What Is The HMR Diet
The HMR Diet 101
There’s a big difference between the HMR diet and most other diets.
While you are almost always required to eat less when following other diets in order to lose weight, the HMR program actually encourages you to eat as much as you like to stay full. However, your diet isn’t comprised of any foods, but rather special HMR weight-loss foods (as well as vegetables and fruits).
This crucial difference is actually what helps people stay motivated, making it easier for them to lose weight. The reason why you can eat so many HMR foods is because they are really low in calories.
By following most other diets, you would be decreasing the amount of food you eat. This can leave you feeling hungry throughout most of the day. This will make it harder for you to keep going with your diet plan.
There are two main diet plans included in the HMR program – Healthy Solutions and Healthy Shakes.
Healthy Solutions represents a simple and structured diet planed where you aren’t left with many decisions. You’ll get to follow a very basic diet plan and you’ll be required to exercise a bit every week, and you’ll be able to start losing weight in no time.
This diet plan requires you to consume 3 HMR shakes, 2 HMR entrees, and 5 servings of vegetables/fruits every day.
Additionally, you’re required to burn up to 2,000 calories every week.
This plan includes medical supervision in the HMR clinics. Depending on your decision, you can also hire a coach. By following the Healthy Solutions plan, you will be consuming 1,200-1,400 calories a day.
The Healthy Shakes plan is much more flexible.
The goal of this diet plan is to help you reduce the amount of solid meals you eat and focus on drinking HMR shakes instead. This plan requires you to consume 3 HMR shakes, 5 servings of vegetables/fruits, and 1 healthy meal of your choice every day.
The HMR shakes come in two flavors – chocolate and vanilla. This diet plan is self-guided and doesn’t require any medical supervision. However, you will get helpful support materials. By following the Healthy Shakes plan, you will be consuming around 1,400 calories a day.
These two plans were created to help you lose weight efficiently in the comfort of your own home.
However, there is also a third option, which is the Decision-Free program.
This special program includes coaching and medical supervision. In fact, you won’t be able to do it at home. Instead, you’ll be required to spend your time in a HMR clinic during the duration of this diet plan.
The Decision-Free program is the perfect choice for you if you have a significant amount of weight to lose. Additionally, it may be the right choice for you if you’re dealing with high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, or other similar medical problems that would require monitoring during the weight loss process.
During your stay at the clinic, you will be surrounded by a team of professionals who will make sure that you accomplish all your weight loss goals. By following the Decision-Free plan, you will be consuming 500-800 calories a day.
This weight loss program was created by Lawrence Stifler, a behavioral psychologist, in 1983. All of the HMR Programs are divided into two big phases. The first phase revolves around weight loss in a short time period. During this phase, you will start replacing your usual meals and snacks with HMR foods (as well vegetables and fruits). You will also start exercising during this phase.
The second phase revolves around weight management. During this phase, you will get the chance to learn more about how to manage your weight in the long run and how to deal with different eating challenges like dining out.
How to Lose Body Fat
How to Lose Body Fat
Are you desperate to find out how to lose body fat fast?
Two out of three people in the United States are overweight, and there are millions out there who are looking for the most effective ways to burn calories and shed extra pounds.
Losing body fat may not be easy but the following tips will help you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight:
Tip #1: Combine aerobic exercise and strength training.
Moderate aerobic exercise will help jump start your body to burn fat.
If you are severely overweight and want to know how to lose body fat, keep in mind that it’s best to start with low intensity cardio exercises.
Incorporate strength training into your workout to help tone your body and build your muscles. During the early stages of your workout program avoid stressing your body too much to prevent overtaining.
People who are trying to lose body fat can benefit from the fat-burning effects of moderate aerobic exercise. Experts recommend keeping your heart rate at 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. Exercise for at least 30 minutes, but gradually increase the duration until you are able to workout for one hour.
Strength training is one of the most effective ways to lose body fat, but you must focus on high repetitions and moderate weights.
It’s important to keep moving if you are trying to lose weight. You can get the best and fastest results by combining aerobics and low-intensity strength training. Weight training exercises should target all the major muscle groups in the body, such as the legs, arms, shoulders, abs and back.
Overweight individuals who want to start losing body fat can start by walking. Walking is a low-impact aerobic exercise that almost anyone can do.
Tip #2: Eat the right foods.
Good nutrition is just as important as exercise when it comes to fat loss.
Your body needs lean meats, chicken, fish, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. If you want to lose body fat, you have to eat more vegetables such as spinach, tomatoes, carrots, kale, broccoli and celery.
Fruits are also important but you should avoid fruit juices with added sugar. Sugar adds calories and will only make it more difficult for you to lose weight.
Avoid fried foods because they are high in fat and calories.
Limit your fat intake but don’t cut out fats altogether. Your body needs some fat for proper metabolism and to absorb fat-soluble vitamins.
Cut back on bad fats found in meats, but increase your intake of good fats such as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Cold-water fish, nuts, flax seed, and olives are excellent sources of healthy fats.
Tip #3: Drink plenty of water.
Water does not contain calories but your body needs it to function properly. You need 8 to 12 glasses of water each day. Water helps flush out toxins and waste products from the body and aids the digestive system. Also, drinking water right before a meal makes you feel full, so you won’t eat as much. Whenever you feel thirsty, drink water instead of high-calorie sweetened fruit juice or a soda and it will help you lose body fat faster.
Keep in mind the above three tips as you plan your day to day activities if want want to achieve successful fat loss.
How To Reduce Body Fat
How To Reduce Body Fat
The percentage of adults who are over age 20 and are overweight and obese are over 69% of the population.
That is close to 70% of the poulation that is carrying more weight, and therefore fat, than is normal.
How to reduce your body fat is one of the highest searched questions online because it is such a problem for so many people.
Reducing your body fat is about attacking the problem from two angles – both diet and exercise.
What you eat is as important as how much exercise you get each day.
In fact, you shouldn’t diet!
Dieting implies eating less and deprivation. Instead, it’s important to change your nutritional intake and make lifestyle changes for a lifetime.
Look for nutrient dense foods that are lower in calories and high in fiber. Green leafy vegetables will boost your immune system and keep your metabolism running all day.
Eliminate fried foods and candy and choose to drink at least 8 glasses of water each day. Water helps to flush out toxins and increase your metabolic rate.
When eating a healthy diet you lose the cravings for sugar and high carb foods that will pack on the fat and pounds in a matter of hours.
Believe it or not, sleeping is very important to reducing your body fat.
One of the triggers to increasing your body fat is the secretion of cortisol. This is a stress hormone that is secreted from the adrenal glands at the top of the kidneys. Cortisol is responsible for the production of belly fat or visceral fat which is metabolically active and will increase your insulin resistance.
When you are stressed or sleepy, you are also more apt to eat more which increases your overall fat deposits on the body.
Exercise is an important aspect to developing lean muscle and reducing your overall body fat. However, you can also train too hard, which has the opposite effect. As you increase the intensity and duration of exercise you can also increase the release of cortisol, which will only increase the amount of fat that your body produces.
Instead, you want to do a PACE program in which you work out as hard as you can for 30 seconds and then recover for 90 seconds and repeat that pattern 8 times. Put 3 minutes of warm up at the begining and 3 minutes cool down at the end and you have a 20 minute workout that will burn calories hours after you stop working out.
Another way to increase the calorie burn and reduce the insulin secretion (which also increases fat production) is to take a 15 minute walk after meals.
This helps to reduce your blood sugar spikes because you are immediately using the sugar from your meals.
Green tea will help to boost your metabolism and is also known for cancer fighting benefits. You can drink the tea several times a day or just pop a few green tea extract pills, which is probably easier in the long run. Most of us don’t have the time to sit down to tea 4 times a day.
Weight training is one of the best ways to burn calories and develop lean muscle mass. Combine that weight training or strength training with fat burning metabolism from low carbohydrate diet and you are well on your way to reducing your body fat.
In summary:
- Diet and Exercise
- Nutrient dense foods
- Drink plenty of water
- Get adequate sleep
- Reduce Cortisol levels
- Stress management
- Exercise using the PACE program
- Walk after meals
- Green tea
- Weight training
Keep the above ten points in mind as you plan your day to day activities if you want to achieve successful weight loss or just get more healthy and fit.
Exercise and Health Trends
Exercise and Health Trends
There are certain exercises that always make the top of the list. One of these would of course be walking. It is so easy to start and doesn’t require any special equipment at first. Once you get into walking and decide this is your favorite exercise then investing in a good pair of walking shoes would be a worthwhile investment.
Spinning is an exercise that is becoming more popular each year. It is a great overall exercise that is relatively easy on your joints. Physiotherapists actually recommend that people with a knee injury use a bike on very low resistance to get their knee moving again.
The great thing about spinning is that you can join a class and meet other people. During the class you can increase or decrease your resistance level to match your ability. So you don’t have to worry about falling or lagging behind.
Plus spinning is a wonderful way to burn calories. Depending upon your weight and body size you could burn anywhere from 350 up to 550 calories per hour of spinning class. Remember that after the class your metabolism is still fired up and you will continue to burn additional calories.
Concentrating on Wellness is a fitness trend that is becoming more noticeable. People are becoming more consciousness of their health and are taking steps to become healthier. These types of people may not have a weight or health issue but they understand that their lifestyle affects your body eventually. They accept that they must make changes now in order to lead a healthy life as they mature.
There will always be those trendy exercises that become popular for a while and then phase away. Some of these trends do stay popular for the long term. Check out some current trends such as Kangaroo jump, Aero jump and Belly fit.
Turning traditional exercises into something less stringent and more fun is a new exercise trend. A great example of this is Zumba dance classes. Dancing to the sounds of rhythmic Latin music is motivating and fun. Yet at the same time you are burning tons of calories. There are Zumba classes for seniors, kids and even aqua classes are popping up.
Fitness for kids is another increasing fitness trend. This ties in well with families being concerned about their overall wellness. Schools don’t always offer enough sports and fitness programs. Plus with all the new fangled technology kids are too busy playing with video games and being on the computer. Obesity in children is on the rise and a major concern in North America.
The same applies for seniors. Senior fitness is a growing trend as baby boomers are aging. More gyms and clubs are catering to this new group of fitness goers. Seniors don’t want to lose their zest for life and want to keep mobile and active.
Functional fitness classes are aimed at senior and anyone with a disability. A functional fitness class is aimed at getting a person mobile again. Allowing them to do daily life activities including carrying your groceries home, doing your household chores and being able to play and hold your grandkids.
If you look closely you can see these trends almost follow your life’s pattern. This enforces the thought that exercise and fitness is for life and should be done on a continuous basis.
Workout Routines from Home
Workout Routines from Home
For many people starting a new exercise routine they want to work out from home. This can be due to many reasons. You may not feel comfortable going to a gym yet. You may not have the correct equipment or no clothes to wear. Or you just could have time constraints that keep you at home.
If this is the case for you then there are plenty of exercise choices for you. You can easily pick up an exercise DVD and pop this in at home and then exercise when you can.
When choosing an exercise program think about what you are interested in. Do you want to learn yoga, Zumba dance or even belly dancing? Exercise can and should be fun!
If you follow shows like the Biggest Loser then grab one or two of their DVD’s and follow along. You can even combine this with signing up for an online program where you can record your exercise and keep track of your goals.
You don’t even have to go out and purchase anything to start exercising at home. You can design your own fitness routine by combining some cardio with strength or resistance training.
Here’s an example:
Cardio – 20 minutes
Jumping jacks
Jumping rope in the basement or outside
Walking up and down your basement stairs
Dancing to music
Strength training – 2 times a week for about 20 minutes
Sit ups
Push ups against the wall
Wall squats
Leg raises
Lifting light weights – use soup cans or water bottles
You can mix and match the exercises until your find a routine that works for you and are comfortable with. As the exercises become easy add some more or increase your weights. For cardio try to increase the length of time or your intensity level as it becomes easier.
Working out from home has a couple of benefits with the main benefit being that you don’t have to pay for a gym membership. You also don’t have to worry about buying fancy gym clothes either. On the downside you may find that it is harder to make yourself motivated each day and you might get lonely working out alone.
As you can see there are many workout routines that you can do from home. You definitely have no reason not to exercise. Dig down deep inside you and discover why you want to start exercising and write these reasons down. Post them in a place where you can read them every day and use your reasons as a motivator.