3 little tips...
After talking to a number of people on the subject of ‘getting fit’, ‘toning up’ and ‘losing weight’, it is become increasingly obvious that the immense amount of information is just too bewildering. It would seem that at present we have an enormous amount of available advice and information, but no real clear starting point. The media doesn’t really help; constantly promoting everything from the latest fad diet to a 5 minute way to ‘burn the fat’. All this information is clearly not being taken in and understood, so I would like to offer a more simple explanation, see what you think…
1. Energy balance
This is probably the first and most important rule you should learn if you are trying to lose or gain weight.
If you put more energy (in the form of calories) into your body than you use (e.g. daily activity), you will gain weight, on the other hand, if you put less into your body than you use you will lose weight.
If for example you were to alter the energy balance by ‘losing’ 200 Kcal's a day you would in theory burn an incredible 73,000 Kcal's in year. To try and put that into focus, a reduction of 100 Kcal's in your intake, such as giving away around a 1/3 of your Mars bar combined with an extra 100 Kcal's in expenditure, such as a 30 min walk, would have a positive effect on your long term health, fitness and appearance. Now I’m not saying you can’t have the occasional Mars bar if you desire, just try to apply a little control over the amount and frequency.
2. Activity
Relating to the above, we now will have to look closely at our activity levels. A report from the American Surgeon General (used as the US is a perfect example of where we in the UK are headed) stated:
‘The major barrier to physical activity is the age in which we live. In the past, most activities of daily living involved significant expenditures of energy. In contrast, the overarching goal of modern technology has been to reduce this expenditure through the production of devices and services explicitly designed to obviate physical labour’
So as you can see from the above it is not the amount of activity in the form of exercise that we take that is necessarily the problem, more it is the lack of everyday, general physical activity.
I often advise people to look closely at what they are doing in terms of movement and activity. The results are shocking with some people only really walking between the car and the building they are going to, some even driving to shops that would have taken only minutes to walk to.
Excuses are often made regarding the lack of time that people have available to increase their activity and movement. I can see their point in some circumstances, but getting up 15 minutes earlier to have a quick walk around the block or taking the stairs rather than the lift or escalators is something that the vast majority of people could incorporate into their everyday lives. A little bit of something is better than nothing and would add would make a significant improvement to our health and fitness.
3. Exercise
The final point is to do with exercise. The most important, if not vital piece of information regarding exercise is to find something that you enjoy doing. You might think that’s obvious, but most people in a typical gym environment don’t exactly look thrilled to be there! In fact a recent survey conducted a long term test into people’s staying power with gyms. The results were only 20% of people continued with the gym on a long term basis and made it a fundamental part of their lives. The study went on to talk about the reasons for the drop outs, and not surprisingly there was a wide variety of answers, varying from lack of time to no fast visible results, more on this in a future topic maybe.
So, if the gym is not the answer, what is? Why not try as many different physical activities as possible, walking in the hills, running or even kite surfing, anything really, just as long as you enjoy it and its fun.
Maybe think about hiring a trainer for a few sessions. You might be surprised to hear that for the price of a monthly gym membership you could see a trainer (someone like me for example) once a week, not only is this more motivating, but if you choose the trainer carefully you never know you might just enjoy yourself.
Exercise should not be just hard work, after all if you find something more playful, exciting and practical you are more likely to make it an important part of your life, and as a result will probably stay with it for the long term.
These central points if followed will give you a sound basic starting point on the subject of improving your health, fitness and appearance, future articles will elaborate on each of these points further.
1. Energy balance
This is probably the first and most important rule you should learn if you are trying to lose or gain weight.
If you put more energy (in the form of calories) into your body than you use (e.g. daily activity), you will gain weight, on the other hand, if you put less into your body than you use you will lose weight.
If for example you were to alter the energy balance by ‘losing’ 200 Kcal's a day you would in theory burn an incredible 73,000 Kcal's in year. To try and put that into focus, a reduction of 100 Kcal's in your intake, such as giving away around a 1/3 of your Mars bar combined with an extra 100 Kcal's in expenditure, such as a 30 min walk, would have a positive effect on your long term health, fitness and appearance. Now I’m not saying you can’t have the occasional Mars bar if you desire, just try to apply a little control over the amount and frequency.
2. Activity
Relating to the above, we now will have to look closely at our activity levels. A report from the American Surgeon General (used as the US is a perfect example of where we in the UK are headed) stated:
‘The major barrier to physical activity is the age in which we live. In the past, most activities of daily living involved significant expenditures of energy. In contrast, the overarching goal of modern technology has been to reduce this expenditure through the production of devices and services explicitly designed to obviate physical labour’
So as you can see from the above it is not the amount of activity in the form of exercise that we take that is necessarily the problem, more it is the lack of everyday, general physical activity.
I often advise people to look closely at what they are doing in terms of movement and activity. The results are shocking with some people only really walking between the car and the building they are going to, some even driving to shops that would have taken only minutes to walk to.
Excuses are often made regarding the lack of time that people have available to increase their activity and movement. I can see their point in some circumstances, but getting up 15 minutes earlier to have a quick walk around the block or taking the stairs rather than the lift or escalators is something that the vast majority of people could incorporate into their everyday lives. A little bit of something is better than nothing and would add would make a significant improvement to our health and fitness.
3. Exercise
The final point is to do with exercise. The most important, if not vital piece of information regarding exercise is to find something that you enjoy doing. You might think that’s obvious, but most people in a typical gym environment don’t exactly look thrilled to be there! In fact a recent survey conducted a long term test into people’s staying power with gyms. The results were only 20% of people continued with the gym on a long term basis and made it a fundamental part of their lives. The study went on to talk about the reasons for the drop outs, and not surprisingly there was a wide variety of answers, varying from lack of time to no fast visible results, more on this in a future topic maybe.
So, if the gym is not the answer, what is? Why not try as many different physical activities as possible, walking in the hills, running or even kite surfing, anything really, just as long as you enjoy it and its fun.
Maybe think about hiring a trainer for a few sessions. You might be surprised to hear that for the price of a monthly gym membership you could see a trainer (someone like me for example) once a week, not only is this more motivating, but if you choose the trainer carefully you never know you might just enjoy yourself.
Exercise should not be just hard work, after all if you find something more playful, exciting and practical you are more likely to make it an important part of your life, and as a result will probably stay with it for the long term.
These central points if followed will give you a sound basic starting point on the subject of improving your health, fitness and appearance, future articles will elaborate on each of these points further.