Energy Drinks

Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster and 5 hour energy just to name just a few, all advertise that they give an energy boost that some people need to get them through the day or to finish a tough task. But do you really need them?

The added sugar and carbohydrates in most "energy drinks" should make your list of things to not put in your body for the potential weight gain alone. That and a recent dental study on how bad these drinks erode the enamel on your teeth should be enough to get you to stop drinking them.

If you are exercising regularly and eating right you should have plenty of energy to get you through the day. If not then a cup of coffee with Stevia instead of sugar will give you the lift you need without all the extra baggage.

Also take a look at the amount of protein in your snacks and meals. If you aren't getting 7 to 10 grams of protein per snack then change what you are eating, your body will work to burn the extra protein and keep you alert and focused.

Herbalife has a product called N-R-G, a raw guarana tablet that gives that energy boost and focus without the sugars and carbs. I've been taking one tablet a day in the morning and I stay focused and alert all day.

And I get to keep the enamel on my teeth.

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.

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.

Before and After

These are me taken January 2012

These are me taken August 2012, 42 pounds lighter and a whole lot leaner. 

If you have doubts that you can lose weight, put them aside. If I can do it, you can do it.

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.

Target, FAT!

I think we all want to believe there is a secret to weight loss. With so many different companies claiming that pill X or solution Y will solve all your problems with their simple solution, you start to believe that its true.

The ones that really get me is the ones that target specific areas. "Lose Belly Fat Now!" ""Removes Fat From Thighs!" " Eat This Food and Burn That Specific Body Fat!" Claims like these and many others that make the statement that their solution will remove fat from a specific area of the body, unless its a doctor performing liposuction, are a fabrication.

While its true that there are foods that will help boost and raise your metabolism, they don't target a specific area of the body. I mean, how does the food know where the fat is? It doesn't, the raised metabolism is what is burning the saved calories throughout the body as a whole. The same is true of all those metabolism boosting pills and capsules you can purchase to "Burn Off The Pounds!"

On the same line of thinking, there is no magic exercise that targets belly fat or thunder thighs or even man boobs. Regular cardiovascular exercise combined with a healthy balanced diet, with the correct sized portions, with your daily total intake of calories below 2000 for most guys, will burn the stored fat. Period.

Face it, It takes hard work, dedication, will power and real effort to lose weight consistently over time. Time is the other thing it takes. The weight didn't get there overnight so don't expect to lose it overnight either.

The bottom line it that there is no quick and simple solution to losing fat. Accept that you will have to put in some work and get started!

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.

Alcohol Consumption & Metabolism

Alcohol Consumption and knowing how your body reacts to it will help you lose weight and keep your weight in check once you hit your goal weight.  

In a nutshell, your body has a priority list of what it metabolizes first. Protein, carbohydrates and fat are what we are trying to get through our bodies and they all take a back seat to alcohol. The body will start to burn through any alcohol in the body before it tries to burn anything else. Only when all those beers or glasses of wine are completely out of your system can your body get back to using the protein it needs and burning the fat you are trying to get rid of.

In Summary, Alcohol = ZERO calorie burning of anything but alcohol until the alcohol is gone.

If you are going to have a drink, then just a few suggestions. First, know the calories that come in your favorite cocktail or beer. just like the rest of your nutrition plan, these calories need to be counted daily. Second, have your beverage in the evening after your daily routine and when your body is winding down anyway.

Third, alcohol should always be enjoyed in moderation. If you drink a case of bud light don't expect to lose weight anytime soon. One or two drinks in the evening two to three times a week is conservative estimate to maintain you weight and one drink one time per week if you are on a weight loss program.

For a more in-depth explanation read the article www.medicinenet.com/alcohol and nutrition and learn much more on the subject.

Body Measurements

There are a variety of factors that need to be measured to gauge your general health and determine your nutrition needs to either lose or maintain your weight. You may have heard some terms like BMI, BMR, bone mass, muscle mass and a few more. What do they mean and how do they fit into our health and wellness plan?

I'll try to summarize the important ones.

• BMI - Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person's weight and height. Basically your supposed to weigh a certain amount for your sex, age and height. Its a basic gauge of how overweight your are.
• BMR - The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the base rate at which your body consumes calories for basic metabolic functions. In other words, it is the rate at which your body consumes calories when at rest.
• Metabolic Age is a number that comes from comparing your Basal Metabolic Rate with the Basal Metabolic Rate average of your chronological age group.

Portion Control

The first thing that was challenging for me was portion control. It was clear that I was over eating. As a kid we were taught to clean our plate and go back for seconds. As adults we follow the same patterns.

Measuring a cup of pasta or weighing out 4 ounces of chicken breast always sounded like it would never be enough food for one meal. Until I did it.

I was surprised that when I measured out what I was eating for dinner, that I really was full with the recommended portion size. A cheap kitchen scale was necessary for most foods as are a good set of measuring cups and spoons. A quick way to gauge a 4 ounce portion of meat is compare it to a deck of cards.

Try to control your portion sizes for a few weeks and see if your weight drops. If you stick to it, I know you will drop the pounds.