Do you remember how much fun it was to ride your bicycle when you were a kid?  Would you believe that such a fun activity could also help you lose weight and maintain a healthier weight as an adult?

Bike riding and weight loss are actually a great combination!  Riding a bike helps strengthen your leg muscles and buttocks, not to mention providing excellent cardiovascular benefits (provided you’re actually pedaling consistently, not just coasting).

You can burn between 300-500 calories per hour on a bicycle, depending how fast you go and how much you currently weigh.  If you bike uphill you’ll burn even more calories, and you can also set the resistance on your bike higher so you have to pedal harder even on flat land.

If you don’t have any challenging hills or trails to bike, you can increase the intensity of your workout by doing a few “intervals” of faster and harder speed, followed by slower periods to cool back down.  Experts say that this kind of interval training helps you burn more calories and strengthen your cardiovascular system more than maintaining a constant intensity throughout the entire workout.

Bike riding for weight loss is simple for people who just want to shed a few pounds, but what about heavier folks?

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Healthy Snacking Tips

Healthy snacking is a crucial part of any weight loss and fitness program, simply because regular snacks help you avoid feeling deprived – not to mention that snacking on healthy foods helps keep your metabolism running strong, burning more fat and calories.

The trick is to snack in smart ways so you don’t blow your diet and sabotage your goals.  Below are 7 smart tips for healthy snacking that can help you stay on track and slip into those skinny jeans in no time.

Healthy Snacking Tips #1 – Plan Ahead

Healthy snacking requires advance planning!  If your cupboards are filled with fattening, starchy, high-calorie foods, what do you think you’ll reach for the next time you want a snack?

Plan ahead by peeling, chopping, slicing and preparing healthy foods and keeping them front and center in your cupboards and refrigerators.  Place 1 ounce servings of nuts into mini snack baggies; keep a bowl full of healthy fruits on your kitchen table or counter; place containers of sliced raw vegetables on the top shelf of your refrigerator – keep the healthy foods accessible and you’ll remember to eat them.

If you can clear your kitchen of all unhealthy foods, do it.  But if it would cause a revolt in your family, at least push the fattening foods to the back of the cupboards and keep them out of sight as much as possible.

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Diet Friendly Foods – Taste Good and Make You Thinner

So, you’re on a diet (or just trying to eat healthier) and you want some good stuff to eat – but you can’t think of anything beyond the obvious boring vegetables, lean chicken breast, and fruit.  Today we’ve got a few great ideas for diet friendly foods that will tantalize your taste buds without breaking the caloric bank.

Diet Friendly Foods Idea #1 – Tasty Wrap

One whole wheat tortilla (100 calories)
1/4 of an avacado, mashed (70 cal)
2 tbsp salsa (mild, medium or hot, 20 cal)

Mash the avacado and spread in the center of the tortilla.  Add salsa, roll it up and enjoy cold, or warm it under the broiler for a few minutes to give the tortilla a nice crisp edge.  Great snack for less than 200 calories.

If you want to include some protein, add 3 oz. chicken breast, cooked and cubed (150 cal); or 1/2 cup of pinto beans (120 cal), or 3 oz. of cooked shrimp (90 cal).

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What is a negative calorie foods, anyway?  Is it just another diet gimmick, or can they really help you lose weight and keep it off?  First of all, there is no such thing as a “negative calorie” – all foods have calories.

When people talk about negative calorie foods they are referring to foods that require more energy expended to digest them than you ingest when eating them.  Example:  water.  Water isn’t technically a food, but it has zero calories.  When you drink water, your body has to expend energy to absorb and process the water, so you now have a “negative calorie” effect, where you have burned more calories than you ingested.

The same concept can apply to foods that do have calories, especially if the calories are low in quantity.  Remember too that even as your body is digesting food and absorbing liquid, it is also expending energy to keep vital bodily functions going, like respiration, heartbeat, blood circulation, and the like.

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Looking for quick natural weight loss techniques? Losing excess weight can undoubtedly improve your quality of life, not to mention your appearance.  And like most people, if you’re carrying a few extra pounds (or more than a few) you probably want to lose it sooner rather than later.  This is understandable, but some common sense and caution should still be used before doing something that will set you up for health problems later.

Checking with your doctor is a good idea, because he or she may be able to recommend a healthy, effective weight loss plan.

Beyond that, here are a few common sense quick natural weight loss tips that should help you shed the fat quickly and easily:

#1 – Remember that weight loss is not just a one-trick pony

You need to address several areas to be successful, such as overall calorie intake, quality of foods eaten, level of physical activity, and nutrients needed for optimal health.

It makes sense that your diet should include healthy, nutrient-rich food.  But you may also benefit from taking a multi-vitamin or select supplements, according to what your doctor recommends.

It also makes sense that in order to burn more calories, you need to get your body moving more than it was before.  (Again, check with your doctor on this to be sure exercise is okay for you.)  If you currently lead a very sedentary life, you’ll need to start slowly by walking briskly for 15-30 minutes each day, or performing similar low-intensity exercises.  As you get into better shape, you can increase both the length of your workouts and the intensity at which you work.
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