Some of the best fitness and nutrition advice I have ever received

I thought I would share. Now some of this might already be stuff you have already heard, but I will be spinning a new light on it.

1. Consistency
Now some of us are consistent with diet, others of us are consistent with exercises, but you need to be consistent with BOTH.
In 3 months time of being consistent with BOTH you will start to notice some changes in your body. Note how I said - BOTH, and SOME changes, not a lot.
In 6 months time you will start to notice more significant changes in your body - if you are consistent with BOTH. Yes, it takes 6 months, not 6 days or 6 weeks to start  to see significant changes in your body.
If you keep it up for a YEAR, you will have a whole new body!
This doesn't mean you can be consistent on the weekdays and then let your diet go to hell on the weekends.
It doesn't mean you can workout for a month, then stop for a month. Get my drift here?

2. Log your food
More people have success changing their bodies if they are aware of what they are eating. If you log your food, and say at 3:00 are hungry, you can look and see how many calories, carbs, fat and protein you have eaten so far over the course of the day and then make an informed choice for your next snack and/or meal.
I cannot emphasize enough how much this helps. If you get the late night munchies, you can review your log and notice if you have any calories left to eat, or make a decision to have a cup of tea instead because your day has had enough calories.
There are tons of FREE apps out there these days to pick from to help you log your food. I like Calorie Counter (as an example).

3. Log your workouts
SO many people just go through the motions with their workouts. LOG what you are doing and next time you do it, try and do better. This helps change your muscle tone. Do what you've always done, get what you've always got!
If you take a spin class, log it, and next time try and go harder, faster, or whatever it is. Try and hold your yoga poses longer, or try a new variation. Lift heavier weights next time, or do more reps, or sets. Look at your log and PLAN your next workout to be better than the last time. Make sense?

4. Lift weights
Stop over doing the cardio. Cardio may burn calories while you are doing it, but lifting weights is far more effective at burning fat and changing the shape of your body - PERIOD. If you are a woman - you will NOT get bulky. Have you ever seen HOW much weight a bulky woman lifts? I mean she's the one in the gym squatting 200+ lbs, deadlifting 250+ lbs, pressing 150+ lbs, etc. So stop telling me that doing squats with 20 lbs or bicep curls with 10 lbs is going to make you bulky. Seriously? Even some women who lift that heavy can't get bulky! SO STOP IT and lift something heavier. Get off the damn elliptical and treadmill. Strengthen those muscles! If you focus on getting stronger, fat loss will happen automatically.

5. You cannot work off what you eat.
You overeat, so you over exercise, which makes you super hungry, so you over eat, you feel guilty, so you over exercise, and on goes the vicious cycle! Sure once in a while if you over eat (say on your birthday or Christmas day) working out extra hard the next day can help you out, but also eating less the next day and drinking a ton of water will do more without making you super hungry.
You eat far more calories in minutes than you can expend at hours in the gym, so stop sabotaging your efforts. Log your food and this will help!

6. More water and more protein.
If you are doing all of the above and are at a standstill, take a look at how much protein and water you are taking in. Maybe it is time to up your level of protein intake and increase your water. Also, limiting dairy and sugar will help if you have reached a plateau. There's lots of debates on whether or not your body really needs more protein. I'm not saying it does or doesn't. BUT if you have reached a plateau, then perhaps it is time to explore eating more protein and detoxing your system with more water.

7. Get out of your comfort zone.
As I said before, do what you've always done, get what you've always got, so do something different. If you are overdoing cardio, add in some weight lifting. Add in a yoga class if you are tight. Try pull ups, push ups off your knees, deadlifts, weighted jump squats, gymnastics core work, etc, etc. Try something new that you can add to your weekly routine. Getting out of your comfort zone is not only good for the body, but good for the mind and your sense of accomplishment as well. It's fun! And working out should be some fun.

Hope you enjoyed the article. Time to make some changes and have fun doing it. :)