Kick Start Your Fitness Routine - Feb 2011
We all know healthy diet and regular exercise is the key to your ideal body. But often we need a kick-start to see some results and get in the mood for fitness. Here are a few tips for fast results.
These strategies aren’t difficult but they do require discipline and a commitment of time and effort. If you’re willing to commit to these principles for 28 days you will be rewarded with a dramatic loss of weight.
- 30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise morning and night. No excuses. We’re all busy, we all feel tired some mornings, but if you’re serious about getting amazing results, then you must be willing to do everything necessary.
- Don’t eat for 30 minutes after exercise. After exercise your metabolism will remain elevated for some time. This means your body will burn fuel at a faster rate than normal. Exercise causes the body to use carbohydrates (muscle glycogen and blood glucose) as a fuel source. After these stores are depleted the body will be forced to use fat as a fuel. If you eat immediately after the completion of the exercise session, the blood glucose level will rise, inducing the secretion of insulin. Once of the effects of insulin is to stop fat burning.
- Weight train 2 – 4 times a week. Lifting weights is the most underestimated way to lose body fat fast. The main purpose of lifting weights when your primary goal is to lose body fat; is to preserve the muscle mass you already have. Lifting weights keeps your metabolism elevated and turns your body into a 24-hour a day-fat-burning machine.
- Have 5 to 6 small meals a day. A strategy people use to lose weight is to skip meals. Whilst reducing food intake is certainly an effective way to lose weight, having fewer meals is not the way to go. It forces the body to invoke its ‘starvation mechanism’ because it thinks it is entering a famine. By having a small meal every 2-3 hours throughout the day, your metabolism stays elevated and your body will happily burn fat all day long.
- Ensure each meal contains a protein. Having a portion of high-quality protein every few hours throughout the day provides the body with a constant supply of amino acids. This promotes the anabolic state (tissue building) and therefore keeps the metabolism fired up.
- Reduce your intake of high-density carbs. Most cause a rapid rise in blood glucose which invokes the release of insulin from the pancreas, which in turn stores the glucose. The body stores glucose in the muscles and liver as glycogen and once these sites are full, the remaining glucose gets stored as body fat. So each day have only one or two serves of bread / pasta / cereals / rice and fill up on medium density carbs such as fruit and vegetables.
- Do not have a treat a day! Since you are expecting an extraordinary result, it is essential that you put in an extraordinary effort.
Source: Women’s Health & Fitness
