Fitness Tips
1. Determine the reasons why you are not fit.
One of the best ways to get fitter is to determine the reasons why you are overweight. It could be that you are ignoring service size whenever you eat, you lack exercise, you love to watch television while eating, and more. Once you are able to do that, you can begin making up a plan that can help you lose weight and achieve your fitness goals.
2. Be determined in achieving your fitness goals.
If you are not determined enough in achieving your goals of losing weight, then you may be wasting your time in it. Losing weight is something that is achieved only with hard work and determination. Thus, you should be willing to do all the necessary things, even if it means sacrificing certain things for it.
3. Build up your motivation in losing weight.
To be able to have the drive to exercise and become more cautious in your diet, you should have the motivation for it. To achieve that, it is best to list down all the possible negative effects of becoming overweight. By making up a list, and referring to it from time to time, you will constantly remind yourself of the consequences if you won’t lose weight soon.
4. Be inspired.
Inspire yourself to lose weight by watching people who are fit. You can do this by regularly checking out the sports channel, or visiting stadiums to watch athletes play. When you do that, you would have the desire to become just like them, which would help you in doing things to achieve your goals.
5. Learn to love fruits and vegetables.
If you don’t love eating fruits and vegetables, then you should teach yourself to love them. Do not do it in an abrupt manner. What you can do is to introduce the fruits and veggies in a slower pace, such as just adding a serving of them each day. Once you get accustomed to that, which may take a week, you can gradually increase the amount of fruits and veggies in your diet, in order to become healthier.
6. Become more conscious on your food portions.
One of the things that one can do to gain more weight is to super size his food portions. Thus, it is important that you become more conscious on your portions from now on. To do this, you can remind yourself that you may have to purchase more larger clothes if you continue eating large quantities of foods.
7. Drink more water.
Drinking lots of water can help you lose weight. This is because it can suppress your appetite in a natural way. Aside from that, it can also make you feel healthier and fitter, due to the fact that it helps in flushing out toxins from your body. In addition, no matter how much you drink, it won’t make you gain weight, since it does not have any caloric content.
8. Start the day with a glass of water.
As soon as you get up from bed in the morning, give yourself a refreshing drink of cold water. It is one of the best things to do to start your day fresh. Aside from that, it would also help you minimize the quantity of your breakfast drink. More importantly, drinking water first thing in the morning will awaken your digestive juices, and get them prepared for your breakfast.
9. Eat banana early in the morning.
When you wake up in the morning, it is a good idea to eat a piece of banana. It would help in giving you the necessary energy to start your day. As long as you don’t combine it with anything, banana would not cause any kind of hyper acidic reaction in your tummy. Thus, do it around 15 to 30 minutes before you eat breakfast. Many people do this just before they go out to do their morning walk.
10. Drink water just before lunch or dinner.
Just before enjoying your lunch or dinner, it is a good idea to drink a glass of water. Water would actually take up some space in your stomach. Thus, even if you have not even finished eating a whole plate of meal, you would feel that you are already full.
11. Stay away from sodas and sweetened drinks.
Many people are so fond of drinking sodas and sweetened drinks. If you are one of them, then this practice may very well be one of the reasons why you have gained lots of weight. Thus, it is time to cut down your consumption of such drinks. Sodas taste sweet because they are filled with sugar, which would only load your body up with more calories; and, that is not a good idea.
12. Choose fresh fruits instead of fruit drinks.
You may be thinking that drinking fruit juices is a healthy practice. Although it is better than drinking sodas, such juices may still contain extra calories, especially if they have been processed. Thus, it is far better to eat fresh fruits than drinking fruit juices, since they contain more vitamins, aside from the fact that they can also provide you with fiber.
13. Eat more food items that contain water.
Food items like watermelons and tomatoes are filled with water. Thus, you should include them into your daily diet, since they would make you feel fuller, without putting yourself at risk to gaining more pounds. On top of that, most of these foods are also filled with dietary fiber, which your body also needs in order to lose weight.
14. Eat more vegetables to eat less.
When you are eating more vegetables you would actually be eating lesser amounts of foods. This is because vegetables are loaded with fiber. Fiber can actually make you feel full longer, since it prolongs the digestion process. Thus, it would suppress your appetite, and pave the way to losing weight.
15. Think before you eat.
Whenever you are at the dining table, do not base your decisions on your instinct, especially when it comes to choosing the food items to eat. This is because your instinct may normally tell you to eat everything in sight, especially if you are really hungry. Before you put something on your plate, you should think first, if it is something that you really need or not.
16. Go easy on sweet things.
Sweet things like chocolates, cakes, and candies can be tempting to eat, especially when they are presented very well. Before you put them inside your mouth though, you should remind yourself that they taste sweet, since they are loaded with extra calories. Thus, minimize your consumption on such things, so that you won’t gain more weight.
17. Eat only on times when you need to.
If you feel the need to open up your refrigerator and grab something to eat, you should think first, whether it is time for your snack or not. If it is not, try to drink a glass of water first, since there are times when your body would mistaken thirst as hunger. If you really need to grab a snack though, make sure that it is something healthy.
18. The best snack items.
When you snack between meals, it is wise if you also become conscious not just on your food portions, but also on the types of foods you eat. The best types of foods for your snacks would be fruits and vegetables. Munching on carrots or an apple would not just help in maintaining your health, but it would also control your appetite for the coming meal.
19. Drinking coffee.
Some people think that drinking coffee is a bad idea, especially when a person is trying to lose weight. On the contrary, drinking hot coffee at breakfast is actually a good idea, since it can help in boosting your energy levels. Just don’t drink coffee shakes in coffee shops too often though, since they are filled with lots of calories that can make you gain weight.
20. Stay away from foods that have been fried. Fried foods are called as such, since they are cooked either in fat or oil. Thus, the more amounts of fried foods you consume, the more oil your body would absorb. Keep in mind that even when the external oil has already been drained, there are still lots of it that remain in the food itself.
21. Skipping meals.
There are lots of people today who skip their meals, especially breakfast for thinking that it can help them achieve weight loss. Skipping meals can actually result to more weight gain, since it can lower down your body’s metabolism. Aside from that, it can make you feel too hungry when it is already meal time, which can result to binge eating.
22. Eat a large breakfast.
Breakfast is actually the most important meal of the day. This is because it is where your body would usually source out its energy for the day. Thus, it is best to fill up yourself at breakfast, so that you can boost your body’s energy levels. Aside from that, it can also help you in controlling your food portions come lunch and dinner times.
23. Eating eggs.
Eggs are actually healthy, especially the egg whites, since it contains the protein called albumin. Eating an egg a day can boost your metabolism, aside from providing your body with quality protein. However, make sure not to exceed two eggs in a day, since the yolk is actually filled up with a lot of extra calories that you may not need.
24. Eating chocolates.
Although chocolates are to be avoided when you are on a diet, you should still try to enjoy them, but only once in a while. They should be treated as a luxury instead of a routine. In other words, you may eat a small amounts of chocolates just to satisfy your cravings, but do not do it on a regular manner.
25. That bulging tummy.
If you have friends who are avid drinkers of beers, then you would notice another thing in common with them, which would be their bulging tummies. This is actually due to the fact that beers and other alcoholic beverages are filled with extra calories. Aside from that, they can also get your body’s metabolism to slow down. Thus, as much as you can, you should avoid drinking beers, or put a stop to that habit permanently.
26. Including protein in your diet.
Having a good amount of protein rich foods in your diet is a must in order to lose weight, as well as to stay healthy. This is because protein can help your body in building more muscles, and it is harder to process than other food groups. Aside from that, protein can also help in boosting your body’s resistance to diseases.
27. Choose the right kind of meat.
Although lean meat is good, it is still better to go with white meat. White meat is actually far better than red meat. Sources for white meat would include fish and chicken. When you eat chicken though, make sure that you won’t include its skin, for it is loaded with fats and cholesterol.
28. Choosing the right bread.
When you are shopping for bread, in most cases, you would be choosing between white breads and multigrain breads. It is actually best to choose the latter, since white breads in most cases, no longer contain high fiber content, and they are highly processed. Multigrain breads actually have high fiber content, and they even contain certain amounts of protein.
29. Eating pork.
Although pork is also a source of protein, it is also a source of fats and it is red meat. Thus, it is best if you reduce the amount of pork that you intake. Keep in mind though that there are a lot of products that are also made out of pork. Some of which would include bacon, sausages, hotdogs, and ham.
30. Limiting your sugar intake.
When you want to lose weight, you have to limit your sugar intake. Thus, when it comes to drinking coffee, you may have to limit the amount of sugar that you add into it, or go with black coffee. If you can’t have these things unsweetened though, there are lots of sugar substitutes available today. They taste sweet, but they won’t make you gain weight.
31. Grazing.
Grazing simply means that instead of eating 3 large meals in a day, you would be having 5 or 6 smaller meals. Doing this would actually help you in losing weight. This is because it can help in boosting your body’s metabolic rates. Aside from that, it would also help in suppressing your appetite.
32. Go easy on salt.
Eating foods that have high salt content is a big no-no when it comes to dieting. Eating too much salt can actually make you gain more weight. Thus, it is time to cut down your salt intake. If you cook your own food, try to bring down the level of salt that you add into your recipes. Aside from that, make