Weight Loss Series: First Step; Understanding What It Takes
First off, congratulations on deciding to make a change in your lifestyle for the better. There are so many programs, supplements, and white noise out there about how you should approach your fat loss. By the end of this series, I hope you will have a better understanding of what it takes to achieve your own personal weight loss. After this series, you should be able to have a formulated plan of attack and a healthy approach to give you a long term solution to managing your weight.
Habitual Change
Long term weight loss and general wellness is about making the appropriate changes in your daily habits. These habits have ultimately formed the body you currently have so it is important to address these in the very beginning of your weight loss journey. The normal approach is to add exercise, eat what you think is healthy, and take supplements to assist. This approach may give you a temporary fix and you will most likely see some initial weight loss. Unfortunately, this is not a long term fix because you did not fix "bad" habits. These can be any where from NOT eating during the day, consuming too much sugar, soft drinks, etc. We will dive into creating better eating and lifestyle habits tomorrow in the next entry to the series!
Exercise and Dieting
The third entry to this series will go over this more in detail but to make it short and sweet.. YOU CANNOT OUT EXERCISE A BAD DIET. Samuel Klien, MD of Washington University's School of Medicine put it simply. “Decreasing food intake is much more effective than increasing physical activity to achieve weight loss. If you want to achieve a 300 kcal energy deficit you can run in the park for 3 miles or not eat 2 ounces of potato chips.” Diet trumps exercise, but when paired together creates a lethal combination. Exercise is used to give you more of a calorie deficit in weight loss programs. Essentially, for your weight loss program to be successful, you must burn more calories than you consume. That is why it is important to keep your heart rate up which in turn, burns more calories. Interval and circuit training are great ways to achieve this. I will provide workout examples when we post this entry to the series.
Supplements
Fat burners and other magic pills of the sort are made to increase your metabolism by most often times giving you a stimulant such as caffeine. You have to watch these because one serving can contain up to 400mg of caffeine! As promising as their advertisements may sound or regardless of what your best friend may claim, this is not a solution to your weight loss. This goes back to the habitual change. I am a firm believer that supplements in general are "icing on the cake". Meaning that, you should be able to consume most, if not all, of your calories through real food on a daily basis. Supplements should be used to fill in the gaps in your nutrition. A calorie is a calorie. That is why it is absolutely crucial to know your body's daily caloric needs so you can adjust your eating to fit within these limits.
Long Term Approach
We must understand that there are no magical food combinations or quick fixes to our current weight situation. Don't feel trapped when you look in the mirror. Feel motivated and take a step in the right direction to living a healthier and more active life. You will absolutely feel better and thank yourself later for it. Set goals! What are your ultimate end all be all goals? Is there some clothes you want to fit in? Is there a particular number you want the scale to read? Is there an ideal body image you want to achieve? Lay these out in the beginning. Set your long term goals as well as short term attainable goals. The short term goals keep you going while keeping you consistently accountable. As you reach these goals, you will feel even better about your progress. It is all about setting your "why" and making it happen. Why do your goals mean so much to you? What makes it worth it for you? Answer these questions and take action on your fitness goals!
*Today after reading this article, write down some bad eating and lifestyle habits you currently believe you have. This can be any where from NOT eating, late night snacking, lack of exercise, soft drinks, sugar consumption, etc. Write it down as I will address these things in tomorrows article. Comment below on any particular questions or concerns you may have and I will answer them before!
*Helpful App for smartphone: MyFitnessPal will give you a good idea of where your calories need to be on a daily basis. This also provides a great platform for logging the food you eat because their database is massive!
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