The Science Behind Carb Backloading: A Strategic Approach to Weight Loss

With so many diets and strategies available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when deciding the best way to lose weight. From keto to intermittent fasting, each plan claims to be the most effective. But the truth is, no one-size-fits-all solution exists. What works for someone else might not work for you, and it’s important to find a method that suits both your lifestyle and your body’s unique needs.

One strategy gaining attention is carb backloading. But what is it, and why does it work?

What is Carb Backloading?

Carb backloading is a nutritional strategy that focuses on the timing of carbohydrate consumption. The core idea is to restrict carbs like bread, pasta, and sugars for most of the day, only allowing them after a session of high-intensity cardiovascular exercise (HIIT).

Throughout the day, you’ll stick to a low- or no-carb diet, and only after an intense workout do you reintroduce carbs, such as a sandwich or a bowl of pasta, into your diet.

Why Does Carb Backloading Work?

The science behind carb backloading revolves around how your body processes energy. During the day, as you avoid carbs, your body begins to deplete the glycogen stored in your muscles. Glycogen is the stored form of carbohydrates that your body uses for quick energy, especially during high-intensity activities like sprints.

After depleting these stores, your body is primed to handle an influx of carbohydrates without storing them as fat. When you eat carbs immediately following an intense workout, your body focuses on replenishing the glycogen in your muscles rather than storing it as fat. Essentially, you’re teaching your body to shuttle those carbs directly to your muscles, providing energy without the unwanted fat gain.

This process works because your body only stores excess sugar as fat when it doesn’t have an immediate need for it. By strategically timing your carb intake after exercise, you ensure that the sugar is used to restore muscle glycogen, not stored as fat.

How to Implement Carb Backloading Correctly

To successfully implement carb backloading, it’s important to understand that it’s not effective with low-intensity, steady-state cardio like jogging or walking. These types of exercises primarily burn fat once blood sugar levels drop.

However, if you engage in high-intensity interval training (HIIT), where you push your body to maximum effort, you burn through glycogen stores rapidly. HIIT allows you to create the necessary demand for carbs to be stored in your muscles rather than as fat.

The key to carb backloading is performing intense workouts that exhaust glycogen stores. Following these workouts, you can reintroduce carbs during a short window of time when your body is primed to replenish those stores rather than store the carbs as fat.

Conclusion

Carb backloading is a strategy that uses science to maximize fat loss while still allowing for carbs at optimal times. By timing your carb intake with high-intensity workouts, you can strategically avoid fat storage and support muscle recovery. However, like any diet strategy, it’s important to see how it fits with your lifestyle and individual health needs. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making significant changes to your diet or exercise regimen.

You Are Not Destined To Be Overweight Forever

I know, you're probably thinking you have to starve to lose weight. But nothing could be more false. For the majority of us, we were born with a healthy weight. But as we grew older we developed bad eating habits, and then learned to diet. 

Fad dieting has caused a lot of our bodies to go into survival mode. Starvation diets can cause an intense urge to consume large quantities of high calorie foods afterwards or if we fail.  

These diets have set us up to fail by causing our bodies to fight against our natural survival mode.

After starving oneself on one of these fad diets, you may end up with the tendency to overeat once you stop.........however this does not mean you're a failure. 

You're human...and quitting, or not being able to finish this type of fad diet DOES NOT.... 

*It doesn't make you A FAILURE. 
*It doesn't mean you can't START OVER with something more realistic, safe, and healthier. 
*It doesn't doom you to being OVERWEIGHT FOREVER.
*It means you did the best you could at the time.

Eating food is one of the most natural thing we as humans do so listen to your body the next time you're eating, because it knows what it needs for you to live and be your best.

You just need to listen when it tells you enough is enough. Just as your body knows how to breathe, reproduce, and heal....it knows when you need fuel, as well as when enough is enough. 

Think of a newborn or toddler.

*They sleep when tired.

*They run, jump, and play while creating havoc until they can't anymore. 

*They eat, and drink when hungry or thirsty. 

*Once they feel full, they stop, no matter the bribe.

All of these natural instincts above live in each of us as well. 

We have the born ability to take care of ourselves. We just need to listen to our bodies just as we did as little ones. 

So stop thinking of yourself as destined to be overweight forever. You are not doomed to either being overweight or to being on a fad diet. Let overeating and fad starvation diets be a thing of the past. 

Not everyone is going to be super-skinny. The everyday pressure to be super thin is a huge part of the weight problem in todays society. Some of us are destined to be soft and curvy, while others are muscular, or even stocky. There is beauty in our differences.

Embracing and loving the individuals beauty will help you to love and work with what you have been blessed with. 

Realize and understand that you can live and learn to love your ideal weight. Eating normal while listening just as you did when young, will help you to be a finisher...You got this!! 

This article is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is not to be used in place of, or in conjunction with, professional medical advice or a nutritionistís recommendation. Prior to beginning any dietary program, including a low carb diet, individuals should consult a physician for proper diagnosis and/or an appropriate path toward weight loss.

Beating The Weight Loss Plateau

Among diet experts, there is a rarely mentioned adaptation of the body that prevents a diet program from achieving the maximum results. This adaptation, the weight loss plateau, can be tackled in a variety of ways, most of which involve changes to the training or diet regimen of a person. While circumventing the metabolic rate can be a difficult process, it can be done.

The typical human form is capable of achieving a number of incredible feats that seem to suspend or defy the way science tells us things work. Athletes, through sheer willpower, can end up lifting something that their bodies should not be able to without suffering anything worse than muscle spasms.

People can adapt to extreme physical trauma caused by a car accident and defy predictions that they'll never walk again. While, in general, these amazing feats are useful in a number of situations, there are physical reactions that some people look upon with quite a bit of disbelief. Among these is the dreaded weight loss plateau, when attempting to lose weight.

Essentially, the plateau is a term used to describe a situation where the body has become incapable of losing any further weight, usually due to developing a tolerance for the weight loss pills and methods being used.

Essentially, the plateau is hit when the body develops tolerance for the regimen's limitations and practices, thus allowing the metabolic rate of the body to adjust to whatever weight loss pills or techniques were being used. Most diet books decidedly ignore the existence of the plateau, primarily because it can be seen as negating the purpose of the diet and is, therefore, bad for marketing.

There are, however, ways to counteract the human body building a tolerance for training regimens and weight loss pills.

The human metabolism, when presented with a pattern, will eventually adapt to that pattern. It is this natural adaptability of the human body that can cause the weight loss plateau, particularly if the person's diet and eating habits have been altered for weight loss.

As such, changing the pattern will, once a sufficient amount of time has passed, allow your diet plan or weight loss pills to become effective again. This trick essentially involves confusing the human metabolism, and is often taken as a rather drastic way to get the body back in the diet mode.

There are, of course, several ways to effectively alter that pattern without causing the body permanent harm.

Adding strength and weight training and modifying one's exercise program can also help someone get past the plateau, in most cases. The body will still burn through nutrients during physical activity, though the digestive system's metabolic rate can adapt such that more weight is retained rather than burned during exercise.

Increasing the difficulty of the exercises, or changing the movements to target less-developed muscle areas, can effectively force the body to re-adapt. While the body is busy adapting to the changes, it can also start losing weight again. This method is best used with alterations to the person's diet, however, to maximize the effectiveness.

Another trick used to circumvent the problem of the plateau is to make changes to the time frame between meals. The internal clock that the human body's digestive system operates on can be altered to suit one's purposes, provided one executes the proper alterations to one's diet and eating habits.

A simple action like altering the schedule of the meals, such as adding more meals but reducing the bulk of each, can have an appreciable effect on altering the metabolic rate. The key concept of this method is to fool the body into burning the food faster, thus getting one's weight loss program and diet back on track.

When considering the options, it is helpful to keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for another person. Some slower metabolisms may require combination of diet program and exercise regimen modifications, while others can get by with merely shortening the break between meals. The critical point is to find a method that works and is effective for a specific metabolism, which can be a time-consuming process.

1 Pound Of Fat

There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. Thus, if you cut back or work off just 3,500 calories, you will lose an entire pound of fat.

While it is possible to cut back on your calorie intake and increase your exercise regimen in order to lose pounds quickly, it is important to note that doctors recommend that you lose no more than 2 pounds of weight per week in order to ensure that your body properly adjusts to the weight loss.

Here are some tips to help you safely drop 3,500 from your regular routine:

Run

Running for about 1 hour at a slow pace will help you lose approximately 350 calories, depending on your body type, speed and terrain. Thus, if you run for one hour five days a week while maintaining a consistent diet, you will safely lose one pound.

It is important to understand that many people who just begin running will eat pasta and other foods high in carbohydrates in order to compensate for the exertion. They think that because they worked out so hard, they deserve a treat. After all, they justify, the pasta will help to keep their energy levels high.

However, what they may not realize is that while they are justified in thinking that the carbohydrates will infuse their workout routine with energy, they are not actually setting their bodies up to lose weight. When you burn 350 calories but intake 450 over a high-carbohydrate pasta dish, you are adding more calories to your body than you otherwise would have.

Running does, however, help to boost our metabolism and change your muscle tone so that you burn calories more efficiently. Instead of inhaling a pasta dish after a run, select instead to have a large salad and splurge for the carbohydrate-rich croutons.

Eat In

When you eat out at a restaurant, not only are you subjecting your body to an array of high fat, high calorie foods, but you are also tempting yourself to eat a larger portion than you might normally eat.

Therefore, what could be a simple 500 calories meal can easily turn into a 1500-calorie fat fest. In order to lose weight by cutting calories, it is essential that you are aware of exactly what you are putting into your body. Especially in the beginning of your new routine, it is important that you prepare your meals and monitor your level of hunger.

When eating out, generally you are in a social situation where food is not a priority, whereas spending time with your friends is. For this reason, people tend to eat more than they normally would. Non-dessert eaters often even spring for the extra round of calories. If you must eat out, help yourself avoid temptation by selecting a salad rather than a plate of pasta or burger. You will be amazed at the difference in the amount of calories you intake when you make simple choices such as meal option.

By reducing your overall calorie intake and increasing your level of physical activity, you will be able to lose those 3,500 calories without much trouble. Make sure that you stay focused, motivated and on task. You will shed unwanted weight in no time!

See also Diet -vs- Exercise.

I Don't Eat Meat, So How Do I Get Enough Protein?

The picture above is just one of the many of foods that contain a lot of protein.  You can easily find other foods high in protein just by reading the nutrition facts on the label.  There are many breakfast cereals that contain a lot of protein.  Also, oatmeal is usually fairly high in protein.

Or, if you choose not to eat cereal, you can have yogurt or granola.  Greek yogurt is thicker and contains a greater amount of protein than regular yogurt.  Or, you can even make a smoothie with juice or milk, fruit and protein powder.

For your lunch and dinner entrees, instead of eating meat, consider having some baked or sautéed tofu.  You can mix it with vegetables, or even bake it with breadcrumbs like you would with meat.  There are so many meat substitutes available, too.  There are all different kinds of burgers, veggie dogs, veggie bacon, and even chicken less chicken nuggets.

So, if you still enjoy meat, but are just trying to cut down on the amount of meat you eat, it is very likely that you will be able to find a meatless version of it.  Many of these products are made out of soy and are processed, so if you want to eat more whole foods and avoid processed foods, there are still many different options.

You can have beans as your entrée, and if you eat it with rice, it will form a complete protein.  Or, you can enjoy a dish that consists of a high protein grain.  Quinoa can be made into many different recipes; it can even be made into a burger.  Even whole wheat pasta is very high in protein.

Nuts or seeds make a great snack and will also add some protein to your diet.  You can even get protein from your beverages.  Milk contains adequate protein.  Kefir is like a yogurt smoothie and is very high in protein.

What is protein?

Protein is made up of amino acids, which are called the “building blocks” of protein.  When you consume something that contains protein, it is broken down in the digestive system into amino acids, which are then absorbed by the body.

There are 20 amino acids, including 9 which are essential and 11 which are nonessential.  The nonessential amino acids can be produced from different components of the diet.  The essential amino acids either can’t be produced by the body, or the body can’t produce adequate amounts of them.  That means that we need to eat foods that contain all of the essential amino acids.

Grapefruit, and Boiled Egg Weight Loss Diet

Weight-loss diets like the grapefruit and boiled egg diet can help you lose weight fast, but you may struggle to keep it off. Although some research shows that grapefruit may be beneficial when you're trying to lose those unwanted pounds, eating only grapefruit and boiled eggs may be difficult as a long-term solution to your weight issues. Like any fad diet, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Consult your doctor before starting any weight-loss plan.

Grapefruit and Boiled Egg Diet Details

As you might guess by its name, the grapefruit and boiled egg diet primarily consists of grapefruit and boiled eggs. You're also allowed an occasional piece of dry toast on the diet plan, plus all the black coffee you can drink. In some versions of the diet, you may also be allowed to eat other sources of protein, such as chicken or fish, a salad or a red or green vegetable and a cup of milk.

How You Lose

In essence, the grapefruit and boiled egg diet is a very low-calorie diet, which provides no more than 800 calories a day. Limiting your intake to so few calories will help most people lose weight. However, when you lose weight quickly, you're most likely losing water and muscle and not fat.

However, when following a weight-loss diet, it is generally recommended that you not eat less than 1,000 calories according to most research. Also, when you limit your calorie intake as well as your food options, you might miss out on vital nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.

Grapefruit and Weight Loss

While you're most likely losing weight on the grapefruit and boiled egg diet because of its low-caloric content, there is some truth behind the claims that grapefruit may be helpful in your weight-loss efforts according to my research of a 2006 study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, which investigated the effects of grapefruit, grapefruit juice and a grapefruit supplement on weight loss in a group of obese individuals. The researchers found that the participants who consumed a half-grapefruit every day over the 12-week study period lost the most weight, a little more than 3 pounds. Based on this evidence, the researchers suggest that grapefruit may make a beneficial addition to a weight-loss program.

Boiled Eggs, Weight Loss and Health

Boiled eggs may also assist in the weight loss process through its effects on hunger and metabolism. Eggs are an excellent source of protein, with 6 grams in one large boiled egg. According to a 2008 review article published in The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, protein foods are more satiating than fat or carbohydrate-containing foods. Additionally, protein foods may give your metabolism a boost and also preserve your muscle mass.

Boiled eggs are a source of cholesterol. Cholesterol in food does not have as much of an impact on your body's cholesterol levels as previously believed. However, if you have a history of high cholesterol, you should check with your doctor before upping your daily egg intake.

Grapefruit, Boiled Eggs and a Healthy Diet

You don't have to limit yourself to an 800-calorie grapefruit and boiled egg diet to get all the goodness these whole foods have to offer in your battle for weight loss. Instead of limiting yourself to so few foods, include grapefruit and boiled eggs as part of a healthy low-calorie weight-loss diet. Grapefruit makes a sweet ending to any meal or as a snack in between. Boiled eggs not only make a good protein choice at breakfast, but they can be eaten at lunch, dinner or even as a snack.

Written by,

Dwight Obey, Independent AdvoCare Distributor

Jot Down Your Weight Loss Goals Pt.2

Continued From Part. 1

Write down all the bad things that are associated with your weight. 

**Are you missing out on relationships?
**Are you worried about your health?
**Are you worried about dying early?
**Do you want to see your children get married? 

To be perfectly honest, obesity is currently the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States, just behind smoking.

If you are overweight, you have a very good chance of dying earlier than you should. Write this stuff down. The goal here is not to make you feel bad, but instead I'm trying to help you see whats really important in life, and let you know there are love ones who care, and need you.

Do you remember when you were a school kid and the teacher gave you a homework assignment that was due in a week? How many of you ran home and finished the assignment on the first day? Ok, a few of you probably did. However, if you were like me, I waited until the last minute to do the assignment. 

Why? Why did I wait until the last minute? Because I associated more “pain” with the process of doing the assignment than the  “pleasure” I would get from knowing I had finished it. That is, until the night (or morning) before it is due. Now, the assignment is due in a few hours and all I can think about is the “pains” that will come if I do not get it done. 

I will fail, my parents will get mad at me, I will get grounded and not be able to play with my friends. So what do we do? We do the damn homework, even though it causes us pain.

This might sound a little harsh, but the only reason you have not lost weight is because you associate more “pain” with the process of losing weight than the “pleasure” you will get with losing weight. 

When you eat that donut you are thinking about how good it pleasures your taste buds, but instead of thinking that you just added another 200 extra calories that you did not need which can cause you to gain more weight if you continue down this path. 

Overeating on things such as donuts on a constant basis, without a proper diet or exercise, can lead to weight gain, which may cause you to feel unattractive, and even worse more likely to cardiovascular disease issues if you are not careful. 

I know you can do this, 1'm here to help...so lets get started.

Now write down your three month goal, six month goal, and one year goal. Be realistic. Think about losing one to two pounds a week as a goal. Put these goals somewhere you can see and read on a daily basis (Like on a sticky placed on your bathroom mirror). Let this sticky note be the reminder when you wake and start each day that you can do it.

Remember little steps, Rome was not built in one day.

No more tomorrow,..."Why wait...Today Iz The Day"

Jot DownYour Weight Loss Goals Pt.1

I know you have heard this over and over, and over. But did you every actually do it? If you want to really change your life and lose the weight, this time, write down your goals. In fact, let’s take it a little further. If this is not your first attempt to lose weight, then I'm sure you tried some other program or “diet” before and for some reason it did not work. 

The first thing I want to say is, “good job”. 

Not good job for failing in the past, good job for trying again. 

This is a little off the subject, and we will get into this more later. However, anyone who has successfully lost weight and kept it off, failed on some other program at one time or another. You see,....the difference is, they never gave up. So, good job on continuing your quest to lose weight. I know you can do it.

Now back to your goals. I want you to write down why you failed in your past attempts to lose weight. 

Did you lack time, motivation, direction, what was it? Now write down all the negative things about your life, which are related to your weight problems. What will your life be like if you do not lose the weight and keep living the way you are living?  Are you truly missing out on enjoying life because of your weight?

Are you letting your family down, because you cant do the thing they want, because of your weight ?At the end of the day, your kids just want their dad around to play and run with. What about your spouse, what are they missing out on? What about you? If you keeping living the way you are living, what will you miss out on?

To Be Continued............

Visualize The Body You Want

Everyday, especially when exercising, visualize the body you want and the person you want to be. 

Picture the new you in your mind. See your new body. Visualize what that person will be like, how will losing all that weight change your life. How will that person act? Now, be that person. 

Act as if you had already reached your goals. When a situation comes up that might adversely affect your weight loss program, such as blowing off your exercise routine, or that tempting bad snack at work, stop. Visualize the person you’re  trying to become. Now be that person. What would that person do in this situation, now be that person. “Hold an image of the life you want, and that image will become fact.”

Attitude And Weight Loss

If you have been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight for some time, you might need to change your attitude. Take a minute and think back over the past times you have tried. How did you approach your weight loss program? Were you reluctant? Were you skeptical? Did you really think this was the one, the program that would finally work, or did you have doubts and think that you would fail again?

“If you continue to think the way you’ve always thought, then you will continue to get the same results”.

If you think you will fail you will. If you know you will succeed you will. Charles Swindoll said…

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day".  

Powerful phase to repeat each and everyday along your journey

"We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our Attitudes”.

That says it all. When I was losing weight, I read this daily. When I did not feel like exercising I would read this. When I weighed myself and thought about giving up because I did not lose any weight, I read this. I now am giving it to all of my readers, who visit 1st N Weight Loss.  

Good luck on your journey, you got this!

Never Give Up On Your Weight Loss Journey (WLJ)

Never Give Up, Never, Never Give Up, Never Ever Give Up, Never Give UP!  That’s right, the secret key to losing weight is not a new fad diet, it’s not a new medication, it’s not a gimmick supplement, it is A STATE OF MIND!

Let’s face it. You tried to lost weight in the past, and you failed. So what! The key is what do you do now. Do you give up, or do you start again. Anyone and everyone who has successfully lost weight and kept it off had failed in the past. However, the reason they were finally able to lose the weight, was because they never gave up.

I know how hard and frustrating it can be, but never give up. If you have a bad day and eat a bunch fatting junk, so what, forget about it. Just do not give up, never.

Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it. Just start a new day and never give up.  If you tried to lose weight, and did not work, try something different Like AdvoCare.

JUST NEVER GIVE UP!

“Have you ever considered the cost of quitting? For real eye opener…ask Thomas Edison...Steve Jobs…Michael Jordan…or Sylvester Stalone. Ask them how much it would have cost them if they had quit. What about you?”

Dwight Obey, Independent AdvoCare Distributor

Being Overweight......

Being overweight or obese is becoming more and more common in today's society. Although the media inundates us with possible solutions, there are no simple answers. 

By visiting 1st N Weight Loss you will find all the information you need to educate yourself and find out what is right for you, so you can start losing weight now.

Benefits

• Why lose weight? Here are the benefits of weight loss.

Dieting

• Who should you believe? Get the all the information you need to decide which diet is best for you. Fact or Fiction? Find out how to determine what is true or not.

Resources

• All you need to know about pedometers, and you can buy one and weight loss books too.

Psychology

• There can often be mental barriers to losing weight.

Exercise

• Exercise should be an important part of any weight loss program.

.....and much , much more!

Clean Eating...What is is?

Clean eating is the best described as removing all processed, artificial foods from your diet and focusing on healthy, whole, unprocessed foods. Your body is from nature, bring it back to nature and reap the rewards of eating clean, like living a longer, healthier life, have great glowing skin and hair, fast weight loss and healthy weight maintenance.

You wouldn’t feed your pet bird cardboard, would you? No, you would feed them nuts and seeds just like the natural food they have in the wild. It’s time to start thinking of yourself as the bird, feed yourself what humans found and grew in the wild hundreds and thousands of years ago, not “frankenfood” made in a laboratory.

How to Eat Clean

The best way to understand and implement Step 1 is to skip the boxed, pre-made foods, and shop the perimeter of the grocery store. By shopping just the perimeter of the grocery store you’ll pick up organic fruits and veggies, lean protein from the butcher and freshly baked bread from the store bakery. You’re only buying fresh food. Of course this is more metaphor than rule. Organic pasta, rice and beans are usually found in isles as well are organic whole wheat flour and spices. Be sure to choose these ingredients in the purest forms, pick up the organic brown rice, not the box of rice mixture with the spices. The only ingredient on the label should be “brown rice.”

You can have your chocolate, but instead of the “sugar free” chocolate candies that are full of artificial sweeteners, have a square of all natural dark chocolate (Chocolate Recipes). As for cheese, choose sharp cheese, you can use less and get the same cheesy goodness, thus saving calories (Cheese Recipes).

Eat More Fat Burning Foods

Fat burning foods are a staple in the weight loss plan. We make small swaps to recipes to turn them into metabolism boosting foods. For instance, swapping out buttermilk for almond milk in a pancake recipe can cut calories and add natural fat burners to your diet.

Little changes in recipes and your diet can make a big difference in your weight loss success. 

Top Foods that Burn Fat:

• Hot Peppers
• Green Tea and Coffee
• Whole Grains, Quinoa and Oats
• Grapefruit and other Citrus Fruits
• Lean Poultry and Fish
• Beans and Lentils
• Berries
• Apples
• Almonds, Almond milk and Almond butter
• Eggs
• Greek Yogurt
• Spinach and Broccoli

Fat burning ingredients can be added to many recipes. Just keep in mind that organic food will have more nutrition and therefor more metabolism boosting nutrition.

Raw foods also have more nutrition, so a salad with raw spinach will have more fat burning properties than cooked spinach would, so whenever possible have these fat burning foods raw.

Step #2: Plan your meals and log what you eat and drink.

I realize this sounds like homework, would it help if we called it studying instead?

By planning your meals and logging what you eat and drink, you will start memorizing how many calories are in your favorite meals and ingredients. Best of all you will learn your own eating habits and cravings, so over time you can better plan your meals to suit your cravings. After a couple weeks if you see you consistently have a 3:00 pm craving for carbs, you can head off that craving in advance with a skinny sandwich at lunch. Or, a sweet craving at 10:00 am can be managed with a sweet oatmeal breakfast.

So as tedious as this one step might seem,  it is an important step for both weight loss and maintenance later on and it holds everything together. Having a meal plan helps you manage plateaus while keeping you motivated. In the long run you’ve studied for your new healthy lifestyle and for your new figure. It makes it easier to maintain your weight loss diet when you have done the studying. So don’t skip this step, you’re studying for the most important test of your life… your health.

Meal Plan

By making a meal plan to lose weight, you are setting yourself up for weight loss success. Have you ever become extra motivated to exercise after a purchase of a new yoga mat, or running shoes? Making a meal plan is motivational in the same way.

If you sit down and take the time to plan out your meals you are more likely to stick to it, because you took the time to do it. You’ll find it’s easier to stay on plan knowing you have a yummy meal coming up later today, and you’ll be less likely to splurge knowing you have a plan to follow.

How Many Calories Should I Plan to Eat?

Since we are talking about setting a meal plan, we need to talk about how many calories you should plan to eat. If your goal is to lose weight, all you need to know is your goal weight. The equation is easy; add a zero to the end of your goal weight to find your daily calorie goal. Just be sure not to go under 1200 calories per day as this will send your metabolism into preservation mode, which may cause your body to hold onto weight instead of releasing it.

Say your goal weight is 135 pounds, your daily calorie intake should be 1350 calories.

Don’t fret if this seems difficult, below is an example of a super filling 1200 Calorie Diet Plan, just add on snacks to increase your calories.

Step #3: Move your body more.

Weight loss is 70% what you eat and 30% exercise. Many people often think exercise is more important in weight loss and they disregard the healthy diet part. That is why Step #3 is to move more. You don’t have to train for a marathon to lose weight, however exercise will speed up the process and, perhaps more importantly, tone your body.

Many people ask me what to do about extra skin, or loose skin, after weight loss and the answer is always “that’s what exercise is for.” If all you can do is a 20 minute yoga video after the kids go down for their nap, or a walk with the dog after work, find a way to make the most of it. And whenever possible increase the time you exercise, if even by 5 minutes.

How to Lose Weight Without Exercise

So what happens when you can’t exercise? There are many people with health and physical difficulties who can’t exercise in the traditional way. For those people, I assure you that you can still lose weight. Like I said above, weight loss is 70% what you eat and 30% exercise, so if you can’t exercise you have to be spot on with your diet plan to lose weight.

You also have to do your best to move your body more. That can mean taking the stairs instead of the elevator or even working extra hard at physical therapy. Do as much as you can, follow the other 3 steps and you will see the weight melt off.

Step #4: Drink a gallon of water a day.

Water is key to losing weight. Besides tasting great, studies have proven that drinking water naturally boosts your metabolism along with many additional water health benefits. It fills you up, flushes your system and naturally increases metabolism.

How Much Water Should I Drink to Lose Weight

At 1st N Weight Loss, we recommend you try to drink a gallon of water (3 ¾ liters) a day for weight loss. A gallon of water may seem like a lot, but it’s a good weight loss goal to strive for each day. By having 40 ounces of water in the morning, noon and night you will stay full and hydrated. The large amount of water helps increase your metabolism and flush your system, it’s a great aid to weight loss and an easy step that almost anyone can achieve. 

If you can’t get to a gallon, that’s OK. Start slow with 60 ounces per day and increase by an extra 10 ounces each day until you are at a full gallon. Here are some tips to help you drink more water.

Women And Exercise

Dwight, 2000

In addition to stretching the muscles involved in cardiovascular exercise, you need to stretch each specific muscle you train in a fitness program. When you stretch your muscles it helps to provide better physical performance, prevents injuries, and can help to improve your posture.When muscles are stretched, the elasticity in them improves which will help to increase your range of motion and improve the quality of your movements.

Never stretch a cold muscle; meaning you should always make sure your muscles are warm before stretching. It's usually better to do a more extensive stretch at the very end of your fitness program, but light stretching between exercises is fine. Stretching doesn't take a long time, and it shouldn't, but you do benefit tremendously from it. Stretch only after the muscle has been properly warmed-up. Again, the best time for a complete stretch is when your exercise session has been completed. By the time you have finished your specific weight lifting program, which will be about 35 - 45 minutes in length, your muscles will have warmed up as much as they can possibly get.

Remember any fitness program must always include a warm-up and proper stretching for maximum effectiveness and to prevent injury.When you do this you will indeed experience the terrific benefits a good weight training program will give you.

Exercise Selection:

For you to succeed in your over-all fitness plan you need to select at least one exercise for each major muscle group in your body. This will help to promote well-balanced muscle development.

Another important part of your over-all fitness plan is the order your exercises are performed. When doing a range of weightlifting exercises, it's better to start with the larger muscle groups then perform exercises for the smaller muscle groups. Performing your fitness program in this manner will allow you to be exercising at your best during the most demanding exercises when fatigue levels are the lowest and you feel fresh.

Another important area of exercise selection is the total number of sets per exercise and total number of sets per exercise session. A "set" as it relates to weight lifting is the number of successive repetitions of a single exercise performed in succession without stopping. Now the number of sets per exercise and per exercise session is really going to depend on exactly what your goals are. Always treat your very first set for each muscle group as a warm-up, as was discussed in the warm-up section above. Then the rest of your sets will be determined by whether or not you are using a beginner, intermediate, or advanced level fitness program and what your particular goals are.

Regardless of the number of sets performed, all sets and repetitions have to be done with proper exercise form and under complete control.

Exercise Form Or Technique

One thing that always seems to be missing in most fitness programs, and the most common and critical training mistake is exercise form or "technique." Too much weight usually results in poor form, which decreases your ability to get results and also increases the risk of injury.

Examples of poor form or technique include, but aren't limited too…

• Bouncing the bar off your chest when performing a chest press;
• Using your hips for momentum and over extending your back to initiate the bicep curls;
• Arching your back or bending backwards when performing a shoulder press during the resistance portion of your fitness session;
• Using momentum in any exercise;
• And training at a fast tempo.

Be aware of these types of mistakes and remove them.

Exercise Nutrition

Food and exercise go hand in hand. If you are on an exercise program, you must ensure that you are getting enough energy to fuel your exercise, as well as all the right nutrients. If you are exercising to bulk up, or exercising to lose weight, there are also many other things to consider.

Before Exercise

One of the most important meals for any athlete is the one before training or competition. Never compete without eating something beforehand, even if your event is first thing in the morning. In general, the pre-exercise meal that is taken a couple of hours before the training session should be based on carbohydrate-rich foods. Closer to the event, carbohydrate rich snacks can be consumed, while high-fat or high-protein foods should be avoided.

During Exercise

It is very important to make sure where appropriate, that food and fluid is ingested during exercise, in both training and competition. Generally, the longer the event, the greater the amount of carbohydrate that is utilized. As a rule of thumb, if your sport or training is longer than an hour, you may benefit from consuming some carbohydrates during sport in addition to fluid.

After Exercise

Recovering well after an exercise session may be a challenge. Recovery will be most effective during the first few hours after the exercise. The aims are to replace muscle and liver glycogen stores, replace fluid and electrolytes lost in sweat and repair the damage caused by the exercise. The best fuel to use is carbohydrate foods, as these foods will replace the glycogen stores depleted during the activity.

Tips On Working Out Utilizing Your Bodyweight That Can Save You Money

You do not need to have a full gym of expensive exercise equipment to have an effective training program.

Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts

• Save money – you don't need to spend money on buying weights and equipment.

• Workout Anywhere - with body weight exercises you can workout everywhere.

• Reduce Injuries - the probability for injuries is lower using bodyweight exercises.

Some Bodyweight Exercises

Here are some simple bodyweight exercises that anyone can do, with a list if the major muscle groups that they target.

Exercise	Muscles Worked
push ups	chest, arms and core muscles
dips	triceps, chest
chin ups	lats, arms
body weight squats	quads, hamstrings, buttocks and posture
sit ups	abdominals
supine bridge	core muscles
side lying bridge	down phasing obliques
horizontal pull ups	upper back, arms
step ups	quads, hammies and buttocks
lunges	quads, hammies and buttocks
crunches	abdominals

Work At Home Moms Can Stay Fit

Despite what many may think, working from home takes a lot of time and a lot of work. I'm sure you've heard someone say, "They don't really have a job, they just work from home." That statement couldn't be farther from the truth!

Running a home business takes almost all of your time. Therefore, many other things drop down on your priority list. Probably one of the first ones to drop is fitness.

When you have a never-ending to-do list, a house that never seems to get clean and family and/or friends who demand attention, it's understandable that exercise can take a back seat. But, it shouldn't.

Exercise offers so many important benefits that it should always be part of your weekly routine. Of course, we all know that exercise can help you stay slim and fit. But, do you also know about all the other great results of exercising? Daily physical activity reduces stress and can help you sleep better - two things that are especially beneficial to busy at-home workers and business owners. 


Fitness helps keep you healthy and has been linked to reducing the risk of some diseases and to warding off depression. Researchers also believe that strength training can help prevent osteoporosis. If that still doesn't convince you to get moving, then keep in mind that exercise also improves self-esteem, increases stamina and ultimately helps you be able to do continuous work for longer. What more could you ask for?

1. Schedule time for working out. When you work at home it's so easy to work around the clock. To help avoid this think of yourself as having a traditional "office job". In most "office jobs" when you go home for the night you leave work behind and concentrate on personal things. Even though going home for you may simply be walking down the hall, you need to set boundaries in order to find time for you.

1. During working hours, take several 5-10 minute breaks and run up and down the stairs (or even just walk). This will also help rejuvenate your mind.

1. Sitting in front of a computer can be hard on your body, especially your posture. So, find a comfortable place where you can occasionally stand to do your computer work.

1. It's not necessary for you to find 30 continuous minutes for working out. You'll get just as much benefit if you break your exercise into small chunks. Try 10 minutes before you start work, 10 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes after work (re-read # 1 above if you just said you have no "after work" time).

1. If you don't won't to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but still want to eat healthy, cook large portion meals on the weekend that you can freeze. Then simply defrost and warm for dinners during the week. This saves you the time of having to make dinner and you don't have to compromise calories as you would if you instead opted for take-out.

1. One great advantage of working at home is that you can workout over your lunch hour while never leaving your office plus you don't have to pack your workout clothes and toiletries to take with you to work. This saves you travel time, which you can instead spend on grabbing a healthy bite to eat. And, if you don't have any face-to-face meetings scheduled, then you don't have to worry about looking perfect after your workout.

1. If you haven't already done so, invest in a good hands-free headset for your phone. This is a great way to multi-task because your hands are free to do other things while you concentrate on your conference call. You can even do some simple (but worthwhile) exercise moves. Some good choices are squats, tricep dips, lunges, wall push-ups, etc.

1. Keep healthy snacks available for when you need an energy boost or simply just need something to chew on to help you get through some tough work. Don't forget to keep water on hand and sip some all throughout your day.

1. Purchase an exercise stability ball. While there are dozens of great toning exercises you can do with the ball, it's also beneficial to simply sit on it. Try sitting on it instead of a chair for even short periods throughout your day. This will help build your core strength (your trunk area).

1. Don't forget the importance of stretching. Take a couple of minutes every hour to stand up and stretch your entire body.

It all sounds great, right? But you still don't think that you can find any time in your hectic schedule for staying in shape. Don't worry. There are a lot of creative ways to fit it in.

 Below are some tips to help you get started.

As you can see, exercise offers huge benefits even with just a small amount of effort. And if you have kids, by exercising you also set a great example. So, to help you, your business, and your family, it's time to stop making excuses and just start moving!