HINTS ON HOW TO KEEP FIT

EAT A VARIETY OF FOODS

You may have a favourite food, but the best choice is to eat a

variety. If you eat different foods, you’re more likely to get the

nutrients your body needs. Taste new foods and old

ones you haven’t eaten for a while.

PICK FITNESS-ORIENTED VACATION SPOTS

You might want to party hard, drink to excess, and eat all the

delicious goodies of the place you’re visiting when you’re on

vacation but isn’t that what you’ve been doing all your life?

Why don’t you pick a place where you can try activities such

as mountain climbing (as long as you do it safely), hiking,

canoeing or swimming in the blue waters of a beautiful

exotic place for a change?

GET AROUND PEOPLE WHO MOTIVATE

YOU TO BE ACTIVE

Don’t ignore the power of association. Try to find people who are

active and who will encourage to be active. Maybe even facilitate

your new active resolve by inviting you to participate in

active events like sports, manual labour, physical

volunteer services, etc.

REWARD YOURSELF WITH A CHEAT MEAL

Just because you’re on a strict diet doesn’t mean you have to cut

out certain foods for good. For every two pounds you lose, for

example, you could reward yourself with a cheat meal of your

choice (key word being a cheat meal, do not overdo it). Also keep

in mind that cheat meals can wake up your metabolism and help

you lose weight when your scale is stuck for a week or two.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF AND REACH YOUR GOALS

Being on the path of constant self-improvement isn’t easy.

There are challenges you must overcome, which isn’t pleasant.

But it’s that satisfying feeling of knowing you’ve accomplished

a goal you’ve worked so hard at that makes it even sweeter.

Instead of waiting for your instructor to set goals for you,

challenge yourself; set mini-goals each training session and

see how far you can go. You might just surprise yourself.

DEAL WITH STRESS

If you haven’t heard, chronic stress can make you or keep you fat.

Stress increases cortisol levels, raises blood sugar, makes

you hungry and crave sugar, reduces your ability to burn fat and

a host of other problems. Avoid stress as much as you can!

The good news is that an active lifestyle is one of the

best ways to deal with stress.

ALWAYS TAKE REST DAYS DURING THE WEEK

Everyone needs some time off, even high-performance athletes

and that’s because your body requires time to repair muscles,

joints, and tendons you strained during your workout.

Taking time to recover will not only decrease your risk of injury,

but will also allow your body to go further in future workouts.

KEEP YOUR EXPECTATIONS REALISTIC

You might be a very ambitious person or even a perfectionist

but you need to realize that building your body from scratch

isn’t an easy task. You need to talk with a professional and

set realistic goals. You also need to realize what you can

plausibly achieve in the amount of time you’re willing to

stick to a program. So, take those posters of Arnold down

from your wall because we can guarantee you won’t look like

him in a few months or even years (but that’s not to say,

you won’t look incredible regardless).