Body composition will change as you age.

The first thing to understand is that weight gain really does seem to be a natural part of the ageing process, with various research confirming the trend. One 2014 cross-sectional study1 of Czech women found, for example, that body fat mass increased with age, and that even when lean body mass (think “muscle”) decreased with age, weight gain still occurred due to the increased fat gain.

Ready to return to weight training after a long break? Getting back into lifting after a while away from the gym? Here's a guide to help you plan your return to the gym safely and effectively, so you can get your strength and fitness back.

The bench press is one of the most important upper body exercises. You can be forgiven for thinking it is a chest exercise, a lot of people do; however, it is so much more than that. It is a compound exercise, and that is because it recruits many muscles throughout the body.

There is no denying that it’s more difficult to keep in shape during the winter months. With dark mornings and nights, freezing conditions, and snow and rain soaking our favorite running paths, it’s hard to get enthused about exercising or drinking cold green smoothies. So to help you out, we’ve compiled a few simple solutions for four of the most common winter weight mistakes we hear every day:

According to latest media reports, handbags are getting heavier with one out of ten weighting over twelve pounds.

Did you know that carrying a heavier handbag can cause changes to your posture and increase your risk of injury?

It may sound far-fetched but the more you stuff into your bag the greater the risk of injury. While your bag may initially seem light, a heavier bag challenges your muscles and can quickly cause fatigue. Back pain, muscle aches, and injury all increase when muscles tire.If you can’t streamline your bag then you need to work on your core strength to combat the heavier load.  Try the following exercises three times a week.

Whether it’s the Christmas/New Year period or a summer season break you can put on weight faster than you get a sun burn if you relax your dietary rules while having fun. Christmas and New Year is probably the worst time for dieters as it basically celebrates gluttony, but the rules are the same for any place or time when we may be tempted to over-indulge. So here are a few ways to stay in shape.

Drinking alcohol in moderation may be difficult if everyone around is being immoderate. Alcoholic beverages especially eggnog are high in calories and the carbohydrates in Guinness are 100% sugar which can result in an insulin rush.
Although drinking water while eating is not good for digestion, having a glass before a meal will suppress your appetite as well as help avoid dehydration.

Eating carbohydrates late at night is, as we all should know, real bad news for our digestive systems and for putting on weight – right?

The hypothesis behind the assertion that ingesting carbohydrates at night is based on the fact – well, supposed fact – that as you approach bed time your metabolism begins to slow down and thus during sleep your digestive system is also likely to be in a low power state. As you are burning fewer calories during this time your metabolic rate switches off or goes into a low power mode. At least that is the conventional wisdom.

However, research has shown there are rises and falls in the metabolic rate even during deep REM sleep – known as the sleeping metabolic rate (SMR), which often correlates with day time rates. There’s also evidence that exercise increases metabolic rates, which perhaps proves the old adage, ‘after supper walk a mile.’ Obese individuals are likely to have lower metabolic rates than the average.

In the last decades many different theories about salt or sodium have come to light.

Weight gain and retention have many origins as well as supposed solutions. However, one common food item with a significant impact on body weight is salt, or sodium.

Food manufactures add a lot of salt to foods, deadening our over-stimulated taste buds, and to increase product shelf life. Salt is in virtually all commercially produced foods and drinks including diet soda and even some supposedly organic products. We get used to the taste and then find products with less or no salt not to our liking.

Eating healthy and sticking to a budget is not always easy, but with a few simple tricks you can keep your wallet fat and your waistline trim!

Thinking of going gluten free? Whether you’re battling an intolerance or simply want to test the waters, it’s easy to be put off by all the foods on the chopping block. Here are five common mistakes made by many who go gluten free and how to avoid them.