If your goal is to lose weight and get healthier forget the crash diets and extreme weight loss strategies. Taking small steps in the right direction is much more beneficial to lose the weight and keep it off for good. Sustainability and consistency are key in maintaining your results and habits. Focusing on a few small behaviours will help to develop healthy habits that last a lifetime not just a short duration. Here are 6 small changes you can make that will lead to big results when it comes to your health and fitness journey.
- Incidental Exercise. Scheduled exercise only contributes to 15-30% of daily calories burned whereas our incidental exercise can contribute up to 50% of our calorie output. If fat loss is your goal it may be beneficial to start tracking your steps and trying to increase your daily target. Ways to do this include taking the stairs, get up from your desk every hour, park your car further away, get off the bus a stop early, house work and walking in your lunch break. Your trainer will set you an appropriate step target in your goal session which can be tracked and monitored through our MyVision App.
- Get more out of your sessions by doing less. Are you just going into the gym and mindlessly going through the motions? If you are spending hours in the gym but not giving it intention and effort you are missing out on lots of progress. Quality is always better than quantity when it comes to your training. This is where a personal trainer comes in handy. Our job is to push you, ensure you are progressing each week and preventing any plateaus from occurring. Group training is also a fantastic way to ensure you get a great workout. All you have to do is show up and our trainers and community will push you the entire way.
- Meal prep. Having food ready to go in the fridge ensures you don’t get stuck and end up overeating. A great idea is to cook up some different food sources at the beginning of the week, so you always have healthy food that you enjoy available. We also recommend planning your day of eating the night before if you are new to tracking your nutrition. Our MyVision App allows you to do this easily and have access to a range of delicious, healthy recipes.
- Portion your snacks and meals. If you are not tracking your calories and macros in our MyVision app it may be a good idea to weigh out and portion your snacks and meals. This will ensure you are not overeating and adding thousands of calories to your weekly total. It is very easy to accidentally have 3 servings of peanut butter rather than 1 which is an extra 230 calories a day which equals 1610 a week! This will be a massive difference when it comes to your weekly weight loss.
- Liquid calories. Sip Smarter! Skip fruit juice, smoothies, soft drink and other high calorie drinks. These drinks can add hundreds of calories into your day that are not beneficial or necessary. Many juices are advertised as having 3 serves of fruit in one tiny bottle, would you sit down and eat 3 oranges at once? Try and stick with water or sugar free options, this will ensure you aren’t loading up on extra calories and help you stay in a calorie deficit.
- Plan and write a list. Sitting down on a Sunday or at the start of the week and planning out your food, when you are going to exercise and writing a shopping list can save lots of time throughout the week and ensure you remain on track. Going shopping with a list will make sure no sneaky, unplanned snacks or treats end up in the house. Set yourself up for success by getting organised so the focus just needs to be on execution.
These 6 simple steps are a great place to start and you will begin to notice differences in your body composition, energy levels and overall health. Here at Vision, our coaches customise your training, nutrition and steps specifically to your needs. We help take the guess work out and come up with a plan that suits your lifestyle and can be maintained long term.
