There are a few main things you need to be doing if you have very little time to exercise. When I say very little time, I mean three times a week or less is the most you “can” do, or are doing now. Remember, the minimum you need for exercise is 30 minute, at least three days a week. Exercise is so important, if you want to know that 6 basic secrets to weight loss, check it out on the home page. So what are the ways to lose weight if you only have very little time, from working, family and so on?
Nutrition
It doesn’t matter if you are doing zero exercise, or 7 days a week, your nutrition needs to be good to excellent. Of course, if you are not exercising, it may be better to eat well so you don’t do more harm to your body by not being active. If you only workout once, twice, or at the most three times a week, start eating a lot better. You can’t workout and eat whatever you want and expect the weight to be gone. Since you might be doing minimal exercise, if you eat a lot better, you can still lose a lot of weight. Start by changing your breakfast, or having breakfast. This will help kick-start your metabolism, for example whole grain oat meal, 1 cup of fruit and water.
In the six basic steps to weight loss, nutrition is covered in a lot more detail, so check it out. If you have a sedentary job, this can affect your body for the long-term. This can lead to obesity, heart problems, blood pressure issues, and even skeletal problems. So, if you start to think about your future and how you can change these issues, start with eating better. Avoid greasy foods, sugary drinks and snacks, foods high in trans and saturated fats, high in sodium, and especially white carbs such as white bread and pasta. Try to to eat more vegetables, protein, whole grains and fruits.
If you only eat two or three times a day, try to eat more meals, healthy of course. This will help speed up your metabolism. Also, try to drink more water, this can help you lose weight, too. Check out the information below.
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020, outline key recommendations for a healthy eating pattern. These include:
A Healthy Meal Pattern
· A variety of vegetables (dark green, red and orange) legumes (beans and peas), starchy and other. Examples; Red peppers, carrots, acorn squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes.
· Fruits, especially whole. Whole fruit for example is an apple instead of juice. This way you are getting all the nutrients in the skin and the fiber.
· Grains, at least half from whole grains. Examples, brown rice, barley, oatmeal and whole wheat pastas. Whole grains don’t have as much sugars as white and can contain vitamin B12, which can speed up your metabolism.
· Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese and or fortified soy beverages.
· A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), nuts, seeds and soy products.
Exercise
As mentioned earlier, the six basic steps to weight loss will go into more detail. But, if 1 to 3 days a week is all you are doing for exercise, then you need to make the intensity high. Minimum 30 minutes of high intensity interval training, and then cardio after. You can lift weights for 30 to 45 minuets, and then cardio for the same amount of time, other than the HIIT (high intensity interval training). The reason is, because if you are not be working out more than 3 times week, you may not be burning a lot of extra calories. So by doing high intensity training for a few days, can help you more than if you were to do nothing at all or very light workouts.
When it comes to cardio and weight training, you need to understand that a combination of nutrition, cardio, and weight training will produce the better results. Can you lose weight just eating better? Yes. But, your heart and muscles will not be as strong as you want them to be. Cardio will help burn more calories and improve heart health. Weight training will also help you burn more calories and build muscle. This does not mean get bulky and big, unless you are training for that. If you want that “lean” look, you can still weight train, just keep the reps high for endurance. If you are working out minimal days, do a lot of reps such as 15 plus and 4 plus sets. The biggest thing to remember is to make your rest periods short, meaning 30 seconds at most and continue the exercise. Limit your distractions.
