Sunday, November 7, 2010

Fitness Trainer's rules For Weight Loss

I came across celebrity Fitness Trainer Jillian Micheals' rules for weight loss and I must say I agree with 3 of them fully. Her rules are as follows:

1)  Inspire yourself-
Meaning be the change you need in your life, don't feed off the energy of others to get you motivated. You will have more success if you are your own motivator. At the end of the day, NO ONE really wants to hear the sad story that inspired you to lose weight. How  many times have you watched The Biggest Loser and got fed up of hearing the contestants say I'm doing this because my loved one died, I'm doing this to make my child proud? Do it for you, stay committed, educate yourself, get help and be proud of your results.

2)  Intense 30minute workouts 5 times a week  - 
Yes, there are many ways one can lose weight;
a) Changing one's diet
b) Changing one's diet and adding a fitness schedule 
c) Surgery - be it liposuction or by pass 
But option b is the most practical and most uplifting. Exercise, alone gives you that jolt of energy or mood booster often needed to get through the day or improve an irregular sleeping pattern. But workout routines that engage the key muscle fibres- fast twitch and slow twitch fibres are the ones that usually facilitate rapid weight loss (fat burning) and increases lean body tissue. As such, Tabata workouts or Interval workouts/ circuit workout routines are often best for getting in shape, as opposed to 30 minutes of cardio only. In terms of, maintaining the new lean tissue, stretch- based workouts (yoga, pilates, callanetics) are best, as these often lengthen the muscle fibres making your joints and subsequent movements more fluid as one's flexibility increases. 

3) Eliminate Processed Foods (ALL) 
I love this tip. Changing one's palate and broadening one's taste buds/ food range is the key for successful eating. By, decreasing one's affinity for the attractive labels, fat laden, salt laden, sugar laden, artificially flavoured laden food products, is the BEST way to regulate and control appetite. Going back to basics, dietary wise is a double edge sword- on one side you boost your health and on the other side  you regulate appetite [which  means no empty calories and reduced random cravings].

4) Count calories- 
 Whilst, I agree with this rule. Counting calories is only effective if done wisely. If you are only looking at the total calories as opposed to calories from fat, protein and carbohydrates, then you will run into problems.