Being healthy does not necessarily mean you have to spend hours a day in the gym and plan out each days meals to the last grain of rice on your plate. Obtaining a healthy body could be fun and hassle-free. In fact that is exactly the way it should be.
It is important to note that being healthy does not only consist of looking good on the outside. You can have a great body and still be on the brink of a heart attack. In order to be truly healthy three criteria need to be covered: mind, body and spirit.
This article only covers the “body” section of this important triad.
The Body:
Ever have a resolution to start building a body everyone on the beach will stare at with wonderous awe only to lose that initial drive and will power within a week or two? You most certainly must have otherwise you probably would not be reading this lazy guide right now!
Why does that initial will to succeed in building a great body dissipate just as suddenly as it began? The answer is simply this: Eventhough exercise makes you feel good and all those feel-good endorphins are released while you are working out, the body just was not designed to undergo extended periods of day in and day out torture.
A diet that does not support your new found will for hitting the gym is also a major contributor to you feeling listless and depleted after a couple of days.
So now I have told you everything you should not to and I have not been very helpful towards reaching your goals, have I!
Here, listed for your convenience, are the steps you could follow to create a new, good looking and energetic you:
1) There is a saying about what you eat walks today walks around tomorrow. This is one of those simple truths that everyone seems to overlook. This does not mean sticking to a strict diet that is so time consuming you do not even have time to enjoy your new found self. Here is the best part – You do not even have to give up meat to achieve this.
Here is what you do: Make your hands into fists and put them together. This is how much you can eat in a single meal without overdoing it. Half of your meal (about one fists worth) should be protein – Steak, mince, fish, chicken or basically any other type of meat or protein source you like. The other half of your meal should include healthy carbohydrates otherwise you will feel depleted after a day or two. This includes rice or potatoes or something along those lines. Remember it is not healthy anymore when it is fried in oil, so make sure you bake that potato!
Ideally you should get yourself a steam cooker as this is the healthiest, easiest way to cook a meal. You simply add your meat and potato and some spices, steam for 20 – 30 minutes and enjoy a great tasting, healthy meal.
2) Do not exceed the above described quantity per meal as this is the amount your body can successfully process in about two hours time. If you are hungry within 2 – 3 hours of having your last meal it is time to congratulate yourself, because this means that metabolism of yours has just been kick-started and is working at 110%. Award yourself by eating another meal as described above.
I am kidding, right? How can you keep eating but keep losing unwanted weight. This is probably the most mind-boggling trick bodybuilders use to build massive bodies full of muscle yet have percentages of bodyfat well below 10%.
If you keep eating this way you can eat 5 – 8 meals a day while still shedding fat. That means never going hungry again to lose weight and no more crash diets. Crash dieting actually tells your body there is a food scarcity and it should therefore preserve all fat for the future. That is why you lose 10 pounds on a crash diet and then gain 15 when you start eating again, and lets face it – you have to start eating again sometime. This also explains why you can lose weight while eating 5 – 8 healthy meals per day.
3) If you are a working person preparing healthy meals each day can be real difficult. This does not mean you can not still get your dream body. Visit your nearest nutritional store and ask for a meal replacement shake. Explain your lifestyle to the knowledgeable person assisting you and they will give you the perfect meal replacement shake for your specific needs. These shakes are probably one of the greatest inventions for a healthy body ever created – They can be made with water, taste like milkshakes and contain all the vitamins and minerals your body needs from a meal and do not contain any unhealthy fats. Imagine that – you get to drink a milkshake that makes you lose weight.
Do however not totally replace solid foods in your diet however convenient this may be, because your digestive system needs some solid stuff to process from time to time.
4) Get yourself a multivitamin. These contain all the vitamins your body needs and usually comes in a tablet form. You take one in the morning and presto – Your body will be working at maximum efficiency to get rid of toxins so you should soon have so much energy you will feel and probably look 10 years younger. You will also get sick less often.
5) Do some cardio. You have to get your heart going once in a while. This will help for better blood circulation and stop you from getting a heart attack.
Cardio does not need to involve hours of jogging until you puke, you just need to know when to do it.
As soon as you get up in the morning, drink a glass of water only and go for a walk around the block. Enjoy the scenery while your body burns the pounds away. You do not have any food in your stomach at this time so your body is burning pure fat for energy. All this amounts to just 10 minutes of effort two or three days each week. If you do not like walking outside you may want to consider buying a treadmill. If you are on a tight budget, just get a platform about 15 inches high and do step-ups in front of the television. If you have a partner in health you can take up a hobby like golf or squash.
6) Do weight training on occasion. Contrary to popular belief you will not look like Arnold Swartzeneggar in a week ladies (Looking like that takes years of careful planning, dieting, exercising and a lot of dedication!).
Weight training is a great way of getting a lean, tight body by isolating and burning off the fat in specific targeted areas.
7) Make sure you drink lots of water. Water is natures little magic potion. When taken into consideration that our bodies are made up mostly of water, it makes sense to say that lots of fresh water needs to be taken in for our bodies to stay healthy and function at an optimum level of efficiency.
These are just some of the steps you can take to a healthier, happier life.
