Healthy Living 101: Balance
I've always been a relatively health conscious person, never really "hated" vegetables or indulged too much in sweets or fatty meats. However, I was overweight for a while and learned a few simple things along the way. Mainly, it's important to balance what you eat, your activity level, the quality of food, and resting. Credit is due to my parents - for giving me a foundation to work from, for both healthy eating and exercise.
1. [Generally speaking] Calories in / Calories out. You really need to understand that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. [Generally] If you consume something, it will either be used by your body for energy/repair or stored as fat (or of course, "eliminated"). There are tons of diets out there all claiming to do something special - some of them deliver, but most aren't a sustainable option. My advice - keep it really simple. Track your calories and get to know your body. If you're looking at a 2,000 kcal diet, consider that the foot long tuna grinder is 960 kcals. You can eat that foot long tuna grinder (with bacon and cheese), wash it down with a large soda and a bag of chips - but you just ate your day's worth of calories in 10 minutes. Incidentally, I think a 2,000 kcal diet is actually to high for most people. Anyway - was that tuna worth it? Did you track it? Don't try anything crazy or unsustainable - track your calories and try to get a balance of all macros (fat/carbs/protein) in at first.
2. Exercise. I know - you hate it, everyone does. Get over it and learn to like it. Exercise comes in many forms - some productive. Working in the yard, pushing the vacuum around, walking, jogging, and the gym all work at varying degrees, but it's something. Get yourself a fitness tracker (I like the Fitbit for a few reasons) and use it to measure your physical activity level. Most of them will estimate how many calories you've burned and let you track calories consumed (#1), so you can accurately, safely, and quickly lose (or gain) weight. Work your way up to running 5K without stopping - I'm not a fitness expert, but IMHO that's the ideal cardio workout.
3. Rest. Resting and sleeping is an important part of all of this too. Your body needs adequate time to repair and your brain needs a break. Make sure you're getting the right amount of sleep in. That's different for everyone - get to know your body and make sure you dedicate some quiet time for yourself.
4. Quality of food. While calories in/out is relatively simple for managing weight, it doesn't speak to the quality of food you eat. Take that tuna grinder ... actually no, let's cut to the chase and talk about alcohol. Enjoy a drink in moderation, but be very mindful that alcohol has calories but zero nutritional value. Limit processed foods of all varieties - learn to cook for yourself. Your body needs more than just calories to operate correctly - you need things like fiber and vitamins and, of course, high quality protein. If you don't have the calories to spare for the day, skip the drink and use those calories on good quality food (I would opt for lean protein).
5. When starting anything new, take it one step at a time and give yourself some credit. Don't expect to "see" results 20 minutes after your first workout. However, you should always feel a sense of accomplishment when finished (give yourself a pat on the back - "it was a good day"). If you can't run that 5K - it's totally fine. Run a little, walk, run, walk, walk, walk, etc. If the elliptical is your style, start with no resistance and go at a pace your comfortable with for 20 minutes. You don't have to start everything all at once and, for God's sake don't put so much pressure on yourself, that you hate yourself after a week of working out, because "you didn't see results". Give yourself some credit for the work you did and for even making an effort.
1. [Generally speaking] Calories in / Calories out. You really need to understand that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. [Generally] If you consume something, it will either be used by your body for energy/repair or stored as fat (or of course, "eliminated"). There are tons of diets out there all claiming to do something special - some of them deliver, but most aren't a sustainable option. My advice - keep it really simple. Track your calories and get to know your body. If you're looking at a 2,000 kcal diet, consider that the foot long tuna grinder is 960 kcals. You can eat that foot long tuna grinder (with bacon and cheese), wash it down with a large soda and a bag of chips - but you just ate your day's worth of calories in 10 minutes. Incidentally, I think a 2,000 kcal diet is actually to high for most people. Anyway - was that tuna worth it? Did you track it? Don't try anything crazy or unsustainable - track your calories and try to get a balance of all macros (fat/carbs/protein) in at first.
2. Exercise. I know - you hate it, everyone does. Get over it and learn to like it. Exercise comes in many forms - some productive. Working in the yard, pushing the vacuum around, walking, jogging, and the gym all work at varying degrees, but it's something. Get yourself a fitness tracker (I like the Fitbit for a few reasons) and use it to measure your physical activity level. Most of them will estimate how many calories you've burned and let you track calories consumed (#1), so you can accurately, safely, and quickly lose (or gain) weight. Work your way up to running 5K without stopping - I'm not a fitness expert, but IMHO that's the ideal cardio workout.
3. Rest. Resting and sleeping is an important part of all of this too. Your body needs adequate time to repair and your brain needs a break. Make sure you're getting the right amount of sleep in. That's different for everyone - get to know your body and make sure you dedicate some quiet time for yourself.
4. Quality of food. While calories in/out is relatively simple for managing weight, it doesn't speak to the quality of food you eat. Take that tuna grinder ... actually no, let's cut to the chase and talk about alcohol. Enjoy a drink in moderation, but be very mindful that alcohol has calories but zero nutritional value. Limit processed foods of all varieties - learn to cook for yourself. Your body needs more than just calories to operate correctly - you need things like fiber and vitamins and, of course, high quality protein. If you don't have the calories to spare for the day, skip the drink and use those calories on good quality food (I would opt for lean protein).
5. When starting anything new, take it one step at a time and give yourself some credit. Don't expect to "see" results 20 minutes after your first workout. However, you should always feel a sense of accomplishment when finished (give yourself a pat on the back - "it was a good day"). If you can't run that 5K - it's totally fine. Run a little, walk, run, walk, walk, walk, etc. If the elliptical is your style, start with no resistance and go at a pace your comfortable with for 20 minutes. You don't have to start everything all at once and, for God's sake don't put so much pressure on yourself, that you hate yourself after a week of working out, because "you didn't see results". Give yourself some credit for the work you did and for even making an effort.
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