More Fitness Tips from Paul Plakas

Here are 20 fitness tips and reminders from the one and only Paul Plakas...

1) When you indulge, go for the best. Wasting calories on sub-standard dessert just isn’t worth it. A better quality treat leaves you feeling more fully sated and less likely to overeat. 

2) Get a fitness buddy. Pairing up with someone can be incredibly helpful. Chat about what’s working, what’s tough and use them as a support to help you stay on track.

3) Be uncomfortable. Exercise so hard you can’t talk, and really want to stop but know you shouldn’t!

4) Up your cardio. Add 5 mins of intense cardio to your workout. Whether it’s on the treadmill, bike or whatever you do, adding a few more minutes could help you give your weight-loss a kick in the butt.

5)   Get the family together. Get your family on board with your quest to get fit. Organize a family get-together with a sports theme and enjoy each other’s company as you work those muscles.

6) Don’t expect immediate effects. It is easy to get discouraged when you make a huge change to your lifestyle and don’t immediately see the benefits. Keep at it, and you will see positive results.

7) Go on a fitness date. Suggest to your honey that you go on a hike somewhere romantic or go biking together. Connecting through fitness is a great way to increase levels of intimacy in relationships.

8) If you slip up, don’t wait to get restarted. If you’ve eaten something unhealthy or binged, don’t say you’ll start being good tomorrow/ after the weekend, because it gives you license to cheat even more.

9) Seek help. If you are having trouble making it to the gym, or your work-outs are lackluster, consider hiring a trainer to get you going or ask an exercise savvy pal to work out with you once a week.

10) Put your stairs to use. As a quick heart-rate raiser, find a set of stairs and march up and down them ten times. Always take the stairs instead of the elevator at the mall, work, school or wherever.

11) Use commercial breaks to exercise. When you are watching your favourite TV shows, use the commercial break as a chance to do a few sets of crunches or lunges.

12) Get fit with Fido. Taking the dog out for a hike is an awesome way to stay fit and de-stress. If you don’t have a dog, ask the local pound if they need dog walkers or borrow a friend’s dog.

13) Don’t starve yourself. When you plateau, it can be tempting to eat less to try and kick up your weight loss. Eating less will slow down your metabolism and stop you from busting that plateau.

14) Limit family/ personal TV time. You burn absolutely zero calories sitting in front of the tube, so vow to only watch the programs you really like and spend more time doing different activities.

15) Be well rested. Being chronically tired makes you put on weight, as well as depressed and moody - no help at all when you are struggling to lose weight. Try and get 8 hours in every night.

16) When you stall, work harder. If you’ve stopped losing pounds despite following your healthy eating plan and exercising regularly, you need to up the intensity of your workouts or you’ll just stay stuck.

17)  Leave the car at home. Whenever possible, walk, cycle or jog to see your friends or go to the the store. Driving everywhere is an unhealthy habit that makes you unfit.

18) Stop reading on treadmill. You should be fully present in your workouts, and if you are able to read, send a text message or surf the net on your smart phone, then you aren’t working hard enough.

19) Lift heavier weights. If you aren’t feeling the strain halfway through a set of exercises, the weight is too light and you need to up the intensity.

20) Be playful. Use a hula-hoop, trampoline, skipping rope or pogo stick and just have fun. You’ll burn calories & have a good laugh while doing so (especially if you try out toys from your childhood).