How to get a Thigh Gap

Now you might first be wondering - "What is a thigh gap???"

Basically it is a term commonly used by fashion-conscious young women to describe legs so skinny that the thighs don't touch when your knees are together.

It is therefore a standard of beauty to which very few women in North America fulfill - Not even Marilyn Monroe had legs that skinny.

It is the kind of legs you would typically see on a teenager or a woman in her 20s who does a lot of jogging, cycling or possibly ballet dancing.

So if you're looking for tips on how to achieve your own personal "thigh gap" then there are three very goods tips for you - running, jogging, cycling and/or dancing - basically any kind of cardio is good for you.

But lets not stop with cardio exercises. What other things could you do to help you get those skinny legs? And do it a healthy way using exercise and diet!

#1. Start limiting your intake of fatty dairy. Avoid cheese, cream, ice cream and anything more than 1% milk. Aim instead for skim milk.

#2. Avoid foods with high sugar or high carbs. Aim for breads with whole grains or multi-grains. Avoid white rice too, aim for brown rice instead.

#3. Eat your veggies and lots of them! Berries, nuts, fruits are good too. Avoid avocados however, they're very fattening.

#4. One way of measuring your legs - Stretch your leg along the floor and pinch the top of your thigh. If you can pinch a lot, it’s more fat; if you can barely get a grip, it is more muscle. Chances are much more its fat so you goal will be fat burning via diet and exercise. If its all muscle than you must be a freaking bodybuilder to have Popeye legs - in which case you won't really be able to do much and in theory would want to avoid exercising your legs if you really want a Thigh Gap.

#5. Daily stretches for your legs! Stretching (including yoga and pilates) helps elongates the muscles and gives you taller looking legs.

#6. Do jumping jacks in the pool/water - the light resistance of the water plus the cardio will help you build lean muscle.

#7. Don’t starve yourself because that will just result in yo-yo dieting - which will lead to loose skin and flabby thighs - Don't over-exercise either. Instead try to eat something small every two hours to keep your metabolism level. Eat moderate amounts of protein but stick mostly to fruits and vegetables.

#8. In addition to basic strength-building / stretching exercises you need to be doing cardio every day. Jogging and running is best, but you can also just walk, cycle, swim or even engage in more fun activities like volleyball, rollerblading or boxing.

#9. You can eat a big meal once in awhile because it helps with metabolism plateaus and makes your metabolism speed up!

#10. Do a lot of jump squats, squats, plie squats, lunges, reverse lunges. For extra challenge use 5 lbs dumbbells in each hand. Walk every day, and jog or bicycle 20 minutes at least twice a week. Do yoga or stretches at least once a week for an hour to stretch and relax muscles.

#11. Aim to eat 5 small and super healthy meals per day. Or if you can't 3 medium meals and 2 snacks in the late morning and mid-afternoon. Remember to take your vitamins and drink LOTS of water too. If bored of water try broths, teas, and pure fruit/veggie juices, and drinking protein shakes if you feel weak/tired.

#12. Dancing in the privacy of your home works really well for some people. The music can get you really fired up to do jumping jacks, abs and squats too. There are plenty of dance videos on YouTube.

#13. Stop drinking regular sodas, coffee with add ins, or any drink with calories and lots of sugar. Liquid calories are a huge factor in weight gain and if you cut them out, you will see results! If you must have caffeine for work in the morning, then only drink in the morning. No more caffeine after 2 PM.

#14. Get LOTS of sleep. Aim to be in bed reading a boring book by 10 PM and awake by 7 AM. On weekends try to get naps. Extra sleep helps recharge your body and speed up metabolism.

#15. Ignore anyone who claims Spot Training works. It does NOT work. (Spot training is the idea that if you exercise one muscle or set of muscles that you will lose fat in that one region. It doesn't work that way. If you want to lose fat, then you lose fat everywhere.)

#16. Stay hydrated - Drinking lots of water is very important. If you start to get a headache, drink water. Avoid alcohol, caffeine and anything that will dehydrate you. Toxins from smoking are also bad because fat cells store toxins and your brain won't burn fat cells with a high toxicity, so you need to detoxify your body by drinking lots of water and avoiding toxins.

#17. If you lose weight quickly, you can get saggy loose skin on your legs, stomach, under arms and thighs - which will look really awful. To avoid this aim to lose weight slowly - about 2 lbs or less per week, and use a moisturizing lotion (Aveeno works great) and lather it on your problem areas as much as you possibly can to help moisturize and improve the elasticity of your skin so it tightens up faster as you lose weight. See more of my tips on how to avoid loose skin.

#18. Don't give up if you don't see improvements right away. Instead what you need to do is set yourself a long term goal - like 25 lbs in 25 weeks. Then get yourself a scale and check your weight once per week, on a specific day and time such as Saturday morning after your shower. Don't bother checking every day because your weight will fluctuate a lot daily from eating, drinking, urination, etc.

#19. Stay motivated. Keep coming back to CardioTrek.ca for more advice on a regular basis. Better yet subscribe by email and get updates whenever new posts go up.

#20. Hire a personal trainer to help you stay motivated. If you live in Toronto you can hire me.

BOSU Exercises - Take it up a notch?

If you have a gym membership or happen to own a BOSU, then it is often cited as a great way to challenge yourself, take it up a notch and test your limits.

BOSU stands for "both sides utilized". It can be placed either flat side or ball side down and can be used for various balance, core, strength and cardio exercises. There are some neat ways for you to get the most out of your BOSU...

#1. Use the BOSU flat side down (for extra challenge switch to ball side down) to take basic exercises up a level by adding the challenge of balance to them. Standing on the BOSU try the following exercises: Shoulder press, bicep curls, overhead extension, squats and lunges with one leg on the ball and one leg off.

#2. With the ball side down use the handles to do push ups. Or place the BOSU flat side down, and place your feet on the ball for push ups. This targets the upper pectorals more, while simultaneously engaging the core.

#3. Using both a stability ball and BOSU try a bench press bridge. Use the stability ball like a bench for your press, but place feet on the BOSU, and raise the hips up high into a bridge. This targets the core, buns, hamstrings, chest, triceps and shoulders all in one exercise!

#4. Try using the BOSU flat side down to perform aerobic step exercises (variations of step ups with weights) but now you have to balance, and the surface is even smaller!

#5. Try uneven traveling squats. To do this one, place the BOSU flat down. Perform a squat with one foot on the BOSU on the other off. Then step or jump over the BOSU to do the other side. Repeat this exercise for 15 squats on each side. It is harder than it looks!

The good thing about BOSU is that they are relatively cheap and take up very little space under your bed, in your closet, etc.

For more of a challenge you could also use a stability ball, or even a basketball or football for doing various exercises. eg. Doing push-ups on a football.

Make Your Family Eat More Veggies

New Ways to Make Your Family Eat More Veggies

Guest Post by Zara

We know how useful vegetables are, it’s very obvious! But equally obvious is the fact that how much we hate eating it at least our families. Many families do not consume the quantity and variety of veggies which they need to, on a daily basis. But though we hate it, we need to get it into our system to derive its health benefits. It is better to add them in our daily diet to enjoy great health and it is preferable to maintain the nutrients of veggies and greens to the maximum.

The following are some methods to help our family indulge and binge on vegetables:

Not eating veggies directly: The biggest challenge is to make kids eat more veggies. According to some
researches, kids take around 10–15 trials to learn about a new flavour and appreciate it. So you need to be persistent in your efforts in trying to make your kid at least taste it, so that their taste buds adapt that veggie.

The best way to make your kid eat veggies is by including it in a burger, his favourite snack, favourite drink or by combining with regular meals. Cleverly using it in gravies or curries, you can avoid it being easily spotted by your kid. There are vegetables which really taste good, so you can start with those and slowly make them eat the less tasty ones.

Growing vegetables in your backyard or a farm is a good strategy to get fresh supply of vegetables and fruits.

The technique of eating fresh vegetables: This includes the above-mentioned point, i.e., growing your
veggies. You can further the process by involving family members in the choosing the food they want to cook. This way not only kids but also other members would develop an interest to enjoy as a family..

The most important benefit is that you can use organic manure and pesticides for the plants which means that you will also be sure of no chemical interference in your veggies, and can be eaten generously without any hesitation. Pave way to organic food!

Know your veggies: Every vegetable has its nutritional value which is known to cure several ailments and
sickness. You can do a bit of research to find out the veggies which can be helpful to strengthen the appetite and health of your family. Each family has its own medical history. For example, if your family members are genetically prone to obesity, you can choose vegetables which can help you fight the same or if you have some other common ailments like hypertension and diabetes running in your family, choose veggies which can combat the same.

The question arises on why do we need to research? Can’t we just eat any veggies? Every vegetable is good for health in some way. The answer is you can eat all kinds of veggies but eating the ones which might help you fight your ailment is better for a better health.

Dramatize the situation! - Well how many of us as kids started eating more and more spinach after watching Popeye gulp that can of it and flex those flexible muscles. That’s what video and audio visuals can do, and not just kids but also it leaves a permanent impression on the minds of adults which is technically called photographic memory.

The kids can be lured into indulging into veggies by creating some make-believe stories of how eating
vegetables can make them ‘grow’ faster or make them smarter and stronger. You can just create a comic
sketch of how after eating veggies a hero becomes a superhero.

The grown-ups can be a little tricky to convince, they don’t fall for superheroes and stuff what they look for in a food is the taste. Then the best thing to do is to give them what they desire any and every vegetable can be made tasty, it all depends on the chef and the recipe used. There are a zillion ways to make any vegetable look appealing and taste good.

Use the internet and adopt strategies to help you out. Baked or grilled ones will also do to get it into your
stomachs!

Maintaining the balance: Eating veggies is good but just stuffing your diet with just one or two vegetables
and fruit will certainly do no good Yes, indulging in a variety of other veggies is not bad idea but a hint that exploring other vegetables can protect your health from those unhealthy foods and replenish your immune system.

About the Guest Poster

Zara is a blogger who writes on various subjects like health-related issues to reviews on latest
gadgets and apps. Right now she is working on articles related to instant ppi claims.

Understanding your Basal Metabolic Rate

Your body burns calories no matter what you are doing, even while you are sleeping you are probably burning approx. 69 calories per hour, because your body uses that time to regenerate damaged tissue and build new tissue. The brain also consumes a large portion of your daily calories - even while dreaming.

So what is the basal metabolic rate? It is the amount of energy expended daily while at rest (no strenuous activity). eg. Sitting is typically 60 calories per hour, less than it takes to sleep. Assuming 552 for sleeping 8 hours and 960 calories for 16 hours of sitting, we can assume the average human uses up approx. 1512 calories per day.

Determining your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is useful when trying to lose weight. To lose weight, one must create a caloric deficit each day to eventually use up a pound worth of calories to be lose (3500) more than you are eating. It is recommended to create 5% to 10% caloric deficit each day so you can lose weight while still taking in enough vitamins for your health.

The human body is supposed to eat 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day. So if dieting you should be eating 100 or 200 calories less. So approx. between 1600 to 1800 is the ideal range for a weight loss diet. At 200 calories per day a person will lose approx. 1.7 lbs per month or 21 lbs of fat per year.

Combined with regular exercise and a person will lose weight even faster. eg. If they jog daily in addition to such a diet, enough to burn 400 calories per day, and they can lose 63 lbs of fat in a year. (Note: You can burn 400 calories by jogging for 40 minutes. And 40 minutes is only 2.8% of your day.)

Some people argue that you can crash diet by cutting your diet down to 1000 to 1500 per day, but reducing your food consumption to such a level is both dangerous and idiotic. Such a diet will also sap your mental resolve and you will probably quit the diet early and end up having your weight yo-yo up and down - which isn't going to help you at all.

When you lower your caloric intake to really low levels the basal metabolic rate will actually lower if the body enters into a starvation mode - it will begin to interfere with your mental functioning and you won't have the needed calories to be repairing the brains mental pathways (which are under a constant state of repair). Your body will begin to feast on muscle and brain tissue in order to find extra energy. The basal metabolic rate will also decrease with age, but that is a natural reflex to less calories being burned at rest, exercise and thus if becomes ever more important to be mindful of your diet as you get older.

Below is one BMR formula that I found (however I think it may be wrong, because I calculated it using my own weight, height and age and it says my BMR is 1832, which I don't think is at all accurate).

Women's BMR= 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

Men's BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

EXAMPLE
Gary has a BMR of 1600
If he eats an average of 1800 calories per day
And he burns 500 calories per day with exercise

Then his net calorie loss should be 300 calories per day.

Gary will lose approx. 2.5 lbs per month (31 lbs per year) if he keeps it up.

There are many other formulas for calculating BMR. They are all basically inaccurate because it is really impossible to tell what each person's metabolic rate is. Each person is different. Some days are different too.

There is the Original Harris-Benedict Equation, and also the Revised Harris-Benedict Equation.

There is also the Mifflin St Jeor Equation, the Katch-McArdle Formula and the Cunningham Formula.

The formula up above is none of the five commonly used formulas. And honestly, it doesn't really matter.

I argue that people would be better off going off the average BMR, which I calculate to be approx. 1512, and then calculating their BMR based on their height and weight compared to that average, and then modified lower for age.

Thus the Moffat Formula would be:

1512 X YOUR WEIGHT / AVERAGE HUMAN WEIGHT X YOUR HEIGHT [160 lbs] / AVERAGE HUMAN HEIGHT [66 inches] X AGE MODIFIER = Your BMR

Thus using myself as an example, I am 6'2" tall and the average human is 5'6" tall, so 109.1%. Determining average weight for a human is tricky. In the USA so many people are overweight that the average has been skewed, so the "average American" is overweight. So instead I have estimated that the average healthy human weighs about 160 lbs. In which case due to my size I am 106.25%... *calculate the math*...

And my total is 1753 (minus a small age modifier). That sounds much more accurate than the sample formula from further above.

Now the trick is, how much does our metabolic rate decrease with age? Well I did find a chart for that... So I suppose it would be possible to determine what your exact rate is... but there will always be a margin for error.

Healthy Habits of Fit People

Some people just have really healthy habits when it comes to exercising and eating... and to those people who are struggling with their weight such healthy-habit-people make it look so easy, don't they?

It is as if they're never too tired to exercise and they never crave junk food. (Actually they do get those cravings, but they control them better.) If you know how hard it is to stick to your diet and exercise plan then it certainly will be a moment for envy when you see other people who have already succeeded in their fitness goals and made it look easy.

But you can develop those healthy habits too. You have the same basic genetic makeup as they do, you probably even have the same amount of time available too. Reaching your health and fitness goals can happen if you put in the effort to develop the same healthy habits that fit people use and take for granted.

They all have a number of things in common. Lets look at them!

#1. They all have healthy activities that they enjoy, eg. Dancing.

Being able to work out almost every day is a lot easier if you enjoy the activity. Becoming resentful of going to the gym, or running every morning if you do not even like it, will only pave the way for failure and disappointment. Most people who have reached fitness goals look forward to their workout because they love the way it makes them feel first, before the way it makes them look. It is one of the reasons why

Speaking for myself I enjoy archery, boxing, swimming, ice skating, weightlifting, rock climbing and cycling. I never get bored of those actitivities and indeed encourage others to do them too.

#2. They know how to say NO

Saying yes to every dinner invitation, every chocolate offered to you and every event that would cut into your scheduled workouts, you would have a lot of difficulty achieving your fitness goals. YOU are responsible for your outcome and only you have the power to say NO. Don't feel bad for not trying every one of your mother or grandmothers's sixteen different kinds of cookies. She will forgive you eventually.

Your body will thank you over the long term every time you say no to unnecessary temptation.

#3. They make it happen no matter what

Some people are dreamers and some people are doers. Dream it and then DO IT.

Whether it's by waking up early to go jogging, preparing a week's worth of healthy lunches to take to work or packing the gym bag the day before so you can go to the gym after work, succeeding means not giving yourself room for excuses or procrastination. If you set out to accomplish a goal then you have to DO IT NOW.

Learn to avoid obstacles and excuses and make your workouts happen. If you give up on your workout just because your bicycle has a flat tire then you aren't thinking right. Make fixing your bicycle a workout instead. Clean your home while you are at it. (Cleaning counts as exercise.) Don't give up just because one little thing gets in your way. Either circumvent that problem, fix the problem, or do something else in place of your normal workout.