Start out slow, maybe just shooting for 1 or 2 workouts
a week. Once you have successfully added that to your normal
routine, then attempt to slowly add to your fitness program.
Plus, most people don’t need to exercise more than
3-4 times a week. That doesn’t mean you can’t
exercise more; it’s just not necessary.
2. Always have a detailed plan! In order to reach your health
and fitness goals, you must have a road map to follow. I
can’t stress this enough. If you are unsure of how
to put together a fitness plan, or if you’re uncertain
of the effectiveness of the one you have, I highly recommend
you consult a professional fitness trainer. With a well
thought out plan you are much more likely to be successful!
3. Set realistic, attainable goals. You must have tangible,
quantifiable, short and long-term goals so you can measure
and assess your progress. Too many people have totally unrealistic
expectations of what to expect from an exercise and nutrition
program. The best way for you to understand what is realistic
and attainable is to talk with a fitness professional –
not to buy into the “hype” of infomercials and
diet and fitness products that are blatantly misleading.
4. Keep a journal! This is one of the most important things
you can do. If you’re not tracking what you’re
doing, how will you know what worked? There are quite a
few great exercise and nutrition logs I’ve come across.
You should keep track of all your exercise and also each
day’s food intake.
There’s a company called NutraBiotics that makes a
great 90-day journal that can be used to track strength
training, cardiovascular exercise, and daily nutrition.
If you would like more information on this journal, please
feel free to call me at 240-731-3724.
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5. You must be accountable! Set exercise appointments with
yourself if you’re not working with a personal fitness
trainer. Use your appointment book to set aside times for
exercise, just like you do for meetings or events. Don’t
let things get in the way. Nothing is more important than
your health! If you don’t have your health you can’t
effectively do anything. I often have mothers tell me that
they can’t find time to exercise because they have
to take care of their children. I have 4 daughters myself,
and a baby on the way, so I know exactly how hard it is.
Whatever your situation is, making the commitment to exercise
and your health IS possible, and very important. Plus, it
sets a great example for the children!
6. Remember the benefits of exercise. Being physically fit
affects every aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat
better, love better, overcome stress better, work better,
communicate better, and live better! Remember how good it
feels to finish a workout, and how great it feels to meet
your goals!
7. Exercise safely and correctly. So much time is wasted
doing, at best, unproductive exercise, or at worst, dangerous
exercise. Educate yourself on how to exercise correctly.
The best way to do that is to hire a personal fitness trainer.
It could be for just a few sessions to learn the basics,
or it could be for a few months to learn everything. It’s
completely up to you. But statistics prove that those who
understand how to exercise correctly get better, faster
results. And that’s what you want, right?
8. Enjoy your exercise! For example, if you hate doing strength
training, try to find ways to make it more enjoyable. Circuit
training might be a more fun and exciting way to fit this
important part of fitness into your program. The key is
you should enjoy it, and if you don’t you need to
look for other exercises or activities to replace whatever
it is you don’t enjoy.
If you don’t enjoy it, how do you expect to stick
with it?
9. Make time to stretch! It has so much benefit and takes
very little time. So many people suffer from various aches
and pains of which most can be eliminated by basic stretches!
Try to spend at least 5 minutes after each workout stretching.
For more information on stretching and how it eliminates
aches and pains, please call 240-731-3724 to request a FREE
copy of my special report “No More Back Pain”.
10. Don’t think you need to exercise 5 days a week!
I touched on this earlier. Many people feel they’re
getting fat because they’re not exercising. Totally
not the case! Exercise is not the answer! It’s all
in your eating habits. However, exercise can aid in burning
body fat, plus there are numerous health benefits. Think
of exercise as a bonus.
How many people do you know who exercise 3-5 times per week,
but still fail to meet their weight loss and fitness goals?
I’ve met hundreds!
First look at your eating habits, such as: when you eat,
what you eat, how much you eat, where you eat, and how often
you eat.
11. Never skip breakfast, or any meal! If you want to maximize
your fitness or fat-loss efforts you’ve got to eat
breakfast! So many people skip breakfast, and it’s
the worst thing you could ever do when it comes to fat-loss.
Skipping meals throws your blood sugar all out of whack
and it sets you up to store your next meal as fat, almost
guaranteed!
12. Eat fat to lose fat. Healthy fats are necessary to your
body for numerous reasons: regulating hormonal production,
improving immune function, lowering total cholesterol, and
providing the basics for healthy hair, nails, and skin.
The key is to eat the right types of fats. The “good’
fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like olive
oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and avocados,
to name a few. The “bad” fats are partially
hydrogenated oils, and trans fats. Most processed foods
contain large amounts of these bad fats. For more information
on the different types of fats, please call 240-731-3724
to request a FREE copy of my Healthy Eating Guidelines.
13. Drink plenty of fresh, clean water. Yes, I know that
you have probably heard this one over and over again. But
there’s a reason for that – it’s that
important! The recommended daily intake of water is 8 glasses,
or 64 oz. You should even be drinking even more if you are
active or exercise regularly.
And no, soda, juice, coffee, and tea DON’T count!
Nearly every chemical process place in your body, takes
place in water! Proper blood flow and digestion are both
affected by how much water you drink, and poor blood flow
and digestion can be linked to numerous health conditions.
14. Stabilize your blood sugar! If you want to burn fat
and prevent your body from putting it back on, you must
stabilize your blood sugar. In order to do this you need
to eat small, balanced meals or snacks every 2-3 hours.
Fasting, skipping meals, and overly restrictive diets will
enable you to lose weight – in the short run. The
weight you lose is primarily water weight and muscle tissue,
and in the long run has opposite effect of what you want.
When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks
it’s being starved and shifts into a protective mode
by slowing down the metabolism and storing nearly all calories
as body fat. Plus, losing muscle tissue is the last thing
you want to do. Muscle burns calories, even while you sleep.
You should be focused on increasing, or at least maintaining
muscle tissue.
15. Focus on increasing muscle tissue. As I mentioned previously,
muscle burns calories, so if you want to increase your metabolism,
you have to increase your muscle. The best way to do that
is with progressive strength training. That doesn’t
mean you have to join a gym, buy expensive fitness equipment,
or follow some bodybuilding workout program; it simply means
you need to challenge your muscles! You can do that at home
in just 15-20 minutes, 2-3 times a week.
16. Get the help of an expert! Obviously, meeting your health
and fitness goals is important to you, so why not eliminate
the guesswork and start seeing the results you have always
wanted? With the help of a qualified professional you can!
If your car breaks down, where do you take it? Mechanic,
right? How about if you have a cavity? Dentist. So why is
it that so many people attempt to solve their health and
fitness problems without consulting an expert? I don’t
know exactly, but I encourage you to make the investment
in yourself- in your life- by hiring a professional to educate
you and help you meet your goals.
So there you have it. The 16 essential strategies for an
effective weight loss and fitness program that will have
you looking and feeling great!
Jesse Cannone is a certified personal fitness trainer, post-rehab
specialist, nutritionist, and a national fitness presenter.
He is also the author of Burn Fat FAST and A Bride’s
Guide To Fast Fitness + Weight Loss in addition to many
other popular fitness articles. He is known for his hard-hitting
and to the point style and offers a great free email newsletter
called Fitness Success News, which you can subscribe to
at his website http://www.achieve-fitness.com
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