49 weeks of 2011 have gone, and a little less than 3 weeks are left before we hit 2012. While there are some who have made 2011 great and achieved many of the goals that they had set at the beginning of the year, there are also those who failed to do so. So as usual for those who failed, this is the time of the year when they start planning and preparing to go about their new (or old) goals again from 1st Jan. And chances are that most of these people will again be found doing the same thing and be in the same condition 365 days from now. After all, most new year resolutions often end up remaining unfulfilled.
If fat loss happens to be a goal that you wish to pursue in 2012, then start working on it from now! While it does sound great to start fresh from the new year, and which also means that you can enjoy those delicious cakes and roasts for the next 3 weeks or so, the fact is that successful people always try to start early and be ahead. So do the same for your fat loss goal, and be ahead. After all, wouldn’t it be better to hit the 31st party with a few kilos off your body to begin with.
So if you have planned to start in much more detail from 1st Jan, here are 10 simple tips to help you start losing fat now, instead of waiting almost another3 weeks:
1. Commit to working out 5 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes each session. Lift, run, jump rope, swim, take brisk walks, kickbox, or do whatever you can, but get at least 5 sessions of 30 minutes each week.
2. Make workouts progressively more challenging.
3. Plan playtime with your kids, or play sports with your friends whenever you can to burn more calories.
4. Reduce stress, and get atleast 7 hours of deep sleep each night.
5. Weigh yourself once a week to see if you were on track during the week. However do not weigh yourself everyday.
6. Clean up your kitchen and fridge. Get rid of all the soft drinks, alcohol, sugary items, refined oils, etc from your kitchen and fridge. You are much less likely to go out 10 times a day to get junk food, but much more likely to reach out to the fridge 10 times a day for it, if it is there.
7. Eat 3 meals and no more than 1 snack each day. Eating too frequently can cause you to eat more without realizing, so eating 3-4 times a day works great.
8. Eat more protein, healthy fats and fiber.
9 Drink more water. Even though winter is here, do not let your water intake go below 2 ½ litres a day.
10. Limit alcohol to no more than 2 drinks a week. Not that everyone drinks, but those that do, would do well to keep this limitation in mind.
So there you have 10 simple tips to implement from today itself that will definitely help kickstart your fat loss journey. These 10 tips will help prepare you for the more regimented approach that you maybe planning to begin from 1st Jan. Ultimately, I hope that if you are not happy with your body today, then by December 2012 you will feel much better about it, but that of course will require a lot of dedication and hard work, and it is never too early to begin in these matters. So start now!
