Core Fitness for Beginners
There is so much more to fitness than the finite goal of losing 5 or 10 or 100 pounds. If you only strive to reach that goal you have a pretty good chance of falling back into old habits and losing everything you gained. You need to get into the mindset of caring about your body and going beyond visible results.
Building Muscle
Building muscle will actually make you weigh more, but has added long-lasting effects beyond shedding fat. You will feel better and have more energy, which if you haven’t heard – is a good thing. Having more muscle also increases your metabolism, allowing you to enjoy those tasty foods you enjoy. Don’t go overboard though.
Focusing on losing weight only could also come in the form of losing muscle, which you don’t want. Reducing your body fat should be the only way you lose weight, otherwise you should be gaining weight in the form of muscle growth. If you’re overweight now, don’t focus on that. Focus on being healthy and growing muscle. Everything else will fall into place.
Unhealthy Weight Loss
Losing too much weight too fast can have detrimental effects on your health. Sweating out pounds or fasting for extended periods of time deprives your body of much needed nutrients and will cause health problems later. I always feel sorry for those Mixed Martial Arts fighters that have to sweat out pounds to meet their weight. Couldn’t we just promote healthy sports?
Losing 25 pounds in 2 weeks isn’t something to be proud of if you only weight 150 pounds to begin with. A lot of that was probably water or muscle, and now you’re dehydrated and weak, leaving you susceptible to illness or worse. Being emaciated and tired isn’t what life is all about.
Christian Bale in the Machinist - Being emaciated and tired isn't what life is all about.
Let’s face it: if losing weight was all that mattered, we could all just pick up a nice healthy heroine habit and the pounds would just fall off. Yeah. That’s good for you. If you didn’t pick up on the sarcasm there, I’m sorry.
Perfection in Both Mind and Body
Fitness isn’t just about a flat stomach. It’s about striving for perfection both in mind and body. Every time you reach your goal, set a new, more ambitious one. Reach that goal too. Getting into the mindset of perpetual progress will keep you healthy for years to come and spill over into other facets of your life in a positive way!
Striving for perfection is no easy task, but continuous growth will only lead to great things. What seems hard now will be a breeze when you look back at it. Remember when you couldn’t bench press the bar? Now you’re doing 265 pounds?! What?!
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