Beat the Confusion

I feel compelled to share my ‘7 Weight-loss Tips For Fitness’ with you because when I set out on my quest in fitness and exercise I had a lot of trouble actually losing weight because of all the confusing information out there. For a couple years I had gained more and more weight from eating ‘fat free’ foods. Most of us know that story- as we as a society followed false advertising we thought that consuming ‘fat free’ foods was what made us lose weight. As we followed the herd, we got fatter (as a society). So hopefully! YOU are in the know now too and realize that ‘fat free’ is not the way to go. More importantly, I knew I didn’t want to lose it by popping pills. They never set right with me anyway.

Here are my 7 quick helpful tips I learned along the way that are really effective and hopefully can benefit you too.

1. Muscle Burns Fat- So hit the weights. You don’t have to do grueling workouts but start doing some moderately challenging weightlifting a few times a week to build muscle tone. As long as you incorporate some cardio (biking, walking, running, elliptical, aerobics) you won’t get big and thick.

2. Include SOME Cardio- Not only does it burn fat, it’s beneficial for your heart and dusts off the cobwebs that attribute to heart disease. Enough said.

3. Have A Plan- When you go to the gym, have a plan so you know what you are going to do. Don’t wander around from one machine to the next, not sure what you should do. It’s a waste of time and is very ineffective. Design a workout for each day of the week, each week, for 6 weeks and stick to it. After that, switch up your workout and either change the weights and exercises or types of workouts. (I will have more on that later in my workout/fitness 7 day series- stay tuned).

If you workout at home, you actually have several options:
(1) Buy a pilates video that will help increase lean muscle mass and your ab muscles.
(2) Do a simple workout with 3 sets of 15 reps of a combination of Squats, Pushups, Lunges, Pull-ups & Abs.
(3) Consider getting a couple videos. I like Gilad’s, “Arms of Steel” and “Legs of Steel”. They are only a 1/2 hour each and very effective. You need a few sets of weights like: 5#, 8#, 10# and probably higher for men. As an example: Do legs one day, cardio the next, arms the next and cardio the next, and repeat that sequence. Be sure and rest 1 or 2 days a week.

Regardless of what you do, make your workouts count, have fun and do what you really enjoy.

4. Eat Real Food- You can lose more weight and get toned just by eating healthy food everyday. Foods like: chicken, eggs, fish, steak, veges, fruits and nuts. This is what your body was meant to have. Processed and even most frozen meals have preservatives and chemicals in them that your body actually spends more time trying to get rid of. When you eat, shoot for a balanced ratio of proteins, carbs and fat. Here’s the ratio real quick- Protein 7 grams, Carbohydrates 9 grams, Fat 1.5 grams. This ratio is usually ideal for snacks, double it for meals. Men and highly active people will have to triple it.

5. Ab Exercise Truths- Crunches and ab exercises are good for strengthening and I actually believe they are equally important for strengthening your back. Commonly, people with back problems have weak abdominal muscles. But, gaining lean, sexy abs has everything to do with your diet. Eating low glycemic foods like veges and some fruits, doing a little cardio 5 days a week and pilates were the most effective for me.

6. Pilates- When I discovered pilates, I actually thought it would be boring but I wanted a different kind of workout and something I could do quickly at home. I grew to really love it. It’s not an exciting workout but the effects were great. It helped to really strengthen my inner core and boosted my runs incredibly!

7. DO IT TODAY- We are all guilty of finding something else to fill our time with but if you get started and stay consistent, chances are you won’t find anything else that really makes you feel as good as exercise. No one else can do it for you so in the famous words of Nike, “JUST DO IT.”