Have you been looking for a way to lose weight and keep it off permanently? Are you willing to do a little work in order to drop some serious pounds? Then, honey, you are reading the right article! I’m going to tell you about the easiest, no fail way to lose weight and keep it off.

The obvious formula for losing weight seems simple enough, since all you need to do is reduce the amount of food you consume while becoming more active each day in order to burn off more than you are bringing in—calories that is—reduce calories and increase your aerobic activity and you should lose weight.

However, just following that formula may not give you the results that you are after. Trying to lose weight using this fashion will work for a short time but then after a while you begin to level off or reach a plateau. Even increasing your aerobic exercise has little effect. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can see dramatic results if you will simply add resistance training exercises to your fitness program. You will begin to notice a major difference in your overall weight loss and size. Even before the scales reveal it, your mirror will witness the transformation. If you don’t own a full-length mirror, you’ll need to invest in one and be sure to hang it on your wall or get the pretty free-standing one. Just make sure that you can see your entire body in its reflection.

Not only will resistance exercises show a remarkable change in the way that you look, these exercises are important to a healthy fitness program because they help to build strength and flexibility. Both are vital when you are staying physically active. That’s why it’s best to alternate days of resistance training and aerobic exercise. All you need is 30 minutes a day, but if you can exercise longer then go for it.

Now, if you haven’t exercised in a while, you will want to consult your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough. Once you are clear to begin, start by stretching and warming your muscles. This is most important and will help you to perform much better than if you skip this crucial step. Try not to think of it as wasted time but as a way to increase your performance.

I like to incorporate Pilates’ exercises into my resistance training workouts. Following the Pilates’ principle of engaging the core muscles aids in posture, alleviates back pain, helps to achieve a smaller waistline, while maintaining a long lean look to the torso. It’s a secret that dancers have used for years.

Alternating your workouts with aerobic exercises strengthens your heart, burns fat and builds endurance. It’s the perfect combination to your fitness program.

Of course, what you eat will determine how much weight you lose. You’ll want to cut back on fat, in particular saturated fat, also cutting back on sugar and salt will help you lose weight and protect your heart. Make wise substitutions and develop a diet plan that you can stick to. Don’t expect exercise alone to take care of your weight loss goals. You have to eat less and burn more in order to actually lose weight.

Remember, as you lose weight, that in order to continue losing weight you must cut back on the amount of food that you eat and you must increase your level of fitness in order to burn the fat. In other words, the changes you make to the way that you eat, must be changes that you can live with permanently. If you want to keep the weight off then there’s no going back to a high-fat diet.

Give it a try, exercise daily for 6 days a week alternating aerobic activity with resistance training and make healthy changes in the way that you eat. Monitor your changes in a fitness journal and record your results over a 3-month period. You’ll begin to see big differences that are much easier to accomplish than you ever thought possible. And that’s the secret formula to losing weight and keeping it off. It worked for me—I know it will work for you, too.

If you aren’t familiar with circuit training, you’ll want to read this article to see how you can get maximum results from your current workout program. You can super size your fitness program just by adding circuit training to your routine.

A combination of high-intensity aerobics and resistance training, a circuit routine may consist of as little as five easy-to-follow exercises. These should target certain areas to burn fat, build muscle and strengthen your lungs and heart. When you complete the last exercise in your circuit, you begin again on the first exercise of the routine, with a very short amount of downtime between exercises. The recommended amount of time for the entire workout should be 15 minutes. Depending on your fitness ability, you may want to work your way up to completing more than one circuit.

Adding weights to your circuits will take you to the next level, this is important when you want to see consistent weight loss and fitness effects. It’s also a dependable way to keep you from reaching a plateau in your workout program. That’s what happens sometimes when you continuously do the same exercises every day without increasing the reps or intensity, your body gets used to the same amount of exertion and you begin to burn less fat which compromises your weight loss efforts.

One thing to keep in mind when you add weights to any exercise is to learn the exercise first, then add weights while gradually increasing the amount and intensity. This is important for maintaining your form while executing the move. Practice your exercise in front of a mirror, ask a workout buddy to spot you, or hire a trainer to help you position yourself, if necessary. Once you are accustomed to the angle of your body and the muscles being worked, the better outcome you’ll reach when using weights with your program.

I suggest doing circuits two to three times per week, alternating with complete aerobic or strength training exercises on opposite days. It’s best to spend at least 30 minutes each day for six of the seven days of the week. Take one day off and just completely rest your body because that is just as important as the exercise for keeping the body fit and healthy.

The great thing about these workouts is that you can do them at home, at the office, in the gym or outside. All you need is an exercise mat, a couple of dumbbells, a towel to wipe the sweat and a bottle of water to keep you hydrated. There are some great plastic and metal water bottles available in stores if you don’t want to buy bottled water, but it’s very important to always keep water with you when you are exercising.

There’s no reason why you can’t get the most results from your weight loss and fitness program without having to spend a fortune. This is an inexpensive way to help you burn fat, lose weight and achieve the fabulous body that you desire.

If fitness is your ultimate goal or even if you just want to lose weight, aerobics is a key ingredient to help you achieve it. Aerobics or cardiovascular exercises, raise your heart rate for at least 20 minutes and help to improve the way your heart functions. These activities help to build endurance and strength too.

Because I thoroughly believe that exercise is an important part of everyday, I’ve put together 10 really good reasons that you should include aerobics to your women’s fitness program.

1. Improves heart function. By raising your heartbeat for at least 20 minutes, you increase its endurance and strength.
2. Increases lung performance. Your lungs like other parts of your body, need to work every now and then in order to function at its optimum. Aerobics helps to expand the lungs and improve stamina and strength.
3. Keeping the heart and lungs working well are paramount to being able to master certain strenuous exercises. Once your endurance is built up, it’s easier to complete your workout in a relatively short amount of time.
4. Helps you to lose weight. Aerobics allows your body to burn fat by increasing your heart rate. As your body signals stress, it begins to burn the stored fat deposits which helps you to lose weight.
5. Aerobics makes you look sexy. As you burn fat and lose weight, you’ll notice that your body is looking sexier than ever.
6. Keeps you from getting sick as often. Aerobics is a great way to stay healthy. That’s because it activates your immune system.
7. Improves health-related issues. Aerobics has been known to improve blood pressure, cholesterol as well as sugar levels, helping to ward off diabetes.
8. Fight off depression. Regular aerobic activities have been known to improve a person’s mood and help to stem the effects of depression. Not only does the increase in your heart rate improve your mood, aerobic activities can be lots of fun and sociable too.
9. Aerobic exercises improve your coordination. Especially as we age, coordination is important to a healthy lifestyle. Aerobic activities are a great way to make the mind, body spirit connection.
10. Help you live longer. With all the benefits that aerobics offers, living longer should top the chart. However, since it encompasses all of the benefits I have noted thus far, I figured it was fitting to have it at the end as a sort of summary to the blessed effects that aerobics offers to our health and well being. Not only today but well into our future.

Hopefully with the above ten benefits I’ve done a good job of convincing you to add aerobics to your workout routine. If you will engage in at least 30 minutes of aerobics for three days a week, you’ll get some dynamic results. Alternate these cardiovascular moves with strength training exercises for the most effective exercise program.

Skating is a great way to get maximum benefits from your fitness program. An ideal aerobic activity, skating builds strength, endurance and burns body fat. It can be just as beneficial as running and just as much, if not more fun!

This cardio activity works the muscles in the hips, thighs and shins but can help to deliver fitness benefits to every part of your body. All you need is a pair of skates and someplace to skate. Because you cover a larger amount of ground in the same amount of time as other exercises like running, you might want to find different areas of interest to skate. Some cities have trails that make it easy to walk, jog, skate or cycle. Many of these trails are marked so you know how far you have gone.

Trails work best because they are usually long and move along on a somewhat straight path, crucial to resisting fatigue. Aim for the least amount of curves and turns.

One of the great things about skating is the low impact workout that it provides. Not nearly as hard on aging joints, like knees and ankles, makes it an excellent exercise for any age. It’s an excellent way to tone and tighten your core, as well as your inner and outer thigh muscles.

Choosing a pair of inline skates can be challenging since there are many styles to select from. Examine the top of the shoe and check the straps that keep it snug against your foot. Make sure the heel fits well and that your foot is not slipping around inside the shoe. You’ll want to have plenty of room in the toe box even with a thick sock, but you don’t want it to be too loose.

Check out the wheels, different sized wheels are for different applications. If you haven’t done your homework, ask a sales person to assist you in selecting the correct wheel for the type of skating that you want to do. Tall, skinny wheels are made for speed, while a short, fat wheel will give you more stability. If you are just starting off skating, you might find the short, fat wheel to work better in the beginning, then graduate to a faster wheel.

In addition to the size of the wheel, the bearings have a lot to do with how efficiently the wheel turns. The higher the grade bearing the quicker the wheel turns. Just don’t get fooled by being talked into something you really don’t need.

You’ll also want to consider your safety gear such as knee and elbow pads and a helmet. These can usually be purchased at the same time and place that you buy your skates. It will be an initial investment, but over time, it provides a relatively low-cost method of exercise that renders ultimate benefits.

We all know that exercise is important to our overall health. Many times in an effort to get the most exercise in a short period of time, we overlook the importance of stretching before a workout. This includes resistance training and aerobics. Instead of warming up the muscles and giving them the opportunity to stretch before exercising, we compromise our overall fitness program by neglecting the importance of overall flexibility.

Flexibility is a vital element in a healthy fitness program. Keeping the muscles flexible protects against injury and increases your strength and ability. That’s why stretching exercises should be a regular part of your workout routine. Aim for 10 minutes of stretching before and after your activity.

Remember to stretch both your upper body and lower body muscles. Some upper body stretches include raising the arms above the head and slowly lowering them back to the sides of the body. Repeat for eight times.

Bend at the waist and stretch your upper body forward, straighten to a standing position and repeat eight times. Stand and stretch one arm above your head while resting the other hand on your shoulder. Reverse your arms and repeat eight times.

Sit on an exercise mat and stretch out your legs. Bend forward and try to touch your toes. Now spread your legs and stretch forward bringing both arms slowly down one leg to touch your toes. Reverse to the other leg.

Stand and lunge forward slightly, reverse sides and stretch the opposite leg. Slowly lower your body to a squatting position and slowly straighten to stand. Your muscles should begin to feel warm without too much exertion. This is really beneficial as you begin exercising.

Good flexibility is important to our health and fitness. Not only does it help with any exercise or activity it’s especially important for our overall health as we age. When joints become stiff from age and deterioration our muscles play a major role in helping to protect them from injury.

Before walking, you can stretch your foot and calf muscles by bending your foot at the toe and pressing it against a wall, or use a towel to raise your toes up as if standing on tip toes. Sit on the floor and stretch your legs out in front and flex your toes up towards your body and then pointed away from your body to stretch your calf muscles and avoid shin injuries.

If you will take the extra ten minutes before exercise and ten minutes afterwards for stretching you will get better results in both weight loss and fitness. You will even notice the benefits in every day tasks like picking up a child, reaching for a top shelf, pulling or pushing carts, vacuums, or chairs. Even if you steer clear of manual tasks, you’ll love the way a flexible body improves your overall appearance.

With all these attributes, you’ll definitely want to set aside a little time for this important part of a healthy lifestyle.