Weight Loss Lifestyle

As a trainer, I try not to focus too much on weight loss, and by that I mean fat loss. If you've taken on a healthy lifestyle, meaning you're eating healthy food in an appropriate amount and getting good exercise, your ideal weight will find you. I think that looking too hard for it is what tends to turn people off, with diets instead of diet, and frantic short periods of exercise instead of a sustainable fit lifestyle.

Weight loss can be your focus and motivation, but it must be done sanely. Your diet will be more strict than if you were trying to maintain, but not so strict that you feel hungry all the time, almost ensuring that you'll quit. Also, you need to consume enough quality nutrition to allow your body to make those important gains from your hard work. It will pay off eventually, when your new muscle requires fuel on a daily basis. So how can you lose weight while also honoring a fit lifestyle?

Remember how yesterday I talked about intensity and how you have an iron barbarian inside you that eats 45 pound plates like pancakes with sweat and blood for syrup? Now I'm telling you to hold back a little, especially if you haven't dedicated yourself yet to a fit lifestyle.

"Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth."
Blaise Pascal

Using quotes makes me feel smart for finding things that other people were brilliant enough to say first.

*Don't starve yourself
Starving yourself is counter-productive on so many levels. It's going to come back, plus some, and you're going to be less fit and more frustrated than when you started.

*Exercise sanely
Riding a stationary bike until you puke isn't going to work as a lifestyle. You'll last a week, tops, and in that time you'll have associated exercise with horrible horrible torture. I promise you that exercising can be fun; don't ruin it for yourself.

*Cook
This is the number one thing you can do to instantly cut calories. I don't know why there are so few healthy choices at fastfood joints and even in restaurants, but that's how it is. Make a menu, shop according to your menu, and eat at home. The food will be more healthy and you'll save money.

*Move every day
Don't go to the gym and give it 100% every day, you'll end up over trained, but get outside and go for a walk or play frisbee. Put in a yoga DVD. Get a wii (and pick up one for me while you're at it). Start an exercise habit. To start a habit, you need daily repetition. You can taper off once exercise is ingrained in your brain as an automatic good instead of a hassle.

*Tough through the initial month
It's going to be hard at the start. Power through it. You'll start to see strength gains. You'll start to have more energy. You'll start to feel the stress-relieving effects. You'll make it a habit. And once this happens, and you don't have to think about every decision to make the healthy choice, you'll have a healthy lifestyle.

Resources:
10 Tips To Start A New Habit
21 days to a new habit