Learn To Get Healthy

A weight loss method growing in popularity is fasting to lose weight. After all, wouldn’t it be easiest to lose weight if you stopped eating altogether? The reality is that fasting to lose weight really doesn’t work, and it can have serious long-term consequences.

Fasting to Lose Weight: The Issue of Metabolism

Fasting to lose weight would be perfectly practical if it weren’t for your body’s metabolism. When you stop eating, your brain tells your body that it needs to conserve energy because you’re starving. This means that when fasting to lose weight your body burns calories at a much slower pace. Furthermore, your metabolism remains low for a while even after you finish fasting to lose weight.

Therefore, if you begin eating normally, your body will make the food you consume into fat reserves. You will therefore gain back all the weight you lost very quickly, and you may even gain back more. Fasting to lose weight is simply not a good way to stay skinny long term. If that isn’t enough reason to forget about fasting to lose weight, there are also some serious consequences to such an extreme diet.

Fasting to Lose Weight Can Lead to Eating Disorders

You may tell yourself that you’re only planning on fasting to lose a few pounds. After you lose those few pounds however, you will likely still feel as if you could stand to lose a little more.

If you ever do decide that you’ve lost enough weight, you’ll begin gaining it all back very quickly once you break the fast. This simply encourages you to continue fasting to lose weight. This is the beginning of a very serious eating disorder, and it should absolutely be avoided.

Fasting to Lose Weight Denies Your Body Necessary Nutrients

Your body receives most of the vitamins it needs from the foods you eat daily. It also receives minerals and protein from these foods. If you are fasting to lose weight, you will likely not be receiving any of these nutrients.

Even if you are on a juice fast, you will likely be receiving only a few vitamins each day. You will still not be getting any of the minerals or protein that your body needs. If you are fasting to lose weight for a long time period, you can do serious harm to your body. Fasting to lose weight simply isn’t worth the consequences.

Hopefully this article has helped you to understand some of the dangers of fasting to lose weight. Even if the consequences aren’t enough to convince you, consider the fact that fasting to lose weight is generally ineffective because of your metabolism. Fasting to lose weight is dangerous and simply a bad idea; diet and exercise is the only true way to effectively lose weight.

Over the past few years I have watched my wife whittle away over seventy excess pounds from her frame. During this time period she has tried numerous exercise methods and routines to assist her in her quest for physical fitness. I have been a witness to all these routines and have taken note of several that have seemingly helped her the most.

Boot Camp Abs

My wife has always felt she sees noticeable results and fat loss faster when she begins an ab regimen. The ab exercises that offer the best results are usually labeled as ab boot camp workouts. They usually consist of a full measure of basic ab crunches, side crunches, and other oblique moves such as the bicycle. Some of the more extensive ab programs also contain a complement of planks and side planks.

Step Workouts

Step workouts are a great way for all people to burn fat effectively. The exercise combination’s on many of these DVDs really sizzle away pounds. If you pick the right step DVD you will not only be giving your lower body a total overall, but you will be burning off major calories. An added bonus that also comes with doing step exercises is the mental concentration involved in keeping up with some of the more complex choreography.

Kickboxing

Another workout that affords women an opportunity to burn fat while exercising is kickboxing. A well done kickboxing class or DVD will lead you through multiple segments of kicks, jabs, uppercuts, hooks, and cross punches. The large amount of repetition leads to maximum fat burn as well as toning of all of the muscles recruited during the movements. When kickboxing you would be hard-pressed to find a part of your body that does not feel worked.

Kettlebell Training

Kettlebell training is an old practice, but it’s use on the consumer market in the United States has been fairly minimal until recent years. While you may think all weight training is created equal, kettlebell training does provide a great edge when it comes to fat burning for women.

When my wife first began lifting weights, it was quite easy for her to work up a sweat while doing even basic movements. As time has progressed and her strength has increased, the transition to using the full motions of many kettlebell training moves has kept her in a cardio zone while also adding additional strength to her muscles.

Interval Training

Interval training is another exceedingly great way for all people to burn fat. Women can benefit from the practice of interval training no matter what their favored method of cardio is. Interval training will work on the treadmill, exercise bike, or elliptical machine. After a decent warm-up period, begin your first interval by going at a moderate pace for a set amount of minutes then increase to a fast pace for another set period, continue to repeat the process until the end of your workout.

The five fat burning exercises for women featured in this workout are sure to sizzle fat and four of them will leave you with firm muscles in the process. All can be utilized by any woman who is in good health, but, as always, it is important to check with you doctor before beginning a workout program.