Beautiful Body: Advanced Stretching Exercises

10 Ways To Fit In a Workout Before 10 am

Don't beat yourself up for never hitting the gym - these moves from Jennifer Cohen, health and fitness expert and author of No Gym Required, will have you feeling tight and toned all before you sit down to work.

7 a.m. 
When you wake up, immediately hit the floor and do 10 pushups. "As you get stronger, add an extra two pushups each week," says Cohen. As you increase the amount of reps, you'll spot a real difference in your upper arms. Looking good!

7:10 a.m.
For a high-protein breakfast, microwave eggs for two minutes. Fit in cardio by doing 20 jumping jacks, 20 squats, 20 front lunges, and 20 tricep dips on your kitchen chair before the buzzer goes off.

7:30 a.m.
When you're brushing your teeth, alternate between calf raises and squeezing your butt muscles for toning every other day.

7:45 a.m.
Squeeze in 50 crunches before you get dressed. "It's great to do abdominal exercises before you put on your clothes," says Cohen. "You feel skinnier."

8:00 a.m. 

Whether you're dropping the kids off at school or heading to work, skip the lift. "Make sure you're wearing flats or comfortable shoes, and run up the stairs to burn some calories and help strengthen your glutes," says Cohen.

8:05 a.m.
When you reach the final flight, work the outside of your thighs by side-stepping halfway to the landing, leading with your left leg.

8:10 a.m.
Work your other side by side-stepping up the stairs until you reach your floor, this time leading with your right leg.

9:00 a.m. 

Use your desk or or your coffee table to do 15 inclined pushups. "Different angles work different muscle groups," says Cohen. "Doing pushups flat on the ground when you first wake up and then doing them inclined later helps work different parts of your chest, upper back, and core for a more complete workout."

9:30 a.m.
Rather than sitting still when you're on the phone, keep moving. Take hold of a chair, extend one of your legs to the side, and pulse it out for 20 seconds while focusing on squeezing your thighs. Repeat with the opposite leg. "This move is great for core for stabilisation as well as toning the outer thighs, which minimises saddlebags," says Cohen.

9:45 a.m.
You've earned a coffee break! Drop down for 10 squats, and head out for a latte.

By Holly Corbett

What Is A Healthy Weight?

Although most of us would love to be given a straightforward solution to calculate our healthy or ideal weight, sadly it isn't that black and white. Your "healthy" weight cannot simply be calculated from a general source - people's healthy weight, or ideal weight, depends on several factors, including their age, sex, body type, bone density, muscle-fat-ratio, overall general health, and height.

Over the last few decades, using BMI (body mass index) was seen as an excellent means for calculating a person's healthy weight. However, BMI, as you will see later on in this article, is at best, a ballpark calculation with several limitations. BMI is more useful when studying large populations, rather than individuals.

Your healthy weight may be different from friends and family, often even if you are the same sex and height. You should not compare yourself to people around you, because we are all different and you run the risk of either aiming for a body weight that is too high or too low. Even comparing yourself to people outside your immediate vicinity is not ideal.

To add confusion to deciding what weight you should aim for, not even experts in different countries seem to agree. A healthy weight in the United Kingdom or the USA is slightly higher than what is set in, for example The Netherlands. If you were in Holland you would be aiming for a lower target weight than if you were in the USA.

Body Mass Index and Waist-Hip RatioBMI (Body Mass Index) and Waist-Hip Ratio are two ways doctors and other health care professionals gauge a person's weight, when deciding how close or far they are from a healthy one. Waist-Hip Ratio is probably more accurate (reasons later on in this article).

BMI (Body Mass Index)This measurement is a number derived from a person's weight and height.

BMI using Metric Units

The person's weight in kilograms (kilos) is divided by their square of their height in meters

- For example: Imagine a person weighs 80 kilos and is1.8 meters high.

- 3.24 is 1.82 (their height squared)

- 80 divided by 3.24 = a Body Mass Index of 24.69

BMI using Imperial Units

The person's weight in pounds multiplied by 703, divided by the square of their height in inches.

- For example: Imagine a person weighs 190 pounds and is 72 inches (6ft) tall.

- 5,184 = 722

- 190 (lbs) times 703 divided by 5184 = a Body Mass Index of 25.76In North America, Europe and much of the rest of the world, the following BMIs point to how a person's weight is classified:

18.5 - underweight

18.5 to 24.999 - ideal

25 to 29.999 - overweight

30+ - obese

40 - morbidly obeseSome nations place the lower limit for "ideal" at BMI 20.

The drawback with BMI is that it does not take into account the person's measurements. For example, a super fit Olympic athlete may have the same height and weight as an unfit couch potato - they would have the same BMI. However, the couch potatoes body measurements would be completely different.

The man in this picture has the same height and weight as the man in the picture below, they have the same BMI

This person has the same BMI as the man in the picture above this one, however, this one is not overweight

People have different bone densities and body-fat ratios, BMI does not take these factors into account. An osteoporosis patient may have a lower BMI than another individual without the conditions, however, it is likely that if only BMI measurements were used, the osteoporosis patient would be deemed as healthier.

BMI has the following serious drawbacks:

It underestimates body fat content in obese or overweight people

It overestimates body fat content in muscular or lean individuals

Waist-Hip RatioWaist-Hip Ratio, also known as WHR, looks at the ratio of a person's waist circumference with their hip circumference. The smallest waist measurement is taken, which is generally just above the navel, this total is divided by their hip circumference at its widest part.

In the thinner person, the waist is measured at its narrowest point. For the fatter person with a convex waist (big belly), it is measured approx. 1 inch above the belly button. Hips are measured at the widest point of the buttocks in the lean person, and at the great trochanters in the fatter individuals

If an adult female has a 27-inch waist and 36-inch hips, her WHR is 27 divided by 36 = A WHE of 0.75

Target WHRs are different for males and femlales:

WHR for men

- <0.9 - means he has a very low risk of having cardiovascular health problems

- From 0.9 to 0.99 - means he is at moderate risk of cardiovascular health problems

- >1 - means his risk of cardiovascular problems are high

WHR for women

- <0.8 - means she has a very low risk of having cardiovascular health problems

- From 0.8 to 0.89 - means she is at moderate risk of cardiovascular health problems

- 0.9 or more - means her risk of cardiovascular problems are high

Waist-Hip Ratio versus Body Mass IndexWHR will give you a much better idea regarding how near you are to a healthy weight, compared to BMI.

Apple-shaped people have larger WHRs and tend to have a higher risk of developing diseases, such as cardiovascular problems, compared to pear-shaped individuals. An apple-shaped person has more fat built up on the waist, while the fat on a pear-shaped person has accumulated on their hips.

Females whose WHR is below 0.8 tend to be healthier and more fertile than their higher WHR counterparts. A female WHR of 0.8 means she runs a much lower risk of developing manycancers, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes.

Males whose WHR is 9 or less have the same benefits, while those with higher WHR have similar health risks (to women in the paragraph above).

What are the drawbacks with WHR? - it still does not measure the total body fat percentage of the individual, or their muscle-to-fat ratio. However, most agree it is a superior predictor of health risks, and a better measure of ideal weight.

Measuring body-fat percentageIf you weigh a person's total fat, and divide it by their weight, you get their body-fat percentage. This measurement includes storage fat, as well as essential fat.

Essential fat is the fat we need for survival. Females have a higher proportion of their bodies made up of essential fat than men - between 2% and 5% in adult males and 10% and 13% in adult females.

Storage fat is the accumulation of fat in adipose tissue. Some storage fat also serves to protect the internal organs located in the abdomen and chest. Adipose tissue is a type of tissue that contains stored fat.

Our Total Body Fat Percentage includes both storage fat and essential fat.

According to the American Council on Exercise, male and female fat percentages should be as follows:

Essential fat: men 2-4%. Women 10-12%.

Total fat:

- male athletes 6-13%, women athletes 14-20%

- fit male non-athletes 14-17%, fit female non-athletes 21-24%

- acceptable male 18-25%, acceptable female 25-31%

- overweight male 26-37%, overweight female 32-41%

- obese male 38+%, obese female 42+%Health care professionals and sports scientists say measuring a person's body fat percentage is the ideal way of gauging their level of fitness and general health, because it is the only one that includes the person's true body composition. Quite simply, it accurately measures overweight or possible obesity in males with over 25% (body fat percentage) and females with over 31%.

A body fat percentage measurement would never make the BMI mistake of showing the athlete and couch potato with the same results.

How to measure body fat percentage?

Air Displacement Plethysmography (ADP) - similar to the principles used in underwater weighing. In this case, air is used, hence the name. The person goes into a sealed chamber which measures their total body volume by calculating how much air was displaced. Body density is determined by combining mass (body weight) with body volume. ADP can estimate a person's body fat percentage and LBM (lean body mass).

An athlete entering an Air Displacement Plethysmography chamber

Near-infrared interactance - an infra-red light beam is sent into the person's biceps; it is reflected from the muscle inside and absorbed by the fat. This is a non-invasive technique, which experts say is safe, easy to use, and quick.

Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) - X-rays of two separate energies scan the body; one of them is absorbed more strongly by fat. A computer program takes the readings in one scan from the other, the difference revelas the amount of body fat there is in relation to other tissus at each point. A sum of all the points scanned is made, resulting in a reading of the person's overall body composition.

ConclusionSo, really, rather than aiming for a body weight in kilograms or pounds, we should be targeting either a WHR (waist-hip-ratio) figure or body fat percentage.

Written by Christian Nordqvist

Effective Weight Loss - Keep A Food Journal, Don't Skip Meals, Don't Eat Out

If you want to really succeed in losing weight you should never skip meals, you should avoid eating out, and ideally, you should keep a food journal, especially if you are an overweight or obese postmenopausal woman, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reported in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The authors added that eating out in restaurants during lunchtime especially, should be avoided.

The authors claim that theirs is the first study ever to focus on the impact of a wide list of self-monitoring options and diet-related behaviors, as well as eating patterns on body weight among obese and overweight postmenopausal females.

Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., team leader, said:

"When it comes to weight loss, evidence from randomized, controlled trials comparing different diets finds that restricting total calories is more important than diet composition such as low-fat versus low-carbohydrate.

Therefore, the specific aim of our study was to identify behaviors that supported the global goal of calorie reduction."

Below are some of their findings:

Food journals - those who kept food journals, across all diets, lost approximately 6 pounds more than women who did not

Missing meals - the females who "skipped meals" lost much less weight than those who never missed meals, about 8 pounds less

Lunching out - women who went out for lunch at least once a week lost about 5 fewer pounds compared to those who lunched out less often. Eating out regularly for breakfast, lunch or supper was linked to less weight loss; however, the strongest association was with lunch.

A food diary is important for successful weight lossMcTiernan said:

"For individuals who are trying to lose weight, the No. 1 piece of advice based on these study results would be to keep a food journal to help meet daily calorie goals. It is difficult to make changes to your diet when you are not paying close attention to what you are eating."

When keeping a food journal, the researchers advised those participating in the study to:

Be thorough - make sure the journal has details of food preparation, which toppings, condiments, sauces or gravy were used, etc.

Be truthful - make sure everything that is eaten is recorded, do not leave anything out

Accuracy - portion sizes, label details, need to be accurately entered

Consistency - the food journal (diary) must be with the dieter at all times; this is easier these days with some of the applications for smart phones.

McTiernan said:

"While the study provided a printed booklet for the women to record their food and beverage consumption, a food journal doesn't have to be anything fancy. Any notebook or pad of paper that is easily carried or an online program that can be accessed any time through a smart phone or tablet should work fine."

Eating routine and not skipping meals For successful weight loss, the researchers found that eating at regular intervals is vital for effective and long-term weight loss. Skipping meals can be a diet's kiss of death.

McTiernan explained:

"The mechanism is not completely clear, but we think that skipping meals or fasting might cause you to respond more favorably to high-calorie foods and therefore take in more calories overall.

We also think skipping meals might cluster together with other behaviors. For instance, the lack of time and effort spent on planning and preparing meals may lead a person to skip meals and/or eat out more."

Eating out may be a barrier for making healthy food choices

At a restaurant we have less control over the ingredients that are added to our food

Eating out was found to undermine the overall success of weight loss efforts, when compared with rarely or never eating out, the authors wrote. Going out to restaurants may be an obstacle for making healthful food choices, they added.

When we are at a restaurant we have less control in what ingredients are used in preparing our meals, and which cooking methods are used. Even portion sizes are no longer under our control.

The study involved 123 women aged from 50 to 75 years. They were all overweight or obese and lived sedentary lifestyles. They were selected at random into two groups in this year-long dietary weight loss intervention study:

Exercise plus diet group

Diet only group They completed questionnaires which asked them about their dietary intake, what eating-related weight-control strategies they used, meal patterns, and eating behaviors. In order to assess what changes occurred from the beginning to the end of the study, they completed a 120-item food-frequency questionnaire.

Participants in both groups weighed on average 10% less than they did at the start of the study - the aim of the intervention was also a 10% drop from starting weight.

McTiernan said:

"We think our findings are promising because it shows that basic strategies such as maintaining food journals, eating out less often and eating at regular intervals are simple tools that postmenopausal women - a group commonly at greater risk for weight gain - can use to help them lose weight successfully."

In an Abstract in the same journal, the authors believe their findings indicate that more focus should be placed on dietary self-monitoring, home cooking, and a regular eating routine for a more effective 12-month weight-loss regime among women over the age of 50 years.

Written by Christian Nordqvist

How Many Calories Should I Eat?

The number of calories people should eat each day depends on several factors, including their age, size, height, sex, lifestyle, and overall general health. A physically active 6ft 2in male, aged 22 years, requires considerably more calories than a 5ft 2ins sedentary woman in her 70s.

Recommended daily calorie intakes also vary across the world. According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, the average male adult needs approximately 2,500 calories per day to keep his weight constant, while the average adult female needs 2,000. US authorities recommend 2,700 calories per day for men and 2,200 for women. It is interesting that in the UK, where people on average are taller than Americans, the recommended daily intake of calories is lower. Rates of overweight and obesity among both adults and children in the USA are considerably higher than in the United Kingdom.

The NHS stresses that rather than precisely counting numbers (calories), people should focus more on eating a healthy and well balanced diet, being physically active, and roughly balancing how many calories are consumed with the numbers burnt off each day.

According to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the average person's minimum calorie requirement per day globally is approximately 1,800 kilocalories.

Daily calorie consumption varies considerably around the world (countries in gray indicates "no data available")

What is the difference between calories and kilocalories?Scientifically speaking, one kilocalorie is 1,000 calories. However, the term calorie in lay English has become so loosely used with the same meaning as kilocalorie, that the two terms have virtually merged. In other words, in most cases, a calorie and kilocalorie have the same meaning.

A kilocalorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water from 15° to 16° Celsius (centigrade) at one atmosphere.

A "small calorie" refers to the traditional scientific term of calorie, meaning one-thousandth of a kilocalorie.

Internationally, most nations talk about food energy in kJ (kilojoules). 1 kcal (kilocalorie) = 4.184 kJ.

In this article, the term "calorie" means the same as "kilocalorie" or "kcal".

Portion sizesIn industrialized nations and a growing number of emerging economies, people are consuming many more calories than they used to. Portion sizes in restaurants, both fast food ones as well as elegant places, are far greater today.

The average cheeseburger in the USA 20 years ago had 333 calories, compared to the ones today with over 600 calories

The human body and energy usageFor the human body to remain alive, it requires energy. Approximately 20% of the energy we use is for brain metabolism. The majority of the rest of the body's energy requirements are taken up for the basal metabolic requirements - the energy we need when in a resting state, for functions such as the circulation of the blood and breathing.

If our environment is cold, our metabolism increases to produce more heat to maintain a constant body temperature. When we are in a warm environment, we require less energy.

We also require mechanical energy for our skeletal muscles for posture and moving around.

Respiration, or specifically cellular respiration refers to the metabolic process by which an organism gets energy by reacting oxygen with glucose to produce carbon dioxide, water and ATP energy. How efficiently energy from respiration converts into physical (mechanical) power depends on the type of food eaten, as well as what type of physical energy is used - whether muscles are used aerobically or anaerobically.

Put simply - we need calories to stay alive, even if we are not moving, and need calories to keep our posture and to move about.

How many calories do I need per day?The Harris-Benedict equation, also known as the Harris-Benedict principle, is used to estimate what a person's BMR (basal metabolic rate) and daily requirements are. The person's BMR total is multiplied by another number which represents their level of physical activity. The resulting number is that person's recommended daily calorie intake in order to keep their body weight where it is.

This equation has limitations. It does not take into account varying levels of muscle mass to fat mass ratios - a very muscular person needs more calories, even when resting.

How to calculate your BMR

Male adults

66.5 + (13.75 x kg body weight) + (5.003 x height in cm) - (6.755 x age) = BMR

66 + ( 6.23 x pounds body weight) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.76 x age) = BMR

Female adults

55.1 + (9.563 x kg body weight) + (1.850 x height in cm) - (4.676 x age) = BMR

655 + (4.35 x kg body weight) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age) = BMR

Applying levels of physical activity to the equation

Sedentary lifestyle - if you do very little or no exercise at all

Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.2

Slightly active lifestyle - light exercise between once and three times per week

Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.375

Moderately active lifestyle - if you do moderate exercise three to five days per week

Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.55

Active lifestyle - if you do intensive/heavy exercise six to seven times per week

Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.725

Very active lifestyle - if you do very heavy/intensive exercise twice a day (extra heavy workouts)

Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.9

How much should I weigh?As with how many calories you should consume each day, your ideal body weight depends on several factors, including your age, sex, bone density, muscle-fat ratio, and height.

BMI (Body Mass Index) - some say BMI is a good way of working out what you should weigh. However, BMI does not take into account muscle mass. A 100-metre Olympic champion weighing 200 pounds (about 91 kilograms), who is 6 feet (about 1mt 83cm) tall, who has the same BMI as a couch potato of the same height, is not overweight, while the couch potato is overweight.

Waist-hip ratio - this measurement is said to be more accurate at determining what your ideal weight should be, compared to BMI. However, waist-hip ratio does not properly measure an individual's total body fat percentage (muscle-to-fat ratio), and is also limited.

Waist-to-height ratio - this new way of determining ideal body weight is probably the most accurate one available today. It was presented by Dr. Margaret Ashwell, ex-science director of the British Nutrition Foundation, and team at the 19th Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France, on 12th May, 2012. It is also a very simple calculation; easy for lay people to work out.Dr. Ashwell's team found that:

"Keeping your waist circumference to less than half your height can help increase life expectancy for every person in the world."

Put simply, to achieve and/or maintain your ideal body weight:"Keep your waist circumference to less than half your height."If you are a 6ft (183cm) tall adult male, your waist should not exceed 36 inches (91 cm).

If you are a 5ft 4 inches (163 cm) tall adult female, your waist should not exceed 32 inches (81 cm)

How do I measure my waist? - according to the World Health Organization (WHO), you should place the tape-measure half-way between the lower rib and the iliac crest (the the pelvic bone at the hip). 

Not all calories are the same, not all diets are the sameSimply counting calories, and ignoring what you put in your mouth might not lead to good health. Insulin levels will rise significantly more after consuming carbohydrates than after eating fats (no rise at all) or protein. Some carbohydrates, also known as carbs, get into the bloodstream in the form of sugar (glucose) much faster than others. Refined flour is a fast carb, while coarse oatmeal is slow. Slow-release carbs are better for body weight control and overall health than fast carbs.

A 500-calorie meal of fish/meat, salad, and some olive oil, followed by fruit, is much better for your health and will keep you from being hungry for longer than a 500-calorie snack of popcorn with butter or toffee.

Taking 500 calories from this dish is much better for the health, preventing hunger, and maintaining a healthy body weight than the equivalent calories in popcorn with butter or toffee

There are several diets today which claim to help people lose or maintain their body weight. Some of them have been extremely successful and good for participants, but are notoriously difficult to adhere to long-term.

The "Eight Most Popular Diets", according to how many articles mentioned them favorably, how popular they were generally, and which ones we received the most positive feedbacks on, include:

The Atkins Diet

The Zone Diet

Vegetarianism

Veganism

Weight Watchers

The South Beach Diet

The Raw Food Diet

The Mediterranean Diet

Written by Christian Nordqvist

Fitness for Health and Wellbeing

When you think of fitness, you may be thinking of well-toned bodies, rock-hard abs and generally, just a fit and outstanding physique. What if I told you that in order to be truly fit and feel great you don’t need to be a body builder?

Fitness is more than exercise. If you think exercise and weight control are all there is to fitness, you may be surprised! Fitness is a lifelong pursuit, not a short term goal. "Physical fitness is defined as "a set of attributes that people have or achieve that relates to the ability to perform physical activity" (USDHHS, 1996).

In fact, physical fitness is made up of five main components: cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, body composition and flexibility.

An interesting quote I came across is this: "The biggest obstacle people face in achieving physical and financial fitness is developing consistent and long-term healthy habits." This came from Countrywide Bank Managing Director, Pierre Habis. Interestingly, it points up the fact that anything worth achieving should become a mindset based on a long term goal. Add anything that is worth while achieving to your regular life routine.

In general, physical fitness is the ability to do daily activities without feeling overly tired. Physical fitness is especially beneficial in preventing coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease, enhancing muscle quality, preventing muscular deterioration and reducing depression.

You see, true fitness is everything from proper sleep to proper nutrition, from stress reduction to weight reduction, and from flexibility to balance to relaxation. Being physically well toned and muscular does not mean you’re healthy.

Diet and exercise work together for your body's best interest. That’s becausenutrition and physical activity go together like bread and butter for our bodies. Dieting alone is not going to be able to give you all of these health benefits. You need to have the physical part as well. Exercise will aid in digestion, provide strength and endurance, and does wonders for the heart.

On the flip side, it is important to be aware of the fact that a bad diet can affect your fitness training, even if you follow the best type of exercise plan available! In order to stay as healthy as possible, you need to combine a healthy diet with a lot of exercise!

The average person needs at least twenty minutes of exercise three times a week. This is not hard for most people to attain – even if you’re not used to any kind of fitness training. It will help to strengthen your cardiovascular health and your overall fitness. Regardless of what sort of physical activity you choose, you should burn about 3500 calories per week. You will soon start feeling the benefits!

When you start any type fitness plan it is recommended that you talk to your doctor about it first. He may work out a specific exercise plan with you that is best suited for your particular physical needs. Be sure to discuss with your doctor any special health concerns like blood pressure, hypertension and any special diet needs that you may have.

It just cannot be stressed enough how the combination of a healthy diet and exercise plan will do wonders for your overall well being. It will make you feel good mentally, emotionally, as well as physically!

Did you know that you can use diet to control high blood pressure? Studies have shown that exercise has a role in keeping blood pressure from increasing. Yes; hypertension can be controlled by physical activity, a low fat diet, and reducing your salt intake, weight, and alcohol consumption!

There is also increasing evidence that weight bearing exercises, like walking, dancing, running, and sports are all excellent for good bone health.

To balance your overall health, you need to have a healthy diet that provides ample calcium, vitamins and minerals along with the adequate amount of exercise to keep your body working great for the rest of your life.