Pitfall to avoid when taking charge of your health and fitness

In the hope of achieving results faster, mistakes are often made. Stemming from popular beliefs and hearsay, these mistakes can keep you from achieving your goals. So, to help you get in shape, here are three common errors you should avoid. Don’t get caught in their trap!

Refrain from eating after working out for fear of replacing the calories you’ve burned!

After training, it is important to eat foods containing both protein and carbohydrates, especially after a particularly intense session. The muscles at work when training require energy (calories) to refuel and set the recovery process in motion. By eating right after training, you’ll achieve maximum results. You should eat a healthy snack (or your meal) within 30 minutes of the end of your workout. A post-training snack will also keep you energized for the next few hours. Moreover, you’ll notice an increase in energy and vigour when you train the next day, and this will help you burn even more calories! Be careful not to overdo it though—! You may have a tendency to compensate for your training session by ingesting too many calories afterward. Learn to consume a number of post-training calories that reflects the true effort you put in!

Give up as soon as the weight on the scale isn’t up to your expectations.

So you worked out every day last week, you were careful about what you ate, and you’re disappointed in the number on the scale? Whoa! Wait a minute! Before you give up and devour an entire sugar pie, try putting things in perspective, think back on your motives for taking charge: isn’t the main goal of regular exercise to feel better, have more energy, sleep better, enhance your mood, improve your posture, your cardio, your health? Concentrate on all the advantages and benefits you derive from each training session. Don’t see your efforts as punishment, but rather as a means of improving your quality of life on a daily basis. Look at what you’ve accomplished since starting to take charge. Don’t let a number dictate your drive and motivation (I invite you to read the article entitled, YOU EXERCISE, BUT YOU ARE NOT LOSING WEIGHT? for further details). It’s definitely not by giving up that you’ll get closer to your goal. Come on, let’s get back to work!

Rely strictly on training for losing weight.

Frequent cardiovascular and muscular workouts will, of course, generate calorie expenditure. But to succeed in losing weight effectively, you also need to increase your general level of physical activity outside of your training sessions. If you have a fairly sedentary job, try and find ways to move about more: get up, walk around frequently, take the stairs, in short, increase the number of occasions each day that you could be more physically active.

The nutritional component is, of course, non-negligible. A precious tip to start: learn to serve yourself adequate portions according to your personal requirements, and you’ll notice that by nourishing your body with healthy foods, you’ll feel satisfied with smaller portions. Be patient!

Discover other pitfalls you can avoid and learn more practical advice for successfully taking charge in my latest book, Je me prends en main! (soon to be published in English).

Enjoy!

By Karine Larose

Pitfall to avoid when taking charge of your health and fitness is a post from Nautilus Plus. The Nautilus Plus blog aims to help people in their journey to fitness through articles on training, nutrition, motivation, exercise and healthy recipes.
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