What works best?

With a little care & attention anybody can lose weight & lose it quite quickly. What most people don’t realise is that it’s not only what you put in in the gym, but also what you do outside that makes the difference. In fact, 30% of your total weight loss comes from the effort that you put in in the gym, 40% is diet (I don’t mean starve yourself either), 30% is down to your lifestyle habits i.e. Stressful job, traffic, Not getting 8 hours sleep per night etc. I could keep on going but they’re the main problems. So lets look at each one of those topics individually,

The Gym:

Not a lot of people stick at the gym & I can understand why. Most people when they join a Gym or start exercising will lose weight initially but then they will stagnate after about 6-8 weeks & will not get any further results & the reason is because they are doing the same thing over & over & unless they change their program they will just stay at that plateau. Also another main flaw is frequency & we’re guilty of this… Give it socks on Monday & Tuesday & maybe if we’re lucky Wednesday as well but then comes Thursday & that’s the new weekend, so we pig out for four days & so the vicious cycle continues.

The Diet:

Isn’t it funny that over the last 20 years we have been on a low fat diet i.e. Diet Coke, low fat dressing etc & the then experts recommended low or no fat & higher carbs & now we are facing an obesity epidemic! The latest surveys show that 2 out of 3 people are overweight & 1 in 5 is clinically obese. Scary huh? We are a nation that’s getting fatter & fatter.

Lifestyle:

This is an area that nobody ever considers, Studies show there is more pressure & stress on our generation compared to 100 years ago. This is due to the fact of extremely high amounts of loans/mortgages coupled with long work hours, high-pressure jobs & then of course the dreadful traffic. Other factors include not enough sleep, no quality time during the day to chill out & give our brain a rest. These factors all play havoc on our hormonal system & 1 hormone in particular called cortisol & unless we try to control cortisol all work you put in to your training & diet could all just be in vain.

Conclusion:

So what do I do now? Here is a list of things to make that change:

1. Join a Gym
2. Train frequently i.e. Mon, Wed and Fri. etc.
3. Get regular program changes
4. Train Smart i.e. 45mins of varied exercise
5. Record what you eat
6. Eat frequently i.e. every 2-3 hrs
7. Reduce carbohydrates
8. Sleep 8hrs per night
9. Take some time out for yourself
10. Enjoy it

Article by Stephen Ward, The Fitness Dock