BenchFit Sculpt
March 21, 2007
BenchFit Sculpt: Vital Facts
Just about everywhere you look, you see offers to slenderize, tone, and whittle your body down to a leaner machine. And remarkably, these adds offer results in a few weeks, such as 20 pound weight losses, several inches “melted” from the abdomen, and of course a new clothing size, a few sizes smaller than your starting size. The reality is, these programs don’t work. Rapid behavior change with exercise and dieting does not lead to long-term success, but rather sets up a yo-yo cycle of weight gain and loss. Here is an outline of medically proven tactics to “sculpt”, identifying workout tactics and calorie basics. When you gradually add more exercise to your life, and make healthier food choices more often, your fat cells shrink, boobs, bellies and buns included! Having a more slender waist reduces your risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer…but if you become too thin (models!) you will get osteoporosis! The key is to increase your powerful lean mass (muscle) and reduce your fat mass (adipose), with calorie-savvy eating, and exercising regularly in an activity that you enjoy.
Workout Tactics: Vital Facts
1.Divide and conquer. If you do not have thirty minutes or more in a day to exercise, break it up into smaller sessions, such as three ten minute sessions, or, two fifteen minute sessions.
2.Combine cardio with strengthening. Walking, running, biking, elliptical trainers, and step programs all are tops on the favorites list, and for variety you could alternate ten minutes bike with ten minutes treadmill, then ten minutes elliptical. Strengthening can be performed sandwiched in between cardio workouts, or performed before or after, with machines or free weights. (Of course warm up for a few minutes before working out).
3. Work up to a greater intensity level with exercise per your tolerance level; the more intense the exercise, the more calories you will burn. For example, you could lift light weights for an hour, or lift medium to heavy weights for half an hour and accomplish the same calorie burn. It can take months to safely build up to a moderate to heavy weight lifting level, so follow a personal training outline for safety. (See FITT Formulas on Benchfit.com)
4. Add intervals to our cardio workout; rather than plodding along at a steady state, push the envelope to a little more exertion for thirty to sixty seconds several times during the workout. Ideally, you are burning 300 calories or more per workout with at least a half hour program of cardio exercise. Workout for one hour and burn 600 calories or more, depending on your height, weight, and exercise intensity.
5.Make it easy to exercise by keeping sneakers in your car to be able to take a spontaneous fitness walk or run, keep an exercise (Swiss) ball in your living room or bedroom to workout with, and keep weights near where you watch TV.
6. Choose your exercise style that you enjoy, perhaps outdoor hiking and calisthenics, or a power yoga routine, or country line dancing, or active gardening.
7. Outline a plan with goals, such as walking the dog thirty minutes three times a week, and weight lifting and performing tai chi, each two times a week. Journal your reflections on your experiences. A plan, goals, and logging workouts and your personal reflections will help you to keep on track. Plodding along without a plan and goals is like taking a trip without a destination, or a map.
8. Engage a family member or workout partner to exercise with you. Share your goals, and hold each other accountable for those goals.
9. Try a new DVD, Class, or Exercise instruction book to offer you new ideas, stimulate your body, and enliven your life.
10. Recruit an experienced personal trainer to help you perform and advance safely through a workout series.
Nutrition: Vital Facts
Calories are scientifically identified as units of energy, or more specifically, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. Food has a caloric value based on the amount of energy or heat it will take to “burn”, and have you heard the expression “A MOMENT ON THE LIPS, FOREVER ON THE HIPS?” High calorie food intake results in “stored” energy in our bodies if we exceed what we need to burn on a daily basis.
Calorie basics: Calories consumed with food and beverages, and calories burned with exercise, create either a nice balance point where we are happy with our weight, or we may be out of balance and struggle to lose pounds and tone our body. To “lose” a pound, we have to have a deficit or reduction of calories on a weekly basis, totaling 3500 calories. There are 3500 calories in a pound. The BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT is to combine smart eating (calories in) with calories burned (calories out) with exercise.
Here is a sample plan as to the calorie deficit required to “lose” 1/2 pound a week, or
1 pound a week. Yearly totals lost would be 28 pounds, up to 56 pounds!
To lose 1/2 pound a week;
burn 125 calories a day with exercise, and reduce intake by 125 calories a day.
(slow and relatively easy method).
To lose 1 pound a week;
burn 250 calories a day with exercise, and reduce intake by 250 calories a day.
(faster method requiring a greater commitment to calorie counting and exercise)
Tracking calories consumed with food and beverages is the only way to identify total intake, and here are some free calculators to help you on this journey. Consult the ace fit facts to see how many calories you burn with exercise. Power on, Energize!
To track Calories consumed, and obtain free nutrition tips and guidelines:
www.mypyramid.gov
To track your calorie needs for your height and weight: see fitness calculators, nutrition
www.ipushfitness.com
To see how many calories you burn with various exercises: log into Fit facts, nutrition, and calorie burners: activities that turn up the heat
www.acefitness.org
Do you have a question on calorie burning with exercise, or a success with body sculpting that you would like to share? Let us know!With thanks, Maureen
