Juggling looking your best with the responsibilities of day-to-day life is never easy, but can be particularly difficult if you’ve set yourself a target of achieving a certain goal in time for the summer holidays.
Fun as it might be to show off how sculpted you are, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of ‘quick wins’, where you take up a so-called diet that promises a lot but in reality can do your body real harm.
For every genuine dietary plan backed up by actual nutritional science, there are hundreds of bogus ones designed to take advantage of those in a hurry to change how they look.
They often involve an overly drastic level of calorie cutting (conveniently ignoring that they are integral to any meal plan) and will often promote some variety of product that is claimed to be the only source of food that users will require.
Adopting such suggestions may indeed help you lose weight, but in a way that is totally unsustainable, unhealthy, and is guaranteed to make you look a long way from the mental image you may have had in mind to aim for.
Instead, the most effective diets tend to be about controlling the quality of the foods you eat, rather than obsessing over the quantity of portions. For example whilst many forms of meat contain valuable proteins, they often tend to be high in fats and usually are prepared via methods that includes unhealthy cooking oils and the like.
Therefore during your food preparation, consider leaving out excessive amounts of flavourings such as salt, opt for ‘light’ variants of ingredients and choose leaner variants of meat over more fatty selections.
If you’re feeling particularly committed though, another option is to substitute meat entirely out of your diet in favour of plant-based alternatives which are packed full of goodness and with far less negative aspects. Various ‘superfoods’ such as blueberries and beetroot can do wonders for your health in so many ways and so long as they are consumed in moderation are only a positive for your dieting.
It’s no surprise that so many celebrities and sports stars have made this lifestyle adjustment, but do keep in mind that they have access to top dieticians and the like to help them with the transition. Taking such a big step can be difficult, so try not to rush into changes of such significance.
Of course though what you eat is only half the battle, and exercise is the other key component in any fitness regimen. Whether you prefer running, weight lifting, team sports or any other method of movement, they each are great just for the fact they get you burning calories (at a sensible pace) and stimulate muscle development.
Also the exertion of doing these activities also means you’ll require more calories and nutrients to function, giving you the perfect rationale to up your food intake!
By placing more of an emphasis on moderated dieting and regular exercise, you shouldn’t have any need to go over the top with drastic dieting measures.
The look you’ve likely got in mind for yourself is highly unlikely to be sustained let alone achieved in the first place just by eating less, it needs maintaining with a quality fuel intake. Depriving yourself of key nutrients will have a noticeable impact on everything from the colour of your skin to the thickness of your hair-it’s all inter-connected.
Moderation and dedication are your two key principles in this regard, commit to putting the work in and given time you should see and feel like what you had in mind for yourself at the start of your journey.