Keeping You Exercise Plan and Your Diet In Sync
As the percentage of obese people in the United States continues to rise higher and higher, more people are beginning to count calories, and try to lose a little unnecessary weight. Doctors and researchers are finding more and more connections between obesity and diseases, some of which are painful and deadly.
Losing weight
and building muscle is becoming increasingly important for this reason. One of the best things you can do is begin a regular exercise program, coupled with a healthy diet that you will be able to maintain long-term—think of it as more a lifestyle change.
For so many people, diets are a short-term burst of enthusiasm, that leads to a quick downslide back into your old eating habits. This may work to lose a few pounds quickly, but when you backslide, you may end up getting to a heavier weight than you were before the process began.
You need to adjust your thinking when it comes to the changes that you make in what and how much you eat. They are not temporary fixes—they need to be substantial life changes that you can stand behind for a long amount of time, even the rest of your life.
You do not want to jump on the latest fad that is probably quite unsafe. There are no magic solutions, or quick fixes—they will only end up being a gigantic waste of your money and time.
You need to make sure that you are ready to practice a great amount of self control. That is the only way to make a true, lasting change.
Some of the quick diets may even seem more appealing to you—they are usually just drinks or shakes which will replace eating real food, with real nutritional value. This is not a healthy way to make changes in your body.
In fact, they often leave you feeling hungry, sluggish, and irritable. Your body is not getting the vitamins, nutrients, and protein that it needs to stay healthy and strong.
You do not have to fall prey to these yo-yo fixes. They have negative consequences that always far outweigh the positive.
One of the worst consequences come in the strain that is places on your heart. It can cause heart disease, and other serious problems that you do not want to have to deal with.
You could try joining a club with people who can support you in your weight loss, and who will be able to help you and relate to what you are going through. They can help you change your life, instead of falling prey to schemes that will not last, that can hurt you.
However, what you are consuming is only half of the equation. You need to make sure that you are getting the physical activity for your body that is necessary to keep it healthy.
It will help to kick your metabolism into high gear, and keep you building strength and muscle, not just losing fat. It can also give you more energy.
The more you exercise, the better you will feel throughout the day, and the more soundly you will sleep during the night. You will experience a release of endorphins that will make you feeling happier as you exercise.
This release of endorphins even works as a natural pain killer, which will help you to feel more content and happy—who doesn’t want that? Who needs therapy when you have a natural help in the form of fitness?
You can try a few different forms of exercise, and see what you like the best. Remember that it order to lose weight, you cannot let your body become too comfortable with one given thing.
You should always be shifting and changing what muscle groups you are working, while keeping cardio as the main focus of your work. You could either join the local gym, or even invest in exercise equipment for your own home gym.
You could try working out on a treadmill one day, and moving on to an elliptical bike the next day. Keep rotating, trying different exercise equipment for different areas of your body, staying active, and finding things you enjoy.
As you become more comfortable with what you are doing, increase your speed, endurance, or elevation, depending on what equipment you are using. You will begin slowly shedding pounds, and replacing them with healthy muscle and toning.