Top 10 fitness mistakes

Nearly every guy or gal who’s tried dieting or fitness has dropped out of a program at least once. Such is life. Work and social events tend to get in the way, lack of adequate emotional support saps the willpower and boredom sets in. Eating the same kind of foods every day is boring. Suiting up at the gym only to go through the same motions is also boring. But this kind of mood can be avoided with a bit of planning and a positive attitude. Here’s a list of the most common mistakes people do when trying to get fit.

The number one mistake has to be the failure to plan ahead. Going to the gym with a vague target in mind is the best way to fail. If your target is unclear, how can you know if you’ve reached it or not? If you’re a little vague on the details, maybe you need help. Ask a doctor what’s your ideal weight and make that your goal. Or focus on the number of inches you want to drop off your stomach, bottom and thighs. That works great, too.

Coming up with excuses to avoid going to the gym is second on this list. Yes, life tends to get in the way, but that can be arranged with some more planning. Don’t quit the program just because something came up at the last moment. Reschedule your gym session and make sure you don’t get lazy.

Don’t work out too little. This may seem too obvious to belong here, but a lot of people lift two dumbbells a couple of times and think they’re done for the day. Sit down at the table for half an hour and come up with a sound training program. If you don’t know enough to make your own program ask a gym trainer or a veteran bodybuilder to help you. People are usually quite happy to show off their knowledge.

Too much fitness is also bad. Muscles need time to grow and the body needs time to burn fat. Some people think that the body only burns up fat during exercises, but this is not true. The more muscles mass you have, the faster calories get burnt because muscles need energy for maintenance all the time. Even when you’re resting. Overtraining will simply make you tired without any additional benefits.

Never compare yourself to others. We are all unique individuals with unique genetic make-ups governing our weight gain, weight loss and response to training. You shouldn’t rate your performance according to the achievements of others, but stick to your own pace and your own goal. If you’re trying too hard too soon, you’re simply asking to fail.

Don’t do the same things over and over. There’s no better way to lose motivation that doing the same exercises in the same order over and over again. Learn to juggle around with the exercises that form your routine and replace them with new ones every now and then. Find variations on a classic exercise and try them out. Make things interesting for yourself

Don’t stroll into the pub straight from the gym and keep alcohol consumption on a tight leash. Alcohol has extra calories that you don’t want and is also metabolized as fat and very fast. Pumping iron in the gym for 45 minutes and then throwing the entire effort away with a couple of beers is not a good way to move forward. 

Keep a close eye on your meals. Drop the fast food and snacks from your daily eating plan and forget about soft drinks. At the same time avoid starving yourself. This is a huge mistake and a lot of people do it. Never assume that you can tank your way through a fitness program while starving yourself because you’ll only end up in a hospital. Muscles need nourishing meals in order to grow and starvation is a bad way to diet anyway.

And, lastly, never look for a magic fix that can save you all the trouble. You can’t lose weight sitting around and moping in front of the TV or computer. It just doesn’t happen. So get out and go to that gym because it’s good for you. And no excuses!

The Atkins Diet

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Can you say hype? If you’re living in any Western world country then you’ve probably heard of the famous Atkins diet. Whether this is the most successful diet ever or not it’s still up for debate, but it certainly is the more advertised one. The Atkins diet has been for a while the most hyped eating plan around and millions of people have tried it at some point or another. This is no exaggeration. It was estimated that more than 3 million people in the United Kingdom alone have tried the Atkins diet at the peak of the hype in 2003.
The basic idea behind this diet is that cutting down on the carbohydrates, while allowing people to eat high-fat food is going to work. One of the best things in favor of the Atkins diet was the fact that it allowed people to eat eggs and cheese and steaks. It sounds like a dream diet actually. Who’d pass up the chance of losing weight while still enjoying a good eggs and ham breakfast? Well, the downside is that you get no bread or salad with that steak. None whatsoever. Which becomes a real problem after a week or so. How much meat can you eat without touching any vegetables at all?
Anyway, the theory is that cutting out the carbohydrates will force your body to use the stored fat in order to obtain the energy needed through the day. This means that you get to eat no bread and pastries, potatoes, pasta, milk, rice, fruit, vegetables (well, there are a couple you can still eat) and, obviously, no junk food or soft drinks. On the other hand, you are allowed to eat red meat, fish, chicken, cheese, mayonnaise, cream, butter and eggs. This is going to be your only food for the first two weeks, which are called the Induction Phase.
The second phase of the diet is called Ongoing Weight Loss and it lets you increase the intake of carbohydrates by 5 grams per day, starting from the basic 20 grams per day stipulated by the Induction Phase. The user must find how far the amount of carbohydrates can be increased before the body is unable to lose between 1 and 3 pounds per week. This is called the Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight and this is where the amount of carbs stops growing. This phase is supposed to last until you almost reach the desired weight.
With 5 to 10 pounds left to shed it’s time to enter the third stage of the diet. This one is called Pre-Maintenance and it’s supposed to increase the carbs intake by 10 grams a day in order to slow down the weight loss process. Welcome to the world of 30 grams of pasta per day. The final phase is called Lifetime Maintenance and a lifetime of eating around 90 grams of carbs per day for the rest of your life. Moving from 250 grams or more to less than 100 grams and for the rest of your life could be quite a challenge for many people.
The side effects of the Atkins diet depend on the user. Some people did fine on this diet, some got infections of the kidneys from the high-protein content or heart problems from all the fat food they ate. Dizziness and general weakness are also to be expected as the body goes into starvation mode when denied carbohydrates. With high-fiber fruit and vegetables out of the way you can also expect constipation to become a problem. Also, the lack of many dairy products leads to a significant drop in the amount of calcium absorbed by the body and may cause osteoporosis or other bone conditions later on.

The Highest Quality for Weight Loss