Men’s Fitness Bust the Beer Gut!

The world of calorie counting and aerobic exercise can seem like one devoted to and inhabited by women! But in reality men’s fitness is just as important as a woman’s and as being overweight is becoming more of an issue for both sexes, more time is being spent thinking about men’s diet.

Chances are that diet and weight loss are not things you have spent much of your life thinking about. But these things have a way of slowly creeping on you. As we get older we begin to notice that things aren’t what they used to be and we have to start re-thinking some of the habits we have taken for granted over the years.

Male and Female bodies work differently and store fat in different ways. A man is already at higher risk of heart disease than a woman because of this. Also men’s lifestyles can be different to those of the average woman, and these factors impact on men’s fitness and men’s diet. Often meaning that men notice a change in their usual body shape or size later in life when their bad habits are deeply ingrained!

So how do you start to break old habits and get in shape? Here are some basic men’s weight loss tips to get you started;
BMI
A good place to start is to assess just how healthy you are so that you can begin to set targets for yourself. Your BMI or Body Mass Index is the measurement of fat in your body. To calculate this simply divide your weight in kilos by your height in metres.
Here is a guide to what your BMI means;

18.5                  Underweight
18.5 – 24.9    Normal Weight
25 – 29.9        Over Weight
30+                   Obese

Another indicator is your waist measurement. Generally speaking if your waist measurement is 37 inches or 94 cm, then you are more likely to have a negative impact on your health. A measurement of over 40 inches means you ate high risk of health problems.Try out our male body wrap and zap the inches from your waist.
Exercise – Just do it!

It can be really daunting to think about how to get regular exercise into your daily routine if it’s not something you are used to. The idea of joining a gym, buying equipment and work out clothes can seem like a costly business. This and other factors like the fear of even entering a gym can be a deterrent against getting started on men’s fitness. But the simple truth is that any exercise is better than none at all. With this in mind start gently and simply – Walk!

There is no cost, no technique to master and it can be done anywhere! And best of all you can start now. Walk to work if possible, walk to the shops or just around the park. For this to be an effective addition to your new fitness routine, you should aim to walk briskly for at least 30 minutes everyday.

Generally adding bursts of activity into your every day routine is the best way to start shedding pounds and building up fitness levels. You can do this by making even very small changes such as parking at the back of the supermarket car park and walking briskly to the entrance, or taking every opportunity to jog up a staircase rather than getting in the elevator!

Cardiovascular exercise such as walking, running, swimming and cycling are the best ways to reduce cholesterol, improve heart function and increase muscle mass. Aim to do 20 to 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise 3 to 5 days a week, and try to build to doing this everyday.

But be patient – don’t give up if you don’t see immediate results. And remember that losing fat and developing muscle at the same time is difficult to do. If you have a beer belly or a B cup chest focus on losing those extra pounds and developing a long term healthy diet. Only then should you start using you newly found confidence to start shifting the focus to defining muscle tone, if that is your long term goal.

Diet tips
Watch out for the levels of salt in your food. Too much causes water retention and makes us feel hunger when really we need water.

Choose Lean chicken or fish over beef. Turkey is an especially good choice as it is one of the leanest forms of protein.

When you fell the need to snack eat fruit and fill up on water. This will keep your metabolism going without being calorie packed.

Try to eat fresh food that you have prepared yourself. This way you can avoid the high and often hidden fats and calories in processed food.

Eat a lot of fibre as this keeps you feeling full and has the added benefit of flushing out other calories from your system!

Eat Breakfast! Research shows that men who skip breakfast are 4 and a half times more likely to be obese than those who don’t as giving our metabolism something to get it going keeps it working for the rest of the day. To really get the benefits you should eat within an hour and a half of waking up.

Don’t think because its liquid it dosnt count! Alcohol is extremely calorie laden.
Per pint lager or cider can be anything from 170 to 220 calories. The stronger they are the worse it gets. If wine is your thing then remember that a single 75ml glass is up to 165 calories. The best option is a spirit with an average of 50 calories per pub measure. But that is without the mixer! All in all alcohol is bad news for a healthy diet plan if it is not considered carefully and drunk in moderation.

It also dehydrates us, which makes us feel false hunger pangs and stops our body from absorbing vital nutrients, but perhaps the worst thing it does is destroy our will power and lead us straight to the fish and chip shop! So if you do go out for an evening of drinking remember to limit your drinks and eat a light healthy meal before you start to stop any hunger pangs at the end of the night.

So armed with these simple but common sense guidelines you can start changing your habits and your body shape for good!