written by Adeline Gonzales
Your diet is more than half the battle of seeing the results you desire. Eating “pretty good” is not good enough. Things like alcohol, “snacking” all throughout the day,not drinking enough water or skipping meals can completely derail your progress.
You have to be intentional with your food choices and consistently eat healthy, whole foods in portions that your body needs when going hard in the gym to see progress. Food is the literal fuel that keeps your body going.
No matter how hard you’re going in the gym, you can’t expect optimal results out of the engine that is your body if you’re not puttingoptimal fuel in.
Whether you’re eating too much, not enough, or just the wrong foods, reevaluate your plate to see if the problem lies there.
Either there is some slacking going on or you’re trying to kill yourself. Either way is not going to give you the results you’re looking for.
For the slackers: Any exercise is better than no exercise, but if some hardcore results are what you’re after, you need to challenge yourself. Lifting weights should be challenging and exhaust your muscles. Cardio sessions should produce enough sweat to prove you were there. Startmonitoring your heart rate to get into that sweet fat burning zone.
Packing on more muscle helps burn fat so stop avoiding those weights!Lift weights heavy enough to exhaust your muscles and when it becomes easier, that’s the time to increase the weight! Rev up the intensity of your workouts to give your body the challenge it needs to react.
For the overachievers: Did you know your body actually recovers and responds at rest. Keyword being REST! When working out, you’re actually traumatizing your poor body. Rest is what allows recovery and causes it to come back stronger.
Constant trauma and no recovery makes for one tired, helpless body that can actually respond with weight gain! Allow yourself days to rest and your body will thank you with awesome results!
Hard work is like the magnet that attracts the results right to ya.Consistency is the glue that makes them stick! What matters more than eating right, pumping out the correct amount of reps and conquering the treadmill like a cardio pro, is doing itconsistently.
Changing your body is more like a marathon than a sprint. You have to show up again and again and again….and then again. You might be frustrated because it seems like things aren’t changing but consider whether your inconsistency could be the culprit.
Come up with a workout schedule you can realistically stick to. Make changes as necessary and don’t beat yourself up for missing a day here and there but just don’t make it a habit.
The world can be a cruel, cold place and well…it’s not hard to succumb to stress but believe it or not,stress affects our bodies just as much as our minds. The hormones released from stress gets our bodies in fight or flight mode and our brain tells our body that we need to replenish the energy we just used and we want to eat, eat, eat.
Even though we’re notfighting or flighting, our brains are still sending those “EAT NOW” signals to our bodies and well…yeah, that’s why we tend to overeat during stressful situations. Not to mention our bodies also get the signal that they need to hang on to any fat you have for dear life! How’s that for negating the work you just put in at the gym.
It’s important to find an outlet to regularly release stress—other than food. Other rewarding activities like listening to music while you work, taking a walk, journaling or just intentionally making a point to laugh can do wonders to keep those stress chemicals at bay.
So, carbs get a really bad rep these days…and with good reason; ain’t nothing like those Red Lobster biscuits to derail any chance you ever had at flat abs. However, carbs (the kind that play nice) actually play an important role in properly fueling your body.
Complex carbs like green vegetables, brown rice, and beans do lots of good things. They are packed with healthy fiber that keeps you full longer, aid digestion and keep you…umm…regular, provide the very important energy needed to get through your workouts and your day, help your brain to function better, and they even help you sleep better!
All these things are critical to getting the results you’re looking for. While low carb diets will lead to weight loss, they can actually slow down your metabolism in the long run and when you’re trying to maintain those hard earned results…ain’t nobody got time for that!
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