Losing The Last 10 lbs.

Questions from P.N. – “I've gained 10 lbs and I'm now chubby.  Is it best to work out when I wake up which is usually around 1pm or before I go to bed, which is around 6am.  How often do I need to do cardio per week?  Is it alright to just eat 1 big meal per day?”

Whether you just started to gain or are trying to loss the last 10lbs., 10 seems to be the ultimate number.  It may not sound like it’s a lot but I applaud anyone keeping track or staying conscious of their body.  If you’re like me, 10 pounds would be quite a dramatic physical change because of my height.  I think finding the time to work out anytime of the day is fantastic!  If you have a choice, I recommend working out in the in the morning. It’ll jump start your metabolism for the day and burn stored fat instead of the food you’ve just eaten.  Before bedtime might not be a good idea because it will raise your energy level and may make it harder for you to fall asleep.

Cardio exercises are best for losing weight.  I recommend 1 hour per day at least 5 days a week until you reached your fitness goal.  If you’re just starting out, I recommend walking because it’s low impact and you can do it practically anywhere.  As you get more comfortable with your choice of cardio exercises, pick up the pace to burn even more calories!

I say it often and I’ll say it again.  Food is 80% responsible for your weight loss or gain, therefore eating healthy and cutting your meal portion is best.  I don’t recommend eating 1 meal per day because you’ll end up eating more than what you need.  Your body will then store the extra fat, which will make you gain even more weight.  If you choose to skip a meal, replace it with a healthy smoothie but don’t starve yourself to loss weight.  I recommend eating a regular healthy meal 3 times a day and carry a healthy snack throughout the day if you’re still hungry.  That means no fast food, sodas or alcohol.  Drinks a lot of water (8 glasses per day is recommended).

The key is to break your daily routine and try something different.  You can’t expect to get results doing the same thing.  The concept to losing weight is quite simple, eat less and work out more!  Follow these guidelines and you’ll loss that 10lbs. in less time and effortlessly.

There’s Always Room For Improvement

Obesity is an on-going problem in America.  When I looking around, I see so many overweight people.  I’m not talking about curvy, big-boned or voluptuous people. I’m talking people who’ve really let themselves go, given up and morbidly obese.  I often wonder at what age and when did they give up.  What’s the true problem for the mental break down?  Did they wake one day feeling hopeless and say, “This is as good as it’s going to get”.  If this is you, just know that you’re not alone.  Let’s break that negative thinking starting today because the truth is, there’s always room for improvement.  We can always be better!

I know far to many people who’ve stopped taking care of themselves once they get into a serious relationship or get married.  They feel that they don’t need to impress anyone anymore.  It’s not about impressing others, it’s about being healthy.  Being admired for your physique is only a plus.  Even if that was the case, isn’t your partner worth looking good for?

As we age, it’s even more crucial that we take care of ourselves to avoid future health issues.  Don’t give up because you think you’re too old.  Staying fit will make you feel younger.  You’ll have more strength and energy to do the things you want to do.  You are responsible for the health and maintenance of your own body.  Every little effort you do to take care of yourself will improve your overall fitness.

Here are some guidelines to help you get started.  You can do it! 

1)  Have a positive attitude and change your negative thinking.  

           (Stop making excuses.  Start saying - I can & I will)

2)    2)  Set a short-term goal. (Example - losing 2-3 lbs. per week)

3)  3)  Set a long-term goal. (Example losing 50 lbs in a year)

4)  4)  Create a nutritional plan.  (Low calorie meals and cutting your food portions)

5)  5)  Have a workout routine (Cardio exercises are best for losing weight)

People are always fascinated how I maintain myself physically.  That’s because I don’t wake up thinking that what I have is good enough.  I wake up thinking,  “How can I improve myself today?”  No matter at what age, I’m constantly challenging myself to be better and I won’t stop until the end of time.

It doesn’t matter how you put on the weight.  It’s about finding a solution.  When do you stop taking care of your body?  The answer is never!

Self Defense Is The Best Protection

When a crime is committed against you, what exactly do you think will protect you?  Nobody can protect you better than yourself.  This is one of the reasons why I’m currently taking Wing Chun martial arts class.  Women and the elderly are targeted more when it comes to crimes because they are considered the easiest and weakest to overpower.

I want you to seriously think about this especially if you’re a female or an elderly person.  If you’re being attacked, how would you defend yourself?  Even if you call the police, it could take them 10 minutes or longer to respond.  Which in most cases will be too late.

Years ago, my mom came home from church and told me that four guys sneaked up on her and snatched her purse as she was walking out of Mass.  I asked her if she was allright.  She said, “I’m fine.  I was only carrying $3 and a bible.  They can have it!” and laughed hysterically.  Many people won’t be as lucky as my mom.  Most people will probably end up getting hurt and losing so much more.

I’m currently taking martial arts class and when I’m in my golden years, I surely will not be intimidated because of my age.  If someone tries to assault me, they better be ready for a battle.  Although I’m a petite woman, I won’t give up without a fight because I refuse to be a victim.  You should never limit yourself by thinking that you’re “too old”.  Many women have a false sense of security thinking a man or someone else can protect them.  That’s great if you can be escorted 24/7 but what if they’re not around?  You should always be able to defend yourself.

Learn how to protect yourself before it’s too late.  That’s why it’s important to stay physically fit and active.  Take a self-defense class, you’ll learn a new skill and feel great about yourself at any age.  The first mistake is thinking that it could never happen to you. I don’t know about you but I take every precaution to protect myself and my loved ones. 

Burn Off The Calories By Swimming

One of my favorite overall cardio workout is swimming, it’s low impact but it works your whole body.  And if you like the water, then it’s just considered a fun activity that’s beneficial to your body.  Swimming is one of the most important cardio exercises for losing weight, building muscles as well as having an aerobic affect that improves the body’s use of oxygen and increases lung function.  When you swim, all your major muscles are working at once.  Swimming is good for building muscles because water resistance is greater than air resistance therefore your muscles have to work harder.

If you don’t know how to swim, anytime is a good time to learn.  It’s never too late.  I taught myself to swim at 9 yrs. old.  I had no fear and it didn’t take me a long before I could swim like fish.  Up to this day, I still love the water and swim on a regular basis.  If you don’t have a pool, look for a gym, the YMCA or a community pool for a fun place to practice or learn as most places even have swimming lessons. 

Swimming burns about 3 calories a mile per pound of your bodyweight and improves your ability to maintain a healthy weight.  For example, if you weigh 150 lbs and swim 1 mile, you would burn 450 calories (3 calories x150 lbs = 450 calories burn).  If it takes you 30 minutes to swim 1 mile and 1 hour to swim 2 miles, you would burn 900 calories in 1 hour!  Swimming will burn up a lot of calories but be careful not to eat a big meal after you swim.  If you do then you’re just simply replacing all the calories you just burnt up.

Swimming also promotes proper breathing, stimulates your circulation and easy on the joints.  I swim on a regular basis because it’s fun as well as it builds up my muscle strength, endurance and cardio fitness.  

Lose Weight with Cardio Exercises

I can’t emphasis how great cardio is for your body and truly the best overall workout. Whether you choose to walk, jog, swim, cycle, aerobic, elliptical or participate in an active sport, all of these are great choices.  Cardio is truly the best especially if you’re trying to loose weight.  The more you do it, the better your results will be.  When you exercise your cardiovascular system not only will you burn off calories, your heart and lungs will get stronger.  This will improve the quality of your breathing because oxygen will be circulating better. 

A protein shake is an excellent pre-workout supplement if you are doing cardio exercise.  My choice of protein is soymilk.  Your muscle strives on protein so it’s good to consume protein approximately 30-60 minutes before doing cardio exercise. This will help increase your metabolism so that you loose more weights from fats.

My favorite cardio exercise is jogging.  As a warm up, I jog 4 miles before doing any exercises.  I used to do this daily but I had to cut down to every other day because I was burning too many calories and losing too much weight, which I know for most of you that is a good problem to have.  If you’re just starting out, I suggest you start slowly and work your way up.  Begin with a simple one-mile walk.  As long as you take that first step, you’re off to a great start! 

The best thing about jogging for me is the runner’s high that I get when I’m done and nothing gets my heart pumping more.  I feel alive and have the energy do anything. I’m often asked, “How can you stay on the treadmill for so long?”  For me, it helps to put on my ipod.  When doing cardio, I choose techno music because the fast beat really gets my body moving.  It’s during this time that I feel like I have no care in the world.

My advice is choose the music that you enjoy or have a TV in front of you to catch up on the news or your favorite program.  Some people may do better with a workout partner or being outdoors.  My technique is not for everyone, you’ll have to find what works best for you.  I enjoy jogging because that is when I’m truly alone and free of any thoughts or stress.   You need to make your exercises a priority, fun, and exciting.  That way it’s not a task but something to look forward to.  It’s this mentality that makes the difference between being fit or unhealthy.

If you are trying to loose weight, I recommend doing cardio exercises at least 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes to an hour.  If you need to, take a day to give your muscles a chance to recover by stretching, taking a nice bath, or getting a massage.  Cardio exercise is truly the best overall workout to maintain a healthy weight.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF

The one thing that helped me to stay in shape is that I’m constantly challenging myself.  We challenge our minds by going to school and educating ourselves.  To gain a healthy and fit body, you have to do the same, by educating yourself and being aware of your body.  You have to put efforts into working out to see results.

My most recent physical challenge is taking Wing Chun martial art class.  If you’re not familiar with Wing Chun, it’s the foundation of Bruce Lee’s martial art.  I’m aware of my age, size, look and sex and being that it’s a male dominant club I know it would be very challenging.

My challenges:

1) Age - In general, most people consider my age as “older” to learn something new.  I tried to persuade a female friend to take the class with me and she denied and said she’d feel silly being “so old” (she’s my age, 37).

2) Size - I’m 85lbs and 5ft tall, smallest person in the class.

3) Looks - My looks works against me in this environment because the men see the ladies come and go in 1-2 months.  For that reason, the men don’t take women seriously especially the attractive ones.  Therefore, some of the men give the least amount of effort to help and are less than welcoming.  As my teacher said, “The pretty ones don’t last.  They quit when they get a bruise”.  I’ll be damned if I will be stereotyped.

4) Sex - In general, men are physically stronger than women so I will always be sparring with someone stronger than me.

I accept my challenges and have a lot to overcome.  I’m 8 months into my martial art class and some people are starting to warm up to me.  I can only prove myself in time.  But the one thing that I won’t do is to say, “I can’t” and give up.  And I’m surely not afraid to fight with a man nor will I be intimidated. 

My goal is to master a new skill and become as good, better than the men or even the best!  I never limit myself to doing or trying something new.  Most females would rather take a dance or yoga class.  There’s nothing wrong with it and I have taken some and enjoyed it very much but it’s not challenging enough for me.  With my martial art class, I’m sparring with men who are physically a lot stronger and bigger than me in size and it forces me to work even harder and keeps me coming back.

This kind of physical challenge keeps me motivated, fresh and young.  Find your challenge and let it do the same for you!  Age, size, looks or sex has never been an issue for me so I dare you to challenge yourself.

Intellectual Beauty

What is intellectual beauty and do you have it?  You don’t need to be a scientist, doctor or even have a degree to be considered intelligent.  It’s as simple as your ability to hold a conversation without coming off or sounding like a moron.  Nothing turns me off more than an attractive person who is dumb.

There’s a certain charm and charisma that comes with intellectual beauty.  In my profession, I meet a lot of attractive people.  Unfortunately, their beauty begins to fade as soon as they open their mouth.  Lets face it, doors do open and opportunities present themselves much more rapidly to an attractive person.  This is why I set the watermark so high for them as well as for myself.  To rely on just your physical attributes is to short change yourself.

I’ve always been drawn to intelligent people and those who have a passion for learning.  People limit themselves when they think they already know everything.  They close themselves off to learning something new or better.  Life is a constant evolution and you can never know too much.  There’s always something new to learn, experience or improve upon.  You’ll never live long enough to know or do it all.  The greatest minds of all time are constantly open to new development, research and data to expand and improve upon their work and contribution to society.  These people are truly beautiful.

There’s nothing wrong with people who like to pamper themselves like going for a facial, manicure or a makeover.  It’s important to take care of yourself, just don’t skimp on the internal.  Be sure to pamper your mind as well as your body.  Fill it with knowledge and ideas.  Most successful people have biographies; you can spend an hour or an evening with some of the greatest intellectual and fascinating minds of all times. 

Physical beauty can only take you so far, and sadly for some, it just may be enough.  Your exterior beauty is temporary and will fade in time.  Intellectual beauty is eternal and gets better as we age and become wiser.  Keeping up with your workout is great but be sure to take time to exercise your mind!

Self Motivation

Here’s an excerpt on motivation from my upcoming fitness book:

GET THE BODY YOU WANT!

Finding motivation is difficult for most people.  I found my self-motivation at a very young age.  I was an immigrant at 7 yrs. old living in the United States, and if being poor isn’t enough, I did not speak any English nor did I understand the western culture.  I remembered when I was in first grade, I was always the last kid to be picked for a team sport because I was the smallest in size and didn’t understand the game or sport.  Like most immigrant families to this country, we were extremely poor.  I remembered going to school dressing like a little tomboy and my clothing and shoes never quite fit me properly.  It was probably a good thing that I didn’t understand what the other kids were saying but no matter what language we speak, teasing is universal.  I could tell that I was being made fun of.  It wasn’t until I was in fourth grade and after taking a few years of ESL (English as a second language) classes, I began to get the hang of things.  I worked really hard to learn the language and practiced the games/sports and was learning to adapt to the western culture.

Fast forward to my high school years, I was still the smallest in size but I was the captain of ever team sport in my Physical Education classes.  I’m proud to say that I have never lost a game and we always won with at least double the opponent’s score with me scoring at least half of the winning points.  I never let my size stop me from participating in any sport or anything else for that matter.  If it wasn’t for the lack of support from my family, I might have pursued a profession in sports.  Sadly, because of the cultural difference, I was brought up that sports were only for boys.  I was not allowed to participate in any extra after school sports.  No matter what obstacles my life had taken me, my passion for fitness never died but was simply on hold.

Nevertheless, not wanting to be the last to be picked for a team sport gave me my motivation.  I knew how it felt to be an outcast.  It’s awful but in some sense I’m glad to have gone through my experiences early on as it made me into the strong person that I am today.  Life is not always easy when you’re dealt a bad hand but you have two choices, you can either be a victim of your surroundings or you can be a survivor.  Our greatest tragedy sometimes can be the motivating force to achieve greatness.

My experience is no different from you wanting to reach your weight or fitness goals.  You can do it if you work hard and put your mind into it. I truly believe that if you want something badly enough, you can achieve it.  Sometimes your pain or humiliation can be the motivating force to change your life and truly that’s what I did.  If you have ever been teased, stared at or laughed at because of your appearance, use it to fuel your motivating force. Your natural and first reaction is anger but try not to react, use that energy and choose to take action instead.  By reacting to anger you’re allowing people to dictate your emotions and your life.  Turn a negative into a positive.  Stop feeling self-pity and do something about it. Don’t let the humiliation keep you from action. Who cares what other people think?  This is your life!  Use it as a fuel that drives you to get up earlier or take time out for yourself to work out.

I have nothing but love and encouragement and want to help you through your journey.  Find what drives you and fuel your motivation, you’ll be amazed what your body is capable of doing if you only put your mind into it.