5 Ways Your Health Can Affect Your Money

#1: How Sleep Affects Your Finances

Remember those all-nighters you used to pull in college before midterms?

Science has an explanation for the wooziness you felt right before you crashed: Going without sleep for 24 or more hours makes a person perform as if they had a blood-alcohol level of 1%—.02% more than the legal limit for drunk driving.

Most likely, all-nighters aren’t your M.O. anymore, but if you’re consistently getting just four or five hours of sleep a night, your decision-making skills may not be as sharp as they could be. And that can have implications for your money.

“Lack of sleep can cause us to make many poor decisions, all leading to negative financial consequences,” says Bob Gavlak, a CFP® with Strategic Wealth Partners in Seven Hills, Ohio. “It could be as simple as buying a magazine that you don’t need at the grocery, or as big as drastically overpaying for a new car.”

: How Diet Affects Your Finances

Eating too many restaurant meals is a hallmark of poor nutrition—those who indulge too often have higher levels of obesity, body fat and unhealthy BMIs.

Plus, as anyone carefully tracking his expenses can attest to, dining out can also wreak havoc on your wallet. According to the USDA, a family of four eating moderately at home will spend about $245 per week on food—that’s half of what they’d shell out eating at restaurants.

And there’s more: It seems that eating high-fat restaurant meals may also affect cognitive abilities. In an Oxford University lab study, researchers found that rats eating a high-fat diet for several days showed signs of short-term memory loss and lower levels of brain function than those receiving a low-fat diet over the same period.

“There are a lot of parallels between good eating habits and good financial habits,” says Jeff Reeves, author of “The Frugal Investor’s Guide to Finding Great Stocks.” “If you don’t have the discipline to say no to junk food or count calories, you probably make a lot of impulse buys and have trouble balancing your checkbook. Self-control is the key to good financial health, as well as a healthy diet.”

How to Get Healthier “A good tip for your nutrition and finances is to plan your meals in advance,” Gavlak says. “Even if you plan to go out for a few meals during the week, it still helps prevent gut decisions to stop at a restaurant instead of eating a good, home-cooked meal.”

And feel free to take a few short-cuts if it means you’ll be motivated to maintain your healthy diet.

“Don’t feel guilty about spending a little extra money for prewashed spinach or precut carrots,” says Marguerita Cheng, a CFP® and C.E.O. of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Rockville, Md. “If it means you eat at home and you eat better, it’s worth it.”

Bonus tip: Instead of filling up on empty calories, add more energy-boosting foods to your diet, like almonds and blueberries, so you’ll have a clear mind to tackle your financial to-dos.

#3: How Exercise Affects Your Finances

We won’t sugarcoat it. Exercising regularly is no easy feat. But skip this good-for-you habit, and you’re likely to sacrifice more than just a smaller pant size.

For starters, regular exercise results in more energy for your brain, boosting your cognitive ability and sharpening your memory. So one consequence of staying sedentary could be that you’re operating at a significant disadvantage at work, compared to your more active coworkers.

You could also be missing out on a positive attitude that could help you tackle your finances head-on. “Exercise can improve confidence, which can help people make more informed decisions and take the meaningful actions necessary to reach their goals,” Cheng says.

In fact, Cheng says she often comes up with many of her most creative ideas after attending a cardio kickboxing or Zumba fitness class.

How to Get Healthier To fully gain the health benefits from exercise, try to clock about two and a half hours of exercise each week. If you need to ease into it, make it fun by incorporating more physical activity into your daily schedule—like, say, biking to work instead of driving, or watching your favorite TV show while on the elliptical.

The upshot? You’ll start to notice the benefits of sticking to healthy habits.

“In turn, you can take that experience and apply it to your financial goals,” Gavlak says. “If you want to pay off debt, increase your savings, or be ready to retire early, you’ll need discipline to stick to a long-term plan, much like regular exercise.”

This year has been a strange one for me. I would say I have been "busy" but I don't know if I have been any busier than I was last year, or the year before that. There is always something on the To Do list; there is always something to fill the time. (See this post from 2013 where I was having similar "issues").

However, for some reason, this year, I have felt more of a change in my mindset, or my motivation. Or maybe I have just shifted my priorities. I am not really sure what the catalyst was or where the mood started to shift, but this year, I feel like I have been slacking in a few of my normal, pleasurable departments.

I used to talk a lot about running on this space. In 2012, I think I ran almost 40 races, including 12 half marathons and 2 marathons and my first ultra. In 2013, I traveled to Boston, Washington DC and BC for races and I ran my first 50 miler. In 2014, I ran 10 races over 50k. This year, I started off great. I wanted to run my first 100 mile race. I was training in January and I felt strong. I was running up hills with gusto. Then I fell one day and sprained my ankle pretty badly and my training went downhill and my fitness started to decline. Of course, I still had races on the calendar, because a lot of the races you have to sign up for really early.

The first race was Jed Smith, which is a loop course. I ran it about 45 minutes slower than I had the year before. My ego took a dive. The next one was the Gorges 100k in Portland in March. I had not trained enough as my ankle was just beginning to feel better, and this one was not as fast as I would have liked either. Next up was Lake Sonoma 50M, where I did not do as well as I wanted but I actually did better than I thought I would. The weekend after that I had a road race, which hurt me more than all of the other races combined (I was sore for days!).

I had a few week gap, where I ran intermittently, and then came the big one, Quicksilver 100k, where I did much better than I thought I would and was actually very happy with my time. The "training" by way of racing actually worked this time. But I had signed up for another race the next weekend and this one was my nemesis. It's called the Silverstate 50M and it's near Reno and it's got a couple of huge climbs and it's at about 7000 - 8000 ft. Last year I ran it while injured and it was horrible. I got the worst time I have ever gotten and the last climb was torture. This year I actually felt pretty good for the first 40 miles, but then for the last 10 I felt nauseated and tired. I crossed the finish line and had to go and sit by myself in the porta-potty just in case I was going to lose my lunch.

In the weeks after that, I had no energy. BUT, what I haven't said is this. There is another component to the story. In February, I started house shopping. Every week I scoured the internet. Every weekend I went to open houses. Every couple of weeks, I put in offers that got turned down. Finally, in April, my offer got accepted and thus started the downhill slide into home ownership. My escrow was 21 days and it closed on May 19th, three days after Silverstate. So I was physically and mentally tired.

The trifecta of this story is that work also ramped up at this point in a major way. My duties and responsibilities were doubling and tripling. I am not complaining, but I am just saying that when I got home after work, the last thing I wanted to do was run. I wanted to sleep. I did not sleep. I pulled weeds and moved furniture. I made many trips to Home Depot and Target. I paid bills and sorted files and went through all my old clothes. But I barely ran.

Fast forward to now. Today my average miles per week are about 30, if I am lucky. I am snacking more than I would like. My pants are starting to get a bit snug. The only thing saving me is my daily commute to work. But who am I kidding; the commute is not saving me, it's only prolonging the inevitable. So I need to buck up and get back on the horse and stop making excuses.

But I don't want to. I would rather bake a cake (and eat half of it in one sitting while watching Top Chef and making excuses).

How do you get out of a slump? 

Hiking Mt. Shasta is something I never thought I would do twice. To quote myself the last time I did it: "Sometimes I wonder why people, myself included, subject themselves to such pain and misery". 

It started off pretty ominously. 

The problem with this is that we are hiking up a hill with a 40+ lb pack on our backs...above the tree line. This means there is no shade, so a high of 99 is BRUTAL. To top that off, part of the hike is through snow and the last time we did this, the reflection of the sun off the snow gave me a wicked sunburn on my lips and under my chin. And the last time we hiked it, it even snowed a little! So this was going to be hard. 

6,915 ft* / 0 miles / Bunny Flat: The hike starts just above Shasta City at the Bunny Flat trailhead. After grabbing our poo bags, we started up the trail. Oh, you want to know what I mean by "poo bags"? Let's just say that you have to carry EVERYTHING out; nothing can be left behind. Need I say more? My mom joined us for the first two miles, which ends at Horse Camp. 

Ready to go

7,898 ft / 2 miles / Horse Camp:  Horse camp is the first place you can camp, if you like, and is the last place to get running water. At Horse Camp there is a natural spring where the water comes right from the ground and you can fill up to your heart's content. It is delicious. After this, all water will be from melted snow. Horse Camp is also the last place with a real toilet. After this, business will NOT be as usual. At Horse Camp, we filled up with water, used the facilities, ate a Snickers bar (man, I have not had one of those in a long time!) and said goodbye to Mom. 

Below Standstill Hill

10,430 ft / 4 miles / Helen Lake: From there, it is a semi-flat slog for about .75 miles on a rock path called the Olberman Causeway, which is named after one of the caretakers, who made a 950 yard long rock path from Horse Camp to the bottom of the steep hill. Once we crossed the causeway, the hill went up and was mostly scree, which is a bunch of loose rocks, and is really hard to hike/climb because it's very slippery. After the scree hill came a snowy one, aptly named Standstill Hill, as you are starting to feel the elevation, plus you can only take one tiny step at a time so that you don't fall. 

Helen Lake: Trying to stay out of the sun.

At the top of Standstill hill is Helen Lake, which is where we camped the first night. It's good to camp at a higher elevation in order to get acclimated for the next day. However, we arrived pretty early, as we had started pretty early in the morning in order to avoid the sun. We got our camp set up and then pretty much ate and stayed in the tent reading and talking in order to stay out of the sun. Unfortunately, it is summer and the sun stays out late! It finally went over the mountain around 7, so we had dinner and then went to bed. 

The next morning we got up at 2, ate breakfast and started up the hill. It's best to start early for a few reasons. First, you want the snow to be icy. This facilitates crampon use as well as helping you to get down the mountain later, which you do by sliding on your butt. If it is too slushy, you will not slide very well and you will get really wet to boot. Also, it's hot during the day; you want to minimize the time you spend in the sun as much as you can.

12,555 ft / 5.5 miles / Red Banks: The first mile and a half was done in the dark and was hard. It took us about an three hours, including breaks, and we gained about 2,000 ft in elevation. We were wearing winter clothes and I was sweating inside my coat but it was too cold to take it off. The going was slow. The hill was straight up. It was icy and walking with crampons up a 45 degree angle (est) is hard. In this period, we passed the Heart and got to the bottom of the Red Banks. 

13,773 ft / 6.25 miles / Misery Hill: An hour and 45 minutes later, we reached the top of Misery hill. To get there, we had to go through a chute in the Red Banks. Usually you can walk around the Red Banks, which means more mileage, but it's less steep. However, it does include a hill termed Heart Attack Hill, which we avoided by going straight up the chute. However, the chute was a heart attack and a stroke, so we didn't really get off easy. The chute made Misery Hill, which is usually deadly, seem pretty tame. We took a break between the chute and Misery Hill and at this point the altitude was definitely affecting us. Also, the sun was out and it was strong. I was pretty ready to be done, but knowing that I only had about 1,000 ft left (from the bottom of Misery) kept me going. I was not about to quit now! 

Bottom of Misery Hill: Starting to feel it.

14,129 ft / 7 miles / The Summit: Like a marathon, the last little bit was the hardest. There were rocks, which are no good with crampons on, and I had a headache that wouldn't quit. Also, altitude makes you feel like such a weakling! My whole body was unresponsive and my brain was dysfunctional. I wasn't hungry, which really made me realize that the altitude was affecting me, because we had just hiked for five hours and I should be famished. I was pretty happy to make it to the summit. Once we got there, We we didn't hang out long; we took the obligatory photos and got the heck out of there. At this point, it was about 8 a.m.

It's amazing; as soon as you start to head downhill, you start to feel better. It's like immediate relief. We headed down a few feet, ate a snack and then hiked back down Misery Hill and through the Red Rock chute (which was NOT any easier going down). This is where the fun began. We took off our crampons and got our ice axe at the ready and glissaded down the snow on our butts. The same part that took us about an hour and a half to climb up took us about 15 minutes to slide down. 

We finished our slide at Helen Lake, where we broke camp and boiled a little more snow for water before heading back down to Horse Camp. We didn't really have enough water, which was really stupid on our part. We had boiled a bunch the night before, but we ended up drinking more than expected during the night and so we didn't have enough left in camp for the last leg down. So we made pretty good time down to Horse Camp because we were jonesing for that natural spring water! 

We got back to Bunny Flat at 2 p.m. I was hot and tired and thirsty! We went back to the hotel and took a shower and tried really hard not to fall asleep before dinner (it didn't work). We finally went to dinner where I drank a bunch of beverages and ate like a horse before going back home and going to bed around 7 p.m. 

Verdict? Things we did well: We brought the perfect amount of food. At first I was worried it wasn't enough, but the second day with the high altitude really doesn't warrant a lot of food. We ended up having some left over but not a whole lot. Starting early is a great idea, although it does leave a lot of time in camp the first day. Things I would do differently: Boil more water! Bring a tarp or something to make shade during the day. As much as I like to make fun of them, those ski pole walking sticks would probably be pretty handy. 

We actually saw a few people who did it all in one day. They started at Bunny Flat around 10 pm and hiked up to the summit and back in one day and got back around the same time (or earlier) than we did. I think this may be better due to the fact that you are not carrying your tent etc with you, so your load is much lighter. However, knowing how tired I was on Sunday after four miles less (and 4,000 ft gain less) than them, I am not sure I would be able to do it in one go.

*All elevations shown are from my / Broski's Garmin recordings. 

Have you ever done a multi-day hiking trip? Have you ever been so tired you went to bed at 7 p.m.? What's the earliest you've gotten up in the morning for an event?

 

 How Much Fats Do You Need For Better Health and Fat Loss?

• Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil per meal in your vegetables or to your meat when you cook it.



• Do not add oil to a meal if you are eating a fatty fish like salmon which is rich in good fats.



• If you do not like olive oil or oily fish, eat your grilled meats and your natural vegetables but do not forget to add another source of good fats. What you can do in this case is to consume 15-20 grams of almonds or walnuts twice a day with any meal.

I recommend that you try as hard as possible to get your good fats from these natural sources. If you have issues consuming your good fats from food, I recommend an Essential Fatty Acids supplement like Labrada's EFA Lean which contains a variety of good fats. I suggest a dose of 3 capsules in 2 of your fat free meals.

Now that we have covered the myth that in order to lose fat you need to stop eating fats, let's talk about the sort of food that you can eat in order to promote fat loss.



Foods That Promote Fat Loss

When we start a diet, the first thing to do is to make the right food choices. I will eliminate all of the confusion on what to eat by detailing exactly what foods help to promote fat loss:

1. Choose the right carbohydrates like whole grain pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes, peas, corn (and yes, these are vegetables but in the category of starchy carbohydrates). Forget processed carbohydrates that come from candy, cakes, processed breads, cereals and breading as these will get you fat.



2. Choosing the right proteins like chicken (knowing that the chicken breast is much less fatty than other parts such as the thigh or the wings), white fish and salmon (yes, salmon is a fatty fish but the fats are GOOD fats loaded with Omega 3s), 90% lean steaks, egg whites (with 1-2 egg yolks as these also contain good fats), and turkey. Avoid pork (because it is high in saturated fats) and reconstituted meats such as chicken nuggets, Cordon Bleu, deli meats and fast foods that contain lots of fat.



3. Don't forget to eat your vegetables. The best vegetables you can eat are: green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach, asparagus, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, garlic, and onions. You can have a desert, but it has to be a healthy one.



4. Concentrate on low calorie desserts like Sugar Free Jello and you can also have a piece of fruit with it. Samples of good fruits are: apple, kiwi, peach, strawberry, pear, pineapple, watermelon. All these fruits are good for health but like all fruits, they contain fructose. Thus, for the best fat loss, do not eat more than 2 of these fruits per day when on a fat loss diet. Note: Take a look at Hugo's article on Why Fruits Need to be Limited During a Fat Loss Diet?



5. For good fats, concentrate on getting them from the following sources: extra virgin olive oil, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts. Eliminate butter, cheese and other sauces that come already prepared as they usually contain added sugars and the wrong kind of fats!

Putting It All Together and Creating Your Balanced Diet

With all these food choices, it is now easy to compose a balanced meal without bad fats. What is a balanced bodybuilding diet you may ask? One that consists of 5-6 small meals a day consisting of 40% carbs, 40% proteins and 20% fats as laid out in Hugo's Characteristics of a Good Nutrition Program.

A normal man needs 2000 to 2500 calories a day. Thus, at 40% Carbs/40% Proteins/20% Fats he will need around 200-250 grams of carbs, 200-250 grams of protein and 45-55 grams of good fats per day divided over 5-6 meals. (Note: 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories, 1 gram of protein = 4 calories and 1 gram of fat = 9 calories).

A normal woman with average activity who is weight training and looking for fat loss needs 1200 to 1500 calories per day. That comes out to 120-150 grams of carbs, 120-150 grams of protein and 26-33 grams of good fats per day divided over 5-6 meals.

Conclusion

There you have it! Now you have a very good base to design your diet and get started on your way to fat loss. The power is within you!

About the Author

Cecile Bayeul was born in France in 1982 in a firefighter family. She wanted to become a firefighter and passed the tough professional firefighter tests which included various physically demanding feats. However, she decided to keep a more peaceful job (as her family wanted her to) so she became a nurse.

As a registered nurse she ended up studying various diet protocols for patients with special nutritional requirements due to their sicknesses.

In order to relieve stress from her job and to heal from an anorexia caused by a difficult divorce she picked up natural bodybuilding. Through bodybuilding she learned to regain her confidence and to be happy with her body.

Her passion for fitness led her to start conducting personal training not only for women but for men as well. She teaches that by embarking into a fitness program you can achieve any body that you want; something that builds up faith in oneself and develops the valuable skill of goal setting; things that at the end of the day improve every single aspect of your life!

When people think of bodybuilding, the first thing that comes to mind is big arms. How many bodybuilders, me included, just started by doing some biceps curls? After all, one of the most common requests bodybuilders get is to flex their arms. And while a great physique is much more than big arms, nobody can argue that all great physiques have equally great arms!

Since I have gotten a lot of requests lately to publish a new arm routine to get the arms ready for summer, I decided to publish one of the latest bodybuilding routines that I have been using to train my arms.

In order to use this routine you will need to incorporate it into a split routine that works both biceps and triceps on the same day. This routine is for intermediate to advanced trainees. If you are an absolute beginner, please refer to the bodybuilding routine presented on my getting started in bodybuilding guide.

Gain Up To An Inch In Your Arms With This Bodybuilding Arms Workout

Without much further ado, here is your bodybuilding workout for great arms over the summer. You will be using trisets and supersets. A triset is composed of three exercises that get performed one after the other with no rest in between. Only after you perform the last exercise on the triset you can rest for the recommended amount of time and start over.

A superset is the same as a triset, except that it is composed of only two exercises.

For more advanced techniques like these ones, please take a look at my article on Advanced Bodybuilding Training Techniques To Break Plateaus.

As you will see, I am offering you three workouts below. I want you to rotate these workouts. So one day you will do Workout (A), another day Workout (B) and another day Workout (C).

Workout (A)

Triset:
Triceps Pushdowns 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps
Concentration Curls 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Overhead Triceps Extensions 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps
(Rest 1 minute between trisets)

Triset:
Incline Dumbbell Curls 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps
Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
Hammer Curls 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
(Rest 1 minute between trisets)

Superset:
Wrist Curls 2 sets of 25-50 reps
Reverse Wrist Curls 2 sets of 25-50 reps
(Rest 30 seconds between superset)

Workout (B)

Triset:
Triceps Kickbacks 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps
Barbell Curls 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Triceps Pushdowns with Straight Bar 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps
(Rest 1 minute between trisets)

Triset:
Concentration Curls 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps
Triceps Dips on Bench 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps reps
Reverse Barbell Curls 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
(Rest 1 minute between trisets)

Superset:
Reverse Wrist Curls 2 sets of 25-50 reps
One Arm Dumbbell Wrist Curls 2 sets of 25-50 reps
(Rest 30 seconds between superset)

Workout (C)

Superset:
Preacher Curls 10 sets of 10 reps
Parallel Bar Dips 10 sets of 10 reps
(Rest 1 minute between supersets)

Triset:
Cable Curls 3 sets of 15-20 reps
Rope Triceps Pushdowns 3 sets of 15-20 reps reps
Barbell Wrist Curls 3 sets of 25-50 reps
(Rest 1 minute between trisets)

Bonus Abdominals' Routine

As a bonus, here is a nice abs routine that you can do before the arms workout:

Triset:
Leg Raises 3 sets to failure
Bicycle Crunches 3 sets to failure
Crunches 3 sets to failure


This abdominals' routine took me less than 15 minutes to perform and it proved to be not only a great abdominal workout but also an awesome way to warm-up the body and get it ready for some arm work.

Conclusion

Try out the arms routine above and let me know how it worked out for you. You'll probably have as much fun as I did and will get a great pump as well. The whole thing, counting abs, should take you around 50 minutes, give or take 10.

I used to be the person who loaded 99c packets of white pasta into my trolley, together with the 99c loaves of white bread, and went home feeling pleased that I had stuck to my $100 grocery budget.

It never occurred to me that saving money, by living on cheap food, might be a false economy. Not until I started researching the stuff that gets put into our food.

Nowadays, our grocery bill is roughly twice the amount it used to be. I realise that’s quite a large chunk if money is tight.

But is the food we eat really an “expense”…Or is it an investment?

My experience has taught me that it’s the latter, and here’s why:

1. Good health will save you money in the long run.

Of course there’s all the usual things like, less down-time through sickness or ill-health, less money spent on medications, less money spent on doctors and specialists, and increased productivity due to more energy and motivation.

But there’s other benefits, too, like healthier skin and hair.

It pains me to admit that over the last decade I have probably spent thousands of dollars on skin and hair-care products, with the thought that THIS one might make my hair glossy, or my skin glow….

They never did. Because the truth is, that mediocre skin and hair are less about the product you use, and more about what you put in your mouth.

I no longer waste my money on pretty products, endorsed by the latest TV star. I use only a couple of good quality products, like pure coconut oil as a moisteriser, or raw organic honey as a face-mask. If I can’t eat it, I don’t put it on my skin.

But the best benefit of all is mental health.

Take care of yourself, and you’ll think clearer, and more positively, and more creatively than you ever have before.

You simply cannot put a price on this…which brings me to my next point.

2. Good health is priceless.

Midway through 2010, after researching food additives and cosmetic ingredients, I set about to change not only our diet, but our whole lifestyle. We cut out sugar, yeast, white flour, tap water, almost all packaged foods, and any personal care product that wasn’t completely natural.

We switched to organic sourdough breads, organic dairy products, wholemeal grains, and LOTS of fruit, vegetables and nuts.

In the beginning we felt worse….

But then we began to feel better – much better. In fact, so much better, it just wasn’t worth going back.

Some of the health benefits we’ve experienced from eating better are:

- Our youngest son’s eczema disappeared, leading to a much happier little boy who started to sleep through the night for the first time ever. (He was 14mths old at this time.)

- Our older son’s reading and concentration at school dramatically improved, and his hyperactive behaviour improved to the point, that I can now tell if he’s eaten food with additives in it, without anyone telling me. The change in behaviour is that obvious!

- My energy levels improved beyond recognition. No more “nanna naps” or mid-afternoon slumps.

- My husband’s regular bouts of hives vanished, and so did the hay-fever that made him miserable every Spring.

- Colds, flus and upset tummies are now a rarity in our house. Yes, even with children attending school and childcare.

The improved quality of life and the feeling of well-being is something that all the money in the world cannot buy.

Think about it. There is nothing more de-motivating and disheartening, than constant illness, fatigue or allergies.

An investment in your health is really an investment in you reaching your potential, and living the full and rewarding life that we all wish for ourselves and our children.

And that, by my definition, is true wealth.

Quick and Easy Ways to Start Get started on a healthier lifestyle with these ideas! No time for breakfast? Grab an apple, an orange or any other fruit as you head out the door. Pack baby carrots, nuts, or dried fruit for a snack. Take whole wheat crackers, lean meats and low-fat milk along with you. Try taking leftovers and eating on the way. Munch on veggies, pretzels, or popcorn.
At a fast food restaurant? Try a grilled chicken sandwich and a side salad. Split an order of fries. Leave off the mayonnaise, sauce and spreads when ordering a sandwich. Share a rich dessert with a friend.
Want to cut fat in meals? Use a cooking spray instead of oil to sauté foods. Trim visible fat from meat and remove skin from poultry, too. Instead of cheese and heavy salad dressings, add fiber-rich beans and peas to your salad meals. Canned chick peas or other beans are a delicious addition to a salad.
Need to get moving? Work off a big lunch by taking a bike ride or a walk with your kids after work. Instead of socializing with friends by watching videos or dining, plan to go walking, biking or dancing. Aim for the farthest parking spot, not the closest, so you can get in extra walking. Walk the sidelines or stroll around the field instead of lounging in the stands while the kids play soccer or softball. Run up and down the stairs with each load of laundry, get up and change the channel, and walk to your co-worker’s office instead of calling. Join a step aerobics, kick-boxing or body toning class. Check your local park district, recreation center, or health club to find the best option for your budget and skill level.

Weight-loss tips for men: How do I know what size is right?

A few days ago, I struggled out of a deep sleep and began preparing for my morning stumble to the local coffee cart (it's a habit, I confess). I pulled a pair of pants out of the drawer, and sleepily yanked them up, but lo and behold! The button was a little tight. Had they just come out of the drier? Probably not. This discovery kick-started me into a mini reconstruction of my food plans because I know the fit of my trousers is a good measure of changes in my body size, whereas the scales can be confusing.
Most men I talk to are not satisfied with the methods of body size determination available. BMI (Body Mass Index) can be confusing. So I want to give you two tips for measuring your body size which may be more realistic for your situation.
Reality is in your pants: We all have a few pieces of clothing which 'fit' in a particular way – you probably recognise the feeling of them better than anything else. I have a pair of crappy old ex-British Army pants (op shop – $4). I love them to bits and I know how they fit and it was these pants I yanked on and it was like a loudspeaker blasting in my ear. Take a moment and identify your version of my pants. Once a week, when they are clean and dry, first thing in the morning pull them on and relax… then ask yourself, "Do these pants feel normal?" Do the same with a jacket or shirt. Fabric doesn't lie.
Waist to height ratio is another way to size yourself up. Do these measurements once a week and keep track of the results. Compare the results each week to gage real measured changes to your body.

Waist to height ratio

To calculate your waist to height ratio, measure your waist (around your belly button) and your height, then divide the waist measurement by the height measurement.
The ratio for men and women is ideally less than 0.5  –  which means your waist should be no more than half your height. My waist, for example, is about 89cm and my height is 183cm, which makes my ratio 0.486.
If you're on a weight-loss or exercise programme, you'll see changes in your waist measurement and the ratio.

Strength training centers around the basic desire to get stronger, and stronger. If you aren't getting stronger, then alter your regimen with these tips.

1/Change Your Exercise Selection
If you're typically performing the bench press, you may want to try incline press as your main lift for a week or two. This change in exercises will alter the stress being placed on the body and can produce faster strength adaptations. As a result, when you move back down to the flat bench again, you'll feel stronger than you were before; and that double bodyweight bench max may not be so far out of reach.
Choose exercises that focus on the weak points of the lifts you want to improve. For example, if during max-effort squat attempts you find yourself losing the weight forward, switching to a Good Morning will help you finish that attempt. If you find yourself struggling with the lockout when you bench press, a few weeks on the board press, chains, or bands should clear up the problem promptly.
Utilize this principle by doing sumo squats rather than front or back squats, or try weighted pull-ups rather than lat pull-downs.
2/Accelerate
The strongest powerlifters in the world spend half of their training time working on accelerating light weights quickly. And whenever they're moving heavy weights, they're always trying to move them fast. They're trying to increase the rate of force production. You recruit more muscles when you move weight quickly.
Whether it's the bar or your max bench press, you need to move it with your maximum force. Lifting slowly is for hypertrophy, not strength. Power, which is the combination of speed and strength, is a neuromuscular skill. Focusing on acceleration (without compromising technique) teaches you to recruit more motor units and helps them learn to work at the same time. This component of strength is one of the reasons people with similar levels of muscle development can have radical differences in the amount of force they produce.
3/Check Your Breathing
Using correct breathing techniques, like exhaling or holding your breath on the contraction (concentric) portion of the movement can help your body generate maximum force capacity.
If it's been a while since you took note of your breathing habits, start paying attention. Most people are taught to inhale on the eccentric part of an exercise and to exhale during the concentric. While you should definitely breathe, this isn't the method that works best when you need to produce a large amount of force. In the everyday world, when you need to move something heavy, you take a big breath, push/pull while holding your breath, only exhaling after or during the completion of the movement.
This is referring to movements that are near maximal effort, and it is known as the Valsava maneuver (holding your breath against a closed glottis while increasing thoracic abdominal pressure). It allows us to lift more (safely), braces us, and prevents pilots from blacking out. A lifter will probably not be squatting 600 pounds while slowly breathing out.
4/Do A Warm-Up Set
A good warm-up set gets the muscle cell motor units firing. It also helps circulate blood so oxygen and nutrients get delivered to muscle cells. Practicing the movement pattern primes your CNS. The strongest lifters in the world usually start bench press with the bar. You should too. A warm-up set can also help delay fatigue so you're able to withstand heavier weight for longer.
It might be tempting to walk in the gym and throw 300 pounds on your back; but do your mind and body a favor and warm up a little.
5/Go In Well-Fueled
If you want to increase your strength, you need to make sure you eat properly before you hit the gym. If you aren't taking in any form of glucose prior to your weightlifting session, you won't have the energy levels to perform the way you want to because low blood sugar levels are the fastest way to zap strength.
Eat complex carbs and protein before a workout, not cupcakes. Too many simple carbs can cause a blood sugar spike and then a dip. You won't make any PRs with plummeting levels of blood glucose, that's for sure.
6/Take Two Days Off
Sometimes, the real reason you aren't lifting as heavy as you could is because you're teetering on the verge of overtraining. If you typically take a day off between full-body sessions or train consecutive days in a row, try taking two full days off. No cardio or no weightlifting, pure rest.
If you're in the gym multiple times each week without giving your body enough time to recover, your muscles aren't going to build, and your bench press isn't going to improve.
Even two days may not be enough. Many strength athletes can't handle maximum loads every week or they burn out quickly. If you find your lifts aren't going up consistently, you may need to rotate your intensity and include regular periods of de-loading, where you lift lighter weights for a week.
7/Try Nitric Oxide
A nitric oxide product could help enhance strength because it'll cause your blood vessels to dilate. Wider blood vessels mean greater oxygen delivery to your muscle cells and reduced fatigue.
N.O. products can also help increase your mental focus—a definite necessity if you're going heavy.
8/Turn Down The Volume
Heavy lifting is extremely taxing on the central nervous system, connective tissue, as well as your muscles. You only have so much recovery capacity, so doing many sets of heavy weights every session can drain your recovery systems dry.

Do less overall volume. For bodybuilding, a couple dozen sets for one muscle group can be almost normal, but there is no way you're going to maintain your strength through that duration.

Instead, do fewer exercises, putting the bulk of the volume into your primary movement.
Keep your reps low, even on warm up sets. Instead of 3 sets of 10, try 3-5 sets of 2-5 reps. You will be able to move heavier weight and maintain your strength.
9/Cut Out Isolation Exercises
If your goal is maximum strength gains, take out the isolation movements from your exercise regimen. Isolation exercises drain your recovery reserves, leaving you less able to give your best effort on compound movements.
If you're doing compound exercises, you're already hitting the muscles isolation exercises would work, so there's no need to add additional isolation movements to a pure strength program.

10/Stretch Between Sets
Stretching your muscles between sets can increase dynamic flexibility and improve joint mobility. Don't static stretch the primary mover, but dynamically stretch it. For example, if you're doing legs, do leg swings to stretch instead of standing toe-touches. If you have your heart set on some static stretches for rest, stretch the antagonist, or the opposite muscles than the ones that are doing the work. For example, if you're training your chest, stretch your lats and middle back. Some data shows that static stretching can temporarily weaken the muscle. If you're trying to move as much weight as possible, weakness is not your friend.