According to most of us, getting Fit means inclusion of one or more of the following. Read their lacunae.
From the original icanbefitter.com archive (2019), lightly edited for the new site. — Upen
According to most of us, getting Fit means inclusion of one or more of the following. Read their lacunae.
Leg Intensive Cardio
Post dinner walks, Jogging, Walking, Running, Cycling etc. primarily focuses only on utilizing your legs. Whereas, rest of the muscles are not activated. Assuming, our food pattern remains unaltered, soon we reach saturation in the above exercises and our fitness progress stalls.
Dieting
Haphazard dieting, consuming very less fats daily, eating way too less or more, depending on green tea, lemon honey etc. Our dieting strategy should be decided after keeping goals in mind. Moreover science has proved that essential fatty acids and cholesterol are required by our body, obviously in limits. Problem occurs when we abuse fat, but that doesn't mean we should eliminate them from our diet! We should know the amount of fat we should be eating each day. 1 gm of fat provides 9 calories of energy. So, when we eliminate the fat, we are bound to feel more hungry, and we eat carbohydrates. We have a problem here!. From decreasing the overall calories ingested, we are back to the same place, only with a pathetic diet.
Gym workout
I would keep this separate. Because, with the help of lifting weights, we can activate most of our muscle groups.
Anything else which comes to your mind? Do comment below so that I can list them here! (I am not including swimming as it is not feasible for the masses).
So, Where should I start?
Step by Step process:
- Create a mental picture of your fitter version. Do you know anyone having the physique which you aspire for? If possible get in touch with them, and follow their fitness formula. Start reading about health and fitness. As, every 'body' is different, we have to go through a hit and trial phase before we find out the dieting strategy and the workouts which give us the best result.
- Track your Food Pattern for few days, using either pen paper or any app like myFitnessPal. Get a rough idea of how many calories you are eating. Eventually try to estimate amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fats you are eating everyday. This work can be done by apps like myFitnessPal, Fittr etc. or the best case would be if you can document your food in a paper and calculate the amount of macros (protein : fat : carb).
- Meanwhile, start working out. Working out can be anything like running, sports, gym, yoga etc. I would totally recommend lifting weights.
- Once you are comfortable with the working out routine, its time to focus on the most important thing. Food preferences. In previous paras you read about tracking your food. Now I need you to analyze those data. What's your target? To gain weight , you need to increase food consumption. To lose weight you need to decrease. What percentage of total calories are coming from proteins, fats and carbohydrate. Is your diet protein or fat or carb deficient? Indian diet is by default carb heavy and protein deficient. As a starting point I want you to change the ratio of your diet to 30% protein : 30% :fats, 40%carbohydrates. I have blogged about preparing a diet chart .
- Stick to this for three months. You might be required to adjust your diet depending upon the progress or setbacks.
I hope you got a birds eye view of what and how to do. The will to do it is purely yours! For further reading and clarification Starting Fitness Journey.