I am someone who hated working out. Dont get me wrong.. I love the ‘IDEA’ of working out and looked up to people who consistently sweated it out, especially those who woke up at 5 am and hit the gym, wishing that one day I will be that person. They were my inspiration but I had to be inspired enough to move the lazy body. Its not easy for a lazy daydreamer to get up and endure the pain of a work out.
But there did come a point when I fell insanely in love with working out. I looked forward to the insanity of a max interval training. And good Lord, I worked damn hard each day, silenced the discouraging voices in my head giving me all the excuses why I should not workout today. But I won everyday, broke the body in 40 mins to build my dream body. How did I got myself to do it? Lets have a look.
Here are my 5 STEPS to falling in love with working out:
Let’s start with some hard bitter facts, ok? You must digest them with a grain of salt. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You got to remember this. Lets looks at what NOT TO DO on your weightloss journey.
DISCLAIMER: Before we go ahead, please be aware that I am not a doctor or a personal trainer; nor am I a professional dietician, although I aspire to be one some day. This blog is a way for me to share my personal experience gathered through my own research, observations and mistakes. One must not expect they will get the same results as I did, you can get better results than me. Every body is different and you should always consult your physician before embarking on your weight loss journey.
What NOT TO DO:
- Don’t be over-optimistic with your results, it will only bring heartbreak. Believe me, I have been there. Read my blog on ‘Meltdown on a Weightloss Challenge’. The opposite is true as well. Being pessimistic will not allow you to objectively observe what is going on in your journey. Simply observe as your body changes, and keep doing the work. Don’t beat yourself up if a weekly goal wasn’t met or you cheated twice instead of once a week. You are only human, and it’s natural to fall back on old habits once in a while. Forgive Forget and Move on, Ok?
- Also be very careful NOT to be too satisfied too soon. You WILL see results and when you do, don’t settle. Remember your final vision of your dream body. Are you there yet? No? Then keep going. When you start seeing results and you stop pushing yourself further, the results will take a U-turn and revert back to where you started. You don’t want that. If it takes 6 months to get your dream body, it can take upto a year to maintain it and a few years to make the changes permanent.
- Research is good but too much of it can get you confused. Don’t be influenced by whatever you see on the internet. Use knowledge of your own body, your limitations, your lifestyle, your likes, dislikes etc. and make a customized plan for yourself. There are a million ways to lose weight, but at the end of the day its all about creating a caloric deficit. For example, I am not someone who can do a Keto diet, or do intermittent fasting everyday. But I know these bring results, so I modified them to suit my lifestyle and body. I fast on alternate days and follow a keto diet on those days. That’s how I found my balance. Find your own moderation and middle path that works best for you. Not all weight loss or diet programs out there will suit you 100%. It’s ok to modify to suit you.
- Sometimes, you need to teach your tongue who’s boss. Don’t always excuse yourself and give in to temptations, thinking its just the one time. I know when I allow myself to slip once, I will do it again, and again and keep falling very deep to the point I completely give up. Remember, self-discipline is sexy. And you want to respect yourself for being a determined person. Stick to the plan. Keep that commitment. Trust the process.
Now lets look at what I did to start working out burning 300- 500 cals per session. I learnt that weight loss or gain happens best when done in phases. Each phase is roughly 6-12 weeks with a break in between when you recover and refeed your body for the next phase. Here’s how I got started.
- Diet Cleanse: The first step I took was to clean up my diet and that starts with cleaning up my pantry and fridge. Knowing me, if I have my weaknesses lying around the house, I will reach out for them and devour it, only to feel guilty later. So the first thing I did was getting rid of all the ‘wrong’ foods in my house. I also refused dinner invites during this time as its very tough for me to say no to yummy foods especially when someone else has cooked them. If you cannot get rid of the kids snacks, then place them on the high shelf in the pantry, its good for the kids too and you can control their junk food intake.
Extra Tip: This tip is especially for those who don’t like to waste food. If you are a mum, you know very well, we end up finishing up left over food from our children’s plates, the half bread, the little rice with curry. DONT DO THAT. Be merciless and chuck the left over either in the fridge for someone else in the house to have or do what I do.. throw it in the bin. “My stomach is not the bin” is what I said to myself.. Those extra calories belong in the bin not in my body.
- Breathing Exercises: While you are cleaning your internal with a well-balanced low calorie healthy diet, start Pranayam- very powerful breathing exercises. The way you inhale and exhale with Pranayam has endless effects on the fat burning mechanism of your body. You can practice Pranayama watching this video. Make sure you are doing it on an empty stomach to reap maximum benefits from it.
- Get Ready for intense workouts: At some point, you have to get intense with your workout. Plan when that point starts in your journey. Don’t procrastinate it. Observe your body closely as you start your weight loss journey and note what time of the day you feel most energetic. Plan to do your workout around that timeslot. For me, its couple of hours after breakfast around lunch time. But sometimes my work times don’t allow me to work out at that time. That doesn’t mean I skip working out that day. I will adjust my meals to do an evening workout, like not eating heavy carbs earlier in the day.
Extra Tip: Make a list of your preferred times in a day when you can allot an hour to work out. Be realistic. Now, working out in a fasted state results in maximum fat loss. But again, working out in fasted state also affects performance. So if I do an early AM workout I don’t expect to get a high performance workout that day and its okay.
Extra Tip: Feel fancy. Get a little materialistic. What I mean here is get yourself something fancy that motivates you to workout. This can be an Apple watch, or a pair of brand new shoes. The one thing that makes me get up and work out is my gym bra. Once that is on, I know I cant back off. I feel fit, tight and ready to go. The other thing that makes me give my best to a workout is making small videos to share with my followers on social media, I usually make an instagram story of me working out followed by the calories burnt as shown on my Apple watch.
- Rest and Recover: I cannot emphasize how important this day is in the week when you proactively plan to rest and recover from your high intensity workouts. Believe me, I noticed more weight loss on the day after my rest day. You got to be careful with this ‘Recovery day’ Since you are less active, you don’t want to consume a lot of calories.
Extra tip: I tend to use one of my rest days to also detox my body from the large amount of protein, pre and post workouts in the week. I generally eat one to two meals on this day and stick to veggies and proteins mostly. I avoid grains as I don’t need them since I am not working out that day.
I hope these tips help you in your journey to lose/ gain weight. Remember it happens in phases. Don’t stop till you get to the finish line.
Stay fit.
Lots of love,
XOXO
Shom
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