With six weeks to go until Christmas, Emmet from Rushe Fitness shares his foolproof advice on how to shape up to feel healthier when we do dress up again.
The goal for most, at this time of year is to get in shape for the Christmas party season.
While the party season may not be happening this year, that doesn’t mean you still can’t look your best on Christmas Day!
New clothing will still be bought, photographs will still be taken, and everyone will still be visiting family over the festive period.
So, who doesn’t want to look their best?
If you are looking to drop a few pounds on the lead up to the big day, I have a few tips for you below that will help you to get what you need, before the big man comes to town.
We will be reopening on December 1st and will be helping everyone to look their best for Christmas. You can pre-join for December 1st through the link below.
There are a few things to consider when planning to get in shape for Christmas.
These are things that people know, but still tend to leave out when trying to drop a few pounds and fit into that Little Black dress.
1) You MUST be in a calorie deficit.
It doesn’t matter what diet you follow or what guru says what, if you aren’t in a calorie deficit 1st, you will NOT lose body fat.
Don’t get caught up on ‘health’ foods, or the latest fad diet that will be floating about.
There are simpler ways to do this:
Eat whole, non processed foods 80-90% of the time.
Don’t binge on the other 10-20%.
Have a free meal each week, not a binge day.
Drink water with every meal.
Don’t snack on junk foods.
2). Eat Protein
Try to eat 1g of protein per pound of body weight if you are tracking your calories.
It is a basic recommendation for someone who is training and trying to drop fat.
It will keep you full and help to preserve muscle mass, which is important when trying to improve your physique when dropping body fat.
If you don’t want to count calories or grams of protein, use palm sized portions of protein and have 3-4 servings per day.
This will be the size of the palm of your hand and the thickness of your thumb.
3). Do Resistance Training at least 3 times per week.
If you want to target specific area of your body, resistance training is the way to do this.
While it won’t specifically burn fat from that area, it will increase blood flow to the stubborn areas and help to mobilise the fat.
It will also make you look physically better in your clothes, when you drop those last few pounds.
So, add in some resistance training using body weight and weighted exercises and you’ll be glad that you did.
4). Prioritize fruit and vegetables as your carb sources.
The main reason for doing this is you get to eat more food for less calories than you would if you were eating loads of starchy carbs.
It’s a win-win situation here.
There are loads of options when cooking with vegetables as there are so many varieties of them to choose from.
Be sure to add flavour to them so they don’t taste to bland for you if you aren’t too keen on them, think of things like spices, salt, pepper etc to flavour them to your liking.
5). Keep more starchy carbs for around your training days
A simple way to cycle your carbs is to have starchy carbs with your meals on your training days and stick to vegetables on non-training days.
You will automatically reduce your overall calorie intake by doing this, and you will have more calories on the days that you need them most when you are training.
6). Add Cardio as needed
Is cardio needed for fat loss?
No!
Is it a benefit to it?
Yes!
But that doesn’t mean you have to add it in straight away.
Cardio is another tool you can use to help with your fat loss goals.
Doing some light cardio and keeping active on your non training days will be enough for you along with your diet and resistance training.
Getting in shape is simple, not easy!
Everything above will help you to drop a few pounds before Christmas and leave you in a better place before the Turkey and trimmings.
If your goal is truly to drop a few pounds before Christmas, the guidelines above gives you a great way to achieve this.
#rushefitness
We will be reopening on December 1st and will be helping everyone to look their best for Christmas. You can pre-join for December 1st through the link below.
Or you can train with us from home with our Rushe Fitness Live Home training program and get in shape from the comfort of your own home.
CLICK HERE TO TRAIN WITH US FROM HOME.