Getting Back on Track

If you temporarily lost sight of your fitness goals, our expert team is here to help you refocus

 

A long cold winter often leads to gaining a few pounds due to not being able to get “out and about” to burn more calories. So, take inventory right now of your physical being and decide what your goal is. On some frames, even four pounds can almost make a dress size difference. It certainly does with me. It weighs heavily on the mind, as well.

This is when I hear so many women saying, “I’ll just go on my pageant diet’ and be fine.” This is not a good idea. How about learning how to control your physical well-being twelve months out of each and every year for the rest of your life? Besides, from what I have seen, those “pageant diets” are clearly very, very unhealthy.

First of all, there is that low carb thing. Good grief. Carbohydrates are your brain food and your energy food. When one cuts way back on carbohydrate intake, we begin to forget things and lose energy, as well. Have you truly ever been around someone who has seriously cut back on carbs? They tend to be forgetful, listless, tired all the time. This is so unhealthy.

Then there are those “fad diets”, weird combinations of foods that do allow a weight loss, but do not teach you anything about staying healthy and strong. On the contrary, some of these fad weight loss programs have long term adverse health issues attached to them. Plus, there’s the fact that once you go back to real eating, the weight gain returns, and frequently more weight is gained than what was there in the first place.

So exactly what can we do to stay healthy and look the way we want to? We must develop a physical fitness lifestyle. This requires a lifetime commitment. The three ingredient are nutrition, aerobic activity, and my favorite part, strength training.

Nutrition

You learned about this in the third grade. Balanced meals, food groups, you already know all about it. You do not have to read a lot of books and do a lot of research. You already know when that fork is headed for your mouth whether or not that bite is good for you. As for dieting, the word “diet” is defined in the dictionary to mean habitual nourishment. So, whatever you are eating is your diet. You cannot go on a diet, you are already on a diet. You can change your diet to healthier choices and healthier portions.

Aerobic Activity

This is any activity that is done twenty minutes or longer that elevates the heart rate. It does not have to be aerobics classes. And remember, when you are done with that aerobic activity, the metabolism keeps burning extra calories for a good while after you stop.

 

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