10 ways to shift the Christmas flab
It's the end of the festive season and the dawning of a brand new year. Like most people, you may have overdone it slightly over Christmas and have started noticing a few extra pounds here and there. These tips could help you effectively shift those pounds and set you up nicely for the year ahead.
1: Eat Healthily With Nutritional Basics
The key to any sort of weight gain / loss is to plan and maintain a healthy diet plan. Regardless of how much time you put in the gym, healthy eating is the backbone to any weight loss / gain plan. Food is the fuel that allows your body to reach its goals. Eating organically (where possible) and maintaining a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, carbs, proteins and fats will set you on the right path towards achieving the image and shape you desire.
2: Protein Control
With this new meal planning system in place it is important to control and regulate what you are eating. Make sure portions of meats such as chicken are no larger than your palm and ensure spaghetti and pasta portions are no bigger than your fist. The use of smaller bowls and plates can make sure you are not over feeding yourself. On average, people tend to overeat between 20 to 40% more than the healthy amount needed each day.
3: Take No Shortcuts:
When exercising, it is not about how many reps you do, it is how effectively you perform them. If you work out effectively your muscles will do more work per rep. This will result in you breaking down more tissue by the end of the workout and finding the results a lot more effective than they would if you were to cut corners.
4: Reduce Rest Times
The temptation to take a cheeky break mid-workout is always tempting. Those chairs in the gym always look ever so appealing to a set of tired and weary eyes. But the ideal set time is between 35 to 40 seconds per set. This allows you to increase your overall endurance levels. Regulating your exercises can assist in you not becoming as fatigued and hence needing as many rest periods.
5: Fight Fatigue:
Fatigue is the biggest enemy to any workout. According to experts, drinking beet juice can increase your stamina by as much as 16% as it helps your muscles produce more energy in a more efficient way. As a result, exercise becomes less exhausting. Another way to assist in maintaining your pace is by listening to favorable music during your set. Music you like can allow your blood vessels to expand by as much as 26%, making your fitness regime a lot more effective.
6: Motivation
Motivation yourself is a key element to any workout and weight loss plan. Something as simple as looking at your dominant hand during exercise is an effective method of maintaining confidence during your set. Your dominant hand or side of your body is a lot more effective with a workout so observing it will allow you to receive positive reinforcement. Using a post-workout sauna will actually impedes your performances, instead; try and have an ice cold shower or bath. This will strengthen your muscles rather than relaxing them.
7: Mix The Workouts Up
Progress is key, we all know this. Changing your exercise plan every so often allows your body to never become adapted to what is about to come its way. If your body was to do that, you may notice your workouts become less effective and the results won't show as much. Avoiding this is simple enough, switch up what you are doing, adjust your weights and the tempo of your exercises. This allows your body to not become adapted so your workouts are indeed more effective.
8: The Little Things Matter
It's always the case that the little things during each workout are ignored. But paying attention to the fine details will allow you to notice and deficiencies and address them quickly. Without paying attention to what you are doing, you can easily slip up, You don't want to be wasting your time whilst exercising, so seeing what can be changed is a great way if saving you from wasting time.
9: Fat Loss Basics
Your main focus should be on your body fat percentages rather than elements such as calorie counting. Small elements such as eating the right foods can help as well. For most, this will be lean meats, increasing fruit and vegetable intake and removing processed food or foods with high sugar levels. The next step on your weight loss journey is to perform intense interval cardio training, as well as focusing on weights. Keeping track of your journey with a journal will also help.
10: Hydration
This is the key to any workout plan. it is often overlooked and can be costly to any workout routine. You need to make sure that your GI tract is healthy, this is because it is an important element how you will absorb all your nutrients. You can do this by consuming vitamins, fiber, minerals and water. Ice cold water is an advised addition to your early morning breakfast as it will naturally boost your metabolism by up to 24%. It is advised that you drink as much as one gallon of water per day.
We hope these tips can help you shed those extra few pounds that Christmas inevitably welcomes!