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Search Results for: weight

March 31, 2023 By GOQii 9 Comments

How Important Is Cardio For Weight Loss?

cardio and weight lossYou are well aware of the fact that you lose weight when you burn more calories irrespective of how much you eat. The best way to lose weight is to follow a combination of cardio, strength training and a healthy diet.

Cardio is one of the key components because:

  • You burn more calories at one time.
  • Getting your heart rate into your target heart rate zone means your blood is pumping, you’re breathing hard, and you’re sweating and burning calories.
  • You can easily add intensity to increase your calorie burn. With cardio, it’s easy to increase your calorie burn with small changes, for instance running or walking faster, jumping higher, climbing hills or trying new activities that your body isn’t used to.
  • It adds to your overall calorie deficit. Burning calories with exercise means you don’t have to cut as many calories from your diet.
  • You can do cardio most days of the week. With strength training, your muscles require rest to recover and grow stronger. Cardio can be done most days of the week without worrying about injury or over-training.

The Best Cardio Exercises

While you know that cardio is important for weight loss, which exercises are best and how much do you really need for weight loss?

The truth is, there really isn’t any best cardio exercise. The best activity is the one you’ll do on a regular basis. So, finding something you like is critical to reaching your weight loss goals. That said, some exercises offer more intensity than others.

  • Impact activities: Exercises that involve some impact, like walking, will usually boost your heart rate quicker than no-impact activities like swimming or cycling.
  • High impact activities: High impact, or exercises that involve running or jumping, will often burn more calories than lower impact things like walking.
  • Whole body activities: When you involve both the upper and lower body, such as an aerobic activity which is also is known as cross training, it’s often easier to get the heart rate up and burn more calories.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother with low impact exercise. Both types of activities offer opportunities to burn calories and doing both gives you a well-rounded cardiovascular endurance development.

To get an idea of just how much cardio can do for you, check out the following list of common exercises. Below is the number of calories burned for a 150-pound person in 30 minutes:

  1. Step aerobics: 340 calories
  2. Stationary bike: 238 calories
  3. Swimming: 270 calories
  4. Walking 4 mph: 170 calories
  5. Running 5 mph: 270 calories
  6. kickboxing: 400 calories

Everything from walking to kickboxing can burn a significant number of calories!

How Much Do You Need?

It’s tough to know exactly how much cardio we need for weight loss. The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend about 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activity on most days of the week. But, the truth is how much cardio you need varies from person to person and depends on factors such as:

  • How many calories you eat
  • How hard you exercise
  • Metabolism, age and gender
  • Fitness levels
  • Body fat percentage and weight
  • Exercise schedule

That said, here are some tips for setting up an effective cardio program:

  1. If you’re a beginner, start with 3 days of the cardio exercise of your choice, working at a level you can handle.
  2. Add time each week to work your way up to 30 to 45 minutes of continuous exercise.
  3. As you get stronger, try interval training once a week to help boost endurance and burn more calories.
  4. Work your way up to 5 to 6 days of cardio and try to vary what you do and how hard you work.

It will help you lose weight but it is most effective when combined with strength training and a healthy, low-calorie diet and adequate rest.

How Much Do You Need To Build Muscle?

You may think you shouldn’t do cardio exercise if you’re trying to gain muscle. But, cardio isn’t just for weight loss. It also helps condition the heart and lungs and promotes health and well-being. If your goal is to gain muscle, you won’t need tons of cardio. But, doing at least three 20-minute sessions a week won’t hurt your goals and will help you reap the benefits of cardio without burning too many calories. These are some simple necessities for cardio in weight loss. After reading this, I am sure all your misconceptions about weight training and weight loss are cleared!

If you want to begin working out or want to take your workouts to the next level, book a GOQii PRO class through the GOQii App and join our certified experts for a live, interactive session.

For more on weight loss, click here. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

#BeTheForce 

March 16, 2023 By Alfana Khatri 4 Comments

Unable to Lose Weight? 7 Secrets for Sustainable Weight Loss

lose weightDuring your weight loss journey, have you contemplated the impossibility of you reaching your weight loss goal? How many times were you close to giving up? Despite all your struggles with following proper exercise routines and eating the right food, you don’t seem to lose weight. If you resonate with this, it is fairly common. Such situations or instances are faced by people who are trying to lose weight. And yes, we understand how frustrating that can be. The real question here is – is there anything more beyond diet and exercise?

7 Acceptable and Easier Secrets to Lose Weight

1. Focusing on a Single Number
How frequently do you check your weight and get disheartened? The thing is that weight loss isn’t just about losing weight in kg but also about losing fat mass and gaining muscle mass. Your body type, ethnic group and muscle mass can change the meaning of the number that you see on the scale. How much fat loss and how much bone density has improved are the numbers you should be looking at. A Body Composition Analysis (BCA) once a month would be a better indicator than a weighing scale alone. Also, measuring waist and hip circumference in inches gives insight on your inch loss. Measure it once in 15 days along with weight.

 2. Setting Unrealistic Goals
Always set tangible and measurable goals. Aim for slow and steady weight loss i.e. 1.5 – 2 kg/month as it’s easy to achieve and maintain. Setting short term quick fixes will not help you with sustainable weight loss and the chances to regain the shed kilos increases. A goal without a plan is just a wish. Accompany your health goals with good planning, take some expert advice for goal setting and guidelines which will also help you track them daily.

 3. Sitting Time
If you haven’t been able to lose weight despite working out for an hour a day, 7 times a week, then there’s a good explanation for it. Researchers conclude that sitting continuously for hours is as dangerous as smoking! When you stay seated, your body metabolism slows, you burn less calories, your muscles and joints stiffen up, and your back may hurt. Rather, get up every 30 minutes and stretch or take a short walk, as every bit counts. You can also try this workout routine you can do anywhere.

 4. Sleep Well
Adults usually need 7-9 hours of sleep. Our bodies use that time to detoxify, fix tissues, make hormones, and grow muscles. Our brains use it to process the information and learning of the day into memories. Not enough sleep can make you hungrier and make junk food more appealing. Quantity of sleep is as important as quality of sleep. It’s important to train your body’s circadian rhythm to sleep early and wake up early. Your body responds well if you sleep during the magical hours of 10pm to 6am.

 5. Manage Stress
How many times have you been stressed out over not reaching your target weight? Stress can make the weight loss journey nearly impossible. Stress eating is a type of emotional eating, where the body usually craves high fat, high sugar foods. Stress produces cortisol, a hormone which promotes body fat and makes it harder to lose weight, especially belly fat. It also causes disturbance in sleep. Less sleep, chronic fatigue leads to the rise of the hormone – Ghrelin, which is the primary hunger hormone, which makes you feel hungry even when you don’t need to eat. Constant stress, however, can wreak havoc on your emotional and physical health by causing anxiety, depression and sleep deprivation.

 6. Water Intake
Many of us cannot draw a distinction between thirst and hunger. The first thing that comes to mind is always ‘food’, even if it is just thirst. In most cases, a glass of water might do the trick instead of eating a snack. To set a baseline, drink one glass of water before you eat anything. Drink adequate water before, during and post-workout.

7. Nutrient Deficiencies
Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin D3 are the major vitamins involved in the fat loss process. Vitamin B12 converts fats and proteins into energy and aids in the breakdown of carbohydrates too. The sunshine Vitamin D3 decreases body fat and limits weight gain by altering the storage and formation of fat cells and it also increases the levels of serotonin (happy hormone) and testosterone (affects bone and muscle mass) in the body. Unfortunately, nearly 50% of people worldwide suffer from low Vitamin D levels.

If you’re still looking for a “magic pill” to aid weight loss, it is the combination of the above points. They can help you succeed in your weight loss journey as well as sustain it. There is no shortcut to it, only consistency. We hope this article helps you out. For more tips on weight loss, click here or reach out to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

March 13, 2023 By Mohammed Tufail Qureshi Leave a Comment

Is Weightlifting For Men Only? Here’s Why We Think Otherwise

weightlifting for womenIf a woman lifts weights, does she bulk up like a man would? Will it change her appearance to a more muscular one like those guys at gyms who rip through every piece of heavy equipment they can get their hands on? Very few women desire that bulky or ripped look but those who don’t, tend to avoid using weights at all.

In truth, weightlifting is for everybody. Let’s look at it from a functional perspective. Women require the same muscles as men to open a door or lift something up from the floor. The muscles that are engaged are the same. It begs one to ask the question:

Should Weightlifting Be For Men Only?

Be it lifting a cylinder at home or a box and placing it on a shelf, carrying shopping bags, moving a chair or sofa, one requires muscles and the strength to carry out these tasks. While most women prefer cardio, they also need to focus on strength training and weightlifting to be able to carry out these tasks just as effectively as men.

Does Weightlifting Really Bulk Women Up?

It’s a myth. There are many reasons why a woman won’t gain the kind of bulk a man would. One of them being the male hormone called testosterone. It is the primary sex hormone in males as well as a muscle-building hormone. Men are genetically designed to have more muscle mass and physical strength than women.

At best, strength training will make a woman gain some lean mass and reduce extra body fat. Many women fear that they will look manly if they train with weights but the truth is that women cannot build muscles like men because they do not have enough of the male hormone Testosterone. The difference of the levels of this hormone is the primary reason why women will not gain heavy musle mass while training with weights. In fact, they will look leaner and toned.  

It stands true for men and women that any amount of muscle gain leads to fat loss and any loss of muscle causes one to gain fat.

How Does Weightlifting Benefit Women?

Apart from the aesthetics, having more strength makes one feel independent and confident. It also provides a lot of other benefits. Weightlifting:

  • Tones the body
  • Reduces extra body fat
  • Improves posture
  • Strengthens bones and joints
  • Improves skin quality
  • Enhances sleep quality
  • Improves strength and endurance
  • Reduces stress
  • Boosts energy levels
  • Improves heart health
  • Fights aging and helps you look younger

Who’d want to forego these awesome benefits! We hope this article eases your doubts and helps you make the decision to try weight training today! For any help you may need to begin your weight training journey, speak to an expert by subscribing for GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here. 

For more articles on fitness, click here. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

#BeTheForce!  

March 2, 2023 By Megha Mahajan 2 Comments

Can’t Lose Weight? Try Intermittent Fasting!

intermittent fastingIt’s true that you can summit any mountain given you have the fortitude, mental strength and willpower. But more often than not, we come across weight loss struggles that no treadmill or fad diet in the world can solve. While you hack and plough your way through every routine your trainer throws at you with little or no results, your ideal weight seems that much farther from you. If you can’t lose weight, the answer doesn’t lie in pushing yourself to extremes. The answer, in fact, is quite simple. Two words: Intermittent Fasting!

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting simply means fasting for 15-16 hours post your dinner before breaking the fast with breakfast. If you are currently fasting for 12 hours post-dinner, then gradually increase it to 13 hours the first week and then 14 for the following to reach up to 16 hours of fasting time.

If you feel hungry, wait it out. Drink a large glass of water and distract yourself with something non-food related. You can make this more effective for weight loss by keeping a gap of a minimum of 4 hours between each meal, ensuring you start each meal with protein-rich foods. So ideally, you can have a breakfast of nuts, fruits and cereals at 10am, followed by lunch at 2pm which includes beans/pulses with rice/roti and a fresh vegetable salad. You can opt for egg, meat or fish too. Dinner can be had around 6pm with a vegetable or chicken soup with bread sticks. 

How Does It Help You Lose Weight? 

When you follow Intermittent Fasting with a 4-4-16 hour gap, you give insulin time to leave your body. Without energy from food, the body turns to your fat cells and the free fatty acids stored inside them for energy resource.

How to Break the Fast?

Eating protein as the first part of your meal, followed by complex carbohydrates, and finally any simple carbs allows proper utilisation of insulin. Eating in this order will help you get back into your Fat-Burning Zone much more quickly enabling you to lose weight effectively. This means you can begin your breakfast with some soaked nuts to grab on to proteins. You can opt for dairy or eggs depending on your food preferences too. Then include complex carbohydrates with fresh fiber rich fruits or vegetables followed by breakfast cereals that tend to be loaded with simple carbohydrates. 

For optimal benefit, combine Intermittent Fasting with good quality sleep, proper stress management and moderate exercise routine. 

Have you tried Intermittent Fasting before? A word of caution, please consult your doctor, nutritionist or dietician before attempting it. If you found this article helpful, let us know in the comments below!

Need more help on your weight loss journey? Check out Healthy Reads or sign up for GOQii Transform – a personalised weight management program. You can read more about it here: https://store.goqii.com/transform-weight-program

#BeTheForce 

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