With only a month till Christmas, Week 9 of The Little Black Dress Challenge is all about maintaining a healthy diet and exercise lifestyle through exercise. If you are struggling with any aspects of your health regime, don’t forget to tell your doctor, the benefit of slimming with The Slimming Clinic is that you have access to regular, professional advice.*
If you are struggling with exercise, don’t forget that it isn’t just about attending the gym. Various strength exercises such as gardening or deep cleaning can boost weight loss through building muscle, which burns more calories. To read about how to start building up an exercise regime, you can find some tips here. There are no excuses for avoiding exercise; here are some tips on how to pick yourself up and out of a slump:
‘I don’t have time’
You only need 60 minutes of physical activity a week. This is very easy to achieve and you may find yourself going over 60 minutes. It doesn’t have to be structured exercise like running or swimming. Incorporating exercise into your daily routine is easy and effective, you can do this by walking the kids to school, to work or to the shops, gardening or taking the stairs.
‘I’m too tired’
It’s not unusual to feel drained at the end of the day but exercise will relieve your tiredness and actually make you feel more energetic. As time goes on, an exercise regime will build up your stamina and reduce lethargic feelings. If you are too tired to do your exercise at the end of the day, why not do it in the beginning?
‘I don’t have the willpower/motivation’
Many people give up on exercising soon after starting. One good way of staying motivated is to keep an exercise diary or exercise with a friend. Another way of keeping motivated is setting some achievable, realistic weekly and monthly goals. For some extra motivation, post your goals on Facebook. The action of making things public will make you less likely to give up with so many people supporting and counting on you. Alternatively, you can make weekly video diaries and post them on a public space, like Youtube. This can be inspiring for any other people watching your weekly updates who are trying to lose weight themselves. The idea of disappointing them may be the motivation you need to get moving!
‘I don’t like exercise’
If you still get horrific flashbacks of school PE every time you decide to start exercising, you can do a few things to start being active and enjoying it. For example, if competitive sport was your worse nightmare, try solitary activities such as walking, going for a run, yoga or swimming.
‘The weather is too bad’
You may find yourself using this excuse more and more as the weather is getting colder. There are plenty of ways to exercise indoors, such as indoor classes, exercise DVDs, free workout videos on YouTube, Wii Fit and even dancing around your living room.
‘I’ll look stupid’
It can be hard to get active in public if you’re not in shape and not used to exercise. There’s a really great secret to not caring how you look, and that is that other people in the street don’t really care how you look, and if they do stare, you’re only going to see them that one time! However, if you really can’t do this, you can overcome your fears by starting off exercising at home or planning a run when no one is about. You will soon become more confident and fitter as you continue with your exercise regime.
If the gym doesn’t take your fancy, try some of these alternative workouts to get your heart rate going:
- At home: DVD workouts, strength and flex
- Outdoor: Walking, gardening, bowls
- Solitary: Pilates, yoga, tai chi, swimming, running, rollerblading
- With friends: Badminton, dance classes, zumba
- With family: Football, rounders, Frisbee, hiking
Check out these articles for more tips and advice on exercise:
-the working womans workout at work
Sweets for Treats| Swap Shop!
If you are having difficulties getting those naughty junk foods out of your head, try switching them for these low-calorie treats:
- Crisps- swap for lower salt, lower fat oven-baked crisps which contain 70% less fat than standard varieties.
- Pork Scratchings swap these for homemade air-popped, plain popcorn
- Ice Cream- swap this for lower- fat frozen yoghurt, or try sorbet made from sweetened water flavoured with fruit
- Cereal Bar- despite their healthy image, most cereal bars are riddled with high fat and sugar contents. Look out for bars low in sugar, fat and salt.
- Chocolate- swap this for a low-calorie instant hot chocolate drink.
- Sweets- try dried fruits such as raisins, sultanas, dates, apricots, mango or figs. These are a bonus as they all count towards your 5- a-day.
- Cake- swap cake for a plain currant bun, fruit scone or malt loaf. Avoid toppings like butter, icing, jam or cream.
- Sugary fizzy drinks- try mixing sparkling water with unsweetened fruit juice, which will count towards your 5-a-day.