Archive for the ‘Weight Gain’ Category

Are Popular Weight Gain Diet Strategies Harmful To Bodybuilding Results?

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Numerous bodybuilders pursue weight lifting to enhance self confidence levels, with some being overweight and needing both muscle gain and fat loss, while many others begin the process significantly below what they feel is a comfortable body weight, and because they consider themselves to be excessively thin, decide to pursue bodybuilding with the hopes of naturally rectifying this unwanted trait. The first place they visit for advice are either bodybuilding magazines or Internet web sites that offer weight gain diet techniques, and the feeling is, by following such eating strategies when combined with intense weight lifting, the body will begin to systematically gain weight, and appearance will greatly improve.

The flaw in such thinking is that many variables are necessary in constructing an effective muscle building routine, and when a weight lifter aims to gain weight, he or she is not seeking a larger waistline or a second chin, but rather lean muscle gains, which improve appearance and enhance body weight, accomplishing both goals simultaneously. Although most weight gain diet strategies are designed to accomplish their stated goal, which is to increase body weight, many accept this as a sign that such a plan is worth pursuing, but doing so fails to consider that the type of weight gained may be undesirable. A bodybuilding strategy can easily produce more body fat increase than muscle gain if designed improperly, and because of this, the term “weight gain diet” can easily refer to rapid, unnecessary and unwanted body fat increase.

Unfortunately, many bodybuilders are not aware of this fact, and pursue common bodybuilding weight gain diet strategies blindly, believing that such routines will lead to improved self confidence. Yet, in reality, they find that although the scale increases regularly, mirror appearance begins to worsen as the body accumulates massive amounts of fat, which is diametrically opposed to achieving bodybuilding caliber results. Despite this fact, many bodybuilders continue to follow such weight gain diet tactics, believing that if they remain persistent, their goals will become a reality, and if the scale continues to note progress, there is no need to change direction.

But after several months of such flawed weight gain diet practice, a bodybuilder will begin to feel the sense that he or she is unappealing physically, but for a far different reason, as body fat levels have hidden newly built muscle, and eliminated all definition, creating a physique that is far from aesthetically pleasing. If a bodybuilder continues to believe that he or she must weigh a certain amount to have achieved success, then body fat will remain, and the goal of developing a pleasing physical appearance will essentially become impossible, unless the bodybuilder’s diet routine changes dramatically.

The most important point to remember is that common weight gain diet plans overload the body with carbohydrates, causing a surge in body fat percentage, instead of properly balancing protein, carbohydrates and fat for sustained muscle gain, without rapid expansion of body fat levels. In many cases, body fat will need to rise as muscle is gained, since many metabolisms cannot increase muscle mass without some fat accumulation, but common weight gain diet techniques encourage the greatest amount of fat gain, as opposed to providing a balanced approach that offers consistent muscle building, while minimizing body fat increases. The more body fat that is accumulated during the weight gain process, the longer a bodybuilder must waste burning fat in the future, and the easier he or she will regain that body fat due to conditioning fat cells to accept a far higher level of body fat than otherwise would have been possible when following a properly designed bodybuilding weight gain diet strategy.

So, when attempting to rectify a thin frame, remember that the goal is to produce lean muscle gains and minimize body fat levels, which requires avoiding common weight gain diet advice which you will find plastered on the covers of bodybuilding magazines, and instead balance nutrients properly so that the body can receive sufficient food for consistent muscle gains, without the accompanying body fat intrusion. The worst possible scenario for a bodybuilder is to spend much time attempting to build muscle, while following a flawed weight gain diet strategy that causes body fat to encompass the vast majority of weight gained, so make sure to consider the importance of a correctly designed weight gain diet plan prior to embarking on a bodybuilding quest.

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Weight Gain from Menopause

Monday, November 16th, 2009

For many women over 50, you have probably heard about the problems with menopause. With menopause being so common for older women, you probably would have a good reason to be a little worried about some of the side effects.

Weight gain is not directly correlated to menopause but the side effects that occur from menopause can be linked to weight gain. The main thing is the lifestyle change that you take up when you are diagnosed with menopause.

It is thought that you become more sensitive to gaining weight when you get menopause and the particular area of your body that sees it the most often and common is the abdominal area. At a younger age, females will see the weight gain mostly hits the butt to begin with, while men it is the abdominal area.

Truthfully, a change in your hormones can play a big part in gaining weight. While the menopause process isn’t figured out into great detail, while in menopause, you no longer ovulate so the menstruation process doesn’t occur anymore and this can lead to the body creating less female hormone estrogens.

In animals, it has been discovered that low estrogens lead to weight gain and this could be the same case with humans as well.

With both men and women, it is found that your muscle slowly starts to turn into fat as you age and your metabolic rate dramatically drops. You will probably notice that you lose your appetite a bit and need to eat less to be full. In the whole process, as you age, you will probably notice that you gain weight and it isn’t always a result of health problems but rather a bad diet at times, however the percentage of overweight people as elders and compared to the younger generations does suggest that most older people get big from aging or health issues.

The stage of menopause where you get hormone therapy is thought to be a reason for aw eight gain but this is definitely not a true statement. While hormone therapy can lead to you bloating and having water retention, this is all at the beginning of the treatment. This is all just a temporary process and when after the process is over, you will more than likely find that you didn’t suffer a weight gain.

Hormone therapy also helps you lower the risk of quite a few heart diseases and minimizes the fat getting stored in the abdominal area, as well;hormone therapy helps you lower cholesterol. However, to look at the disadvantages of hormone therapy, it has been linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in a few studies that were done recently.

If you have seen that you are gaining weight while you have menopause, there are some actions that you could take.

• Assure yourself that your diet is healthy, low on fat and contains a good amount of dietary fibres but try to stay away from as much sugar as possible.
• Exercise regularly. If you are older, exercising isn’t as easy as it once was and your energy and activity level may be next to nothing but you can still get some activity in. Whether it means going for a walk with some friends or going for a light bike ride, there are a lot of things that even the older people can do.
• Try to keep your muscles from turning into fat by using light weights to maintain your bicep and triceps muscles. For your legs, go walking, cycling, or even play a little basketball if you are up for it.
• Accept yourself for who you are. You have to understand that when you start aging, your body goes through a lot of changes that cannot be reversed and this goes for both those who are overweight and who are not.

Be fine with what you look like and you can start from there.

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Why Gaining Weight Is So Easy For Some People

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Gaining weight is easy — many people do it! Losing weight seems to be a never ending battle for most of people.

You may be the type of person who gains weight just looking at a cheese platter, while your coworker can devour second and third servings without putting on an ounce. Her metabolism is different from yours. It’s probably faster. Chances are, though, her attitude toward food and exercise is different too. She may dislike exercise as much as you do, but she may have figured out what she needs to do in terms of exercisebecause she feels the payoff is worth it.

All you have to do is get into the habit of eating the types and amounts of food that contribute more calories than you can possibly metabolize as energy. That’s all it takes. The years go by, and your eating habits catch up with you. Just 100 excess calories a day adds up to 36,500 excess calories at the end of a year and those calories result in a 10 and a 1?2 pound weight gain. After just a few years, you have a big weight problem.

Some people simply move more than others throughout the natural course of their day, which helps them maintain a healthier weight. Thanks to a documented phenomenon known as the “fidget factor”. This says that these people burn several hundred calories a day just by their use of body language. They often walk fast and talk fast, and they can’t sit still for long. Even if their jobs keep them in front of a computer all day, they have to get up frequently and move around. If you know someone who frequently fidgets, you’ve probably noticed that he or she can get away with eating more food than someone with a calm demeanor.

Everyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that losing weight isn’t always as simple as balancing eating and exercise. Other factors are involved in weight gain. For instance, if being overweight or obesity runs in your family, then you may have a genetic predisposition to easy weight gain. On the other hand, even if your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are mostly overweight, it may not be in your genes. It may just be that you picked up bad eating habits.

Many of your diet routines — the times of day you eat, the types of food you choose, the reasons why you eat, and even your habits of eating slowly or quickly, reading the newspaper, or watching television while you eat — probably came from your parents, who “inherited” them from their parents, and so on.

These are some of the causes and factors that why some people gain weight so easily as compared to the others.

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How Much Weight Gain is Right?

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

How much weight gain is right? Simple answer, weight gain isn’t right; it never is. Unless you are underweight, gaining weight is not good. Overweight is a problem that millions of people around the globe are struggling with, and thousands of deaths occur everyday due to obesity. The need of the hour is for people to be healthy and maintain fitness.

When you start gaining weight, you may want to keep standing on the weighing scale to see how much weight you are gaining. Start working immediately on losing the extra weight or maintain your weight. If you gain excess weight really fast, you may want to check with your doctor. Weight gain is a sign of many diseases. You want to be careful and rule out all possibilities such as sticking to a diet that is healthy. Although weight gain isn’t good, on the contrast losing weight drastically isn’t good either.

The key is to be balanced and maintain a particular weight. Make sure you are eating all the nutrients you need. Avoid intake of excess calories and fats and as mentioned earlier, drastic weight loss is just as bad as weight gain. So don’t it’s generally not a good idea to start an excessive diet in hopes to lose 10 pounds in a matter of days.

Just eat right and exercise regularly; that should help you maintain your weight. If you have gained a lot of weight and are now overweight by about 10 pounds or more, you may want to do a bit more to lose weight. Start going to the gym and don’t skip your exercise time. Do exercise on a daily basis. Work hard at it. Being healthy is the best gift you can give yourself and you deserve that gift.

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