Ways to get fit… The last thing thought of over the holiday season.  It was fun! Giving, parties, celebrations, gatherings and so much more during the jolly season. It’s hard to resist overeating because we only get to experience the holiday season once a year. So we all take a break and treat ourselves to eating nice foods, especially when it’s delicious, and you’ve paid for it, right?

But now, guilt kicks in, and you want to go onto a stringent diet because you’re regretting feasting one whole month and you want to get back into shape for another year so that your clothes can fit… and let’s face it, you don’t have the funds now for an entirely new wardrobe.

We’ll offer some tips on home exercises, gyms, food and share some good nutritional shake recipes.

Ways To Get Fit:  Home Exercises 

Exercising is one of the most common strategies employed as it burns calories, and this plays a crucial role in weight loss. It’s probably one of the most comfortable manners too. Besides, it may offer other benefits, such as improved mood, stronger bones and reduced risk of many chronic diseases.

You can choose between walking, jogging/running, cycling, swimming, yoga, pilates, or interval training. It’s important to set goals for yourself, for example, to lose 2kg in one week with a set of different exercises. Keep track and if it doesn’t help you to reach your goals, attempt other exercises, but don’t give up!

20 to 30 minutes a day is all you need. Start with these 10 best exercises for weight loss, or just start with these beginner bodyweight workouts (3 circuits of each):

• 20 bodyweight squats
• 10 push-ups
• 10 walking lunges (each leg)
• 10 dumbbell rolls (you can use a bottle of milk if you don’t have a dumbbell)
• 15-second planking
• 30 jumping jacks

Gyms

Of course, and without shame, some individuals don’t trust their own willpower to exercise by themselves. Sandton Central offers a couple of exercise options for individuals seeking personal motivation. Here we have Planet Fitness Platinum, Legacy Balance Gyms, and Ubuntu Family Health Centre. If you’re looking for more intense contact sessions, Durandt’s Boxing World Boxing Gym is where you should definitely sign up.

Food

Along with exercise comes food, obviously. It doesn’t help to exercise so hard just to fall back on unhealthy food. You can go for a month without cake, we promise. Different foods go through different metabolic pathways in your body, and they can have vastly different effects on your hunger, hormones and the number of calories you burn.

Here are a couple of weight-loss friendly foods to include in your diet – whole eggs, leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, lean beef and chicken breast, boiled potatoes, tuna, beans and legumes, soups, cottage cheese, avos, apple cider vinegar, nuts, whole grains, chilli pepper, fruit, chia seeds, coconut oil, and full-fat yoghurt. With all these foods, we guarantee you won’t starve… it’s a mouthful!

Nutritional Shakes

Alternatively, if you had the power of making your life better in 30 seconds, you would choose to go with nutritional shakes. With a simple button, you can blend up weight-loss smoothies that will rev up your metabolism, tone, and define your muscles.

If you simply Google weight-loss smoothies, you’ll find endless recipes, but we’re highlighting a few of our favourites… We hope you like them!

• Raspberry smoothie bowls
• Strawberry citrus and ginger smoothie
• Peanut banana cinnamon smoothie
• Matcha green tea smoothie
• Pumpkin and fig smoothie

Whatever route you decide to take, just remember you’ve got this. Willpower knows no obstacles, so sweat up a storm!