Thursday, January 28, 2010

Waist to Hip Ratio- Another Great Reason to Lose Pounds and Run

Another great reason to lose pounds and run!

With almost 30 to 40% of the world population over weight it only makes sense to get active and stay active.
If your not sure you are over weight try doing a waist to hip ratio - another great reason to lose pounds and run.
Increase in body mass (fat) will put your body under stress, your body won’t know what to do but get sick.
Your grocery stores are full of foods that claim to be healthy, but are just the opposite. You may be unknowingly eating foods that claim are good for you but are not. Sadly this sets your body up for a whole host of health problems.

When you eat something and don't know what all the ingredients are, your body has to figure out what to do with the unknown. Sometimes it doesn't know and this confusion unbalances your body's homeostasis. This could have you running the risk of being overweight or obese.


Don't just expect the food you eat is looking out for your health. The companies that make them are not really concerned about you; they are only concerned about themselves!

Next time you grab for something to eat, ask yourself this.

"Do I know what all the ingredients are?"

Then put it down and try again...

The food we eat may have a lot to do with how your calories are burned, you may be eating foods that say no calories, low calories, no fat etc, etc...

The fact of the matter is we are still fat and not losing weight!

It is time to be conscious of what you put in your body and learn a new method for keeping track!

Waist to Hip Ratio Measurements!

Get back on track and measure your waist and hips.
Having a larger waist than hip ratio will increase your chances of being unhealthy. Particularly heart disease!

When you compare your weight around your middle and your hips you will get a ratio that will determine what effects it will have on your health.
Calculate the ratio by measuring the circumference of the tiniest point of your waist and the widest point around the hips.

Divide ( waist measurement divided by hip measurement )

Studies have shown that ratios above o.9 for men and o.8 for women and waist measurements above 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women will put people in a higher category of health issues!
 Related Articles:
Don't Forget Your Measurements 
Health and The Causes of Childhood Obesity
Don't stop running and being active, because the benefits are great in boosting your health and getting those measurements down!
Waist to Hip Calculator
Next Post: Running Wellness

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Using a Tape Measure to track Your Body Measurements

 A Good Tip for a New Runner!
 Use a tape measure to track body measurements  and you will see changes in your weight while tracking the numbers during your weight loss.

  Places to start your measurements:


  • Waist
  • Hips
  • Legs
  • Chest
Waist:
The most common area to start your measurements--- so we will start here.
Always measure with the tape measure loosely around the area that you are measuring; do not squeeze it tight. Wrap the tape measure so that your skin isn't pinched around the smallest part of your waist.

Hips:
Have the tape measure wrapping around the largest part of your bottom (gluteus maximums) and extend the measurement around to the top of the thighbones.

Legs:
Thighs- Measure the widest part of the thighs and then the widest part of the calves in the mid area of lower leg.

Chest:
Measure the circumference from the center of your chest and around.

Arms: The widest part of the upper arm muscle and the widest part of the lower arm muscle.
Start your measurements now using a tape measure to track your body measurements!

Things to keep in mind when tracking your body measurements...

  • You should measure in the morning and the same time of day for each measurement.
  • About one hour after getting out of bed when your body has had a chance to wake up.
  • Do not measure after exercise!
  • Record your measurements every two weeks.
  • Even though you may be tempted to measure more often, it is better to wait. Your body is going through amazing changes!
  • Have a special diary to record all your measurements and compare your progress.
  • Having a picture taken of yourself in your work out clothes after the measurements are done. This good way to track progress. Paste it in your diary.
Next Post:Waist to Hip Ratio- Another Great Reason to Lose Pounds and Run

Monday, January 11, 2010

Ideal Body Weight Formula

Perfect Weight: The Complete Mind/Body Program for Achieving and Maintaining Your Ideal WeightWhat is My Ideal Body Weight Formula?


I'm often asked the question...

What is my ideal body weight and how can you reach it running?

First there are lots of controversies on what the ideal body weight actually is! Second if you are not at an ideal body weight, how the heck do you get there and/or maintain your ideal body weight?

A quick answer would be:
  1. Ideal weight is the weight you feel healthy with and to maintain your body weight or lose weight, 
  2. You should live a moderately happy active life with the bulk of your diet, being whole foods!
 For interest sake and because everybody likes facts here they are from changingshape.com: 

Height and Weight Table for Women
Height
Feet Inches
Small
Frame
Medium
Frame
Large
Frame
4' 10" 102-111 109-121 118-131
4' 11" 103-113 111-123 120-134
5' 0" 104-115 113-126 122-137
5' 1" 106-118 115-129 125-140
5' 2" 108-121 118-132 128-143
5' 3" 111-124 121-135 131-147
5' 4" 114-127 124-138 134-151
5' 5" 117-130 127-141 137-155
5' 6" 120-133 130-144 140-159
5' 7" 123-136 133-147 143-163
5' 8" 126-139 136-150 146-167
5' 9" 129-142 139-153 149-170
5' 10" 132-145 142-156 152-173
5' 11" 135-148 145-159 155-176
6' 0" 138-151 148-162 158-179

Weights at ages 25-59 based on lowest mortality. Weight in pounds according to frame (in indoor clothing weighing 3 lbs.; shoes with 1" heels)
Height and Weight Table for Men
Height
Feet Inches
Small
Frame
Medium
Frame
Large
Frame
5' 2" 128-134 131-141 138-150
5' 3" 130-136 133-143 140-153
5'' 4" 132-138 135-145 142-156
5' 5" 134-140 137-148 144-160
5' 6" 136-142 139-151 146-164
5' 7" 138-145 142-154 149-168
5' 8" 140-148 145-157 152-172
5' 9" 142-151 148-160 155-176
5' 10" 144-154 151-163 158-180
5' 11" 146-157 154-166 161-184
6' 0" 149-160 157-170 164-188
6' 1" 152-164 160-174 168-192
6' 2" 155-168 164-178 172-197
6' 3" 158-172 167-182 176-202
6' 4" 162-176 171-187 181-207

Weights at ages 25-59 based on lowest mortality. Weight in pounds according to frame (in indoor clothing weighing 5 lbs.; shoes with 1" heels)
 The Scale
It can be depressing when using the weight scale as an indicator at measuring your weight. Weight does fluctuate between a couple or more pounds in a 48 hour period and that makes it frustrating when you are trying to reach a goal...
Don't pay any attention to the scale, it can sabotage your goals. When you get too connected to the numbers you tend to obsess over weight loss and hence get the opposite of what you wanted...How?
You start skipping out on your workouts and/or binging on food because of you get down on yourself!

There are so many factors that come into play when it comes to weight and the kind of weight you are carrying. Your body is all about fat, muscle and water and in turn something has to happen inside when you want a change.
I'm not going to go too deeply into all of them, but what I will say...If you are having a quality work out session at least 3 separate hours/week you are probably pretty close to your ideal weight. If you are not there yet, you will be soon.
So keep up those quality workouts!

What is a good quality work out so you reach your ideal body weight?

Good question!
It is a work -out that feels good and you feel in tune with. It is a work out that has you aligned nicely with yourself, where you can think freely and enjoy your surroundings. So you do it often because you love it!
After you are done the work out it feels good! You feel refreshed and can take on your day feeling pretty much in the same way you left your workout.
You will know you have had a good quality work out when you feel these feelings.


What happens when you decide you want to lose weight?

You keep up with your quality workouts and do a little more...
A little more of running or another sport
The thing is you don't want to ruin the quality of your runs or work out, so take it up gradually so that you are still enjoying what you are doing. If you have a weight goal it will come off.

'It took some time to put the weight on, so it is going to take some time to take some weight off.'

You've probably heard this before; the best indicator to measure weight loss is to do a little measuring week by week and watch the increments of weight come off!

I'll talk next post "How to do the Measurements For Weight loss"
It takes more than exercise to lose inches... Think about what you are eating...

It is never too late!

What is it? Are you walking around numb doing everything for everybody but yourself? What a life... the years go by so fast and then your li...