You’ve been dieting. You’ve been doing your cardio workouts. You’ve been good, but for some reason, you’re still not happy with the way you look. You’re at or near your target weight, but you still dont look like that picture of that guy on the wall at the gym.

Now you need to start your ultimate weight training exercises. The exercises that use weights, which target specific muscle groups, toning and building the muscle you have.

Be aware, however, this is not targeting specific fat spots on your body. Spot reduction doesn’t work. Dieting and aerobic exercise should have already reduced the amount of fat in your body. The goal here is to tone the muscles that are there. Here are some trouble areas you can target and the way to do it; safely and easily.

* Arms: Stand up straight with your feet about shoulder width apart. Grab something that weighs bout five pounds (a bag of flour in a shopping bag works well). Start with your arms above your head, weight (or bag of flour) behind your head and slowly lift up until your arms are straight up and down. This works your triceps and helps to get rid of that ‘granny flab’ between your elbow and shoulder.

* Butt and legs: Again, start with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. Keep your back straight and bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Hold this position for a few seconds if you can and rise back up slowly.

This exercise works and tightens your butt and hamstring muscles (the muscles running down the back of your legs to your knees). If you continue the squat all the way down to the ground, you can target your quadriceps (the front of your thighs).

* Love handles: Now you’ve heard of crunches, sit ups, and a hundred other exercises for abdominal muscles. You’ve probably also heard that they are useless. They are; at least for losing weight.

The most effective exercise you can do for toning your abs is total body resistance training. Included in this is walking or running up hills, or some kinds of machines at a health club or gym.

The key to toning muscles is not heavy weights, but rather lower weight with a higher number of repetitions. It will do you more good to lift five or ten pounds 25 times than if you lifted 250 pounds once.

There are even programs out there that show you how to lift weights quickly to raise your heart rate and get some fat reduction as well as muscle toning. It is not easy, no matter what anyone tells you. Losing weight and shaping your body is possible, but you really need to be committed to a goal. Don’t give up! You CAN make it!

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and should not be used or interpreted as such. You should always consult a medical professional before making drastic changes to your diet and physical exercise.

Tags: Aerobic Exercise, Body Resistance, Cardio Workouts, Crunches Sit Ups, Exercise Works, Exercises For Abdominal Muscles, Flab, Flour, Healthy Diet, Losing Weight, Muscle Groups, Quadriceps, Resistance Training, Shopping Bag, Shoulder Width, Target Weight, Thighs, Triceps, Trouble Areas, Ups, Weight Training Exercises —

There are so many ways to loose weight you might get a little confused and not know where to start. The first thing you should remember is to not get all caught up in the hype of the latest fad diet out there. While you may actually lose some weight with these diets, they are not the types of diets that you can sustain for any length of time and when you stop the likelihood you will put all the weight back on is strong.

The truth is there is no magic potion or pill that will do all the work for you. You have to be an active participant. And I do mean active. You can’t lose weight sitting on your backside in front of the TV and eating anything you want. To effectively lose the weight you want to lose you need to change things up and get regular exercise and eat healthier.

Start by making small changes first. Do not try to do it all at once. If you make small changes then you will not get too overwhelmed and the weight loss will be more effective in the long run. Be smart with the ways to loose weight.

One of the ways to lose weight is to wake up your metabolism. If you have tried to lose weight in the past and you were largely unsuccessful then you probably did not have your metabolism working for you. Wake it up by eating five or six small meals a day. By small, I mean 300 calories or under. Eat lots of lean protein and greens. Stay away from processed carbs and bread for at least the first two weeks then add them back in sparingly. Your waistline will thank you.

In the beginning of your weight loss, anything made with white flour and white sugar are your enemies. You will need to steer clear of anything made with these products. If you make it through the week then you can give yourself a little treat to reward yourself for being good. Just do not over do it. No sense in undoing the great week you just had.

Products made with the white products are referred to as simple carbs and are immediately converted to simple sugars in your body. The weight you have gained happened because of these simple sugars. If you do not burn these sugars off and use them as energy as soon as they are available then your insulin will convert them to fat and place them right around your middle. This is why you have the belly fat that you do.

Here is the old standby, drink a lot of water throughout your day. This will help cleanse your body of toxins and keep you hydrated. Just like with food the more you drink the better your body will work and the more weight you will lose. Try these ways to loose weight and see if they can work for you, too.

Tags: Atkins, Backside, Calories, Carbs, Eating Habits, Fad Diet, Flour, Greens, Healthy Diet, Hype, Latest Fad, Lean Protein, Length Of Time, Likelihood, Losing Weight, Magic Potion, Metabolism, Simple Sugars, Small Changes, Waistline, Ways To Loose Weight, Ways To Lose Weight, Weight Diets, White Sugar —

More and more people are eating out than ever before. That wouldn’t be a problem, except for a few things. You have no way of knowing exactly what goes into each dish you’re ordering, and restaurants are noted for using lots of salt and fat to make their food taste better. A more recent problem is restaurants have been steadily increasing their portion sizes, and that means even more calories. While home-cooked fare can be more healthy, nobody is saying you should never eat out. Instead, it’s better to know how to keep from packing on the pounds when dining out.

Did you know restaurants will add butter or oil to some entrees just to make them look better? A pat of butter is often applied to meat when it’s done to give it a shiny finish. Grilled entrees may be brushed with oil before cooking to keep them from sticking, and again after cooking for that shiny look. That means you could be eating extra calories without even knowing about it. And if they use saturated fats (such as butter), then it can have a negative impact on your health as well. It’s also a common practice to add butter to steamed vegetables, largely for the same reasons.

Rubs and marinades often contain sugar, salt or oil in some combination. Those on low carbohydrate diets may be surprised to find out that their marinated chicken breast is hiding a tablespoon of sugar. Salt isn’t good for those with high blood pressure. Oils are the most calorie-dense and can add to your daily intake quickly. Vinegar marinades will usually be your best bet.

If you’re on a diet, then try to avoid cream sauces. These are usually made with heavy cream and loaded with extra calories. Even sauces that contain flour will usually have a lot of added fat, with the typical ratio being one tablespoon of fat to one tablespoon of flour for each cup of liquid. A better choice would be a vegetable based sauce, such as marinara.

Mixed drinks before dinner can be another source of extra calories. The trick is to order drinks that are mixed with plain soda water. Fruit juices add extra calories as they are mostly sugar. Of course you could always skip the pre-dinner cocktail and eliminate those calories completely. Water, coffee and tea are all calorie-free alternatives.

As mentioned earlier, portion sizes in restaurants are getting bigger. In fact they can be three to four times as much as the recommended serving sizes. For example, a serving of meat is only three ounces. But if you order a fifteen ounce steak, then you are having five times as much as you should. You can always see if somebody else at the table would like to share it with you. You may still have more than a serving, but you will be keeping it under control to some extent.

The main thing to remember is that eating out doesn’t have to mean gaining weight. As long as you know a few tips for losing weight when dining out, you can have a good time without feeling guilty about it.

Tags: Atkins, Best Bet, Calories, Chicken Breast, Cream Sauces, Eating Habits, Flour, Food Taste, Fruits And Vegetables, Grilled Entrees, Healthy Diet, Heavy Cream, high blood pressure;, Losing Weight, Low Carbohydrate Diets, Marinades, Mixed Drinks, Negative Impact, Portion Sizes, Rubs, Saturated Fats, Steamed Vegetables, Sugar Salt, Tablespoon, Vinegar —