From Flabby to Fab – Diet and Exercise By P. Smythe At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The two most dreaded words in the English language.

Diet and Exercise.

Unfortunately if you do not want a lifetime of joint pain, back pain, high blood pressure, a good chance of having a heart attack or stroke, sleep apnea, increased possibility of becoming diabetic, not to mention the embarrassment you feel in a bathing suit, and a whole host of other problems I have not mentioned, diet and exercise will need to become an important part of your life.

The question is what kind of diet and what kinds of exercises will take you from being flabby to looking fantastic? There really is not anything too complicated about it.

Diet: The first thing you should do is sit down and write out a diet plan. Make a list of all the foods that you should eat when you are on a diet. If you are not sure you can follow a pre made diet plan like the Atkins diet or The Zone Diet. Your other option is to just follow a couple of simple guidelines. Eat food that is low in fat calories and high in protein. Protein burns slow so it will last longer. Carbohydrates burn fast and leave you hungry.

Most men should try to limit their calories to something under 1800 per day. For women the limit will be somewhere around 1500 per day. Use an online calorie requirement calculator to figure out exactly what your body requires and subtract several hundred calories off this number to get your daily maximum.

Exercise: There are two types of exercises that you should focus on to maximize your weight loss endeavors; cardio and strength training. Work out a maximum of 5 days per week and a minimum of 3. You should alternate between cardio work outs and strength training sessions every other day.

When doing your cardio work out make sure it lasts for at least 20 minutes, if you can go for 45 minutes that would be even better. A good indication of how well you are doing is your sweat. If you are not sweating you are not working hard enough. For strength training make sure you work both your upper and lower body. You do not have to do them both at the same session. You can do your upper body on one strength training day and your lower body on the next.

Do not ignore strength training. The more muscle you build the more calories and fat you will burn. Good strength training exercises for the upper body include push-ups, pull-ups and curls. For the lower body try lunges, the stair climber, and squats. Before doing squats make sure to learn the proper technique.

In my experience the more a person exercises and eats healthy the more they start to like excursing and eating healthy. Do not be discouraged if you do not see immediate result. It can take a couple of weeks for you to physically see the results of your hard work. Stick to your fitness plan and eventually you will have the body of your dreams.

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