I have a lot of friends in the fitness industry that are so intent on learning the latest scientific discoveries, they forget about the simple ways to start losing fat. It’s easy to do. The more you know, the more you forget that not everyone has the same fitness experience as you do and the more you start to focus on the complicated. Let’s take one simple example. I have a client that followed his diet to a T, worked out and still wasn’t getting his desired results. After several talks, I learned he drank five or six colas a day. Soft drinks are nothing but carbonated sugar water. They pack on the pounds. He switched to water and got back on track.
Be easy on yourself and start by changing one thing.
Add a half hour of exercise to your daily routine. It doesn’t have to be at the gym, you can go for a walk. In fact, you can go for three time minute walks if you don’t have a half hour all at once. Make life a little more active by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Speed up and increase your intensity. If you have household chores, move as fast as you can and if you get tired, keep working for a few minutes longer. Don’t change everything in your diet at once. Start by giving up food with added sugar. Is that too hard? Then just start by cutting down on sugar and switching fruit for the sweets as a snack.
Try HIIT—high intensity interval training.
HIIT is a fancy way of saying you modify your workout by spending a minute at highest intensity and then switching to equal or longer time at moderate, recovery intensity. You can use it for almost any exercise, even walking. People who want to start working out, but aren’t ready for the gym, can start by walking briskly for a minute, alternating that with a moderate walk for the same time and back to a brisk walk. By the way, that pattern of high intensity and moderate recovery intensity is a lot like the type of exercise you get when you box.
Focus on green and lean.
There are all types of diets, with some aiding in weight loss and others increasing the nutrients necessary for building muscle. What’s the best type? That’s up to your and based on your goals. However, eating healthy, no matter what your goal, is important. You can do it without following a diet. Focus on filling half your plate with colorful vegetables and fruit, a quarter of your plate with lean protein and the rest whole grains. Healthy fat should also be part of your daily meals.
- Try simple things to improve your diet and lower your calories. Mash avocado and use it on toast instead of butter. It’s delicious and healthy.
- Don’t fall for the marketing gimmick touting low fat products, like yogurt. When they remove the fat from yogurt, they have to replace it with something to improve the flavor, that something is often sugar, which is far worse for you.
- Do you miss desserts but want to lose weight? Opt for plain full fat Greek yogurt. Put a layer of yogurt in a cup, cut up a half ripe banana and add your own berries for sweetness. Top with more yogurt and then add raw walnuts. It’s healthy, sweet and best when mushed together and mixed.
- Get more sleep. When you sleep, your body repairs tissue while organizing your brain. If you lack sleep, it upsets the hunger/satiety hormone balance, leaving you hungry all the time. Lack of sleep can cause you to increase your body fat.
For more information, contact us today at Revolution Training