Every year, people take out gym memberships, hire coaches or enter transformation challenges to transform their bodies and their lifestyles, once and for all.
However, without the right guidance and the appropriate plan, many are often left disappointed at the final outcome.
Kaizen Wellness co-founder Karla Visagie is a well-established, successful and respected transformation expert.
She and her team have invested a large portion of their careers into determining what exactly people need to achieve and sustain weight loss over the long term.
Follow their proven tips and efficient practices to not only transform your body, but also improve your life.
READ MORE | A Transformation Coach And Personal Trainer Shares 5 Proven Tips That Work!
Top 5 tips from Karla Visagie
Tip 1: Know the basics of fat loss. You can lose weight, but you cannot “lose” fat. You have to work it off.
It’s literally a surplus of energy that your body has stored and the only way to get rid of it (besides liposuction) is to use it up. To do that you have to create a daily energy deficit (either through nutrition, training or a combo of the two) and maintain that deficit consistently, until you can achieve the results you want. If you understand this, you are ahead of the game.
Tip 2: You have to change what you do daily to change how you look and feel.
Being fat or lean is just a symptom of your daily habits. How much extra body fat you’re carrying is a reflection of your current habits, so when you change your actions, your results also change. Instead of always trying to lose fat, rather focus on becoming a person who stays lean year round, because if you don’t change the things you do on a day-to-day basis (sleep, nutrition, exercise and stress management) your body will always revert back to your original level of skill. That’s the key that puts an end to dieting and results in lasting change.
Tip 3: Leave the advanced programmes to the advanced people.
If you haven’t exercised in six months or your diet consists mostly of processed foods and ready-made meals, then seven intense training sessions a week and a restrictive meal plan will most likely set you up for failure. There is a trend in the dieting industry that the more aggressive you train and diet the faster you’ll get results. The opposite is true. A newbie to healthy living will see faster results with a beginner’s programme than they will trying to follow an advanced strategy. Don’t underestimate consistent, small positive changes. If you focus on improving you nutrition and workouts just 1% every day, that will results in 365% growth in just one year. Respect where you are and start there.
Tip 4: When it comes to workouts and food, choose things you really enjoy.
The thing that keeps many people from taking those first steps and making positive changes is the belief that the process will suck. And it’s no wonder when you take a look at the endless list of extremes people go through to lose weight. You have to wake up from the “embrace the suck” mentality. There are definitely times and challenges that will require more effort, but overall, this journey should feel overwhelmingly awesome. Being healthy is not nearly such a big, complicated and traumatising ordeal as we’ve been led to believe. Every couch potato who has ever embraced fitness discovered to their amazement and delight that “moving your body feels great”. Eating healthfully actually tastes amazing, and when you start nourishing your body regularly you’ll start craving less junk and more healthful foods.
Tip 5: What you want is up to you.
This industry is filled with incredible people whose top priority it is to empower others with practical skills that will get them results. But to learn and develop those skills is your responsibility. You can read as many issues of a fitness magazine, invest in personal trainers, sign up for a meal prep service, or even invest in a fat-loss specialist like myself to give you a complete blueprint, but when all is said and done, you have to do the work. Without responsibility as a foundation you’ll find that nothing ever really works for you, and when you blame others, you give up your power to change. The results you get on any training programme or diet will be the results you give yourself. Once you realise that you won’t magically get more hours or money or energy or patience to make this goal a reality, you can get down to business and start doing the work.
Author: Pedro van Gaalen
When he’s not writing about sport or health and fitness, Pedro is probably out training for his next marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s worked as a fitness professional and as a marketing and comms expert. He now combines his passions in his role as managing editor at Fitness magazine.
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