Burn Fat While You Sleep

I know that sounds like a late night TV commercial for the newest miracle pill but it isn't. I am talking about a solution based on scientific research on the sub cellular level. I am referring to the tiny power plants within the millions and millions of cells within our bodies called mitochondria.

The function of mitochondria is to burn up all of the calories we eat and to produce energy. all of our energy is made in these little factories, each about the size of bacterium. Cells that require a lot of energy, such as muscle cells, have thousands of mitochondria while others that don't need much energy ( such as fat cells) have only a couple of hundred.

The more mitochondria we have the faster our metabolism. One solution to your sluggish metabolism is fairly simple, make more mitochondria.

Unfortunately, you can't get more of them by eating them. Instead, we need to get our bodies to make more of them. There is only one proven way to make that happen, build more muscle and exercise. By building more muscle and doing more exercise we increase the number of muscle cells as well as increasing the number of mitochondria in each cell. Do this on a regular basis and metabolism will improve tremendously.

To build muscle you need resistance training of some sort. I recommend concentrating on the largest muscle groups as found in the hips, thighs, hamstrings an buttocks.

Aerobic exercise in your target heart zone, combined with interval training will burn up fat stores. Adding a couple days a week of muscle building into your program will go a long way to increase those all important mitochondria.

27 days until your Resolution?

Many of us try to put off getting into shape. We know we need it and we know we want it but the (perceived) agony of dieting and exercising during the busy holiday season seems overwhelming so all eating plans start on:
tomorrow
Monday
at the first of the month
Jan. 1st.

For the next 10 days I will give you 10 habits to help get through without the typical holiday weight gain.

Habit #1
Eat every 2 0r 3 hours.
One of the worst things almost all dieters do, especially women, is to skip breakfast in a misguided attempt to save calories. This does not work and will backfire by slowing your metabolism and causing a ravenous appetite in the evening.
Each person meal sizes and number of meals are different depending on their gender, body size and composition and activity levels. For the standard of how many meals to eat, take the number of hours you are awake and divide by 3. example: 15 hours / 3 = 5 meals.
I don't really like to differentiate between meals and snacks because they are all meals in their own right, some just smaller. Every time that you feed your body you have the opportunity to make your body better or make it worse.
In the end do your best to stick to habit #1. -eating every 2 0r 3 hours without making it a source of frustration and confusion. If you would like more help with this first of 10 habits feel free to drop me an email through the gym's website www.springfieldhealthandfitness.com