Keys to Fitness

Imagine working your guts out to lose all of your weight, being at the most ideal weight point you have ever experienced, and then just gaining it all back! Horrible right? Believe it or not there are a lot of people out there who have experienced this exact same thing. Not only that, but they lose all the weight, and then not only gain it back but gain back even more!



So why is this the case? There seems to be a lot of misinterpretations when it comes to fitness. Here are some essential keys to staying fit:


Consistency-

Consistency is possibly the biggest key to keeping weight off and achieving optimal health. A big misconception is that once you lose weight you can stop working out and still stay at the same weight. This is a HUGE no no! Not only will you gain all your weight back but you will gain back more then what you started with.

Human beings are meant to be active physically every day. This does not mean that you need to run a marathon every day or hike Mount Everest! In fact, that could be very detrimental to your body. Mixing up your workouts daily, no matter what the intensity, is what will help reach optimal health. Just make sure that you are doing something physically active every day whether taking a walk, swimming or even dancing.



Eating Habits-

Almost every fitness trainer in the world will tell you that this is the most important aspect to losing weight. Almost 80% of weight loss is attributed to proper diet. Remember, you are what you eat. If you eat a bowl of cookie dough, plan on looking like one.  A proper diet is a lifelong commitment if you want to stay at your dream weight.

It is another misconception that this is the hardest part. When I refer to diet, I’m not saying that you should stick to salads every day. In fact, if you don’t indulge every once in a while you are more likely to binge and eat too much. Not only that but if you are eating healthy there is a better chance that you won’t crave your “used to be favorite” treats as often as you used to. If your body has all of the nutrition it needs, you won’t experience cravings as much. It’s a win-win process!


Recovery-

Recovery can be incredibly important when it comes to long term weight loss. Getting plenty of sleep and stretching time in is what will help you reach your goals. The human body is an incredible machine, during sleep it is actually hard at work repairing all of those muscles you’ve spent time working on. For example, if you are a weight lifter, recovery time is key. If you don’t give your body time to recover you won’t build muscle. This is also a win-win process.


Love What You Do-

The best way to motivate yourself when it comes to fitness is to love what you are doing. Find a physical activity that you love like swimming, or dancing and just go wild with it!