Sometimes, it’s really hard to know what exactly should we do to lose a few extra pounds that we got over the Christmas holidays.
There are so many tips out there, so many new diets to try and so many fitness programs to buy. It is hard to know what and if anything will work for you.
There are things that will not work for sure, but also things that will work for almost every healthy person.
Weight loss is a path, you just need to start it, follow its rules and you’ll get to the end sooner or later.
Here are some things you should never do when trying to lose weight.
Don’t – Do Diets
This is definitely not the way to get your weight down. Dieting and following some crazy strict diet plan might bring results at first and you might see a few pounds lost, but when you stop with dieting those pounds will probably come back.
Diets are hard on our bodies. Not eating enough food is bad for our health and it’s giving our body the message that there is an emergency.
So when the duet stops, our body will start gathering fat even faster because it will want to be ready for the next emergency of this kind.
You’ll feel tired and drained from lack of nutrients in your diet and after finishing your diet, you’ll just start eating like before, or even more.
Don’t – Do Hours of Cardio
Cardio is not bad, it is really good for cardiovascular health and everyone should include cardio training in their routine.
But doing hours of cardio exercises like running will not give you the body you want, and you will not lose weight, at least not the weight you want to lose.
If you are combining long cardio sessions with diets you will get an overly tired body and you’ll need longer to recover.
Don’t – Take the Magic “Weight Loss Pill”
I don’t know what should I write here other than – just don’t. They don’t work and they can be dangerous for your health. The only thing you will lose with these is the money from your wallet.
Now when you know what you don’t want to do, let see what you actually need to do in order to get that weight finally start dropping down.
Do – Clean Your Diet
The first step for losing weight is your diet. You can’t eat junk and expect to lose your weight.
As I said, diets are not the way to go, but clean eating is.
You don’t want to starve your body, you want to feed it with the best and most nutritious food and stop feeding it with junk food.
Clean eating means you will eat whole and healthy food like real vegetables and fruits, meat and fish, eggs and dairy and carbs like oats, rice or potatoes.
This means you will not eat junk food anymore, no fries or fried food, no sweets or non-healthy snacks, no sugary drinks.
Check your kitchen cabinets, there are lots of “healthy” snacks you must be eating that are not healthy at all. Healthy cereals full of sugar, biscuits with tons of ingredients that you can’t even pronounce or low fat/high sugar yoghurt drinks that you thought will help you not to gain weight.
Do – Lower Your Expectations
Start small, make changes daily, don’t start with everything you got because you’ll get tired of all the big changes.
Start with one new habit only and when you are comfortable with that habit, add a new one and work on those now. When comfortable, add something else to your routine.
Let yourself go slow because slow will be better in the long term.
You don’t want to do it for a few months and stop, you want it to become a part of your life. That is the only way you can have really long-term results.
Start with exercises you can do, start eating food you like to eat and just go slow.
Don’t beat yourself if you fail, miss a workout or if you eat three doughnuts. Just don’t make these things stop you, return to your healthy habits and be persistent.
Do – Start Doing HIIT Training
High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT is a way of cardio workouts that are more effective than steady-state cardio in fat loss.
HIIT involves short bursts of high-intensity workouts lasting 15 seconds to 1 minute followed by low-intensity intervals in a duration of 1-2 minutes. You alternate between this kind of exercises until the end of sessions. Sessions last about 20-30 minutes.
HIIT training is the best option to lose more fat in less time. It will fire up your complete system and you will be losing fat for the next 24 hours after a workout. Isn’t that amazing?
HIIT is especially effective when you have that little body fat you want to get rid of because it uses your fat as fuel. It is also great at reducing your appetite after a workout that can be really helpful in controlling your diet.
You can do HIIT training 2-3 times a week.
Do – Strength Training
There are numerous benefits that strength training has on our body.
It can transform our body in many ways including help with weight loss. It will help you build muscles and lose fat at the same time.
High reps with lighter weights can be an effective way of burning fat and building muscles at the same time.
And don’t worry about getting bulky, you will not get bulky from strength training. The only thing that can happen to you is that you will get lean muscle and start to lose weight.
Strength training is an amazing ally in improving your life and health.
It has a big impact on our health, it reduces the blood pressure, improving your blood flow, improving your cholesterol levels, helping in controlling sugar levels and increases your bone density. This is essentially important for women because it is great prevention of osteoporosis later in life.
Make sure to learn the basics first and give your muscles 24-48 hours rest between sessions. Doing strength training 3-4 times a week works great for most people.
Do – Start Sports Activities You Enjoy
Great way to start anything is to start with something you like and enjoy to do.
Maybe you enjoy the certain sport more than anything else or there’s something you always wanted to try.
Any kind of sports activity that you enjoy can be beneficial in helping you get your weight loss started. Football, basketball, tennis or any other sports game can be an effective and fun way of cardio.
Pilates, Zumba classes or pole dancing can do amazing for improving your self-esteem and getting your heart rate up at the same time.
Yoga is great for balance and flexibility, for improving your posture and getting rid of back pain.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure you are enjoying it having fun.
Do – Find Ways to Move More
Next one is easy enough.
Just try to think about how can you start moving more during your daily routine. Any increase in movement means more calories burned, and that is what you are after.
Do – Try to Walk More During Your Day
Walk with kids to school, walk to the grocery store instead of driving or incorporate more walking in your commute. Get out on the bus stop before the usual one and walk from there.
If you can, cycle to work or when doing errands.
Try to sit less and stand more during the day. Standing is burning more calories than sitting. So if you have a sitting job, check if you can get a standing desk or take regular breaks and walk to the kitchen.
The most important thing is to get moving and for sure, your weight will soon go down.
Do – Stay Consistent and Don’t Give Up
Whatever you decide to do, stick with it and be consistent.
Remember that progress doesn’t happen overnight and that you will need time to get the results you want.
Don’t feel bad if you are having bad days if you have eaten lots of junk food or haven’t done exercises for days. Don’t waste your time to guilt and just start moving!!!
