Don't Jeopardize Your Fitness and Weight Loss Efforts By Doing These Things

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If you are trying to get into shape, which many of us are frantically trying to do at this time of year, you more than likely know what you should be doing - eating fewer calories and exercising more. But do you know what NOT to do?  There are things that we believe may be helping us but are actually jeopardizing our weight loss and shaping up efforts. Here, we look at a few of those things.

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Doing Lots of Cardio

It is a popular thought that in order to lose weight and get into shape, you should do as much cardio based exercise as possible, but it just isn't true. In fact, those people who spend hours in the gym doing cardio purely for the purpose of getting into shape are not doing themselves any favors at all. Too much cardio can help to contribute to a loss of muscle tone in the body. To burn fat rapidly, the best form of exercise is HIIT. Don't get us wrong, for heart and fitness, steady cardio is good, but for weight loss purposes, it is not your best option. If you do a lot of cardio, try to balance it out with some strength training to make sure that you maintain and build muscle tone.

Starving Yourself

If you think starving yourself is the fastest way to lose weight and get into shape, think again. Doing that will probably likely lead to your body gaining more weight in the future, as your metabolism will be out of kilter. Meals should always be filling and nutritious, and you should try to avoid overeating. Calorie counters such as My Fitness Pal can help you to work out how many calories you need to take in each day, based on your fitness and lifestyle, height and weight.

Choosing Low Fat Or Diet Foods

While the name of them suggests that they will help us lose weight, they may have the opposite effect. In many instances, low-fat or diet options have more sugar or sweeteners in them than their higher fat counterparts, which will leave you feeling hungry.  Choose fresh, unprocessed foods instead.

Don't Try to Rush It

Remember, weight loss is a journey, not a race. It will take time for you to get to the point where you want to be. Enjoy it and set yourself new goals and challenges. Making it into a lifestyle choice will change your attitude and mindset towards exercise and food and help you to keep you making the best choices in the future.

Giving Up When It Gets Hard

When it comes to losing weight, not giving up and being consistent are the most important things. You will probably have the odd slip-up but try not to let that get you down and stop you from keeping going. Consider it purely as a bump in the road to healthy living, and one that once you have got over it, you can get back on track and carry on.