In order for your body to repair itself you need to get seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night (even on the weekends!). Establishing a routine can help. “Wake up right away—no more snooze button—and get into bright sunlight. Avoid any caffeine after noon and make it a point to relax after work: turn off e-mail and put your phone away. And establish a bedtime routine, lowering the lights and avoiding television or computer screens at least 30 minutes before bed,” says Wayne Scott Andersen, M.D., co-founder of Take Shape for Life.
“Research shows this can have a huge impact on weight loss,” explains Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., author of Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love. But if you relapse, use it to your advantage. “Determine the ingredients that went into the setback. Perhaps you binged on fast food because you had not planned your meals, so, if that’s the case, be better prepared. Keep healthy snacks at work.”
3 of 7
aldra/Getty
Increase Your Water Intake
Ensure that you remain hydrated, and replace what you lose through sweat, to keep all of your systems running smoothly. Try this:8 oz when you wake up.20 oz two to three hours before exercising, with another 10 oz 15 minutes before the workout.About 10 oz every 15 minutes intra-workout.Up to 10 oz of a sports drink every 30 minutes during workouts lasting longer than 90 minutes.
4 of 7
Nix the Booze
To get the most out of this program, avoid alcohol. The hard stuff contains seven calories per gram, which can easily take you above your calorie limits or take calories away from the nutrients that serve a functional purpose. Alcohol has also been shown in multiple studies to interfere with your body’s production of human growth hormone, an essential part of helping muscle grow and repair itself.
5 of 7
Courtesy of Optimum Nutrition
Visualize Success
“Inundate your consciousness with your vision, and you will empower your emotions to carry you through the pain of the battle,” suggests Steve Siebold, a psychological performance coach and author of Diet Fat or Get Tough: 101 Differences in Thinking Between Fat People and Fit People. “Put ink on paper, create a vision board with photographs, visualize your goal first thing in the morning and last thing at night.”
6 of 7
Admit You’re Stressed
“Start by acknowledging the stress, don’t be ashamed of it. This will immediately reduce the fear you’re experiencing, which is the root emotion causing the stress. Once the stress is eliminated, you become stronger and more capable of managing an even bigger threat,” says Siebold. Daniel Blum, Ph.D., author of Sleep Wise: How to Feel Better, Work Smarter, and Build Resilience, adds “One quick method for reducing your stress is by making your exhale longer than your inhale…Knowing that your heart rate increases slightly when you inhale and decreases slightly when you exhale, you can leverage this physiological relaxation response by breathing in comfortably to a count of five, then breathing out slowly to a count of 10. It takes only 90 seconds to begin to feel the benefits.”
7 of 7
Rebound
“Drop the perfectionistic, all-or-nothing mentality,” Lombardo advises. “The ‘I have to be good 100% of the time so I can’t go out with my friends’ will leave you feeling deprived and lonely, which can lead to relapses. Rather than deprive yourself, enjoy an indulgence when you are with your friends. But enjoy the cheat mindfully, and savor it—no ‘I had one cookie so I might as well scarf down the entire plate’ mentality.”
In order for your body to repair itself you need to get seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night (even on the weekends!). Establishing a routine can help. “Wake up right away—no more snooze button—and get into bright sunlight. Avoid any caffeine after noon and make it a point to relax after work: turn off e-mail and put your phone away. And establish a bedtime routine, lowering the lights and avoiding television or computer screens at least 30 minutes before bed,” says Wayne Scott Andersen, M.D., co-founder of Take Shape for Life.
“Research shows this can have a huge impact on weight loss,” explains Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., author of Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love. But if you relapse, use it to your advantage. “Determine the ingredients that went into the setback. Perhaps you binged on fast food because you had not planned your meals, so, if that’s the case, be better prepared. Keep healthy snacks at work.”
Increase Your Water Intake
Ensure that you remain hydrated, and replace what you lose through sweat, to keep all of your systems running smoothly. Try this:
8 oz when you wake up.
20 oz two to three hours before exercising, with another 10 oz 15 minutes before the workout.
About 10 oz every 15 minutes intra-workout.
Up to 10 oz of a sports drink every 30 minutes during workouts lasting longer than 90 minutes.
Nix the Booze
To get the most out of this program, avoid alcohol. The hard stuff contains seven calories per gram, which can easily take you above your calorie limits or take calories away from the nutrients that serve a functional purpose. Alcohol has also been shown in multiple studies to interfere with your body’s production of human growth hormone, an essential part of helping muscle grow and repair itself.
Visualize Success
“Inundate your consciousness with your vision, and you will empower your emotions to carry you through the pain of the battle,” suggests Steve Siebold, a psychological performance coach and author of Diet Fat or Get Tough: 101 Differences in Thinking Between Fat People and Fit People. “Put ink on paper, create a vision board with photographs, visualize your goal first thing in the morning and last thing at night.”
Admit You're Stressed
“Start by acknowledging the stress, don’t be ashamed of it. This will immediately reduce the fear you’re experiencing, which is the root emotion causing the stress. Once the stress is eliminated, you become stronger and more capable of managing an even bigger threat,” says Siebold. Daniel Blum, Ph.D., author of Sleep Wise: How to Feel Better, Work Smarter, and Build Resilience, adds “One quick method for reducing your stress is by making your exhale longer than your inhale…Knowing that your heart rate increases slightly when you inhale and decreases slightly when you exhale, you can leverage this physiological relaxation response by breathing in comfortably to a count of five, then breathing out slowly to a count of 10. It takes only 90 seconds to begin to feel the benefits.”
Rebound
“Drop the perfectionistic, all-or-nothing mentality,” Lombardo advises. “The ‘I have to be good 100% of the time so I can’t go out with my friends’ will leave you feeling deprived and lonely, which can lead to relapses. Rather than deprive yourself, enjoy an indulgence when you are with your friends. But enjoy the cheat mindfully, and savor it—no ‘I had one cookie so I might as well scarf down the entire plate’ mentality.”
