photo credit: hectorir

I often get asked by my friends which piece of equipment burns the most fat and as such is the best for weight loss. Is it the treadmill, the exercise bike or the cross trainer? In this post I am going to tell you which one it is and why.

Which is the best for weight loss? Treadmill, bike or cross trainer?

If you spend hours every week doing cardio training trying to lose weight then you obviously want to know which one is the most effective. I know many women who get quite anxious about this issue; they have only 30 minutes per day and don’t want to waste their time.

The answer is extremely simple: they are all good. It depends on how you use them.

Let me explain. You could sit on the exercise bike for an hour a day just barely spinning the wheels and not burn a whole lot of fat. Then the next day you could jump on the treadmill and do sprints for 10 minutes and burn a heck of a lot more of calories than you did on the bike. Does this mean the treadmill is better? No. It just means you used it properly.

The best machine
The best machine is actually the one that you like the best. It is the one that you can push yourself on without getting injured or bored. I like the cross trainer the best because I have an old knee injury that flares up on the treadmill and the bike. So this is the best machine for me because I can push myself without getting injured.

What if you trained equally on all?
Now we have a difficult situation. What if you trained equally hard on each machine? Which one then would be the best for weight loss?

It would be a toss up between the cross trainer and the treadmill. Why? Well the cross trainer is good because it involves both the arms and the legs. You can get a full body workout by focusing on both. The treadmill, on the other hand, is extremely good because it is high impact. I don’t care what anyone says, running is the most difficult of all gym cardio, especially when you up the speed and the incline.

If you are injury free and looking to burn the most amount of fat I would mix up between the treadmill and the cross trainer. Make sure you use lots of sprinting, inclines and so on to maximize the amount of calories that you burn.

Conclusion

Really, the best cardio equipment is the one that you work hardest on. High intensity exercise is the best way to lose weight so make sure you push yourself more and more each time.

photo credit: Carly & Art

In case you haven’t noticed there is a global financial crisis going on. And when money gets tight one of the first things to go is the gym membership. Because we at Free Women’s Fitness understand that not all of us can afford to go to some fancy yoga or pilates class we have decided to start a series on using household items to get a cheap workout at home. This is part one in that series.

Working out at home

Working out at home has many advantages. Firstly, you save a lot of money by not going to the gym. And I am not just talking about gym membership fees. When you go to the gym you usually end up buying a water or a protein shake and you spend money on parking and petrol. Over time these things add up, especially if you go everyday.

Another great thing about working out at home is the level of comfort. You don’t have to worry about other people watching you and you definitely don’t need to worry about being fashionable. At home you can just be yourself and get on with the important stuff.

Household item for cheap fitness: the water bucket

photo credit: jekert gwapo

Water buckets are extremely useful dumbbell replacements. All you need to do is fill them with some water and use them as you would a pair of dumbbells. As you get stronger you can add more water. Some exercises you can do with a pail include:

• Dumbbell curls
• Shoulder presses
• Lateral side raises
• Weighted squats
• Front shoulder raises
• Deadlifts

Another great exercise to do with the water pail is farmers walks. This is basically where you take two buckets or cans, fill them up with water, and carry them for as long as you can. It really works your shoulders, biceps and forearms. You will also find that your heart rate gets elevated extremely quickly and as such it will give you a great cardio workout.

Stay tuned…

Make sure you subscribe to our feed or email subscription service. We will be adding a new household item every day. By the end of the series you will have a full gym of cheap home items! It might seem silly but the next time you can’t get to the gym these items will save your workout.

photo credit: cmav

Have you heard of negative calorie foods? Well its high time you did! These super healthy foods are a woman’s best friend when it comes to weight loss. Why? Because you lose weight by just eating them.

What is a negative calorie food?

Negative calorie foods are natural foods that have a net effect of weight loss when you eat them. Remember in this post on portion sizes for weight loss when we talked about the equation for weight loss being calories in + energy out = weight gain? Well negative calorie foods aid in this process by negating the calories in part of the equation.

How do negative calorie foods work?

Negative calorie foods are not foods with no calories. They actually could have quite a few calories. The reason they are called negative is because they take more energy to digest than are contained in the food itself.

Let’s take a stick of broccoli as an example. It might have 50 calories in it but it might take 60 calories worth of energy to digest. So you are, in effect, having a weight loss reaction. Digestion takes up a lot of energy in our bodies so it is important to use as many negative calorie based foods as possible.

What are some negative calorie foods?

Here is a simple list of some negative calorie foods that you can start to incorporate into your diet. Keep your portion sizes under control but enjoy the weight loss benefit that these can bring.

• Asparagus
• Fennel
• Broccoli
• Leek
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Apricot
• Mandarin orange
• Blackberry
• Melon
• Blackcurrant
• Peaches
• Clementines
• Damsons
• Raspberry
• Grapefruit
• Rhubarb
• Guava
• Strawberry
• Honeydew Melon
• Lemon
• Cucumber
• Cauliflower Peppers
• Celery
• Radish
• Spinach
• Tomato

As you can see they are all fruits and vegetables. Does that give you any hints about what we humans are supposed to be eating?

photo credit: nozomiiqel

Over the last few years there has been a great emphasis on eating the right foods and eating them at the right time. In my experience, however, a lot of women fail to realize that one of the major reasons for being over weight is because your portion sizes are too big. In this post I am going to talk a little bit about this and what you can do to fix the issue.

Why portion sizes matter

When it comes to losing weight there is a simple mathematical equation that explains 95% of weight loss. That equation is:

Food in + Energy burned = Weight gain

Basically what this is telling us is that if you take in more calories than you burn with exercise and bodily functions then you are going to gain weight. And one of the major reasons for weight gain is having too much at any one sitting.

If you eat big meals it is very likely that your metabolism is going to be slowed down and very heavy. Eating smaller meals throughout the day keeps that metabolic system revving and as such it is likely that you will expend more energy.

Over five years those calories add up

photo credit: Tobyotter

Imagine that you eat 400 more calories per day than you are supposed to if you want to lose weight. That 400 might not seem like much over the span of a week but of the span of five years that adds up to a good couple of pounds of flab. And that is how you need to view extra calories; they add up.

The same is true, however, of negative calories. If you can cut your portion sizes in each meal and lose 200 calories per day then over five years that is going to be several pounds that you have not added to your waistline. It is that simple.

Some ways you can cut your portion sizes include:

• Buy a can of soda instead of a bottle
• Use small bowls so they look full
• Don’t go back for seconds
• Cut extras like rice and pasta and just have vegetable rich stews
• Just don’t make as much

Conclusion

Don’t think of this as a quick fix. Think of it as something you will do for the rest of your life. Cut your portion sizes at each meal by even just a small amount and you will lose weight over the long term.