With the start of the new year comes a rush to work on goals like weight loss and fitness. With this comes a range of different fad diet promotions and articles related to the best way to achieve weight loss. Most of the time these articles will be aimed at achieving results in the shortest amount of time preying on human emotion and the want of a quick fix. I read an article recently about how you can lose more weight exercising for 30 minutes per day when compared with 1 hour. This sounds good, workout less and get better results? However what the article fails to mention is the added intensity of the 30 minute workout when compared to the 60 minute one. Working out at a high intensity rate for 30 minutes of course is going to burn more energy than working out for 60 minutes at a low intensity rate. I think most of us without studying would agree that a 30 min fast paced run is going to do more for us than a 60 min brisk walk. That makes sense. But at face value these articles are misleading. They imply something they're not.
So are we asking the wrong question all together and what is the right question? With any goal especially one like weight loss the right question really is, what effort am I willing to put in to achieve this? An honest answer in this area will determine whether we are going to be successful with our goal or not. If we are willing to do the work then we will get the results. If we aren't then we won't. It generally comes back to this. This makes sense our results are directly proportionate to our efforts.
Of course it pays to get the right advice so that we are placing our efforts in the right direction. But it's best to get this from a trained professional. You wouldn't try fix your car based on an article you read or documentary you watched, would you? Or put a new type of fuel in it just because someone on the internet said that it would make it go faster? So why do we do it with our health goals? Reach out to a nutritionist, dietitian, qualified trainer or your healthwise professional to get some expert advice. From there apply them, work hard and be consistent. That will set you up well for success.
