When looking back at their lives, the phrase that will come to mind for many people is “what if”. The lives of too many people are controlled by procrastination and lack of motivation. What if you could stop this today and achieve the figure you have only dreamed of in five simple steps? Would you start today or regret it next year? Here are five easy steps you can take right now toward building your perfect body.
Get the determination
Mentality is the single most important aspect to achieving a killer physique. When we are debating between watching that next episode of Jeremy Kyle or finding the energy to get up and go, mentality is the driving force for improvement. It is necessary for success.
To achieve the perfect attitude, you’ve got the ask yourself why you want what you have always dreamed of. Is it to prove to yourself you can do it? Is it to achieve your potential? Whatever it is, let it drive you!
The next step is admitting that you are in charge. No amount of excuses will get you to where you want to be. Practice and hard work will get you where you want to be. No one said it was easy, but nothing worth having is ever easy.
The final step, do it. Stop procrastinating over when is the best time to start. There will never be a perfect time. Start today! Start achieving now. What is stopping you? Start today or regret it next year; you can complain while you’re getting dressed.
Eat right
Many people today are overcome by the idea that a diet is something you take up to get your beach body, then slowly slip back into your old ways and wonder why you have put weight back on. Diet is a lifestyle of healthy eating. Opposing modern beliefs, diet isn’t a 6-week, 12-week or a year for a fix for life. To truly achieve a successful diet, you have to adopt the lifestyle.
A healthy eating lifestyle includes eating from all five sections of the food plate (meats, breads, fruit and vegetables, dairy products, and sugary food) and drinking plenty of water (two liters a day at least). Now that you have decided to eat healthily, you must adapt your eating lifestyle to fit your physique goal. The two main goals are to either lose weight or build muscle, so let’s focus on those.
To lose weight, a diet in healthy eating alone is enough. Cut the number of chocolates and Saturday night fast food take-aways. Eating healthy means eating healthy; cheat the diet and you cheat yourself! Make sure you get in the salads alongside your potatoes and chicken. Drink water next time you’re thinking about having a beer with dinner. Alcohol contains the most calories per gram of any food, so you would do well to limit that. At the same time, you’ve got to treat yourself. A lifetime of salads and water can be boring, so loosen your collar every once in a while and treat yourself. I’m sure you will have deserved it.
To gain muscle, a diet with protein and carbohydrates is needed. Protein comes in mainly meats; it repairs your muscles from a workout, increasing size. Carbohydrates come mainly in breads and pastas; they provide long-lasting energy giving you enough to power through gym sessions. A key player among foods for muscle is milk. Milk is high in protein, contains calcium, potassium and vitamin D. You should also be getting plenty of eggs, fish and water.
I haven’t convinced you yet? Take a look at these healthy eating meals that include all the vital ingredients and give you a few meal ideas to get you started.
Exercise well
Now to a topic that will be incredibly important in your pursuit–exercise. Love it or hate it, exercise is a must to carve your perfect body.
There are five components to fitness. Strength, stamina, flexibility, muscular endurance and body composition. All are important to a successful exercise regime. Improving strength will increase your muscle mass, high stamina allows you to work for longer, flexibility ensures joint health, muscular endurance is the ability for a muscle group to work without tiring, and body composition is your ratio of lean body mass to fat body mass.
You must ensure all components are targeted. Each one is improved by practicing the component. Flexibility is increased by stretching, strength is improved by straining your muscles; strain them hard enough and you’re working muscular endurance. Body composition is bettered through burning energy. The harder you work, the more you burn; the more you burn the more fat/energy you lose.
Don’t just take my word for it, specialised sports schools are following the same guidelines.
Maintain your lifestyle
Now you are on the road to success. All you have to do is make sure you stay on track. Many people start their journey, but very few finish it. Can you remember that New Year’s resolution you made? People give up on things all the time. But you have come this far, so why make it all for nothing? You have to turn it into a lifestyle of habits.
We all know how to make something a habit–just keep doing something day in, day out and eventually you will do it mindlessly.
Another useful way to maintain your regime is to plan it out. Make a schedule. Not only does this increase the productivity of your day, but you will be less likely to sway from the vague outline of what you told yourself you would do the night before.
Dont forget to treat yourself
For those who have researched something along these line before, I’m sure you will have come across the phrase: “Treat yourself, but not too much!” I know I have. But like you, I’ve always wondered–how much is too much?
It completely depends on you. Can you go with only one alcoholic drink a week? Maybe you can cope with one every two weeks. Just enough to keep you from falling back into your pit of hopeless thoughts. Maybe slowly tapering off from chocolates and sweets is the best choice.
Allow yourself to adjust. If done with the knowledge provided and enough willpower, you will be here for a long time to come.
Featured photo credit: jogging/3littlestars via 3littlestars.files.wordpress.com
