Listed below are 10 ways to help you lose weight and gain muscle. As you read through the items they will make a lot of sense. But implementation of these 10 ideas is not as easy as you think.So let me help you by starting with these 10 concepts.
- Eat Breakfast Everyday: This sounds like a no brainer. But you would be surprised how many people don't make the time to eat the most important meal of the day. DON"T SKIP BREAKFAST!!!. If you train in the morning COFFEE or TEA is all you need. You can eat later once you get home. Eat a cup of yogurt, some fruit, a slice of whole grain toast or bagel. The first meal helps to establish your metabolism for the day. Don't start out your day with less than a full tank.
- Close the Kitchen at Night: No eating late at Night. Establish a cut off. Nothing after 6:00 PM until you get up in the morning. Drink water after 6 pm as it will help satiety your hunger at night. Eating late meals leads to stored calories. Which makes you skip breakfast. This can throw off your energy for the day.
- Chose liquid calories wisely. Minimize your consumption of liquids. What liquids? These for a start. WINE, Beer, Sprits. Then its the soft drinks. Coke, Sprite, Pepsi. Remember that even though they don't have "sugar" in the so called "zero calorie" beverages. These beverages make people over drink and that can lead to unnecessary additional calories.
- Eat More Produce: If there is no Color on your plate you are doing a great disservice to yourself. Veggies are a necessary and essential food stuff rich in vitamins and nutrients. Get over your "not liking vegetables". It's my experience that people who don't like veggies had them made poorly by family members and were FORCED to eat BADLY cooked food. As an adult figure out what you do like and Eat it often.
- Go for the Grain: Whole Grains or no Grains. Make sure the labeling on breads have been made from as much whole grains as possible. Excellent source of fiber and carbohydrate
- Control your environment: Set up your environment to be successful. Make sure you go to bed early. Plan out your meals for the day. Shop for the food to make you happy and keep you alive.
- Trim Portions: READ LABELS!!! Labels tell you all you need to know as far as what a ideal serving size is for that particular food. In the beginning, although tedious, measure out your food and begin to visualize what a serving "ACTUAL"is so when you are out in the world you can gauge visually what food serving you are being served.
- Add more steps: The golden rule ( it's being debated ) is to walk at least 10,000 steps / day. Or as close to 10,000 as you can. Which is about 3.5 miles. It is important that you move around as much as possible throughout your day. Get a pedometer , FitBit, or a similar product and monitor your aerobic activity or simply "how many steps" you are doing daily. This feedback can help monitor and motivate you to reach your fitness goal.
- Have protein with every meal: We all know were Protein comes from. Either land or water animals. What if we don't want meat? Eggs, yogurt, Quinoa, Brown rice, Beans, Seeds, Nuts, Nut butters, Peas, Tofu. Mix it up. Give your diet a variety of protein sources to keep you healthy.
- Switch to Lighter Alternatives: Like high calorie foods? Feel you can't give them up? Try some of the low fat and non fat versions of that food. Over time you'll be able to change your taste buds and you'll begin to see that you aren't as dependent as you thought about that food in your diet.
These are a few ideas on how to make some positive changes in your life as you begin your fitness based lifestyle journey. It is NEVER EASY but with consistent effort you can change your physique.
At Next Level there are a variety of programs available from 1-1 to small group training to help you on your fitness path. Located in the Grand Lake area of Oakland. We cater to individuals striving to make a positive change in their lives.
Give me a call I may be able to help.
Yours in Fitness
Next Level Personal Fitness Systems
A. Pigott
