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This is not rocket science, all you need to do is eat less and be more active. That's all you really need to know!
OK - So here are some tips to help achieve this.
Most people simply want to lose fat and get toned. When you lose fat you get toned because it’s the fat covering the muscles that makes it impossible to see the muscle tone under the fat.
Start with taking control of your diet since diet is 80% and exercise is 20% of what it takes to get Healthy and Fit. This way you can avoid the busy gym until February when most of the New Years Resolutioners have given up and left the gym.
Diet Tip:
- Track your food so you are accountable and have a better idea of what the food you eat has in it in terms of Calories and Macros.
- Be a bit more strict with your diet Monday to Friday so you can live a little on the weekend.
- Allow yourself some simple pleasures when you diet. You can have a beer or wine with dinner but will have to be more careful in other areas. You can have an evening dessert but again you will have to make sure everything else you eat during the day is on point. Budget your treats into your daily calories and macros.
- If all of that seems too complicated then keep it simple. Eat more lean meat or high protein non-meats and lots of vegetables, avoid fats and carbs so we are talking about the rice, potatoes, pastas, breads, donuts, muffins pastries, cookies, chocolates… and only stick to low calorie dressings and sauces.
- Keep hydrated with water or zero calorie beverages.
- Pick your eating window times, restricting when you eat means you will generally eat less food as long as when you do eat you stay on track.
Exercise Tips:
- Start slow and build up to a sustainable Health and Fitness program. Start off simply moving around more, lots of walking, hiking, biking, swimming, Yoga, other sports.
- Add in some strength training at least 3 times per week. On those days only focus on the weight training. Be intense and work hard at getting stronger, don’t just move weights around, have a purpose to your workout.
- If you are new to the gym find a workout partner with some experience and or hire a trainer to get you started. Maximize your time in the gym to get the most out of it.
- If weight training is not your thing then find something you really like to do and commit to that several times per week. Like Yoga, Gymnastic, Martial Arts, Team sports…
General Tips:
- Have a goal in mind, a vacation, going out and buying some new clothing when you down size, a fitness show, an event like a wedding, or simply getting in shape for summer.
- If you have a setback it’s not over, simply start back up where you left off. You only fail when you give up completely.
- Don’t just weigh yourself, measure your waist or other trouble areas, the scale can be slow to go down but when the tape measure results decrease this can really help keep you motivated and progressing.