Whether you want to lose just a few pounds for a holiday or fully transform how you look, fat/weight loss will play an important part when it comes to revealing the physique you desire....I’m stating the obvious because this shouldn’t be news to you!
Chances are that if you’re reading this then you’ve already been through the mill when it comes to diet and exercise, but did you get the results you wanted? If you didn’t then these 5 keys may well shed some light on how you could improve things.
Calculate Your Calories Weekly
Most people review their calorie intake daily, this is a classic mistake and causes more people to abandon their efforts in the first month than any other single reason.
Managing your long term eating habits is no different to how we live day to day life, we have good and bad days. You may have a day when you don’t eat much (especially if you’re focused on work) and you may have a day when you eat a little too much or get frustrated and hit the beer, chocolate, wine, etc.
Now if all other days go more or less according to plan then you will still make progress, just so long as your weekly total shows a deficit.
Not All Foods Are Created Equal
This should really be a bit of a no brainer but for many its easy to get caught up in the clever marketing of the low fat/low calorie brigade.
The key here is to choose foods that work well for your body. Gut health plays an important part and the better it operates the wider your choices will be. It makes sense to focus the bulk of your attention on vegetables, fruit and lean meats/fish, then add fats and carbohydrates into the mix as your situation dictates.
So don’t be tempted by cardboard carbs like crispbread, go whole food!
Meal Timing and Frequency Must Fit Your Lifestyle
We’ve been told by the media that the best way to lose weight is by eating little and often. In reality resent research shows no difference in results whether you eat 3 times a day or 6, it all comes down to total volume.
Eating late is also something that weight loss mythology would have us believe causes weight gain. Again the same principles apply when it comes to total consumption. The primary downside to eating late is likely to be a lack of proper digestion rather than weight gain.
In the end the key is to fit your meals in around your daily activities. If you don’t have much time between meetings, phone calls and emails then you might be better off eating smaller meals or snacking throughout the day, just so long as you can control how much you eat at any one sitting.
On the flip side, if you can create opportunities to each during the day then you can reduce the number of meals or snacks you actually need.
Face Your Habits Head On
Many people see any kind of weight loss process as short term. They work hard for a month or two and then its back to the same lifestyle choices that created the problem in the first place, and the cycle of weight loss/gain continues.
Ideally we want to create our new physique and keep it like that (which is what I teach on the Body Blueprint programme) and this means facing our habits head on and creating change. You need to find out what triggers eating habits and why you choose the comfort foods you do.
Reprogramming your habits will give you huge advantage when it comes to maintaining and keeping your results.
Exercise In Your Downtime
Planning exercise into your life isn’t as difficult as you might think. If time is in short supply then keep it simple....all you need is a little bit of space, a few minutes and you!
For example....get up a few minutes early and spend 20 minutes doing a mix of squats, push ups and mountain climbers. It’s not perfect but it is effective and you can get on with the rest of your day without worrying about when you’ll fit your training in. This is especially useful when you’re traveling.
Lunchtimes are another good option if you can create the time and diverting your route home to pass the gym removes a whole load of excuses and missed opportunities.
Creating a mini gym at home can be another great time saver. Its amazing what you can do with a mat, a TRX and a couple of kettlebells (keep your eyes open for an up and coming blog on that subject).
In short you can summarise the points above as follows....
Plan your food
Re-programme your habits
Exercise Often
Easy eh!!! :D