Posts Tagged with: "Clean & Mean Routine"

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips from for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

Tip 3: EXERCISE 4X A WEEK

As mentioned, our TBR Clean & Mean Routine is about eating clean food. It’s also about being MEAN. M in Mean is for meals of three and snacks of two. E is for EXERCISE at least 4x a week.

This week, focus on engaging in a physical activity at least 4x a week.

WHAT TYPE OF ACTIVITY SHOULD YOU GET INTO?

For me, these are the criteria for your ideal workout:

1) Challenges your body – While any kind of movement, like a stroll in the park, will burn calories, it just won’t be enough if you want to get fitter. Choose an activity will get your heart pumping and also toughen you up mentally.

2) Fits your lifestyle – The activity has to fit well into your daily schedule and the rest of your life. It should not interfere with your obligations in life such as family and career. It should be something you can afford. It should be something you can do regularly without being too much of an inconvenience.

3) You enjoy doing it – Go for an activity that you would do simply because you love it and not because you have to burn the calories from dinner last night or you have to look great for an upcoming wedding.

4) It is sustainable – Think long term. Start an activity that you can see yourself doing for at least 6 months. Even better if you can see yourself doing it for the rest of your life.

Having mentioned that, it doesn’t mean that you can only choose one activity for the entire week. You can have a variety of workouts throughout the week and this is actually better so that you use different muscle groups and even avoid injury. For example, triathletes will typically juggle swim, bike, and run workouts throughout the week with some strength and flexibility workouts thrown into the mix.

RUNNING: MY BIASED OPINION

Since you’re on this blog, I’m assuming that if you’re not running yet then there is at least an interest in starting. Good for you. It is my opinion (and yes I must admit I am biased) that running is the best cardiovascular activity you can get into. It is affordable (just get a good pair of shoes), convenient (just head out the door), easy (choose to go at your own pace!), and efficient (one of the activities that can get you to burn a ton of calories in just an hour.)

I’ve been running for almost 8 years now. It surprises some non-runners or beginners when I tell them that I run just 3 to 4x a week. Even when I’m training for a marathon, I run a maximum of 4x a week and cross train on other days to allow for recovery and keep injury at bay.

Most beginners still have the misconception that runners run every single day. They think: “I can’t be a runner! I don’t have time to do it!” Truth is, squeezing in an hour of running on 4 days of the week is easy. Just quit lurking of Facebook and Instagram, skip watching TV, or run before dinner. You’ll find that it’s pretty easy to get a workout into your day.

LIVING AN ACTIVE LIFE

As mentioned in the past tips, our goal isn’t to start a new diet or fitness regimen. It’s to adopt a healthier and more active lifestyle.

My hope for you is that you find the workout that you’ll love. That you start engaging in this new physical activity with goals of becoming better at the sport and progressing in your skills rather than staring at the numbers on the scale. That you lace up your shoes and head out the door with enthusiasm and excitement rather than dreading the couple of hours of suffering and sweat. That, in time, you find yourself waking up to workout without giving it a thought because it’s just as regular as brushing your teeth.

And, yes, I will understand if it isn’t running. Although I will tell you that you’ll be missing out bigtime!

ARE YOU READY TO COMMIT?

If you want to join me and others on our TBR Clean and Mean Routine for 2014, just do this:

Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.

Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.

Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FB Page who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.

By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!

Read:
TBR Clean & Mean Routine – Part 1 & Part 2
Tip 1: Eat Clean
Tip 2: Mealtime: Listen to Your Body

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

Tip 1: EAT CLEAN FOOD.

This week, from January 13 to 19, focus on eating clean, wholesome, nutritious food. I know, you’ve heard this many times before. Everyone knows that this is the key to losing weight. It really is! But, for most of us, the difficulty comes in applying it. We can eat healthy for a day, or maybe a week, and then we fall off the healthy eating wagon and feel like a complete failure.

The difference now is in your mindset. Change your mind about healthy eating. Do not even think that you’re going to start a new short-term diet today. You’re not. You are starting a new, better way of living. Ready? Game!

WHAT ARE CLEAN FOODS?

What food should you be eating most of this week? Clean food!

Clean foods are foods that are as close to its natural state as possible. They come from nature. These are fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish, and nuts. They rarely come packaged, but, if they do, they have only one or two ingredients in the label.

Choose a banana over a packaged bar.
Choose tilapia and brown rice over spam and white rice.
Choose fresh buko juice over soda.
Choose a handful of nuts over a bag of chips.

CROWDING OUT

By eating more clean food this week, we will fill our bodies with healthy food that make us feel satisfied so that we don’t even have space for junk. This is what we call CROWDING OUT in my nutrition school.

This week, focus on all the clean food you can have and get excited over it. Try a new fresh and healthy recipe. Think of new restaurants that serve awesome grilled salmon and fresh salads. Look forward to eating. Period.

Since we’re just starting out, you may notice that you still want to eat some not so good food. Go ahead. Don’t stress over it. Just do so in moderation and make sure you are eating the clean food that you should be eating. You’ll notice that, as you go along, you’ll be craving less of the junk and filling yourself with clean food without even thinking about it.

WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO DO

Two things I don’t want you to do this week:

1) DO NOT think about all the food you will scrap from your diet this week. DO NOT tell yourself that, this week, you will not have red meat, rice, dessert and soda. This will leave you feeling angry and deprived. And, if you mess up, you will feel like a complete failure. Focus on the good food you will be eating and how you are nourishing your body.

2) DO NOT be too hard on yourself. I said we want to eat clean MOST of the time, but SOMETIMES we can allow ourselves to indulge and enjoy not-so-healthy food. So, if you want to have a taste of cake or a sip of soda, go ahead! Life is too short to quit eating cake for a whole year (I have friends who’ve done that. Boo to them!) I say, live your life to the fullest!

ARE YOU READY TO COMMIT?

Come and join me and others on our TBR Clean & Mean Routine!

Here’s how to join:

• Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.
• Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.
• Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FACEBOOK PAGE who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.
• By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!