{ "id": 8030, "date": "2018-11-01T15:32:44", "date_gmt": "2018-11-01T15:32:44", "guid": { "rendered": "https:\/\/uk.inbody.com\/?p=8030" }, "modified": "2018-11-01T15:35:59", "modified_gmt": "2018-11-01T15:35:59", "slug": "how-to-end-the-cycle-of-starting-over", "status": "publish", "type": "post", "link": "https:\/\/ro.inbody.com\/en\/how-to-end-the-cycle-of-starting-over\/", "title": { "rendered": "How To End The Cycle of Starting Over" }, "content": { "rendered": "

How many times have you started working out? How many times have you started a new program by feeling excited, committed, and confident that this will be the time you finally get the body you\u2019ve always wanted?<\/p>\n

So you start, and a month goes by, then two, then three. \u00a0Everything\u2019s going well until one day, something comes up and you have to skip a gym day. \u00a0\u201cNo big deal. It\u2019s just one day\u201d, you say.<\/b><\/p>\n

Then you lose your momentum and start skipping a gym day here and there every couple of weeks.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll make it up next week,\u201d you say.<\/b><\/p>\n

Then eventually, you start going one day a week less, until before you know it, you\u2019ve stopped going completely.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just too busy,\u201d you say.<\/b><\/p>\n

Why do people quit the gym? If the above story sounds like you, you\u2019re not alone: lack of time\/being busy\u00a0is one of the most frequently quoted reasons<\/a>\u00a0for quitting the gym.<\/p>\n

But for many of us, it\u2019s not that we don\u2019t have the time: it\u2019s that we\u2019re not seeing any immediate\u00a0return on the time spent exercising and so we give up.<\/b><\/p>\n

Time is valuable, and if we\u2019re not getting any positive results from spending it at the gym (or anywhere for that matter), we will put our time elsewhere in activities where we do get results.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be great if you could end the cycle of start-stop, start-stop? \u00a0Whether you\u2019re on your first fitness journey or your fifteenth, here are some important things to consider to make sure the time you spend on your fitness is well spent\u00a0so you never have to start over again<\/b>.<\/p>\n

1. Commit to the Gym AND\u00a0a Diet<\/h2>\n

Ever hear the expression, \u201c6-pack abs are made in the kitchen?\u201d It\u2019s true: working out alone doesn\u2019t mean much if you don\u2019t also take control of your diet. \u00a0If your goal is weight loss, you need to burn more calories than you take in. \u00a0Yes, that means keeping track of your calories.<\/p>\n

It gets really hard to stick with the gym when you aren\u2019t seeing results after a couple of months. \u00a0That\u2019s because if you\u2019re doing everything right and being consistent, you should be seeing progress.<\/p>\n

But before you get too frustrated, know this:\u00a0counting calories works<\/b>\u00a0and it\u2019s not that hard if you can get a sense of how many calories\u00a0your body\u00a0<\/b>needs. \u00a0You can do that with the following steps.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0At your gym or doctor\u2019s office, get your body composition analyzed. \u00a0For counting calories, what you need to get is your\u00a0Lean Body Mass<\/a>\u00a0(sometimes called Fat-Free Mass) and body fat percentage.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Use your body fat percentage to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories your body needs to support itself, excluding the energy needed to move and do work. \u00a0You can do that with\u00a0this online calculator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Once you have your BMR, you need to use it estimate how many calories your body uses in a day,\u00a0including activity\/exercise<\/b>. That\u2019s called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). You\u2019ll need to multiply BMR with an Activity Factor that best reflects how active you are. Those activity factors are:<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong>4)\u00a0With your TDEE in hand, now you have a much better idea about\u00a0how many calories your body needs to maintain itself. \u00a0You need to adjust your caloric intake to your goals. \u00a0You must reduce your daily calories to be under this TDEE and be consistent if you want to lose fat.<\/p>\n

To gain muscle, although everyone agrees that you need to exceed your TDEE, the amount necessary remains difficult to accurately determine. One study of bodybuilders reports you\u2019ll need to exceed it\u00a0by about 15%.<\/a>, whereas the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)\u00a0recommends an overall caloric increase<\/a>\u00a0of between 300-500 calories a day.]\n

2. Measure Success By Tracking Changes In Your Body<\/h2>\n

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It seems logical to use a scale to track your progress. \u00a0You probably have one at home, and since you\u2019re expecting to see weight loss changes, it makes sense to use it to track your progress. \u00a0However, using a scale can give you\u00a0a false impression of your progress<\/b>\u00a0that can leave you feeling discouraged, or worse \u2013 make you think you\u2019re not getting results when you actually are!<\/p>\n