Are you of the belief that only fat people or athletes need to workout? Then banish that belief right away! Whatever your age or fitness level, exercise should form an integral part of your routine. Of course, you can always argue that it is possible to lose weight without workout and only a good diet, but did you know that exercising is for more than just losing weight? Here are few reasons why you should never skip your workout:
- Improves your immune system
- Improves Stamina
- Strengthens your body and enhances Flexibility
- Controls Weight
So now that you know you that exercising is mandatory for all, how much time should you be putting aside for it? Well, to stay healthy and sleep well you should indulge in approximately 150 mins a week of moderate activity like walks, light jogging or 75 mins a week of vigorous activity like HIIT, running. Check out our Shredmill or HIIT IT workouts for ideas on this.
Weight loss vs fat loss:
Many times, the two are used interchangeably. But that’s absolutely incorrect.
Weight loss is when you want to lower your body weight, which is inclusive of your bones, muscles, body fat.
Fat loss is when you focus on reducing body fat, the amount of fat your body carries.
Now, look at the outcomes of focusing solely on either of these:
- You can lose weight by crash diets while fat loss comes with workout and clean eating.
- Weight Loss makes you look old while you look seemingly ageless with fat loss.
- Weight Loss may make you look weaker whereas fat loss makes you stronger.
Focus on Fat Loss, Not on Weight Loss.
By now, you must have figured out for yourself, which is the more consistent measure for your body. Incase you are still not convinced, keep in mind, weight loss is:
- Unreliable as body-weight can swing all through the day, since it’s influenced by water loss/retention, muscle loss/gain, fat loss/gain.
- Irrelevant- you must have noticed 2 people with the same height, who weigh the same but look totally different. This is because one may have more body fat than the other.
- When you lose weight through crash diets, you lose more muscle mass than fat which slows down your metabolism and advances fat gain.
As a beginner to working out, your focus should be on building your stamina, getting enough rest (atleast 7-8 hours of sleep; minimum one rest day a week) and fuelling your body with the right nutrition. All these factors, once in check, will set you along the path of achieving your goal.
Just a tip, to avoid getting into a rut and dreading your workout, mix up your routine. Not only will this help you shock your body into change, but it will also keep you looking forward to learning something new. You will find a variety of workouts on our F2F site.
And ofcourse, the most important part of your journey, acknowledge and celebrate all victories that you accomplish along the way. An old pair of jeans has started fitting you better again? Able to run up a flight of stairs without stopping for the usual breaks? See definition in your arms or legs? Those are all your non-scale victories! Take pride in each of them. Remember, even if the scale does not move down, but you are seeing such progress, you are on the right track.
