Posts Tagged ‘Improve’

Browsing the web you'll find many reviews of the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet and unfortunately, many of these are simple promotion for commercial diet products. The goal of this brief article is to bring some light into the darkness and to provide a comprehensive view of what it actually is and how it can be improved.

The diet is based on calorie shifting (sometimes also called calorie cycling), a method applied since many years by body builders and adapted by the Fat Loss 4 Idiots team for the purpose of losing weight rapidly and without starving yourself. Calorie Shifting is a nutrition-based weight loss approach that focuses on eating patterns, rather than on what types of food to eat or avoid. The result is a rapid, but safe, weight loss. As a nutrition-based diet, very little exercise is required to achieve the weight loss. Losing pounds basically is achieved by sound nutrition and a constant change of what you eat. As a consequence, your body doesn't get used to any routine and your metabolism remains accelerated causing your body to burn fat faster and more efficiently.

The basic principle of healthy loss diet with calorie shifting: you have to eat meals up to 4 or more times a day and no snacks or tiny meals are allowed in between. Each of the meals should have different calorie values, but must be a full meal. It is important to drink a lot of liquids, recommended are up to 10 glasses of water a day (but you can also drink sodas, coffee and juices in addition to this). The water is essential to speed up the weight loss process as it helps to flush out the food and to keep the metabolism high.

Eating meals with different calorie values and types of food results in a unique reflex in your body, raising the metabolism (and fat burning process) and keep it high for as long as you keep doing this calorie shifting diet. Combining 4 different meals each day and drinking plenty of water is the main idea behind how to calorie shift.

The developers of the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet call it with some enthusiasm the "Extremely Fast Weight Loss Diet" as it really is a diet giving rapid results that can be applied easily and by everyone. They praise it almost as the Holy Grail of the diets. The simplicity and the fast weight loss of the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet is the bright side of the story but there is an other side with some more shadow. As the diet does not include physical activities, there is a risk that the dieters not only lose fat but also muscle mass. Here is the reason why: First and preferred energy source of your body are carbohydrates (usually simply called carbs). Carbs are stored basically in your muscles and liver in the chemical form of glycogen, a core protein of the enzyme glycogenin surrounded by branches of glucose units - analogous to the function of starch in plants. The storage of this primary "fuel" in your muscles and liver is a form of survival mechanism as in extreme situations your body needs a fast resource of energy to react instantaneously. Body fat is only used when not sufficient glucose is available.

As a consequence, Fat Loss 4 Idiots is only idiot proof if the diet is accompanied with an exercise program that avoids the reduction of muscle mass and favors the consumption of fat as energy resource. This exercise program preferably is a cardio exercise performed in the morning and even better before having breakfast. At that moment of the day the carbs stored from your last meal will be almost depleted and your body will be burning your fat instead.

It has been shown that the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet, combined with physical activities preferably of the cardio type, is a very powerful tool for rapid and sustainable weight loss. Depending on the average daily calorie reduction and the performed physical activities, dieters usually experience a weight loss in the range of 3 to 8 lbs in the first 11 to 14 days. But it also true that not all people succeed with this diet. The most common reason for failure is that the diet is not correctly applied, even though the application is really simple and straightforward as the diet instruction book comes with an online diet generator that automatically generates individual diet menu plans for 11 days.

The Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet is not the Holy Grail of weight loss diets, but correctly applied and in combination with a cardio exercise program, this is one of the easiest and fastest and weight loss solutions currently available. As no diet pills are required and in contrast to other restrictive diets like low carb, low fat, low cal, etc. no food groups are excluded, it also can be considered one of the healthiest diets you can choose to get rid of your extra pounds.

Whether you are a big time cyclist, or you like to bike as a hobby, your knee discomfort can really make you hit the "brakes" in a hurry.

Cycling is a great form of exercise; considered by many individuals to be a great way to stay in shape. Unfortunately, it can quickly become an unpleasant chore if your knees are sore. The pain problems may start while you are riding, or it may not occur until after the ride is through. Moreover, it can last for a moment or be seemingly endless.

Rest may help, but can certainly infringe on your desire to cycle. Some cyclists ice their knees after they dismount their bikes, and this may also help reduce the pain. But, if your knee pain happens when you bike, you already know it is not exactly practical to ride around with ice bags strapped to your legs?

Over the counter pain medications (such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen) may also help reduce the knee aches when cycling, but they may offer only a temporary fix. - Talk with your doctor about using any such medications.

So, if you experience knee ache when cycling, aside from the temporary solutions listed above, and aside from giving up the sport entirely, what options do you have?

The solution to the dilemma of your knee aches may be something as simple and affordable as a knee brace. To help reduce your knee pain, and to take your knee stability to the next level, you should consider this affordable option. Knee supports can help reduce your knee pain because of the meaningful support that they provide, and they are not super expensive either. Nor do they have to be cumbersome and heavy. Positives to say the least...

If you experience discomfort in your knees when cycling, whether it is consistent, or whether it comes and goes, you should always seek the advice of a qualified physician to determine the cause of the pain. Knee pain problems when biking can come from many different causes. Most likely, though, it is caused either by inflammation within the knee joint, or wear and tear on the knee cap and/or the cartilage disc underlying the knee cap (such as found with chondromalacia patella). A meniscus injury can also be the root of your intense knee discomfort. There are a host of other, possible causes of discomfort when cycling and only a qualified professional can properly diagnose the cause of your particular symptoms. Still, whatever the cause of the symptoms, a brace can help alleviate the ache when cycling.

A support is designed to cradle the knee, fitting snugly around your leg. This will help to relieve the stress on the joint that may cause your knee ache when cycling. Moreover, the knee brace can help keep the patella in its proper place as it tracks over the joint during activity. When the knee is properly positioned, and the excess stress is taken off the joint itself, the inflammation often associated with knee ache when cycling can also be reduced, thus helping to reduce the achy sensations that have been slowing you down.

Knee supports come in several different styles and sizes, to fit your personal support needs. Most great knee supports are not custom made anymore, and are typically very affordable, especially if you search online for them. All are designed to offer mobility and added support to help keep you cycling.

The bottom line is that your knee pain is your business. If you do not become proactive, however, your knee discomfort might become a life sentence. Hopefully it will disappear by itself, but when it does not, you should consider a knee support because it is a low cost option that you can use right away to help stabilize your knee.

While many of us don't have the time to do cycle training every day, we would still like to improve our overall level of cycling ability. This means different things to different people - for some it is increasing speed, for others it is increasing the total distance covered.

The natural way to improve your cycling speed is simply to keep going out on your bike and trying to cycle faster. This works to a certain extent but isn't the most efficient way to increase your abilities.

The good news is that there are a few easy changes we can make that will bring rapid changes in our cycling abilities, and will often take no longer than our existing cycling.

Increase your pedalling speed

It is better to cycle with your pedals making 80-100 turns per minute instead of 50-60 turns per minute. This provides better exercise for your heart and body, will increase your overall level of cycling ability, and reduces the risk of straining and damaging your knees. You will of course be cycling in an easier gear when you do this, not just cycling twice as fast!

Long intervals

Intervals refers to the practice of cycling for short periods at higher levels of effort. For example, every three minutes you might cycle as hard as you can for 30 seconds. Intervals can last for just a few seconds, or for several minutes. They should be at a level of effort that you can manage for the whole length of the interval - but only just!

For beginners to cycle training longer intervals, perhaps 10 minutes each, are most effective. So on a one hour ride, try cycling a 15 minute warm-up, then alternate 10 minute hard efforts with 10 minute gentle recovery riding about three times, then 10 minute cooling down (hence 75 minutes altogether)

Cycle more often

Generally it is better if you can do three one hour sessions than one three hour session, if that means you are cycling more days in the week. It is still ideal if you can also do one longer session, say two-three hours long, each week in order to maintain and build endurance. Worry less about speed during this longer ride.

Remember to take it easier on the day of the longer ride or you will be too tired, too soon. the goal on this day is not maximum speed, but simply to get your body used to sitting in the saddle and pedalling for long periods of time.

Cycle hills and into the wind

The two aspects of cycling that most beginners like the list are cycling uphills, and cycling into the wind. It is not a coincidence that these are also the types of cycling that will benefit you the most, so try not to avoid them.

Hills especially are a very good training ground for strength and stamin for cyclists. Make that extra effort during the last 100 metres to be sure you go soaring over the top ready for the descent on the other side.

Overall

With a few weeks of regular practice following the techniques outlined above you should be seeing a significant improvement in your abilities and endurance.