yackattack:

Frozen Berry Smoothie

Always a favorite for an easy breakfast, berry smoothies pack tons of vitamins and flavor! This is also great for cooling down on a hot summer day.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cup Frozen Berries (Mine is an assortment of blue & blackberries)

1 Banana, Peeled and Sliced

1 Orange, Peeled and Sliced

2 Tbsp. Ground Flaxseed (for Omegas & Protein!)

1/4 Cup Water

Directions:

Blend all ingredients until smooth, add a couple of ice cubes to make it colder if you like. Drink up!

(via losing-forlife-deactivated20111)

(Source: boxingbeauty, via fatskinnygirl)

(Source: missalisa91, via losing-forlife-deactivated20111)

revealme:

BEHOLD, THE ALMIGHTY BANANA.

A Banana a Day…
Instead of eating an apple each day for optimum health, the adage should state that a banana each day keeps the doctor away. The banana health benefits far outweigh those of the apple because it has many more vitamins and nutrients than their round counterparts.

Bananas have two times as many carbohydrates as an apple, five times as much Vitamin A and iron and three times as much phosphorus. In addition, bananas are also rich in potassium and natural sugars. All of these factors combined make the banana a “super food” that is an integral part of a healthy daily regimen.

Bananas Provide Energy
Because of the abundance of vitamins and minerals, bananas are a great source of natural energy. Eating only two bananas will give you enough energy to exercise or workout for an hour and a half. Bananas are also ideal for eating during that midday lull when you feel tired and sluggish.

Instead of drinking caffeine or having a sugary snack, bananas provide a level of energy that lasts longer without the dramatic crash caused by caffeine.

Potassium is Vital for Performance
Because they are rich in potassium, bananas help the body’s circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain. This also helps maintain a regular heartbeat and a proper balance of water in the body. Potassium is also helpful for reducing strokes and regulating blood pressure because of the way it promotes circulatory health.

Bananas Promote Bowel Health
One of the banana health benefits is that they can help stop constipation. Bananas have a certain type of fiber that helps to restore and maintain regular bowel functions. Instead of using laxatives that might have chemicals or other synthetic substances, bananas are a natural source for lessening the effects of constipation without causing other bowel problems such as diarrhea.

Bananas Can Lift Your Spirits
Bananas have a chemical called tryptophan – the same chemical that turkey contains. This mood regulating substance contains a level of protein that helps the mind relax so you feel happier. According to Bananasaver.com, people suffering from depression often report feeling better after eating a banana.

Eat a Banana during Your Monthly Visitor
Instead of taking pills designed to reduce your menstrual pains, bananas can be a great help. As stated on Bananasaver.com, bananas have a level of vitamin B6 that helps to regulate blood glucose level and help your overall mood.

Increase Your Brain Power with Bananas
In addition to banana health benefits, they can also help you with your mind. Bananasaver.com discusses a study with 200 students who were asked to eat one banana three times a day - breakfast, recess and lunchtime – along with their normal meals. What they found was that the potassium in the bananas boosted their brainpower and made them more alert during their classes while they followed the regimen.

Eat Bananas after a Night of Partying
The natural ingredients in bananas and their ability to replenish the body’s vitamins make them an ideal way to reduce the effects of a hangover. Put a couple bananas in the blender with some plain yogurt and add some honey to sweeten the taste. The fruit tends to calm the stomach and the honey helps to restore the blood sugar levels to normal.

Similarly, bananas can help people who are trying to quit smoking. The B vitamins and other minerals that they contain reduce the physical and psychological effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Bananas are Great for Pregnant Women
Because of their calming properties, pregnant women often eat bananas to combat their morning sickness. In addition, they also help to replenish the body and restore a healthy blood glucose level. In addition, they also help regulate a pregnant woman’s temperature, although this is mostly used in other cultures that rely more heavily on natural cures.

 Rub the Peel on Mosquito Bites
Before you throw those peels away, rubbing the inside of it along a mosquito bite will help reduce the itching and swelling that is normally associated with these types of bites. You might even find that it works better than the creams or medications you find at the drugstore.

Bananas Help Soothe Ulcers
As a way to prevent and treat ulcers, bananas help to reduce the acidity that some foods can leave in the stomach. They help reduce the irritation of the digestive system by leaving a protective coating around the inner walls, making it a natural way to promote intestinal health as well.

Since they help to neutralize acidity, they are also a great way to get rid of heartburn. They act as a natural antacid and they quickly soothe the burn.

Bananas are Rich in Iron
For people suffering from a deficiency in iron, bananas help to give your body the iron that it needs. As a result, they help promote hemoglobin production so your blood can clot faster in case of a cut or serious injury.

Banana Peels are Good Fertilizer
Bananas can also benefit your garden. Instead of throwing the peels away, banana peels are ideal fertilizer for gardens and soils. Rose bushes benefit a great deal from the peels. If you have a certain plant that you want to blossom, simply bury a few peels next to it by the roots. In a few weeks, the plant will be huge.  

Peels Can Be Used to Treat Warts
The outside of the banana peel also has healing and beneficial properties for the human body. If you have a wart on your foot, wrapping a banana peel around your foot so that the exterior of the peel rubs against the wart will help it go away in a matter of time. To keep the peel in place, you can wrap tape around it for better results.

With all of the banana health benefits, it is easy to see why they are such a popular fruit. In many ways, their benefits are far greater than that of other fruits. They not only have more vitamins and minerals than some other choices, they also taste great and are easy to eat.

However, having a diet that consists of only bananas as your fruit each day is not healthy and it can even be harmful to your health. Try to include several of your favorite fruits throughout the week because each of them has different advantages for your body. If you do not normally include bananas or any other fruit in your daily routine, find some ways to include fruit in your diet in order to improve your health and overall well-being.
 

(Source: lifescript.com, via losing-forlife-deactivated20111)

happyhealthyhopeful:

neversaydiet:

http://carrotsandcollarbones.tumblr.com/:

Week 1: Run one minute. Walk 90 seconds. Repeat eight times. Do three times a week.

Week 2: Run two minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat seven times. Do three times a week.

Week 3: Run three minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat six times. Do three times a week.

Week 4: Run five minutes. Walk two minutes. Repeat four times. Do three times a week.

Week 5: Run eight minutes. Walk two minutes. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.

Week 6: Run twelve minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.

Week 7: Run fifteen minutes. Walk one minute. Run fifteen minutes. Do three times a week.

Week 8: Run thirty minutes continuously.

Okay seriously noting this for myself. I am doing this when I get back to the gym in a week and a half or so. Yes please!

(via curvy-fitness)

My dashboard is kinda dead at the moment. I need to follow new WL blogs.

a-fitspirational-blonde:

 

1. Catch the running bug. You’ll continue to burn fat after your jog: People who run for at least four hours a week melt more calories than non-runners, even when they’re not running, a Yale University School of Medicine study reports.

2. Crank it up early. Working out harder during the first half of your workout and taking it easier during the second burns up to 23 percent more fat than doing the opposite, according to a study from The College of New Jersey.

3 & 4. Go hard — and make it quick. Staying at 80 percent of your max heart rate for 40 minutes can amp your metabolism for 19 hours afterward, research published in Obesity notes. And doing a shorter workout at 75 percent of your max aerobic capacity will give you a greater metabolic boost than sweating longer at 50 percent, a Colorado State University reveals.

5 to 7. Lift dumbbells … slowly. More muscle equals mega metabolism boost. Strength training can help you trim major fat, research reveals — and doing super-slow (versus normal speed) reps increases strength by 50 percent.

Plus, using dumbbells activates more muscle fibers than using machines, explains Gregory Haff, Ph.D., an associate professor in the exercise physiology department at West Virginia University.

8. Speed up, slow down. Alternating bouts of high-intensity and low-intensity cardio has been shown to torch pounds.

9. Put on weight (literally). Wearing a weighted vest (about 10 percent of your body weight) while walking can boost your calorie burn by 8 percent.

10. Download Rihanna, not Brahms. Listening to up-tempo songs actually makes you run faster and harder than listening to slower-paced music, British scientists say.

11. Let kettlebells ring. Not only does working out with kettlebells build muscle, but doing it for 20 minutes burns as many calories as running at a 6-minute-mile pace for the same amount of time.

12. Keep it up. As few as 80 minutes a week of aerobic or weight training helps keep you from regaining belly fat after losing weight, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

13. Add poles. Use Nordic poles while you walk, and you’ll burn 20 percent more calories, says research from The Cooper Institute in Dallas.

14 & 15. Lift first, nix the rest. Doing strength training before cardio can torch more fat than cardio alone. And if you do one move after another without pausing, “you’ll see more gains in strength and muscle mass,” says Dr. Pierre Manfroy, M.D., consultant for the book “100 Ways to Supercharge Your Metabolism.”

16. Add pounds. Lift heavier weights for fewer reps to make your workout more intense — and burn more fat — Manfroy says.

17. Try aromatherapy. Exercisers who inhaled strawberry and buttered-popcorn scents torched more calories than those who sniffed neutral odors, according to research from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.

18. Box yourself in. Wii boxing knocks out nearly twice as many calories as some other games, like Wii golf.

19. Kick it. Playing soccer not only torches more fat and builds more muscle than jogging, but it feels less tiring, Danish research reveals.

20. Stay in shape. Fit people have more fat-burning metabolites in their blood than couch potatoes do, scientists say.

IN THE KITCHEN

22. Get more protein. Eating a protein-packed breakfast and lunch helps you burn more post-meal fat than if you eat lower-protein meals, according to Australian research.

23 & 24. Guzzle green tea — or coffee. Downing five 5-ounce cups of green tea a day boosts metabolism, says Lyssie Lakatos, R.D., author of “Fire Up Your Metabolism.” Two cups of coffee will also do the trick, one study shows.

25. Have an omelet. Eating two eggs for breakfast while dieting will help you trim more weight and body fat than if you ate the same amount of calories noshing on a bagel, scientists say.

26. Stay above 1,200 calories… ”The average person’s body goes into starvation mode if she eats fewer than 1,200 calories a day,” says Eric Berg, author of “The 7 Principles of Fat Burning.” “That’s stress, and stress creates more belly fat.”

27. … and cut calories gradually. If you diet, don’t trim more than 250 calories a day. Cutting calories too quickly slows your metabolism down, Dr. Manfroy says.

28 to 33. Munch on these. Almonds, cherries, yogurt, grapefruit, whole grains, and spicy foods have all been shown to torch fat.

34. Fuel up right. Eating a low-glycemic-index breakfast (such as muesli and peaches) will help you burn more fat during a subsequent workout than eating a high-glycemic-index meal (like waffles), researchers from the University of Nottingham reveal.

35. Think before you drink. Sipping as few as 90 calories’ worth of vodka can slow your metabolism by 73 percent, one study shows.

36. Graze. Women who go without eating for long periods are more likely to have higher body-fat percentages than women who nosh more regularly, one study notes.

37. Dine like a Greek. Eating a diet rich in monounsaturated fat (think olive oil, avocados) can help trim both weight and fat, research published in the British Journal of Nutrition shows.

38. Stop gorging. Your body can only handle so much food at a time, so stick to 600 calories or less per meal to maximize fat-burning, says Leslie Cooper, co-author of “Flip the Switch: Proven Strategies to Fuel Your Metabolism and Burn Fat 24 Hours a Day.”

39. Skip juice. Reaching for an apple instead of apple juice is not only better calorie-wise, but it’ll also do a better job of boosting your metabolism, Dr. Manfroy explains.

IN YOUR LIFE

41 & 42. Get C and D. Vitamin C can help you burn more fat, and D may help you lose fat, research notes. Aim for 400 to 500 mg of C and 800 mg of D a day.

43 & 44. Walk more (in denim). Researchers found that fitness-friendly offices (think treadmill desks, mobile headsets) helped people trim pounds and fat, as did wearing jeans to work, since dressing casual encourages you to move more. Wear comfy clothes when you can, pace while on the phone, and stand while chatting with co-workers.

45. Add fish oil (And work out). Taking 6 grams of fish oil per day and hitting the gym three times a week can help nix body fat, an Australian study reveals.

46. Work the day shift. Keeping nontraditional hours lowers levels of hormones that trigger satiety, increases blood glucose and insulin levels, and raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol (which can drive you to eat more), scientists say.

47. Nix the boob tube. Cut your TV time in half, and you’ll burn more calories each day, research from the University of Vermont suggests.

48. Go mental. People who visualized themselves training a specific muscle boosted the strength in that muscle group, researchers found.

49. Eat a smaller dinner. Your body may not digest food — and burn fat — as efficiently if you down a huge meal right before bedtime, especially because your metabolism is slower while you sleep, Dr. Manfroy says.

50. Jump-start your morning. Wake up your metabolism — and get fat-burning started — by doing some sort of exercise within the first few hours of being awake, Cooper suggests.

51. Get your snooze on. Sleep for a solid 81D 2 hours instead of 51D 2, according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and you’ll lose more fat. Sweet dreams!

(Source: fatskinnygirl, via losing-forlife-deactivated20111)

nathanlovesnutella:

It looks hard, but it’s really easy. It only takes a few minutes, no problem. Jumping jacks to burn fat, and the other stuff is to tone muscles. It’s okay to take breaks, as long as you finish this. No excuses. 

(Source: vilitas, via curvy-fitness)

balancefit:

My trainer made me to these in intervals with weight lifting last time.

It kicked my ass. but it was great!

I’m just hoping he doesn’t make me do it with the weighted vest on!

(Source: beingthinisnotasin)

(Source: runeatfearless, via fatskinnygirl)