Showing posts with label Weight Loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weight Loss. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

How To Lose Weight Without Being Hungry

I've been feeling hungry lately and it's got me thinking a lot about how to lose weight without being hungry. I've successfully lost a fair amount of weight myself, and based on my experiences I think I've come up with the answer to the question of "how do I lose weight without being hungry?" Are you ready for the answer?  Well, the answer I've come up with is....  "You can't!"  
    Disappointing, I know. But I have never successfully lost weight without feeling hungry all the time. It just goes with the territory. Losing weight requires you to be in a calorie deficit. When your body is in a calorie deficit, you feel hungry. You just can't get around that fact. You can take unhealthy drugs which are likely to cause you long-term harm. But the goal of this blog is to be healthy so I do not condone the use of potentially harmful weight loss drugs. Assuming you are a normal healthy adult, you can’t have weight loss without experiencing some hunger.
The good news, is that there are ways to make the hunger more manageable. One thing I’ve discovered is that when I exercise, I feel less hungry. So sometimes when I’m hungry I just play some game on the Kinect and the more I play it, the less hungry I feel. And as a bonus, I’m burning calories instead of consuming them. You have to be careful that you don’t overdo it though, or your body will start burning muscle. It’s good to have a few carbs before exercising and a little bit of protein and carbs after exercising. 
Another way to deal with hunger is by drinking lots of water. Water can make you feel full even though it has zero calories. Also, sometimes when we think we feel hungry we are actually experiencing moderate dehydration. So drinking water can give us what we need to feel better. I don’t recommend zero calorie soda because I don’t trust all the chemicals they contain. Occasionally I drink green tea when I’m hungry, but green tea on an empty stomach sometimes makes me nauseous.
Something else to keep in mind is that you will occasionally fail and succumb to your hunger. Everyone has limits to their willpower. You may see a box of doughnuts at work and you just can’t resist having one. Or you may be at a restaurant and you get a whiff of some really fattening unhealthy meal and you order it for yourself. It’s important to remember that one failure does not mean you blew your whole weight loss plan. When you have a moment of weakness, don’t just give up!  And there’s no need to beat yourself up about it. It’s more like a small step backwards than a big disaster. As long as it’s not a frequent occurrence, small failures will not prevent you from reaching your weight loss goals. In fact, occasional “cheat meals” can sometimes give your metabolism a boost that can help you overcome weight loss plateaus.
Hunger is an inevitable part of weight loss. There are times I wonder why I’m putting myself through the unpleasant experience of being hungry. At times like these, it’s helpful to be reminded of your goals. If you used to be overweight like I was, you should keep a picture of what you used to look like. When I see a picture of myself from five years ago, it gives me motivation to be strong and resist my desire to eat.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Kinect Games Available Now

Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures!

People seem to like the blogs I've written about my Kinect. I've already written about Dance Central and Kinect Sports plus lots of other Kinect games that I own. There's no question that Kinect games are better than regular video games in terms of exercise. Just getting up off the couch is better than sitting down. So in this blog, I though I'd make a list of all of the Kinect games whether I own them or not. Each item on the list is a link to a review of the game. Some of them are really good, but some of them get bad reviews. For instance, I was looking forward to getting Fighters Uncaged until I read the review. Be sure you do your homework before spending your money on a game. 


Complete List of Kinect Games as of March, 2011:


All reviews are from Metacritic.  This is a good resource because they average reviews from lots of different sources, so I think they're pretty reliable. I'd say any game that gets over a 50 on Metacritic is worth considering. 

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Useful Bodybuilding Resources

Bodybuilding 101 : Everything You Need to Know to Get the Body You WantThe Internet is full of information about bodybuilding and fitness. But a lot of it is not particularly useful to average everyday people. There's a bunch of stuff that's written by professional bodybuilders and is not practical for normal people. On the other hand, a lot of what's out there is untried and unproven and might not have any basis other than some guy's theory. With all that's out there, it's tough to find stuff that's actually useful to me. When I do find something useful, I am sure to bookmark it so that I can easily find it again when I need to. In this blog, I'm going to be sharing some of the useful links I've come across.
   Bodybuilding.com has been extremely useful to me over the past few years. It's free to make an account and post on the forums. Some professional bodybuilders use the forums, but it's mostly used by normal people like me. You can really learn a lot from reading these forums. 
   Workout Generator by Men's Health is something I discovered fairly recently, but it's been useful to me for getting some new ideas to mix up my workouts. They say that to keep making progress, you need to keep adding variety to your workouts. It's a pain to always think up with new workout ideas on my own. So this generator is a handy tool for me. 
   Amazon.com is a great place to buy protein and other fitness supplies. I've tried other places, but it seems to be less expensive at Amazon. My favorite kind is the Gold Standard Whey and Gold Standard Casein. Amazon is a great place to buy just about anything. On one hand, it bothers me that corporations like Amazon and Wal-Mart have such a monopoly on the market. But on the other hand, they do have the cheapest prices. 
   Calorie Calculator is a useful tool if used properly. You enter your age, gender, weight, height, and exercise level, and it tells you how many calories you should be eating if you want to maintain your weight or lose weight. So if I'm bulking, I add around 500 to the number this shows and if I'm cutting I subtract about 500. You can't totally rely on it though because there may be other factors at work in your body that it doesn't take into consideration. But it does give you a good place to start when you want to track your calories. 
    ExRx.net has a very comprehensive list of exercises categorized by body parts. I've gotten many workout ideas from this website over the years. There's lots of other things on this site as well, but I mostly use it for it's exercise instructions. Each exercise has good instructions as well as animations that demonstrate the proper form. There are also plenty of exercises that can be done at home for people who do not have access to a gym. 
    These are the main resources I've used over the years. I may add to this list over time if I discover new websites. Or I may just write a new blog. There's so much to learn about bodybuilding. People who think bodybuilders are dumb have no idea how much knowledge it takes to get a bodybuilder physique. But the resources I've listed here are a good place to get started if you're a newbie who is interested in becoming a bodybuilder. 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The Healthiest Food: Blueberries

75 Highbush Blueberry Seeds BlueberriesI've spent a fair amount of time researching healthy foods, and I've become convinced that blueberries are just about the healthiest food in the world. In this blog, I will be sharing some of the benefits of blueberries that I've discovered in my research. 
     For starters, blueberries are one of the best antioxidants, which means that they can help prevent cancer. Antioxidants remove free radicals from our cells before they can develop into cancer.  Not only that, but there have been studies that show blueberries have properties that can inhibit the spread of existing cancer cells. 
     Blueberries are also known to have anti-aging properties. There have been animal studies in which blueberries have actually reversed brain aging. There is also evidence that blueberries can lower the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, blueberries are believed to improve learning skills and memory. It's no wonder that blueberries are called the "brain berry". Perhaps test scores would go up if school lunches included blueberries with every meal. 
     One of my favorite things about blueberries is their ability to reduce belly fat. Studies have shown that adding blueberries to the food of laboratory rats resulted in a decrease in the rats' abdominal fat. Even when the rats were on otherwise unhealthy high-fat diets, they still showed positive results when given blueberries. Just think how much better our results would be if we ate blueberries in addition to a healthy diet!
     I've already mentioned some of the things I like about blueberries, however there are many other benefits to this amazing fruit. Blueberries are also shown to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, relieve arthritis, improve the immune system, reduce wrinkles, prevent urinary tract infections, improve eyesight, prevent eyesight degeneration, improve coordination, prevent diabetes, increase metabolism, and they are high in fiber. 
          With all the health benefits of blueberries, you'd think they would have to taste terrible. But they don't! They're really good. The benefits of blueberries are so numerous that I almost feel like a snake-oil salesman when I list them all. Except everything I've written here has been researched extensively. Look it up if you don't believe me. In my opinion, blueberries are evidence of intelligent design. There's just no way that something so delicious and remarkably useful to our bodies could have evolved by accident. 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Gym Equipment Hogs

Has this ever happened to you?


I just hate it when I'm at the gym and someone is monopolizing multiple machines at the same time. I understand that sometimes people like to do super-sets, but they need to remember that they don't own the place. This sort of behavior seems to be more common when the gym is relatively empty than when the gym is full. These equipment hogs realize they can't get away with it when there's lots of other people around. I actually saw a guy rotating between four different machines one time. 


I've learned that usually the best way to deal with this is to talk to them about it politely. Rather than just jumping in and exchanging dirty looks, say "can I use this while you're on the other machine?" More often than not, they'll give in and agree to let you use it. If they're being really stubborn about it, you could talk to a manager. But I would probably just let it go. Unless they're a regular at the gym who is always hogging the equipment. But typically it seems like it's the guests who have bad gym etiquette. The regular attenders are usually more polite. 



Thursday, February 24, 2011

Why I Use Protein Powder

I use protein powder for several reasons. The main reason is because it's a convenient source of protein. We know that protein is essential for repairing muscles after a workout, but it's a hassle trying to whip up a protein-rich meal all the time. It takes about 30 seconds to mix some protein powder with water and drink it, whereas making a meal may take 30 minutes. I also like using protein powder right after a workout because it's a fast-digesting concentrated source of protein. 


Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, Double Rich Chocolate, 5 PoundThere are two types of protein I like to use. The main one I use is whey protein.  There are several reasons I like whey protein. For one thing, it seems to be less expensive than other types of protein. But the main reason is because it's the best kind to use when you exercise. I like to have one scoop before each workout and two scoops after the workout. I used to use soy protein, but I heard about the possibility of soy causing an increase in estrogen levels. I don't know if that's true or not, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Plus soy protein tastes terrible and whey protein tastes pretty good. My favorite is the Delicious Strawberry flavor of the Gold Standard brand.
Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, Delicious Strawberry, 2 Pound


Optimum Nutrition 100% Casein Protein, Chocolate Supreme 2 Pound
As I mentioned earlier, there are two types of protein I use. The other type of protein I mentioned is called casein protein. Casein protein is the slowest digesting type of protein, so it's the best kind to use right before bed. Most of your muscle growth occurs while you sleep, so it's good to have protein in your system while you're sleeping. Since casein protein is slow digesting, it stays in your body longer throughout the night. I only use one scoop of this protein per day, so I don't go through it as fast as I do the whey protein. I prefer the Gold Standard brand of casein protein as well. 


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Recipes For Losing Weight

Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide
We got this book for Christmas and I thought it was worth mentioning. It gives us a lot of healthier alternatives for things we already eat. Most of the foods we've tried taste pretty good too. 


Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide


The recipes are easy to follow and there are colorful pictures. But what makes this book unique is the way it provides the calories for a meal and compares it with a similar meal using more traditional ingredients. The differences are impressive.I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for ways to eat healthier. It will help you lose weight without giving up taste. 


These are the chapters of the book. As you can see there is plenty of variety:

  1. The Truth About Your Food 
  2. The Eat This, Not That! Kitchen 
  3. Breakfast 
  4. Appetizers & Small Bites 
  5. Soups & Salads 
  6. Sandwiches & Burgers 
  7. Off the Grill 
  8. Pasta 
  9. American Classics 
  10. Ethnic Dishes 
  11. Sides, Snacks & Sauces
  12. Desserts & Drinks