Any time that people get together these days, certainly, you’ll find that they talk about romance, shopping and even a favorite diet; when the conversation flags with all of these though there’s really one last go-to topic that can be counted on to lighten things up. And that is a frank discussion of everyone’s favorite weight loss exercise program to round out your bottom, to trim your thighs, for killer shoulders, what have you. Now personal trainer that I am, animated conversation among the laity that takes exercise and training seriously does delight; it’s just the “program” part of it that I take exception to. In training, as in anything else, people who settle into a routine, do lose their spontaneity, their sense of engagement, and finally their involvement. Not only does monotony make you lose involvement at the psychological level, it even makes your body lose involvement on the physical level. Muscles, when they are made to do the same thing over and over again, are just dulled and numbed. Your muscles burn the most calories when they’re perked up and they feel like they are ready for anything. That comes from expressing yourself – not from a “program”.

But perhaps I exaggerate a little bit for effect; you don’t really need to throw away the weight loss exercise program that works for you and that you trust. What you need is a way to perk it up, to bring it to life. Let’s re-visit some of her favorite pieces of home gym equipment and think of what we can do to add a few ounces of excitement in.

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The elliptical trainer is a great way to build flexibility and to burn calories; it didn work that way when you first brought it home and broke it in; if it doesn’t seem to be doing as much now, it’s possible that your workout on the elliptical goes on in zombie mode – your legs know where they need to go, and your upper body is relaxed and not popping with energy. The mistake you’re making here is, that you’re just letting the machine’s momentum set the pace, you’re just along for the ride. You need to feel the need to get your muscles straining strongly – push the pedals, and let your legs, not the trainer do all the work. Here is a little trick to know when to turn the intensity up. Three times every hour, break the monotony, and tell yourself you have to go as hard and as intensely as you possibly can. Your iPod will tell you when the next blast session is coming up – every fourth song, for instance, and your body will find it impossible to go to sleep at the wheel. Focus on your legs, fuel the rippling muscles, and try to focus more energy into them. The feeling will easily help you burn more calories than ever.

The treadmill, the center of your home training layout, is very easy to zone out on. There is the television in front of you, and the steady pace of the treadmill just doesn’t require you to think about anything. You just keep walking, and your mind has just left your body. Your muscles will never gain as much from your time on the treadmill if you aren’t there to participate. Try to surprise your muscles with a burst of activity at the end of the workout. You could skip for a few minutes at the end of the workout, walks sideways or backwards on the treadmill to build a little coordination. All the surprise movement will easily help you capture your muscles offguard and help you burn more.

If you go to a standard spinning class as part of your weight loss exercise program, you’ll see that most participants just coast. Whenever the trainer requests effective movement, everyone knows what they need to do; and it’s easy to go through the motions. Use the resistance knob at the slightest excuse; make sure that you go for 110 cycles per minute; it’s hard for anybody to get used to anything when the going is full tilt. It’s the same thing with weight training. How much should you lift? If you don’t want your gym buddies spying on how you really need to strain to lift a weight, you aren’t trying hard enough. You really need to lift weights that are heavy enough that you have to truly strain to cope.

Again, you just need to keep surprising your muscles, and to keep mixing it up so that your body doesn’t know what to expect. Upgrade to a bigger weight one day, go with a smaller weight the next day, and so on. Perhaps it isn’t going to help you win any fitness contests; but it is going to get you much stronger.

Do you remember that when you were a kid that your mum used to tell you to eat up your fish because it was brain food? It is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and there are lots of things it has going for it – its easy to cook, easy to digest and it contains lots of nutrients. Unfortunately there are still lots of people who do not bring fish into the kitchen: because no matter how hard they try, they feel that fish either ends up tasting and looking like a piece of cardboard or turn into a formless mess. But with a bit of help anyone can learn how to flip, poach, sauté or grill fish like a pro. Let’s look at two great healthy fish recipes, and start from scratch.

With from scratch I mean doing everything yourself, from buying the fish at a market, to cleaning it and finally cooking and eating it. The best fish you can purchase is usually something you can find in a Japanese or Chinese market in your town. Especially the Japanese markets are well known for having extremely high standards for the fish they sell. If your city has a Chinatown, they’ll usually have lots of stalls with live fish fillets; try to establish a relationship with your fishmonger to try to understand which picks should suit your recipe best.

So with these tips out of the way lets start with our healthy fish recipe. The first one is a Honey-soy broiled salmon. This recipe is something you can make within 20 minutes so its real fast to make. You can eat it as a healthy snack, or you can make a whole meal out of it by adding brown rice and red peppers which you could sauté. It makes a great side dish that is both sweet and tangy; the added sesame seeds you toast to garnish it with in the end, accent the whole meal with a kind of nutty flavor.

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Add a couple of tablespoons of  soy sauce, a tablespoon of rice vinegar, a minced scallion, a teaspoon of minced fresh minced ginger, and a tablespoon of honey; you’ll need a medium-sized bowl to place all of this in; whisk briskly until all the honey mixes in well. The fish you’ll use in this recipe will be four pieces of skinned and center-cut salmon fillet, all amounting to one pound. Cover the salmon in 4 tablespoons of the sauce you just made, place the pieces in a plastic bag, and let the sauce soak in for about 20 minutes.

Prepare a baking pan, lining it with foil, and spreading out a bit of cooking spray. Take out the salmon from the fridge, and place the pieces on the cooking pan with the skinless parts facing down. You’ll need to broil them on a high flame for about 10 minutes. Make sure that the pan is about 5 inches off the flame though. Check to make sure that it’s done, sprinkle on the remaining sauce you have, and garnish with sesame. Healthy fish recipes like this will cover  your daily quota of Omega-3′s, and you’ll get practically all the protein and potassium you need.

The next recipe is the Orata All’ Acqua Pazza; it’s an impressive and strong-tasting recipe, and you can use it with bass, grouper or snapper. The ingredients we’ll need will be as follows: a cup of water, a 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, a 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley, a pound of diced tomatoes, 2 pounds of the fish you choose, whole, two cloves of garlic and red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. You need to start out by preheating the oven to about 350°F. Prepare an ovenproof roasting pan by pouring in half of the olive oil you set out, and throw in the garlic and a teaspoon of the red pepper flakes. Sauté these for as long as it takes to brown them; add in the tomatoes and sauté them as well.

Shake a little sea salt and black pepper on the fish, and place it in the oven pan with the mixture you just cooked. Pour in the water you set out, and bake for 25 minutes. You’ll know that it’s done when you stick a thermometer in the center of the fish, and it reads 140°F. You’ll need to cook the sauce now with the flame turned all the way up until you’ve reduced it to about just a cup. Add in the parsley and the olive oil and you are done. A little salt and pepper should be appropriate, you can fillet the fish, add on the remaining sauce, and serve right away. It should make a great dinner for four, and bring you some well-deserved appreciation.

With the increase of the number of people suffering from obesity and related problems because of poor dietary choices and lack of exercise, we get bombarded with conflicting advice about healthy eating plans. This makes it very complicated for people searching for a good diet. What exactly is a healthy eating plan? It is simply a concise arrangement by a person to include healthy foods in his daily diet.

To create a healthy diet, one needs to know what constitutes as a healthy meal. To start off, you should always include fruit and vegetables in your daily meals. Dieticians recommend that any person above five years of age should at least consume five portions of fruits and vegetables everyday. A portion is defined as 80 grams of any fruit or vegetable.

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A good healthy eating plan should also include at least five portions of cereals and whole meal foods. Other foods in this group include oats, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, noodles and whole meal breads. You can also eat Irish or sweet patatoes to compliment this diet. A healthy eating plan should also include 2½ average servings of milk and other dairy products. Some of the healthy food choices in this category include yoghurt, cheese and skimmed milk. You should avoid the consumption of butter and dairy cream.

Another food group to include in your eating plan are those that are high in proteins, such as meat, fish and poultry. Eggs are also a healthy source of animal proteins but they should be consumed in moderation. When consuming animal proteins, it is always advisable for a person to plan on consuming foods that have low fat content. Alternatively, one can opt for plant proteins, which you can get from eating kidney beans and nuts.

Although fats and sugar have a bad wrap in many diets, it is important to know that even they have a vital role to play in the human body as they are a source of energy.  As such, a healthy eating plan should contain a healthy content of the same. To avoid the disadvantages that come from such foods, one should limit their consumption to a maximum of three servings a day. To be on the safe side, one should plan to include unsaturated fats such as corn oil, sunflower and olive oil in your dietary plans.

Saturated fats contained in animal products and highly processed foods should be avoided. When factoring in sugar in the diet plan, one should strive to include complex sources of the same. Foods containing highly refined sugars such as biscuits should be avoided. Overall, a healthy eating plan should contain foods in the three basic food groups: proteins (body building foods), vitamins (mineral-rich foods) and carbohydrates (energy-giving foods). Fats are also a vital component in the eating plan.