Conceptually, nothing could be more simple. However there are several factors to consider. These can include genetics, economics, culture, access to nutritious food, and access to decent amounts of exercise. The type of activities you engage in and your psychological makeup also contribute immensely to how well you lose weight- and keep it off.

Olympic level athletes often burn through astounding amounts of calories and consequently need to replenish them in enormous quantities. Swimmer Michael Phelps for instance, famously consumed 12,000 calories a day for his training regimen- up to 6 times the recommended daily allowance for an average person his age at the time. Of course, while most of us never get the amount of exercise someone like Michael Phelps would, most people in the industrialized world regularly exceed the 2000 recommended calories a day without even trying.

The sheer accessibility of high calorie food items couple with the relatively immobile lifestyles brought about by white collar jobs make a recipe for nutritional disaster. While the quality of living has increased in most First World countries, health issues brought about by such abysmal health habits have led to higher rates of strokes and heart disease as well as other ailments in those countries.

Exercise, coupled with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, is by far the most effective and reliable path to weight loss. Even in an urban setting, it isn’t too difficult to achieve, so long as you have made the right commitments to change your lifestyle. Here are some ways you could have enough exercise even with a white collar job:

Walk or bike to and from work. Very straightforward. Right off the bat, this will help you burn calories without you having to spend anything on a gym or a health club. Walking or biking at least part of the way to or from work will get you off on the right path to weight loss. If you find you don’t want to get to work sweaty, you could always just do this on your way home so you could shower right after.

Take a short walk during your lunch hour. If there are malls or parks near where you work, you could take a stroll during the middle of your day. This will also help energize you for the rest of the day ahead. Be sure to keep some extra clothes and deodorant handy if you live in a hot/humid climate.

Find a hobby that requires you to move. Dancing, martial arts, yoga, or even jamming with a band are all fun ways to spend time and burn calories. If you’re skeptical about the band thing, playing the guitar standing up can burn up to 200- 350 calories an hour! That’s the equivalent of a Big Mac. And you’re not even flailing around yet. Carrying around your equipment also burns calories. More involved physical hobbies like swimming or dancing are even more effective.

Take every chance you’ve got to walk or stand. Walk over to your officemates instead of instant messaging. If you can, invest in a standing desk that would allow you to do your work standing. Believe it or not, this was the norm in offices during the late 19th and early 20th Century. If it worked for Ernest Hemingway, it should work for you.

What am I talking about?

Energy, pure and simple energy.

Doing what I do, I hear all the excuses in the world for why people “just aren’t doing it” most of the room put up their hands.

When we look closer at what is going on, it all boils down to one thing - energy.

“Oh, Im so tired after a day at work, my job is so exhausting, I just want to collapse in front of the TV when I get in” Whats the issue? Energy.

“Im rubbish in the mornings. I press snooze for an hour and then have to rush to get ready. I need a coffee firstnthing in the morning but I do not have time for breakfast.” The issue - Energy.

“It gets to four in the afternoon and I need chocolate!” What do you really need? Energy.

By not treating the body right, but not feeding it with the right fuel or by draining it of it’s very last drip of energy, we end up running on empty. We rarely take the time to refuel, to give ourselves an MOT. We treat our bodies and minds worse than we treat our cars. We know the effect it has on a car when you try and run it on empty, yet we do this to ourselves on a regular basis.

This week I had no energy for most of the week, well that’s what it felt like anyway. I have no one to blame for that but myself. Luckily I was in a position that I had very little to do and in fact I could take some rest. Had I been at home, living my normal life I would have seriously struggled.

That was the whole point, I had used up my energy and it was time to conserve it. The body knew intuitively what I needed and when I gave it the space, that’s exactly what it did, took the opportunity to recharge the batteries.

That was the actual results of my detox, I realised this as it came to my final days. It wasn’t about the body composition analysis said although I was pleased with my results. It was about how I felt afterwards and what was going to happen from here.

Looking at my results at first I was surprised and a little disappointed. Did I come out fitter? No. Not in the sense we would usually regard fitter. My resting heart rate was up slightly, as was my blood pressure (these were very low when I started though). Did I lose immense amounts of body fat? No only about a percent.

Did I get what my blood needed? Yes absolutely. For me, I did not really need to get fitter or leaner. I needed to relax and recharge and when I gave my body the chance to do it’s stuff, it intuitively knew what to do.

It needed me to stop “doing” and enjoy “being” for a while.

It took me a while to get this and it was in this process of “being” that I was able to rebuild my energy. I did this through yoga and meditation, breathing practise, spending time in nature, getting some amazing treatments but more importantly taking time out. Out of my busy body and out of my busy mind.

Over here in India they refer to this energy as “Prana” or life force and it is everywhere, both within us and outside us. Everything is about maintaining our prana and we can do this by leading a simple disciplined life or just by putting in small rituals to each day that help replace our lost energy.

I think most of us are guilty of using up our vital energy with all the other things in life that we see as important. Or wasting it with things like TV which we do not realise are still robbing us of our energy.

So many of the people I coach easily solve their issues through something simple like getting to bed earlier, having an evening routine that involves sitting down at a table to eat slowly and mindfully having bedtime rituals like a bath and a good book, instead of TV plus a bottle of wine and all the nibbles that go with it.

Or simply walking or cycling to work, instead of more rushing around to get to the gym after work. Or getting up when the alarm goes off and having a good start to the day. Or getting out of the office at lunchtime and actually taking a break.

Whatever it is we need to make sure we are regularly paying into the energy bank instead of just withdrawing all the time.

Then just maybe we will have enough left to do the things we really want to do.

Well, don’t worry, an article at Self.com by Bari Lieberman entitled “Lose the Baby Weight: The Fastest Way To Get Your Pre-baby Bod Back” knows exactly what you need to safely shed the pounds you might have put on during the maternity period.

Lieberman, like so many of us, believes in the old adage, “Mother knows best!” and so, she approached pre- and post natal Master Trainer at the Sports Club/LA (Boston) and new mom, April Corwin who shared some safe body-reshaping exercises for losing pregnancy weight.

According to the article, Ms. Corwin gained 25 pounds during her pregnancy and she shares that the best post-partum workout in to stay in shape during the nine months of your pregnancy. That is, if you try to maintain your fitness or shape during the pregnancy, you’ll see results sooner. Of course, despite all that, it’s still important to do it right by starting slow post-partum and working out to tighten everything back up.

Here are some post-natal fitness tricks from the article that you can do at home (the article suggests that this might be about 4-6 weeks after delivery once you’ve received clearance from your doctor):

1) For a flatter belly ala Natalie Portman, your best bet is an exercise called the pelvic tilt to leg slide.
2) To achieve visible oblique muscles like actress Rebecca Romjin, you can do a side plank (mind, it took her two years to regain her abs!).
3) You can also do a seated band row to develop slimmer arms and a toned back like you would see on Kate Hudson.
4) On the other hand, Mariah Carey’s lost weight all over (she’s shed about 70 lbs since the birth of her twins) and you can do the same by squats to squat jumps!
5) Finally, for a firmer butt like Jessica Alba’s, try curtsey lunges.

All you have to do is pick out your problem part and do these exercises to lose the pounds you might have put on during your pregnancy.

Now, if you’re excited about doing these exercises so you can get back in shape, all you have to do is mosey on over to Lose the Baby Weight: The Fastest Way To Get Your Pre-baby Bod Back at Self.com and read the article in its entirety!

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Read more Health and Fitness Articles on our Partner Site’s Blogs
- FitFarms UK Fitness Retreat Website
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You may recall some of that discomfort, but by the end of the week you realised that it was a necessary part of the process, and that it’s just your comfy “old slippers” have been taken away.

I’m experiencing that for myself again this week. I decided the first week of my adventure, I needed a kickstart, a controlled environment where all my usual comforts were taken away. Where I couldn’t just slip into my old habit of “pleasure-seeking”, as a reward for working hard. Yes, I do these things too!

I was also intrigued about whether strict detoxes actually work, and how they approached this in the East. I’m in a Wellness Retreat, doing their detox programme, and I have been introduced to some pretty uncomfortable new slippers, in the shape of juice fasting and coffee enemas.

Now those seasoned Fit Farm people will know that the key to success, where you actually change behaviours, just lies in wearing
in the new slippers. There’s no quick fix, because there is no magic food or exercise that you can do that will actually change your habits. Not in a week.

So you might say I’m getting a taste of my own medicine here, but I wanted to try something different.

There are three zones we can be in at any one time:

1. Our comfort zone, where we feel at ease, where everything is familiar and therefore feels nice and comfy.

2. Our stretch zone, where we are being challenged, it is requiring something new of us, we are growing and evolving and it can feel quite exhilarating, but not as comfortable at first.

3. Our stress, or panic zone. This is when we are way out of our comfort zone, we are scared, anxious and our body goes into “fight-or-flight”, thinking we are in danger physically and therefore producing the stress response.

You can probably guess which zone is the ideal for most of the time. Stretch. We literally need to “stretch” ourselves on a regular basis, then what happens is that we are more resilient to things which come along that throw us into the stress response (which if triggered on a regular basis makes us fat and tired).

So what happened with me recently, which I know is common is a lot of people, is that I spent too much time in the stress zone, that in order to balance things out, I had to spend the rest of the time in the comfort zone. This meant I was never in “stretch”, which can lead to you being dissatisfied, fatigued, and stagnant.

We sometimes have to bite the bullet, make a decision and take the leap, going through a bit of discomfort in order to make positive changes. Eventually you’ve got to led go of those comfy old slippers and do something different. Only then do we start to increase our “stress threshold”, our ability to deal with stress.

I realise this isn’t going to be an easy ride, but I have faith that what will come out of it will benefit me, and others. This is “delayed gratification”, not the “quick fix”, and if you like you can follow my journey on here, as I’ll be sharing all of what I’m learning along the way.

For now, I’ll leave you with a thought for the day:

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”.
Neale Walsh

I must admit that, although I am fairly fit and healthy in many ways, a peaceful mind has still eluded me. Recently, I became exhausted, adrenal fatigue they told me, which would also explain why I gained a stone in weight when i had changed nothing.

My diet was healthy, and I did more exercise in a day than most people did in a week. It just didn’t seem to make sense. Ok, I knew a little about the cortisol connection to weight gain, however, it is something hadn’t experienced first hand.

As I started to study more about this stress response, and research the people who had come on Fit Farms, it became more and more evident that the body’s biochemical reactions to our lifestyles was a huge factor in many weight problems.

Most of the men and women I speak to with weight issues, it’s not as simple as that they just started eating more, or stopped exercising. It’s a much more complex issue, and the weight is just a symptom of something being out of balance. This may be a lifestyle factor, a demanding job, or one the road all the time. It may be an emotional issue, we are dissatisfied with our lives, and as we have been brought up to reward with food, we are using food to give us pleasure. It may be the type of food itself that is causing the problem, as so many people rely on stimulants, most notably sugar to get them through the day.

Stress and other factors throw the body out of balance. This now seems to have reached epidemic proportions in Westrn society.

Through my own experiences, being let down and disillusioned by Western medicine, I have over the years looked outside of the norm for the answers. I healed my fractured spine with The Alexander Technique, and I believe that our health is in our own hands.

This time I wanted to find a cure, an antidote for stress, and what better way to learn that discovering it for yourself.

I had a feeling that yoga and meditation are a crucial element of this, and where better to learn than in India. So here I am, taking this journey, ironically after one of the most stressful weeks I have had at work in a long time.

By keeping this diary, and just sharing my experiences, I hope that my learning will help others take responsibility for their stress, and their health, and do something about it.

Without our health, we have nothing.

According to the article writer, Carol Sorgen, it’s important to be consistent. Cutting back on high calorie food and slowly increasing your exercise might help you lose weight. It’s not necessary to start running races right away but gradually exercising will definitely help.

Following an effective exercise routine can also help your gain fitness. You can do this through strength training, interval training, and increased cardio/aerobic exercise.

Now sure, you want to lose weight but it’s important to set realistic goals. Developing healthy habits is more important than trying to attain impossible goals. So, relax if you can’t do the Ironman Triathlon just yet. Recognize what you can do and then slowly build from there.

Using the buddy system is also a good way to keep yourself inspired for exercise. Find a good friend who’s willing to exercise with you. If both of you are committed to building a healthier lifestyle, you can encourage each other and make sure the other doesn’t slip into bad eating and lazy habits. Another plus is that jogging with someone else makes it less boring. Catch up on football scores and celebrity gossip while getting fit!

And that’s just 4 of 10 tips published in the WebMD article. To read even more tips to get you excited over getting fit, see 10 Workout Secrets : Expert Exercise Tips today!

According to both articles, if we’re already hardwired to scarf down burgers at fast food joints or buy popcorn at movie houses, we’re likely to do that whenever we’re at a burger place or sitting to down to see the latest blockbuster. Still, that doesn’t mean that we can’t overcome our programming. Fitsugar, a popular blog on fitness tips, offers a few ideas on how to “Break Bad Snacking Habits”.

First off, if you want to avoid eating something you shouldn’t, bring your own snacks. Taking healthier options like pretzels or fruit slices should sate you if you ever feel peckish. Besides, wouldn’t that appeal to your frugal side? If you brought the food already, you’ll probably think it’s wasteful to buy something else. Anyway concessionaires tend to be more expensive than they should be. Just make sure that you pick something healthy.

Another tip for you if you’re the type who just can’t resist stepping inside the cupcake shop on the way to work is to avoid places with food you have no willpower to resist. However, if you must indulge yourself with something unhealthy, pick the smallest size. After all, it’s okay to treat yourself every now and then but make sure you’re still watching yourself.

These are just some of the steps Fitsugar suggests we can take to curb or control over-snacking. To read all of the tips in this article, visit “Break Bad Snacking Habits”.

But wait! Should we really be sacrificing our health and figure for these? Sure, food is delicious and it’s fun to spend time with friends and family but it’s a known fact that people gain the most weight during the holiday. Don’t despair though, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re supposed to deprive yourself and steer clear of the merry-making. According to an article on HealthDiscovery.com, it’s still possible to keep healthy and fit amidst the holiday cheer.

The article, Avoid Gaining Weight This Holiday Season …while still enjoying the festivities mentions that there are two ways most people try to keep the pounds off during the holidays, mainly by 1) totally indulging oneself or by 2) starving and then binging. Now both of these aren’t good for us so the best thing to do is really to just keep everything in moderation and keeping an exercise routine.

HealthDiscovery.com also gives a few other tips for avoiding holiday weight gain like: 1) preparing an exercise program ahead of time, 2) don’t wait until the new year before you actually start exercising. If you don’t have as much time to do so during the holidays, adjust your schedule, 3) eat regularly before a party. If you’ve eaten proper meals before the party, chances are you won’t be too hungry so you’re likelier to eat just the right amount of food during the party. You won’t have to deprive yourself! 4) get exercise by setting aside time for doing your jumping jacks or going on a run and make sure you keep to the schedules too.

Aside from those, you should also 6) eat some of the healthier dishes served at a party before going on to the less healthy options. That way, you’re full enough without being unsatisfied.

These are just some of the neat suggestions HealthDiscovery.com has shared in order to help us all keep us from being even more roly than a pumpkin or Santa Claus! To read the rest of their tips, visit the article here.

It’s a question researchers at the Indiana State University dared to ask when they held a study among healthy young adults. Their assumption was that those with better cores would succeed in their battery of exercises more than the others. However, the results seemed to say that while most sports scientists and coaches believe in the correlation of subjecting your core to a workout (typically through crunches and medicine ball exercises) can improve your athletic performance, studies on the subject (including this one) have yielded a very mixed bag of results.

An article on the subject published at the New York Times entitled “Are Crunches Worth the Effort” by Gretchen Reynolds mentions a Dr. Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario who says that it is still uncertain whether crunches are essential or even desirable at all for keeping in shape. Repeated bending of the spine (such as what we experience while doing crunches), Dr. McGill has found, can contribute some damage to the spinal discs.

Moderation is key. Another expert cited in the article, Brad Schoenberg, a professor of Exercise Science at Lehman College, says that you don’t have to break your back doing crunches. Six or eight crunches, a few times a week, will do just to get up to a basic minimum of core strength.

Oh, and don’t crunch up too much or you’ll be doing it wrong (and hurt yourself in the process). Or you could forgo the crunches altogether. Thomas Nesser, associate professor of exercise science at the Indiana State believes that you don’t even have to specialize your work out to the core. “Train for your sport, core strength will develop,” Nesser says.

Unless of course, all you really want are taut, bikini-worthy abs.

To learn more about whether you should putting in all that effort to do develop your core, read the entire article, “Are Crunches Worth the Effort”, at the New York Times.

Surprised?

Well, according Tara Parker-Pope, who writes for the NYTimes’ Well Section, if you’re looking to lose some poundage, having your very own pup is much better than running on treadmill (providing, of course, that you’re not allergic to dogs).

In the article Forget the Treadmill. Get a Dog, Ms. Parker-Pope relates that studies have shown that older people are more likely to take regular walks if they have dogs because their furry friends will always need to be walked so they get some exercise too. She also cites findings from researchers from Michigan State University that dog owners got at an average of 30 minutes of exercise about 5 times a week while those without canine companions hardly get as much exercise.

The study, led by Dr. Matthew Reeves also brought forth an important question: does dog walking add to the amount of exercise you do, or does it merely replace the exercise you would have done if you didn’t have a dog?

It turns out that dog walkers tend to take part in other physical activities for leisure (say, playing sports or gardening) and they got about 30 minutes/week more exercise than people without dogs.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that having a dog means that you’ll being doing the walking. Some people have large enough yards for their dogs to run free, while other people need to hire dog walkers for various reasons.

Still, it should be noted that another study found that people who acquired dogs were able to increase their physical activity compared to before they brought their dog’s home.

Another interesting result of yet another research project done at the University of Missouri is that most people who walked with dogs were likely to get more exercise than those who walked with human companions. Why? Simply because humans could talk each other out of tiring exercise while dogs don’t.

Dr. Johnson who led the study says that people “help themselves by helping the dog.” Basically, Johnson continues, “If we’re committed to a dog, it enables us to commit to physical activity ourselves.”

Now isn’t that better motivation for getting a work out?

To learn more about how owning a dog can help you get more fit, read Forget the Treadmill. Get a Dog by Tamara Parker-Pope at NYTimes.com. You can also find more fitness and workout tips at the Well Section.