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Are You a Hard Loser?
March 19, 2015
Hello,

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE HAVE A MORE DIFFICULT TIME LOSING WEIGHT THAN OTHERS?

It’s enough to make you want to scream, right? You eat a couple of pieces of pizza and gain weight and your husband eats the whole darn pizza and...nothing! Heck, he can even wash it down with a cold beer or two and still...nothing!

What about your friend who eats whatever she wants whenever she wants and is skinny as a rail while you just look at food and feel your jeans getting tighter? Believe me, I feel your pain. I know the frustration and it’s almost enough to make you give up altogether. Why do some people seem immune to weight gain while others have to watch every calorie they consume?

Genetics clearly is a factor in how easily someone loses weight. Also, gender differences play a role for sure. When men lose weight they tend to lose abdominal fat first, whereas women have a more difficult time losing abdominal fat. However, there are additional, more controllable factors as well.

STRENGTH TRAIN FOR MORE MUSCLE MASS

First, the amount of muscle mass an individual has is directly proportional to metabolism, and thus caloric expenditure. People who have a large amount of muscle mass can more easily lose weight when they control caloric intake than someone who has a low amount of muscle mass. There’s just another good reason to strength train. Essentially, more muscle will help you lose weight and allow you to eat more. I say yay to that!

Secondly, people who have more weight to lose experience a lot of weight-loss success when they decrease their caloric intake and increase physical activity, because their baseline is often a very high-calorie diet.

For example, if someone who weighs 250 pounds normally eats 3,000 calories per day and he or she cuts back to 2,000 calories per day and expends 200 more calories per day with exercise, he or she can easily lose more than 3 pounds in one week.

On the other hand, if someone who weighs 125 pounds and normally eats 2,200 calories per day cuts back to 2,000 calories per day and expends 200 more calories per day with exercise he or she will only lose about 0.75 pounds in a week. It’s just the way it works.

Finally, behavioral factors cannot be ignored. Some people are more successful at weight loss because they are better able to adhere to a lower-calorie diet and regularly engage in physical activity.

Once again, it all comes down to eating sensibly and getting regular exercise. No magic in the world or promises of quick fixes will do what a healthy lifestyle can. Nobody said it’d be easy, especially as we age, but the alternative is a terrible price to pay. Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, degenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s, cancer, osteoporosis, digestive disorders, just to name a few. Most of these health issues could practically be eliminated if people made the time and put forth the effort for preventative maintenance through healthy lifestyle choices.

You should be getting 30-60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week, and you need to consume more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Cut back on your portions. Drink more water. This may sound simplistic, but these changes alone will have a huge impact on your health. Why not do yourself and your loved ones a favor and begin taking steps towards these simple yet proven guidelines for better health?

Good luck and do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns about your fitness endeavors!!


EXERCISE OF THE MONTH
This is the part of the newsletter where I feature an exercise and give explicit instructions on its proper execution.

This month's featured exercise shows a really cool way to do a lunge. I have found that doing them this way takes much of the stress off the knees. The lunge is a lower-body exercise that works several muscle groups at once. The targeted muscles include the glutes in your hips and butt along with the hamstrings and quadriceps in your thighs. The calf muscles in your lower legs, your abdominal muscles and your back muscles act as stabilizers during this exercise. So give it a try and see how it feels! I call it a hanging lunge.

Hanging Lunge
Primary Muscle Group Worked: Glutes, Hamstrings, and Quadriceps. Secondary muscle groups are calves and core when done right!

To see a video of this exercise click here.

Preparation: Fix a handle at about hip to waist height on a cable machine and place pin as heavy as it will go so that it will support your body weight. Straighten your arms and grasp the handle in front of you and stand in a hanging position (almost like you are getting ready to water ski). This will be your starting position.

Execution: 1) Step backward with your right leg around two feet or so from the left foot and lower your upper body down, while keeping the torso upright and maintaining balance. Inhale as you go down. Tip: Do not allow your knee to go forward beyond your toes as you come down, as this will put undue stress on the knee joint. Make sure that you keep your front shin perpendicular to the ground. Keep the torso upright during the lunge; flexible hip flexors are important. A long lunge emphasizes the Gluteus Maximus; a short lunge emphasizes Quadriceps.
2) Push up and go back to the starting position as you exhale. Tip: Use the ball of your feet to push in order to accentuate the quadriceps. To focus on the glutes, press with your heels.
3) Alternate legs for desired reps (preferably 10-12).


THE PONDER POND
Okay, peeps! You know I usually like to make you think, cry, or laugh with these vids, right? This one's a thinker. Everyone has a story. We never know what the person next to us is going through. I hope watching this video will instill a desire in you, as it does me, to be kinder, more patient, and loving to all our fellow beings on this planet. Much love to all. Click here to view the video. :)


TO BUY MY BOOKS OR READ MY BLOG
Be sure and check out my blog site! Just click here to head on over and give it a read! I will be posting a new blog in the next few weeks.

You can also purchase my books at most of the popular online bookstores in whatever format you may require. Please sign up for my mailing list and subscribe to my blog so that you can be informed when I post a new blog. I am a believer in less is more so don't worry about being inundated with posts telling you every time I had a snack or a new thought. On the other hand, I hope you find the wait between posts worthwhile as I plan to speak directly from my "writing" soul and I look greatly forward to it.


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Thanks so much for subscribing to this newsletter and for reading it and for your support. Our relationship is reciprocal as I live and learn from all that happens in my life, just as you live and learn through yours. We are truly in this together, and I empathize with your challenges as I do my own. I promise to hang in there and learn and grow along with you, and I hope that sharing through my writing maybe helps you a smidge. If it does, that is my payback. It is why I continue to do what I do.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please feel free to pay it forward to anyone you think would like it too. That is the best compliment you could ever pay me, and I appreciate it very, very much.

And don't forget to tell everybody about Straightforwardfitness.com and Now What? Fitness Blog where they can get all the fitness info their heart desires and sign up for this newsletter while they are there.

From my heart to your health,

Linda Burke, CPT

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