16 Tips to Looking + Feeling Great
Do you want to improve the quality of your life? Do you want to
look and feel better than you have in years – maybe better than
you ever have before? Do you want to protect yourself from
disease and injury? And do you want to live a longer, more vital
life? I’m confident that you answered YES! to each of those
questions, just as the hundreds of individuals I’ve counseled,
coached, and trained in my career as a Certified Personal
Fitness Trainer and Rehabilitation Specialist. I’m now going to
reveal to you the 16 essential strategies that have enabled my
clients to achieve the health and fitness goals they always
wanted! 16 Essential Weight Loss and Fitness Strategies 1. In
the beginning, your fitness program should not be overly
aggressive. One of the biggest problems people encounter when
starting a fitness program is rapidly depleted motivation after
only a few weeks due to an overly ambitious fitness program.
Attempting to do too much too fast is worse than doing nothing
at all! Because then you feel like exercise is too hard and it’s
just not for you. 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. 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!
About the author:
Jesse Cannone is a certified personal trainer and author of the
best-selling fitness ebook, Burn Fat FAST. Be sure to sign up
for his free email course as it is full of powerful weight loss
and fitness tips that are guaranteed to help you get the results
you want. http://www.guaranteed-weightloss.com