Hello hello hello! Welcome back to another round of the best health and fitness articles from last week. Coach Jimmy here again with all the information you may have missed last week to keep you rolling towards your health and fitness goals. For the uninitiated, I grab a handful of the best articles I ran across last week and put them into a post so you all don’t have to worry about keeping up with neat tips and tricks during your hectic week.
This week we cover how important it is to have a positive self-image, understanding stress eating, the science behind a hot new supplement, how to stick with regular exercise, and what you need to do in order to workout multiple times a day.
Best Health & Fitness Articles From Last Week
How a Positive Self-Image Could Improve Your Health
Let’s just get this out there, whether we want to openly admit it or not we all have issues with our bodies. Regardless of your level of fit or your progress on your weight loss journey, there’s something we all want to improve. I have my bugaboos too and for me, it’s my tummy. My 100 pound weight loss still hangs around with a little bit of extra skin around my mid-section that takes a lot of work to get rid of. What I want to stress is that you’re not the only one. We all have these body image issues and they’re not a bad thing to have, depending on how you react to them.
Have you ever struggled with accepting your stretch marks, loose skin, or your overall shape? Focusing on what you don’t like about our bodies leads nowhere, fast.
A recent study by researchers at Bucknell University showed that participants to their questionnaire with body image issues (ranging from feeling guilty about models in fashion magazines to shame by seeing fit people in public at the beach) had a higher rate of infections throughout the year and were more likely to get sick. The health consequences notwithstanding, you need to cut yourself some slack when it comes to your body. So you don’t have six pack abs today. That doesn’t mean you won’t have them six months from now! Your body is a work in progress, it isn’t written in stone. Take your story into your own hands and make it what you want it to be!
Why You Stress Eat
After a rough day, some people turn to comfort food, like a slice of cheesy pizza or a pint of ice cream, while others decompress by sweating it out. Why is that?
Whether or not you “stress eat” is less of a personal choice that boils down to your hormones and psychology. When you experience a ton of small stressors or a few big ones, your body pumps out adrenaline to keep your mind and body alert in order to deal with whatever stressor you’re facing. (This goes all the way back to our more primitive days when we were food and had to book it to not be eaten by something with claws and fangs.) Well, if your stress level doesn’t go down, your body shifts gears to release other hormones that are better suited to deal with long-term stressors. Here’s where the problem lies, your body releases cortisol and that makes you want fatty, sugary comfort foods because they’re higher in calories and make you, temporarily, happier.
If you’re looking to lose weight and you’re a “stress eater”, this should be the first area of your life you bring under control. I know it’s super easy to just say, “Lower your stress!” and walk away, but that’s just a band-aid. You need to analyze your life and identify what your stressors are and why they’re a cause of stress. If you don’t, you’ll just go back to bad habits and that’s not a comment on you personally. That’s how our brains function. When we’re tired or stressed, we are multiple times more likely to follow bad habits because we’ll follow the path of least resistance, we’ll do what’s easiest.
The Science Behind Hydrate
I’ve touched on how bad “sports drinks” are for you in some previous articles so I won’t get too in depth on the subject. Beachbody has come out with a new supplement, Hydrate, that helps optimize fluid absorption and balance during exercise to keep your body hydrated and pumping on all cylinders. Traditional sports drinks push the idea of “energy replacement” by using carbs and sugars to supply you with fuel. The problem with these drinks is that the low fluid absorption rate in your body so they’re far less effective than they should be.
Hydrate was designed with a high absorption rate to get your muscles the hydration and energy it needs without clogging your body with poor supplements. Hydrate also has quercetin as a main ingredient. Quercetin is a phytonutrient that has been clinically proven to to improve exercise performance, increase energy production, and reduce inflammation from exercising so you can workout longer at a higher level and recover faster.
7 Secrets to Sticking With Exercise
Staying fit is the perfect drug for you health-wise. Regular exercise and a healthy diet improves your energy level, attitude, energy levels, and your overall health. However, it can be tough fitting it all in amidst the million and one things you have to do on a weekly basis for your friends, family, and job. There are so many things vying for your attention and with so many hours in a day, something has to give. Unfortunately, a lot of people choose to sacrifice their health to earn a bit more money or keep a friend or family member happy. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, mind you, but not at the cost of your health.
Simple shifts in your behaviors can help minimize these barriers, making reaching and maintaining your fitness goals almost as easy as pushing play.
If you’re looking to get fit or stay fit, you have to make your goals important to you and by important I don’t mean that you talk about them to your friends and family. I mean that you make time to chip away at them every single day and never get into a habit of compromising them. That way leads ruin. Sticking to working out boils down to 7 secrets that many fitness experts follow religiously (I know I do); 1) set reasonable goals, 2) schedule it, 3) get the gear, 4) plan ahead, 5) buddy up, 6) sleep well, & 7) cut yourself some slack. Check out the full article for more info on each tip!
How To Safely Do Multiple Workouts In A Day
Full fledged disclaimer right off the bat, not everyone is ready to or can do multiple workouts in one day. That isn’t a challenge. That isn’t meant to cut your legs out from under you. It’s just simply not for everyone and it’s not as simple as doubling your workouts and diet plan. It takes a great deal more planning, time, effort, and recovery that must be done carefully as it can hurt you more than it helps if you do it incorrectly. This is not for everyone, but if you think you’re ready, Beachbody has a great write up on what you need to consider before taking the plunge.