Written by: Per Ekbjörn, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Are you, like many others, deciding to start exercising and eating well after New Year’s? It’s a good plan, but why will you succeed this time if you haven’t before?
Everyone is different, but the most common mistake is going too hard and being too short-sighted. You start training, the first weeks go well. You lose weight and feel motivated. What happens next? The novelty wears off after a while, and you won’t lose weight or gain strength as quickly. The honeymoon phase is over. This is where you encounter problems and may have given up in the past. This is where you need to plan ahead this year.
Ambitious goals are good, but they should be realistic and sustainable in the long run. You can have a goal to lose 20 kg, but it should be over a year, not in a month. You may set a goal to exercise 5 times a week, but going from 0 to 5 sessions a week probably won’t be sustainable. However eager you are to go “all-in” after New Year’s, try starting more gradually with your training. Think long-term. Plan and allocate time for training that will continue beyond January. Set multiple sub-goals. If you don’t reach one, you haven’t failed; just set new ones. You don’t fail until you stop trying.
A common mistake many make with their diet is eating too little, thinking it’s necessary for weight loss. If you want to stay healthy and have the energy to train, you must eat enough. I know you, like everyone else, want quick results, but please take it easy with your diet too! If you eat too little, you may lose weight rapidly, but do you think that weight loss will be sustained? What happens when you go back to your previous eating habits? You gain it all back and then some.
Which of these curves do you prefer? Avoid crash diets.
The “secret” is to eat a little less to create a calorie deficit, but make it a modest deficit. A 500-700 kcal deficit can be reasonable. If you can’t or don’t want to count calories, a good piece of advice is to eat enough so you notice you have the energy to train, preferably becoming stronger, while slowly losing weight.
Regardless of how many diets and methods you read about, there’s only one way to lose weight, and that’s a calorie deficit – eating fewer calories than you burn. The best approach is to eat a little less and move a little more. Another crucial aspect of the diet is consuming a good amount of protein.
The reason for this is that if you don’t get enough protein, you’ll lose muscle mass. Some may think, “Who cares, as long as I lose weight,” but unfortunately, metabolism decreases if you lose muscle mass. If you exercise to gain more muscle mass, your metabolism increases, allowing you to eat more. “Please, for your own sake, have patience this time. 😊”
I have never undergone any crash diets. I eat to sustain energy both in everyday life and during workouts. Patience and planning.
Per Ekbjörn, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
As an online coach, Per has helped over a thousand people to get in shape and improve their health. The goal is to encourage people to live a balanced life with exercise, good sleep, and a healthy diet in a simple and non-demanding way. On his social media, Per demonstrates that it's possible to stay in shape and be healthy even if you're over forty, have young children, and indulge in some treats. With a keen interest in fitness and nutrition Per is passionate about helping people to improve health by explaining how the choices we make impact our bodies. Life balance is a key concern for Per, emphasizing that excessive exercise or strict dietary restrictions are not the best for the body.
