For me, fitness is not just about hitting the gym; it is also about an inner happiness and an overall well-being. When I was seventeen, I spent six months as an exchange student in America. I lived with two host sisters, one of whom went to the gym every day.
Whenever she was about to leave the house, I would wish her a good workout. Every single time, she would give me an odd look and reply, “You don’t work out because you enjoy it,” as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Eventually, I realised what she meant. She only went to the gym because she was scared of gaining weight. Her main goal was to burn calories, so she ran on a treadmill for half an hour, counting the seconds until it was over. Raise your hand if that’s you or has been you at some point in your life. You can’t see me, but I’m raising mine. We live in a culture obsessed with losing weight, mainly for aesthetic purposes. When someone dares to say they genuinely like exercise, they get made fun of. But what can working out do for you besides weight loss and maintenance? In this article, I’m going to explore three benefits that go beyond these usual suspects.
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It’s always hard to deal with injuries mentally, but I like to think about it as a new beginning. I can’t change what happened, so the focus needs to go toward healing and coming back stronger than before. So you went to the gym, you got a little cocky, and a barbell disagreed with you.
Or maybe you had a minor accident at work and the doctor said no heavy lifting for three weeks. What now? Do you just hide in a corner, crying over the imminent loss of all your gains? Heck, no. Do all you need to recover, so you can get back to training at your best and pick up from where you left off. In May 2019, I bruised my sternum, so I had to take two weeks off training. The first few days, it was so painful I could hardly lift my arms, let alone a dumbbell. Here are my four tips to get better and save muscle, based on my own experience. Prior to our sessions, Kahina's diet was limited to 13 food items and the same three meals every day. We worked on increasing the variety of meals she could have at home and when eating out. This is one of her new favourites: wholegrain rice salad with red kidney beans, almonds, avocado, cauliflower, and kale. The habits and attitudes I developed while working with Nikias helped me not only reach the goals we set at our first meeting, but also improve my relationship with food as a whole. I was going to write an article about what a nutrition and weight management advisor does. Then I thought, who better than a real client to explain that?
Kahina and I worked together for eight weeks. She was worried about her diet, which consisted of the same three meals every day, and she felt restricted to a dozen food items in total. For this reason, she was supplementing with a multivitamin to make up for possible nutrient deficiencies. For the duration of our work together, I asked her to stop taking the supplement. By the end of our sessions, she decided she didn’t need it anymore. Thanks to the changes we made to her lifestyle, she feels healthier, more energetic, and confident that she can get all the nutrients she needs from her food. She also kindly accepted to answer some questions for my readers. So, if you’re wondering what a nutrition and weight management advisor can do for you, read on! The scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. When you’re trying to get healthy, the scale can be your biggest enemy or the scariest monster under your bed – literally, if you keep yours there like I did. The numbers on that display can dictate whether you’ll feel good or bad about yourself on Weigh-in Day. I used to step on my scale once a week with a shiver of trepidation. Would it bring good or bad news? Could I have a piece of toast for dinner or was it going to be plain chicken and broccoli again?
Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be your life just because you want to get a bit more in shape. When you get to know the science behind the numbers on the scale, you’ll start to see it as no more than one of many helpful tools in your fitness toolbox. Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. We all know what a fad diet is. It promises quick results for [insert health benefit of choice, usually weight loss], but it proves impractical for any human being to follow in the long-term. We try it, we crash and burn, we give up. That’s why you’ll never hear anyone say, “This cabbage soup diet is ace, innit?”
In recent years, experts have conducted more and more research studies to prove that fad diets don’t work. Many fitness professionals today look back in horror at their early years, when they were obsessed with the likes of Paleo or the Atkins diet. What we don’t hear about as often is a less obvious craze, which affects our lives just as much. I call this phenomenon “fad fitness”. |
Nikias TomasielloWelcome to my blog. I’m an online fitness coach with a passion for bodybuilding, fantasy, and bread. Want to work with me? Check out my services!Archives
March 2024
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