Even if you want to make a significant change to the way you look and feel, you may be put off by the common misconception that the journey there is going to be horrible. In fact, you may deliberately make it as gruelling as possible because you think that’s the only way to get results. In fact, the approach that’s most likely to succeed is one that makes life as simple and painless as possible. Follow these tips from the experts at New Body Plan for a better chance of success. Take it away guys.
1. Don’t Dive In
If your gym membership card has been gathering dust, the worst thing you can do is launch into a regime that would make an Olympic weightlifter wince. Your aim with your first week of workouts should be to make them challenging but enjoyable. You want to leave feeling motivated and like you want to come back again next week. So blow the cobwebs away, get back in the groove and adopt a progressive plan that gets harder as you get fitter.
2. Keep Your Diet Simple
If you’re confused about what you should or shouldn’t eat then we don’t blame you. There’s so much poor and conflicting information out there. Here’s what you need to know in the simplest terms possible: try to eat a variety of fresh food. Variety is key because then you’ll be getting the range of macronutrients and micronutrients that your body needs. Of course, this isn’t everything you need to know about healthy eating, but the point is that eating well is simpler than a lot of people would have you believe.
The other thing we’d suggest you do is control your portion size, because being in a small calorie deficit (ie burning slightly more than you consume) is the key to successful and sustainable fat loss. If you’re in a calorie surplus, you’re likely to gain weight and if you’re in a substantial deficit, you’ll lose weight, but you’ll also be miserable.
3. Don’t Beat Yourself Up
Let’s say you’re following an eight-week plan. It would be unrealistic to think that you’re going to sail through those 56 days on a wave of healthy eating glory. The chances are that you’ll have nutritional slip-ups. And you know what? If that happens, it’s no big deal. We’re not saying we want it to happen, but the world won’t come to an end if the lure of the delivery app is too much and you order a pizza. In the event that does happen, the best thing you can do is refocus, remind yourself why you started and make sure your next gym session is a belter. And maybe delete the food delivery app.
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4. Don’t Rely On Willpower
If you want to transform your body you need superhuman willpower, right? Actually, you’re better off arranging your life so that you don’t need much willpower. Let’s look at booze. If you want to lose fat, reducing your alcohol intake is one of the simplest ways to make an impact because booze contains lots of calories (about 200 in a pint of lager) but very few nutrients. If you keep a few cold beers in the fridge then every time you open the fridge door you’ll be greeted by the tempting sight of a bottle, but if it isn’t there then you won’t get tempted and you won’t need to draw on your willpower reserves.
The same goes for motivation. When you’re running late in the morning, it’s easy to head out of the door without searching around for your gym kit. But if it is packed and ready to go the night before, it’s easy to take with you. It’s simple to make these small adjustments, and it means you can save your effort for the gym floor.
5. Don’t Be Your Own Coach
Your job is to lift the weights. Let someone else worry about the exercises. There are a couple of reasons why you should follow a plan written by someone else. First, if you write your own plans you’ll always tend to favour the exercises you’re good at, rather than the ones that will have the biggest impact on your body shape. Worse, if you wing it and don’t follow a plan at all then your training will be aimless and you’ll drift through visits to the gym. You won’t make progress and, sooner or later, you’ll give up. The lesson: always follow a plan.
If you want to get a complete fat loss transformation programme, visit New Body Plan and use code coach20 at checkout to get £20 off
