Common Tasks Count

We know that adding exercise to our lifestyle will make us healthier and burn extra calories, but what if we are too busy doing all the things we need to do to keep our house clean or yard neat or even shopping?

Well I have good news for you! Those common tasks count toward your burned calorie goal!  See, if we can burn at least 500 extra calories every day, then the weight will start to come off. Below are some calories burned for some of those common tasks we do every day.

To Buy Organic Or Not

Organic fruits, vegetables and meats. Are they any better for us than their normally grown counterparts? It depends on your perspective and concerns. Recently it has been determined that organically grown fruits and vegetables have no more or less nutritional value than normally grown fruits or vegetables.

While normally grown fruits and veggies had more pesticide residue than the organic ones, all levels were below the government recommended levels. While they offer no extra nutrition, the theory is that the extra pesticides can build up in our bodies and possibly cause health issues. If you are worried about that, simply wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them. You should do this with all fruits and vegetables as being organic does not prevent other health risks like e Coli.

Protein

Protein is the main staple of your nutrition plan and you need it to rebuild all your cells and to build strong, lean muscle. Eating a protein rich diet will help maintain your muscle mass while you eat to lose fat, and will help build more muscle while you workout to tone up and increase your muscle mass.

Much has been written about how much protein you should have daily and at one time. This will vary with each person and their individual goals. Most people will need 80 to 110 grams of protein per day.

Fats and Oils

Fats and oils of a variety of types can be found in many processed foods, in healthy foods and in their basic usable forms. So whats good and whats bad? You may have heard terms like polyunsaturated or Omega 3, but how does that relate to your daily diet and cooking?

Our bodies need some fats, at least 20 to 30% of our daily calorie intake should come from healthy or "good" fats, and most peoples diets contain fats and oils with too many omega 6 fatty acids and not enough omega 3s, knowing the differences of these 2 acids and what foods contain them will help you make the right food choices.

There are three types of fats and oils so lets run down the list.

How Did I Do It?

If you've read all the articles I've posted so far on health & fitness, what to eat and when to eat, you may be thinking "is there something else he's done to lose weight?" Yes. Yes there is. I started using Herbalife products when I started to change my eating and exercise habits in Jan 2012 and continue to use them daily. Combined with exercise, as of this posting I've lost a total of 35 pounds and am leaner with better muscle tone than ever.

Herbalife weight management products are based on a simple concept, cellular nutrition. It all comes down to how well your body can absorb the good nutrients you put into it everyday. The Herbalife Quick Start program is what I used to begin my weight loss by drinking a Formula 1 shake with 8 oz of milk for breakfast, having a healthy snack in the mid-morning, a Formula 1 shake for lunch, 2 more snacks in the afternoon, and eating a good meal for dinner. The Formula 2 Multivitamin is taken three times a day, and the Formula 3 Cell Activator is an aloe vera based supplement that aids the absorption of nutrients and cell reproduction in the body. The Quick Start also comes with a powdered Herbal Tea that naturally helps boost your metabolism, added to water I drink 3 servings of it daily.

Now, do you need to use these products to lose weight. No. If you follow all the other articles on this blog on how to eat, what to eat and when to eat, you can achieve the same results I have. However, having two of your meals ready to go with all the needed protein and nutrition is simply a "No Brainer".  It takes some of the guess work out of eating breakfast and lunch and is exactly what I needed to lose weight and get in shape.

If you have a hard time eating breakfast in the morning, then a shake is a quick and easy way to get fueled up. Always going out for lunch? Mix a shake at home, put it in a cooler and take it with you to work. Pack your lunch with your healthy snacks and go home and have a great dinner.

If you want more information on the Herbalife products or want to view the product line, visit my ordering site.
https://www.goherbalife.com/40somethingfitness/en-US

There are videos and health articles there that will help you with your weight loss goals.

How Many Calories Do I Eat?

Its a simple question, "How many calories do I eat to lose weight?" The answer will differ depending on your height, weight, sex and age. The simple measurement to know how many calories you should eat is based on your resting basal metabolism and a simple calculator is all you need to measure this. Click Here for a Basal Metabolism calculator.

Once you input the given info into the calculator, you get the amount of calories your body burns while awake and at rest for the day. So if you are a 46 year old male that is 5' 9" and weighs 190 lbs, and you do nothing all day but sit, you will burn 1820 calories. Now if you sit and eat a 2500 calorie diet every day, guess what?  You Gain Weight!

Good Snack Choices to Boost Metabolism

The key to losing weight is to raise your metabolism to a higher level and keep it up there all day. This is done by eating small meals throughout the day, not just breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Think of your metabolism as a fire. When you eat your fire burns, when the fire starts to burn down fuel is needed to keep the fire burning. The type of fuel is key to a long burning fire. Paper and cardboard will burn hot and fast but not for long. Oak logs burn slow, hot and for a long time. Think of carbohydrates and sugars as paper and cardboard and protein as the oak logs.

If you start the day with a bagel with cream cheese, your metabolism spikes and then starts to drop quickly. Lunch comes and its a fast food lunch and you spike up again, only to drop back down until dinner where it will spike again until bed time. If you start your fire with paper and cardboard it wont burn long enough to do anything and once it burns out, its that much harder to start the fire burning again. You want to eat small meals throughout the day, adding protein fuel to your metabolism fire and keep it burning high, hot and all day long.

Keeping Track and Label Reading

Keeping a log of your weight loss and daily calorie counts is one of the many things you should be doing to monitor your progress as you change your nutrition and improve your health. Your mood, stress, sleep, exercise and water intake are other items that can be tracked as well as keeping a journal of how you are doing and commenting on your goals and failings as you go.

If I didn't have a way to keep track of my calorie, protein and fat intake daily I would never have lost the weight I did. Before you can keep track of these you need to know your way around the Nutrition Facts label found on most foods. This is where you start while shopping to see what foods are high in protein, low in carbohydrates and low in calories.

We start at the top of the label where it says "Serving Size". Just because that 20 oz soda fits in your hand doesn't mean its one serving. More after the jump.

Nutrition Plan

What you eat, when you eat and how much you eat are all very important for your health and general well being. Knowing what types of food you should eat and what types you should not eat is a subject for debate, but one we will try to tackle here.

The one thing you will not find here is any type of "diet". By "diet" I am referring to "Atkins", "South Beach", "Chicken Soup" and the never ending list of fad "diets" that seem to come and go. Some of these have good points, most, not so much.

Water - Drink More!

8 ounces. not a lot of water, but your body needs it and much more than that. We need water to regulate our body functions and flush out waste and toxins from our system.

OK, How much water do you need? Its different for everyone but I have a simple formula. Take your weight and divide it by two and drink that number in ounces every day. Simple! If you weigh 175 pounds you need to drink 87 ounces of water, eleven 8 ounce cups.

I know what your thinking, Are you Nuts! No. I hit my water needs everyday with no issues. Yes, I make more trips to the restroom, but its part of my total wellness plan and i'm never dehydrated.

Get a 24 ounce water bottle, fill it and drink it 4 times a day, unsweetened iced or hot tea counts too. Squeeze a wedge of lemon or lime into the water for flavor. Your morning coffee counts as water so know the ounces in the sizes from your favorite coffee shop.

And by coffee I mean Coffee. Not a venti mocha latte with soy whip and a shot of caramel. That's not coffee, that's dessert. Soda and fruit drinks have too much sugar so I don't drink them often and when I do, I don't count them as water in my nutrition plan.

We need water to survive and staying fully hydrated throughout the day is one step to better health and general wellness.