Don’t Let Weight Gain Ruin Your Vacation

A summer trip is easily one of the most anticipated events of the year-the chance to get away from work and to relax with your loved ones is priceless.

With all of the excitement, it’s not surprising that most people unknowingly end up gaining a pound each day of their vacation. And if you’re going on a cruise then your weight gain may be closer to two pounds each day.

But wait, your summer vacation doesn’t have to end in weight gain. Keep the following tips in mind as you embark on your summer adventure and you may come home fitter than when you left.

Tip One: Have a Plan
Vacations are the perfect place to gain weight since it’s the last thing on your mind. Your best line of defense is to keep your fitness goals at the forefront of your mind. Before you leave for your trip sit down and set a goal.

A realistic goal is to maintain your current weight or to lose a pound or two. Get the whole family on board and keep each other accountable throughout the trip.

Tip Two: Make Exercise a Must
So often exercise is looked at as a chore, but vacations are the perfect time to really enjoy a good workout. You won’t be rushing home from work trying to squeeze in a few minutes at the gym, rather the vacation workout can be a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

Virtually every hotel these days has some type of workout room equipped with cardio machines, dumbbells and a universal machine. If you are taking a cruise then you are in for a real treat – most workout facilities on cruise ships have huge windows that look out onto the ocean.

Vacations are also a great time to take your workout outdoors; take a run on the beach or do sprints, pushups and crunches on a grassy field. If you want more ideas of workouts you can do using just your body weight then give me a call or send me an email.

Tip Three: Maintain your Metabolism
When traveling it is easy to go for hours without a meal-between flights and long drives food sometimes isn’t readily available. The problem here it two fold. First your metabolism slows from the long absence of food. Secondly you are more likely to indulge in a high calorie meal when you get around to eating next.

Avoid this yo-yo of starvation and overindulgence by carrying healthy snacks with you and eating something every three hours. A handful of almonds, a piece of fruit or a small protein bar are fantastic options to keep on hand.

Tip Four: Eat Smart
While we all know that eating in is usually healthier than eating out, on the road you simply don’t have a choice – all of your vacations meals will be eaten out. So take the time to order with your health conscious mind, and not simply your taste buds. Watch out for extra large portions-don’t be afraid to take a doggie bag back to your room (assuming of course that you have a refrigerator).

Another thing to keep in mind is to keep fried food consumption to a minimum. Fried foods contain more fat and calories than other options, they are also likely to give you heartburn and indigestion-two things you don’t need spoiling your vacation. Stick with dishes that contain veggies, lean meats and whole grains.

Enjoy your vacation!

How to Lose Your Belly Fat

Are you still trying to lose your belly fat by doing a ton of crunches every week? Sorry, but it doesn’t really work!

You know why? It’s because you can’t do any spot reduction. It’s that simple. Sure when you perform your crunches you will strengthen your abdominal muscles, but you’ll still have that layer of fat on top of your abs. They may be strong and firm, but you won’t be able to see them under the belly fat!  So what is the best way to burn your belly fat and show off those abs?

If you train your big muscle groups like your chest, back and legs you will burn more calories during your workout and therefore burn more fat. This is the best way to burn those calories – focus on the big muscle groups. I feel so sad when I see someone who’s overweight and they’re doing something like a triceps kick back or biceps curl for half of their workout.  If they could see how many calories they can burn with my approach with big muscles by comparison, they’d be watching their melt away.

If you really want to work your biceps, but you also want to burn fat, try adding a squat to your movement. Do a squat with your dumbbells at your side and when you come up perform your biceps curls. This works because you will burn more calories. You can try the same thing with the shoulder press.

Here’s a list of few exercises I like to perform because they engage 2 muscles groups (a big and a small).

1. Squat with overhead press
2. Squat with biceps curl
3. Lunges with Lateral Raise
4. Squat with Kick back
5. Chest Press on Ball with Hip Drive
6. Sumo Squat with dumbbell and Up right row

I could write more than 20 different exercises like this. Just use your imagination and I’m sure you can come up with something too. Try to mix a big muscle group (chest, back, legs) with a small muscle area (biceps, triceps, shoulders, calf). That’s all there is to it!

Best Post-Workout Pancake Ever

If you are like me, and you like to train early in the morning, then you probably don’t have the chance to eat a good breakfast after your workout. If that sounds like you, well, I’ve found a great pancake recipe and it’s easy to make and perfect after your workout.

I suggest having this pancake after a tough workout. It’s high in carbohydrates, but after your workout this is exactly what you need. Good carbs will boost your energy and at the same time replenish glycogen (sugar levels) in your muscle.

High Protein Apple Cinnamon Pancake

• 3/4 cup Quaker quick Oats
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 cup apple, diced
• 1 scoop of Protein Powder
• 1 tsp. Of Cinnamon

Directions

1- Put all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Stir until the mixture has a semi-liquid pancake-batter-like consistency.

2- Spray some non-stick spray on a frying pan and pour the mixture into the pan.

3- Cook on medium heat. When one side is lightly browned and solid enough to flip, turn the pancake over with a spatula and cook the other side until lightly browned and firm.

Notes: For higher protein diets, add one scoop of vanilla protein power. Wrap up your pancake in foil and take it to go, put it in the fridge for later use, or eat it hot! Oatmeal pancakes will stay fresh all day long without refrigeration.

The best thing about this recipe is you can prepare it ahead of time and bring it with you to the gym.  That way you can eat it right after your workout. Trust me this pancake is so good it’s almost illegal.

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5 Weight Loss Tips for Avoiding Gym Mistakes

People tend to perform many mistakes when they go to gym and below this 5  weight loss tips will help you avoid them.
1- Passion

Passion and strong will power are the most important factors in the list of weight loss. Inside the gym you should focus and concentrate on your workouts. Don’t waste your time in chatting or waiting for any specific machine. The intention behind all these  is to maintain your heart rate high.

2- Work Out
People in gym generally work out on erroneous group of muscles. They work small muscle groups like biceps and triceps, and miss big muscle groups like legs, chest and back. Therefore you should focus on working with compound movements i.e. multi joint exercises.
3- Right Technique

Adaptations of right techniques leads to maximum weight lose. Any unsuitable change in your technique results in injury. Lift as much weight as you can in an effective way. Keep these weight loss tips in your mind, when you enter into the gym.

4- Variety

Try working out on different exercises or  different machines as using same machine for longer will make your muscles use to it. Similarly you can change the quantity of doing workouts. If you normally perform 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions then you can start doing 4 sets of 8 repetitions – these weight loss tips will surely help you.

5- Interval Training

Practice interval training – first of all run fast (sprint) for about 30-45 sec and then do jogging for 30-60sec. This is one of the best weight loss tips as the jogging time can be utilized to recover yourself and then you can repeat the cycle.

For Best Results with Nutrition – Stick with it

Every week I get emails asking me different questions, usually from people who want to know if they are doing the right things or not.   The most common question is about nutrition.

And there’s one common question about nutrition – why, if I’m doing everything right, am I not losing weight?  When I get a question like that, I always reply, and ask them what – exactly – they are doing with their nutrition.  And when I find out, I always know why!

When most people try to change their nutrition, they don’t stick with it for long enough.  People think that after doing well for 2 or 3 days they will already be five pounds lighter.  And when it doesn’t happen, they are ready to jump off the wagon after only a few days because they don’t see results.

Your body needs some time to adjust to your new way of life. You won’t see your best results in just 2 or 3 days. You need to suck it up and stick with it for at least 4 to 6 weeks. I guarantee if you keep the pace you will see some amazing results.

The key to a weight loss program is to be consistent with your nutrition. It’s not by doing a couple days well, letting it slip and then doing another few days and so on. “Consistent” is the key word.

Stay with your new lifestyle long enough and you will see great results. This will be the best motivation for you to keep you going!

All the best and good luck. Remember  I’m here to help, so if you have any questions let me know.

From Martin Bolduc author of the Ultimate Guide to Express Fat Loss