Some of the most popular stories I have touched on when I am talking to people looking to get in better shape, are the ones pertaining to my nephew. He's around 30 and a really super kid. (Yikes I just called a 30 year-old a kid?)
I like sharing his story about what he did to achieve his weight loss goals because I think there are a lot of great lessons we can all use in reaching our own goals. So with that in mind, I wanted to attack his story from two angles to maximize the points I think are most important. First, we have to start with the end in mind. When I say "in mind", I mean clearly in mind. To paraphrase the old saying: without vision, your fitness results will perish.
Second, we are aiming for consistency in small but important habits. These habits will not be huge life changing over hauls. I promise. However, you will have to take a long-term approach to the small changes. For many this isn't easy. It's a muscle we frankly don't use enough. I mention long-term consistency because it's very important in reaching any goal, but especially a fitness goal.
What Is Your Body Goal?
You need to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and it must be something you can see starting to happen in a few weeks at the latest. We talked before about the big 3 desired body outcomes. This concept is now a central focus of what I am doing on my health and fitness blog. So we'll talk about it briefly now.
Our world-wide community of men and women basically are more alike than different. We either are looking to lose weight, get really ripped, or we want to add size and muscle. The trick is we don't want to try to do 2 or 3 at once. It takes too much energy and often leads to exercise overload. This leads to quitting due to being totally fried. So pick one goal.
If you are starting from a beginner level of fitness you are likely overweight. So let's look at weight loss as the goal to focus on. This was my nephew's goal along with like ten other fitness goals. Good things didn't start happening for him until he focused first on one appearance goal: losing the extra weight.
Five Action Changes By My Nephew And The Before and After Results
1. What he used to do when he first tried to lose weight: He did a lot of jogging in the neighborhood. He did this like 6 or 7 days every week. What he did to start losing weight and keep it off: He started to mix it up and only jogged 1 day a week. How did he do better by jogging less? Well he took those other days and did more high intensity cardio work both with weights and without. His workouts were shorter but more effective. Variety is key with exercise.
2. What he used to do when he first tried to lose weight: He ate low-fat cereal and a whole wheat bagel basically every day for breakfast. What he did to start losing weight and keep it off: breakfast became processed food free. This includes no more breads or cereals. His actually calorie intake went up but his weight went down. Plus he felt less bloated eating less bread.
3. What he used to do when he first tried to lose weight: He counted calories meticulously. What he did to start losing weight to keep it off: he stopped counting calories and focused on what each of the foods actually were. He soon learned the difference in energy burning impact between certain foods. Once he learned the difference and tried to be consistent most of the time on eating less processed foods, he kept the weight off with little problem. I don't think there was any switch he made which was more important.
4. What he used to do when he first tried to lose weight: He ate 3 square meals a day. What he did to start losing weight to keep it off: He ate when he was hungry but ate less at each mini meal.
5. What he used to do when he first tried to lose weight: He thought short-term. He did the programs like P90X, but he looked at it like an end game. The bottom line is programs are good if you use them to develop habits for the long haul. They aren't good if you think that when day 60 or 90 is up, you don't need to work out regularly any more. What he did to start losing weight to keep it off: He became more active generally being outside more and walking more in the fresh air. He still had his workout plan, but he had acquired enough knowledge to take the best from many programs and ideas, and develop sustainable long-term habits.
Cheryl Boswell is a writer and researcher on home fitness and health products. You can save time and money by getting FREE in depth news, features, and reviews on home exercise equipment, workout programs, health, and nutrition, including discounts and best prices at her blog. Check out a recent article here: http://bodyslimdown.com/tapout-tries-to-challenge-the-gsp-rushfit-workout-in-the-extreme-home-fitness-market/ Cheryl and her associates have been writing extensively on the "Three Desired Body Outcomes" and particular suggestions for people to reach the one they want. So check it out!
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق