How to Break The Mid Year Slump

What the heck, it’s June already?!

Before you know it it will be December!! As most people are just slowly going through their usual daily life routines, (with work routines, university studies, school studies, weekend sporting activities etc) it’s always around this time of year that people are starting to take into consideration their health and fitness goals.

Like anything in life getting a job promotion, buying a car, buying a house or going on a holiday it doesn’t necessarily come as quickly as we would like it to. This is very similar to attaining the body image you have always wanted and most people don’t understand this. Thing is, you don’t have to punish yourself for eating foods and drinking alcohol that you enjoy with family and friends and co-workers.

Most people think they have to go on a detox, eat minimal foods and exercise way more then they have to. You can lose weight and build lean muscle mass (or toning as most people call it) without any of those stupid diets or exercise programs. So im going to share my 5 best tips to help you lose a few a few kgs.

1. SIMPLE NUTRITION TWEAKS

Most people aren’t sure what to do when they want to lose weight. Personally, starting with a better breakfast is the best way to change your body. Aim for a good source of protein each meal such as eggs, meats, protein powders, tofu for the vegetarians out there. Reduce the number of processed foods such as chips, white bread, white pasta, desserts and deep-fried foods. These are usually really high in calories and offer minimal nutritional value for your body and because they’re so ‘yummy’ it’s easy to eat bulk amounts.

2. DRINK MORE WATER

Again sounds simple. But most people simply don’t drink enough water. Our bodies are made up of around 65-70% of water. It helps with many digestion processes such as creating fuel for our cells and helps push out byproducts of our bodies that need to be pushed out just to name a few. Aim for around 2.5-3L of water per day. Switch the soft drinks or any of those other fruity sugary drinks and drink water. Add lemon or cucumbers to your bottle if you’re really bored of water.

Secret tip: First thing you should do when you wake up is have a glass of water before you do anything else. This will give you more energy physically and mentally. Especially if you’re not a morning person.

3. EAT MORE VEGETABLES

– Something that is often always overlooked. Adding more plants to your diet helps you increase your fibre intake. Fibre is king in aiding digestion, improves cholesterol & improves blood sugar levels and also helps with keeping you fuller for longer. So if you’ve tried various other diets and you’ve felt hungry all the time you’ve been missing fibre. Fibrous foods are mainly found in plant-based foods such as broccoli, spinach, green beans, peas etc..

4. SLEEP

Probably the best thing you’ve heard? Sleep is king not only for a health and fitness goal but for general health. When your tired and dehydrated your body naturally craves carbs to boost your blood sugar levels and give you some sort of energy. This decreases testosterone (the hormone that helps build muscle and burn fat) and counteracts estrogen putting on fat in either your legs or around your hips. Aim for 8 hours sleep a night, get to bed earlier & stop staring at a bright screen right before bed to help your body relax, recover and get into a deep sleep for optimal recovery. Remeber, if you’re not recovering you’re not going to improve.

5. DO WEIGHTS AND CARDIO

There’s often a battle between these two with people as to which one is best. Want to know the answer? If your goal is fat/weight loss then you can utilise both weight training and cardio training to help you achieve your goal.
Weight training increases short-term calorie burn. Weight training can boost metabolism for up to 24-48 hours post workout, meaning you are burning more total calories over an extended period. Compared to cardio training where once you have completed your workout that is the number of calories burned – however many calories it is.

Aim for 2-3 cardio sessions. These can be 20-40 minute jogs at a light to medium intensity. Weights burn calories overall better the cardio, but cardio is great for kicking around some endorphins getting you outside to help you de-stress from work and life problems that you may have occurring. The weights are great for increasing lean muscle mass and burning fat by increasing your resting metabolic rate (the rate at which your body breaks down food for energy).

SUMMARY:

Consume around 1.5-3L of water per day. Add a serving of vegetables to 1 or 2 of your meals per day. Ensure you get a solid nights sleep (minimum 6 hours is best in terms of recovery and having more energy levels). Do both cardio and weight training to accelerate your health and fitness goals.Do both cardio and weights. Aim for 2-4 weight sessions a week (aim for big compound exercises – these are multi-joint which means more than one muscle group, this helps burn fat quicker). This helps build strength quicker and burns more calories over a longer period of time.