Do you know if you are putting more calories in your body or chemicals?
It may sound like a silly question, but unless we're intentional about what we are putting in our body, how do we really know? I'm not saying that we have to put a calorie count on every food item and dissect the amount of macros we are consuming, but at least writing down what we eat each week gives us more insight into what we are putting into our body. Are we fueling our body with the right nutrients or are we doing more harm than good? Are we hurting our body because of what we're eating or drinking? Do we look for more temporary relief as opposed to looking at long term sustainability? Our nutrition plays an important factor in our overall health but also in our daily mood. If we struggle finding the energy to go through the day and are feeling sluggish, chances are we need to evaluate what we're putting into our bodies. And we won't have a good grasp on it unless we write down what we eat and drink. We may be eating too much sugar or junk food. We may be consuming too much alcohol. We might not be eating enough protein or drinking enough water. Making small changes to what we eat or drink will have a drastic, positive impact on our health and energy levels. So, do you need help in making that change?
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The latest edition this week is a special guest post. We have Elliot, a blogger for GunsmithFitness.com giving us 3 creative ways to lose weight while at work. If you are back to working at your desk at your office, it's important to still get some movement throughout your day. I'll let Elliot take it away: Working at a desk job for eight hours a day can make it difficult to find the time to exercise. Sure, you have plans to do so, but sometimes you are just too tired after working. Not to mention the myriad of house chores that say hello post-duty. Admit it, you spend more time than you prefer sitting in a chair--whether it is in an office or the comforts of your home. While it is less challenging, having a sedentary lifestyle is not the best for one's overall health. You might have tried putting snacks away, opting for the stairs, and standing for at least 30 minutes per hour, but these do not seem to be enough. If you cannot avoid being tied to your desk, we have some incredible news for you. You can be physically active and lose weight even from your work table. The following are simple yet creative workouts you can employ amid your hectic schedule. These not only burn calories but complement your mood, too. Incline Desk Push-Ups Your upper extremities will surely benefit from incline desk push-ups. This helps strengthen your bones as well as keep your stamina elevated. Instead of getting down on the floor, stand only a few feet away from your desk. Place your palms, shoulder-width apart, against your desk. Then, slowly lower yourself down to the edge of the desk and push yourself back up to your original position. Then repeat. Having your arms apart benefits your chest, while holding them close together is ideal for the triceps. A person weighing 180 pounds can lose 39 calories from 10 minutes of incline desk push-ups in a day not to mention the increase in strength. Chair Squats For your lower extremities, you can do chair squats. This is good for your hamstrings and glutes, while still engaging your core. Also, this is good practice if you are planning to do actual squats. To do this, stand straight with a shoulder-width distance between your feet. Lower yourself back down to the chair without (actually sitting) while maintaining an upright posture. Make sure that your shins and abdomen are of the same angle. Squeeze your glutes as you stand up to your original position, then do it again! This exercise burns 34 calories for the same amount of time. Thirty minutes of this exercise in a day can lose one more than 100 calories and build muscle. Chair Lunges You can also do chair lunges. This helps stabilize your core as well as tone your lower extremities. While keeping your abdomen tight, slowly lower yourself by placing one foot forward while holding onto a chair. Make sure that your knee is bent to 90 degrees and your thigh is parallel to the ground. Push yourself back up to your original position and do the same to your other leg, then repeat! Five minutes of chair lunges can help you burn an average of 45 calories. Remember, if you can, start your exercise with a warm-up. This can be done by stretching your body as well as by performing a decent number of jumping jacks. By exercising at your desk for 30 minutes per day, you will see results almost immediately. Imagine getting in 30 minutes of chair squats per day. That would be 500 calories by the end of your shift on Friday. That’s essentially a whole meal burned for the week. Let the weight loss begin! Losing weight is tough. There is so much information out there, it's hard to decipher what's right and what's wrong. It's difficult to know what will work for you and what won't. Feeling frustrated at times is alright, giving up is not.
When it comes to losing weight, there are a lot of ways to achieve that feat. Why don't we lose weight? There's many reasons for that. However we'll focus on two. 1) You're Not In a Calorie Deficit Putting it simply, a calorie deficit is when you are burning more calories than you are taking in. That's it. In order to lose weight you should be burning more calories than you are eating. I tend to break it down over a weekly basis. Over the course of a week, as long as you aren't eating more than you are working off, you are in a calorie deficit. You want to be aware of what you are eating. Writing down what you're eating helps so you know what you're eating each day and how much. You may think that you are eating fine, or aren't eating a lot, but when you actually write it down, you may be surprised at how much food you're consuming. How do you burn off those calories? That brings us to our next piece. 2) You're Doing Too Much Cardio If you've been running for what seems like days on end or endlessly moving from the stationary bike to the elliptical, I'm here to save you time. Cardio alone isn't going to get you to your weight loss goals. There is nothing wrong with cardio, keep doing it, but maybe we're doing too much. The most effective way to contributed to weight loss in the gym or outside of it (besides nutrition) is resistance training (also known as strength or weight training). Lifting weights isn't only to look like a bodybuilder. Adding resistance to your routine helps to trim off excess fat and get rid of those unwanted calories. When the fat reduces and we turn it into muscle, that muscle now works for us. Muscle weighs more than fat. So that muscle helps us to burn more calories throughout the day, even when we're not working out. That directly contributes to keeping us in the Calorie Deficit we discussed earlier. The muscle we get from resistance training helps us keep the fat off. There you have it. Two things you can do to start seeing weight loss if you aren't yet: make sure you're in a Calorie Deficit and resistance train. BE GREATER! I want to start out by saying this: things will never be perfect.
When I was writing out plans to start Vanbar, there were many times I put things on hold for various reasons. I don't have enough money yet. I don't have the experience. No one knows who I am. Now's just not the right time. It took some time to get over that hump and tell myself to just go for it. There was never going to be the perfect time, the perfect condition to get things started on this business now know as Vanbar Fitness. So, don't wait for the perfect time to get started on whatever it is you want to accomplish. Don't wait for the perfect time to start your business. Don't wait for the perfect time to start your brand. Don't wait for the perfect time to begin working out. I've heard so many times that "I'll start working out when I lose 10 pounds," or "I'll begin working out when I get to such and such weight". Why wait? The purpose of working out is to help you lose the weight. And why wait to accomplish your goal? Each day you wait is another day lost. We have to maximize our time and maximize each day we are given. Stop waiting. All the stars will never align to fit just how you want them. That waiting is just another way of making excuses. Let's stop the excuses and just do! Let's stop waiting and just make it happen. Don't mask "waiting" for excuses and being afraid to try because we don't want to fail. Take the step today to start. And then take the next step. And then the next step. I believe in you, so let's go! Let's BE GREATER! |
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If you have any questions, please feel free to email and contact me directly at [email protected]
All content is a product of Vanbar Fitness, LLC.
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