TIPS TO BECOME SLIM FOR WOMEN

This is not a diet — or a rigorous exercise program. (Nobody can stick to those for long.) Instead, it’s a simple way to make weight loss a natural part of the life you already live. And guess what? It’s fun! You don’t have to give up the foods you love or join a gym. It’s about balancing calories in tiny ways that add up to big benefits. You just adopt some tricks naturally lean people do. Pick the ones you like, stick with them, and you’ll slim down and tone up  for good!

Learn to stop

LEARN to listen to your body and stop munching when you're full. Try drinking a glass of water before you eat, to make sure you haven't mistaken thirst for hunger. Then eat your meal slowly so that you'll recognise when you've had enough - the brain needs 20 minutes to receive the full signal.

In a restaurant, place your napkin on your plate once you've had enough. At home, squirt some washing up liquid on to your plate so you won't be tempted to have another nibble.

Graze, not gorge

A GOOD skinny trick is to eat little and often. Several small meals a day keep your metabolism running smoothly so you won't be tempted to grab an unhealthy snack or over-indulge at mealtimes.

Slim girls may seem to eat more with the grazing method, but by having constant nourishment and never skipping a meal they keep burning calories all day.

Don't deprive yourself

IF you ban all your favourite treats, you'll only want them all the more and end up bingeing. Instead, have a little of what you fancy to keep control of your cravings without feeling guilty and bloated.

Save calories with a healthier version of your usual indulgences. For example, fruit sorbet contains half the calories and a 10th of the fat of an ice cream.

Proper portions

TRIM women have a keen eye for a sensible portion. Learn the tricks of not over-cooking. A fistful of cereal for breakfast or a cupful of pasta for dinner is ample.

Balancing your meals is also essential. Vegetables or salad should comprise half of your plate, a quarter should be protein - beans, fish, eggs or meat - and the final quarter should be carbs such as pasta, rice, bread or potatoes. In just five days your belly will shrink accordingly, making the smaller portion an ample size.

Plan it

TAKE a peep into a skinny girl's handbag and you can guarantee she will have some healthy snacks stashed away.

Pop a banana in your bag, some nuts or seeds in your desk drawer and some chopped raw veggies in your fridge to ensure there's always something healthy to hand. Grab a healthy snack before a buffet or restaurant meal to take the edge off your hunger.

Brekkie is king

THE old proverb is true: your meals should decrease in size over the course of the day to help you achieve a skinnier self. Having a big breakfast is a good way (especially one with slow-release carbohydrates, such as winter-warming porridge) to kick-start your metabolism.

Follow up with a healthy protein-rich lunch (chicken or fish with salad) and a light dinner. Skinny girls never go to bed bloated on an over-full belly.

Drink and think

SLIM women prefer a 50-calorie gin and slimline tonic to a calorie-laden creamy cocktail. Stick to this on a night out and you can save calories while still enjoying a drink or two.

Don't drink to excess. Alcohol creates food cravings.

The burn-off
YOU don't have to be a stringent calorie-counter, but if you are busy make sure you eat the recommended 2,000 calories and 70g fat a day and provide your body with plenty of energy in the form of wholewheat pasta, porridge and bananas. If it's a lazy day, don't eat as much. Stick to healthy foods and do not consume more than 1,400 calories and 50g fat.

Stay active

SEE that skinny girl power-walking to work while you're sat on the bus? Or the size-8 lady tackling the stairs instead of the escalator?

It's no coincidence. Never take the easy option. If there is a more active way, choose it. That way, you'll burn more calories every day without having to make any big lifestyle changes.

Be a menu guru

YOU don't have to be boring and stash a calorie-converter in your handbag to be a skinny girl; just make wise choices. At every restaurant or supermarket there are always healthier options.

Enjoy exercise

SLIM women tend to work out to keep trim and toned, but the key to exercise is finding a sport you enjoy. Then you're far more likely to stick at it. Team sports or exercising with a friend are good, as you will spur each other on.

Moderation

DON'T cut out major food groups such as carbs or dairy products to lose weight. Although a few pounds will drop off, the diet is simply not sustainable.
Develop long-term healthy eating habits instead. Banish those bathroom scales. Your weight naturally fluctuates from day to day and even hour to hour. Continually weighing yourself will lower your self-esteem and encourage you to comfort-eat.

Love yourself

EVEN Kate Moss has lumpy bits she would love to change, but you'll rarely hear a skinny girl whinging about her problem areas.
Create a healthy body image by focusing on what you like about yourself, and a healthy attitude to food - and a healthy figure - will soon follow.

5 TOP TIPS

IF you tend to pile your plate, use a smaller plate.

BUY food in portion-sized packets.

EAT sweet treats with a teaspoon: a small portion will last much longer.

DON'T eat directly from packets, jars or tubs.

EVEN healthy foods contain calories, so control portion sizes. Stick to the guidelines on the packet.

SECRET 10 BEST FOODS FOR WOMEN

1. Something's Fishy!Salmon was at one time avoided in favour of white fish or sole, due its higher fat content. However, once we understood the value and benefit of the essential "Omega 3 fatty acids" present in salmon and other oily fish, it was back on the plate. Salmon is also high in protein, low in cholesterol and contains other essential vitamins.Eat one or two fish meals per week for good health. The good news is that FSANZ has found it is safe for all population groups to eat 2-3 serves per week of most types of fish. There are only a few types of fish, which FSANZ recommends limiting in the diet - these are billfish (swordfish / broadbill and marlin), shark/flake, orange roughy and catfish.

1. Crank Up the Calcium!
• Women of all ages need enough calcium in their diets to build and maintain strong bones. Milk and yogurt are 2 ways to get your calcium. Calcium-rich foods that are also good sources of magnesium (and other nutrients) go a long way to supporting bone, and heart health. Magnesium is the nutrient that plays an important role in the creation of new bone; so think about seeds and nuts as healthy additions to a wholegrain cereal. Calcium, magnesium and potassium are alkalising minerals.If you feel you need to supplement with calcium, remember that calcium should be taken with magnesium in a 2:1 ratio. This is because calcium and magnesium require each other for proper absorption, and utilisation in the body. So, if you supplement with 500 mg of calcium, you need to take 250 mg of magnesium at the same time. eVitamins has the best range of vitamins and supplements and a very comprehensive website to help you determine your needs.

1. Green Power!
• Broccoli for example is not only a good source of calcium, potassium and B vitamins; it contains plant substances called sulphurophanes. These plant chemicals are cancer-protective and help the liver process and clear any excess oestrogen. Excess oestrogen causes weight gain, hormonal imbalances, night sweating, and presents an increased risk of fibroids, breast cysts, breast cancer and endometriosis.

1. Water me please!
   • Water is a nutrient and the fact is we need it... and plenty of it. Certainly, water may be one of the best tools in the weight loss game. It not only suppresses the appetite, but helps the body metabolise stored fat. Water keeps the body's tissues well hydrated, so if you want smooth, line-free skin for as long as is naturally possible... drink up!
2. Soy Good!
• Soya foods (including beans, tofu, Soya milk & yogurt, soy sauce, Tamari and Miso) are the richest food sources of phytoestrogens (and of course soy protein). The natural plant substances - phytoestrogens - are now thought to be beneficial in maintaining bone density. Tofu, milk, and yogurt are also great calcium sources. All these foods can help a woman significantly lower her bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise the good (HDL) cholesterol. Tofu is a great source of low-fat, vegetable protein, best used in a vegetable stir-fry with soy sauce, and brown rice. Slim Secrets bars are also a great source of soy protein and taste great!

1. Iron it out!
   • Women need to eat more iron-rich foods. Getting iron from food (as opposed to a supplement) is by far the best way to get the correct amount of iron the body needs and can absorb. Lean red meats and dark poultry are the ideal food sources of iron. Unfortunately that doesn't help much if you are vegetarian or one of the many women who avoid red meats. In this case, think about eating more of the following iron-rich foods... lentils, dried apricots, beans, spinach, enriched wholegrain cereals, pumpkin seeds, and oysters! If you do need to take a supplement please go to eVitamins for the best supplements on the market.
2. Flax those muscles!
• Flax seeds (or linseeds) and flax seed oil have so much to offer women. For starters, flax is full of "essential" Omega 3 fatty acids (EFA's), which help to balance women's hormones, protect a woman from heart disease (the leading cause of premature death among women) and the pain of arthritis. The dietary fibres in flax are called lignans, which contain phytoestrogens, currently being researched and showing promise in cancer prevention. Lignans are also thought to have antioxidant properties. The best way to get the benefit of the flaxseeds fibre and oils is to grind them in a clean coffee mill, used just for this purpose. Alternatively use a pestle and mortar, and sprinkle them onto cereal in the morning or add them to a bowl of natural yogurt and fruit. The essential fatty acids are very fragile, unstable, and liable to oxidation if exposed to light and air. Within the whole seeds, the oil is protected. So buy fresh, organic seeds if at all possible. You can eat them whole; just chew them thoroughly!

1. Orange Aid
   • Orange vegetables such as orange squashes (and tubers) like pumpkin, butternut squash and sweet potatoes are a girl's best friend when it comes to nutritious, comforting food. All these foods are filling, low in calories, and rich in beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, which will work plenty of its antioxidant magic in your body. Antioxidants are important in the anti-ageing process, helping to repair and regenerate skin and other tissues. Beta-carotene is also thought to help reduce the risk of breast cancer.
2. Kale who?
   • Kale is an often-overlooked vegetable that happens to be loaded with folate (folic acid), an important B vitamin for women. Having a deficiency in folic acid during pregnancy may cause neural-tube defects in babies. Kale is also an excellent source of vitamin C and calcium, too.

1. Well BeanBeans and pulses should be included in everyone's diet, but for women they are especially important. They are highly nutritious, low in fat, and an excellent source of vegetable protein. A fibre-rich diet is one of the first components to colon cancer prevention, and with more women dying of colon cancer than breast cancer every year; it makes sense to eat plenty of beans. This group of foods also contains phytoestrogens, the natural plant hormones, which are also protective against cancer, as well as being important for bone health. Bring on those beans!

Muscle Gaining Secrets For Skinny Guys

Skinny folks often feel that they can never put on weight or gain muscles. It's not true. It's easy and simple to gain the muscles you dream of with an effective system outlined by experts. Do you want to know how to gain muscle? It isn’t complicated or difficult. In fact, it’s really quite simple. And purely scientific. If your dream is to gain weight and bulk up muscles, then you’ll be astonished by how effective this system is.

Are you skinny and want to gain muscles?

You have to eat the right type of foods and in the right quantities to make a difference to your body shape. There should be enough calories for your body to use for its needs and a little extra to help the body to build muscles. Compute how much energy you are consuming now and calculate the amount the body needs for its metabolic needs. Adding some extra calories to you diet will help your body to gain weight.

There are online calorie calculators to help with these calculations. Enter your height, weight, activity levels (depending on whether you lead an active, very active or sedentary lifestyle). Then press calculate. The tool will give you the number of calories needed for metabolism. Eat a little more than what your body's metabolic needs.

Armed with this knowledge you can check weight gain periodically. Note the extra calories consumed at each meal. If you are still not gaining weight then you have to further increase calorie intake. Instead of eating plain salads try including calorie-dense foods like animal fats, salad dressing, peanut butter, nuts and seeds to your salad. This might help kick-start your weight gain. It takes around 3500 calories to add a pound of weight. By adding 500 calories to your daily intake you can help gain weight.

Some people have high metabolic rate even when at rest. Also, those who suffer from medical conditions like thyroid or diabetes find it difficult to gain weight unless these problems are fixed through medication. Once that is done just focus on eating and exercising to gain muscles.

People who are overweight can also gain muscle through training. They can lose weight and build lean muscle through eating right and exercise. Protein is not the only key ingredient to gaining muscles. Your body needs all food groups in right proportions to build muscle. Carbohydrates help in muscle contraction. Fats are important too. You need about 1.5 gm of carbohydrates for each pound of weight you carry.

Focusing on multiple muscle group when exercising helps to gain muscle. This is the right way to build muscle mass. Isolation exercises that focus on just one or two groups aren't that useful. Include squats, push ups, crunches and presses to see dramatic difference in your body shape and size. The right form and correct number of reps are important too.

Eat The Right Way

If you’re skinny and scrawny and looking to gain weight, you need to eat the right way. Consume enough food so that, after your body burns off calories to meet its energy needs, there’s some left over to gain muscle and put on weight.

You can easily compute the calorie count of your meals and snacks using one of manycalorie calculators available online for free. All you have to do is type in your age, weight, height and degree of activity (sedentary, moderately active, or extremely active) and punch a button. The Web based program will instantly spit out a figure which indicates the calories you’ll need daily for your resting metabolism and other activities.

Knowing this figure is helpful because you’ll know that if you haven’t put on weight after eating more, then your calorie intake is still not enough to build muscle. It takes around 3,500 calories to add an extra pound of muscle mass to your physique. Only by eating at least 500 more calories than your metabolic demands can you gain a pound in weight every week.Now, it could be that you are skinny only because your resting metabolic rate is extremely high. This can be genetic in origin, or rarely is the result of diseases like thyroid dysfunction or diabetes. If you don’t have any medical disorder, then you just have to eat more of the right kind of food to gain muscle. Even if you were overweight before you started training, you’ll get rid of fat and build lean muscle mass if you eat the right way.

The right way to eat to gain muscle is not to obsess over protein alone. Muscles also need carbs to develop and for energy to contract. That’s why your ideal bodybuilding diet will include 1.5 to 2 grams per pound of weight of carbohydrates. The best foods that provide the correct mix are listed in the previous posts.

Worrying about how to gain muscle and what exercises will work best? Here’s the answer.

Exercise The Right Way

Isolation exercises which only stress a single muscle group are not the best way to develop strength. It is better to focus on multiple muscle group exercises. These include squats, push ups, crunches and presses.

Specific exercises work better than others. Biceps curls and triceps extensions are great to develop one or two muscles, but not the best way to gain muscle overall. You should strive to carry out the exercises in the correct, prescribed form. Doing them the wrong way will lower the efficiency of your weights training. Worse, you could hurt yourself.

The reason why form matters when it comes to weight training is because you’ll gain extra leverage from improper form and this actually reduces the load on muscle groups you want to stress and develop. Half curls or fewer reps won’t help you gain muscle. So if you’re serious about learning how to gain muscle, get a trainer to teach you how the basic exercise routines are carried out and learn to do them right.

Get The Reps Right

When you’re exercising to gain muscle, you don’t necessarily have to finish 25 reps to enjoy benefits. Indeed, skinnier people might benefit from doing fewer exercise sets, and at fewer reps.

How does that work? In thinner people with smaller muscles, fatigue sets in sooner. Lactic acid accumulates in the muscle, and interferes with doing the remaining reps correctly. You’re also more likely to give up when you feel sore and tired after a workout than if you finish it feeling energized.

So if you complete just 6 to 12 reps for each muscle group using bigger weights, you’ll get more benefit than from more frequent reps with lighter loads. Lower body workouts can be for more reps because the muscles are inherently stronger. More reps actually stimulate leg and thigh muscle groups to grow and get bigger.

How to know if you’re at the optimal level? When you’re doing the last rep, you should feel near the limit of your endurance, barely able to complete the routine. If you still have the ability to go on, you probably should – because only when muscles are adequately stressed will you enjoy the bigger advantage when it comes to gaining muscle mass.

TOP TRICEPS WORKOUTS

Undoubtedly the most impressive muscle group of all belong in the arms, now most of those reading this now will instantly think of the Biceps. In fact, the first muscle you would flex in response to the question 'show me your muscles' would be the Biceps, the only decision to be made would be whether or not to go with the casual one arm Bicep pose or the Double Biceps pose. It is the less popular, yet larger and more powerful muscle group, the Triceps which of course I am talking about when promoting the Human body's most impressive muscle.Triceps make up two-thirds of your arm and is considered as the weakest in the group of muscles that assist in doing bench press but it is the chief muscle that operates on your elbows and forearms. Thus, it is very essential to train your triceps and perform the most effective triceps exercises.

When formed correctly the Triceps appear as huge slabs of Meat on the side and back of the Arms. When wearing a long sleeve top it is the Triceps which fill the clothing and bulge the arms outwards giving away that the athlete in question is possessing some serious power. Even from the front view the Triceps can give the Biceps a fantastic platform to look even bigger than they do.
All bodybuilders who are smart are well aware that to build huge arms it is the Triceps that need to be lifting some serious weight. The Triceps make up roughly two thirds of the muscle mass in the upper arms and need a lot more work to grow as oppose to their smaller counterparts, the Biceps.

Extending movements is what works the Triceps most as the main function of the Triceps is to extend the arm and straighten at the Elbow joint. The triceps also play a major part in a few of the more serious compound lifting movements such as Shoulder Press, Dips and Bench Press. As they are called in for support on massive mass building exercise such as these you will often get a close to perfect Triceps workout when simply performing these compound movements.

Isolation movements for the Triceps revolve around pushing the arm from a bent at the elbow position to a straight arm position. In a locked Elbow position the Triceps support the weight and the contraction can help separate the three Triceps heads. Most isolation exercises for the Triceps are performed with the Cables whilst some of the more difficult exercises such as the lying French press can be performed with Barbells or even Dumbbells.

When working out how to fit a Triceps workouts into your weekly training plan, consider separating it from your Chest and Shoulders workouts as they will already be worked close to exhaustion before you even begin and you will not get much benefit from your training session.

Here are some of the suggested triceps workouts that you can do:

1. Close Grip Bench Press

As what the name implies, it is a kind of bench press with much tighter grip compared to the standard bench press. Why close grip? This is to put more stress on the triceps, making an efficient triceps workout.

· Lie down on a bench like in a regular bench press position but put your hands not wider than your shoulders.

· Keep your elbows in and don't let them glide off from your body.

· Do not allow the bar to reach your lower chest but it should stay within your upper chest area.

2. Parallel Bar Dips

This triceps workout doesn't only target your triceps but works on your pectoral muscles and deltoids as well.

· Cross your ankles as you clutch onto the bars.

· Bend your arms slowly as you lower down your torso.

· Lift your body back to its original position when you feel that your elbows are fully bent.

3. Lying French Press

This is a triceps workout that works your triceps from a different angle compared to other pressing exercises.

· Lie down flat on a bench.

· Hold an EZ curl bar with your hands stretched out and your hands shoulder width apart.

· Slowly lower down the bar to your nose or hairline by bending your elbows.

· Stretch your arms to go back to the original position.

4. Lying Triceps Extension (Skull Crusher)

This is the kind of triceps workout that works on the long head of the triceps and allows heavier weights to be lifted.

· Lie down flat on a bench.

· Grab the barbell with narrow-hand spacing with arms stretched.

· By bending your arms, lower the bar behind your forehead to put more stress on your triceps.

· Stretch your arms to go back to the original position

5.Dumbbell Extensions

This exercise can be done either standing or sitting on the bench. While firmly holding a dumbbell, place it above your head with your arms extended. For best results, while extending your arms, keep a little bend in your arms. Slowly lower your arms down behind your head while keeping your elbows in and all the tension on your triceps. Slowly raise the dumbbell back up to the starting position while keeping your elbows in throughout the movement.

6.Single Arm Dumbbell Extensions

Like the previous exercise, this one also can be done either standing or sitting on the bench. Take a dumbbell in your arm and slightly lean your upper body, while keeping your arm tucked into your side at a 90 degree angle. Then extend your arm out and keep your elbow in and at full extension, keep a little bend in your arm. Slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting point. After you're finished with your set, repeat with your opposite arm.

Overtraining" and How to Avoid It ?

   What is "Overtraining" and How to Avoid It ??

Overtraining is the trainee's number one "enemy" next to training injuries. Overtraining results from an imbalance between the amount of stress applied to your body, and your ability to adapt to it. Overtraining results in losses in size and strength and actually also increases the probability of illness.


Here is a list of some of the symptoms of overtraining:

• Decreased muscle size and strength.
• Longer-than-average recovery time after a workout.
• Elevated waking pulse rate.
• Elevated morning blood pressure.
• Increased joint and muscle aches.
• Headaches
• Hand Tremors
• Tiredness
• Listlessness
• Insomnia
• Loss or decrease in appetite.
• Injury
• Illness

So what biochemical mechanism leads to this over trained state?   After the onset of high-intensity training exercise the body pumps out cortisol  which breaks down protein into their constituent amino acids and routes them  to the liver for conversion to glucose.   The longer the workout, the more cortisol is pumped in and the more protein  is destroyed.  This causes a "catabolic state" as the largest supply of protein lies in the  muscles so that is where the cortisol goes first.   Research  has shown that one hour of intense  strength training will increase the protein stores in our immune and skeletal  systems, but that any further training will only begin to deplete these stores.   Overtraining can force the body into a weakened physical state, which, at  best can produce a cold or the flu and, at worst, can tear muscles ligaments,  and tendons once these body parts lose their structural integrity protein loss.   The culprit is a built-in "survival" drug hormone called cortisol. Immediately  following a high intensity effort, the body pumps out this hormone whose  function is simple: It carries off the proteins to the liver, where they are  converted into glucose, for energy use in the body.   Why does this weaken our defense mechanisms? Because all our immune  systems are based on proteins, and the influx of control in our biological mix  steals the proteins that make up our immune system.    Researchers at Loma Linda University found that athletes who train  twice as intensely as normally prescribed will wind up with twice as many colds,  and viruses.   They investigated the athletes for cortisol. He found that astonishingly,  after only ONE grueling strength training session, their bodies revealed a 60%  increase in cortisol production.   Among the first proteins to go were the T-cells that make up our front line of  defense against viruses. This watchdog system was depleted by more than 30  percent. However, this shortfall lasted only 6-8 hrs.   So you're probably thinking "What's the big deal? Is putting your body at risk  for only 6-8 hours such a high price to pay?"   Well, The researchers found that after a few days of such  exercising, the "at risk" time became longer and longer, until the T-cells  stopped rejuvenation.   In addition, the body's first line of defense against bacteria and viruses an  antibody known as IgA, which is found in the saliva, was reduced to nearly  non-protective levels.   The conclusion of the researchers was that athletes can over train themselves  into illness.   Thus the logical conclusion would be that high intensity strength training  should be limited to one hour or less to restrict the amount of protein destruction. Other ways to reduce the risk of overtraining:  Emphasize carbohydrates: make them 60-70% of your total diet. Take  carbohydrates two hours prior to exercising and immediately following  exercise. Research has shown that your fatigued muscles seem most  responsive to energy storage within the first 30 minutes following your  workout. There is a lesser response for the next 10 hours. Take protein  one to two hours before and immediately following exercise. Again I use  regular food, but I see no problem with supplementation to save time  (at the expense of more money however). Research has also shown your  body to be more receptive to protein immediately following a workout.  Continue eating high carbohydrate foods every 2 hours during the first  4 to 6 hours after hard training. During the first 6 hours post-exercise,  simple sugars appear to replace muscle glycogen better than complex  carbohydrates. Post-exercise muscle glycogen storage can be enhanced  with a combination carbohydrate-protein supplement as a result of the  interaction of carbohydrate and protein on insulin secretion. The addition  of protein with carbohydrates can allow for a more rapid return recovery.  Drink a re-hydration beverage during and after exercise, for example,  Gatorade. Take periodic layoffs. Use the best "miracle supplement" there is - WATER.  You can't "overdose" on water. The worst side effect you can get as mentioned  previously, is a few more trips to the washroom. Your body functions optimally  when it is fully hydrated. A general recommendation is to consume at least  128 ounces (one gallon) of water a day. During hot weather you should double  or triple this amount. LEAVE YOUR WORKOUT IN THE GYM  Give your undivided attention to your training when your in the gym. But when  you're outside the gym, cast your attention to other things in life. Establish  your other priorities, set goals, and keep busy. There are many athletes who  fall into the trap of letting their mind continually dwell on training. Train  hard when your in the gym, but try and relax more when your not. Stress has  been shown to increase levels of CORTISOL in the body - the catabolic hormone , so try to find ways to manage stress in your life and relax, and your results  will be improved.