Stress – Just hearing that word can evoke negative feelings and emotions!

Stress itself isn’t necessarily unhealthy, after all, without our ancestors reacting to threats through their “fight or flight” instinct, we wouldn’t even be here.

Chronic stress is the real enemy.

When it comes to learning that requires the use of memory, chronic stress is a killer. It has devastating effects on both learning and memory, with children being particularly affected.

Stress triggers negative reactions in the immune system and contributes to inflammation. Inflammation is linked to a variety of health problems and diseases, from diabetes to cancer, asthma and heart disease.

Previous studies show that the hippocampus (the brain’s memory center) shrinks by 8 percent as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Chronic stress not only affects the way we feel and act, it also affects the way we look. Many physiological processes are negatively affected and some are turned off by the stress response. Breathing and heart rate increase, glucose is released (for immediate energy), and adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormones) flood the body.

The lack of blood flow to the skin, the functions of the immune system, digestion, growth and reproduction are suspended.

This lack of blood flow to the skin affects how old we appear.

But even worse than the loss of blood flow is how chronic stress affects the aging brain.

Toxins, poor diet, lack of exercise or social connections, and repetitive routines all contribute to brain cell loss as we age, but chronic stress exacerbates the problem. In fact, it kills brain cells.

Weight gain can result from chronic stress because digestion is reduced during a stress response, leading to a variety of digestive disorders. The result can be constipation, cramps, and diarrhea.

It’s abundantly clear that if we want to age gracefully and enjoy stellar health, chronic stress must be managed.

Here’s some stress relief help:

1. Increase social engagement. Just sharing your daily problems with others is a great way to narrow down your problems and put them into perspective. Once you realize that you’re not the only person dealing with crazy situations and people, you’ll feel much better about your lot in life.

2. Do more physical activity. Once again, exercise comes to the rescue. Adding moderately intense physical activity to your life is a great way to lower the level of circulating cortisol in your body and decrease stress.

3. Watch shows that make you laugh. It is very difficult to laugh and be stressed at the same time.

4. Sleeping more. Lack of sleep is a great way to amplify life’s little stresses and make them seem intolerable. If you are sleep deprived, find ways to hit the pillow earlier. A good night’s sleep can make a world of difference in your outlook on life.

5. Eat better. It may sound strange to hear nutrition mentioned when it comes to reducing stress. But one of the consequences of high stress is that your body prioritizes the production of cortisol over the synthesis of other important hormones that your body needs to regulate itself properly.

It’s time to take control of your life and control your stress.

What can you eat on a ketogenic diet?

A ketogenic diet is basically a diet that turns your body from burning sugar to burning fat. About 99% of the world’s population has a diet that causes their body to burn sugar. As a result, carbohydrates are your main source of fuel that is used after digesting the carbohydrates. This process causes people to gain weight, however a high fat and ketone diet will cause weight loss. When you ask what you can eat on a keto diet, first eat up to 30 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. Below, let’s find out more about what you can have on your plate and how the keto diet affects your health.

The Importance of Sugar Caution on the Ketogenic Diet

Keto shifts your body from a sugar burner to a fat burner by eliminating dietary sugar derived from carbohydrates. The first obvious reduction to make from your current diet is sugar and sugary foods. Although sugar is a definite target for elimination, the ketogenic diet focuses on limiting carbohydrates. We have to be careful with sugar in a number of different types of foods and nutrients. Even a white potato that is rich in carbohydrates may not taste sweet on the tongue like sugar. But once it hits your bloodstream after digestion, those carbs add the simple sugar known as glucose to your body. The truth is that our body can only store so much glucose before dumping it elsewhere in our system. Excess glucose becomes what is known as fat that accumulates in our stomach region, love handles, etc.

Protein and its place in Keto

One source of carbohydrates that some people overlook in their diet is protein. Excessive protein consumption according to your body’s tolerance level will result in weight gain. Since our bodies convert excess protein into sugar, we must moderate the amount of protein we eat. Moderation of our protein intake is part of how to eat keto and lose weight. First, identify your own daily protein tolerance and use it as a guide to maintain optimal intake of the nutrient. Second, choose your protein from foods like cage-free organic eggs and grass-fed meats. Finally, create varied meals that are delicious and keep her interested in the diet. For example, a 5-ounce steak and some eggs may provide an ideal amount of daily protein for some people.

Caloric intake on the ketogenic diet

Calories are another important consideration for what you can eat on a keto diet. The energy derived from the calories in the food we eat helps our bodies to stay functional. Therefore, we must eat enough calories to meet our daily nutritional requirements. Counting calories is a burden for many people on other diets. But as a keto dieter, you don’t have to worry as much about calorie count. Most people on a low carbohydrate diet are satisfied eating a daily amount of 1500-1700 kcal in calories.

Fats, the good and the bad

Fat isn’t bad, in fact, there are plenty of good, healthy fats in whole foods, like nuts, seeds, and olive oil. Healthy fats are an integral part of the keto diet and are available in spreads, snacks, and dressings. Misconceptions regarding fat consumption are that a large amount is unhealthy and causes weight gain. While both statements are true in a sense, the fat we eat is not the direct cause of the fat that appears on our bodies. Rather, the sugar from each nutrient we consume is what ultimately turns into fat in our bodies.

Balance your nutrients wisely

Digestion causes the sugars we eat to be absorbed into the bloodstream and the excess amount transferred to our fat cells. A high carbohydrate, high protein diet will result in excess body fat, because there is sugar content in these nutrients. Therefore, overeating any nutrient is unhealthy and causes weight gain. But a healthy diet consists of a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats according to your body’s tolerance levels.

Almost anyone can achieve a ketogenic diet with enough persistence and effort. In addition, we can moderate a number of body conditions naturally with keto. Insulin resistance, elevated blood sugar, inflammation, obesity, and type 2 diabetes are some of the health conditions that the ketogenic diet can help stabilize. Each of these unhealthy conditions will be reduced and normalized for the sufferer following a healthy ketogenic diet. Low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein whole foods provide the life-changing health benefits of this diet.

It took me several years of cooking to appreciate the value that chicken broth and broth—indeed, all types of broth and broth—bring to the kitchen. What was once something of a specialty item in my kitchen has now become a mainstay on my weekly grocery list. I frequently buy chicken and vegetable broth and broth for a variety of my family’s favorite dishes. I have never found it convenient to make and store my own, so I rely heavily on commercially available products.

Although there are numerous types of broth and broth available at the supermarket, most of these contain ingredients that could be hazardous to your health. Since I don’t want to consume dangerous ingredients and I’m on the yeast diet, a diet to help treat yeast infections, choosing an appropriate chicken broth can be a challenging task. Candidiasis is a condition in which, through numerous external factors, yeast (candida) grows excessively in the body. This candida overgrowth can cause numerous health problems. Many times candidiasis patients go years without any explanation for their poor health. The candida diet is the main form of treatment for candidiasis, but one of the prohibited ingredients in the diet is preservatives, and commercially available chicken broths are notorious for containing them.

I found that the most commonly used prohibited ingredients in commercially available broths include monosodium glutamate (MSG), yeast extract, and citric acid. All three of these additives are used to preserve and/or improve flavor. All three also undergo the fermentation process whereby yeast and/or bacteria are added to change the substance into a form that is suitable for commercial use, and yeast is a prohibited ingredient in the candida diet. Monosodium glutamate, yeast extract, and citric acid may be derived from a sugar or carbohydrate source. Many of these original sources are also prohibited on the candida diet. Additionally, MSG has come under fire in recent decades due to numerous studies that have revealed that it causes a wide range of health problems. Yeast extract actually contains MSG, so there are some concerns to be aware of. In addition to the three additives already discussed, sugar is another ingredient that is often found in commercially available stocks and broths and is also prohibited on the candida diet.

So how do you find a chicken broth or broth without monosodium glutamate, yeast extract, citric acid, sugar, or any other preservatives? This is not an easy task, but I have found a few brands that are fine to use on a candida diet. Rather than gourmet chicken broth, Trader Joe’s Organic Free-Range Chicken Broth and Imagine Foods Organic Free-Range Chicken Broth seem to have ingredients that are fine for the candida diet. I bought More than Gourmet Chicken Stock from Whole Foods. Imagine Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth is quite readily available in the organic food section of most supermarkets. Trader Joe’s Organic Free Range Chicken Broth can only be purchased at Trader Joe’s. I use the Trader Joe’s brand more because it’s the most affordable at around $2.29 for 32 oz. I hope these suggestions provide you with the convenience of using commercially available broth and chicken broth without compromising the candida diet.

Would you like to lose 25 pounds in 4 weeks easily, quickly and naturally? Okay, take just a few minutes out of your day today to read this article here and learn more about 3 incredibly easy tips to lose up to 25 pounds. of fat in 30 days…and don’t eat it FOREVER!

one.) Eat these foods: Foods rich in lean protein (chicken breast, turkey breast, almonds, egg whites), fiber (beans, wheat, whole grains), healthy fats (fish, nuts, olive oil), and foods rich in vitamins and minerals (fruits and vegetables – I recommend that you eat plenty of green vegetables due to their high fiber content).

2.) Drink this amount of water: To properly eliminate harmful toxins in your body, to help metabolize stubborn fat, to help increase the proper development of your muscle tissue (which burns a ton of fat), I strongly recommend that you consume at least half your body weight. body weight in ounces each day. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, you will get 100 ounces of fresh water a day. However, if you exercise a lot, I recommend that you increase your water intake a little more to compensate for the water you will lose (sweat).

3.) SKYROCKET Your Metabolism: If you really want to make sure that you will lose 25 pounds in 4 weeks, I recommend that you increase your metabolism as high as possible. This is a foolproof way to achieve not only faster fat loss, but once you lose the pounds, it’s off forever…unlike unnatural methods like diet pills and diets. Fashion.

I am commenting specifically on the Animal Crossing City Folk Wii product. Not only do they cross many miles to their nearby urban community, but they may also cross many miles to visit friends and family they don’t see regularly.

I have had the pleasure of watching my grandchildren get hours of entertainment from their Wii system. I personally believe that this system provides not only “play time” for children and adults, but also helps children develop mentally, socially, and physically.

In Animal Crossing City Folk, children have the keys to their own community. They develop the whole story. This game encourages your child to use his imagination. They can develop their own little Mii (person), choose their hair, clothes, etc. They move into their own houses that they decorate to their liking.

They can go fishing for rare fish that they can sell for beauties! They can use the beauties they accumulate to pay their mortgage, buy items for their house, clothes, or gifts for their friends. They can also give their beauties back to their community to buy new bridges, parks, windmills, and community services. As you can see, this can help develop a “giving” attitude and a desire to help others.

Each animal character has a personality. There are animals like elephants, goats, raccoons, rabbits, etc. It’s fun to see all the animals and Miis walking around the community. Up to four people in your household can live, work, and play together. Parents can have a good time playing with their children. They can go fishing together, build snowmen, take a bus to a new urban town where they can catch a show, or shop at Gracie’s Boutique. They can also shop for clothes, “shine” their shoes, and get their hair done. They can have a complete Mii makeover!

The atmosphere is that of real life. Even the seasons change. It snows, it rains and the sun shines brightly. Fireflies come out in the summer, there are trick-or-treaters on Halloween, and they can hunt for eggs on Bunny Day.

I have seen my grandchildren play this game. Not only do they develop good communication skills, they learn to spell by communicating with their Mii friends, and when buying and selling things they also have to use math skills. On the creative side, children can design clothing, signs, and other artistic items. I value games that help children grow in all of these areas.

Also, with Animal Crossing you can cross miles and play with cousins ​​or friends who live far away. Yes, you can even play online using your broadband connection. You can invite up to three friends to visit your town using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. If you buy the Wii Speak microphone, it will seem like everyone is in the same room. It’s priceless to see the kids “reunite” in Animal Crossing.

It’s so adorable to see these little people head to the gate of their town where there are two watchdogs standing guard to go visit another town or greet their guests. They have fun fishing, seeing each other’s house and how it has been furnished and decorated. They can even shop at their friends’ community stores.

I see this type of activity as a means to develop skills that a child can use in his life. It’s definitely an inexpensive way to bridge the miles that separate kids from their friends and family. And the cost is much less than planes, trains or cars!

I hope you have fun at Animal Crossing!

There are many exercises to grow taller and one of them that is not very popular but is actually really effective is the method of using a jump rope to grow taller… yes, I am talking about jumping. Jumping can be a very effective method to help you climb the height ladder, but why are you asking this? Well, read on and find out why you should buy a jump rope for height exercises today if you want to get taller.

Jumping is not something that people would think would help them increase their height. When you think of skipping, in fact, you probably think of a schoolyard and kids skipping or maybe even boxers in the gym trying to improve their cardiovascular system with their jump ropes, however, there is much more to it than that. .

How does it work

It’s a very simple concept, by performing this movement several times, you will begin to create micro-fractures in the bones of the skin. After a while these will fill out as they heal and come back stronger, denser and most importantly LONGER which is what you really want to look for.

Do not push yourself doing this until you are sick or your legs are really sore, as this will only injure you if you continue at this rate. You want to start slow and take days off in the middle and then slowly you want to start pushing yourself trying to beat your previous record that you could have gotten earlier.

By pushing yourself a little harder, you will be able to create new micro-fractures that will heal and lengthen and strengthen, but it is essential that you make sure you take rest days as pushing too hard can lead to injury, which is not something you want as it will make you go back a few days when you could increase your height.

Combining it with a routine

This method alone may take a while for you to notice the results, however, you can combine it with many other methods such as stretching to grow taller, other exercises to grow taller, diet and much more.

Having a routine would be very effective when it comes to growing taller, a routine will speed up the whole process rather than just following a route as they say you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.

Fortunately, there are many other methods that you can use at home to help you increase your height, and you can combine them to create a little routine.

For example, you could wake up with some stretching, do some height-increasing exercises later in the day, and then finish with some stretching before bed, all while focusing on a diet that will target your goal. This is something that will be effective since you are using stretching and dieting along with everything.

When you’re on a fat loss plan, one concept to keep in mind is bulking up your food. This refers to the amount of food you can eat at a given calorie level. Consider it “food density,” if you will. How much food will he allow himself without going over his calorie goal? This is a critical concept to consider because eating a low calorie intake is what is needed for fat loss to occur, and you need to control your hunger.

If you plan to eat, say, 1,200 calories a day, and you choose a fast-food gourmet burger, fries, and a large soda, chances are that that’s all you’ll “be allowed” to eat for the entire day. . Could you survive with that? Probably not, so it’s important to choose foods that contain fewer calories in each serving. Then you can eat more food overall and you won’t feel as restricted.

So which foods are the best? And what foods are worse?

For the most volume with the fewest calories, think about water. You want foods that contain as much water as possible, as they tend to fill you up faster…

• celery,
• cucumber,
• Peppers,
• watermelon,
• Cantaloupe,
• berries,
• apple,
• orange,
• code, and
• shrimp

They are all excellent options.

Alternatively, Popcorn and oatmeal are two great complex carbohydrates to eat because they also offer a lot of volume per serving at any given calorie level.

Chicken is also a good option, and egg whites are even better. In a cup of egg white you’ll find only 120 calories, and if you’ve ever cooked a cup of egg white, that’s a lot of food.

The worst foods. What are the worst foods to eat? Any form of dietary fat will be bad news. Fat, by nature, is calorie-dense because it contains nine calories per gram and most fats do not have much water content. The only exception to this may be the avocado, which also provides dietary fiber. Since you need to get some fat in your diet plan, if your goal is to maximize your serving size, avocados turn out to be a good choice.

Other foods to avoid include…

• pasta,
• dried fruit,
• walnuts,
• red meat, and
• Salmon.

Now keep in mind that this does not mean that these foods are unhealthy. Salmon is an incredibly healthy food, but from a calories per volume food standpoint, it’s just not the best. Save those foods for a time when you’re not looking to lose weight.

If you follow these principles and focus on foods that maximize your portion size and minimize your calorie intake, you should find weight loss much more natural.

“The Life You Want: Get Motivated, Lose Weight, and Be Happy” is the newest book by fitness author Bob Greene, who also wrote “Make the Connection: Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life,” “Stay Connected : Choices for a better body and a healthier life”, “The best diet to live” and many others. This book, written with psychologist Ann Kearney-Cooke and nutritionist Janis Jibrin, focuses on common barriers to weight loss success and provides practical advice on emotional eating and lack of motivation.

After an introduction, where Greene tells a personal story involving his exploration of the emotional and psychological side of weight loss, and what this book can do for the reader, he begins with a chapter on barriers to weight loss success. of weight. Greene addresses eight barriers, and none of them are eating or exercising, but mental or emotional aspects.

In chapter two, Kearney-Cooke addresses overcoming emotional eating. This is a big problem for many, and this chapter reveals some simple ways to find your motivation, overcome barriers, and find eating replacements to deal with emotions. It is a practical chapter with tips on how to achieve your goals in these areas.

The third chapter is by Jibrin, and focuses on rewiring your sugar, fat, and salt-loving brain. There’s some interesting information on why we eat what we eat, eight reasons why we should watch our diet, and his nine-step program for following a nutritious and calorie-adequate diet.

Greene is back with chapter four, where she covers conquering exercise aversion. If he’s having trouble getting up and going, this chapter can help him find some motivation to get moving. He lists thirteen reasons to exercise, and he really only needs to pick one to get motivated to do it. He addresses many common excuses and how to overcome them, as well as different types of exercises that he should include in his workouts.

Chapter five deals with body image transformation, and in it Kearney-Cooke addresses a topic many people need help with, especially the images we are bombarded with on television and in the print media.

Greene is back with chapter six, covering how to maintain your weight loss. He examines what works and what doesn’t, and provides some great tips and advice to make sure that when you lose weight, you don’t gain it back.

Being happy is important, and Kearney-Cooke discusses what it takes to be happy in chapter seven. I liked this chapter and I think many people could benefit from following the simple guidelines laid out on these pages.

After chapter seven, there is Appendix 1 which contains The Lifestyle Log. This is a sample worksheet prompt to record important things about your lifestyle, such as sleep, hunger, food and drink consumption, etc. Appendix 2 covers the Body Mass Index, while Appendix 3 has the Goldberg Depression Scale. Appendix 4 has instructions on sample goal setting worksheets, and Appendix 5 has The Motivational Interview to help you assess yourself. Appendix 6 is Life’s Best Approach to Exercise by Greene. Simple plan with suggested exercises. Brief descriptions of the exercises, but no pictures.

Overall, this is a good book for many people who have difficulty losing weight or keeping it off due to emotional issues or lack of motivation. The authors offer a simple and practical guide to overcome such barriers, get motivated, lose weight and be happy. If you need help in these areas, check out this book, but more importantly, apply what the authors teach.

Health

Your health should be the number one priority in your life. Health is the general state of a person in all aspects. It is also a level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism, many times implicitly human. The physical environment is perhaps the most important factor to consider when classifying the health status of an individual. This includes factors such as clean air and water, safe homes, communities, and roads that contribute to good health.

To run:

For heart health, there is no doubt about the benefits of jogging. However, to reduce fat and weight, it is not effective. Why is it difficult to lose weight while jogging?

Here is an explanation why a body remains fat despite jogging every day.

Constant jogging movement, including aerobic activity, can strengthen your heart and respiratory muscles. The impact on health is that breathing becomes healthier and heart pressure will drop so the risk of hypertension decreases.

However, for burning fat, jogging is less effective. The body will only transform fat into energy if the caloric needs obtained from sugar and carbohydrates are not enough.

One way to reduce fat is through exercise. Jogging is an exercise that requires a lot of energy, so many people do it with the expectation that energy stores in the form of fat will be burned more efficiently. In fact, some people fail to lose weight despite jogging every day.

“The body is like the best machine that constantly adapts to anything. The more you run, the more prepared the body will be for the next run.”

Jogging that is done frequently will only make energy metabolism more efficient. The adaptation that the body makes reduces the energy needed so that many calories are not burned.

In addition to not being effective for weight loss, jogging is also not good for your joints. When you jog, your joints will have to support 2.5 times the weight, making them vulnerable to injury.

The joints that are most prone to an attack of acute pain due to jogging are the ankles and knees. If you often experience repeated pressure, these gaskets wear faster.

Jogging is always considered an exercise that can increase your metabolism and is effective for weight loss.

5 signs of a healthy heart:

If your heart stops beating for a few minutes, followed by a stoppage of blood circulation, your valuable life will end. That is why the prevention of diseases of the heart and blood vessels are very important and very stressed. There are generally five vital signs of a healthy heart, which are:

1. Cholesterol

He states that LDL or bad cholesterol is a fire and HDL or good cholesterol is a firefighter. “A good firefighter is usually able to prevent long-term damage.”

The higher the level of HDL cholesterol, the lower the risk of atherosclerosis. For a healthy heart, the goal for bad cholesterol is no more than 130 mg/dl and HDL should be more than 40 mg/dl. HDL cholesterol levels tend to rise with exercise, weight loss, and eating a lot of fiber.

2. Blood pressure

If left unchecked in later years, high blood pressure can damage arteries throughout the body and cause blood vessel walls to become thicker, stiffer and clogged, blocking blood flow to vital organs. . Optimal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHg.

Variation of various foods with different combinations of the correct nutrients will be beneficial for blood pressure. Several studies have also shown that effective stress reduction also lowers blood pressure. Spanish researchers say that taking aspirin every day also lowered systolic pressure by 6.8 mmHg and diastolic pressure by 4.6 mmHg.

3. Heartbeat

Life is not in your hands, but in your heart. Knowing the number of heartbeats per minute (resting heart rate) is one way to predict age. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a man who has a resting heart rate greater than 75 beats per minute (bpm) has a three times greater risk of having a heart attack. The normal pulse is 65 bpm.

“When you do a low-intensity cardio workout and add a high intensity every two weeks, your heart rate per minute drops.” Exercise for at least 30 minutes with 60-80 percent of the maximum amount of heart rate.

4. Fasting blood sugar

Fasting blood sugar levels are a sign of whether there is any risk of diabetes. The higher your blood sugar levels, the greater your risk of developing diabetes. “People with diabetes are at increased risk of heart, kidney and eye disease.”

To lower fasting blood sugar levels, we need to increase the body’s ability to use blood sugar, or in other words, increase insulin sensitivity. The best way to achieve this is to reduce weight.

5. C-reactive protein

C-reactive or CRP proteins are plasma proteins produced by the liver in response to infection, injury, and inflammatory processes. High CRP levels indicate inflammation in the body. Because heart disease is due to inflammation of the arterial wall, CRP can be used as a common marker of heart disease risk.

Elevated CRP levels are often accompanied by increased cholesterol. A high CRP level, more than 1 milligram per liter, is also associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. CRP measurement is performed by drawing blood from the elbow or the back of the palms of the hands.

To improve sleep:

1. Spray freshly laundered sheets and pillowcases with lavender water. The scent has been shown in studies to promote relaxation, which can lead to better sleep.

2. Buy a new pillow. Katz says that studies show that pillows with an indentation in the center can improve sleep quality and reduce neck pain. Also, he tries a “cool” pillow, one that contains all-natural fibers or a combination of sodium sulfate and ceramic fibers that help keep your head cool.

3. Eat a handful of nuts before going to bed. You’ll give yourself a boost of fiber and essential fatty acids along with the amino acid tryptophan, a natural sleep aid.

To improve stress management:

1. Give your partner a hug every day before work. Studies show that this simple act can help you stay calm when chaos strikes during the day, Katz says.

2. Have a good cry. It can boost your immune system, reduce stress hormone levels, eliminate depression, and help you think more clearly.

3. Twice a day, breathe deeply for three to five minutes.

To improve nutrition:

1. Buy whole foods, whether canned, frozen, or farm-fresh, and use them in place of processed foods whenever possible.

2. Skip foods and drinks made with corn syrup, a high-calorie, nutritionally empty sweetener that many believe is worse for the body than sugar, says Katz.

3. Start each dinner with a mixed green salad. It will not only help reduce your appetite for more caloric foods, but also automatically add vegetables to your meal.

To improve physical condition:

1. Do a squat every time you lift something. Instead of squatting in the usual way, which stresses your lower back, bend your knees and squat down. This forces you to use your leg muscles and will build strength.

2. Every time you stop at a stoplight (or the bus does), squeeze your thigh and buttock muscles and release as many times as you can. (Don’t worry, no one will see it!) This will firm up your leg and buttock muscles, improve blood flow, and keep you entertained for a bit.

3. Whenever you are standing in a line, lift one foot half an inch off the ground. Additional stress on the opposite foot, ankle, calf, and thigh, as well as the buttocks, will help firm and tone the muscles. Change feet every few minutes.

If you exercise with weights, you may not lose body weight. You will be more likely to gain weight. Muscle is heavier than fat by volume. As you build muscle, you may lose inches, but not weight, because muscle bulk is heavier than fat.

Strength training exercise (weight lifting) is not designed to help people lose weight. That is not the purpose of training. The idea is to make your muscles bigger and stronger, and you’ll often gain weight in the process.

Cardiovascular exercises such as aerobics, running, walking, and bicycling are the exercises needed by those who want to LOSE weight. These are exercises that expend a lot of energy (burn a lot of calories) in a short period of time. Cardiovascular or aerobic exercises are designed to build endurance rather than strength. Aerobic exercise will give you the stamina to run uphill for a long time. Weight training will give you the strength to get up the hill, so to speak.

Building muscle mass means forcing the body to increase the size and strength of the muscles. The body doesn’t just build muscle because it has nothing better to do. You can’t eat the “right” foods or take the “right” supplements and make your body build muscle. Those things can give your body the tools it needs to build muscle, but they won’t make the body use them. The ONLY way to make muscle grow is to damage the muscle by lifting weights and letting the body repair the damage by building more muscle tissue.

The way to inflict damage on the muscle is by repeatedly lifting weights to the point where the muscle fails. When the muscle fails, that means enough damage has been dealt. The next step is to rest while the body repairs the damage (builds muscle tissue). You then deal damage again by lifting weights and doing more reps to start the process all over again.