Six Weight Loss Tips For Men

For some men, weight loss can seem like a daunting, and drawn out journey. If you aren’t really sure where to start, it can be quite intimidating! While seeing a Personal Trainer is, in my opinion, the best way to reduce the waist size, there are still plenty of things that you can be doing on your own that will make a great start!
Here are 6 easy things for men to do that will help in making a noticeable difference in your own weight loss journey!

1. Cut down on alcohol!
Alcohol is generally pretty high in calories, but that is only half the issue. While the alcohol is in your system, more foods will get converted into fats, as that is the easier task for your body to do while focusing on removing the alcohol from your system!

2. Throw in some short, high intensity exercise into your week!
High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a great way to burn off lots of calories in a short amount of time! This can be as little as sprinting flat-out for 60 seconds twice a week on an indoor bike. Findings by Abertay University in Dundee suggest that older men lost 1kg of fat in two months by doing this!

3. Use the stairs at work instead of the elevator!
Walking up stairs is an excellent form of exercise! If you have stairs at work, you can get in some incidental exercise by choosing them over the elevator (and half the time you will get where you want to go faster anyway!). Studies have found that climbing 55 flights a week can cut the risk of dying early by 15 per cent, and lower your cholesterol within weeks.

4. Start a weight training program!
We have all heard the saying “Muscle burns fat”. While this isn’t necessarily true, it can be said that muscles will burn energy while they are moving, and the more muscle you have, the more there is moving and burning fat. Muscle mass in most men peaks around the mid-twenties. As you get older, this will slowly decline if you aren’t doing something to stop it. Resistance training is by far the most effective means of arresting this fall. Working alongside a Personal Trainer will help you to safely train at a high intensity here!

5. Stretch when you would otherwise be sitting down and relaxing!
Not only does stretching help reduce muscle and joint soreness, it also increases blood flow to your muscles. This allows more nutrients to get where they need to go and will help you feel better in no time! This is extremely important when trying to lose weight, because feeling sore and tired all the time is a sure-fire way to discourage people from continuing. Even though it is important, this is one step that a lot of people skip over. This is another advantage of seeing a trainer – a partnered stretch will allow you to get a great stretch, without you having to do anything! On top of that, a good trainer will ALWAYS make sure to include a stretch, so you don’t even need to remember to do it yourself!

6. Make sure you give yourself enough time to properly recover!
Let’s be honest here; you won’t be able to train as hard or as often as you did when you were younger. As you get older, your bone structure and cartilage will get weaker, and it is important to be fully recovered from each training session before going again, to ensure you don’t damage yourself. Don’t feel guilty about only training once every few days, as this will be plenty to begin with to get the weight moving! Try instead to take part in some active recovery like walking or swimming! If you don’t like walking or swimming, and aren’t sure what else you could be doing, make sure to contact your local Personal Trainer for some more ideas!