How to lose weight for the summer

Hi Guys,

Today I am back with more how to lose weight for the summer.  Today I am going to concentrate on your arms.

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When the sun comes out in the summer, a lot of people tend to wear clothes that show off their arms.  

However your arms may not look as good as they did last year.

It is extremely difficult to lose fat on your arms.

Unfortunately, one of the best ways is to do some arm exercises.

I know most of you do not like exercising but it is about the only way apart from surgery.

You basically have to burn off more calories than you take in.

I know I have said that before but it always worth reminding you.

In order to burn the fat, you will have to engage in some form of  aerobic activity such as swimming, jogging, brisk walking or even shopping.

So long as you are active for at least 30 minutes, 4 times a week.

The activity should make you feel out of breathe at the end of it.

If you are breathing through your nose then you are not doing enough to burn the fat.

You need to be exercising hard enough to raise your heart rate.

I am sure you can buy or hire a workout video that shows you how to do some form of fitness routine.

There are so many on the market these days.

If you want to do some specific exercises to tone you arms and lose your "bingo wings" then check out this video.

There are no weights required and you can do them in your own home.

Do not worry, these exercises will not give you a false smile like the woman in the video.

I hope you will give these exercises a go to help firm up your arms.

I will be back again tomorrow but I must warn you that things might get tougher.

Have a great day.

Stephen Hart

Summer Weight Loss - Testosterone

Hi Guys,

Today is the last day of looking at hormones and weight loss and today it is testosterone.

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 Testosterone is referred to as the "Other Hormone," and it can add zest to menopause. 

Monthly surges of this androgen boost your well-being, sense of personal power and sex drive. 

Testosterone and weight loss in women are linked.

Although testosterone is the male sex hormone, it is vital for good health in women, too.

A decrease in testosterone levels in women can lead to a loss of muscle mass. 

Muscle mass burns more calories than fat and keeps the metabolism working well, so a decrease in muscle tissue could lead to additional weight gain.

So you can see why it is so important to do some exercise while you are trying to lose weight.

I know it is frustrating for women that they do not have the high levels of testosterone that men do.

That is one of the reasons that men can burn more weight than women.

It is in their genetic build up. 

The only way to try and keep  up with them in the weight loss stakes is to do more exercise.

Do not think that exercise will make you look like a man.

It is extremely difficult for a woman to build muscle to burn fat.  

Exercise does allow you to produce small amount of testosterone and every thing you can do to help you burn more fat is an advantage. 

As you lose weight and get fitter, you will find it easier to exercise and so produce more testosterone.

Do not under estimate the importance of this hormone.

Tomorrow I will get back on the subject of methods to lose weight,

Speak to you then.

Stephen Hart

Summer Fat Loss - Oestrogen

Hi Guys,

Today I am going to look at Oestrogen and weight loss.

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Oestrogen controls fertility and the reproductive cycle, including puberty, menstruation, ovulation, pregnancy, birth, and menopause in women is well known and closely associated with the very essence of being female. 

However, beyond femininity what is the role of oestrogen in our bodies and how can it impact weight control?

So, you are trying to lose weight… How can you tell whether your weight gain is due to a hormonal imbalance, and not just say a fondness for chocolate chip cookies?

The first step is to assess the symptoms of your weight gain.

Have you noticed a roundness in your arms, legs and buttocks?

This can a sign that it is high levels of Oestrogen.

So how do you prevent Oestrogen build up?

You should take heed in what your grandmother told you:

Eat more vegetables and natural, unprocessed foods (organic is ideal), and avoid overly processed products, pesticides, chemicals in your personal environment and plastics.

You may have just thought that your old grandmother was just stuck in her ways, but there is a lot of truth in what she was telling you. 

She was not dazzled by fancy foods, she just used the good old fashioned way of eating unprocessed foods.

Eating processed foods can change your Oestrogen balance.

This causes your metabolism to slow down and it becomes very difficult to lose weight

It is today's life style that is causing you problems.

Try and revert  back to some of the old ways and eat more fresh food.

Chances are your grandmother was not over weight when she was younger and there is no need for you to be either.

It just requires a change in how you live your life.

Your grandmother adopted simple foods and vegetables and so can you.

Regards,

Stephen Hart

Summer Weight Loss - The Role Of Cortisol

Hi guys,

Today I am going to be looking at the role of cortisol in weight loss.

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Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands. 

Cortisol also affects the release of insulin release and your body's ability to convert sugars into energy.

Cortisol works in cycles.

They tend to peak at around mid morning and are at their lowest in the middle of the night.

In stressful situations, extra cortisol is released to provide an immediate, easy-to-use energy supply.

You might think that the extra cortisol would lead to extra sugar burning and hence extra fat loss.

The increase in cortisol can lead to an increased appetite.

Obviously this is something you do not want if you are trying to lose weight.

There are also other draw backs from too much cortisol.

Cortisol is affect by stress.

Most modern day stresses are mental or emotional.

The result of a week’s worth of minor conflicts is a body under constant stress.

Excess cortisol also inhibits your body from burning fat for energy. 

Without an optimal ability to burn fat, sustainable weight loss becomes exceedingly difficult.

 How do manage cortisol for weight loss?

 Lay off things like caffeine, alcohol and sugary drinks.

Try and spend some time each day relaxing.

Gentle exercise is a great way to get rid of the tension in your body.

Make sure you get a good nights sleep.

Your body needs the sleep to recover from the stresses of the day.

As you can see, you want to try and avoid stress as much as possible so that you do not inhibit fat burning.

I hope you found this brief explanation of cortisol useful.

I know it can be difficult but just try and relax as much as possible.

Regards,

Stephen Hart

Summer Weight Loss - The Role Of Insulin.

Hi Guys,

Today I am going to look at the role of insulin in weight loss.

Insulin regulates your body's blood sugar levels.

It does this by regulating whether your body uses or stores the energy from carbohydrates. 

When your blood sugar levels are high  insulin is released to convert excess blood sugars into glycogen (energy stores). 

When blood sugar levels drop, insulin levels also drop. 

When you eat, your body converts digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar) which is used by your body as an immediate source of energy.

When blood sugars levels start to drop, the amount of insulin released also drops and blood sugars level begin to stabilise.

Higher blood sugar levels leads to high insulin levels.

This impacts on fat burning and weight loss by:-

Increase in Hunger level
Decrease in Energy levels
Prevents your body from burning up its fat stores
Increases Fat Storage

When you eat foods high in sugar (one form of carbohydrate, sometimes referred to as simple carbs) - such as cakes, sweets, fruit juice, sugary drinks and refined foods like white bread, white pasta and white rice - your pancreas goes into overtime to produce the insulin necessary for all this blood sugar to be used for energy. 

When insulin levels are high, glucose is removed from the blood and excess glucose is stored as energy stores. 

Unless your body uses these energy stores, they essentially turn into body fat. 

It is impossible to burn fat whilst having high levels of insulin in your system.  

So the important message for weight loss and fat burning is that high insulin levels prevent fat burning.  

Maintaining blood sugar levels is the key to weight loss and fat burning as it keeps your energy levels constant, it prevents hunger pangs and it allows your body to access its glycogen stores (fat stores) as a source of energy when needed.

I hope this brief explanation will help you in your weight loss.

Regards

Stephen Hart

If you want a more scientific explanation then have a look at this page.  It is not a sales page.
 

Summer Fat Loss Continued

Hi Guys,

today I am going to continue with summer fat loss.

The key to losing weight is to change your hormonal balance.

Hormones determine how the calories are used by the body.

They determine whether the calories are used for energy or stored as fat.

Lets look at the four key hormones.

These are insulin, cortisol, oestrogen and testosterone.

If you insulin levels are not correct then food will be stored as fat rather than being burnt as energy.

Cortisol is a hormone in the body that increases sugars in the bloodstream, increases the availability of substances that repair tissues and enhances the brain’s use of glucose. 

When people feel anxiety, the hypothalamus sends signals to the adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol. 

The ovaries produce both testosterone and oestrogen.

In addition to being produced by the ovaries, oestrogen is also produced by fat tissue in the body.

Relatively small quantities of testosterone are released into your bloodstream by the ovaries and adrenal glands.

Now do not worry ladies, having testosterone in your blood stream will not turn you into a man.

Learning how to control these hormones will be a bit of a mystery to a lot of you.

If you look these up in books then they will give you full blown story about their origins, their purpose, how they are produced and many other things.

Most people would soon get bored of this and stop reading about it.

In order to help you out and not feed you with too much technical jargon, I am going to outline how these hormones can help you to lose weight.

I will be doing this in easy to handle chunks starting tomorrow.

Make sure that you check out tomorrow's post.

Kind regards, 

Stephen Hart

Your Summer Fat Loss.

Hi Guys,

Today I would like to talk a bit more about your summer fat loss.

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When you start losing weight for the summer certain things happen to your body.

To begin with you are taking in less food. 

To help prevent your body storing the food as fat, you need to change your eating routine.

To start with make sure that you eat something nutritious within 30 mins of getting up.

Make sure that there are plenty of carbohydrates in your breakfast to give yourself energy in the morning.

The next thing you need to consider is the size and frequency of your meals.

Go for meals that that contain about 300 calories.

That may not sound like a lot but I want you to eat 6 meals of 300 calories throughout the day.

That means you are feeding yourself about 1800 calories a day.

Make sure that you do not snack between meals.

It is the snacks that put fat on you.

Chances are that this is less food than you normally eat.

That is because most people eat more food each day than they require which is why they put on weight.

When you do not eat as much as usual you may become constipated for a few days.

This is perfectly natural because your body is getting used to not having so much food.

To help aid your digestion and help overcome the constipation make sure that you drink plenty of fluids.

I am not talking about fluids from carbonated drinks or something with lots of sugar.

Try drinking a glass of water every hour.

In  a few days your body will get used to the changes and it will get more regular.

Do not expect things to happen over night.

It takes time.

Hopefully by now you will have taken some time to think about your summer weight loss.

Tomorrow I will begin to look at the sort of diet you need to lose weight.

Have a healthy day.

Stephen Hart