My Fitness Hacks

I  remember getting frustrated and looking everywhere for an answer as to why I could not see the changes in my physique even after being consistent in my training and consciously eating right.

Where was I going wrong? I constantly changed my training and started experimenting with three to 5 days a week of training across different training programs. In addition, I shifted my food timing and options to see the expected transformation, but I still had no clue as to what was going wrong.

Then, one day, while preparing my meal, I realised that the quantity was too much, even though I was eating healthy food. I dug deeper to think about how many such mistakes I was making, without realising, and what I could do to overcome such errors.

I am sure many people can relate to me on this.

Here is a list I have made to make our lives simpler. We may also call these ‘hacks’,

A) Serving plate and bowl: This one tops my list. Our human brain is an asset and can also be an issue if not channelled in the right direction. Our standard plate sizes are enormous. When you put the food on this colossal plate, food looks too little and makes us overeat. The same food on a smaller plate will look sufficient and chances of overeating are minimal (unless you intentionally want to do it, then even God can’t help you)

HACK #1-Time to shop for a smaller size plate and bowl.

B) Drink your vegetables: We know how important vegetables are for fiber and our nutrition profile. So here is the hack, have your vegetable juice 90 minutes before lunch/dinner. Now, this will help to bring more fiber into your diet and will fill your satiety. But, most important, it will minimize the situation of overeating at lunch/dinner.
HACK #2-Drink up your vegetable juice 90 minutes prior to your meals.

C) Mindful snacking:  I know at what hours I will have the urge to snack during the day. Therefore my meal timings are fixed, probably 30 mins earlier or later. If you can set your meal timing, the chances of deviating from your food are very slim. If there is an urge to snack even after a meal (common, we are not robots, this is quite possible), keep fruits like oranges, bananas or dry fruits like almonds and walnut within your reach. Snacking on these is better than the unhealthy stuff.
HACK #3-Fix up your meal times and snack away to the healthy options if you will!

D) Invest in a Food App: Do this today. Oh, wait, like now! We are blessed to live in this technology-driven world, which makes life easy at every step.  Start entering your food in these apps, which give you a breakdown of calories with macros and micronutrients. Tracking food is a great start, and these tools make our life easy.  I am a fan of myfitnesspal.
HACK #4-Time to start using a fitness app!

E) Fatigue Management: I am talking about avoiding killing yourself when you train. Every training session should be planned so that you don’t overtrain on a day, which would sacrifice your next few days (this doesn’t mean you dont train with intensity).  Give yourself a break every one/two weeks in your diet depending on where you stand in terms of results and how good you were during the week. Giving one happy meal (food you crave)  in a week to fulfil your satiety makes it easy to stick to the plan longer, eventually becoming a lifestyle.
HACK #5-Once a week enjoy your favourite Meal( don’t over do it).

F) Stress Management: Why do i call this a hack? Isn’t this important. It is, but we always oversee this. We ignore this; what happens when your stress level is high ( could be for anything )? We look for comfort food to bring our stress down. Obviously, this is temporary, and the vicious cycle continues. To overcome this, Have that friend or a counsellor on your speed dial. Make a habit of spending one hour in a week with that friend or counsellor with whom you can open up about your issues. Hack#6: Spend one hour a week with the friend or counsellor to manage your stress.

The above hacks have made me more mindful of what I am doing and helped me to be more consistent in my regime, which eventually means RESULT!