Get Fit for Fall – 10 Tips to Kick Off Fall with a Healthier You!

GET FIT FOR FALL

10 TIPS TO KICK OFF FALL WITH A HEALTHIER YOU!

 

The beginning of fall is like January 1. People make resolutions. Summer is over, and it’s easy to get motivated to get into a routine and take your fitness to the next level. Here’s a list of the 10 workout and nutrition guidelines to ensure you fall into fitness and reach your goals.

 

1) Aerobic Exercise/Cardio

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends aerobic exercise three to five days a week for 20 to 60 minutes each session to maximize fitness gains and fat loss. If you’re just starting with exercise you may want to take a couple of months to progress slowly into this range. Aerobic activities like walking, running, cycling, swimming, fitness classes, hiking, stair climbing, and rowing will do the trick. These activities expend a lot of energy, and for those of you wanting to lose body fat this should be the focus of your exercise program.

 

2) Resistance Exercise

Regular strength training workouts are critical to maximize fat loss, build bone density, improve posture, develop muscle tone, and slow down the aging process. Pick exercises for all the large, major muscle groups and perform just one set of eight to 15 reps. Luckily, you don’t need to spend a lot of time in the weight room, you should be able to get in and out of the weight room in 20 to 40 minutes.

 

3) Eat Five Small Meals Each Day

Studies indicate that when people eat more regularly throughout the day, they are less likely to overeat or indulge in less-healthy choices. Food at regular intervals also maintains a more balanced blood sugar level that keeps your energy levels higher throughout the day. Try to consume smaller meals or snacks every two to three hours during the day.

 

4) Drink at Least Eight Glasses of Water Every Day

Our bodies are 50 to 60 percent water, and when we are dehydrated, our body and its organs and systems don’t function at their optimal level. This limits your ability to exercise intensely and ultimately will affect your ability to burn body fat. Many scientists also suggest that headaches, minor aches and pains, low energy, sleeping problems, and injuries may be a result of dehydration. Eight glasses of water each day will replenish the fluids you lose throughout the day as a result of normal human respiration.

 

5) Add Color to your Diet

Fall is a bountiful harvest of brightly colored vegetables and fruits, rich in antioxidants and vitamins. Indulge. Squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, beans, avocados, broccoli, and cauliflower are all great antioxidant-rich vegetables, packed with vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium. Antioxidants help the body to combat free radicals in the body obtained through everything from pollution in the environment to internal stress. If we eat with the seasons, we’re going to be healthier. There isn’t another time of year when we have so much variety that’s fresh and local.

 

 6) Set Realistic Expectations

Practice the 80:20 rule. You can’t expect to be perfect for the rest of your life, and setting these types of high expectations will set you up for failure and feelings of inadequacy. Instead of saying, “I’m never going to eat chocolate again,” decide that you’ll eat it only once per week. Instead of determining that you’re going to eat perfectly seven days a week, decide that you’ll eat in a healthy way five days a week and then allow for a few indulgences on the other two days. This is much more realistic and is something that you can adhere to for the rest of your life.

 

7) Take Charge of Medical Health

Fall is a good time to get a handle on your personal health care, past and present. Keep track of your list of medical problems and an updated list of your medications and how you are taking them. Make sure that you have the names and numbers of all doctors who are current providers. If you change to a different primary care provider, make sure that a copy of your records is sent to your new primary care provider. “Patients are seeing many different doctors and specialists, and no one doctor has all your records anymore, so it’s important for patients to take control of their health care history,” says Dr. Jeff Pierce of Michigan Sports and Spine Center which treats sports/work related injuries and also back, neck, shoulder and joint pain. For more information: www.MichiganSportsandSpine.com.

 

8) Increase Your Daily Activity

Be more active throughout your day without having to actually exercise. The calories expended from walking a few extra blocks, taking the stairs, or performing errands the old-fashioned way really add up! If we could learn to just be more active throughout the day, we wouldn’t have to spend hours in the gym.

 

9) Try Not to Eat Large Amounts of Food Past 8:00 pm

Eating late at night often goes hand-in-hand with high-fat snacks and overeating. Secondly, it never feels good to go to bed on a full stomach.

 

10) Keep an Activity and Food Log

Record your daily exercise and what and how much you eat. Some researchers have found that just the act of recording the foods you eat results in better choices and a healthier diet. Also by writing everything down, you may also start to notice patterns. For example, you may observe that the days you don’t exercise are also the days you eat poorly. You can then take appropriate action.

 

It’s also a good idea to set daily goals to break the long-term ultimate goal into smaller chunks and to keep your goals in the forefront of your thoughts. Be sure that your goals are behavioral in nature (good examples: drink eight glasses of water, exercise for 30 minutes) instead of body-focused (poor examples: lose one pound, lose 10 inches).

 

For extra help to meet your goals or to learn more about the best ways to get on the road to a healthy lifestyle, try working with a personal trainer. They we customize a program that works for you, around your busy schedule and lifestyle, and one you can stick with. Call us at CORE Sports Fitness to schedule a free consultation and see if a personal trainer is right for you.