Battling Body Fat: Ways To Lose The Weight

You've seen those girls who never seem to work out or eat healthy, yet they are able to maintain a healthy body weight.

Doesn't it make you sick?

Here you are, struggling to lose weight in a never-ending battle of the bulge and despite your attempts you feel you either don't have the commitment or discipline that you need to be successful.

As someone who had struggled with weight since my late teens, I had tried just about everything to lose weight. From exhausting work out routines to eliminating fatty foods from my diet, I was committed to getting in shape.

Needless to say, it was never long before I gave in to the cravings, or just became too tired of the rigorous work out schedules and called it quits.

I was at the point where I no longer even believed it was possible for me to lose all of my weight and have the body I so badly wanted. I hadn't even seen my so-called "abs" in years!

But it's not just about fitting into a size 2, is it?

We want to lose weight to feel beautiful again, to have confidence in ourselves and to experience that rush of energy that we haven't experienced in what feels like eternity. We want to be at 100%, and live our lives in the best physical condition possible.

You feel your body start to break down and give in under the weight, and you know that it's only a matter of time before you REALLY start to feel the effects of the damage that's been done to your body and system. Excessive weight can lead to many different problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure and even heart attacks.

There are hundreds of reasons why you want and need to lose weight but if you've been blaming yourself for your failed weight loss attempts, don't be so hard on yourself! YOU aren't entirely to blame.

When I was able to finally shed the weight and more importantly, keep it off for the last 5 years, it wasn't because I miraculously discovered a way to maintain discipline in eating healthy or getting regular exercise.

In truth, I didn't have any more self-control when it came to food than I had before, but there was one BIG difference in my approach, and subsequently, it was the real reason behind finally getting rid of my "second self" and settling into a comfortable weight for the first time in my life.

Knowledge.

One small word that represents such a powerful weapon when its in your arsenal, and without it, you'll continue failing in your attempts to lose weight simply because you don't know how!
It's not as easy as eliminating foods from your diet (in fact, some of the foods that you believe you shouldn't eat can actually HELP you lose weight).

There's much more to losing weight than that, but thankfully, it's actually very straightforward once you've cut out the misconceptions that have been responsible for your failed attempts.

Without having this important information at your disposal, you will not only struggle to lose weight but you'll actually make it far harder on yourself than it really has to be!

Take it from me.

Fed up with "counting calories" and trying to figure out what foods were good for me and which ones weren't (outside of the obvious), I had no idea what I was doing when it came to losing weight.

I was fumbling around in the dark, playing the guinea pig to countless weight loss programs and diet pills, trying desperately to figure it out!

But until I had this important information, I stood no chance of ever losing weight, much less adopting a healthier lifestyle on a long-term basis.

When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, knowledge really is power!

The "Battling Body Fat: Ways To Lose The Weight" hub was designed to equip you with the tools and information you REALLY need to finally lose weight and keep it off forever.

From what foods to eat, to incorporating power packed exercise into your daily life, it's all revealed in the upcoming chapters.

Even if you have never been successful with your weight loss program before, I'm confident that once you're able to pull back the curtain and expose the real secrets to losing weight, you'll never struggle again.

So without further delay, let's get on the path towards a healthier, happier (and slimmer) you!

Do you know how to quickly condition your system while flushing out unhealthy residue, and toxins?

Drink water consistently!

Water is a vital part of every conditioning program, and without water your body becomes dehydrated and therefore unable to properly digest food or perform at its best.

In fact, your water intake affects every single part of your system, including your brain, heart and other vital organs who rely on water to help filter toxins out of the body, and maintain a healthy chemical balance while boosting metabolism.

Think about this. Your body consists of up to 65% water. Your blood is 90% water, your brain is 80% water and even your skin is 70% water based.

So when your body suffers from dehydration, you feel it most in these areas of your body that require constant hydration.

In fact, depriving your body of water throughout the day can be one of the main reasons for feeling foggy, unable to focus or lacking mental clarity. Just by re-hydrating your body the way it was meant to be, will stabilize your most important organs and muscle groups and give you the extra energy and vitality that you need.

Water also acts as a natural appetite suppressor, tricking your body into believing its full. Just drinking an 8-ounce glass of cold water in between meals or snacks, can help fight off cravings and prevent bingeing.

As for how much water you should be drinking, it all depends on your body size.

Based on countless studies involving the direct impact that water has on your ability to lose weight, you should drink 1 ounce of water for every 2 pounds of body fat.

So, if you are currently 200 pounds, you should drink an average of 12 glasses (100 ounces) of water each day.

Of course, there are other factors that come into play with the amount of water that your body requires. For example, if you are working out each day, your body will consume more of its natural water source, requiring you to increase your water intake.

Many people find it difficult to drink as much water as is recommended, however your body will quickly adapt to its new influx of liquids and before you know it, you'll begin craving more water each day.

If you struggle to drink water, try adding ice cubes to your glass, or using a water bottle. Not only do many people find it easier to drink water from glass bottles, but a water bottle can help you measure and track your water intake each day.

Water helps your body lose weight in many different ways including helping your kidney and liver function properly so that your liver can effectively process fats, and when it's unable to do that because your system is hydrated, it stores excess fat, keeping you overweight.

Water increases urine production, which will increase the amount of fat, heat and calories your body is able to eliminate.

And water simply burns calories on its own as well! When you drink cold water your body has to balance out the temperature and it does this by heating itself up. When your body heats up, you automatically burn calories!

Water can have a great impact on your body's ability to function and carries even greater advantages than just helping you shed unwanted fat.

Water can also:

ü Increase your bodys metabolism so you burn fat faster.

ü Help to regulate your appetite, eliminating cravings.

ü Boost your energy levels significantly.

ü Helps to reduce high cholesterol.

ü Acts as a solvent for vitamins, glucose and important minerals.

ü Helps to maintain body temperature.

ü Alleviates migraines and headaches.

ü Reduces swelling, bloating and water retention.

ü Helps to purify your system by releasing and eliminating toxic waste.

ü Improve the color and elasticity of your skin for a more youthful appearance.

ü Helps your liver, kidney, and other organs metabolize fat.

When hydrating your body for maximum weight loss, you should drink one 12oz glass of water within two hours prior to working out, and then another 8-10 ounce glass of water within 15-20 minutes of starting your workout, and another 4-5 oz glass of water during your exercise session.

A super hydrated system will work twice as hard at burning fat than if you deprive your body of the water it needs to perform at its maximum.

And just like when your natural system activates its "fat storing instincts" when you deprive yourself of food and your system believes that it's going into a famine, your body will also retain water if you don't hydrate it enough, because of a similar built-in instinct.

Since your body is dehydrated, it's triggered into storing what little water it has, but when you begin to refuel your body with fresh water, it's able to let go of the liquid that it's been storing.

Have you ever felt bloated?

Noticed excess water in your fingers, ankles or face?

This is caused by your body retaining water because of not being properly hydrated. The only way to eliminate bloating and get your system back on track is to super hydrate your system.

Contrary to popular belief, incorporating a steady workout routine into your daily life doesn't have to be time consuming. In fact, you can pack in a powerful workout in less than 20 minutes every day, or 5 days a week, letting your body rest

The most powerful workouts don't involve the TIME you spend, but rather the power of repetition and the way they target specific muscle groups, for maximum results.

Believe it or not, you can burn more calories with a 15 minute targeted weight training routine than you could if walking for 2 hours straight!

While walking is important for cardio and to help stretch your muscles and joints, if you really want to shed the weight you need to focus on incorporating a power-packed weight training session into your weekly schedule.

If you don't have the ability or time to work out every day, that's fine - start off working out every other day, letting your body rest in between workouts.

As you continue training, your body will be able to push further, to handle more and even if you are not the type of person to enjoy working out, the more often you do it, the more your body will crave the motion, the weight and the strength you feel after a solid work out.

All you really need to get started is a set of dumbbell weight, a mat and a comfortable, cool place to work out.

Put on your favorite music to help you focus and get going! Just remember, you want to target specific muscle groups each day, letting them heal one day while targeting a different group of muscles the next.

Let's take a look at just some of the most common exercises and routines so you better understand the different techniques used within weight training and overall fitness.

Here are a few of the more common ones:

Dumbbell Bench Press

Sit on the edge of a flat bench with the dumbbells resting on your knees. In one smooth motion, roll onto your back and bring the dumbbells up to a position slightly outside and above your shoulders. Your palms should be facing forwards.

Bend your elbows at a ninety-degree angle with your upper arms parallel to the ground. Press the weights up over your chest in a triangular motion until they meet above the centerline of your body.

As you lift, concentrate on keeping the weights balanced and under control.

Follow the same path downward.

Standing Military Press

For this exercise, you will use a barbell. Stand with your legs about shoulder width apart and lift the barbell to your chest. Lock your legs and hips and keep your elbows in slightly under the bar. Press the bar to arm's length over your head.
Lower the bell to your upper chest or your chin depending on which is more comfortable for you.

This exercise can also be performed with dumbbells or seated on a weight bench.

Lying Tricep Push

Sit on a flat bench holding a curl bar with an overhand grip. Lie back so that the top of your head is even with the end of the weight bench. As you are lying back, extend your arms over your head so that the bar is directly over your eyes.

Keep your elbows tight and your upper arms stationary throughout the exercise.

The biggest key to this exercise is keeping your upper arms in a fixed position.

Slowly lower the bar until it almost touches your forehead. Press the bar back up in a slow, sweeping arc-like motion. At the finish, lock your elbows completely.

Side Lateral Dumbbell Raise

Stand upright with your feet shoulder width apart and your arms at your side. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms turned toward your body.

Keep your arms straight and lift the weights out and up to the sides until they are slightly higher than shoulder level.

Then slowly lower them back down to your side again.

Keep your palms turned downward as you lift the dumbbells so that your shoulders rather than your biceps do the work.

Make sure you are lifting the dumbbells up rather than swinging them up. Don't lean forward while doing this either or you risk injury to your back.

Preacher Curls

This exercise is best done with a special preacher curl bench, but you can do this without it with a little modification.

Sit at the end of the weight bench, and place something such as a firm pillow or a few pillows under your armpits on your lap. Hold the curl bar in your hands with palms facing upward.

Don't hunch over the pillow, sit as straight as you can.

Using a shoulder width grip, grasp the bar in both hands. Curl the bar upward in an arc. Be careful not to swing or rock to get the bar moving. You need to be using your muscles to lift the weight, not momentum. The goal of this exercise is to work the biceps.

Bring the bar up to your chin keeping in mind that the resistance is greatest during the beginning of the lift. Lower the bar slowly working the muscle on the way down as well.

You can also do this with dumbbells or work one arm at a time.

Seated Dumbbell Curl

Sit at the end of a bench with your feet firmly on the floor. Keep your back straight and your head up. Start with the dumbbells at arm's length with your palms facing in. Curl the weight up and twist your wrist once they pass your thighs.

Squeeze your biceps at the top and then slowly lower the weight.

Do not swing the dumbbells down; lower them as you are working those muscles! You can do this standing, but the seated position prevents bad form.

One-Arm Dumbbell Row

Start with your right foot flat on the floor and your left knee resting on a flat bench.

Lean forward so that you're supporting the weight of your upper body with your left arm on the bench. Your back should be flat and almost parallel with the floor.

Reach down and pick up a dumbbell with your right hand. Your left arm should be locked at the elbow so it will support the weight of your upper body.

Before starting, look straight ahead instead of at the floor so you can keep your back straight. Tighten your abs to keep your body from turning to the side as you lift the dumbbell.

Concentrate on pulling your elbow back as far as it can go. The dumbbell should end up roughly parallel with your torso.

After you've rowed the dumbbell up as far as you can slowly lower it back to the starting position. Switch arms after one set.

Dumbbell Shrugs

Stand straight up with your feet at shoulder width. Hold two dumbbells with your arms hanging at your sides.

Droop your shoulders down as far as possible. Raise your shoulders up as far as you can go then slowly return to the starting position.

You can also rotate your shoulders by going up in a circular motion from front to back and then back down again. This can also be done holding a barbell.

Standing Calf Raises

This can be done with a specific machine found in a gym, or adapted for use without the machine. Stand up against a wall with your body facing the wall and your palms down on the wall and your feet flat on the floor.

Keep your body straight and slowly lift up your heels until you are standing on the tips of your toes. Hold the contraction briefly then slowly return to the starting position with your feet flat on the floor.

Crunches

Lie flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground, or resting on a bench with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. If you are resting your feet on a bench, place them three to four inches apart and point your toes inward so they touch.

Place your hands lightly on either side of your head keeping your elbows in. Don't lock your fingers behind your head! Push the small of your back down in the floor to isolate your abdominal muscles. Begin to roll your shoulders off the floor.

Continue to push down as hard as you can with your lower back.

Your shoulders should come up off the floor only about four inches, and your lower back should remain on the floor. Focus on slow, controlled movement - don't cheat yourself by using momentum!