We live in a world that loves beauty. The most admired bodies are lean, shapely and firm, and many people would love to own a body like this. Yet many of those same people are starving themselves trying to be skinny mistakenly thinking that this is how you get into that sort of shape. It really is about lack of knowledge. Way too much focus has been placed on dieting and 'cardio' activity and not enough importance on muscle building and maintaining activity. Our muscles are what give our body shape, firmness and leanness and toning them is how those most admired sleek bodies can be acquired. If you choose to diet and do only 'cardio' activity it will work against your body and you will end up with a smaller, flabbier body that lacks shape and firmness. It will also lack a healthy metabolism (your body's engine) as toned muscle tissue is what drives your metabolism. Muscle burns fat so to be able to lose weight and keep it off you need metabolic 'fitness'. And this does not happen by accident. You need to keep your muscles in good working order to keep your metabolic fat burning mechanism fired up and burning fat. The more toned muscle tissue you have on your body the more fat you burn and the more calories you can eat without gaining body fat. The more fat you burn means the less fat you store. This is what a good metabolism is and this is mainly affected by your daily choices in the way of proper exercise and proper nutrition. There are 5 keys to a good metabolism: 1. Strength training exercise 2. Nutritious eating (small meals each with protein) 3. Interval training (short bursts of intense activity) 4. A very active lifestyle 5. Consistency in all of the above If you truly wish to get into good physical shape you need to ditch the bathroom scale mentality. It will not serve you well. You really need your body composition numbers - your muscle/fat ratio. You need to know how much lean muscle tissue you have and what your body fat percentage is. Your body weight does not give you this information. How much muscle and fat is your body made up of? Does it wiggle and jiggle or is it firm and tight? To be in really good shape you should have a healthy amount of muscle tissue and your body fat percentage should be on the lower end of the scale. Without proper strength building and maintaining exercise after the mid 20's you will lose muscle tissue at the rate of one half pound per year. Restrictive food dieting and 'cardio' type activity without strength training will cause muscle tissue loss which will cost you in terms of how well your body is burning up your food intake as fuel. Our muscle tissue deteriorates at almost every stage of our life, dragging our health with it. This is why we must strength train to rebuild the lost muscle tissue and therefore rebuild a healthy metabolism. So, keep your muscles working and they will keep working hard for you burning off that excess body fat revealing that strong, lean, firm, shapely body of your dreams
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