Losing weight. That is something that sticks into your mind when New Years rolls around on a resolution that you cannot keep, when you are playing with kids and you wear out in 30 seconds or you go to lift something and you realize that 25lbs is a lot heavier now than it was when you were in better shape <insert number here> years ago. The best way to look at it, is not losing weight, but getting into shape.
Tell you why. When you become obsessed with losing pounds, it will become depressing. Why? You can weigh 140lbs and wear a size 16, do your workout thing, still weigh 140, but you may be able to wear, say, size 12. Going to lower size will be overshadowed that you lost inches, instead of pounds. Here is an example. Look at the 250lb to 290lb wrestler. They wear size 34 to 36 jeans. You weigh the same, yet you wear size 40 to 44.
How to do this? First off, no scales.
Second, look at what you eat. Yes, the saying is true, “You are what you eat”. You eat junk, your going to be junk. But here is the kicker, don’t quit cold turkey on junk food. You will have withdrawal symptoms like you get from any other bad habit you try to quit. So do it in moderation. The nightly bowl of ice cream you have before going to bed, I would keep, but eat it about 2 hours before you go to bed.
Third thing, get plenty of sleep. Not rest, sleep. Normally, you would rest all day. Sleep, is the time when your body, not you, rests, and repairs itself. What it repairs itself with is from the nutrients you eat during the day. The body is a machine, and a smart one at that. It knows what to use to burn to give you energy throughout the day and it knows what to store to repair itself at night. Think of your body as a multi fuel use car and the nutrients as materials used to build a house. The car will run on any fuel, but the better fuel you use, the better it will run. When building a house, the house will be stronger using bricks than say plywood.
Fourth thing, get active! Doesn’t matter how, just do it. Don’t have time, change some things you do. Can you spare some time to walk to work? Like park farther away and walk in (Bad weather, I would suggest parking closer to work though). You shop during the day, park farther from the store. If you work near a place you eat at, walk there and back. Computer time. How much do you REALLY need. Same for TV. Go for a walk instead or use some of that time. Live in a apartment complex and have security guards, use the stairs to go to your floor. There is much much more. Just be creative.
Fifth thing, how to eat. You may be eating healthy and being active and getting plenty of sleep, but you may not be losing the inches. It may not be what you are eating, but when you are eating. Normally, we are programmed in society to eat a large breakfast, scaled down lunch and then a small dinner. you may have to reverse that, or eat the same amount but eat more times. Everybody’s body is different and that is something you have to experiment with to get right.
Best of all, make losing inches fun, not a chore. For some reason, our bodies can gain weight fast but lose it fast, and it wants to replenish the weight. So just use moderation and you will soon be able to enjoy an active lifestyle with family and friends.
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