Trying to remain on a diet is
like learning to ride a bike – You’ve got to expect to fall off from time to
time! And unfortunately the more extreme the diet or exercise regime for that
matter, the more often you fall of.
So if you have been following
some sort of fad or extreme diet since the New Year and fallen off too many
times that you have given up, now is the time to get back on that bike and a
begin a more sensible diet.
For many people diets which
prohibit particular food groups or require you to semi-starve yourself for X
amount of days per week are just too hard to follow for any real length of
time. They either restrict your food choices so much that you are constantly
craving that forbidden food or they leave you feeling too hungry too often.
So rather than trying to cycle
the equivalent of the tour de France with an extreme diet and training regime
just make a few changes that will make it less likely that you fall of that
diet bike again.
For example, the single most
important factor when it comes to weight loss is calorie restriction. This does
not have to be done by following a fancy diet, it can simply be done cutting
down on your portion sizes through serving your food on a smaller plate!
If you’ve been following an
extreme high intensity interval training DVD and found it so hard that you have
injured yourself or been left so exhausted that you simply cannot bring yourself
to continue with it any more, remember it does not have to be this way. People
often ask me what is the best form of exercise and invariably by common
response is ‘it depends’. At this point I could baffle you with various pieces
scientific research to support various training methods but I am not. The ‘it
depends’ simply refers to it depends on what the individual enjoys doing. Find
something you enjoy doing which gets your heart rate up and make a commitment
to keep doing as often as you can.
In short…
Diet and exercise should not be
like a form of extreme religion which guides your whole life. It should be
viewed as something that compliments you but does not define you! So choose a
diet and method of exercise which can fit in with your lifestyle with the
minimum of fuss this way you are more likely to stick to it for the long haul
not just a few weeks of the year when you are feeling highly motivated.
Thanks for reading.
