Month: December 2018

The reason people don't always achieve their diet and fitness goals is that the health industry puts out standards that are too high for most people to achieve. When it comes to their fitness, people are working out too intensely too early rather than gradually building up a tolerance.  If you are sore or injured, you are less likely to go back to the gym again and will slip back into your same old habits.

If you have not mentally prepared yourself to make exercise your priority and are not getting the proper nutrition, it will be difficult to make these lifestyle changes. You should plan to rest a day or two between exercising to give your muscles enough time to recover and heal.  If not, you will be sore and tired and avoid going back to the gym altogether.  Then before you know it a few days, then weeks, and a month have gone by.

It is also important to Prepare your mind,  just as a professional athlete does. Professional athletes prepare themselves for a game or a workout.  

Many people get into fitness with this 'all or nothing' attitude. From one extreme to the other. 'I'm gonna hit the gym for 2 hours every day or 'I'm not gonna do anything. They conclude that since they do not have the time to go to the gym for two hours a day, they just may not go at all.  They feel defeated and start to give in to their junk food cravings and give up before they even start.  You may start with just 30 minutes of light activity several times a week.  Every little bit makes a difference.   

As you saw in Stage 2 of your digestion, if you work out within the first 8 hours of eating a meal, you are only burning the food you recently ate. Many experts explain that you need to burn 3,500 more calories than you take in to lose 1 lb of fat, however, the most efficient way to burn fat is to wait 8-12 hours after you eat to workout. Here is an overview of our typical digestion timetable.

1) The first 5 hours after you eat,
During this period you are burning the food you just ate. If this is the only time you can exercise by all means do so however, it is preferred you wait for later on in the day.

2) 6 - 8 hours after you eat,
During this time, you are burning off sugars which depending on your activity level, you can burn off relatively quickly.

3) 7-8 hours after you eat,
Fat is the purest form of energy and once you have given your body enough time to adapt to the changes in your routine, you will want to engage in activities to efficiently burn fat. This might be riding a bicycle, swimming, or light jogging.

After sleeping for 8 or 9 hours, you are in the proper stage of your digestion where you can burn the most calories through exercise. This is why many people do their workouts in the morning before breakfast.

You may not look forward to exercising, so if you're just starting out on this path of healthy living we suggest that you just MOVE. (You don't need to exercise). Just get your blood flowing. At this stage, it is not important in the type of physical activity you engage in. What is important is that you are moving. Walk to the mailbox and back, walk a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator, lift 3-pound weights while seated, and so on. Whatever you can do is great! Just get up and go!

The point is that you are getting your body moving to burn calories. Take for instance the P90x Beachbody Workout Videos. After researching online, I learned that the average person burns 700 calories an hour and some of you will be able to burn 400 calories just by walking.

Many people you see that are doing high-impact cardio like running could actually be making themselves fat. Many of these high-intensity workouts stress the body out and create a chemical called Cortisol which creates belly fat.

More on this later...but for now stop your sedentary lifestyle and get up off the couch. Your body will thank you for it.

In a study published by the "National Library Of Medicine", it showed that walking an extra 1,000 steps will help you lose weight, including belly fat, and will also help you improve your body composition. 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12213351/ 

Walking 1,000 steps will only take you about 10 minutes to complete. The "National Library Of Medicine" published another study that showed that walking those few extra steps, over time will help you lose an inch off your waistline and 1-1/2% of your body fat.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25566464/ 

We have a tool at https://alphalifestyleacademy.com/getmovingtoloseweight that estimates how many calories you will burn walking. If you are walking at a brisk pace, you can burn from 150-200 calories in 30 minutes, and if you walk for an hour you can burn 300 calories an hour. It adds up quickly and you will feel so much better.

Even walking you can overdo it, I use to walk to Santa Monica, beach and back, which was around 40 miles round trip, and even when I was there I would walk around and enjoy myself before returning home.Â

The experts suggest 10,000 steps a day however if all you can do is 30 minutes in the morning and build upon that but throughout the day you may be able to complete 10,000 steps.

The marketplace is filled with different type of smart watches however, the smart watch I use is spasificlly for fitness, that includes an Alarm Clock, Countdown Timer, Heart Rate Alarm, Notification Messages, Inactivity Reminder which is great to remind yourself that you need to get moving, Bluetooth Connectivity Notification, Sport Goal Setting, Find Phone

Even walking you can overdo it so you will want to warm up and even stretch. Start slowly and increase it a little each day. Don't focus on the miles just how much time you are spending. The rest will follow. I used to walk to Santa Monica Beach from my home and back, which was around 40 miles round trip, and even when I was there, I would walk around and enjoy myself before returning home. You will eventually build up your own endurance and participate in any activity that has you being active. The experts suggest 10,000 steps a day, however, if you can start with 30 minutes in the morning and build up from there, and take the stairs or park your car further away from your office to add more steps.

The marketplace is filled with different types of smartwatches however, the smartwatch I use is specifically for fitness. It includes an Alarm Clock, Countdown Timer, Heart Rate Alarm, Notification Messages, Inactivity Reminder (which is a great way to remind yourself that you need to get moving), Bluetooth Connectivity Notification, Sport Goal Setting, and Find Phone. It is a useful tool to have.

Action Item:
1) Walk...It is suggested that you accumulate 10,000 steps a day but more importantly, you just need to move. You can do this!