A Simple Guide To Help You Get Fit And Healthy

Hey everyone, I’ve been deliberating about writing a post on dieting for some time now. Image is becoming increasingly important to us girls and no matter what your view is, there’s no denying that we often aspire to change certain aspects of our aesthetic appearance to adopt or posture a new improved image...whether it is reaching ‘size zero,’ cosmetically enhancing ourselves or simply ‘toning up’. Everyone has a different vision of 'healthy' and everyone has different goals for their target body. There’s nothing wrong with aspiring to change your image as long as it is done within the correct boundaries. So many people ask 'how do I get fit for Summer quickly' 'How do I get a toned body' so today I’m going to provide you with my top list of Do’s and Don’ts when considering a weight loss regime, I've made such a simple guide to follow when it comes to wanting to lose weight, stay healthy and just generally tone up your body...

Do:

-  Partake in regular exercise. Something that you can do with a friend or member of your family is even better because you’ll push each other and won’t lose motivation. Exercise has a huge number of mental and physical benefits, from increased fitness and sex drive to reductions in stress and improved self-confidence. At the moment, I'm loving going to aqua aerobics classes with my Mum. When at Uni, I often go to spinning classes between lectures.

-  Eat small portions often. 3 large meals per day are the wrong way to diet, instead try eating 6-8 smaller portions. My top diet foods are oats, white meat, broccoli, spinach, oily fish, blue/purple fruit, sweet potatoes, brown rice, flaxseeds, green tea and nuts. Green tea is my favourite, it might not taste that nice, but it speeds up your metabolism which means that you'll burn more calories. 

-  Keep Hydrated. Swap sugary drinks for water, even if it’s an isotonic energy drink. Drinks that claim to be better than water are a waste of money unless you’re an elite athlete, the key to weight loss is keeping your carbohydrate intake controlled - energy/sports drinks can actually inhibit your weight loss by spiking your sugar levels. Eat your water, water does tend to go straight through you, so eat a watermelon, and that water is absorbed by every cell in the body. Hello good hair, skin and nails.

-  Use the 80/20 rule. My philosophy with dieting is that you shouldn’t need to completely cut out all of your favourite things. Keeping your favourite stuff in the loop can also prevent rebound binging, a common post diet reaction which negates all the progress you have made. Have one day off, where you can eat what you want. Be healthy 80% of the time and then just relax one day a week.

-  Use the weights section of the gym. While the prospect of venturing away from the treadmills and cycling machine may be daunting, there are many benefits of resistance training for women, including increased muscle tone and overall improved cardiovascular fitness. Many women believe that lifting weights will make them look ‘hench’ or manly like bodybuilders, but it simply doesn’t work like that. Go for high reps and low weight for a super toned body.

Don’t:

-  Drink fizzy drinks. People tend to think that foods with high levels of fat or calories are the ones to avoid, but fizzy drinks are one of the worst offenders out there, they contain high levels of processed simple sugars, which are metabolised extremely fast by the body causing spikes In sugar levels and making the organs work extremely hard to regulate this imbalance. I don't think we ever even had fizzy drinks in my house when I was younger, I feel lucky that we didn't because some people are actually addicted to them.

-  Eat an hour before bed. Many people know this but still give into temptation. Eating before your body shuts down for sleep is a sure fire way to cut your chances of losing weight.

-  Skip Breakfast. Breakfast should be the foundation of every day. Try porridge with chopped banana and a sprinkle of cinnamon to prevent snacking urges before your next meal. 

-  Think quick fixes are the cure. Diet pills are a (potentially dangerous) waste of money and a tell-tale sign that you’re not willing to put the effort in. If there was a pill that we could take to give us the perfect body we’d all be taking It wouldn’t we?...don’t succumb to enticing marketing descriptions such as ‘induces rapid weight loss in a 4 week course’...does that honestly sound like it is going to have a positive effect on your body? Hit the gym instead and get this hype out of your head, you’re never going to get fit with that mind-set anyway.

-  Starve yourself. You’d never let your car run out of petrol on the motorway and the same principle applies to your body. Maintaining a constant intake of high quality carbs, protein and fats is essential for bodily function, missing meals will just cause your sugar levels to drop rapidly which can increase your risk of diabetes in the long term.

Top tip from another blogger: Don’t let yourself get hungry. I read up on RosieLondoners antidiet, and her rule is to just not let yourself get starving, which is basically what I’m saying above, eat before you get hungry. Always try drink some water first, you might feel like you’re hungry, but actually, it could just be your body craving hydration and water, the water will fill you up. It’s basically false hunger.

Simple ways to stay fit that can be implemented into your everyday routine:

- Take the stairs, you were going to get the lift, why not do those 5 flights of stairs? You might be tired after, but I promise you you’ll love it.

-Get off one bus stop early

-Walk the dog

-Go on a village walk with a friend

-Do something fun, aqua aerobics with your Mum? - Exercise before work to energise your day.

-Exercise whilst watching tv, it’s not hard to do a few crunches! 
-Turn your walk into a powerwalk.

Use YouTube to your advantage: lastly, we don’t all have time to go to the gym, so fit in some youtube videos whilst you're watching the TV or when you get up on a morning. I decided to make some work outs of my own for you all to use to help get your Summer body...

You can subscribe to my YouTube here to keep up to date with my fitness videos, I'll be releasing one a week and hopefully you can get fit with me. I really hope that this helped you, I might do some posts about my favourite fitness foods in the future if you think that would help too. My main target is to just feel healthy, if you're not putting good stuff into your body, how can you expect to look good on the outside? 

Will you be keeping fit this Summer? How do you plan on eating healthily? Do you have any tips?
Lots of love, Em x


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