For a person of any age the best way to begin a gym routine is combination of resistance and weight training. Since the muscles have not been worked for a long time, the other exotic exercise routine can come up later.

Best time to exercise

Gyms usually open by 6 am. This is the best time to exercise, even for beginners. Once you start waking up in the morning and becoming active by sunrise, the body clock resets to the nature clock we have been following for millions of years. It helps set our circadian rhythm. The day time enzymes and hormones start their work as soon as we hit the gym.

Even for beginners, the total time for best results is two hours.

Protein is very important but …

The best sources of protein are non vegetarian. For vegetarians, they have to work a little harder. Soy are the best source of complete protein profile. Sambar is another great option. Rest are paneer, tofu, cheese, curd, dal and beans. For non vegetarians it is easy. Liver and organ meats are the best options as they provide other forms of nutrition too. Red meat is the best source of protein. If you are living next to sea, fish is the best source of protein ever. Beware of the poor sources of protein like peanuts. Dry fruits like almonds, cashew, pista, walnuts, brazil nuts are all good source of protein in small quantities. Besides, they also contain fibre and essential micro nutrients too.

Keep this in mind while eating eggs

Four eggs a day is the most important target of a gym goer. The worst type of eggs are the commercial ones, pure white in colour which has been raised by force feeding poultry feed to chicken without allowing them any exercise.

If you are able to get eggs from desi chicken, that is the best option. If you are able to procure eggs directly from a farmer, they are the best source of nutrition and protein. Do not discard the yellow yolk. It is true that it contains cholesterol but that is essential for the functioning of the nervous system and cells. Plus the yolk is packed with nutrients consumed by the chicken directly from the soil.

Remember, farm raised eggs are more expensive than the commercial variety. Fully fried eggs are the best way for protein absorption, even better than boiling them.

Sleep is the most important part of exercise

If you are going to train hard for those two hours, two things are definitely going to happen. Your body will be tired and you will feel the need to sleep. Do not fight it. Second one is related to de-stressing which we shall see in the next para.

Usually when you are putting in those two hours in the day, chances are that you will need to hit the bed by 9 pm. Beware of the great Indian Social trick where most family functions, weddings and get-togethers begin at night. Dinner is almost definitely served after 10 pm. Try to avoid such a situation, else you will have trouble getting up early and hitting the gym. Lack of sleep will destroy any ambitious gym plans. Stay away from any late night ventures.

Switch off all harsh lights. Do not watch TV late. Stay away from mobile devices screen after 9 pm. All these factors will hinder sleep.

The main important benefit of going to the gym is the de-stressing part

City folks are right now dealing with two problems. One is about metabolic syndrome and other is daily stress. There are number of ways of dealing with stress. But two hours at the gym still tops the list.

If you feel de-stressed, that is a very very natural thing to happen. So go with the flow and feel the stress leaving the body as you work out.

Hydration is very important

Salts are electrolytes which help with the signalling system in our body, our nervous system. Urine has to be yellowish clear and the only way to achieve that is to keep sipping water from 6 am in the morning to about 7 pm after which you should stop. Keep a water bottle right in front of you at all times. If you still have problems with hydration, add a little bit of electrolyte to water. If you are feeling lazy or tired lifting weights, chances are that you are having problems with electrolytes.

Some other tips

Wake up and immediately sip some water. Do not gulp too much of water else you will be hitting the loo to pee again and again at the gym.

Carry a water bottle to the gym and keep sipping. Do not add any kind of mixture or supplement to the water. That is for advance goers. You might never aim to reach that level in the first two years at least.

Even though protein is important, fibre is equally important. Keep eating as much as fibre as you can. Else you will end up eating carbs. That will end up with weight gain.

First few days of intense exercise will end up with sore muscles. The only way to cure that is to work out immediately the next day. More exercise is the only way to help relieve the pain.

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Food is the primary and only source of energy for our body. Food is about survival, it is a resource sometimes easily available and other times hard to get. Human body has adapted itself since the last five lakh years to store resources inside the body.

In order to decide how much resources are to be stored, our body takes help of two calculations – Set Point and Metabolic Rate.

Set point is the narrow range of body weight that is decided by the body and is kept within that range. It is the weight which the body feels safe that enough resources have been stored for those difficult times.

Whenever the weight falls below the set point, it decides that survival itself is at stake and takes emergency measures to get back to the set point. Our body cells have a certain type of intelligence which guide all these actions. If weight rises above the set point by overeating, the body sheds resources to come back to the set point again.

Base Metabolic Rate is the amount of energy required by the body when it is resting. Metabolic Rate is the base rate and calories consumed due to any activity. It is calculated by multiplying 22 with body weight in kgs and then adding the calories required for the day.

Starving & Exercise

Starving is the process of deliberately reducing calorie intake by limiting the amount of food you eat. Diet plans work by the technique of calorie deficient or calorie restriction to achieve the desired weight loss. Intermittent fasting is not a diet, however keto diet is a kind of diet plan.

Body senses this change in pattern immediately. If you are also exercising at the same time, the calorie deficient further increases because you are now burning more calories.

The body and cells now take corrective action by reducing the energy expenditure and increasing hunger. This usually happens after two to three weeks of your new diet plan and exercise routine.

You might never come to know but slowly you will have less energy to do even daily activities and you will start feeling more tired easily. Now even though you are still eating less, the body will start putting on weight slowly. This weight gain will put you in doubt that the diet plan is not working.

From this point on there is only will power left and once that too is exhausted, you start eating normal and you body comes back to your set point weight.

Once things normalise, the body gets ready for any such incident of starvation which might occur in the future. It has a choice between fight or flight and it fights back by raising the set point which leads to more weight gain.

Solution – what you can try instead

A more practical solution would be the time tested method of Indian ancestors.

Here were the things they followed.

• Getting fat adapted instead of sugar adapted
• Achieve that by having a 12 hour gap between dinner and breakfast
• Fast & prayer every ekadashi
• 15 min walk at sunrise followed by suryanamaskar
• Have nutrient dense vegetables every meal, min three vegetables on your plate
• Include as many fermented products you can eat like cheese, butter, ghee, yogurt, paneer, etc

Start having more fat intense food but remember the difference between the good fats and bad ones. Avocado, animal fat, fish fat, dry fruits, desi ghee are all examples of good fat. All grain oils, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils like vanaspati, palm oils, refined oils are all bad fats. Cold pressed seed oils are an exception here. Also remember Lord Krishna as a baby did not drink milk but instead had a go at makhan. Reconsider that glass of milk which you think healthy and relish each morning.

A 12 hour gap between dinner and next day breakfast will set a pattern of the body that there is going to be adequate nutrition available. That will lead the body to store less and hence the set point weight will be kept at the lowest minimum.

Final tip for those who want to lose weight – The best fat burning exercise is walking. So take all the Vitamin D in the morning with the rising sun. For women the best yoga exercise remains suryanamaskar as it is the only exercise which provides strength, flexibility and breathing. Flexibility especially helps with those having thyroid issues.

The post Why starving and exercise will not help you lose weight first appeared on Healthy life with Manju Mohan.

Causes of metabolic syndrome

Why do people get metabolic syndrome is a subject of intense medical studies. A few conditions like diabetes are hereditary and linked to family history.

Overweight or Obesity is the main cause of Metabolic syndrome.

Improper meal timings and consuming lots of processed foods or fried food is another major reason.

Smoking is another major cause of metabolic syndrome.

Risk increases with age.

If your body develops insulin resistance, the blood sugar levels of your blood rises.

Ways to tackle

The first task on hand is to identify if you are having metabolic syndrome or not. This shall be confirmed by a doctor. Few common indicators are big waist line, high blood pressure, high fasting sugar level, high triglyceride level and low HDL level.

Weight Management – Since obesity is the main cause, you need to get on with weight management as early as possible. Do not go for crash diets of some fancy diet plan. Stick to local food and eat in small proportions as per your body weight. Always take professional help for a good diet plan.

Daily Exercise – Take out time to do exercise. Walking, jogging, cycling and even yoga will help.

The post Metabolic syndrome explained in detail first appeared on Healthy life with Manju Mohan.