Let Me make this quick, this website is for two girls, Taylor and Savannah. On January 1st both girls started a diet, and have recently both have loss at least 10 pounds. Here this website will be used for the daily weigh-ins and measurements, as well as food journals, and posbably journals. Both girls were considered over weight, now both our bordering target weight and will be approaching Goal weight. This Project is called the Break Loss because they both are trying to lose as much weight by spring break (two weeks) and summer break( two months)   On this Website you will view weight loss articles, possibly videos, and of course the journals and blogs.

Article One: How to Lose twenty Pounds in a month:

Eating Tactics to lose 20 pounds:
 
Plan your eating the day before – If you plan your eating the night before then you are not going to have to worry about getting into a struggle of eating these crappy foods and instead will know what you are going to eat when.

Eat 5 or 6 small meals a day – This is going to help you to raise your metabolism. When you eat often you are sending a message to your body that you are not going to starve and that you will always have enough to eat.

Have leftovers a lot to make it easier to eat good food – If you make giant helpings of meals then you will have lots of leftovers to choose from. One of the problems that I always hear from people is that they are worried that if they have to eat really often then they will spend their whole life preparing meals. this is just not at all the case.

Eat meals that are small – One thing that drives me crazy is how we allow our bodies to waste food. It is hard to find a steak smaller than 8 ounces in a reaturant but did you know that your body has almost no way for digesting and using more than 4 ounces of that steak?

Eat lots of fiber – Fiber will increase metabolism and make you healthier by cleaning out toxins.

Drink lots of water – Who cares what the so called experts say. Water makes your metabolsim faster and makes you feel
great

Exercise Tactics to lose 20 pounds in a month Exercise twice a day – One 20 minutes workout in the morning and another one in the evening.

Do weights once every second day – Getting muscle will help your body burn more fat. The muscle takes a lot of calories to maintain while fat takes nearly none.

Split your cardio workouts between high and low intensity – High intensity to burn a lot of carbs off and low intensity to finish of the fat hanging around

Cardio is 20 minutes of hard cardio – Hard cardio is defined as keeping your heartrate up around 80% of your max. This will raise your metabolism for a long time 12 – 24 hours.

Walking or casual exercise can be an hour long – This is a great way to burn fat as you can exercise low impact by walking for an hour.

Weights should be basic exercises – Basic exercises are things like squats, bench presses, lunges, military presses. These exercises work a lot of muscle groups at once.

Healing between workouts is most important – Now that you are working out it is a good idea to get a lot of rest and sleep so that your body can recover. Your body only recovers when you are sleeping or at least resting.

The above article was take from http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/how-to-lose-20-pounds-in-a-month.html

 Article Two: How to Lose weight

Rules of Weight Loss To lose one pound of fat, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That sounds like a lot of calories and you certainly wouldn't want to try to burn 3500 calories in one day. However, by taking it step-by-step, you can determine just what you need to do each day to burn or cut out those extra calories. Below is a step by step process for getting started.
  1. Calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Your BMR is what your body needs to maintain normal functions like breathing and digestion. This is the minimum number of calories you need to eat each day. Keep in mind that no calculator will be 100% accurate, so you may need to adjust these numbers as you go along.

  2. Calculate your activity level. Use a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you burn while sitting, standing, exercising, lifting weights, etc. throughout the day. It helps to keep a daily activity journal or you could even wear a heart rate monitor that calculates calories burned.

  3. Keep track of how many calories you eat. You can use a site like Calorie Count or use a food journal to write down what you eat and drink each day. Be as accurate as possible, measuring when you need to or looking up nutritional information for restaurants, if you eat out.

  4. Add it up. Take your BMR number, add your activity calories and then subtract your food calories from that total. If you're eating more than you're burning, (your BMR + activity is 2000 and you're eating 2400 calories) you'll gain weight. If you're burning more than you eat, you'll lose weight.

    (The following was taken from http://exercise.about.com/cs/weightloss/a/howtoloseweight.htm)

How to get great thighs: Article four (Above article three)

"Don't Make This Mistake With Thigh Exercises"  



The most frequent comment or concern women have in relation to upper leg exercises is about building big bulky thighs. Women don't want to do thigh exercises that will make their thighs big and bulky like a man or like a big female bodybuilder.

The majority of women, possibly you included, want to be slim with a flat stomach and defined muscles in their thighs. Because of this a lot of women tend to avoid certain upper leg exercises and use lighter weights for higher reps on the upper leg exercises they do perform.

Performing exercises for your thigh muscles with light weights and/or with high repetitions will not burn more fat or tone and firm your muscles better than a heaver weight upper leg exercises with moderate repetitions (8-12 reps).

Even worse, in order to avoid getting too big and bulky, some don't even use any exercises for your thigh muscles at all. Unfortunately this is very common.

This is a very big mistake.

So please listen carefully, you will never, ever get big and bulky like a man or a female bodybuilder when performing any upper leg exercises.

The reason is simple - Testosterone.

This is what allows men to get huge very big thighs from upper leg exercises and prevents women from getting huge. Women don't have anywhere near the amount of testosterone that a man has. Because of this fact, you cannot get big and bulky like from any of the thigh exercises listed here.

And a lot of women tend to make the mistake of thinking that no thigh exercises can replace the benefits of aerobic training. But aerobic training doesn't increase or tone muscle, and lean muscle is the only answer to the weight loss problem.

You need to include exercises for your thigh muscles and weight training in general as the main part of your fitness routine in order to have the best body you can possibly have.

Every year after the age of 25, the average woman will gain one pound of body fat but at the same time will lose one third of a pound of muscle tissue. This results in a decrease in your metabolism.

Proper exercises for your thigh muscles and sound eating habits can reverse this process.

Upper leg exercises can increase your metabolism by restoring muscle tissue that you lost over the years. In addition, one pound of muscle burns approximately 30-50 fat calories per day.

Thigh exercises that use all the major muscle groups in your lower body will increase your metabolism hours after exercise. Your thighs include some of the biggest muscles in your entire body.

Effective exercises for your thigh muscles will work all the major thigh muscle groups, including:

  • your hamstrings, which are located at the back of your thigh. Your hamstrings extend from the back of your knee up to your butt and basically work to bend your knees;
  • your adductor or groin muscles--the inner thigh muscles that work to bring your thighs together;
  • your quadriceps at the front of your thighs, which help straighten your knee and;
  • your hip flexors at the front of your pelvis, which help you raise your thighs.


These muscles should be worked hard when performing exercises for your thigh muscles. The more effective upper leg exercises will work all the above muscles at once resulting in much better fat burning, toning and firming.

You can benefit tremendously from the exercises for your thigh muscles listed here. Proper thigh exercises will help improve the shape, size and strength of your thighs regardless of your current health or fitness level.

Below you will find a list of exercises for your thigh muscles to use in your lower body workout.

Please also note that even though these exercises for your thigh muscles are only a few thigh exercises you can do, these are the most effective thigh exercises for toning, firming, shaping and burning body fat.

You may or may not want to do every one of these exercises for your thigh muscles during your lower body workout. You'll find more information later on the most effective way to use these thigh exercises.

Be sure to carry out all exercises for your thigh muscles in a slow, controlled manner to avoid injury and to ensure the effectiveness of the thigh exercises. A certified personal trainer or professional fitness instructor can teach and assist you with the proper technique and form with any of these thigh exercises.

Older or less flexible people should be especially careful to start slowly with any thigh exercises.

With that in mind, let's examine the thigh exercises you need to include in your lower body workout, that in reality work the best to burn fat, tone, firm and strengthen your thigh muscles all at once.

"Get Started With The Best
Thigh Exercises To Guarantee Success"  



It's very important to realize that you shouldn't just do the exercises for your thigh muscles and nothing else. You need to implement a complete and comprehensive fitness and nutrition program along with performing the thigh exercises.

A combination of the best thigh exercises, cardiovascular exercise and good nutrition is the most effective for fat loss and toning and shaping your muscles.

There is one unique fitness & exercise system that integrates all of the multi muscle exercises for your thigh muscles and single muscle leg exercises you need to do into the most amazing fitness & exercise system that you'll ever find.

This fitness & exercise program not only teaches you how to use terrific exercises for your thigh muscles to build the best thighs you could ever dream of having, but more importantly uses effective tools to put you on the right track to success.

It also makes sure you never miss a step with the thigh exercises you use to burn off all your fat and increase your metabolism! This comprehensive fitness & exercise system will definitely help you lose fat, build muscle definition and use the only thigh exercises that can guarantee your success.

"Multi Muscle & Single Muscle Thigh Exercises"  



Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Dumbbell Lunges:
Thigh exercises like this are good for working your glutes, quads, inner and outer thighs and hamstrings. You can perform upper leg exercises like the lunge in either a stationary position, or you can walk across a large area in a straight line.

Hold a dumbbell in each hand and pull your shoulders back. Lift your chest up and look straight ahead. Position your right leg forward in a long stride. Your foot should be far enough in front of you so that when you bend your right knee, your thigh and lower leg form a right angle.

Slowly bend your knee lowering your hips so your knee just clears the floor. Pause briefly in this position, then slowly straighten your legs and raise your body back up to the standing position.

Complete a full set, then switch legs and repeat. Or you can switch legs and move forward across the floor with each repetition. Try and pay close attention to the angle formed by your thigh and lower leg. Your knee should be directly over your ankle. Don't let your knee stray over your toes. Your knee and toes should be pointed in the same direction.

Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Leg Extensions:
Multi muscle thigh exercises like this will help to define and shape the front of your thighs, known as your quads.

Using a leg extension machine, sit in the seat and hook your feet under the padded bar. Adjust the pad or the seat so that your knees hang off the end of the seat and the foot pad rests on the lowest part of your shins, right above your ankle.

The pad should not be on your feet or in the middle of your shins. Grip the handles on the machine or hold onto the edges of the seat to keep your hips from lifting up as you perform the thigh exercises.

Extend your legs until your knees are straight, making sure you remain seated flat on the machine. Raise the weight up all the way, lock and hold briefly, then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.

Like all thigh exercises, it's very important to get the full range of motion and for you to feel the contraction in your muscles all the way up and down.

Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Leg Press:
Sitting on a leg press machine, position your feet together against the footrest about shoulder width apart with your toes pointed slightly outward. Grip the handles or the sides of the seat.

Bend your knees and lower the weight as far as possible without changing the position of your hips. Don't lower the weight so far that your hips start to curl up off the seat.

Pause briefly in the bottom position then slowly push the weight back up using your heels, not your toes. Do not lock your knees at the top, but rather take the weight to just before lockout. Then begin to lower the weight again in a slow and deliberate fashion.

Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Barbell Squats:
This is by far the most effective and efficient out of all thigh exercises for overall leg development.

Rest the barbell on the upper portion of your back, but not on your neck. Firmly grip the bar with your hands almost twice your shoulder width apart. Position your feet on a heel raise so that the balls of your feet are resting on the floor and your heels are elevated.

Your feet should be about shoulder width apart with your knees bent slightly outward and your knees over your toes. Keeping your back as straight as possible and your chin up, bend your knees and slowly lower your hips straight down until your thighs are parallel with the floor.

Once you reach the bottom position, press the weight up with your heels. Be careful and don't lean forward or curve your back. This will stress your back and decrease the effectiveness of the exercise.

Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Back Extensions:
Thigh exercises like back extensions are excellent for your lower back, glutes and hamstrings.

Lie face down on a back extension bench and lock your ankles in place, or hook them under the roller pad if a footrest is not available. Adjust your hips on the pads so that when you bend forward your back is perpendicular to the floor, but not rounded. Your hips should extend over the edge of the pad. Fold your hands across your chest.

Keeping your head in alignment with your spine lift your torso until your back is perpendicular to the floor. Lifting your torso higher than parallel is unnecessary and may place harmful stress on your back. Reverse the technique to return to the start.

After a few workouts, when the exercise becomes easier, hold a weight plate across your chest to increase resistance.

Do not, however, place any weight on your head or neck or this could result in injury.

Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Ski Squats:
Place your feet shoulder width apart, about two feet out from the wall and lean your back against the wall. Bend your knees to a half squat position. This is position one. After 10seconds, lower down to position two, about two inches lower. After another 10seconds, lower another two inches down to position three. This equals one rep.



Multi Muscle Leg Exercises - Straight Leg Dead-lifts:
This exercise will work your hamstrings, glutes and lower back. Grab onto a barbell with both hands using an overhand grip, stand up straight with your hands and feet shoulder width apart.

Keeping your legs nearly locked, bend forward at the waist until your upper body is almost parallel with the floor, keep your back straight and your eyes looking straight ahead. The barbell should be hanging at arm's-length below you.

Continue to look straight ahead and keep your back straight as you use the muscles in the back of your legs to return to the starting position. Be careful and try not to hunch your back or lean backwards as this can increase your risk of back injury.

Keep your back fairly straight throughout the exercise. Looking straight ahead of you will help you keep your back straight.

Single Muscle Leg Exercises - Lying Or Seated Leg Curls:
For thigh exercises like hamstring curls you can use either a seated or lying down hamstring machine. In this case, we are going to use the lying down machine to explain the exercise.

To begin this exercise, lie face down on the leg curl machine and hook your heels under their roller pads. Your legs should be stretched out straight so that the pads rest on the back of your ankles. Grab onto the handles under the bench for support.

Remaining flat on the bench, curl your legs up until your hamstrings are fully contracted. Release and lower the weight slowly back to the starting position. As with all thigh exercises, you need to concentrate on using a full range of motion.

The exercises for your thigh muscles listed above will indeed do the job for you. These upper leg exercises will tone, firm and burn a tremendous amount of fat cells.

But remember, you need a complete fitness & exercise program. With the one mentioned above you'll define and separate your thigh muscles, creating the sexiest thighs you could imagine.

This fitness & exercise reveals an effective common sense approach to upper leg exercises and fitness in general.

We've come to have complete faith in
one-of-a-kind womens fitness & exercise system and can confidently vouch for it being your best choice.

We've received only very positive feedback from the people who have already used this fitness & exercise system.

Article Three: How to get a flat stomach

Steps

  1. Eat healthier and cut down junk food, such as replacing potato chips and chocolates with fruits. You'll see a world of difference.

  2. Watch how many soft drinks you consume. Consider flavored water as an alternative if you must.
  3. Do aerobic exercises daily at 30 minutes minimum and include 1-2 days of rest break each week. Anything that brings your heart rate up. Take up dancing, running, tae-bo, swimming, and walking at a good pace.
  4. Eat lots of lean protein (like beans and nuts - have some meat, it is rather good for you as long as you do not eat the fat!), fruits and dark vegetables, and whole grain breads and grains. If you eat "whole wheat" it's like the same as eating white bread- all the good fibers have been stripped away. These "whole grains" keep you fuller longer than white breads like cakes, cookies, and sweets. Also, stay away from high-fat dairy products (low-fat dairy products are a great source of protein and calcium).
  5. To better work the entire abdominal region, vary your exercises: Crunches work the upper abdomen, leg raises work the lower abdomen, side bends work the obliques (also known as love handles). Sure, you can do 100 daily crunches. But if you've got a layer of fat covering up your ab work then what's the point? You need to burn the top layer of stomach fat to see the changes.
  6. Consider some form of an aerobic exercise as well. Some simple resistance training or light weight lifting will not only help you burn fat more efficiently but tone up the rest of your body as well.
  7. Raising your metabolic rate is crucial. The higher your metabolic rate, the more energy (and thus fat) you'll burn even when you aren't doing anything. Try compound exercises like deadlifts with heavier weights. See "How to Do a Deadlift" for more information.
  8. To increase your metabolic rate, increase the frequency of your meals to 6-8 times a day. Every 2 to 3 hours, ingest a small meal. This increased frequency will put your metabolisim into overdrive. WARNING: Do not over-eat! Small meals only. For greatest effect, only eat carbohydrates before 2:00 p.m, from then on only proteins.
  9. Do a lot of cardio.
  10. Make sure you don't eat anything 2 hours before you sleep. Your body slows down when you sleep so you can't digest food properly.
  11. Some of the best exercise for achieving flat stomach are Abdominal Crunches, Vaccum Pose and Belly Rubs, Stomach Twisting, Belly Resting Exercise, Russian Twist, Hip Raise Exercise, Dumbbell Side Bends, Leg Lift Exercise, Air Cycling, Knees In and Out, Sit Ups, Inclined Sit Ups, Front Squat, Reverse Crunches, Ball Crunches, Log Roll, Ab Tuck, The Crab Ab Workout, Side Crunches, V Crunches, Chin Up Crunches, Hanging Leg Raise and Hanging Knee Raise.