Categories Fit Bits (83) Hilde's Ramblings (38) Success Stories (16) You are currently viewing a blog within the Fit Bits section of the Get Active Online Blog. About Me I'm a 32 year old health & fitness fanatic! I run "Get Active Online" with my wonderful hubby Cam and when I'm not training others I'm off flying all over the countryside as a Flight Attendant. I strongly believe in practicing what I preach so this blog is all about my personal health & fitness journey, plus lots of good training & nutrition info. If you have a question you want answered or just want to say hi, please leave me a comment. Looking forward to hearing from you! Hilds

Fit Bits

BLOG > FIT BITS > TOPIC #143

It may be time that you took a step back and had a look at what you are doing. If you’ve been doing the same thing for quite some time and you still haven’t got the body you want then it sounds like it’s time to make some changes.

Quite often I hear people say that they eat well and exercise regularly but they just can’t lose the fat. Straight away this tells me that changes need to be made!

The first thing I would want you to do is to really be HONEST with yourself. I find it’s pretty normal for people to overestimate their training intensity and underestimate their food intake. At the end of the day if you are consuming more calories than you are using you WILL NOT LOSE FAT! It’s easy to get caught up in all the hype, what type of cardio is best? Should I eat no carbs, high carbs, low fat, train in the morning, afternoon, what’s best? Of course some things are better than others although rather than getting too caught up in the PERFECT way to do things realize right now that to lose fat you need to be burning more calories than you consume.

So take a step back and ask yourself some questions:

How much food am I really consuming? Are you just guessing what you eat, or do you check your portion sizes and really know what you eat on a daily basis. Quite often we think we might be eating well although even too much good food is too much. If you are eating handfuls of nuts throughout the day, picking at the kids leftovers and adding a few extras here and there then it might just be too much food! Try keeping a food diary for a week and be REALLY HONEST, have a look at how often you pick, add extras and what size are those servings. Until you are aware of what you are actually eating you can’t go about making changes. So start taking responsibility and be honest with yourself.

Am I pushing myself with my training? Have you been doing the same thing for months on end or do you mix your training up. It’s so common to see people in the gym, year after year still there although no change whatsoever to their body! If you’re going to take the time to go to the gym wouldn’t you want to see some changes and be really happy with your body. So if you’ve been going to the gym for a while although nothings changing then it’s time to mix things up. When you train it’s really important to vary your training intensity, this might mean adding in an interval session or a jog once a week. If you’ve just been walking at the same speed and plodding along you’re really not going to make progress. If jogging is hard, maybe it’s the thing you should be trying. You can plod along for an hour walking on the treadmill although burn twice as many calories in a 30 minute quick jog! I know personally I LOVE WALKING, although I also include regular jogs and rpm classes to really get my heart rate up and burn some calories. A good motivational tool is a good heart rate monitor as it can give you an accurate idea of what intensity you are working at and if it’s time to start pushing yourself (also ignore the calories burnt on the cardio gym equipment it is WAY overestimating what you are burning!). Remember if you are going to train – make it count!

Are you lifting some heavy weights and challenging those muscles? So many women want to get toned although don’t want to lift weights because they think they will get HUGE! Firstly let me tell you, it’s REALLY hard to build muscle and unless you have a nutrition plan tailored to bulk up it’s highly unlikely you are going to get massive. What weight training will do is completely transform your body shape, increase your metabolic rate & in turn lose more fat than just doing cardio alone. I also find that many women really don’t know what you they are truly capable of. If you have been using the same weights for weeks on end you are simply not challenging those muscles. At any stage where you can easily do the allocated repetitions with good form it’s time to increase the weights. So be brave, next time you are in the gym pick up a heavier weight and see what you can do, I’m sure you’ll surprise yourself!

Do you really want to change? I know you are going to say, “Of course I want to change�, but do you REALLY? If you are serious about changing it means you are going to have to get a bit uncomfortable, develop some new habits and really challenge your body. Sometimes we just get a little too comfortable with how we are and the thought of saying no to some treats, or going for a jog isn’t that appealing. Ultimately you need to decide if you seriously want to change and if you are prepared to do what it takes! You can make all the excuses in the world but if you want to change badly enough you’ll find ways to make it happen!

Ultimately the most important thing is to always remember that it’s YOU that is deciding to change, no one is making you, so if you are serious about changing your body and lifestyle for good start being HONEST with yourself & focus on doing what REALLY NEEDS to be done!

Have a great day,

Cheers, Hilds

EMAIL : hilde@getactiveonline.com