Exercising daily and spreading your calories throughout the day are two sensible ways to help maintain your weight or shed pounds. Regular exercise doesn't have to consist of complicated, grueling workouts. Eating five times a day helps reduce the hunger pangs that cause you to overeat. Following daily exercise and eating routines is easy to do with some planning.
Plan Your Eating
Meet with a dietitian or use free online tools to determine your daily calorie goal. The United States Department of Agriculture offers a free copy of its "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" at its website, which includes daily recommended calorie numbers based on your age, gender and activity level. Subtract 500 calories from your recommended daily calorie number for each pound of weight you wish to lose each week. Another option is to use an online calorie calculator, such as the one at LIVESTRONG.COM MyPlate.
Plan Your Workouts
Create a realistic workout schedule you are likely to stick to, rather than working out "when you have time," or when you're in the mood. The best time of day is any time you are likely to have the energy and time to exercise for 30 minutes or more. The American Heart Association notes that three, 10-minute workouts provide the same benefit as one, 30-minute workout.
Workouts should consist of several minutes of gradual warmup, the exercise portion of your workout, several minutes of cooling down movements and a final stretch. Exercise at the maximum pace you can sustain throughout the workout without fatiguing to failure.
Sample Eating Plan
Read nutrition labels to help you create five meals and snacks that meet your daily calorie goal. Eat breakfast every morning to prevent long fasts between dinner and the next day's lunch. This can lead to your body storing more calories as fat and promoting weight gain, according to MayoClinic.com dietitian Katherine Zeratsky. Schedule a mid-morning snack around 10 a.m. Have lunch, an afternoon snack around 3 p.m. and dinner. Keep snacks to approximately 150 calories each. A handful of unsalted nuts, veggies with hummus, a packet of oatmeal, granola bars and apple slices with 1 tbsp. of peanut butter are healthy choices.
Divide meal plates into three portions. Fill half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables. Choose a variety of red, yellow, orange and green veggies. One-quarter of your plate should contain lean protein, which can include meat, seafood, game, poultry and beans. The final quarter of your plate should contain starchy foods, such as sweet potatoes, brown rice or whole grain pasta or bread. Add a serving of dairy and fruit.
Sample Exercise Routines
Beginners will benefit from low-impact, fat-burning workouts that burn calories while building the stamina and endurance needed for more intense workouts later. Walking outdoors, on a treadmill or up and down stairs are good choices. Swimming, cycling, skating and step aerobics are also effective workouts for beginners. Add dumbbell exercises to workouts to help build muscle.
Once you are able to work at a pace that keeps you sweating and breathing hard throughout your workout, raise your intensity. Find a TV network that offers free workout shows or buy or rent workout videos you will enjoy doing. Use calisthenics to create a circuit-training workout, moving from exercise to exercise every 2 minutes. This will help prevent boredom and repetitive stress pain. Change your workout every other day to prevent injuries and your body adapting to the exercises, which decreases your calorie burning after several weeks.
Member Comments