The obesity rates in the United States are now over 50 . Weight loss is an extremely important issue in our country today. As one of the most developed and certainly one of the richest countries in the nation, why are we so far behind when it comes to physical fitness training and overall health? We certainly have the resources to get in great shape and to maintain healthy lifestyles, but unfortunately we also have many resources that keep us in a constant state of excess. Whether it is food, technology, or just the fast paced lifestyle with a “get ahead” mentality; all of these things are keeping people from focusing on their health.
Many time constraints are simply perception. It is impossible to say that you are too busy to exercise because if you incorporate the right type of training into your life, it does not take a lot of time at all. We perceive that we do not have time to exercise, yet we have time to sit on the couch for 2 hours when we get home at night?
When people really want to get in shape, they will make time. Here are a few tips to develop permanent weight loss and a healthy living style.
1. Schedule your fitness training: Write down when you are going to train each week. Put the times in your calendar just like any other appointment. Once you do that, work out with a friend or join a reputable personal training program to give you extra accountability. Having someone waiting for you and motivating you will go a long way and certainly beats training on your own.
2. Make training fun: Most of my personal training clients work out in small groups. This creates the sense of community and gives extra motivation from your peers. Our training programs are hard and intense but we have fun by incorporating challenges, pushing each other, and mixing up the exercises every week. This type of environment makes you forget that you are just “going to the gym.”
3. Write down your training goals: If you do not establish certain short term and long term goals, your workouts will be extremely boring and stale. It could be anything from being able to squat a certain amount of weight, performing push ups or chin ups, holding a plank for a set amount of time, losing a certain amount of weight or body fat, or running a ½ marathon. Set goals for each training session, each week, each month, and for the entire year. These milestones help keep you on track and give you something to push for. The personal training groups are perfect for this type of accountability and motivation.
4. Move your body more: Today’s society is a sedentary culture. People do not perform as much manual and physical labor. Many of my personal training clients are stuck at a desk or in a lab all day, so their only exercise is when we meet for training. This complicates things when you are trying to lose weight and develop a healthy lifestyle. Push yourself to take the stairs, park your car further away in a parking lot, go for a walk at lunch, and play more with your kids. Do not go home and sit on the couch for hours. If you train and exercise 5 days per week; that is only 5 hours of movement. While this is great because the intense style will translate to fat loss and elevated metabolism, you need to be active when you are not training in order to promote a permanent way of healthy living.
5. Focus on the long term: When you are training for weight loss or fat loss, you must look at the big picture. If you had many years of sedentary living and horrible eating habits, you cannot change that in a week. It takes 21 days to change your thinking on one single habit. From there it takes repetition and focus to keep it going as a lifestyle. If you want to be healthy and fit, you must dedicate yourself to proper training and nutrition and not get frustrated in a month. Plan on training hard (ideally with a trainer) for 10 12 months and keep going if you can.
For permanent weight loss and healthy lifestyle habits, try these 5 tips. Keep your short term and long term goals in sight, have a positive attitude, embrace the changes you are making, and have fun with friends or a training group. All of these things make a world of difference.
Author Resource:
Fitness expert Callie Durbrow runs small group personal training sessions for residents in Medford looking to lose fat, get toned and tight, and feel energized. For more information please visit http://www.durbrowperformance.com/personal_training_medford.html
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