Whenever I speak to my friends about their fitness goals the majority of the time those goals are directly linked to weight. Most of the time they want to lose weight. Until I had a baby I couldn’t really relate to this. I found maintaining my weight when I was a professional athlete fairly easy. I had an excellent balance between food and fitness. Since I retired from athletics and became a mother I definitely understood the weight issue far more.
I did not ‘bounce back’ into pre baby weight after I had my baby. It took just over one year for me to weigh the same as pre baby. Here are a few lessons I learned along the way.
Consistency
Losing weight is not a quick fix problem. To do it in a sustainable manner is a long process and it requires you to be patient about it. I needed to be consistent with my training to lose weight. I set short and long term goals to help me with this. It’s easy to get frustrated but you need to look at the long game. It’s not about immediate results, stick to your long term plan. Everybody is different so just worry about your own consistent approach.
Realistic training
I see lots of my friends going from doing very little to signing up to a really intense training programme. I don’t think this is sustainable. Consider what you are doing now and what you can realistically fit in to your lifestyle. Don’t go from zero to hero.
20 minute rule
This is something I enforce all the time. Doing fitness can seem overwhelming with everything else you have going on in your life but if you move for 20 minutes it will make a big difference. Twenty minutes is so much better than nothing. Go out for a brisk walk on your lunchtime from work or in the evening. You can find 20 minutes in your day!
What is your strength?
Everybody is different when it comes to being fit. Just because a certain type of fitness worked for a friend to lose weight doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you. Try to figure out what works for your body type. For me it is short training sessions and trying to move everyday.