Fitness
Health and fitness has become a multibillion pound business, driven by social media and nipped, tucked and airbrushed celebrities.
If Kim Kardashian uses cider vinegar, or fat burning pills to reduce belly fat, then sales of those products go through the roof.
If Megan Markle tones and strengthens her body with Reformer Pilates, there is a stampede at pilates studios everywhere and Pilates becomes the next fad! We are like sheep!
Outdoor physical activity has slowly been removed from daily life, for children and adults, as we choose cars and public transport over walking and spend all our spare time seated in-front of screens. This results in less calories being burned daily, which when combined with our increasing consumption of high calorie, highly processed, fast foods, equals fatter bodies with less muscle and weaker bones .
The preferred lifestyle and eating habits of the 21st century is having a huge negative impact on our physical and mental wellbeing, creating a world wide obesity epidemic, with serious, long term, life changing co-morbidities.
Are Crash Diets the Answer?
To remedy the problem, people are understandably reaching for quick fixes, such as weight loss pills and fad diets that promise unrealistic results. The dazzling weight loss claims do not mention the weight gain that comes with stopping the diet, or the extra weight that will follow due to dropping weight too quickly.
Weight loss studies show, that sustainable results are best done, slowly and steadily, through creating daily calorie deficits with nutritional change and increasing exercise frequency. These two things combined, with food and exercise education, are the best tools for achieving long lasting weight loss and improving health outcomes.
Dieting alone without exercise, causes muscle atrophy (muscle shrincage). This leaves dieters with saggy skin on areas that if muscle was maintained, through regular resistance-based exercises, dieting would result in a slimmer but toned body. The other benefit of resistance based exercise, is that it increases bone density, reducing the chances of breaks during a fall.
Where to Get Help
There are many different types of training systems and techniques that can be used alongside dietary adaptations to help us lose weight, stay fit and eat healthy. But with the bewildering array of diets and exercise choices, where to start? Do You run, do classes, join a gym? Cut out carbohydrates, or go Keto?
My advice is to EDUCATE YOURSELF on what is healthy, using safe and affective online sites such as 'Myfitnesspal', 'Weightwatchers', and 'Mens Health' (do your research), not follow something a friend of a friend told you about. Alternatively, ask advice from a qualified Personal Trainer, Dietician or Nutritionist, but choose from recommendations. They can advise on dietary and life style changes, as well as create progressive exercise schedules and eating plans, targeted to your own body type and ability. If you are unsure of how to adapt your eating habits, or which exercises, or gym equipment to use to achieve your goals, professional rather than random internet advice is best!
Work Out at Home
To keep the pounds off during lockdown I have put together some free-access, fat burning and strengthening workouts, online for you to try out. All filmed during the spring lockdown 2020.
Let me know what you think in the comments box below the video and if you like please click LIKE and Subscribe! Click on the links below to access the videos:
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
