Firm And Fit In 5 Week

In the past anyone who wanted to slim down in 5 weeks usually went on a crash diet, and the results seldom lasted long, but growing numbers of people are discovering a better way: combining balanced low-fat meals with aerobic activity and even strength training. It’s not easy, yet it can be done. So if you want to shape up fast, here is a plan for you.
1. Think fat loss
The primary goal of a 5 week shape-up is to lose body fat while maintaining muscle, or lean body mass. The problem is that calories are stored in fat, and during a diet the body protects itself by conserving calories and burning muscle instead. Lost muscle lowers metabolism (the rate at which the body burns calories), making it even more difficult to lose weight.
A pound of muscle burns 70 times as many calories as a pound of fat, so to achieve weight loss, it’s vital to retain and build muscle, increasing muscle mass by three pounds makes your body burn 150 to 300 more calories a day, regardless of your activity level.
The real key isn’t what you weigh but where the weight reduction comes from. Pond for pound, muscle is one-seventh the dimension of fat. When you exercise and put on a few pounds of muscle mass, your weight may not change much, but your clothes will fit better, and they’ll be in smaller sizes. So, during any 5 week shape-up, focus more on the tape measurement than on the bathroom scale.
2. Keep moving
When you exercise, make a balance between intensity and duration. For best results, exercise at the highest level of intensity you comfortably can one that allows you to sustain the activity for 30 minutes. You’re better off walking at a moderate pace for 10 minutes than trying to jog and ending up exhausted after ten.
To keep your metabolism higher all day, exercise in the morning. Bolster that with a 10 minute midday walk and perhaps a brief evening stroll or bike ride. Studies show that an exercise-induced metabolic boost can last 24 hours or longer. Here are some ideas that could help you get moving:
3. Five for five
Build aerobics into your 5 week routine, aiming for at least 5 half-hour sessions a week. If you currently get no regular exercise or are very overweight, the safest way is to walk. For the better conditioned, other aerobic activities include jogging, bicycling, swimming, rowing and tennis.
4. Talk Test
Push yourself safely, that is, not so hard you can not complete the session. Try the talk test; as long as you can carry on a conversation while exercising, you are not exceeding your capacity.
5. Up and down.
If you want a quick and better result in 5 weeks, walk up and down the hills. Go up the hill as fast as you can, then turn around and come back, resting on the way down, work up to doing this seven or eight times a session.
6. Add strength
Results from strength training can be fairly immediate, start doing five to ten different exercises, with or without weights, and at least eight repetitions of each. Work out twice a week, building to every other day. When you can do 12 repetitions, increase weights by two to three pounds and start again at eight repetitions.
7. Take a low-fat diet
Eat a good breakfast. By matching calorie consumption with your most active hours, you will burn calories more efficiently. Fuel up early in the day with a low-fat meal (cereal with skin milk and fruit).
8. Avoid late-night eating
Metabolic needs are lowest at night, so calories consumed then tend to be stored as fat.
9. A little fat
Don’t cut out fats completely. Even this dietary villain has a virtue it gives the body satiety. A little bit of peanut butter or cream cheese on that bagel, will curb appetite rather than enhance it. Keep fat intake up to 25 percent.
10. Rethink your attitude
A five week trim-down demands a totally new way of looking at the challenges that confront you.
11. Other ways to rethink
Dear diary. Most of us underestimate the calories we consume. A food diary helps keep track. Others use a diary as a tool to control the day’s menu. By deciding what to eat when, a dieter can avoid the rushed decisions that lead to overeating.
12. Inch by inch
Respect the power of small changes. If you bypass a doughnut every day and have half a bagel instead, that will equal a pound lost in a month.
Unlike a crash diet, this 5 week regimen will get you well on your way to keeping trim. Stick with it, and you will be firmer and fitter for months and even years to come.