Helpful tips or advice ?

okay yeah I am like anyone out there trying to lose some weight.. I don't look fat.. but I would like to tone up and look good for me.. and I have a swimming thing on wednesday.. I was wondering If I workout out a lot and eat not as much and really healthy.. is it possible to tone up a bit? I am 5'5'; and weigh 125.. and don't say oh your fine..Helpful tips or advice ?
Use general common sense with your diet. The key word to remember is balance. Balance every meal. Excluding something totally out of your diet probably isn't the best idea. Don't eat only starchy foods, and don't feed on just fruit.





I would maintain that if you keep up swimming, you'll become tone in no time. Swimming is one of the best workouts you can be involved with. Your diet will have little or nothing to do with your weight if you're constantly burning off fat with swimming activities. So eat smart, and eat well.Helpful tips or advice ?
do crunches to get your stomach flatter these next few days, and do crunches right before your swimming thing. don't eat just 3 big meals a day, kinda snack all day that's wat i do.
to tone up make sure to get around 6 small meals a day that are nutritious along with some running and light weight/ high rep exercise and you should look fine, also a lot of water will help ya out
Always Think Fit:





First step in exercise is to always Think FIT. To make physical improvements, you need to work your body harder than usual. This is referred to as the overload principle. As your body becomes more conditioned, you need to increase the frequency, intensity, or time of your workouts in order to continue improving your fitness level





Choosing an Exercise:


The best exercise is an activity that you enjoy enough to really pursue enthusiastically.


鈥?Indoor (Facility) Activities: If the treadmill, stairmaster, rowing machine or stationery cycle doesn't excite you, sample some group activities that strike your fancy. Participate in a group cycling class, beat stress with yoga, find balance with martial arts, stay cool with indoor swimming, or kick some you-know-what with boxaerobics.





1. Change your eating habits (i.e. start eating smaller portions of food) before if you ate a full plate of food try eating 2/3 of a plate instead.


2.


o Substitute aspartame for sugar


o Try eating 3 or 4 smaller meals during the day rather than 2 large ones


o Eat your main large meal at midday with the other meals much smaller in content


o Don't eat heavy meals late in the evening as the body wont have time to digest it so it ends up stored as fat in your body.


o Balance your meals out during the day so in one day you have a mix of protein, carbohydrate and vitamins


o Drink lots of water during the day and before, during and after exercise, you should drink at least 8 big glasses of water per 24 hours


o Drink alcohol in moderation


o Stop smoking if you smoke or cut down


o Eat more fibre i.e. pulses grains nuts, pasta, brown rice, cereals, fresh fruit


o Eat more vegetables as part of your diet


o Eat less dairy products or choose those with less fat content i.e. cottage cheese


o Try steaming or poaching food instead of frying it, frying adds calories by the bucketful


o Cut down on Red meat and eat more lean or better still chicken and fish instead


o Use low fat oils in cooking i.e. sunflower, corn or Mazola


o Cut down on your salt intake, there are hidden salts even in tinned foods


o Try substituting carrots or fresh fruit instead of biscuits and sweetmeat when you have a craving for something in between meals.


o Drink semi or skimmed milk as opposed to full cream


Simply choose a diet which is low in fat and cholesterol, moderate in sugar and salt and high in fibre but at the same time has a variety of everything thus making it a balanced diet.





Calculate your BMR!!!!


BMR means Basal Metabolic Rate.It is used to estimate how many calories you should consume.By using a simple formula called the Harris-Benedict principle, you can assess your BMR.


Your BMR is the amount of energy your body needs to function.Then, to lose weight, you'll need to cut calories or burn extra calories and shoot for a level lower than the results you get with this formula.


We use about 60 percent of the calories we consume each day for basic bodily functions such as breathing.Other factors that influence your BMR are height, weight, age and sex.


Step One : Calculate your BMR with the following formula:


鈥?Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)


鈥?Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)


Step two : In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:


鈥?If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.2


鈥?If you are lightly active: BMR x 1.375


鈥?If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 1.55


鈥?If you are very active (You exercise daily.): BMR x 1.725


鈥?If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 1.9


Create a Calorie Deficit:


In order to lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit. It is easier and healthier to cut back your calorie intake a little bit at a time.


Every 3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound.


If you cut back 500 calories a day, you will lose 1 pound per week.


If you exercise to burn off 500 calories a day you will also lose 1 pound per week.


Ideally, you should do a combination of both, (e.g. cut back 250 calories; burn an extra 250 calories).








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