Does there come a time that your body says you are where you need to be?

Answer: You may be at a plateau, which eventually happens to everyone. As you get in shape, you become more efficient at burning calories (like getting a tune-up for your car) which means that you burn fewer calories than you used to.  If you tend to do the same thing for your cardio workouts, consider changing it up (Stairmaster one day, bike the next, jog the next, or try the elliptical or rowing machine).

You’ve probably had to reduce your food intake and increase your activity level a lot during the time you’ve been losing weight. If you choose to continue to lose fat, make sure you have room to add activity and/or lower calories and still enjoy what you are doing. If not, stay where you are for now until you feel like taking another run at losing weight.

You must be able to maintain the lifestyle that got you to your current level of fitness. If it is too hard to maintain, you won’t. You may be where you need to be from a health standpoint.

How to Deal With Bad Dogs

By Fred Matheny and Ed Pavelka of www.RoadBikeRider.com

Dog attacks are high on the list of cycling fears. Maybe you can’t stop Fang from giving chase, but you can outsmart him if you know how dogs think—assuming that stinkin’ mutt even has a brain! 

• Know dog psychology. The majority of dogs who chase cyclists are merely defending their territory. When you pedal off the section of road that they consider their turf, you no longer pose a threat to their ancestral instincts and they lose interest. Incidentally, this is why you’ll rarely be chased by a dog you encounter way out in the boonies. He’s not on his turf so he couldn’t care less about you.
  
• Know dog tactics. Dogs want to attack from the rear, coming up from the hindquarter. Even one who sits up in his yard ahead of you may wait till you pass before giving chase. You can use this to your advantage in the next tip because it gives you a head start.
  
• Sprint! You often can outsprint Fido when he’s more interested in fooling around than in actually attacking. You can tell his intent by how hard he’s running and his expression. An easy gait with woofing and ears and tail up, no problem. A full-out sprint with ears back, tail down and teeth out, problem. Still, the territorial gene can save you. If the road is flat or downhill, stand up and sprint to get past the dog’s invisible boundary.
  
• Guard your front wheel. When a dog sees you coming, he might make a beeline for your bike, then attempt to turn up beside you. The danger here is that his poor little paws will skid on the pavement and he’ll plow into your wheels. If he hits the front one, you’ll crash. Sprint so that you move forward faster than he expects, and give him a margin for error by steering farther into the road—if traffic permits!
  
• SCREAM! Most dogs know what happens when a human is angry with them. A sudden shout of “No!” or “Git!” or “Stay!” will surprise Fluffy and probably make him hesitate for just the second you need to take the advantage. If he’s hard of hearing, raise your hand threateningly as if it contains a rock. Outlaw mutts usually have had experience with bad things flying at them when a human makes a throwing gesture.
  
• Play douse the Doberman. If you see big, fast Prince up ahead and know that he sees you, sprinting might not work. Especially if the road is tilting up. Take out your water bottle. Just having it in your hand may make him stay away. If he does come near you, give him a faceful and a loud yell. This distraction will slow him down, though he may come back for more. Just don’t distract yourself and ride off the road.
  

Some riders swear by Halt pepper spray that they clip to their handlebar. This stuff works great—if you hit your target. That’s a big if when you and Spot are going different speeds, the air is moving, and you’re trying to stay on the road. Pepper spray stings a dog’s eyes, nose and mouth, but it doesn’t cause lasting damage. It also works on human attackers, but that’s a different story.

• Give up and get off.  If nothing works and Toodles has the upper hand, dismount quickly and hold your bike between you and those sharp teeth. Swing it like a weapon if necessary, and start calling for help. Someone may eventually come out of a house and yell, “Oh, he won’t hurt you!”
  
• Call the cops. If you are attacked and bitten, report it to the county sheriff or other authority immediately. Include the location, a description of the dog and the owner’s name and address if you know them. Get medical attention without delay. If the dog was rabid, you are at risk of serious illness or even death. Demand proof of rabies vaccination or insist to authorities that the dog be quarantined.
  

If the same dog accosts you every time you ride the road, report this to the authorities, too. You have a right to use public roadways free from fear for your life, liberty and pursuit of cycling happiness. Keep following up with calls to make sure steps are taken to put PupPup on a rope.

How to Lose Fat Quickly

Spring is in the air, which mean summer is quickly approaching. Before you know it, swimsuits, tank tops, shorts, trips to the beach, and pool parties will be in full swing--and there’s a high likelihood that you’ll be exposing the backs of your arms, stomach, thighs and calves.

But don’t panic! In this two part series on how to lose fat quickly, you’ll learn how fast you can safely lose fat, and about the best fat loss exercises and fat loss workouts.

How Do You Lose Fat?

Imagine you have a big barrel of crude oil in the trunk of your car. Even though your car’s engine uses gasoline, and crude oil is used to make gasoline, all that crude oil in your trunk isn’t doing you a bit of good unless it somehow gets converted into gasoline and put into your engine!

Your body is no different. Think of all that fat around your waistline like the crude oil in your car’s trunk. You can’t just take the fat and burn it right where it sits on your waistline, because your body must first convert the fat into a form of fuel that your body can actually burn for energy. Your body accomplishes that by taking the fat, sending it to the liver, and breaking it down in something called “free fatty acids,” which can then be used for energy.

What Must You Do to Lose Fat?

Why do I use this gasoline analogy? Because to lose fat, you must put your body into a state where it needs to burn its crude oil (fat) for energy. If you’re constantly pulling over at gas stations and getting more gasoline, your body will never even think about tapping into that crude oil in your trunk. So to burn through that crude oil you need to A) avoid frequent gasoline stops and B) drive your car.

What Happens if You Lose Fat too Quickly?

Before we can talk about safely losing weight quickly, we must first discuss what happens if you lose fat too quickly. You body, just like a car, doesn’t operate very well on fumes. But unlike a car, your body will actually start to break down its parts and turn them into fuel if you don’t have enough energy on board.

In other words, you will literally start to cannibalize non-fat tissue, stop making hormones, slow down your metabolism, and have lots of other nasty effects if your calorie deficit is too low!

That is why very low-calorie diets, such ones where you just drink juice made from cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and bits of maple syrup, seem to work very well at first, but then rate of weight loss slows, the immune system weakens, exercise and muscle toning become impossible, and eventually, you return to eating lots of food and yo-yo-ing until your weight comes right back up. The same effect can happen if you exercise too much, but in that case, you not only pay the metabolic price, but you can also do permanent damage to your joints.

How Fast Can You Safely Lose Weight?

So when it comes to calorie intake, how little is too little, and how much is too much exercise? Although the numbers vary widely, because people come in all shapes, sizes and weights, a safe and permanent fat loss strategy is approximately 1-3% body fat loss per month, which comes out to around 2 pounds per week for most people. Most people can achieve this with an hour of moderate exercise a day combined with a daily calorie deficit of approximately 500 calories.

However, if you’re willing to put up with fatigue, nausea, constipation, or diarrhea, a very low-calorie diet of 800 calories per day or less can increase your weight loss to 3-5 pounds per week. Although this type of diet shouldn’t be combined with exercise, you could mimic the effects of a very low calorie diet by eating 1500-2000 calories per day and exercising for 1.5-3 hours per day--in which case the gym and treadmill will become your very close friends.

What Are the Best Fat Loss Exercises?

Usually, multi-joint, full body exercises such as a squat to overhead press, deadlift to curl, or uphill run on a treadmill are the fastest way to burn calories, increase fat-burning hormones, add lean muscle, and lose fat. But if you’re doing a high amount of exercise for fast fat loss, such as 1.5-3 hours per day, you’ll want to include non-weight bearing or non-impact exercise to protect your joints--such as riding a bike, using an elliptical and, rowing machine, swimming, and performing cable or elastic band movements.

What Is The Best Fat Loss Workout?

If you’re just getting started, and especially if you are obese, this type of routine can be tough, so you may need to simply start with a daily routine of light, aerobic cardio, such as a 30 minute walk each morning, combined with easy resistance training, such as three sets of 12 repetitions for each of your muscles, using a weight machine or set of home dumbbells.

After 4-6 weeks of this type of activity, you should be able to add cardiovascular intervals mixed with weight training. If you need to lose weight more quickly than that, and you’re not currently completely inactive or obese, you can combine weight training with cardiovascular intervals 6 days per week, with one easy, aerobic recovery day, and continue this type of training for 4-6 weeks, before taking an entire easy, recovery week to give your hormones, joints, heart and mind a break.

Is There A Fast Fat Loss Diet?

As mentioned earlier, severe calorie restriction will certainly accelerate weight loss temporarily, but may have lasting health effects, and be intensely uncomfortable. In reality, when total calorie intake is equal, large studies haven’t shown that eating low-carbohydrate is any better for weight loss than high-carbohydrate, high-fat, or high-protein.

Good Luck!