugar and fat in the sauce.
With the mix of fast dissolving and slow dissolving carbs and protein, this could make a great post workout snack to build muscle.
Overall, its a great tasting wrap. If you’re vegetarian, they also have a Paneer Wrap. Paneer is high in protein and since its a dairy product, it can help reduce belly fat- read more here.
..
- Get your Weight Loss Diet: call (0)98108-20937 or email neha@fitho.in
- Get Fitho’s Weight Loss Diet Guide worth Rs 675, for free- click here.
- See our Weight Loss Success Stories | Health Fitness Discussion Forums
- Protein Supplements| Weight Gain Supplements | Weight Loss Pills
- Got questions on heath/fitness- Get answers from fitness experts
Eat Dark Chocolate, keep your weight down!
Not all chocolates are equal. Read here for which chocolate is healthiest? A recent study showed that eating dark chocolate might help you consume fewer calories than those who did not.
Participants in the study were divided into two groups- one was fed dark chocolate, and the other, milk chocolate. A few hours after their chocolate snack, they were given pizza and told to eat till they were comfortably full. The dark chocolate group ate 15% less pizza than the milk chocolate group.
Photo- Dark Chocolate (linderrox@flickr)
Dark chocolate has a high cocoa content. Cocoa is rich in antioxidants, and antioxidants are good for your health. So, the higher the cocoa content in dark chocolate, the more the antioxidants.
Dark chocolate contains flavanoids which have shown to increase blood flow to your brain for up to 3 hours. So, while helping you manage weight, chocolate can make you smarter too!
So, is all dark chocolate good for you? The higher the cocoa content in your dark chocolate, the better it is for you. The best kind of dark chocolate is unprocessed. Processed dark chocolate can contain high sugar and fat content, so watch out before the calories add up.
Indulge in moderation
Which stretching exercise is best for muscles?
In the first part of this article, we wrote about when you should stretch, how static stretching before a workout can be detrimental, how warming up is good for your workout, and how to warm up effectively.
Instead of static stretching before your workout, try dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretches are specific to the sport or workout. For runners, an ideal warm-up might include squats, lunges and “form drills” like kicking your buttocks with your heels. Athletes who need to move rapidly in different directions, like soccer or basketball players, should do dynamic stretches that involve many parts of the body. “Spider-Man” is a particularly good drill: drop onto all fours and crawl the width of the court, as if you were climbing a wall.
Photo- Stretching Girl (danske@flickr)
Now, after your workout, you should do static stretching. During your workout, your muscles contract and expand, and go through a lot of rigour. After a strenuous workout, your muscles are sore and devoid of nutrients. Do static stretching now. Stretch each major muscle part of your body (list below). Hold each stretch for 30-60 seconds. The benefit of stretching is that it helps the muscle fibers relax, which in turn helps your body deliver nutrients faster your muscles. Stretching will help to deliver nutrients faster to your body, and thus help muscle growth. With more muscle, your body will burn more calories at rest, and thus help you lose the fat faster! Stretching post workout also reduces muscle soreness the next morning, seriously!
Below is a list of major muscles in your body, that you must stretch after your workout. In your lower body, stretch your thighs, hamstrings, calves and your glutes. In your upper body, stretch your shoulders, triceps, back, chest, abs and your biceps.
So remember .. stretch after your workout, not before. Spending those 5-10 minutes doing static stretching after your workout is very beneficial!
