Before you begin your journey to your own 'perfect body,' you must first step back and think to yourself, "What do I want to accomplish?" Maybe you want to lose a whole pile of weight, or maybe you want to build up muscle, or maybe you want to tone up and chisel out your features and get that ripped body; whatever you choose, it all starts with setting a goal. I will outline every step of the way to help you with that process for each of these goals.
Weight Loss
Take a moment and look at how you are eating right now. Are you eating healthy? If the answer is no this is the first place to start. The average person will eat three meals a day, usually not in the right proportions. That's the first mistake people make, three meals a day isn't enough! If you've tried dieting before, you know that there would be times in the day you find your stomach grumbling for food. This is because when you diet you usually cut back your food intake from what you were used too. This isn't necessarily a good thing, you see if you cut too much food from your diet your body will start to go into starvation mode. So any food you do eat will be stored as fat so the body has energy to burn. Now is that what you want, always being hungry yet still gaining weight? The answer to this problem is really quite simple, eat more! I'm not saying to eat chips, candy, etc; after all we want to get rid of the fat. You should instead eat six meals a day.
I know a lot of you are probably reading this saying, "Six meals a day?! I'll for sure gain weight!" But that is not at all the case, when I say eat six meals a day I don't mean go out and have yourself a buffet for three of those meals, I'm saying eat small meals portioned correctly. One of the greatest tips that not many people know when it comes to losing weight is this, never give your body the chance to get too hungry. The longer you wait to eat again, the hungrier you become, and the hungrier you become the more food you are likely to eat at your next meal. It's as simple as that, eat! And of course I mean eat healthy. Below are just a few things you should consider switching in your diet and also an example of how a six meal day might look.
- Instead of white bread switch to a whole wheat, whole wheat is part of the 'good carbohydrate' group
- Fiber is key- choose to eat such things like pears or whole grains
- Try to eliminate things called 'empty calories.' These are things like soda that really have no nutritional value for your body.
- Drink, drink, drink! Drink water of course is what i mean. Try to drink a glass every morning and have at least eight glasses throughout the day.
Eating right is only half the battle when it comes to losing weight. Exercise and weight loss go hand in hand. One of the best types of exercise to do is cardio. What is cardio you ask? These are workouts like for instance jogging or riding a bike. There are two different types of cardiovascular exercise, high impact and low impact. What you choose is entirely up to you and what you feel comfortable with.
Just to give a brief rundown of what each are, high impact exercises include things such as running and plyometrics. They are considered high impact because of the toll they take on joints and ligaments. As you can imagine running can take a toll on some peoples bodies, however it is not necessarily a bad thing. Using high impact workout you strengthen those ligaments and joints making you a stronger person, also high impact workouts tend to burn more calories due to your feet always moving and doing something.
Low impact exercises are less straining on your body. Low impact exercises include things such as a slow walk, swimming, cycling and elliptical machines among other things. As you notice these are all things that do not require your feet to impact the ground with great strain. Some argue low impact exercises are all around better for you, saying not only is it better for your joints, but can burn even more calories than high impact training. When it comes down to it however, the choice lies with you. Both are an excellent way to lose weight and keep it off.I'm going to start you off in the right direction by outlining your first day for you.
Day 1
8:00- Meal 1 (breakfast)
11:00- Meal 2
12:00- Protein Shake*
2:00- Meal 3
5:00- Meal 4
6:00- Since this your first day start with a light 30 minute jog for today's exercise
Close to bedtime- Meal 6
* For your protein shake simply mix 1 scoop of whey protein with whatever you like. A scoop of strawberry whey mixed with skim milk and some real strawberries is an excellent tasting way to get your nutrients.
Images from:
http://www.scenicreflections.com/ithumbs/cycling_Wallpaper_fj3s0.jpg
http://www.namasteshopper.com/Namaste/images/stories/Health/woman-jogging.jpg
http://www.bellenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/weight_loss_vegetables_eat_healthy.jpg
http://simplehealthybliss.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/women-man-6-pack-abs1.jpg
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