I’ve got some (possibly) unpopular opinions about fitness, nutrition & health. Here we go:
#1 Do Cardio. What! That’s crazy! Nope, not crazy. It’s important. Cardio will not make you fat. Cardio is important for your fitness & health. Cardio matters. Your heart needs exercise and your cardiac muscle gets a workout whenever you bring your heart rate > 70% of your max hr (message me on how to calculate that…it’s easy and really important). Plus, cardio helps your lungs, mind & can help get you into a caloric deficit if that’s your goal (more on that in #6).
#2 Eat Carbs. Oh my God….not CARBS!! Yes, carbs. They should be 30- 60% of your nutrition depending on your body type and activities. They give you energy. Not all carbs are bad. Sure, cutting carbs will get you to drop some temporary lbs…but is that sustainable? Are you really never going to eat a piece of bread or a cookie again? Come on. Let’s be real here. Sustainable weight loss is a long game.
#3 Beginners: don’t overcomplicate things! Just move. Start out by moving every day. Do a few minutes more than the day before. Get your Heart Rate up and get moving. Once you’ve completed a consistent 2 weeks of exercise…then let’s move to the next step. You don’t need fancy equipment or a membership anywhere…you just have to start moving!
#4 Supplement your nutrition. I know it’s best to eat real & whole food to get your vitamins & minerals but….really…how many salads can you eat in a day! Every day! Who is actually going to do that? You need to fill in the nutritional gaps with quality supplements. Vitamins & minerals matter.
#5 Consistency is more important than intensity. Once you get into a routine then we can start talking about intensity & weight load, etc but get consistent first.
#6 Weight Loss, Weight Gain, Weight maintenance is a math equation. Calories in and calories out. The diet industry comes up with different and sexy ways of packaging this formula but at the end of the day it’s really a math equation. It takes time to figure your equation out but ultimately you’ll need to learn your balance.
#7 Get a coach if you are struggling with any of these. I mean, you hire people to do a lot of things for you (hair, manage your money, take care of your car, your pets, etc). Your health is worth an investment up front or you may end up paying for illness later. I know a good coach
#8 Screw the scale and the BMI charts. You don’t need to weigh what you did in high school or when you got married. Better things for you to measures required : your daily activity minutes, your waist size, your body fat percent, your resting heart rate. Can we stop focusing on how we LOOK and focus on how we treat our bodies?
#9 Have fun. You aren’t supposed to be miserable working out. You may be a little sore in the beginning but overall you should FEEL GOOD. You can still eat “fun foods”. You really have to find your formula and what works for you.
Life’s too short to feel like crap. How you treat your body and what you put into it will be reflected in your quality of life later.
Xoxo, Angie