Sleep, water and carb intake key to weight loss

By Ethan Parker, Anytime Fitness

Overwhelmed, confused, frustrated, exhausted: all common words to describe one’s emotions around fitness. Why is that? Besides, we just want to get healthy. Why does this have to be so difficult. The answer: it doesn’t.

The fitness industry is filled with self-proclaimed ‘experts’ and Instagram stars who flood the internet and social media with misinformation. Jane meal preps on Sundays and eats six chicken breasts per day with brown rice and broccoli. Oh! And don’t forget your three best exercises to tighten and tone that butt!

Ethan Parker, Anytime Fitness

However, key pieces of information not emphasized by most of these fitness professionals is they have trained for YEARS, consistently, twice a day, seven days a week, and have followed a flawless diet for months on end. That’s awesome if your goal is to be a fitness model or professional athlete, but rather unnecessary, and largely unattainable for the average person.

These people aren’t out to get you, they have just forgotten their journey. They are prescribing diet and exercise based on where they are RIGHT NOW, and have forgotten where they started. So, I’m going to detail a few basic tips you can apply to your everyday life, to help you lose a little weight, and FEEL better, because that’s what everyone really wants, to FEEL better.

Tip #1: Get eight hours of sleep each night.

A study done by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2003 shows that individuals who only slept six hours each night for two weeks, had the same performance level as someone who has gone 48 hours without sleep. WHAT?! How can that be true? Think about it. All those times you’re feeling tired, and worn out, that’s not normal guys, and you don’t have to feel that way. Getting eight hours of sleep each night will immediately improve your well-being.

Tip #2: Drink a minimum of 80 ounces of water per day

Everything that happens in the body, happens in water. The breakdown of fat, the repair of muscles and the brain, digestion, the list goes on. Just upping your water intake will result in more energy, and probably some weight loss. Eighty ounces is about five bottles of water, and a quick tip to make it even easier: drink a small eight-ounce glass of cold water immediately upon waking, and right before bed. BOOM! Now you only have to drink four bottles of water throughout the day.

Tip #3: Don’t eat carbs at breakfast, or for your last meal of the day

Weight loss is largely a hormone game, and the key hormone? Insulin. We need to control insulin levels throughout the day, and the easiest way to do that is to stop consuming carbs at breakfast, and for your last meal of the day.

If you take these three tips to heart, you will see an improvement in how you feel, and you will most likely lose a little weight!

For more great, simple coaching designed to help REAL people, stop by Anytime Fitness in Trussville and check us out. It’s why we get out of bed in the morning.