Online weight loss plans

Online weight loss plans Online weight loss plans are web based fitness programs designed to help participants lose weight. They usually include assistance in the areas necessary for weight loss. For example, weight loss information, goal setting, progress tracking, meal and workout planning, and personal support from personal trainers or fitness coaches. This way of losing weight is fast becoming a distinct weight loss method.

How They Work

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Online weight loss plans are usually interactive programs that provide the user with diet information, workout routines, meal planning, goal tracking, and feedback. Web based programs usually attempt to incorporate all of these areas and customize them for a particular user. The user will usually fill out a questionnaire before preceeding. The questionnaire will contain information such as current eating patterns, fitness levels and goals.

A personalized meal plan and workout program are usually created for the user. A unique feature of these programs is the use of online tools to track improvements and to log workout and diet information. The idea behind these tracking tools is the idea that by tracking their fitness, a person can make more progress by aiming for, and meeting regular fitness goals. Programs range in price from the very basic which may cost $20 a month to highly customized programs created by celebrity fitness experts. These programs can cost in excess of $400 a month. There are also free web based programs. While they usually provide access to online tools, they may not provide any customized plans.

Online weight loss plans usually contain some of these elements:

Weekly Shopping Lists

Workout routines and meal plans

Regular support froma a fitness coach or personal trainer

Regular tracking of progress

Workout videos

Some type of online workout calendar/journal

A year long study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association participants of an online weight loss plan lost more than twice the weight of participants who took part in a more traditional program.It's been shown that people who've used online weight loss plans for 18 months were able to maintain significant weight loss.^[1]Many studies now show that internet programs are viable tools to help people maintain weight loss over the longterm. In one study a group of 250 people lost weight over a 6 monthe period and maintained weight loss for 12 months afterwards using a online weight loss plan. ^[2]The low cost combined with the lack of need for face to face meetings with a nutritionist or personal trainer make internet programs easy to maintain long term. The requirement of constantly updating weight and other measurements helps to hold the user accountable as well. This could help people maintain weight loss over a long period. Many studies even show that participants that logged into their online programs more also experienced, on average, more weight loss. There have been upsurge of companies specifically dealing with only online weight loss. Among them are companies such as eDiets.com and Shreddingpounds.com.These are companies that provide their services only over the web. Established weight loss companies such as WeightWatchers.com, have even begun offering online only weight loss programs.There has recently been research into the effectiveness of web-based weight loss programs in primary care settings.^[3] As more people join these types of programs there will be a significant increase in companies offering customized online fitness programs.

Active Living

Active Living is a way of life that integrates physical activity into daily routines, like walking to the store or biking to work.

Active Living brings together urban planners, architects, transportation engineers, public health professionals and others to build places that encourage routine activity. One example includes efforts to build sidewalks, crosswalks and other ways for children to walk safely to and from school. Compact, mixed-use development, where residential uses are located close to stores, jobs and recreational opportunities (parks, etc.) has also been found to encourage a more active lifestyle.

Nutrition and recovery

Proper nutrition is as important to health as exercise. When exercising, it becomes even more important to have a good diet to ensure that the body has the correct ratio of macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients, in order to aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous exercise.^[44]

Proper rest and recovery are also as important to health as exercise; otherwise the body exists in a permanently injured state and will not improve or adapt adequately to the exercise. Hence, it is important to remember to allow adequate recovery between exercise sessions. It is necessary to refill the glycogen stores in the skeletal muscles and liver. After exercise, there is a 30 minute window critical to muscle recovery. Before doing anything else, one should drink something for recovery. Liquids are ideal after exercise and there are several studies that show low-fat milk and chocolate milk as being effective recovery beverages because of its ideal 4:1 combination of carbohydrate and protein that fuels and replenishes our muscles the best.^[45][46] Branched-chain amino acids are also recommended for exercise recovery.^{[citation needed]}

The above two factors can be compromised by psychological compulsions (eating disorders such as exercise bulimia, anorexia, and otherbulimias), misinformation, a lack of organization, or a lack of motivation. These all lead to a decreased state of health.

Delayed onset muscle soreness can occur after any kind of exercise, particularly if the body is in an unconditioned state relative to that exercise.^[47]

Benefits

Physical exercise is important for maintaining physical fitness and can contribute positively to maintaining a healthy weight, building and maintaining healthy bone density, muscle strength, and joint mobility, promoting physiological well-being, reducing surgical risks, and strengthening the immune system.

Exercise also reduces levels of cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that builds fat in the abdominal region, making weight loss difficult.^{[citation needed]} Cortisol causes many health problems, both physical and mental.^[8]

Frequent and regular aerobic exercise has been shown to help prevent or treat serious and life-threatening chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes,insomnia, and depression.^[9] Endurance exercise before meals lowers blood glucose more than the same exercise after meals.^[10]

There is some evidence that vigorous exercise (90-95% of VO₂ Max) is more beneficial than moderate exercise (40 to 70% of VO₂ Max).^[11] Some studies have shown that vigorous exercise executed by healthy individuals can increase opioid peptides (a.k.a. endorphins, naturally occurring opioids that in conjunction with other neurotransmitters are responsible for exercise-induced euphoria and have been shown to be addictive), increase testosterone and growth hormone,^[12] effects that are not as fully realized with moderate exercise. More recent research^[13][14] indicates that anandamide may play a greater role than endorphins in "runner's high".

Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise also work to increase the mechanical efficiency of the heart by increasing cardiac volume (aerobic exercise), or myocardial thickness (strength training). Such changesare generally beneficial and healthy if they occur in response to exercise.

Not everyone benefits equally from exercise. There is tremendous variation in individual response to training: where most people will see a moderate increase in endurance from aerobic exercise, some individuals will as much as double their oxygen uptake, while others can never augment endurance.^[15][16] Similarly, only a minority of people will show significant muscle growth after prolonged weight training, while a larger fraction experience improvements in strength.^[17] This genetic variation in improvement from training is one of the key physiological differences between elite athletes and the larger population.^[18][19] Studies have shown that exercising in middle age leads to better physical ability later in life.^[20]

Types of exercise

Exercises are generally grouped into three types depending on the overall effect they have on the human body:

• Flexibility exercises, such as stretching, improve the range of motion of muscles and joints.^[5]
• Aerobic exercises, such as cycling, swimming, walking, rowing, running, hiking or playing tennis, focus on increasing cardiovascularendurance.^[6]
• Anaerobic exercises, such as weight training, functional training or sprinting, increase short-term muscle strength.^[7]

exercise

Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health. It is performed for many various reasons. These include strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance and for enjoyment. Frequent and regular physical exercise boosts the immune system, and helps prevent the "diseases of affluence" such asheart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.^[1][2] It also improves mental health, helps prevent depression, helps to promote or maintain positive self-esteem, and can even augment an individual's sex appeal or body image.^[3] Childhood obesity is a growing global concern^[4] and physical exercise may help decrease the effects of childhood obesity in developed countries.