5 SIMPLE RULES TO A NEW YOU!
by David Gilks
So how is the New Years resolution working out so far? I bet you were going to start a new walking program, hit the gym three days a week and stop eating so much junk food. While the goals may be admirable and necessary, we often fall short of those goals. One of the reasons that so many of us fail is that there is little structure to our fitness program and our goals a little vague. Since most fitness goals generally are to lose weight, feel better and adopting better eating habits let's get you started on the right path. Here is an outline for week 1 of a 6 week program we run called Bare to the Bone; included are a few dietary strategies and a cardio training outline.
WEEK 1
- Eat enough protein - Make sure to get one gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. For many of us this is between 70 to 100 grams a day. This amount should be divided over 5 meals daily.
- Combine your foods - At each meal make sure to always combine a carbohydrate and a protein together, do not eat a carbohydrate by itself. Many of us are "fast oxidizers", meaning that we break down food rapidly and need protein and fat to slow down the rate of absorption. As easy way to look at this is if you were hungry and ate an orange by itself it probably wouldn't satiate your hunger, and you would probably be hungry 10 minutes later. But add 8-10 almonds to your orange and you will stay full for up to two hours.
- Plan your meals - Write the night before the five meals you intend to eat for the next day. This will keep your focused on your goals by having a written goal for each day. If you write it down every day it also means that you're thinking about it every day and your RAS (reticular activating system), the filter between your conscious and subconscious mind, is developing a new pattern which after 21 days has linked up the new habit of meal planning.
- Be active every day - If you are presently walking, make sure to walk every day for at least a half hour. Try and walk in the morning so that you kick start your metabolism into high gear. It doesn't matter of you only walk 10 or 15 minutes a day in the beginning as long as you walk. After a while you will soon be walking 30 minutes day if you stay consistent. For an extra challenge try and walk up and down a flight of stairs as many times as you can every other day. The rule is to be active every day.
- Have a long term and short-term goal - Do you remember the story of Alice in Wonderland? Alice is standing at a crossroads and is asking the Cheshire cat which road to take. The Cheshire cat asked where Alice where she was headed to which she responded "I don't know". The Cheshire look back at Alice and simply said "Then it doesn't matter". Most of us, probably over 90% of us have no written goals, which means we will probably never achieve the kind of things we are truly capable of. If you only did the 5 simple things listed above consistently you would find your fitness level begin to change for the better. As with all things, we only change in the face of change.
