To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume. First look at your diet to ensure you are eating the amount of calories you need. Your diet is a big part of losing that weight and maintaining it, once you have this right it is just a matter of exercising to burn off those extra pounds.
The estimated average daily calorie requirement is 2000 for women and 2500 for men, this is just an estimate and will depend on your age, weight, height, body composition and levels of activity.
Diet
A healthy balanced diet consists of five food groups.
1.Bread, Cereals and Potatoes 33%- This group form the basis of most meals, choose the wholemeal/wholegrain versions.
2.Fruits and Vegetables 33% – It is advised that we should eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day
3. Milk and dairy 15%- go for the reduced fat versions.
4. Meats, fish and alternatives 12%
5. Foods containing sugar or fat 7% – this should be minimized as these foods are what cause the weight gain. When looking at fat you want to go for the foods with unsaturated fat.
Exercises you can do at home to lose weight
Cardio
Cardio is the main form of exercise you need to do to burn off that extra weight. If you have an exercise bike, treadmill, cross trainer/elliptical, machine rowing machine then you can easily do the cardio training from home without leaving the front door. Place it somewhere convenient and safe. Do some interval training, this will burn the fat off faster and in a shorter amount of time so you need only work out for 25-30mins per day 5 days per week.
Start with a 5-8 min warm up 1 min low intensity jogging, cycling etc 1 min high intensity – really push yourself 1 min low intensity 1 min high intensity and continue to alternate for the duration of your workout 8-10min cool down
You can play around with the ratios so you might want to do 30 second intervals or 2:1.
If you don’t have any of these pieces of equipment at home try to find 30mins per day to get out and do some jogging/running /cycling near your home. If this is not possible then there are other alternatives; you could buy a skipping rope this is a great way to fit in cardio and can be done in the garden or even in a room if large enough. Dance is a great form of cardio and can be done in your home. Do some jumping jacks, burpees etc there are many different exercises you can do from home that can elevate your heart rate and get you on your way to losing that weight. If you have stairs you can run up them and walk down then repeatedly.
Strength training
Building muscle will increase your metabolism and help you burn fat even when you are not doing anything post workout..
Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps every other day so that your muscles have chance to recover. You can continue to do cardio on these days. Or alternatively you can split your routine up and work different parts of your body each day.
These exercises are just some of those that can be done at home either just using your body weight or if you have your own weights/dumbells/resistance bands or even bottles filled with water:
- Squats
- Lunges
- Push ups/Chest press
- Shoulder press
- The Plank
- Tricep dips or tricep kickbacks
- Bicep curls
These are just a few of my favourite exercises but there are others that you can do. You could even get an exercise DVD and follow that., there are many different types available so you can choose one that you would like to do and that fits in with what equipment you have at home.
Remember to stretch to help prevent injury and to aid your muscles recovery. Stretching also increases flexibility and can be done anywhere with no equipment.
Drink Water
Water is important and you want to stay hydrated to help your body function properly. Sometimes we mistake our bodies signals and think we are hungry when in fact we are dehydrated so drink lots of water so you don’t mistake those signals. If you drink a glass of water before a meal then you will be get fuller quicker so you wont eat as much – which will help you lose weight. Try to drink approx 2 litres per day although this will depend on your weight, the temperature and humidity and on your level of activity.
These are just a few ways for you to start to think about how to lose weight from at home.
All it takes is dedication and effort and you will be able to achieve your goal.
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