Health and wellness are a major focus for many people this time of year – but even for those who don’t focus much on them, they aren’t a subject you can ignore.
One can probably easily find a story about someone who smoked, drank and ate bad food and lived to 100.
The mistake people make is in seeing those stories as proving a point. In reality there is a reason they are always in the section of the news describing a shocking story.
If we don’t look after our health, sooner or later something will arise to remind you. With any luck, it will be a mild case of heartburn or minor food poisoning.
Sometimes it won’t be so subtle. Avoiding the more severe problems is the motivation that gets most of us into the gym.
What makes a person who has shown steely determination at the start of January “lose” their workout motivation by March? In many cases, it’s feeling bad the day after a workout.
Or crashing halfway through one. Getting exercise is essential. Getting it the right way is just as important. We’re impulsive creatures, and when we first go to the gym, we go quite hard, wanting to show we mean it.
If and when we stop going, it is usually because we associate it with feeling terrible. That suggests we’re getting it wrong because exercise should make you feel better.
Usually, the problem is that we have a finite amount of energy and we don’t manage it properly.
So to make your workout plan stick, it is important to build energy, manage it and use it in the right way. It’s time for some Dos and Don’ts. Find your groove, and keep doing what works.
Pick And Choose What You Eat
If your workout plan is aimed at getting weight off and staying in shape and you tend to overdo it with your meals, adopting a more calorie-controlled diet may be effective.
A lot of us look at workouts as a chance or excuse to eat heavier foods. “I’ll work for longer in the gym,” we tell ourselves as we order a pizza. The problem is, exercise burns fewer calories than we think.
We need food that is nutrient-rich like chicken, fish or lean red meat to help us power through our workouts and repair our muscles.
Don’t: Starve To Speed The Process Up
Let’s leave aside the very real damage an eating disorder can cause to your health. Hopefully you already know those dangers.
But even on a short-term basis, starvation is a bad idea. A calorie total of 1200 is as low as you should go if you workout regularly.
Go lower than that, and you stop having the energy to work out. Worse yet, it won’t see the weight fall off you. Your body will kick into starvation mode and hold on to whatever you do eat.
Do: Find The Right Time To Work Out
The bad news is there is no prescribed time when everybody should work out – although maybe that’s not so bad.
Imagine how crowded the gym would get! You need to find your own time. Your body goes through high and low energy periods throughout the day.
Try to work out when it’s low, and it’s like pushing an elephant upstairs. You’ll feel awful, and be less likely to go back. Next time you do go back, pick a different time of day.
Don’t: Refuel With Generic Energy Drinks
For a while now, people have been drinking caffeinated, sugary energy drinks before and after workouts. These do not help you one bit, no matter what it feels like at the time.
They just about pass muster if you have a work deadline and need to get through a day on two hours’ sleep. Even then they’re not a great idea.
For working out, they’re an atrocity. They don’t give you energy, just metabolize what you do have faster. Isagenix Products and similar are more tuned to give you what you need when you need it.
Every body is different. Taking your weight loss program directly from the pages of a book or magazine doesn’t work if it’s too specific.
You need to find what works for you – and not give up and sulk at the first hurdle – if you want to get results.
Some things are true for everyone – keep drinking water, get six hours of sleep each day. These are things you shouldn’t experiment with. The rest of it?
It’s about managing your energy the way your body tells you to, whatever that may be.
