Does it take days for you to recover after your workout sessions at the gym? This is a sign that you may be overdoing it and need to cut back. Learn more about important signals from your body that warn you to slow down, and what you can do to make your fitness routine work better for you.
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, it’s time to evaluate your fitness routine:
1. Soreness after more than 48 hours. It’s normal to have some soreness after a hard workout However, if you’re still sore and in serious pain more than 48 hours after your last workout, then it’s a sign something is wrong with your exercise plan and its severity.
This soreness shouldn’t even appear if you’ve been doing the same workouts for months.
Muscle pain, stiffness, and soreness are signs that you’re overdoing it at the gym and may have an overuse injury. There could be micro tears in your muscles, sprains, or other issues.
2. Lasting joint pain. Joint pain can also point to an overuse injury.
You may need to rest and get medical attention for joint pain that doesn’t go away after a few days.
3. Backsliding results. Naturally, you want to see your workouts bring results, but you may end up backsliding if you’re overdoing it at the gym.
For example, if you’re pushing yourself too hard and getting injured, then your results could drop from being able to do 10 laps to 5 laps at the gym. Another example is if you’re not able to lift the same weights that you could lift a few weeks back.
Backsliding results shouldn’t be ignored because they’re a sign you’re doing too much and hurting yourself.
4. Dreading workouts. Everyone wants to skip the occasional workout and eat a bagel. However, if you dread your workouts to the point that you’ll come up with any excuse to avoid them, then it’s time to reevaluate.
Exercise might not always be fun, but it shouldn’t make you miserable. If you avoid or reschedule all of your workouts, consider if the main culprit is that you’re overdoing it.
You may be pushing yourself too far and want to skip the pain that comes with exercise.
Once you start a workout, you would normally tend to cheer up because serotonin levels increase. However, if you’re not any happier while you’re doing the exercises, it’s a clear sign that something needs to change. You may need to redo your routines or cut them down to a more reasonable amount.
Adjusting Your Workouts to Avoid Injury
If you’ve been forcing your body past its limits, you’ll benefit from seeking professional help to adjust your workouts:
If you’re overdoing it, then a trainer can help you slow down and actually get better results.
A trainer can work with you and push you just beyond your limits without sacrificing your health. A professional trainer knows how to avoid injuries and overuse of muscles, so you don’t create lasting damage.
If you prefer not to hire a trainer, consider help from trusted sources online, such as videos from experts.
Exercise shouldn’t hurt your health, and overdoing it at the gym is dangerous. Pay attention to the warning signs from your body and take steps to avoid damage.
If you want to lose weight, it’s important to know what foods to eat, and when to eat them. The meals and snacks you consume before and after exercising give you energy, prime your metabolism, and help you drop more pounds. Study these tips before you head to the gym.
How to Eat Before You Work Out
Forget the myth about exercising on an empty stomach. You’re likely to wind up losing muscle, and your performance will suffer. Give your body what it needs to train hard.
1. Choose carbs and protein. Gear up with a helping of complex carbohydrates and fast-digesting protein. Some good choices include Greek yogurt with fresh fruit or an egg with broccoli.
2. Drink water. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking 2 to 3 cups of water within 2 or 3 hours of your workout. You may want to drink a little more or less based on your body size and the weather.
3. Keep it light. You want just enough calories to sustain you without weighing you down. Go easy on the fats. Wait at least 3 hours after any large meal before starting intense exercise.
4. Limit fiber. While a high-fiber diet is great for many reasons, including lowering cholesterol and stabilizing blood sugar, save the bran for later. You can fill up after you’re done sweating.
5. Play it safe. Midway through a dance class is an awkward time to discover how your body will react to unfamiliar foods. Stick to your regular fare and save the culinary experiments for your downtime.
How to Eat After You Work Out
Exercise uses up the glycogen stored in your muscles. In order for your body to recover and keep burning calories efficiently, you need to replace those stored carbohydrates. Here’s how to refuel.
1. Act fast. Some studies suggest that your body’s ability to replenish glycogen peaks soon after your workout. Plan on eating right away or at least within 2 hours.
2. Balance it out. It’s time to enjoy the same complex carbohydrates and proteins you ate before, but now you can add more healthy fats into the mix. Feast on baked salmon with your favorite vegetables or stir fry some tofu with bok choy and red peppers.
3. Control portions. Of course, if you’re trying to reduce, you want to burn up more energy than you take in. Online calorie counters can help you calculate your individual needs so you can figure out effective serving sizes for each meal and snack.
4. Focus on quality. At the same time, keep in mind that evidence is building that not all calories are the same. For the sake of your overall health and fitness, filling your plate with whole foods is preferable to eating the same amount of processed products.
5. Replace fluids. Plain water is usually adequate for staying hydrated. Carry your water bottle with you so you can drink while you’re exercising and drink at least 8 ounces afterwards.
6. Restore potassium. If you sweat heavily or work out for more than an hour, consider sports drinks to replace potassium and other electrolytes. Coconut water and various fruit and vegetables juices will work too.
Lose weight faster and more safely by putting the power of nutrition to work for you. Enjoying delicious and nutritious snacks and meals before and after exercise will give you the energy you need to lift weights or run for miles. You’ll slim down without having to go hungry when you combine physical activity and a balanced diet.
Have you ever wondered how doctors really lose weight? Although not all medical professionals are slim, some seem to have discovered weight loss secrets that could help you.
Doctors often fight their own weight loss battles, so they’ve learned how to keep the pounds off and away. You can learn from their secrets and use them to lose weight too.
Try these effective techniques:
1. Avoid watching the scale. Doctors admit that they don’t pay attention to the bathroom scale. Instead of watching every pound they gain or lose, they share that they focus on how they feel, and how their clothes fit.
* It’s more pleasing to watch your jeans or pants fit you better than to obsess about the numbers on the scale. Your weight will naturally fluctuate on a daily basis. This is mostly due to water retention, so it’s important to focus more on the big picture.
2. They count calories where it matters. Instead of calculating the calories in each piece of lettuce, most doctors pay attention to calories where they matter.
* For example, they don’t worry about calories in fruits and vegetables because these foods have fiber and other nutrients that strengthen your health.
* However, they pay close attention to the calories in snacks such as granola or trail mix. You may be surprised to learn how many empty calories are in some of your favorite snack foods. They may look healthy, but in reality, they pack in the calories.
3. They pay attention to diet supplements. Sometimes, even doctors consider magic pills like diet supplements.
* What separates doctors from most consumers is that they carefully study the ingredients before they take any supplement. They understand that some of the ingredients can have serious side effects in addition to weight loss.
* They also check with other professionals if they need more information.
4. They avoid letting diet failures stop them. Doctors sometimes cheat and fail at their diets. After all, they are human. Failures will happen, but the way you respond to them matters. Doctors understand that they can start a diet again without issues.
* Many doctors admit that some of their diets haven’t worked in the past. Nevertheless, they’re always ready to start again and keep going to reach their weight loss goals.
5. They understand stress eating. Their jobs are filled with stress, so they know that stress eating is a reality. However, they also know that when you eat because of stress, you can seriously damage your weight loss efforts.
* Doctors have stressful jobs that often involve overtime and worrying about their patients. They also have to deal with late payments from patients, insurance companies, pharmaceutical reps, difficult staff members, and huge medical school loans.
* They’ve figured out other coping mechanisms to deal with the worry and anxiety that don’t involve food. One of the best ways to stop stress eating is to exercise or get active. Dancing, running, walking, or hiking can help you fight stress without adding extra calories to your day or night.
Doctors know that weight loss is a long-term goal and not a short-term fight. You don’t have to invest in complicated programs to achieve long-term results. You can use slimming secrets from doctors to keep the pounds away and stay lean.
Happy Holidays to all of my QueenBeeing readers and subscribers! I know how crazy this time of year can be for those of us who have to keep an eye on our figures, so I put together a little something for you, with the help of my friend and fitness expert Jamie Paretti! (more…)
So you want to lose weight, but you don’t want to be miserable in the process. I feel you! And I’ve got good news for you. It can be done, but it’s not necessarily going to be a cakewalk (pun totally intended).
Here’s how you do it: you re-program your brain. You “re-wire” it so that it believes that it PREFERS the food you NEED to eat to lose weight.
This means that you need to teach your body to WANT the foods you need to eat to get the healthy body you really desire.
But sometimes, that’s easier said than done, am I right?
Well, why is that? Let’s take a look at some recent statistics that might give us an idea.
A recent study found that less than 10% of Americans are eating enough vegetables.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 14% of Americans are consuming the recommended 2 to 4 daily servings of fruit.
The CDC also notes that less than than 9% consume 3 to 5 servings of vegetables.
So how do you overcome those kinds of statistics?
Now, don’t fall over when I say this, because it’s the truth, and if you are willing to make it happen, you CAN, despite how impossible it seems.
Here it is: If you’re going to beat the odds, you may need to rewire your brain so you crave broccoli more than bacon. Each time you choose healthier foods, you’re strengthening your desire for them.
I’m not going to lie to you. There are so many healthy foods I really love – but it’s not because they’re healthy (though, to be honest, that doesn’t hurt my opinion). The reason I love healthy food at all is the same reason I love unhealthy food – because it tastes good.
In the course of losing 100 pounds and keeping it of for the last nearly 4 years (so far), I learned to sort of “trick” my body into actually preferring healthy good. So how’d I do that? Well, I’m glad you asked.
The Mind-Body Trick to Make Your Body Beg for Healthy Foods
Take a look at these suggestions for changing the way you think and eat and let me know what you think in the comments.
Weight Loss Hack: Change Your Mind
1. Remember your purpose. Focus on why you want to eat nutritious whole foods. Cutting down on empty calories can help you look and feel your best. You’ll have more energy, and you may even save on medical bills.
2. Plan ahead. Ask yourself if a few minutes of munching on corn chips is worth the consequences. Would your future self be better off if you snacked on baby carrots?
3. Study nutrition. The more you know about how your diet affects your health, the stronger your motivation will be. Schedule a session with a registered dietician or browse online to learn more about reading food labels and restaurant menus.
4. Form new habits. It’s easier to start a positive new habit than to break an old routine. If you’re used to eating a donut with your coffee, treat yourself to a few almonds instead of going hungry.
5. Focus on nonedible rewards. If emotional eating is a concern, you may need to seek gratification elsewhere. Reward yourself by watching a movie or spending time with friends.
6. Enlist support. Speaking of friends, social support is vital. Surround yourself with others who are trying to eat well so you can share encouragement and feedback.
Weight Loss Hack: Intentional Diet Tweaks to Reprogram Your Cravings
1. Add healthy fats. You may have noticed a recent shift in nutritional advice. Experts are now talking less about avoiding fats, and more about choosing healthy fats. Broccoli can be a lot more appealing when you drizzle on olive oil. Personally, I cannot say enough good things about coconut oil.
2. Hunt for bargains. Maybe the high price of some superfoods is dampening your enthusiasm. Shop for seasonal produce or grow your own. Stock up on inexpensive staples like beans and lentils. Visit the bulk bins where you can save on packaging costs, and sample small quantities until you discover your favorite grains and seeds.
3. Beautify your place settings. Presentation makes a big difference. Sit down to eat. Create an attractive centerpiece or light candles. Use colorful dishes and bowls.
4. Branch out. If kale and iceberg are starting to bore you, experiment with other salad greens like oakleaf or mizuna.
5. Try new recipes. Get busy and Google it – or sign up for cooking classes or visit the library for more ideas about what to make for dinner. A lot of grocery stores offer cooking classes.
6. Carry your own snacks. Bring hummus or yogurt to the office with you for your afternoon break. You’ll soon like your own fresh food better than the packaged goods in the vending machines.
6. Make it convenient. The foods we crave are often the ones that require minimal effort like cookies and frozen dinners. You can make healthy substitutes just as handy. Keep a bowl of fruit on your dining room table. Buy whole-wheat pizza crusts you can top with cut vegetables and cheese for a hot meal in minutes.
Imagine looking forward to a bowl of beets with the same enthusiasm you usually reserve for double-fudge brownies. Some simple mental training, along with adjusting a few lifestyle habits, will have you craving food that’s good for you. You feel me?
that doesn’t go away after a few days.
and more safely by putting the power of nutrition to work for you. Enjoying delicious and nutritious snacks and meals before and after exercise will give you the energy you need to lift weights or run for miles. You’ll slim down without having to go hungry when you combine physical activity and a balanced diet.
, so they’ve learned how to keep the pounds off and away. You can learn from their secrets and use them to lose weight too.
to keep the pounds away and stay lean.
