I have been a Personal Trainer for 19 years and I can tell you the moment you speak to someone about their goals they respond with the following:
I want to lose weight
I want a flatter stomach
I want to get rid of my bingo wings
Or my favourite, I want to look like…………. (various names like the Kardashians or James Bond come to mind)
We focus way too much on the aesthetics rather than the internal improvements for long term results. You see when you only focus on the outside you lean towards quick fixes, herbal teas, fad diets, fad workouts that can do more harm than good. However, when you focus on improving what’s underneath, you can make long lasting improvements that will look after you down the line and give you even better results externally.
By taking your focus off just losing weight and putting it on more achievable goals, you are less likely to fail due to being rewarded more quickly. Losing weight can be a lengthy process and can cause people to quit. By replacing it with a more achievable goal, like being able to use a cross trainer on a certain level for 10 minutes when you can barely do 5 minutes, is achievable in around a week or two. You have improved your cardiac output and you have achieved a goal, giving you the positive energy to go for the next goal.
Making modifications to your diet, rather than being on a restrictive diet, makes for long term progressions too. Looking after how, when and what you eat in a positive and productive way is an enjoyable way to get a better body. Experiment with your food, find new ways to cook it and add to it without it becoming a chore. Make your own sauces, you can mix a tin of tomatoes with vegetables like courgettes and aubergines in a nutri-bullet, and you have added two vegetables that will go unnoticed once mixed with the mince and spaghetti you’re adding it to.
Learn when to eat certain types of food like jacket potatoes or pasta, so you utilise the sugars to aid your energy levels rather than store as fat. If you consume sugary foods like the ones I have just mentioned and you don’t use them, those sugars turn to fat and get stored in your body. Eating a jacket potato before a workout or a busy afternoon, will give you lots of energy and be utilised. Eating a jacket potato when you get in from work and sit in front of the telly all night won’t use the sugars and they will be stored.
I have set up Nutritional and Exercise courses on my website, giving you the information you need to be successful with your changes. It breaks down the different food and exercise types in a weekly format for you to focus on one element to adapt at a time. Knowledge is power and is also the key to long lasting results that fit in with your lifestyle and tastes.
Stay happy, stay healthy, Gem x
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