1. Be sure to burn out those extra calories by the end of the week. If you feel that you have consumed more calories than you should have during the week, it happens you know, and then make sure that you work off those extra calories by the end of the week.
2. Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. Elevators are a great convenience particularly if you have to go up or down some twenty floors. But elevators also make us very lazy.
3. If you hate running, remember, you do not have to run a marathon to stay fit. 10 minutes of cardio each day is good enough for most.
4. Do not slouch in your chair but try to maintain an erect posture with your tummy tucked in. Slouching is a very bad habit. Not only is it bad for your back but it also gives you a very flabby figure.
5. I understand that most of us tend to put on weight particularly in the mid section, right. It is the tummy that seems to have a mind of its own. Well I will tell you a sure shot method to reduce the flab around the waist line. Mind you this doesn’t hold true for post pregnancy tummies. This is what you have to do.
Breathe in air as strongly as you can and as you do so, tuck in your tummy as much as you can. Hold it like this for a few seconds and then slowly release your breath taking care not to let out your tummy. Try to keep breathing like this at least fifty or sixty times in a day.
In fact breathe like this whenever you can remember to do so. After the first day, you should feel the muscles of your stomach tightening each time you do this. Then you know that you are on the right track. If you practice this without fail for 20 days, at the end of the twentieth day, you will have lost at least an inch.
6. While traveling in an elevator instead of just standing there and staring stupidly at the numbers going up or down, try raising your self onto your toes and then back on your feet again. Do this several times. Also try flexing your buttock muscles as well.
In fact there are many muscles in our body that we can twitch and flex without inviting the attention of others.7. Any work out should start with a 5 to 10 minute warm up and should end with a 5 to ten minute cool down session. Whatever physical exercise you are involved in, you must remember to warm up before the exercise really starts.
8. Do not carry your mobile phone around but leave it a place where you can hear it ringing. In this way you make sure that you at least get up and walk towards it.
9. Join a dance class. Dancing is a wonderful way to burn off those extra calories. It is true. When you dance you are in fact burning away a lot of calories. Of course we are not referring to the slow ballroom kind of dances in which one person actually leans on the other one for support. We are talking about fast dances.
10. If there is a pool nearby go for swims as often as you can, swimming is one of the best exercises. Water has a lot of advantages. And if nothing else, a cool dip in a pool is a wonderful stress reliever.
11. Do things like fetching, turning things off and on by yourself. Often when we come back tired from work, we tend to get others to do simple chores for us. These things are no big deal. They are things that we can very well do for our selves but we don’t.
That is why we often ask our kids to fetch us this or take away that.
12. Don’t stand, walk. If you can walk about then do so. Do not stand in a fixed position. Pacing about is a good thing to do. If you are thinking deeply about something, try pacing about, it will aid in your thinking.
Don’t sit, stand. If you can stand, then do not sit. The golden rule is to choose a position that is less comfortable.
Don’t lie down, sit. The rule that we mentioned above rings true here as well.13. If you want to increase your time of exercise or your work out routine, do it gradually and not in sudden steps.
Well easier said than done. Most of us have such hectic schedules that it is quite impossible to fit in tie for exercise right? Wrong. I want to say it once and for all, your body, or anybody’s body for that matter needs proper exercise. If you make up your mind to do it, you can.
14. Try to collect some information about exercise. There are a lot of things that you can do at home. Extensive research has been done on exercise and plenty of this information is easily available.
You can try browsing the net or getting a book or two on how to exercise at home. This information will be useful to you to know how much you need to work out on each specific exercise in order to burn off the desired number of calories.
15. You can take a day off from exercise every week. This is not just a very good idea but it is part of the exercise routine. Your body needs a day off from an exercise routine so do not hesitate to take a day off from what ever you have been doing.
16. When you decide it’s time to start working out, start slowly and don’t get discouraged if you don’t achieve your fitness goals after the first week. Many people make this mistake. They feel that if they really push their bodies they can lose more weight in a couple of workouts. This is a very serious thing in fact.
If you try to push your body too much in the first few goes, you are likely to end up with sprained joints, a sore back and even torn ligaments. The rule to be followed here is slow and steady wins the race.
17. Exercise out doors as much as possible. There are two advantages of doing whatever you are doing out side. One advantage is that it gives your body a chance to get a lot of the much needed fresh air and sunshine. The second advantage is that the surroundings keep you perked up and it is a break form remaining cooped up all day long.
18. Stop when your body has had enough. There is no sense in pushing it. When you have worked out for a considerable time, your body will start giving you signals. Heed those signals. This is particularly true in the initial stages. Take one step at a time. Stop when you are out of breath or when a certain part of your body tells you that it has had enough.
19. Do not be a couch potato. It is the easiest thing in the world to become a couch potato. You know what we are talking about don’t you? That shapeless thing that sits or reclines on a shapeless chair in front of the television and stupidly munches away at something fried!
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If you are inclined to become a promising old couch potato, break the habit, cut at the very root of the vine. And you want to know what is the best way for that? Take away that favorite chair of yours. In fact, it would be a very good idea if you could keep a chair that isn’t too comfortable in front of the TV.
This will discourage any tendency to become a couch potato.20. If you have a sitting job, stand up and stretch yourself every half an hour. Most of the jobs today are indeed sitting jobs that are in one word sedentary. This is especially true for those who sit and punch away at the keyboard or toy with the mouse all day long.
21. Smoking is bad for weight loss. Smoking as such may not contribute to weight loss but smoking leads to other conditions like erratic eating habits and excessive dependence on things like coffee.
22. Any distance is walkable if you have the time, consider walking to places that you would normally drive (such as work or the market if they’re not too far away). It may take you longer, but the health benefits will last you a lifetime.
23. It sounds strange, but some people have reported that they lost more weight when they drank black coffee before a workout. While there’s no hard data to support this, nutritionists speculate that the caffeine in coffee makes the body rely more on fat for fuel during the work out. It’s worth trying!
24. During commercial breaks walk about. If you want to sit all evening with your eyes glued to the tube, then do so. But at least spare your eyes the agony of a
commercial break.
When the next commercial flashes on screen, instead of surfing, get up and take a walk. Reach over and try to touch your toes or do any such simple exercise that will at least get the blood flowing in your veins.
25. Turn on music and dance like wild. Let your hair down once in a while. Go back to the days of wild child hood. Close the door of your room, turn on your sound system to the highest volume possible (but a little lower than the level at which your neighbors start to complain) and then do the wackiest dance that you can think of. Jump on your bed and jump off it again. Roll all over the floor. Pretend that you are Michael Jackson or Madonna (you will never see them keeping still) and do ever boogie move that you know.
26. Get down at a block before your destination and walk the rest of the way. You might not have time to fit in long walks in your busy schedule so this is one way of ensuring that you at least get to walk for a little bit every day. If you take the bus or the subway, get down at an earlier station and see if you can walk the rest of the way. If you drive to work, see if you can get space in a parking lot that is a little away from your office.
27. When nobody is watching try doing pelvic gyrations. If you take a moment to observe it you will see that it is the mid section of our body that gets the least bit of exercise and that is probably why the signs of weight gain are mostly seen there. It is the same reason why we find it very difficult to lose weight in that section. So the best thing that you can do is consciously try to give that part a little bit of exercise. Stomach crunches might be too strenuous an exercise to start off with but gyrations are relatively mild. Pelvic gyrations make you thrust your midsection towards all directions and this is the best way of tightening every muscle in that mid section and that is of course what weight loss is all about.
28. Try yoga. Yoga is one of the best ways of losing weight. Of course I can’t go into a full lecture about yoga, but I can tell you that I have never seen people with better-toned bodies than those who practice yoga. One of the benefits of yoga is that you learn to control virtually every muscle and joint of your body so that the issue of weight gain will cease to exist.
29. Instead of waddling up and down the staircase, try taking them two at a time. Now this is something that you have to be careful about because we do not want you to trip. So when you do this make sure that your feet are well and truly planted on each step before you increase the beat and try two at a time.
30. If you have a dog, take it for a run and let the dog lead you on. You will be surprised as to how much exercise a dog can give you.
31. Whenever you can, lean against a wall with your hands flattened against the wall and in such a way that your face is very close to the wall. Then use you hands to push your body away from the wall. Do this two or three times at a stretch.
32. Tuck in your tummy whenever you walk. Get that proper gait. And the best way for that is to tuck in your tummy and inflate your chest. Do not let your tummy hang above your belt line like some unruly layer of flesh. Bring it under the belt.
Each time you tuck in your tummy, you will feel the pressure on the muscles of your stomach. This tightening and loosening of these muscles is even better than stomach crunches.
33. While making telephone calls try walking up and down.34. Select an exercise pattern to suit your life style. All f us have different life styles and professions so there is no sense in trying to follow the book strictly. Try and follow an exercise routine that is suitable for you. You have to understand that even more important than the exercise itself is sticking to it. So unless you choose something that can suit your life style, you are not going to stick on to it.
35. Try to get somebody to exercise along with you. But it should be somebody committed or else your interest might dwindle. This is indeed an excellent idea. One of the advantages of getting a committed person t exercise with you is that it keeps you going.
36. When you do notice a change, reward yourself. When I say reward I do not mean go for some goodies like chocolates or sweets. Maybe you could go for a movie or buy yourself something like a new dress or a trinket.
This is something that can keep you going. It is a good idea to save on the money that you wanted to spend on ice creams and chocolates and then treat your self to something more substantial.
37. Check your weight before you start the routine and keep checking for changes but do not expect a radical change immediately, it might be one or two weeks before you notice some change. However it is crucial that you continue to monitor your weight. You may bear in mind the fact that even a few pounds loss is a big achievement.