As people get older, particularly as they approach their mid-thirties, their bones begin to lose density which is a strong risk factor for the development of hollow brittle bones, a condition known as osteoporosis, which could further lead to individuals having much more easily broken bones. Although this process occurs naturally, you can take some steps to protect your bones and ward off osteoporosis. Read on for details and explanations:

1. Regular Exercise

Regular exercise is one of the factors that contributes to the development of strong bones that stay strong for longer. This is important because as noted earlier, bones begin to deteriorate after people hit their mid-30’s, usually leading to osteoporosis—when bones begin to hollow out. However, people who start exercising form when they are much younger and keep it up for longer, face a much reduced risk of osteoporosis in their later life.

You don’t have to hit the gym to get the exercise you need; there are a number of exercises such as squats, push-ups and sit-ups that could be done at home, and in addition to these, you could take up a sport such as tennis or soccer which are both proven to have immense weight loss benefits. One point to note, though, is that when you work out, only the activated bones will receive any benefits so you should aim for a full body workout as much as possible.

2. Eat lots of Calcium

To be precise, for people aged 19-50, 1000 milligrams of calcium is recommend per day. This is important because if the body does not get the right amount of calcium it needs, it will make up for the deficit by obtaining this calcium from the bones.

Some excellent sources of calcium include milk, cheese, yogurt and dark green vegetables. You could also take supplements if you need to.

3. Vitamin D

Vitamin D on its own doesn’t have much of an effect on bones but it’s primary effect is in enhancing the absorption of calcium, so you should always make sure that you combine your calcium with vitamin D.

Some excellent natural sources of vitamin D are fish such as salmon or tuna and eggs, but an even more natural way to get vitamin D is simply by spending some time in the sun, which stimulates the release of vitamin D in the body.

4. Vitamin K

Although the precise link between vitamin k and bone health is not clear, studies have observed that low levels of vitamin K seem to come with correspondingly with low bone density levels. It won’t hurt to make sure you get the recommended daily allowance of vitamin K, to ensure that your bones are in the best condition. Dark greens such as brussels sprouts, spinach and some types of lettuce, are excellent sources of vitamin K.

Conclusion

You could think of building strong bones today, as an investment in the health of your body in the future. Be sure to get as much calcium, vitamin D and vitamin K as you need, and don’t forget to exercise as much as possible.

A personal fitness trainer might be able to offer you some more guidance to help you achieve your fitness goals, and if you would like to hire one, we would be glad to connect you with someone you can trust. Please contact us at:

WhatsApp number: +971 565 830 067  (Just send us code 3717 and we will get back to you ASAP)
Contact Us: Click here to send us your details or fill in the form below.

You can get in touch with us 24/7 and one of our experts will not only give you a free consultation but also help you pick out an appropriate male or female personal trainer to meet your needs. One-on-one personal training lessons are available in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman and RAK.
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Sleep is the back bone of every exercise, no matter the exercise, whether weight loss or muscle building, sleep is essential.
We know you have a very busy schedule, sometimes sleep takes the smallest of hours. Some spend their day drinking cups upon cups of coffee trying to push away the sleep. This is totally ok, you can drink as much coffee as you want in a day, it means nothing but when you’re on a weight loss mission or any other mission that has to do with weight lifting and burning calories, then taking coffee to deprive yourself of sleep is really not advisable.

Sleep is essential for weight loss because the amount of sleep you have each day influences what you’re likely to eat. Secondly, sleep deprivation changes what happens to the food once its already down the hatch.
Sleep deprived people are most likely the ones who eat the most because if you do not gather enough energy from one source, your body will go on a search mission to look for it somewhere else which will prompt you to eat more food, so you see that sleep deprivation is sending you straight to the kitchen at 2am in the morning to go look for junk food.

Eight hours of sleep at night helps lower the cortisol levels in your blood, while lack of sleep raises the cortisol level. Why it is dangerous for your cortisol to be on a higher level is because the higher the cortisol, then the lower the metabolism. Your body breaking protein into glucose is powered by cortisol, hence if you have too much of glucose in your body, it’ll get stored as fat, that is why you need sleep. You can’t be on a weight loss mission and at the same time be storing fat.
For your body to build the required muscles, cortisol interferes with it so if you’re trying to lose weight you really want to make sure you have low cortisol levels in your blood. To do this you don’t have to do extra exercises, all you have to do is get enough sleep.

Your pituitary glands secretes more hormones while you’re asleep than when you’re awake. These growth hormones stimulate cell regeneration, reproduction, growth, and also aids in building muscles. With a higher metabolism, you burn energy faster which is why you need higher levels of growth hormones for energy to burn faster and loss weight.
If you’re too busy to sleep check yourself to see if you’re really too busy to sleep. Movie addicts are not too busy to sleep, if you’re up at 1am in the morning watching just movies or partying or doing any other thing a ‘real’ busy man wouldn’t do; then you’re not too busy, so do not try to count yourself among those who are actually busy. In a situation like this, you might want to have a rethink before you run into a permanent crisis mode which is not good enough for your health.
A smart napping schedule can go a long way, it doesn’t necessarily mean having 8 hours of sleep before it can be considered as ‘enough sleep’, thus try to look for ways in adjusting your sleeping pattern.

Finally, to have a successful long term weight loss you need to find a sleep schedule that’ll be comfortable enough for you and have you energized and ready to take on the day.
Sleep is a very crucial factor in weight loss, it suppresses your appetite and raises your metabolism while allowing your body to rest and recover. So apart from sticking to a strict balanced diet, you should also make sure that you have enough rest at night.

WhatsApp number: +971 565 830 067  (Just send us code 2779 and we will get back to you ASAP)
Contact Us: Click here to send us your details or fill in the form below.

You can get in touch with us 24/7 and one of our experts will not only give you a free consultation but also help you pick out an appropriate male or female personal trainer to meet your needs. One-on-one personal training lessons are available in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman and RAK.
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• Make sure you get plenty of sleep
  

All too often when it feels like there are just not enough hours in the day, we get into the bad habit of tempting ourselves to stay awake until late or wake up ridiculously early to get everything done.  Eventually, that strategy can backfire if you’re not getting enough quality shuteye for your body to function properly. If you’re trying to change your behavior and lose weight by eating less and moving more, you will be more likely to achieve that if you are getting the proper amount of sleep.

• Productive weekends
  

Even though we’re pressed for time, most of us have pretty predictable schedules when it comes to the much needed weekends, if you’re anything like me, you cannot wait to have a long lie in, followed by comfort foods and more sleep. However, can help to spend some time on Saturday and Sunday shopping for healthy food, preparing some lunch and dinner items for the week, and deciding which days you’re going to eat what.

You can also use your day or days off to get in longer workouts at the gym than you’d have time for during the week. If you can get in 120 minutes of exercise over the weekend, you really only need to dedicate small amounts of time throughout the week to reach your 150-minute goal.

• Get your family and friends involved
  

You may argue that weekends are for family time, or that you’d rather spend your precious free time with friends. But why not turn that social time into fitness time? You don’t need to go to the gym for it to count as exercise, You can choose to participate in an activity with your kids for a few hours and still get your heart rate up and see beneficial results.

Swap your typical girls shopping spree into a date in Spin class. Or, start a weekly walking or hiking tradition with your family. Either way, being active with others can help you stick with it. Social support is a key ingredient to any sort of behavior change.

• Switch to a high-intensity workout

The best workout for fat loss doesn’t require hours upon hours in the gym. In fact, multiple studies show that a 20-minute high-intensity interval workout may burn more calories than 45 minutes chugging away on the elliptical.

Slash your intake of sugar with our smart tips.

You’re likely eating sugar throughout the day without even realizing it. Sugar is added to foods that don’t even taste all that sweet, like breads, condiments, and sauces.  A high-sugar diet boosts your odds of tooth decay, heart disease, and diabetes, not to mention weight gain. We hope our guide will help you say no to sugar intake with these 10 simple tips.

1. Carefully Read Food Labels

You’ll quickly realize just how often sugar is added to foods when you look for it on ingredients lists. Even things that you don’t think are sweet, like tomato sauce, crackers, condiments, and salad dressings can be packed with sugar. Ingredients are listed in order of how much exists in the product, so if sugar’s near the top, that’s a red flag.

2. Learn Sugar’s Aliases

When you read food labels, you’ll need to look for more than just the word “sugar.” Sugar hides under several sneaky names, including high fructose corn syrup, dried cane syrup, invert sugar, molasses, sucrose, brown rice syrup, honey, and maple syrup. These can be listed separately on ingredients lists, so many foods, even seemingly healthy ones like yogurt and cereal, may contain three or four different types of sweetener. If several sugars appear on the label, it’s an indication that the food is less healthy than you may think.

3. Buy Unsweetened

So by now you’ve learned where sugar hides, well let’s start making changes to our diet. One strategy is to buy foods labeled “no added sugar” or “unsweetened.” You’ll find unsweetened versions of these common foods in most grocery stories: non-dairy milk like almond and soy, nut butters, applesauce, oatmeal, and canned fruit.

4. Don’t Stop Eating Sugar Altogether

Similarly known as going cold turkey on sugar isn’t really realistic for most people. Essentially cutting back slowly would in long term effects be more successful. If you normally put two packets of sugar in your coffee, for instance, try one for a week, then half, and finally add only a splash of milk. For your yogurt, mix half a serving of sweetened yogurt with half a serving of plain, and eventually move on to adding natural sweetness with fresh fruit.

 5. Protein & Fat

Unhealthy carbs loaded with sugar can cause blood sugar to rise rapidly. To minimize this rapid rise and fall, pair protein, healthy fats, and fiber with your meal, all of which can slow down the release of blood sugar in your body and keep you full for longer. Fats are a key player because they help keep you fuller for longer, therefore helping to decrease your desire for sugar. Focus on fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, and heart-healthy oils like olive oil, walnut oil, and coconut oil.

6. Be Honest

When you’re reducing your sugar intake, you may be tempted to switch to artificial sugars for your sweet fix. But resist reaching for the diet soda, sugar-free candy, and packets of fake sugar in your latte. When you eat something sweet, your body expects calories and nutrition, but artificial sugars don’t give your body those things. That may be why fake sugars are associated with weight gain and not actually weight loss.

7. Up The Flavor

When you’re out remember to order an unsweetened latte and add flavor with cocoa or vanilla powder instead of throwing in cubes of sugar. Skip the flavored oatmeal and add a sweet kick with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

8. Don’t Drink It

Avoiding soda is a good idea, but that’s not the only sugar packed drink around. Even drinks that are considered healthy can contain more of the sweet stuff than you’re supposed to have in an entire day.

9. Enjoy A Dessert Now & Again

You can still indulge in an occasional sweet treat after you resolve to slash sugar. The idea is to avoid wasting your daily sugar quota on non-dessert foods like cereals, ketchup, and bread. To avoid overdoing it, set specific rules about when you may enjoy dessert: only after dinner on the weekends or at restaurants as a special treat.

10.Stick With It!

At first, cutting down on sugar can feel like an impossible task. Eventually, though, your taste buds will adjust. Super-sweet foods like ice cream and candy will start to taste too sweet. When you could have a whole slice of cake before, now a couple bites will be enough. You’ll notice the natural sweetness in fruits and vegetables and eventually they’ll taste better too.

Are you carrying an unwanted load around your belly?

Well don’t worry, you’re without any doubt not alone! To be honest you don’t necessarily need to spend a dime to tighten and tone those abdominals. However, all you really need to understand is a few things about the human body.

DID YOU KNOW: Male abs are considered fat if the waistline measures more than 40 inches, (it’s time to consider cutting down your consumption of certain foods).

 

1. Refined grains

These are ingredient found in foods like white rice, white bread, and regular white pasta. The unrefined stuff (whole wheat, brown rice and quinoa) is always healthier. Pennsylvania State University researchers found that people who ate whole grains in addition to keeping a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and protein, lost more weight from the abdominal area the group of people who kept the same healthy diet but ate all refined grains.

2. Potato products

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed the weight changes of more than 120,000 men and women for up to 20 years. The participants were checked every four years and, on average, they gained 3.35 pounds each time—so almost 17 pounds by the time the study was finished. The foods associated with the greatest weight gain? Our favorites potato chips and potatoes.

3. Red and processed meat

In another study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers worked with more than 370,000 people and found that folks who ate the equivalent of a small steak a day gained about five pounds in five years.

Learn to say no to these delicious delights

4. Frosting

The cake itself might not have trans fat, but chances are if the frosting isn’t made from scratch it will likely have trans fat in it. How bad can trans fat be you must be asking? Well one serving provides nearly a full day’s worth of trans fat, so you’d better be extra careful about all of the other food you eat that day.

5. Diet soda

It’s easy to get fooled by the zero-calorie label, yet sodas made with sugar substitutes are believed by many to play a role in weight gain. A new study published this month found that people who drank diet soda gained almost three times the amount of abdominal fat over nine years as those who didn’t drink the no-cal stuff.

These strength-building prep positions will have you dropping down and giving twenty before you know it!

Now if you’re anything like me, you’ll understand why I say pushups are THE WORST!  at least for those of us who can’t even manage the one without hurtling to the ground face first. However, I guess before we give up for good and accept a flabby fate, know this: You CAN master the classic upper-body toner by building strength gradually.

Practice with the following four moves, and I promise the thought of doing pushups will no longer make you want to cry.

1. Pushup Prep : The Plank

The pushup works all the muscles on the front of your body, especially your core, so the best place to start building strength is with a stabilization exercise. The foundation of a perfect pushup is a plank. You need to be strong enough to suspend your body in a perfectly straight line between your feet and shoulders before you can do pushups.

Starting Position:
1.    Place your hands on the floor directly under your shoulders with your arms extended.
2.    Keeping your weight over the center of your hands, screw your hands into the ground with your fingertips spread wide as if you are trying to push the floor apart with your hands.
3.    Squeeze your legs together, tense your thighs, glutes, and abs, and pull your ribs and shoulders down.

The Move:

Hold the starting position, working up from 20 to 60 seconds, and focus on your breathing. Once you can hold a plank for 60 seconds, move to the next progression.

2. Pushup Prep : One Foot, One Arm Plank

Starting Position: Start in a plank.

The Move: 

Raise a leg and the opposite arm off of the floor to hold your body weight with only two points of contact on the floor. If this is too difficult, you can try it with just one foot or one hand and work your way up to both.

3. Pushup Prep : Elevated Pushup

Elevating the top half of your body makes a pushup much easier because you’re pushing less of your body weight

Starting Position: Start in a plank with your hands on a box, bench, or step.

The Move:
1.    Tuck your elbows to your sides and slowly pull yourself into the bottom position until your chest hovers above the box.
2.    Hold this bottom position briefly and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
3.    Reverse the movement, being sure to fully extend your arms, and push your shoulder blades away from each other at the top of the movement. Your goal should be to gradually work your way to the floor by decreasing the elevation.

4. Pushup Prep : Eccentric Pushup

Starting Position: Start in a plank with hands on the floor and arms straight.

The Move:
1.    Do only the “eccentric” or negative portion of the pushup. Tuck your elbows to your sides and very slowly lower yourself until your chest hovers above the floor, being sure to take three to five seconds to lower.
2.    Place your knees on the floor to help cheat your way back to the top. Once you can do five to 10 of these consecutively, you’re ready to pump out some regular pushups.

The Classic Pushup

Starting Position: Start in a plank.

The Move:
1.    Tuck your elbows to your sides and slowly pull yourself into the bottom position until your chest hovers above the floor.
2.    Hold this bottom position briefly and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
3.    Reverse the movement, being sure to fully extend your arms, and push your shoulder blades away from each other at the top of the movement.

Beach Body Ready

Bloating happens to the best of us, but the root causes of that stuffed and swollen feeling can however be different for us all. And if you have to walk around in a bathing suit morning till dusk then the experience because all the more unpleasant. Although, a distended stomach doesn’t exactly make you feel “swimsuit ready.” Here we’ve put together what to eat, what to avoid, and what to do to support a flatter tummy all summer long.

1. Don’t Over Load
   Glycogen, is a sugar formed when your body breaks down carbohydrates, it holds three times its weight in water, says Jade Teta, MD, author of Lose Weight Here. Any glycogen not immediately used for energy is stored in the body. So unless you’re running your first half marathon, a big bagel won’t do your belly any favors.

2.Drink Plenty Of Water
Yes, you’ve heard it over and over again but if you’re feeling bloated, gassy, or waterlogged, H2O can actually help flush you out. “The body is like a sponge that needs to be rung out,” says Teta, “and water can help you do that.”

Tips: This only works if you don’t overdo the carbs and salt. Otherwise, the added water will only pile up on what’s already been stored from your diet.

3.  Say Yes To Watermelons
As the name might suggest, a whopping 93 percent of this summertime favorite is water. The de-bloating effects of foods with a high water content work the same way as gulping down a glasses of plain H20, says Keren Gilbert, RD, founder of Decision Nutrition and author of The HD Diet.

Tips: Citrus fruits like grapefruits and oranges are other great options, as as are cucumbers.

4. No To Straws And The Sodas
Drinking through a straw can increase the air and gas you take in causing temporary discomfort or an embarrassing burp, according to Teta.

5. Chew a Little Longer
Eating too quickly can affect short-term gas in much the same way as sipping through a straw, says Teta. The initial break down of food for digestion and absorption begins in your mouth, so chewing thoroughly along with saliva production can help break down food before it starts its journey through your gastrointestinal tract.

6. Reduce Stress
Digestion is enhanced by your parasympathetic (rest and digest) system, says Teta. But when you’re stressed, it alerts your sympathetic system’s fight or flight response, which can significantly reduce the digestive secretions that help break down food.

7. Cook Your Veggies 
“The body needs enzymes to break down fiber and sugar in foods, and it doesn’t have them,” says Gilbert. “Cooking these fibrous foods helps break them down making them easier to digest.”

8. Fill Up on Fruit
Gilbert says to snack on some pineapples or papayas are fantastic during the summer seasons. “They contain certain enzymes that make it easier for your body to digest protein,” she says. She also suggests starting your day with a squeeze of lemon in your water try it warm,  and ending it with some peppermint or dandelion tea, all of which are natural diuretics.

Your stomach shouldn’t be a waste basket!

There’s no point hiding from your mirrors, why not feel confident to put on that little crop top or bodycon dress  you used to wear with pride. When white fat expands in your abdomen, nestling deep among your organs, it sets you up for some serious health trouble. We now know that this type of fat, called visceral fat, churns out stress hormones like cortisol and inflammatory substances called cytokines that affect the body’s production of insulin. It’s worse than just being generally overweight; you’re looking at increased risks of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

1. Never stop moving

One thing about visceral fat is that it yields fairly easily to aerobic exercise. You may easily vaporizing calories through running, biking, swimming and overall anything that gets your heart rate pumping.

2. Pound the polyunsaturates

Saturated fat packs on more visceral fat than polyunsaturated ones, according to a Swedish study. When subjects ate 750 more calories daily for seven weeks, either in the form of palm oil (saturated) or sunflower oil (polyunsaturated), the former gained more visceral fat while the latter gained more muscle mass and less body fat.

Tips: polyunsaturated fats are the ones in nuts, seeds, and fish.

3. Pucker up

Did you know that obese people who consumed a tablespoon or two of vinegar daily for eight weeks showed significant decreases in body fat, particularly visceral fat, according to a 2009 Japanese study.

“One theory is that the acetic acid in the vinegar produces proteins that burn up fat,” explains Pamela Peeke, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and author of Fight Fat After 40.

4. Easy Yoga for Weight Loss

Postmenopausal women who tried yoga for 16 weeks reported significant reductions in visceral fat in one study conducted in 2012. If you’re just not that into a room filled with women, any sort of relaxation exercise will do, even simple deep breathing can help, the key is to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is linked to belly fat.

Weight Loss Drugs

Weight-loss drugs/pills are currently attracting enormous amounts of attention, but the following expert tips are a better bet for dropping pounds for good.

What do you think of when you read a headline about a new diet pill?

Are you really filled with hope that this will be ‘THE’ weight-loss magic you’ve been waiting for, or do your eyes glaze over as you quickly dismiss it as complete rubbish? According to new research presented at this year’s joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society, the weight-loss pill which expands in your stomach, signaling your brain that you’re full, showing a huge promise for those struggling to shed weight.

“Given the excellent safety profile observed in the study, weight loss pills have the potential to fulfill the unmet need for a safe and effective weight-loss agent”

Effective and safe? Although we’ve heard this before,  safety of course, is of the utmost key importance when it comes to ingesting a pill on a daily basis. After all, it was only April 2015 when Eloise Aimee Parry, 21, from Shrewsbury tragically died from taking something she believed was a slimming pill, ‘burned up from the inside’ after taking tablets believed to contain highly toxic chemical dinitrophenol.

“Diet pills, especially over-the-counter, can be harmful and dangerous when not under the supervision of a trained medical professional,”  “Make sure you consult with your doctor to discuss the pros and cons. Not everyone is an appropriate candidate for weight loss drugs.”

The nutritionists alternative to pills and diet fads: a healthier lifestyle. “I always encourage my clients to lose weight without the aid of weight loss supplements or drugs, because I believe it is not only more empowering that way, but it also forces you to make permanent behavior changes,” says Moskovitz.

“It’s easy to get swept up into the quick-fix weight loss claims we hear so often today,” says Glassman. “But making meaningful diet and lifestyle changes are the key to long-term weight-loss success.”

So the experts rightfully agree: Making behavior changes is the key to permanent weight-loss. If you want to flaunt that bathing suit on the beach like a true supermodel, not only this summer but for the next several years then follow Glassman’s advice for diving head-first into a healthy lifestyle:

1. Healthy Habit : Drink up.

Dieters who replace sweetened drinks with water have been shown to lose more weight. Staying hydrated helps to keep feelings of hunger at bay and fills up your stomach.

Tips: Bored by plain H2O? Add some fresh lemon or cucumber slices to give it some flavor!

2. Healthy Habit : Eat breakfast.

Start every day with a balanced breakfast that combines a high-fiber starch source with lean protein to help rev your metabolism, stabilize your blood sugar, control your hunger, and boost your energy levels.

Tips: Every now and then try something new, maybe a veggie omelet with reduced-fat cheese and a slice of whole wheat toast, or top whole wheat toast with 1 tablespoon of nut butter.

3. Healthy Habit : Go nuts!

Tree nuts like almonds are full of healthy fat, protein, and fiber, making them a perfect snack to keep you satisfied until your next meal.

Tips: Toss a handful into your bag for an easy on-the-go snack to keep you energized on busy days.

4. Healthy Habit : Embrace the snack attack.

Waiting too long between meals can slow your metabolism, increase hunger, and lead you to reach for that mid-afternoon candy bar!

Tips: Aim to eat 3 small meals and 2 snacks throughout the day to keep your metabolism revved and those cravings at bay.

5. Healthy Habit : Sleep tight. 

Experts agree that lack of sleep has been correlated to an increased risk of obesity, and when you’re tired, you tend to crave those high-fat, sugary foods too.

Tips: Getting adequate sleep (7-8 hours) has added benefits for aging and disease prevention.

6. Healthy Habit : Keep track.

Take out that old diary or maybe buy yourself a new one and start writing down all the foods you eat. Journaling can help you stay accountable and keep you on track.

Tips: Yes, even note down them sneaking handfuls of M&Ms when no one was watching! It is very important you monitor what you’re consuming.

7. Healthy Habit : Veg out.

Eat lots of veggies, but also remember to relax! Stress increases cortisol levels in the body, which in turn increase abdominal fat. Say sayonara to stress, and you’ll also wave goodbye to unwanted pounds!