4 tips to help you ditch the belly
So your knee deep in healthy lifestyle changes but the temptations haven’t subsided. Well, the bad news is they won’t. There will always be a plate of something amazing covered in cheese to taunt you. Weekends will always be full of social events lined with table of sweets, but it’s up to you to man up and say no.
The trouble is, a man can’t deal with one flat tyre and I don’t mean this in the literal sense. Let me explain, we take this approach in a lot of aspects of our lives, if one tyre is flat (if one thing goes wrong) that’s it, everything is ruined and we slash the other tyres. Our one flat tyre has clouded us into believing that the three perfectly good remaining tyres now serve no purpose and also need to be destroyed. This crazed rationalization we create is just that, crazy.
Believing that because we have fallen victim to a delicious pie one Saturday night somehow erases all the work we have done and strides we have made during our path to a healthier lifestyle is counterproductive to the challenge at hand. It probably seems a little backwards, but hear me out. Was that pie the best choice? Probably not. Has everything you’ve worked for been sacrificed for that pie? Again, probably not. Understand that one bad choice is not the end of the world and does not make you a loser, it just means a bad meal.
You shouldn’t be selectively excluding everything that is delicious, you’ll be missing out on so much and you’ll grow to hate the changes you’ve made because they leave no room for fun, which in turn will increase the likelihood of you throwing in the towel. Instead consider moderating how often and how much you indulge in these pleasantries. To keep you on track and in control of elements you can manage here are some things to consider for a long lasting weight loss and healthier you everyday.
- Don’t underestimate the power of sleep.
If you’re not getting enough sleep you’re not giving your body a cool-off period to repair itself and rest, you’re not giving your body what it needs. Consider 8 hours of work, 8 hours of play and 8 hours of rest.
- Portion control.
Control how much food you put into your mouth, don’t load your plate or go for seconds just because the food is there.
- Don’t sit for too long.
Even if your job entails a lot of sitting, get up and move around. Research has proven that people who focus on being generally more active everyday lose more weight than those who don’t or exercise a lot. Make the effort to walk away from your desk.
- A little bit is better than nothing
If you can’t put aside huge amounts of time to exercise, remember anything is better than nothing. Taking the stairs rather than the elevator up the 5 flights to the office is always a better option.
We’re making smarter choices everyday to last us a lifetime of good health, not in a couple weeks for a great six months. If you fall off this weekend, don’t scold yourself; don’t slash the three good tyres you have. Take it for what it is, life is to be lived and you don’t have to give that up to live healthy.