Top 4 Ways to Start an Exercise Program to Lose Weight

Many people are at a loss as far as how to start a consistent exercise program.  So the purpose of this post is to give you the top 4 ways that I’ve found to start an exercise program from scratch.

1. Do it yourself – either at home or in a gym.  This is what I did.  Having been a track athlete in High School and a walk-on football player in college (albeit for one semester), I knew about working out.   I did some google searches & youtube searches.  I ended up doing circuit training weight lifting workouts, which I will talk about in a separate post.
   
2. Hire a personal trainer.   Again, if you don’t know where to start, that’s where a personal trainer comes in.  There are a variety of personal trainer options available.  Now-a-days, you don’t have to meet with a personal trainer face-to-face!  There are several products online, as well as downloadable apps that do this for you!  Examples include Fitbit and Cyberfit360!
   
3. Join a bootcamp.  Bootcamps typically combine cardio, weight training, and circuit/interval training which is considered the best way to lose weight (more about how I’ve done this in later posts).  I go to a free bootcamp in my home town 2x per month.  Oh – that’s another tip: Many bootcamps offer at least 1 free session!
   
4. Purchase an exercise program!  My faves are: any program that involves kettlebells (KettleWorx and RKS), P90X (which I’ve done some of their exercises that are posted on youtube as part of some of my circuit training workouts), and the INSANITY WORKOUT  (I've also done some of their exercises that I found on youtube).

#1 Tip for Faster Weight Loss

Well, here it is!  My #1 tip I found for faster weight loss: weight lifting!  Why, because weight lifting sped up my metabolism.   I also combined weight lifting with a cardio component, which I’ll discuss in a future post.

There are numerous articles on the internet that talk about this.  Here's one article that provides an overview about weightlifting for weight loss.

Here is an excellent article that talks about how weightlifting helps you lose body fat, and alters your body composition.  Note:  This applies to men & women!

The Role of Eating Habits in Weight Loss 

Have you seen any of those exercise infomercials?  Every single one of them has some type of diet plan or eating habits plan in addition to the workout.  Why, because they know that if there’s no control in your eating, you won’t lose the weight.

Looking back, I see that’s what happened with me – my eating habits were conducive to losing weight! [Duh! I already lost 30 pounds before exercising! LOL!]

So that is my advice to you.  Make sure your eating habits are conducive to losing weight.   Otherwise you may experience the yo-yo effect (lose weight/gain it back). 

      

My hope is that you would see similar results if you do what I did.  Alec Baldwin avoided sugar and started exercising & he saw similar results!

I Guess It's Time to get on a Scale!

I've had a lot of people tell me that I've lost weight recently, including my workout partners!  I guess they might be right - all of my clothes are loose.

I think I might weigh in the 180's.  If I'm in the low 180's, that means I'm nearing the 100 pound loss mark!

I don't have a scale, so I'll have to find one - LOL!

So when I weigh myself, I'll let y'all know the results!

P.S.:  I've been super-busy lately, so the posts had slowed down.  But I have a lot of things in the works!

Breakfast of Champions!

Well, okay, maybe not.

But I decided to "earn" this breakfast by having an intense workout this morning.  Now, I'm in Phase #3 of my weight loss.  So I don't workout to lose weight - strange as that may sound to some.  I workout for a purpose.

And now, my purpose for workouts is to build/enhance power and explosion.  I'm jumping ahead of myself, the nuts and bolts of that statement will be discussed when I get to Phase #3 in the blog.

My workout lasted about 45 minutes.  I think I do what some call "interval training."

My workout consisted of a warm up, then 5 stations where I perform "supersets."  A superset is where I do 1 exercise immediately followed by another.

I allocate 5 minutes per station.  The goal is to do as many supersets in 5 minutes as possible, with the goal being 3 sets minimum per station.  When the 5 minutes are up, I take about a 15 second break or so and go to the next station.

Here was the workout:

• Warm-up:  1/2 mile on the treadmill in about 4 minutes, followed by stretching, then into supersets described below.
  
• Station #1:  Jump rope (5 sets of 50) supersetted with 5 sets of 20 situps.  On even sets of jump rope, jump on 1 leg, alternating legs on every 10 jumps.
  
• Station #2:  Stiff Leg Deadlifts supersetted with alternating lunges (I did these while holding a 25 lb weight)
  
• Station #3:  Bicep curls supersetted with tricep curls with a curl bar (I actually added this at the last minute because my next station was being used at the time
  
• Station #4:  Inverted rows (I did this one resting my feet on a bench) supersetted with fishtails.  Fishtails: remain in the push-up position and jump your legs from side to side, 10x each side = 1 set.

• Station #5:  Burpees.  I was only able to do 2 sets in 5 minutes.
  
• Station #6:  Elevated side plank dumbbell reach (note: it's similar to this exercise on youtube, except I'm elevated b/w 2 benches); supersetted with bench jumps.  I was only able to do 2 sets in 5 minutes.
  
• Cool down with stretching.

And here is my breakfast reward:

Steak (left over from yesterday's dinner), herb scrambled eggs (seasoned with basil & pepper) cooked in extra virgin olive oil, and orange slices!  Yum!!

Xcellent Dinner Idea!

I may have to join Pinterest.  I saw a great "pin"  on my Facebook page that read: "Eat Right Rule: If your food can go bad, it's good for you!  If it can't go bad, it's bad for you."

I thought of that when I went to Sprouts (one of my favorite stores) and bought some zucchini and yellow squash that were on sale for 99 cents/pound.

I had some top round steak that was thawed out & needed to be cooked, so I threw together this dinner!

Here it is:

• Broiled top round steak (seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning & thyme - no sugar in it of course)
• Cut up and sauteed zucchini & yellow squash

This was the 1st time I had ever sauteed zucchini & yellow squash.  1st I diced about 1 tablespoon of onion and sauteed it with extra virgin olive oil in the skillet.

Then I added the cut up zucchini & yellow squash, and cooked it covered over low heat for about 5 minutes.  Oh yeah, for seasoning, a used a dash of season salt (no sugar in it of course), allspice, and basil.

After the squash was soft, I added a sliced tomato.

Let me tell you - it was very, very good!

Oh, and for "dessert" about an hour later:  I ate some raisins!

As I've said in a previous post, one of the benefits by default to avoid sugar & high fructose corn syrup was that I eat healthier!

Product Review: Mountain High Yogurt

I really like eating plain yogurt.  For me, it is a key staple for breakfast and/or dessert since I stopped consuming added sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

I have tried various brands of yogurt.  I have to admit, one of my absolute favorites is Mountain High Plain Yogurt.  I prefer the fat-free version, but sometimes the store is out of them.  When that happens, I buy the low fat version.  And if they're out of that, I buy just buy the Plain Yogurt.

Mountain High Yogurt is smooth and creamy.  I also like that it doesn't have that "sour" taste to it.

Of course, the other great thing about yogurt is that it has live and active probiotic cultures.  That is good for your digestive tract.  Mountain High has 5 of these active cultures.  I do know that there are some yogurt brands that have 8 active cultures.  Maybe that's a drawback to Mountain High - I don't know, that's not really something I pay attention to.

The other really cool thing about this product is the recipes on their website - which are categorized and easy to follow!

I definitely plan on trying some of these recipes.  Needless to say, the smoothies initially caught my eye! Obviously I will weed out those that involve added sugar and high fructose corn syrup, as well as artificial sweeteners.

There are also a lot of recipes on this website that provide excellent ideas for sugar/high fructose corn syrup replacement!

Peach Mango Smoothie Recipe

I did a track workout earlier this evening, had a nice post-workout meal (leftover baked chicken, raw broccoli, cut up tomato -  sorry no pic: didn't have my camera on me) and was ready to sit down and relax.

My bananas were getting a little ripe, and I had bought a couple of mangoes the other day (they were on sale), so I decided to make a smoothie!

Here's the recipe:

• 1 sliced Medium - Large Banana (I like it a little ripe)
• 1/2 of a cut up mango
• 1/4 cup of sliced peaches (I used them from a jar that was packed in 100% juice - but fresh peaches - which are not in season right now, are great)
• 1/2 can of 100%  frozen white grape juice from concentrate
• About 3 and 1/2 cups of crushed ice
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of plain yogurt ( I use pro biotic yogurt, preferably low fat or fat free)

• Place white grape juice concentrate, crushed ice, and water in blender and blend until smooth
• Add banana, mango, and peaches to blender, and blend until smooth
• Add yogurt to blender, and blend until smooth

Makes about 3 - 16 oz servings

 And it tastes very good!  Side note: Smoothies are my favorite desserts!!!