5 Tips for Busy Professionals Who Want to Get in Shape 2015

The New Year is the time that people want to lose weight and take a few steps to getting themselves in better shape. The problem is that many people have way too much on their plate and can't find the time or commitment to achieve their fitness goals. Despite knowing that habits should change we still have a difficult time making small changes that can add up to being in greater shape and better health. Making small changes can be extremely helpful in hitting your target without stressing about where and when.

Make a Commitment: The first step to any fitness program is the need to make a solid commitment beyond the first few weeks of the year marked by the abandonment of so many New Year new comers. It is necessary to change habits in order to develop a long-lasting fitness program that will help you achieve the next level in your goals. This takes a considerable period of time to establish.

Start Small: Don't try and take over the world in a day. Habits are formed through repetition and it is best to start out with a reasonable amount of effort and time and not something that is going to seriously hamper your life. Start small and add on later as your habit becomes embedded.

Change Your Living Patterns: One of the helpful ways in which you can improve your fitness is by changing things you might not have thought about. For examples, walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator can make a huge difference. Try and bike to work or take your tennis and go for a speed walk at lunch.

Change Your Eating Habits: Change your eating to ensure you are getting the best nutrition while lowering poor quality foods. The best foods are ones that have lots of fruit, vegetables,whole wheat, oats, and fiber. Lowering the amount of trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol is important. Move to low fat dairy like milk and cheese can go along way. Avoid white pasta, white rice, white bread, and fatty meats.

Celebrate Little Accomplishments: Losing weight and getting in shape takes serious commitment that makes a lifestyle changing. Running around the block won't do it unless you change your eating habits. nibbling on seaweed without exercises will also have a weaker impact. When you lose a few pounds or have a strong workout go ahead an celebrate because you are one step closer to your goals.

Three Rules to Eating for Weight loss

You want to eat right, lose weight, and improve your health but seem to be having a hard time reaching your goal. Pumping it out on the stair stepper everyday will only do so much if you don’t think about your eating habits. Making a few adjustments to your diet will go a long way in achieving your fitness goals without wasting hours. The three simple rules are:

1-Cut back on portions.

2-Reduce white bread, refined pastas, and crackers.

3-Move to low fat dairy and reduce portions.

The vast majority of Americans are overweight due to lack of physical exercise and poor eating habits. Poor eating habits are the main cause of increased pants size and poor health above and beyond exercise. The amount of calories still takes the lead position in weight loss. No fitness training plan is complete without adjusting the food you are eating. 

We all love bread but many conventional breads don’t love us back. White bread, white pasta, white rice, crackers, pretzels, and other finely processed grains will damage your weight loss prospects through high carbohydrates (1). Whole grains provide the right ingredients due to the grain not being crushed and the nutrients removed. Look for whole grains, brown rice, and whole wheat pasta as alternatives (2).  

Cream, milk, butter and cheese will damage your weight loss achievements. Lower your dairy consumption and switch to low-fat alternatives. Dairy products contain milk sugar that slows down weight loss and generates a strong insulin response (3). You can use low-fat varieties such as skim milk, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat cheese while still getting the calcium you need (4).

Book Review: Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?

The book entitled Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? By Dr. Alex Hutchinson provides an excellent overview of modern fitness science and what works and what doesn’t work. As the book is focused on actual research it provides some excellent discussion on the most effective methods of getting in shape and the potential health benefits of doing so. 

There are fads and there are fads. Fads come and go with lots of claims and false research projects that are designed to give a specific result that can mislead consumers. Their focus is not on science but on the actual lending of perceived credibility within marketing campaigns and messages. Don’t blindly believe most of the claims of fad diets, pills, and 10 minute widget exercises that will give you six pack abs. 

Working out is a process that entails creating stress on the human body. Depending on what someone wants to accomplish they can either move toward brute muscle strength or lean cardio endurance. One can take on a cross training program for general fitness but should work cardio on some days and weights on the others. Each day should have their own focus to maximize change. 

The book provides a number of strong chapters that include fitness gear, aerobics, strength training, recovery, aging, weight management, and nutrition. You might be surprised that most supplements do not work but that certain ones such as amino acids can actually help one gain strength. The book will discuss how research shows the increases and decreases of performance based upon these issues. A moderate amount of whey protein and use of amino acids can have a beneficial effect. Yet protein itself can ignore certain building blocks. See study

While working out with weights it important to understand that slurping down protein shakes after protein shakes won’t do you much good unless you’re a professional body builder. Even then the evidence is relatively week and has a marginal effect. Yet it is important to use at a minimum 60% of your 1-time maximum weight to ensure you are putting enough stress on your body. Protein is helpful but for the far majority of people will simply increase unnecessary calorie intake.

The book will give food for thought of those who are serious about their physical fitness. Every person should have a level of such exercise to maintain health as well as reduce stress. The book will make a strong case for being involved in exercise as well as help you ignore those common myths that waste time and energy in one’s busy day. There is support for the belief that exercise can improve performance in your work life so there are few drawbacks to getting fit today.

Hutchinson, A. (2011). Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? NY: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-200753-7