Found this article through pinterest. Makes perfect sense! :
My Top 10 Lessons I Learned About Fat Loss in 2011.
Lesson 1. Set a Deadline
There is power in setting a deadline. Have you ever said you are going to do something and never get around to it? You’re not alone. Have you been given a deadline to do something, say by your boss? Of course you hit the deadline because there is a time restraint. Set a date on the calendar for you to be your absolute best by.
Goals:
- need to be put in writing
- have to be specific and measurable
- have to have a specific timeline
- and need to be realistic
Lesson 2. What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
If you follow Vince Del Monte, you have heard this many times and it is extremely true. You cannot know what direction you are heading towards if you don’t measure and track your results. This is the only sure way you can tweak your program to work for you. Whenever a client asks me what could be going wrong, I simply ask them to take out their tracker so we can look. 99% of times, they haven’t been measuring and the other 1% I fix with a couple of simple and easy tweaks.
Lesson 3. Replace One Habit at a TIme
Habits cannot be broken, only replaced. If you start by replacing one habit per month, that will be 12 new habits you will have replaced by 2013. Think of one you want to replace for January.
Lesson 4. Tell Someone Your Weight Loss Goals
Having an accountability partner works in EVERY area of your life. You are more likely not to fail if you tell someone what you are going to achieve. You will not only be letting yourself down if you quit but also your friend.
Lesson 5. Eating Too Little Will Make You Fat
I start to waste away in my upper body and start packing on the weight in my tummy whenever I choose to skip meals and don’t eat enough.
When nutrient intake is low your metabolic rate will become low for three reasons:
- decreased thyroid function
- reduced thermic effect of eating
- reduction in muscle mass
Lesson 6. HIIT Is The Fastest Way To Lose Fat
High-intensity training burns calories for hours after the workout, improves endurance and improves aerobic capacity. I always add in some HIIT to my week and this is the one and usually the ONLY area (in the gym) that I tweak when I want to lose fat fast. All you need is a few 20 minutes sessions and your pants size will shrink in no-time.
Lesson 7. Keep Your Heart Rate High
There is no sense in taking your time during your workout. There is no sense in training one muscle at one time unless you are thinking of becoming a light-weigh bodybuilder. This is the key that COMPLETELY shaped my body this year. Before this my body changed at a much slower rate and working out wasn’t as fun!
Lesson 8. Have A Plan of Attack
Plan out your workouts BEFORE you workout. Don’t be stuck there trying to think of what exercise combos to do and then draw a blank because you think everyone is looking at you and wondering what you are doing. I used to do this all the time. I thought everyone knew I didn’t know what I was doing and then I would draw a blank and just hit the treadmill…so much for fat loss!
Lesson 9. Eat Protein and Fats for Breakfast
Thank goodness for Ben Pakulski who taught me this simple fact. After telling him I seem to crash mid-afternoon, he told me to try ground beef and eggs for breakfast. I know that sounds gross but it works and it’s actually tasty. Charles Poliquin calls it “The Meat and Nut Breakfast”. This is all about controlling your hormones. Give your kids “the meat and nut breakfast” and see their marks increase.
Lesson 10. Eat Carbohydrates After Your Workout ONLY
Thanks to John Berardi’s nutrition certification I learned that carbohydrates should be used only to refuel and repair after a workout. This is the biggest contributor to staying lean all year-long. As my husband Vince would say, “What portion of your body is made up of carbohydrates? NONE – therefore we can only use a small amount of them before the body will store them”.
And that’s all folks.
Apply those 10 lessons and you are on your way to your best body in 2012! Those were my strategies to transforming my body and the same strategies to staying lean all year-long!
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