Keeping Your Weight Down

Keeping your weight down to a good level is something that seems to be beyond a lot of people. There are dozens of methods out there that supposedly help you cut down on your weight, ranging from crash diets involving quirky food, to medications designed to burn off fat, to radical new age psychic methods of self hypnosis for fat burning.

Okay, fine. Reality check... you can't wish and vibrate fat away, and miracle pills might work, but they generally have unhealthy side effects. If you really want to keep your weight down and do it in a healthy fashion, you have to work for it. And that involves the one weight loss method that is actually the most effective but the one that a vast majority of people dread: Exercise!

Before jumping out and buying yourself a pair of running shoes though, consult with your doctor and make sure that you're in fit enough shape to exercise strenuously. Ask your doctor's advice and find out what levels of strain, wear and tear you can put yourself through without risking your health.

If you want to make it easy on yourself, start slow. Brisk walks and jogging are nice easy cardiovascular exercises that get rid of excess fat slowly. You can take this at your own pace; remember, how fast you lose weight is directly proportional to the amount of effort involved. Even something as simple as walking up flights of stairs at the office instead of taking an elevator can be incorporated into part of your daily weight loss routine.

Next stop on the agenda after you've got your walking and jogging habits down is to get into calisthenics.

Here is one of the best: Crunches
As opposed to sit-ups, crunches are medically proven to be healthier and easier on the body, even as they burn up more fat. To do crunches, lie on the floor, lock your legs straight, and raise your feet and upper body simultaneously, bending at the waist.

Essentially, you form a shallow letter V. Start with small repetitions, pace yourself, and don't raise your feet or head more than a foot above the ground. Crunches are a great way to target the stomach, which is a problem area for most of us. Variations on crunches include raising only your legs, to target your lower abdomen, or raising only your head and upper body to target higher abdominal muscle groups. Twisting crunches involve turning your upper body alternately with each crunch and target love handles. Crunches are just one example of calisthenics. There are other exercises that are meant to target other body parts. Find a gym with a good calisthenics instructor and visit it regularly.

Another approach to weight loss is to engage in classic sports. Any good sport will eventually help you lose weight; if there is one that you actually like engaging in, go for it. Assuming you don't have a preference, however, try biking and rowing. These two activities burn off fat and replace it with lean muscle, and are actually quite exhilarating.

While weight training may seem like an option, it actually doesn't reduce weight much. Weight lifting replaces fat mass with muscle mass, usually of the bulky type. Both biking and rowing keep the muscle mass you gain lean, giving you a more streamlined look and keeping your weight down.

The most effective physical activities for weight reduction, however, involve ones that require great amounts of neuromuscular activity. These sharpen reflexes as well as burning off fat. Some of the best examples of these activities are dancing, martial arts, fencing, and gymnastics.
Because of the greater need for dexterity and agility in these sports, a person who trains in them naturally develops a much higher metabolic rate.

Also, since the emphasis in these arts is in rapid, efficient movement, the burn rate of calories is a lot higher than regular sports. However, these arts are also the most demanding, not only physically, but also in terms of mental alertness and coordination.
They are not for everyone but if you want an exercise that will help you lose weight fast and keep it off, you can't go wrong with them.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Don't bother coming up with excuses. Most people claim that they either don't have the time, the equipment, or the opportunity to exercise and lose weight.

In truth, opportunities are always available. Even taking just the first option, and spending 30 minutes a day walking, will eventually make you lose weight.

The important thing is to stop rationalizing that it's something you can't do. You can burn that fat off; it just takes a bit of persistence.

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