Effective Diet and Workout Tips

Almost everyone developed new interests and routines while on lock down due to the pandemic. Among those is on dieting and workout. You may have been seeing your friends or the people that you follow on social media posting their pre and post workout flex and selfies. You know in your heart that for once, you’ve thought of being serious about working out. Until that one day in quarantine, you woke up and have finally decided to start getting fit. With that, here are some effective diet and workout tips that might help you in your fitness journey!

Effective Diet and Workout Tips

1. Set your goals and plan a routine

This will keep you on track and going as it motivates you from reaching your fitness goals.

2. Listen to your body

If you’re hungry, drink or eat the right food. If you’re worn out or not feeling well, take a rest than insisting to workout just because you wanted to get snatched so bad. Yes, working out may help you look and feel better in a way but so does resting.

3. Mind your food intake

Don’t go hard on yourself by working out more than what your body needs yet you continue with an unhealthy diet. This won’t get you anywhere. Choose a healthy diet instead. This doesn’t only mean cutting down the junk and processed food consumption. You have to monitor your calorie intake and the quality of the food on your plate, too.

4. Choose the right diet for you

One of the myths about dieting is eating a few to none at all. Always remember that diet does not equate to deprivation. You can still indulge yourself into goodness while on a diet, though. There are lots of diet plans out there that have been proven effective. You just got to either consult a dietitian or do your research as to which is the most appropriate one for your body.

5. Best time to workout

If you want to lose weight, the best time to workout is in the morning before breakfast since you’ve fasted overnight. If you want your muscles toned, on the other hand, workout in the afternoon as it lets you burn the calories from the food you have consumed during the day.

6. Enjoy the process

Starting right away with and insisting on doing hard or intense workout does not guarantee instant quality results. Good results take time. Enjoy the process, then. Love your body in every step of the way.

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7. Focus on good form and breathe properly

Form and breathing go hand in hand and it requires a lot of mind and muscle connection. Bad form may result to injury. On the other hand, a good form combined with proper breathing is guaranteed to yield good results as you get to tighten or relax the right muscle group as you do the workout. When you feel the burn at the target area, then, you are doing the workout properly.

8. Establish a workout program

A workout program will help you focus on the part that you want or need to work out the most. It also has to be developmental or progressive. Start with what your body can do or lift first then progress from there. This may mean additional reps, longer duration, heavier weights or an increase in intensity.

9. Wear workout clothes

This may seem to have no bearing on the effectiveness of the workout but putting on some active wear will motivate you to get up and get working in a way.

10. Get enough sleep (especially before working out)

Enough sleep will give you a good amount of energy to perform your workout.

My Diet and Workout Routine

Workout Routine

I work out six times a week for an hour and a half to two hours either before breakfast or after work at around 5:00 PM. Usually, I’d do arm, upper body and core for a day then lower core, legs and glutes on the next. I give each muscle group five workouts with fifteen reps in three sets. At times, I combine it with a fifteen to twenty-minute cardio workout. When I feel tired and stressed, I’d often resort to doing yoga instead with a ten to twenty-minute meditation after.

Before, I used to follow Chloe Ting’s workout especially during the quarantine as she has already had a plethora of free workout program on her website. I finished her two-week shred and 35 Days Hourglass Workout. I got my core toned but then I shifted to following Madfit‘s because I grew so tired and worn out. Workouts aren’t supposed to make us feel such.

Diet

Good results were not evident until I decided to change my diet. During the quarantine, I had more time to assess my body and focus on my diet plans and workout. I started cutting down sweets, white rice, white bread and other source of bad carbs and shifted to the alternatives. I became conscious on the nutrition facts and labels of the food; checking on the sugar content and calories of it. My meal plan started to have schedule and specific food, too. I would still eat three times a day but the food itself and the amount changed. I started buying and cooking my own food which are more on fish, grains, fruits and vegetables. Drinking water and tea were also more frequent. I usually drink chamomile, peppermint or ginger and lemon tea in the morning before breakfast and at night 30 minutes before going to bed.

Though seldom, I still eat bars of chocolates, cookies, cake, pizza, burger, chips and drink coffee and milk tea but in moderation. In this way, I don’t get deprived at the same time I am lessening the tendency of consuming large amounts when I give in. There are also shops that offer products or ingredients for these food that are absolutely guilt-free.

Parting Words

This may be a lot to take in and to do but keep in mind that the struggle is only in the beginning as you are easing yourself into a new routine. Once you have adapted into it and you have established your discipline, everything will be as easy as breathing. There’s nothing more motivating than setting your goal and seeing the results along the way.

Disclaimer

The effective diet and workout tips that I have put together in this article were the ones that I have been practicing. These are working well with my body type. These were also just products of my own research as I go through my fitness journey and some were also provided by coaches. I am not an expert so you might also like to consider doing more research and consulting as well with the right people or the experts.

If there are any corrections or anything that must be added in here, let us know about it on the comments section.