Are you sabotaging your fitness goals??

 

Is it possible that you could be SABOTAGING your own fitness goals?  The answer is unfortunately.....yes.  You may be working your butt off in the gym, 5 days every week for an hour at a time and STILL not reaching your goals.  I'm listing the top 5 things in my professional opinion and from my experience that you may be doing or NOT doing that could be sabotaging your efforts.

1.  Not eating breakfast

If your Mama told you breakfast was the most important meal of the day, well she was right.  The first thing I do upon rising is drink a 16 ounce glass of water with some fresh lemon in it.  Lemon juice is known to boost your metabolism, so starting your day with it is just simply a good idea.  To continue keeping your metabolism running smoothly, within 30 minutes upon rising it's important to have a healthy breakfast that should include some protein and complex carbohydrates. Wash it down with some organic green tea and you're moving in the right direction to continue to make good food choices throughout the day.

2.  Not tracking your calories in a food log

The fact of the matter is until you start tracking what you're eating on a day to day basis, you won't really know how much you may have to cut out or add in to reach your desired fitness goals.  For example, I've learned from tracking my calories and macronutrients in a food log for a few weeks at a time approximately how many calories I can eat to maintain my weight with my current activity level.  However, if you are trying to lose weight, the fact still remains that along with regular exercise, you ultimately will have to cut back your calorie intake. Now all that said, it is also possible to eat too FEW calories, therefore, negating your efforts as well.  You need fuel (food) to have energy to work out.....nuff said!  Eat the food, just eat the good stuff, but still be intentional with your choices and amounts.  For more information on clean eating and food prep, feel free to log into one of my upcoming webinars.

3.  Not changing up your workouts

Not only is it terribly boring to do the same workout day in and day out, but your body will not respond to it as well either.  It's important to have some variety in your workouts.  Have a nice combination of both strength and cardio throughout your week.  When it comes to cardio, if you have been doing steady state cardio for awhile, then switch it up by adding in interval training and plyometrics.  When it comes to strength training, use a variety of resistance, whether it be through the use of dumb bells, cable machines, medicine balls or bodyweight exercises.  Always challenge the muscles from different angles and keep them "guessing." Add in supersets and dropsets to your workouts for a change.  Increase your weighs when you start to feel less challenged and too comfortable. Change really is good so embrace it.  

4.  Doing exercises wrong and with bad form

Doing an exercise with bad form will put you on the fast track to injury.  It may not be an immediate injury, but it could add up over time until finally you are out of commission for a long time.  Pay attention to your trainer/group fitness instructor and seek their advice on proper form and technique. And besides the fact that bad form could result in injury, when you do an exercise wrong, there is a good chance you aren't even working the muscle group that you should be working in the first place. Now that just seems silly right??

5.  Over indulging on the weekends  

It happens to the best of us.  We work out hard Monday through Friday, are spot on in our nutrition plan and then BAM!!! The weekend comes and it all goes out the door.  It is very possible that you can negate everything you did during the week to better yourself and move forward towards your fitness goals in one weekend of bad choices.  I tell people that a cheat meal should be planned just like any other meal.  Enjoy it.  Make sure it is only one meal however, and not one weekend.  Over time this will become your new habit I promise.  It just depends on how badly you want to make the change.

If I can help with any of the items listed above, please look over the Online Training page on my website and contact me today.

In Good Health,
Debbie