Are you looking to lose some weight? Are you feeling bloated and sluggish after the summer? Do you want to blast five pounds or lose those pesky five that you gained over the summer? I have the solution to losing those five pounds this week.
I know that you are busy with your career, family, chauffeuring, maintaining a home and that your time is valuable. So I created a simple plan that you can easily incorporate into your already busy lifestyle.
Over the years of successfully working with clients of all ages and fitness levels I have compiled and narrowed down to six habits you can start today that will help you to lose weight and feel healthy.
What are the six easiest things you can do every day that yield the greatest weight loss and health benefits? Learn these six habits and feel fabulous in a week!
What You Need To Know: Six Ways To Lose Weight This Week
Get Moving Everyday for at Least an Hour
Losing weight is easy when you add fitness into your everyday activities. I recommend embracing an hour of movement daily as part of a moderate and healthy exercise strategy. It is far more effective than over exercising and being sedentary. Many people spend the majority of their day sitting at their desks and commuting in their cars only to shock their body into an intense spinning or boot camp class at night. You want to incorporate movement into your day, all day, wherever possible. Hiking, cycling or any other low-level physical activity you can do for a long period with little interruption provides incredible weight loss and healthy benefits.
Lift Heavy Things
If you are looking to lose body fat, you have to add two-to-three short and challenging weight workouts a week. Intense lifting will generate a physiological stress on your body, which as a result requires a significant amount of energy and creates a lactic acid build up within the shortest period of time. This will encourage your body to use stored body fat as a main energy source, increase calorie burn and to accelerate your metabolism. As well, you will increase your lean muscle mass that will as a result dramatically increase your calorie burn throughout the day.
The good news is that you do not require lots of special equipment to achieve incredible results. Having access to a few weights and barbell are the only pieces of equipment you need. The key is to train with a moderate to heavier weight with shorter rest periods and using multiple muscle groups at a time, such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, pull-ups and pushups.
Move FAST 1-2 Times a Week In addition to lifting heavy things, you would need to add a couple of high intensity cardio sessions a week. Long, slow distance cardio requires the least amount of energy to produce the most amount of work. Because your body adapts quickly to repetitive exercise, low intensity cardio is the least effective method of achieving fat loss and building and maintaining lean muscle tissue.
High intensity cardio and sprint training apply a high amount of metabolic stress to your body, very similar to weight training with short rest periods. If you want to gain lean muscle mass and burn body fat, you will need to add high intensity cardio and/or sprinting one-to-two times a week.
When it comes to sprinting or HIIT training, there are so many options, which can make it fun. Beginners can try a 30 second sprint with a 90 second recovery, repeated for 20 minutes. An intermediate can try 30 seconds sprint with one-minute recovery for 20 minutes. Experienced athletes can sprint for 30 seconds with 30 seconds of recovery for a total of 20 minutes.
Before implementing sprinting into your routine you want to ensure that you have a good cardiovascular base. These are programs that you can work up to; remember it is always best to start out slowly and then gradually progress. Begin each workout with a five minute warm up walk or jog and conclude each workout with a similar five minute cool down. Be sure that you have medical clearance before starting any high intensity program.
This simple plan will provide you with a solid base to building strength, burning body fat, and feeling healthy!
Sleep to Lose Weight
Getting proper sleep is an essential ingredient for optimal health and weight loss. When you begin to maintain good sleeping habits, you will discover that having a restful night will affect your life in so many positive ways. You will feel better, have more energy, think clearly and be more motivated to eat better throughout the day. As well, your body will be more efficient at burning calories therefor resulting in weight loss. Developing a consistent sleep routine is key to optimal health.
Research has shown that sleep plays an important part in fat loss. Studies have shown that a lack of sleep may increase hunger and affect the body’s metabolism, making it challenging to lose weight and maintain it.
I always suggest cutting out caffeine and naps after 2 p.m., keeping your bedroom tech-free and cool, using black out curtains to keep bedroom pitch dark, being active all day, and shutting out sleep distracting noises with earplugs in order to get a restful night of sleep.
Unplug and Rest for at Least One Hour a Day
When’s the last time you ditched all electronic devices for at least one hour? As challenging as it may be for many of us we should be unplugging for a least an hour a day for optimal health. I would recommend before bed or at a time when you know that you can eliminate all electronics. During this “electronic free” time, you can choose to take a long walk, meditate, read a book, garden or simply enjoy the fresh air. I also encourage you to charge your phone in the kitchen to keep it far away from your bed and from tempting you from checking it throughout the night.
Eat Real LIVE Food
Real food doesn’t come in a box, have a shelf life, or have a long list of ingredients you can’t pronounce. If you are on a diet that is mainly sourced from pre-packaged foods then you need to change your eating habits.
Consistently dieting and not fueling properly can sabotage your weight loss progression. Start eating the right foods in the right amounts and you’ll realize the best way past a sluggish metabolism is to ignite it with clean, healthy and close to nature foods. Eliminate all toxic processed foods, sugars, refined carbohydrates, dairy, vegetable oils and trans fats and all junk and fast foods. Fill up on fresh vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and healthy fats. Start thinking of food as your fuel and be sure to feed your engine well.