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Core Fitness Tips and Weight Loss Motivation for Beginners

Understanding Motivation in Fitness
Motivation is a complex blend of mental and physical factors including energy levels, willpower, external influences, and emotional state. While the realism of your goals is not directly a component of motivation, it significantly influences your ability to stay motivated.

Key Elements of Motivation
Physical Energy: Sufficient energy is crucial for maintaining an active lifestyle. Carbohydrates are vital as they provide the necessary fuel for your workouts. Additionally, staying hydrated is essential as water aids in digestion and overall bodily functions, which in turn supports energy production.

Willpower: Developing willpower is akin to training a muscle. It involves consistently choosing healthier options over tempting alternatives, such as opting for a salad instead of pizza. The more you practice resisting temptation, the stronger your willpower becomes.

External Influences: Surrounding yourself with supportive people can significantly enhance your motivation. Whether it’s friends who encourage you or a community of like-minded individuals, having a support system is invaluable.

Emotional State: Your mood plays a pivotal role in your fitness journey. Positive emotions can keep you driven, whereas stress and negative emotions might derail your progress. Addressing basic needs such as hunger and managing stress are foundational steps to maintaining a good mood.

Strategies to Boost Fitness Motivation
Surround Yourself with Positivity

Engage with communities, both online and offline, that share your fitness goals. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, social support can dramatically improve persistence in physical activities.

Set Realistic Goals
Setting achievable goals is crucial. The American Council on Exercise recommends SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to keep individuals motivated and focused.

Find Inspirational Resources
Explore various media for motivation. Fitness blogs, motivational podcasts, and inspirational books can provide the encouragement you need to keep moving forward. Websites like Healthline or WebMD offer a wealth of resources on core fitness and healthy living.

Track Your Progress
Monitoring your progress can be incredibly motivating. Use apps or a journal to track your workouts, diet, and milestones. Seeing tangible evidence of your progress can boost your morale and encourage you to keep pushing.

Conclusion
Staying motivated in your fitness journey requires a combination of internal willpower and external support. By understanding the key elements that affect motivation and implementing strategies to enhance it, beginners can effectively maintain their fitness regimen and achieve their weight loss goals. Remember, the path to fitness is a marathon, not a sprint; patience and persistence are your best allies.

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What is Dukan Diet and its side-effects?

This article gives pertinent information about Dukan Diet and its side-effects

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Pierre Dukan, a French doctor and nutritionist, challenged with the case of obesity started to look for alternative ways in curing the illness. After 20 years of thorough research he published in the year 2000, a book called, “Je ne sais pas maigrir” or translated as, “I don’t know how to get slimmer.” It gained the best-seller in France after a year it has been published.
It was made a hit in UK when Kate Middleton, now the duchess of Cambridge, tried the Dukan Diet before her marriage to the beloved Prince William, she reportedly claimed a loss of two dress sizes. It also allegedly claimed to help five million French. The book is also gaining fame in the US in the year 2011 when actress/singer, Jennifer Lopez, lost pounds after her pregnancy by following this diet.
Dukan Diet: What is it? How does this work?
Dukan Diet is similar to the famous Atkins diet. Atkins and Dukan are much alike in terms of non-intake of carbs initially and do not require portion control or counting calorie consumptions. In Atkins, it requires net carbohydrate intakes and unlike Dukan, it suggests a daily intake of oats, increase water consumption and 20 minutes of everyday brisk walking. Dukan Diet adopts four phases namely: Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization.
Four Phases of the Dukan Diet
Attack: In this starter phase, the dieter is only allowed take protein rich foods that are exquisitely low in fat. Dr. Dukan provided 72-item list of foods to be eaten, it excludes pork, lamb, poultry products and cheeses. Food should always be cooked but without adding any fat to it, it best to cook in grilling or roasting. It also requires you to eat 1 ½ tbsp. oat bran & 1.5 liters of water per day. This phase should be followed around 2-7 days or more. Results from this initial phase within 5 days may result in 4-7 lbs. loss. This phase promotes quick loss of weight since it is strictly based on a protein-only diet.
Cruise: Cruise, the second to the fourth phase of the Dukan diet scheme. During this phase dieters who were only allowed to eat protein-only foods can now alternate a 28-items of non-starchy vegetables. They may take attack phase diet for today and take non-starchy veggie diet for tomorrow, and so this phase must go on by alternating these two types of diet each day. This phase may last long enough as much as you want by reaching your desired weight and assuring 2 pounds per week loss.
Consolidation: As one achieves the desired weight, one has to go the next phase called Consolidation, this is the maintenance phase of this diet scheme where you have to prevent putting back excess pounds. The plan in this phase is less strict compared to the first two phases. During this phase you are permitted to eat protein-only and veggie diet along with a piece of low-sugar fruit, 2 slices of whole grain bread and a portion of hard cheese. In this phase you are allowed to have 1-2 serving of starchy foods and one celebration meal per week. The phase of consolidation does not expect to loss off pounds but rather it is steadily the maintenance process.
Stabilization: Stabilization is the final phase and a life-long phase of the diet scheme. In here maintenance of the life-changing diet may be a challenging and tempting. During this portion of the scheme, one is already permitted to allow any food intake that a person wants and by also sticking to the diet rule in the consolidation phase. As Pierre Dukan suggest, that staying on the phase 1 rule once a week and eat whatever you like for the rest of the week lowers the chances of regaining weight.
Pros and Cons of Dukan Diet
Pros: The fast results of this diet scheme is beneficially rewarding and motivating. It allows you to have protein and veggie meal plan diets and does not require you to count off your calorie intakes.
Cons: It is highly restrictive and can exclude healthy foods. Dieters can experience side-effects such as symptoms of headaches, nausea, lethargy, irritable and loss of concentration. Dieters may acquire halitosis (bad breath), metallic tasting mouth and strong smell in their urines. For those people who have problems with their kidneys and liver are not advised to follow this diet plan. It is not also recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers.

Views and Opinions by Health Experts on the Dukan Diet
There are lots of critics in this diet plan. Due to the restrictive type scheme of this diet, some fruits, grains and nuts which are healthy and have high amounts of vitamins and minerals that are vital to the nutrition of the body are eliminated. Keri Gans of American Dietetic Association, said that the lost amount of multivitamins that should be acquired from those restricted foods are not compensated in the Dukan diet. Experts have also criticized that experiencing such side-effects may not be healthy at all.

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Learning More about Atkins OWL Phase

The second phase of the Atkins diet program is called Ongoing Weight Loss or OWL. After the rapid weight loss of the 2-week Induction phase, you’ll be slowing your weight reduction down just a bit. You’ll contribute in specific carbohydrates that will make your food consumption a little easier and your weight reduction just a bit slower. Even so, you will carry on slim down at a steady even pace with ease.

During the OWL phase you will boost your body’s power to burn fats. Although you’ll be adding carbohydrates slowly, you’ll still stop in the state of ketosis. You will carry on use your extra fat as fuel for your system, and the pounds and inches will carry on come off.

The OWL phase will also teach you to make better carbohydrate alternatives. The recipes and directives for OWL will improve your knowledge about satisfying food. You’ll replace the poor carbohydrate choices that you relied on in the past with new and better choices.

It will also be possible to learn how many carbohydrates you can consume and still shed weight. The operation of the OWL phase is an experiment in what your specific body does with carbs. During the OWL phase, you’ll gradually increase your daily carb intake from the 20-gram level that you employed in induction. Every week you’ll try adding another 5 grams of carbs and then take heed of what happens. When weight reduction slows too much, you’ll know that you’ve exceeded your own carb limit.

OWL also prepares you for your lasting weight management program (called maintenance). The habits and practices that you start during OWL will go quite some distance toward your long-term success. Treat this period of your food consumption as training for the real “test” – your post diet life.

During the OWL phase, you’ll still be getting most of your carbohydrates from vegetables (just as you do during Induction). It’s important to continue to eat a broad variety of vegetables, as they’re beneficial to your health and good for maintaining intestinal health during the Atkins diet plan. You will be able to add more portions of vegetables, and then gradually be able to add nuts, seeds and even berries. Still, the primary focus of the diet will still be protein.

In a way, the Induction phase is simpler than any of the other phases of Atkins. The strict plan always works and always produces weight loss. As you enter the OWL phases, you’ll ought to be more mindful of your carbohydrate count and keep better track of your weight. You will have more choice and that might lead to more temptations, which might extend to a stalling of your weight loss or even gain in weight.

Counting carbohydrate grams is critical in your OWL success. If you do not count, you will finish up consuming more carbs than you should. Although, the’re a great many tools available that can help you with counting. There are lots of handy, portable books that will tell you the amount of grams of carbohydrates in certain foods. Over the course of time, you’ll know the “carb count” for your favorite foods instantly.

Counting carbs is in addition essential during the OWL phase as you are playing detective. You are investigating to find your personal carb count, the volume of carbohydrate grams that you can eat daily and still lose weight. During first seven days of OWL, you’ll move from 20 carbohydrate grams to 25. It is advisable that you add this in the sort of more vegetables, like asparagus or cauliflower. You’ll keep at the 25-gram level for a week, and then move up to 30 grams a day.

As you improve your carbohydrate gram level, watch your weight closely. If you go through too a good deal of slowdown, you know you’ve gone too high. You’ll find your maximum carbohydrate gram level when you stop losing weight at all. When this takes place, you will know you’ve arrived at the country your limit. Once you find your own carb count, drop down below that number if you would like to continue losing weight.

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