Are you involved in an exercise program but seeing very little changes in your body or weight? Frustrated that all your hard work doesn’t seem to be paying off?
Firstly, it takes a lot of exercise to burn off energy or calories. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. Running a Marathon burns 2600 calories. You see, very hard work for little calories burned.
My advice is to eat for weight loss and train for body composition, it’s easier that way.
Here are my top tips for getting leaner and creating a strong, toned body:
1. Understand and educate yourself on how many calories are in the foods you currently eat
The law of energy balance governs whether we lose or store body fat. Keep track of what you are eating and try and drop calories out of our diet slowly and steadily. A calorie deficit of 500 a day over 7 days a week will enable you to drop a pound of fat a week.
It’s easier and more sustainable to reduce calories in your daily diet by 200-300 each day and participate in exercise to burn 100-200 additional calories. This avoids injury, fatigue and encourages awareness of calories and energy balance from weight loss.
In my online 10 Day Fat Loss Kickstart Program I have already calculated this for you.
2. Don’t forget to track the calories bites, nibbles, licks, and tastes
It’s astounding how many calories you consume just nibbling, finishing off kid’s leftovers, tasting food during preparation. This could equate to 500 plus calories a day if you are not tracking correctly and could wipe out your calorie deficit. In order to create flexibility in your diet you can give yourself a weekly calorie budget and have a little more calories at times you need them, for example social occasions.
3. Participate in the exercise you enjoy
You are more likely to maintain it when you enjoy it.
4. Don’t neglect your NEAT activity
A common problem when we participate in planned physical activity like a class or a run, we tend to reduce our NEAT activity because we feel “our exercise is complete”. Every day try and complete 10k steps in addition to planned exercise. Park your car further from the shops or office and get your steps in that way. Take your children for a walk in the park, you’ll find it will improve their behavior, sleep and make them healthier too.
5. Prioritise Weight Training
It will have the greatest impact on your body composition and is essential for improving bone and muscle strength as we age. It will improve insulin sensitivity, metabolism, and hormonal function. We want to focus on building muscle on top of our skeletal system and then reducing body fat in order to see that lean, toned definition that we have built up in our weight training regime. There is not much point building up muscle in the gym, only to have it covered with layers of fat. Both my online 6 Week Bikini Body Program and Over 40 Lean and Strong Program provide strength-based programs with video tutorials to teach you how to lift weights safely and for muscle tone and definition.
6. Be Consistent
Dipping in and out of an exercise program won’t make us strong and counting calories half-arsed won’t help us lose weight. Setting realistic goals of 1lbs a week and participating in a strength program to start with is more sustainable than biting off more than you can chew.
Each of my programs provide support from Tara and qualified nutritionists and fitness professionals through a private Facebook community to enable you to reach your desired goals.
