5 Surefire Ways to Lose Weight

Various people are always having difficulty when it comes to losing weight - and keeping it off. Below it 5 surefire ways to shed the pounds, and pay close attention to #5 because it is the key to keeping it off.

#1. Do cardio exercises on a regular basis. Running, swimming, cycling. Even if you have mobility issues such as sore knees it is exceptionally important to at least walk on a regular basis - or in the case of injuries / chronic disability, swimming is very therapeutic.

#2. Track the calories you are eating and drinking, and reduce the total per day to 1400 to 1700 depending on your body size (1700 if you are tall, 1400 if you are petite). Every sip and every bite needs to be kept track of and limit yourself accordingly. Thus if you are of a medium height (5'8" tall for example) aim for 1600 calories per day.

#3. Make a habit of making sure you are getting enough sleep. People often overeat and don't exercise simply because they are exhausted. They use sugary and fatty foods to prop up their energy levels and unused energy ends up being stored as fat. Making sure you get a good night's sleep every night means you have more energy to exercise and you are less likely to overeat.

#4. Eat healthy - even when you don't want to - and aim to eat healthy foods you already love. Remember #2 above, to count calories, but also aim to make the foods you are eating as healthy as possible too. Your goal here is to make sure you are getting enough nutrients, minerals and protein to make your body a well oiled machine. Avoid anything you know is bad for you and aim for fruits and vegetables that you know you love.

#5. Repeat #1, #2, #3, #4 until they simply becomes a permanent lifestyle change. This is how you make permanent changes and keep off the weight. If you just go back to your old habits, the old weight will simply return - sometimes a lot faster than you expect. You might eventually stop doing #2 (counting calories), but exercising, sleeping well and eating healthy need to become permanent lifestyle changes.

Remember - It is okay to fall off the horse once in awhile. Just got right back on the horse and keep riding until you get to your destination. And once you get there, keep riding!

Gluten Intolerance Misdiagnosed

Time for some myth busting!

Here is an interesting factoid: The vast majority (approx. 92%) of people who claim they are intolerant to gluten are actually misdiagnosed. And always by people who were self-diagnosing.

For years many people - including scientists - thought that gluten was causing gastrointestinal distress to people who were intolerant of it, including people with celiac disease and people who don't have celiac disease.

But it did seem suspicious that there were so many people who did not have celiac disease who were claiming that gluten was giving them gastrointestinal distress

In reality gluten is a fairly harmless little protein.

Along came Peter Gibson, a gastroenterologist, who thought the number of gluten intolerant people was suspicious and decided to do a lengthy study, which he has published. The study is called "No effects of gluten in patients with self-reported non-celiac gluten sensitivity after dietary reduction of fermentable, poorly absorbed, short-chain carbohydrates."

In other words, people who claimed they were gluten intolerant and did not have celiac disease, had been misdiagnosing themselves and the gluten was having no effect on them whatsoever.

During his study only 8% of participants exhibited gluten-specific effects on their health. The other 92% of "gluten intolerant people" were completely unaffected by gluten.

Upon further investigation it was discovered that the 8% of participants who were effected ultimately had celiac disease and didn't know that they had it.

Now you might think, oh well, it is just one study. Maybe it wasn't that meticulous... Well as it turns out the study was so meticulous that Gibson collected the poop (all of it, not just samples) of all of his test subjects during the study. Each participant was fed a carefully designed diet for days so that the only food going in was carefully measured and controlled for the amount of gluten and FODMAPs* in the food. It was one of the most meticulous studies you will ever see.

So here is the real issue... If you think you are intolerant to gluten, have yourself tested!

Chances are likely you are in the 92% who thinks they are intolerant to gluten, but more likely have a food allergy to something other than gluten.

Celiac disease is a serious disease and you need to be tested to see if you have it. Don't just stop eating gluten because it is the latest diet fad and you think you "might be sensitive to gluten".

* For note taking purposes you might also wonder what are "fermentable, poorly absorbed, short-chain carbohydrates"... Well, they are Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols”, better known as FODMAPs. They’re short-chain molecules you find in pretty much everything food wise. And their connection to gastrointestinal distress is pretty well established in medical science, being that they wreak ungodly fecal hell on those suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.

In other words, the people who are misdiagnosing themselves just have irritable bowel syndrome. Which is pretty common apparently, and many people don't know they have it.

So really 92% of the time it is people with irritable bowel syndrome who are intolerant to FODMAPs who are claiming they are intolerant to gluten. The next time you meet someone with gluten intolerance, ask them if they got tested for celiac disease. If they don't have it, then they probably just have IBS and have been self-diagnosing themselves.

So there you go, myth busted.

If you think you have celiac disease, go to a doctor and get tested because it is a serious illness. Otherwise stop making such a fuss and pretending to have something you do not.

June Weight Loss Quotes

June in Toronto. The weather is amazing, the idiot mayor is away at rehab, you have vacation time coming up... this is a very good time to be exercising.

So don't delay, get motivated and go outside and exercise. Rain and snow isn't really an excuse this time of year. The weather is beautiful and calling out to you!

So grab your running shoes, your bicycle, your tennis racket, your golf clubs, your archery equipment, your swimming trunks and go!

Mark Twain: Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
 
Julius Erving: If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end.
 
Jim Eason: If you want to look young and thin, hang around old fat people.
 
Unknown Author: Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can.
Vince Lombardi: It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up.
 
Milton Garland: My advice is to go into something and stay with it until you like it. You can't like it until you obtain expertise in that work. And once you are an expert, it's a pleasure.
 
Winston Churchill: Never, never, never, never give up.
 
Eleanor Roosevelt: No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.
 
Horace: Rule your mind or it will rule you.
 
Ellen Degeneres: You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is.
 
Benjamin Franklin: You may delay, but time will not.
 
David Viscott: You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be.
 
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
 
George Bernard Shaw: You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
 
Ralph Marston: Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.
 
George S. Patton: You're never beaten until you admit it.
 
Lee Iacocca: You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.
 
Unknown Author: You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
 
Unknown Author: You don't realize how strong a person really is until you see them at their weakest moment.
 
Goethe: Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
 
Jim Rohn: Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.
 
Thomas Fuller: That which is bitter to endure may be sweet to remember.
 
Samuel Johnson: The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
 
Marvin Phillips: The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!
 
Plato: The first and the best victory is to conquer self.
 
Vincent Lombardi: The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince.
 
Leigh Hunt: The groundwork of all happiness is health.
 
Anthony Robbins: The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.
 
Roger Bannister: The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
 
Author unknown: The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.
 
Thomas Jefferson: The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.
 
Carl Sandburg: The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.
 
Harold Wilkins: The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist.
 
Heraclitus: There is nothing permanent except change.
 
Swedish Proverb: Those who wish to sing, always find a song.
 
Elie Wiesel: Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.
 
Martin Luther King, Jr.: We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
 
Harriet Beecher Stowe: When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
 
Quintus Horatius Flaccus Horace: Who has courage to say no again and again to desires, to despise the objects of ambition, who is a whole in himself, smoothed and rounded.

12 Tips for being Happier, Healthier and Living Longer

#1. Eat your veggies - especially your favourite veggies - regularly.

#2. Enjoy sports that get you outside. They're fun and they're good for you.

#3. Stop worrying about what other people think about your choice of exercises. Just do them and have fun exercising.

#4. Try new things that get you outside and enjoying life in the sun.

#5. A little sunlight won't kill you.

#6. Enjoy your desserts, but don't drown yourself in them.

#7. The best parties are the ones where you drive home sober and extremely happy. (The worst are when you are too drunk and don't remember how you got there...)

#8. Being selfish and greedy with bacon will only make you lonely and fat. Sharing the bacon and keeping some in the fridge as leftovers, that is learning moderation.

#9. Golf was a sport invented by drunk Scots. Love it or hate it.

#10. Yoga will bring you more peace of mind and wellness of body. Don't diss it until you've tried it.

#11. Too much stress is never good for you. Learn to relax and unwind doing things that keep you active and alert.

#12. Spending time with family in the great outdoors is the best exercise a person can ask for.

Fast Vs Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers

Fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers are used for different things.

A martial artist who wants to be superfast, a sprinter who wants to be able to run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, or even a professional boxer would want to utilize their fast twitch muscle fibres.

Likewise people doing a sustained activity that needs endurance - like a gymnast who needs to be able to hold a pose while suspended upside down, or an archer holding their bow steady without moving while they adjust their aim, or a weight lifter who needs to be able to lift a specified weight and then hold it for so many seconds in order for it to count as a new world record.

A little background info:

Muscle is made up of bundles of individual muscle fibers called myocytes. Each myocyte contains many myofibrils, which are strands of proteins (actin and myosin) that can grab on to each other and pull. This shortens the muscle and causes muscle contraction - and it is the contraction of muscle fibres that allow us to do any number of physical activities.

A normal person has roughly 50% of each type of muscle fiber, but athletes of various kinds can train their bodies to have a radically different percentage of each muscle fiber (eg. Bruce Lee, martial artist and movie star, had a significantly higher ratio of fast twitch muscle fibers).

Muscle fiber types can be broken down into two main types:

Type I, Slow twitch muscle fibers.

The slow muscle fibers are more efficient at using oxygen to generate more fuel (known as ATP) for continuous, extended muscle contractions over a long time. They fire more slowly than fast twitch fibers and can go for a long time before they fatigue. Therefore, slow twitch fibers are great at helping athletes run marathons or bicycle for hours - and even more for activities that require just holding the same position, like gymnasts.

Type II, Fast twitch muscle fibers, which itself can be further categorized into Type IIa and Type IIb fibers.

Fast twitch fibers are much better at generating short bursts of strength or speed than slow muscles. However, they fatigue more quickly and use energy at a faster rate. Fast twitch fibers generally produce the same amount of force per contraction as slow muscle fibers, but they get their name because they are able to fire more rapidly. Having more fast twitch fibers can be an asset to anyone who primarily wants speed and isn`t worried about endurance.

Type IIa Fibers

Type IIa fast twitch muscle fibers are also known as intermediate fast-twitch fibers. They can use both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism almost equally to create energy. In this way, they are a combination of Type I and Type II muscle fibers. They are still faster than slow twitch, but not as fast as Type IIb.

Type IIb Fibers

Type IIb fast twitch fibers only use anaerobic metabolism to create energy and are the "classic fast twitch muscle fibers" that excel at producing quick, powerful bursts of speed. These muscle fibers have the highest rate of contraction (rapid firing) of all the muscle fiber types, but it also has a much faster rate of fatigue and can't last as long before it needs rest.

Fiber Type and Speed Vs Endurance Performance

We all have different amounts of fast vs slow twitch muscle fibers, and these in turn effect our athletic ability in different activities. Some of us might make really good gymnasts, but would be horribly slow when sprinting (and vice versa). Athletes typically get into sports that match their muscle makeup, but it is not genetics that is the biggest deciding factor, it is the types of previous exercises that determine which kind of muscles a person grows.

For example a person could be born to family of several generations of gymnasts, but if they practiced sprinting instead for many years the type of muscle fibers they build would be different. Your body adjusts the ratio over the longer term based on what types of muscle fibers you are using most.

How much is the ratio you might ask? Well, studies have shown that Olympic sprinters typically have approx. 80% fast twitch fibers - while people who do sports that require lots of endurance have about 80% slow twitch fibers. So the ratio of muscle fibers can vary quite wildly by up to 30% plus or minus.

Our bodies still need a ratio in order to perform every day activities. So even though 100% fast twitch would be great for sprinting, by the time the race is over the person would probably be too exhausted to even walk for a period of time. We still need both types of muscle fibers just to perform our daily routine.

Studies also have shown that different types of muscle fibers can also simply change into other types over the course of training. In theory (no evidence of this yet) Type IIa fibers might be an intermediary stage of muscle fibers that are transforming from one type into the other. Not a lot of research has been done into whether muscle fibers morph back and forth over the longer term.

What is known however is that people who train for endurance or speed gain what they are looking for over the longer term. It really is simply a matter of regular training, good diet, and taking good care of themselves to prevent injuries (because an injury can result in a loss of muscle tone if they cannot exercise during a long period of time).

There are many factors that make a great athlete (mental preparedness, proper nutrition and hydration, getting enough rest, and having appropriate equipment and conditioning). Different types of muscle fibers is just one factor. Some sports require a combination of both fast and slow twitch fibers, so having more of one is not necessarily beneficial.

eg. A football player would want both speed and endurance. Speed for when they need to be running in a hurry, but also endurance because they will be playing for longer periods of time - so they need muscle fibers that can do both.