Consistency is the key to health. I was reading through an article today and thinking about exactly what it is that really stops people that are looking at a real long lasting change in their life.
I believe that the key to healthy living and weight loss really is consistency and not trying to lose lots of weight in a week.
Consistency For Health and Weight Loss
Consistent Meals – One of the most important things that you can do with your health in general is to keep a nice even keel with respect to your blood sugar.
When you eat a donut and coffee for breakfast and then nothing until lunch then you will get a big blood sugar spike and then a drop soon after and be just dragging your way until lunch.
If on the other hand you eat consistently small but evenly spaced meals every couple of hours during the day then you will not have this blood sugar problem.
Consistent Meal Sizes – If you make sure that you eat 200 – 400 calorie meals or snacks then this will go hand in hand with the point above. We all hear that we should get 2000 or so calories in food a day but there is really a lot of variance in that number depending on the person
Having even sized meals will mean that you are not bloated after one meal and then hungry after the next.
Of course there may be a problem with dinner being a little bigger and an evening meal being a little smaller but overall this consistent eating will make you feel much better and your energy as well as health level will be more consistent.
Consistent Exercise – I know some people that will exercise a lot on the weekend but get nearly no exercise during the week. Your classic weekend warriors.
This is really quite dangerous. If your body is not being exercised at least somewhat on a daily basis then these big events on the weekends can be damaging to your muscles and also lead to more injuries because of the stress you are putting the muscles through.
A much better exercise pattern is to have a quick short workout in the morning and evening.
These workouts can just be a bit of weight exercises, or cardio, or even a long walk, anything to get your muscles moving and pushed a bit and then still push it hard on the weekend.
Consistent Rest – I have hit on this a few times in the past and rest is important to your well being as well as the healing of your muscles after exercise.
Stretch daily, sleep well most nights and if you need it a hot tub, heating pad, or massage can do wonders to get rid of those little aches and pains that may not be going away quickly and holding you back a bit from going all out when you want to.
Remember that consistency is the key. Weight loss is something that often people want to see those big losing weeks but it really is much more healthy and possible to be consistent.
Losing two or three pounds a week is much better then losing six pounds one week and losing nothing the next couple weeks.
As we get ready for Summer and the outdoor season of beach and a little less clothes we are always looking at pushing ourselves or pulling back so try to think about this and make sure that you keep your consistency