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| 16 Tips to Looking + Feeling Great | |
Do you want to improve the quality of your life? Do you
want to look and feel better than you have in years - maybe
better than you ever have before? Do you want to protect
yourself from disease and injury? And do you want to live a
longer, more vital life?
I'm confident that you answered YES! to each of those
questions, just as the hundreds of individuals I've
counseled, coached, and trained in my career as a Certified
Personal Fitness Trainer and Rehabilitation Specialist.
I'm now going to reveal to you the 16 essential strategies
that have enabled my clients to achieve the health and
fitness goals they always wanted!
16 Essential Weight Loss and Fitness Strategies
1. In the beginning, your fitness program should not be
overly aggressive. One of the biggest problems people
encounter when starting a fitness program is rapidly
depleted motivation after only a few weeks due to an overly
ambitious fitness program. Attempting to do too much too
fast is worse than doing nothing at all! Because then you
feel like exercise is too hard and it's just not for you.
Start out slow, maybe just shooting for 1 or 2 workouts a
week. Once you have successfully added that to your normal
routine, then attempt to slowly add to your fitness program.
Plus, most people don't need to exercise more than 3-4
times a week. That doesn't mean you can't exercise more;
it's just not necessary.
2. Always have a detailed plan! In order to reach your
health and fitness goals, you must have a road map to
follow. I can't stress this enough. If you are unsure of
how to put together a fitness plan, or if you're uncertain
of the effectiveness of the one you have, I highly recommend
you consult a professional fitness trainer. With a well
thought out plan you are much more likely to be successful!
3. Set realistic, attainable goals. You must have tangible,
quantifiable, short and long-term goals so you can measure
and assess your progress. Too many people have totally
unrealistic expectations of what to expect from an exercise
and nutrition program. The best way for you to understand
what is realistic and attainable is to talk with a fitness
professional - not to buy into the "hype" of infomercials
and diet and fitness products that are blatantly misleading.
4. Keep a journal! This is one of the most important things
you can do. If you're not tracking what you're doing, how
will you know what worked? There are quite a few great
exercise and nutrition logs I've come across. You should
keep track of all your exercise and also each day's food
intake.
There's a company called NutraBiotics that makes a great
90-day journal that can be used to track strength training,
cardiovascular exercise, and daily nutrition. If you would
like more information on this journal, please feel free to
call me at 240-731-3724.
5. You must be accountable! Set exercise appointments with
yourself if you're not working with a personal fitness
trainer. Use your appointment book to set aside times for
exercise, just like you do for meetings or events. Don't
let things get in the way. Nothing is more important than
your health! If you don't have your health you can't
effectively do anything. I often have mothers tell me that
they can't find time to exercise because they have to take
care of their children. I have 4 daughters myself, and a
baby on the way, so I know exactly how hard it is. Whatever
your situation is, making the commitment to exercise and
your health IS possible, and very important. Plus, it sets
a great example for the children!
6. Remember the benefits of exercise. Being physically fit
affects every aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat
better, love better, overcome stress better, work better,
communicate better, and live better! Remember how good it
feels to finish a workout, and how great it feels to meet
your goals!
7. Exercise safely and correctly. So much time is wasted
doing, at best, unproductive exercise, or at worst,
dangerous exercise. Educate yourself on how to exercise
correctly. The best way to do that is to hire a personal
fitness trainer. It could be for just a few sessions to
learn the basics, or it could be for a few months to learn
everything. It's completely up to you. But statistics
prove that those who understand how to exercise correctly
get better, faster results. And that's what you want,
right?
8. Enjoy your exercise! For example, if you hate doing
strength training, try to find ways to make it more
enjoyable. Circuit training might be a more fun and
exciting way to fit this important part of fitness into your
program. The key is you should enjoy it, and if you don't
you need to look for other exercises or activities to
replace whatever it is you don't enjoy.
If you don't enjoy it, how do you expect to stick with it?
9. Make time to stretch! It has so much benefit and takes
very little time. So many people suffer from various aches
and pains of which most can be eliminated by basic
stretches! Try to spend at least 5 minutes after each
workout stretching. For more information on stretching and
how it eliminates aches and pains, please call 240-731-3724
to request a FREE copy of my special report "No More Back
Pain".
10. Don't think you need to exercise 5 days a week! I
touched on this earlier. Many people feel they're getting
fat because they're not exercising. Totally not the case!
Exercise is not the answer! It's all in your eating habits.
However, exercise can aid in burning body fat, plus there
are numerous health benefits. Think of exercise as a bonus.
How many people do you know who exercise 3-5 times per week,
but still fail to meet their weight loss and fitness goals?
I've met hundreds!
First look at your eating habits, such as: when you eat,
what you eat, how much you eat, where you eat, and how often
you eat.
11. Never skip breakfast, or any meal! If you want to
maximize your fitness or fat-loss efforts you've got to eat
breakfast! So many people skip breakfast, and it's the
worst thing you could ever do when it comes to fat-loss.
Skipping meals throws your blood sugar all out of whack and
it sets you up to store your next meal as fat, almost
guaranteed!
12. Eat fat to lose fat. Healthy fats are necessary to your
body for numerous reasons: regulating hormonal production,
improving immune function, lowering total cholesterol, and
providing the basics for healthy hair, nails, and skin.
The key is to eat the right types of fats. The "good' fats
are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like olive oil,
canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and avocados, to
name a few. The "bad" fats are partially hydrogenated oils,
and trans fats. Most processed foods contain large amounts
of these bad fats. For more information on the different
types of fats, please call 240-731-3724 to request a FREE
copy of my Healthy Eating Guidelines.
13. Drink plenty of fresh, clean water. Yes, I know that
you have probably heard this one over and over again. But
there's a reason for that - it's that important! The
recommended daily intake of water is 8 glasses, or 64 oz.
You should even be drinking even more if you are active or
exercise regularly.
And no, soda, juice, coffee, and tea DON'T count! Nearly
every chemical process place in your body, takes place in
water! Proper blood flow and digestion are both affected by
how much water you drink, and poor blood flow and digestion
can be linked to numerous health conditions.
14. Stabilize your blood sugar! If you want to burn fat and
prevent your body from putting it back on, you must
stabilize your blood sugar. In order to do this you need to
eat small, balanced meals or snacks every 2-3 hours.
Fasting, skipping meals, and overly restrictive diets will
enable you to lose weight - in the short run. The weight
you lose is primarily water weight and muscle tissue, and in
the long run has opposite effect of what you want. When you
restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it's
being starved and shifts into a protective mode by slowing
down the metabolism and storing nearly all calories as body
fat. Plus, losing muscle tissue is the last thing you want
to do. Muscle burns calories, even while you sleep. You
should be focused on increasing, or at least maintaining
muscle tissue.
15. Focus on increasing muscle tissue. As I mentioned
previously, muscle burns calories, so if you want to
increase your metabolism, you have to increase your muscle.
The best way to do that is with progressive strength
training. That doesn't mean you have to join a gym, buy
expensive fitness equipment, or follow some bodybuilding
workout program; it simply means you need to challenge your
muscles! You can do that at home in just 15-20 minutes, 2-3
times a week.
16. Get the help of an expert! Obviously, meeting your
health and fitness goals is important to you, so why not
eliminate the guesswork and start seeing the results you
have always wanted? With the help of a qualified
professional you can!
If your car breaks down, where do you take it? Mechanic,
right? How about if you have a cavity? Dentist. So why is
it that so many people attempt to solve their health and
fitness problems without consulting an expert? I don't know
exactly, but I encourage you to make the investment in
yourself- in your life- by hiring a professional to educate
you and help you meet your goals.
So there you have it. The 16 essential strategies for an
effective weight loss and fitness program that will have you
looking and feeling great!
Jesse Cannone is a certified personal trainer and author of
the best-selling fitness ebook, Burn Fat FAST. Be sure to
sign up for his free email course as it is full of powerful
weight loss and fitness tips that are guaranteed to help you
get the results you want. http://www.guaranteed-weightloss.com
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