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Treadmill vs Elliptical Trainers: Which One For The Best Workout?

November 6th, 2008

Unfortunately home exercise equipment is never cheap, which means it is really important to invest in the right machine. For effective weight loss, you need to find out which piece of equipment is best at helping to burn up those excess calories.

The two best selling pieces of exercise equipment are treadmills and elliptical trainers, but which one is actually best at burning the most calories? There is certainly a lot of argument with many people liking both pieces of equipment. However when it comes down to which is best for you to buy, there really is only one definitive answer.

Both machines are able to help you burn the same out calories, depending on how you exercise with them. Working out on an elliptical can burn as many calories as running on a treadmill.

Many people find that running on a treadmill is too intense for their joints - it is true that a workout on a treadmill can have a very deep impact on your body. If you find that you cannot run on a treadmill, then a workout on an elliptical can be just as effective at burning calories, and will have a lesser impact on your joints and muscles.

Running on a treadmill, at approximately 7 mph, would burn 783 calories if you were 150 pounds, and you ran for an hour. Using an elliptical trainer, you would burn 774 calories. But if you only walk on a treadmill at 3 mph, you would only burned 297 calories. That’s a big difference!

It’s important to remember though that this is not a straight forward formula, the number of calories you can burn using an elliptical trainer vary greatly depending on how you approach your exercise routine. Some people go for a full force approach, which others decide to take a more moderate workout.

When considering which exercise machine to purchase, you simply have to decide which will give you the most pleasure. You will spend quite a lot of time working out so it is important to pick the machine which you will enjoy the most.

If for example you love to walk, jog or run, then a treadmill would be an obvious choice for you. Treadmills let you get all the benefits of walking, without having to leave your home, which means you can get your exercise even if the weather is bad outside. However, if you really want to lose weight and burn those calories then you will have to be sure to use your treadmill at a suitable speed and set the incline to give yourself a more intense workout.

If you’ve experienced pain in your knees or ankles, or simply want to enjoy a low impact routine, then you’ll want to choose an elliptical instead. As you age, an elliptical trainer is much more forgiving on your body. Of course some exercise enthusiasts invest in both machines - an elliptical and a treadmill. This lets you mix up your workouts and avoid burnout completely.

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How to Maintain Weight Loss, Week in Week

November 6th, 2008

Whenever you start a new diet, you are usually very upbeat, focused, positive and eager to get on track, lose weight, and get fit. But as the months go by and weight loss week after week becomes more challenging, it can be very difficult to stay motivated, continue exercising and make healthy eating choices. Here are some tried and true ways that you can use to stay on track with your weight loss.

Sort through old photos of yourself. Tape the one on the refrigerator that you absolutely hate; a picture taken when you were at your heaviest weight. Tape it on the refrigerator or the cupboard where you will see it every time you go looking for a snack. Every time you see the picture tell yourself that you will never look like that again and this will help motivate you to not have that extra snack.

Build in incentives for your weight loss progress and record the achievements you strive for as well as the dates on which you reach them. Make your objectives and rewards specific like ‘As soon as I lose 10 pounds I will buy the slinky black dress that’s on sale at the store’ or ‘When I drop a size in jeans I will splurge on the matching jacket on display with them’ or even ‘When I lose 20 pounds I am going to Hawaii for a week’.

Work towards your goals! Keep track of your progress and reward yourself well when you accomplish a goal that you have set for yourself. Setting goals and rewarding yourself is a powerful way to stay motivated to diet because you will start to see the positive results of all of your hard work.

Share your journey to a healthier, cuter looking body with others who may benefit from your weight loss week by week through creating a blog. You would be surprised at how effective this can be to keep your motivation high and for drawing the attention and support of many others in the same situation as you. They generally log in at least weekly and can be the source of encouraging comments and advice.

We live in world where the visual image is a powerful motivator, so find some photos or pictures of what you want to look like and will look like when you reach your target weight. Display them at home, in your office, even on your screen saver so that these positive images will begin to imprint at a deep level and motivate your weight loss week in week out. In the end you may even look better than your healthy body motivating image!

Read by going online or read books that detail the stories and successes of other people who have lost weight successfully. Reading about the success of others will help inspire you to keep going. After all, someday someone might be reading about your struggle with weight loss as a way to stay motivated and to stay on their diet!

Take steps to embrace life and all its opportunities while you are following your healthy eating and exercise plan. This is should see you doing different things especially in the outdoors like hiking on the weekend or biking after work. Join groups where physical activity is a feature and enroll in a Salsa class or even learn Hip Hop so that your weight loss week by week if the result of having plenty of fun!

Stay away from people who do not support your weight loss or even worse undermine this. ‘Friends’ who encourage you to eat the very foods that you know cause you to stay fat are not your friends at all and should be avoided as you continue to make progress with your weight loss week after week. Never allow invitations to fast food restaurants or suggestions of a second serve or even a first serve of high calorie meals sway you from your goal to continue losing weight and be the healthy, happy person you are inside!

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Breast Augmentation - Saline Versus Silicone and Procedures

November 4th, 2008

Breast augmentation, where a medical prosthesis is used to enlarge the breasts, is one of the more popular enhancements around. Actresses, exotic dancers and even the everyday gal who wishes to create as sexier bustline can get this popular surgery done.

Of course, the procedure may set you back $5,000-$10,000 dollars; however, financing is available for those who desperately desire the cosmetic surgery. Before you sign up to pay off a hefty loan for the next twenty years, you may wish to learn about the implants themselves and what revolutionary new procedures reduce scarring and downtime.

Breast Augmentation Consultation

A lot of the questions you may have about surgical breast enhancement will be answered by the initial doctor’s visit. Be sure to bring a list of questions you have along with you so you know what you are getting into. A reluctance to discuss the surgery or the cost of the procedure is something of a red flag. Reputable plastic surgeon wants their patients to feel entirely comfortable about their cosmetic surgery.

One for the many things you will discuss during the first office visit may be the type of implants used. The two most common implants are silicone and saline and both have their drawbacks and advantages.

Saline Implants

Encased in a silicone rubber coating, saline implants consist of a salt water solution that is close to the natural water found in the human body. There are pre filled implants and others that are adjustable so that the volume can be raised or lowered during and after the cosmetic surgery.

Advantages: Because saline implants have a sterile salt water base, they fluid is easily absorbed into the body should the implant rupture. There are far more surgical techniques that can be utilized with saline implants as well.

Drawbacks: Saline implants tend to ripple and buckle beneath the skin and feel less real then silicone implants.

Silicone Implants

Silicone implants can either have a rough or smooth outer coating or have a fixed volume that cannot be altered. Although they once were considered potentially harmful, the FDA has been able to prove that silicone implants do not cause serious tissue damage or medical conditions.

Advantages: Silicone implants look and feel more like breasts and are heartier than saline so they are less apt to rupture post cosmetic surgery.

Drawbacks: Since silicone implants are not adjustable, there are only a few techniques that can be used to insert them. This often means large incisions have to be made. Also, when silicone implants rupture, the gel is not absorbed by the body.

The doctor should have several implant samples in the office. Ask to handle the implants you are considering and look into the various risks associated with both before making any firm decisions.

Breast augmentation techniques

There are several techniques that a plastic surgeon can use to put the implants in place but all largely fall under the realm of subglandular (under the breast gland) or submuscular (under the muscle). The most popular cosmetic surgery option is to place the implant just under the pectoral muscle. It creates longer lasting and more realistic results, but often requires general anesthesia and longer recovery time.

Several different types of incisions can be made to introduce the implants as well, however, the most contemporary cosmetic surgeries, even those that are introduced via the belly button, are complimented by saline implants due to their inflatable nature.

Just realize that any implant you obtain, whether saline or silicone, are not permanent and have to be replaced. Some implant manufacturers even offer a replacement program.

Before you decide on breast augmentation, learn all you can about this popular cosmetic surgery procedure. By doing this, you can all but guarantee stellar results!

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