subject: A Winning Formula - Fitness and Fat Loss [print this page] A Winning Formula - Fitness and Fat Loss A Winning Formula - Fitness and Fat Loss
The two necessary ingredients for living a long and healthy life are how we treat our bodies and what we eat. You may think that they are really the same thing but this is not true. You can be physically fit and have very poor eating habits. On the other hand you may eat healthy food but still be very unfit."Take good care of your body. It's the only place you have to live" - Jim Rohn I always think of this quote whenever people tell me about the latest hyped up diet plan and they show me a picture on the package of the perfect airbrushed body they are hoping to achieve. If we take on an unbalanced diet with, for example, high fat or high protein content without sufficient carbohydrates our body isn't going to have the fuel to process it. Conversely if we aren't supplying our body with the correct mix of ingredients to build muscle it makes no difference how many, or how big, the weights are that we lift.It is possible, but difficult, and needs a lot of discipline to lose weight only through dieting. However you can also be physically fit and still carry some extra weight. Basically we are the sum of what we eat and what we do. A fitness routine and diet working together will provide the best results. Your fitness routine will burn any extra calories while your diet provides the fuel and nutrients it needs to build a healthy body. Remember that dieting alone cannot build muscle. There is a myth that you will gain weight as you replace your fat with muscle. And what does it matter even if this is true. Every bit of muscle that replaces fat will be of far more use as you go about your daily life. As you replace fat with muscle you may be ripping inches off, improving your shape and your health but not showing much progress on the scale. It is important that you don't forget this as you progress through the weight loss process. Don't only use weight as measure of progress or you maybe misleading yourself. Many people who have this weight fixation in measuring progress get frustrated and give up even though they are really are progressing. Do not be a scale victim. Your progress should not be measured by how many pounds you've lost but by how well you feel after you run up a flight of stairs. Exercise will help your body burn off extra calories that you consume. It allows you the luxury of occasionally 'cheating' and still make progress with your weight loss program. Don't cheat too often but an odd slip certainly won't be a train smash. Look at fitness and dieting as having a symbiotic relationship. Even though you can do either on its own it certainly works a lot better when you do both together. When diet and fitness are taken seriously they can create a fantastic, feel good weight loss effect. Remember that neither the exercise or the diet will really make a major difference unless you are prepared to work at them both. But if you are committed to making them a priority, your life can be transformed.
