Health and Fitness During the Holidays

     Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to focus on the rest of the year. In many ways, this is one of the most important times of the year when it comes to health and fitness and it’s not just because people tend to gain weight and exercise less during the holidays. The critical element is your mindset, because the attitude you have from now till the end of the holiday season can affect your results well into next year.

The Thanksgiving Meal: Turkey, Tryptophan, and Tiredness

     Since Thanksgiving is this week, I wanted to write about the Thanksgiving meal, specifically the relationship between turkey, tryptophan, and tiredness. Turkey is a staple of the traditional Thanksgiving meal and you have probably heard that it contains in ingredient that makes you sleepy. The ingredient is tryptophan and it is an amino acid, which is a component of protein. People often get tired after eating their Thanksgiving meal and tryptophan typically gets blamed. This post will explain why tryptophan gets a bad wrap and what the cause of post Thanksgiving meal sleepiness really is.

Exercise Intensity: What it is and Why it’s Important

     Exercise intensity is one of the most important variables in any workout, because if the intensity is not correct, your workout won’t have the intended effect. Exercising at the wrong intensity level is one of the most common mistakes people make and it should definitely be avoided, if you want to experience optimal results. Intensity seems like a fairly simple concept, as it typically refers to exercise difficulty, but intensity is a little more complicated than it first appears.

The Importance of Recovery Workouts

     A lot of my writing has been about the importance of doing challenging workouts (instead of just doing activities to burn calories), if you are trying to lose fat and increase your fitness level. However, even though challenging workouts are the most effective for producing positive results, it doesn’t mean you should do them all the time. In addition to doing challenging workouts, you should also incorporate recovery workouts into your overall exercise program.

The Truth about the Fat Burning Zone

     Chances are you have heard or read something about the “fat burning zone” or if you belong to a gym, there is probably a chart on the wall by the cardio machines telling you about different heart rate zones, including the fat burning zone. The fat burning zone is used to describe a specific physiological occurrence, but it is often used incorrectly. Misunderstandings about the fat burning zone and its implications have caused many people to become confused about how to exercise for optimal fat loss. My goal today is to sort out any existing confusion about the fat burning zone and explain what is really important when it comes to burning fat through exercise.

Turning Activities into Effective Exercises for Fitness and Fat Loss

     Previously, I wrote about how exercise, not just being active, is the key to fat loss and fitness. That post (click here to review previous post) provided the theoretical background information to explain why activities that do not challenge your body are basically just burning calories and not much more. Now I will provide you with more practical information, specifically showing you how to take regular activities that have a minimal impact on your body and turn them exercises/workouts to improve your fitness and stimulate fat loss.

Cutting Calories too much Prevents Fat Loss

     In my previous post, I discussed the common belief that decreasing your caloric intake and increasing your activity level is all you need to lose fat and improve your fitness. I explained why exercise, not just increasing your activity level, is essential for long-term fat loss and fitness. In this follow-up post, I will focus on caloric intake part of the belief and explain why decreasing your caloric intake is not always good for fat loss or overall health and fitness.