Exercise for Weight Loss

Life doesn’t need to be complex and neither does improving your weight loss results. Many people I have met struggle with consistent exercise. They have an improper or sour mindset about “Fitness”. Many believing that they must belong to a Fitness Center and do long, hard workouts everyday to see results. Or, they believe that while there, everybody knows what they’re doing except for them, which leaves them insecure and afraid to try new things because they may look foolish. The good news is that better fitness can be achieved anywhere. The better news is that with proper strategy and execution you can learn new skills, get fit and gain that confidence that we all crave.

The trouble is that mainstream media tends to make weight loss look too easy by selling magic potions or miracle workout DVD’s, or look incredibly intimidating by selling images of perfectly fit and chiseled people, that, for the most part do not exist… For the REAL WORLD individual, the task of getting fit becomes a daunting one with so much confusing and contradictory information constantly bombarding your senses. What follows is a template to get you moving and keep you moving, because, that is what is most important – to stay moving. We will discuss some of the environmental and lifestyle landmines that halt success and how to overcome them.

Here are very simple steps to take to look and feel great:

1. Ingredients for an effective Fat Loss plan

• Consistency – do not expect results if you exercise intermittently.
• Patience – do not expect results immediately. Results generally take longer than you would like and are harder to achieve than you think.
• Effort – effective exercise planning for Fat Loss requires a strategic continuum. The plan that helps you lose the first 10 lbs is not the plan that will lose the second 10 lbs and so on…
• Strength Training – training with weights burns more calories overall than cardio exercise and creates a reason for your body to keep your metabolism increased due to maintaining muscle tissue.
• Variety – Unaccustomed stimulus is vital to ongoing change. Your body is an adaptive machine and it’s job is to burn fewer calories, not more. By altering your training program you can maximize your metabolism.
• Goal setting – relying on goals as motivation is important. Choosing short-term goals (4-8 weeks) is a great way to stay the course, but, for truly effective results tie your results to an emotional driver. WHY do you want these goals so badly? This one tool will keep you on track better than any other.
• Reality – Most popular exercise articles and programs are written for shock effect and/or for already fit people. Most novice/beginner individuals end up overwhelmed by the pace and total volume of exercise in these programs and they cease exercising rather quickly because they either cannot do the activities or cannot maintain them.

Here is how to increase your metabolism and maximize your results –

2. MOVE X’s 5

• Move:

Just Do Something. You have got to get started and STAY started. When you begin exercising, just about anything you choose will elicit a change. Make sure that you choose something lower intensity so you have options for change in the future.

• Move More:

Aim for a minimum of 100 minutes of ‘Huffy Puffy’ exercise every week. After 4-6 weeks you will need to increase your amount to total movement due to your body adapting to the current activity. At this point you may want to increase from 30 minutes to 45 minutes of activity a few days per week, while working up to the 100 minutes of high effort “Huffy Puffy”.

• Move More Often:

Aim to do something everyday Around the 12 week mark, you will most likely need to add additional movement by increasing form 2 to 4 days of fitness or form 4 to 5 days of fitness.

• Move Quicker:

Aim to go faster over the same distance or further in the same time. As this workload increases and your results become more stagnant, you will need to utilize different pacing for your workouts. Increased weight, less rest time between sets and supersetting exercises (performing one exercise immediately followed by another before resting) will all be methods to increase effort.

• Move Differently:

Choose different activities or do the same activity differently. E.g. run or walk a different way every day, run hills, flat, sand, slower for longer and shorter and quicker. Work with a Fitness Coach to learn new tools like a Barbell or Kettlebell (if you have no to little experience), learn new and different methods of combining exercises (strength training and cardiovascular exercises) to insure you provide the proper stimulus to continue achieving results.

3. Commit to take the path of MOST resistance.

Escalators and elevators are a friend to weight gain and low performance. Remember Newton’s law of motion – An object in motion stays in motion. An object at rest stays at rest. You are the object. If you begin your day moving you will stay moving. If you begin your day with the habit of inactivity it is that much harder to get motivated to move. Take EVERY opportunity to move. Movement (or inactivity) is a habit. You need to create movement based habits to create a fitness lifestyle.

4. Surprise Exercise.

Look for opportunities to move where you would not normally. Take a phone call while standing, pace during a conference call, set your laptop high so you can stand and work, take the farthest parking spot every time. At home, do squats or planks during T.V. commercials etc… There are plenty of hidden opportunities to improve fitness and increase movement.

5. Make Exercise a non-negotiable priority.

We do what is important to us. Know that exercise/movement aids in reducing pains, increasing metabolism, creating sustained energy, and makes us feel better. Do not accept not exercising. Not exercising is linked to weight gain, and you want the opposite. In my experience, people (especially women (more specifically Mothers), will give up on themselves because the task of fitness and achieving results becomes too daunting. They will say things like “This is too hard.” or “I do not have time.” but, in reality, they got started on the wrong path, results slowed or stopped and the effort to continue is harder than the excuse to stop.

6. Get the facts. Get control.

Sometimes life gets in the way, perfection is not needed to see and maintain results but valuing your health and understanding that continuing the habits that give you health and weight loss are vital. Sometimes, people need motivation, but, most often they simply need direction and the confidence to know that what they are doing matters and is effective. Wasting time is frustrating. Giving effort without a payoff is frustrating. There are proven steps the body takes to make weight loss difficult. If you do not understand them then frustration is imminent. Learn the facts of what works, why it works and how to sustain progress. This is what will provide continued motivation.

See more details on training for fitness and fat loss in the RELATED ARTICLES section and buy 90 Days to a New You and get started on your Fitness Journey.