5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Began My Fitness Journey

 

Everyone starts somewhere. Whether it’s a new hobby or a lifestyle change, the beginnings are always tough. At first, when you start your fitness journey, it may be exciting to try new things, and see how far you can go. You will be excited to finally take those extra steps to better yourself, you’ll buy equipment and workout clothes, maybe try a protein shake; but then things start to change. You go to the gym and you start feeling lost. Everyone around you seems to know what they’re doing, except you. You may be at home and struggling to finish a fifteen-minute YouTube workout, wondering if you can find motivation to continue on this journey.

During this period of uncertainty and doubt, the best thing you can do for yourself is educating yourself, yes, you read that right! Watch videos, listen to podcasts, read articles, blogs, books, anything that will provide you with the information you need. Lack of knowledge and information about your new lifestyle choices, may lead you to quit without even really starting. Nobody starts working out and immediately knows how to hold proper form, or knows a number of exercises that target each muscle group. Everything you aspire to become, is learned through trial and error, which brings us to the first point:

1. Everyone was a beginner at some point

 

Education about fitness is crucial, in every form or way that you want to consume it, but it’s not the only thing you need at the beginning of your journey. Even with all the information provided on the internet, some people still might need a little push. Asking for help from enthusiasts or professionals is totally okay! Most of the people in the fitness world, will be glad to lend you a hand, motivate you or educate you. Don’t let your insecurities hold you back. Being shy, insecure or anxious is normal, even in the world of fitness. As you continue showing up to the gym, your Yoga or Pilates class, these insecurities will slowly fade away. You will eventually realize that nobody is staring at you, and everybody is invested in their progress, this we can promise.

2. Restricting food and dieting won’t help you lose weight.

 

There are thousands of diets out there, most of women have tried a number of them, but do they actually work? Usually, diets give you only short-term results, which can backfire if you’re not careful. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting and that 20-25% of those individuals develop eating disorders. If you want to lose weight in a healthy matter, and maintain that weight, you need a lifestyle change, not a diet. Remember that food is fuel; you need fuel for your brain, heart and muscles to function properly. Read our blog post on the classic debate whether abs are made in the kitchen and read our tips for advice on fat loss.

3. Stick to a workout program or routine

 

We recommend sticking to a routine for the best results. Even in the first month, when you’ve just started, its important to have some routine to practice. Presumably, you wont be able to write one for yourself as you are starting your journey, but there are always routines that you can download, or watch on the internet. These ready-made routines will help you learn as you exercise. Sticking to a routine for weeks or a few months will teach you about proper form, and most importantly discipline. Your confidence will only increase when you notice that you get better and stronger each week. Don’t be afraid to try routines, and even challenges if you’re feeling extra motivated! Extra tip for the ladies – don’t be afraid to add weight to your workouts! They will not make you look bulky or less feminine, just look at our coach Sof!

4. Feeling sore isn’t always a good thing

 

Muscle soreness is normal, for the most part. At the beginning, when you first start exercising, or when trying a new routine, your muscles may be more sore than usual, but be aware. Being sore all the time, accompanied by fatigue, might be a sign that you are overdoing it! Prioritize rest for muscle repair and your health in general. Overexercising might spike your cortisol, disbalance your hormones and lead to serious injuries. Consider stretching before and after exercising in order to avoid muscle soreness and injuries.

5. Motivation is learned

 

This is the most important point that we saved for last. No one you know is driven by any kind of motivation. The key to reaching your fitness goals is consistency, effort and discipline. All of these factors combine together and drive your motivation. Each one of these things need to be learned and practiced every day, in order for you to get what you want. So, even on your bad days, show up and do your routine. You can cut the routine short, or do it slower, anything that will help you complete it. Once you finish your exercise for the day you will feel so much better, your energy will skyrocket, your brain will be awake, and your sense of accomplishment will be fulfilled. Never give up the chance to become a better version of yourself!

Don’t forget to check out FitSof’s Push Start beginner program, where we implement tips like these, along with the 4-week exercise routines, and a guide on nutrition!

5 Tips for Eating Out When on a Diet

 

Each and every one of us likes to treat ourselves to a nice meal in a restaurant sometimes. Some people that don’t enjoy cooking, prefer eating out over home cooked meals. But how often do you question the quality of the food you’re eating outside of your home, and how it affects your health? According to USDA, what they call FAFH (food away from home) increases daily caloric intake and reduces diet quality. Breakfast and lunch away from home increase calories from saturated fat and SoFAAS (saturated and solid fat, alcohol, and added sugar) on average more among dieters than among nondieters. So, how do we approach this “bad” habit of eating out?

If you are a person that is trying to get their nutrition in check, it would be better for you to plan and cook your meals at home. These same rules apply for people that are in a calorie deficit/surplus, but some days, we all want to take a break from cooking. Events such as birthday dinners, celebrations, and anniversaries also make it difficult for us to avoid eating out:  they are associated with consuming some alcohol and fast food. This leads us to the question whether its possible to maintain our healthy diet and nutrition, without avoiding a nice meal out on some special days.

We are here to tell you the good news! It is possible to eat out without ruining your diet, or calorie deficit, with slight adjustments and planning beforehand.
Here are our 5 tips to follow while eating out on a diet:

1. Check the menu beforehand

 

Before heading out to a restaurant, do a little research on it. Check out the reviews, look at pictures and find the menu on their website or any social media profile. This way, you can see the prices, the food options you have and check out the ingredients to meet your macros. This also helps with the indecisiveness and overwhelming feeling that you get when you are rushed to choose a meal quickly when you’re already at the restaurant.

2. Do not starve prior to eating out

 

Getting excited and preparing to eat at your favorite restaurant, shouldn’t include skipping meals. If you’re planning to have a nice meal with your partner for lunch, don’t skip your breakfast, it’s as simple as that. Eating a big meal on an empty stomach will only result in a blood sugar spike, that will end up making you even hungrier. This will undoubtedly make you crave more food than you can handle, and you will end up overeating.

3. Go for grilled & steamed food, instead of extra fried, processed food.

 

Food such as meat and vegetables when grilled and steamed, keeps its nutrients and health benefits, when compared to the same food when fried or boiled. Grilled meats have a reduced fat content and lower calorie content which can lower bad cholesterol levels.
Additionally, recognize that some breakfast food, such as cereal and granola, is extremely processed. Be careful when eating in brunch spots that claim to be healthy, but add sugar and use processed ingredients that increase your calorie intake. Your acai bowl can have more calories than bacon and fried eggs! Don’t be fooled by food that is advertised as healthy, and always check the ingredients in it.

4. Ditch the appetizers

 

Along with hospitality, one of the main reasons you are served bread, or bread sticks before ordering a meal, is to make you hungrier! Simple carbohydrates trigger insulin production and spike your blood sugar, leading to cravings for more food. The cycle continues as previously mentioned in this blog, because you end up overordering and overeating. To avoid this, simply avoid appetizers and skip straight to dinner! Or if you have company, share the appetizer to consume less calories.

5. Limit your alcohol intake

 

Liquid calories are sneaky, and mostly forgotten while counting calories in dieting. Unfortunately, liquid calories count too, and alcohol has many of them! If you love your wine and want to relax on a night out, you don’t have to avoid alcohol entirely. Our pro tip is to set a limit on your alcohol intake, by choosing a number of drinks you’ll have for the night. You should also consider opting for some lower calorie options when choosing to drink alcohol. Vodka soda, white wine, and hard seltzer are some of the best low calorie alcoholic drinks!

Bonus tips:

1. Share your food!

 In some countries such as the USA, dinner portions are quite big. If you feel full, don’t force yourself to finish the meal. Instead, share it with somebody or ask the staff to pack your food and take it home with you.

2. Avoid soda.

Along with a lot of calories, soda contains huge amounts of added sugar! These types of drinks dehydrate you, make you feel bloated and increase your calorie intake. Instead, try drinking unsweetened ice tea, or just water.

3. Ask for sauces and dressings on the side.

When ordering salads, or anything that includes sauces and dressings, ask the staff to bring them separately. Sauces and dressings can contain a lot of calories, which can add up to the ones of your meal. If you ask for them on the side, you can control how much of them you consume, or if you want to add them to the meal at all.

 

Consider these five tips when eating out so you avoid those sneaky extra calories.
But firstly, remember to enjoy your meal and spend some quality time with your loved ones! One extra meal wont ruin your whole diet, because your fitness journey isn’t linear.

3 Things to Set Up for Tomorrow – Tips for Success

 

Starting off your day right is crucial for a successful, and happy life. We already talked about how change, and some simple adjustments to your daily routine can improve your life. Any lifestyle magazine, or life coach will tell you things like “get better sleep”, “take care of your health” and “eat healthy”, in order to be successful. But how do these things really affect your life and your goals? lets discuss them and why they need more of your attention. These are the three things that you might be neglecting, which could be getting in your way of achieving success:

1. Food

You have probably heard of the phrase “You are what you eat” many times. No matter how annoyed it makes you, it’s not far from the truth! What you consume affects your health, your weight and also your brain!
According to Frontiers, the food you eat affects neurons, which are the major cells of the brain. In the brain, an unhealthy diet that is rich in fats and sugars causes inflammation of neurons and inhibits the formation of new neurons. This can affect the way the brain works and contribute to brain disorders like depression. If you don’t nurture your brain and body, you will have no energy to work, take care of yourself and achieve your goals, so make sure to incorporate healthy eating daily! Here’s some extra advice – consider meal prepping! When your healthy breakfast, or lunch is already planned and prepared, you won’t feel the need to order takeout or eat junk food to save time.

2. Your Sleep

Sleep is one of the key factors to success. Not getting enough sleep, or not getting good sleep, sadly affects everything about your life! During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. Getting inadequate sleep over time affects your heart and circulatory system, metabolism, respiratory system, and immune system. Lack of sleep will make you groggy, irritated, and drowsy, and you will forget about ever being productive. Sleep is essential for success, value your rest and prioritize quality sleep over unnecessary Netflix binge watching!

3. Your menstrual cycle

As a woman, one of the most important thing you can do is educating yourself about our menstrual cycle! Our menstrual cycle affects everything, including our willingness to be productive. Women can be very affected by the change of the cycle, so, knowing when those changes happen, and how to manage them can be life changing! You cannot be ready to take on the world, if all you can do is curl up in bed, so let’s start with the basics. There are four phases of the menstrual cycle:

• Menstruation

Menstruation is commonly known as a period. During this phase you may experience pain, irritation, fatigue and mood swings. it is better to prioritize rest, self care and light movement during this period.’

• The Follicular phase 

The follicular phase starts on the first day of your period and lasts for 13 to 14 days, ending in ovulation.
During this phase, a few days after your period is over, you can slowly feel your energy increasing. Your brain will also get sharper, and your pain tolerance will increase. This means that you can slowly get back to your usual routines, use your heavier weights at the gym, and start chasing your daily goals!

• Ovulation

The shortest phase of the cycle, ovulation only lasts between 16 and 32 hours, and is when you’re most fertile.
Many women are either feeling very positive or very negative during this short phase, because of estrogen and progesterone levels increasing. However, energy levels are at their peak! This means that you can do HIIT, use heavier weights when working out, and having overall more productive days.

• The Luteal phase

After ovulation, cells in the ovary release progesterone and a small amount of estrogen. During this phase, expect to have very low energy, cravings and mood swings. This means that you need to prioritize rest and light movement again. Consider lowering your weights, do lower impact workouts and do some journaling to clear your mind.

Let us wrap it up now. 

Prioritizing the food you consume, the quality of your sleep and knowing about your menstrual cycle (as a woman) can affect your daily life and change it for the better. Doing these daily, and preparing for a better tomorrow, can slowly lead you to success, and achieving your goals, so what are you waiting for?
Remember this quote by Paulo Coelho every time you struggle to keep up with your goals:

“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” — Paulo Coelho

Change your Mindset and Change your Life

 

The way we perceive things is very important. Our perspective on the things we do in our daily lives can shape our lives in ways in which you can’t imagine. Let’s be clear, if you wake up every day, feeling like you are forcing yourself to cook, clean, go to work or exercise, you can’t expect to feel anything but unhappy. Working on your mindset, and how you view things, can not only help you with your mental health, but also help your daily performance of simple and more complex tasks. Your mind is a powerful tool that you can use to your advantage, change your mindset and change your life, here is how:

  Practice gratefulness

 

We already mentioned keeping a journal as a daily habit than can improve your life. However, if writing something down isn’t your thing, there are other ways to practice gratefulness. Our favorite way is by a simple change of your way of thinking: Replace “I need to” with “I get to”.
“I get to move my body today” , “I get to eat this delicious meal” , “I get to have free time and take a walk in the park” etc.
In this way, you affirm and understand your everyday blessings. You will be aware and grateful for all the things you have, and that positivity will get you through the day.

Don’t punish yourself

 

Some days are more difficult than others. You might not do well at your job, you might eat something that you are avoiding, or barely go through fifteen minutes of exercising. However, you need to learn to forgive yourself and move on, in order to grow. Always have a positive outlook on things, and try to avoid punishing yourself. You don’t need to overwork, overexercise or eat less to make up for the day before. You have a new day ahead of you, acknowledge and learn from your mistakes, but never punish yourself for them!

Don’t compare yourself

 

Comparison is the thief of joy – Theodore Roosevelt

Everyone you know lives under different circumstances, and is at a different stage in life. There is no point in comparing yourself to other people, unless you want to increase your insecurities and doubts. You write the story of your own life, you don’t need to listen to anyone’s advice, you can guide yourself. The only person you should compare yourself to, is your past self. By this, we don’t mean being critical of your past self, the things you’ve done or how your body looked like. Practicing self-love is the key to confidence and acceptance: love and forgive your past self in order to improve your current self.  Strive to become a better version of yourself everyday, and never compare yourself to others. Everyone looks out for themselves first, and you should too!

Complain less and do more

 

Filling your mind with toxic thoughts and negativity isn’t helping you. We know it isn’t easy to be positive all the time, but rewiring your brain and changing your thought process is crucial for your mental health. Your habit of thinking negatively can affect you, and also the people you love. Constantly complaining about being unhappy, tired, and other people and their lives can only affect you badly. Try to turn that negative energy into something positive:  try doing instead of complaining. If you don’t like something about your life, or yourself, aim for change, and keep trying until you succeed!

 

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How to Overcome your Insecurities

 

Following beauty standards in this day and age, when social media rules over our lives is impossible. Trends come and go, and they all seem to attack men and women for the way they look or don’t look. When you scroll through TikTok or Instagram, all you see is people that seem perfect. They look beautiful, have glass skin, “perfect” body, and a perfect life. But how do you know that what you’re seeing is real?  Almost every content creator or influencer that you see on social media can fool you into thinking that they’re the epitome of some beauty standard, by using filters, and video editing.

However, the truth of the matter is, that even those people have something to be insecure about. People that seem very confident can also struggle with self-image, they have just found a way to accept their imperfections. Having insecurities is normal, but not ideal for your self-image and confidence. So, how do you work on overcoming your insecurities? Let’s begin by understanding these feelings and their causes.

What is insecurity?

Insecurity involves an overall sense of uncertainty or anxiety about your worth, abilities, skills, and value as a person, conveying the message that you’re at risk or in danger of something or someone. That negative impacts of insecurity could be physical, mental, or emotional. Without security, you can’t accomplish full trust or function to your fullest potential.

 Why you’re insecure.

The reasons for insecurity can be different for every individual. Some reasons can be: a low self-worth, low confidence, childhood trauma (such as emotional abuse, bullying etc.), anxiety, or even perfectionism. Social media could also be making you insecure, and a cause for most of the things listed above, be careful of what kind of content you consume on the internet!

Here is how to start working on overcoming your insecurities with three basic steps:

1. 1. Understand that other people also struggle with their insecurities.

As we already mentioned above, everyone you know struggles with their body image and self-worth. Did you know that Henry Cavill, the actor that is famous amongst men and the gym community for his perfectly masculine features and body, was a chubby kid, constantly bullied for his looks during his childhood? Yes, even the most “perfect-looking” celebrities struggle with their body image, and even eating disorders. Just like you, they are under societal pressure to look a certain type of way, and have feelings of insecurity. Some celebrities and influencers choose to be open about their struggles, in order to help some people like us feel less alone.

1. 2. Do not compare yourself to other people

On the other hand, comparing yourself to people on the internet, might be your biggest mistake! Mindlessly scrolling through social media, looking at fit, skinny or curvy women, and questioning why you don’t look like them, is feeding your insecurities. However, everyone is guilty of this crime, we all compare ourselves to others. We already talked about this in our previous blog, but comparison is the thief of joy. Work on self-love and be realistic on what you can “improve”, if you really feel the need to that. For example, you are insecure about your small glutes and stumpy legs. You cannot elongate your legs, but you can gain lean muscle and shape your legs to look less stumpy. You can also grow your glutes with increased protein intake and shape them with certain exercises. Another thing to consider is that you might be somebody’s body goals!

So stop beating yourself up for the way you look, you are perfect the way you are to somebody else, and you should be enough for yourself too.

1. 3. Work on being the best version of yourself

The most important step you can follow to beat your insecurities! If you really struggle with your body image, and the way you look, the key is to accept things you can’t change, and work on the things you can change. The FitSof team believes in positive change and self-improvement. There is no need to starve yourself, or overexercise to look your best: your fitness journey is not linear, and it will take time to reach your goals. Your physical and mental health should be your first priority! If you do prioritize these things, you will gain your confidence back, your insecurities will be invisible, and you will be unstoppable.

Lastly, remember this quote the next time you compare yourself to someone you see on social media:

All that glitters is not gold

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How to Fall in Love with Exercising

 

Keeping up with any kind of routine may be difficult at times. You might feel too exhausted ,lazy, or unmotivated to keep up and keep going. But the thing that is mostly messing with your ability to keep a routine up, is your motivation to do so. This reason is also why you can’t create, or keep up with any fitness routine. So, we figured out the first step you need to take to find that motivation, that drive to keep you going, let’s start with an example.

In the past, our coach Sofiia was always insecure about her arms. She used to get comments about how they were different from the rest of her body. She had nice and strong legs, shoulders and torso, but her arms were flabby. Since she got insecure about her arms, she decided to work on them and tone them. However, upper body exercises were just not her thing, and she loathed doing them, but decided to continue working on those muscle groups anyway. After a while, people noticed how toned and strong her arms looked. They complimented her and asked about her routine, they wanted to look like her. This is the moment Sofiia found her reason, her motivation and drive to keep going. Now she looks forward to training her upper body, as she has also noticed her growth.

How your mindset plays a part in this

 

Exercise has many benefits that might give you motivation to continue your fitness journey. But those might not be enough for you to keep up with every small part of your routine, especially when forming new habits. “Getting stronger” might not be enough of a reason to make you not skip leg day. Associating so-called leg day (the day you train legs on) with exhaustion and muscle cramps, won’t get you far: this is where your mindset comes in.

You always need a positive mindset to keep you going. If being strong, and healthy are not enough to keep you motivated, you need other reasons to do that. Those reasons might be very personal, and different for everyone. What usually drives people, is their insecurities. If you can’t overcome your insecurities, sometimes its best to try to battle them and change them. The good news is that, any form of exercise, such as resistance training and a good diet, can quite literally change your body. You can’t grow taller, but you can shape your stumpy legs, and your flabby arms!

 

How to stay motivated

 

There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. 

• Extrinsic motivation is the pursuit of a goal for the purpose of an external reward. In our case, it would be praise and compliments from other people, on how fit or strong we look.
• Intrinsic motivation involves the pursuit of goals that have personal significance, without an external reward. In our case, it would be doing cardio because its fun and energizing, not for losing weight and being noticed by someone.

It is usually recommended that you find an Intrinsic motivation instead of the latter. Because extrinsic motivation relies on other people and external rewards, it might be putting too much pressure on you to achieve things, and ironically, not be enough to motivate you in the long run. However, even that extrinsic motivation comes from your wants and needs, and it might be good enough for you.

Our tip is to find a reason to fall in love with exercise! no matter if that reason is lead by extrinsic, or intrinsic motivation. That extrinsic motivation might lead you to your intrinsic motivation,, and it doesn’t even matter, as long as it helps. In the end, the benefits of exercising, or training that specific muscle group, will most probably outweigh your doubts and insecurities. Find your reason, the why you do the things you do, and you can do anything you commit yourself to.

Summer is approaching. Everyone is working on their goals, and elevating their fitness game. “Strong girl summer” is becoming a thing, and everyone is working on building muscle. If looking toned and tan this summer is a part of your goals, let us help you achieve them, here is what you need to know.

How do muscles grow?

 

Muscle size increases when a person continually challenges the muscles to deal with higher levels of resistance or weight. This process is known as muscle hypertrophy.

Muscle hypertrophy occurs when the fibers of the muscles sustain damage or injury. The body repairs damaged fibers by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles.

Now that you know the basics, it’s time to dig deeper. A lot of factors impact your muscle growth, some you might know of, but if you don’t, now is the time you learn! We will start with one of the most important ones:

How your biological sex, and age influence your muscle growth

 

You may have already heard that it’s harder for women to gain muscle, and that they do so much slower than men, and that is true. Unfortunately, testosterone is key to building muscle and burning fat, a hormone that men have more of. However, there are some good news. According to a study, in the long run, despite the physiological and hormonal differences between sexes, women demonstrated the same relative strength gains compared to men.  Just because women gain muscle slowly, it doesn’t mean that we can’t gain it at all, or gain less than men!

Age is also a big factor when it comes to muscle building and muscle growth. As we age, so do our bodies, experiencing sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the involuntary loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. Muscle mass decreases approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30 and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60. But this shouldn’t discourage you: leading a healthy lifestyle and daily exercise has many benefits which can help you age gracefully.

There are many other factors that may influence and affect your muscle gain and growth. However, we decided to highlight what we think are the most helpful ones, which will lead the way to achieving your fitness goals:

3 Important Factors for Muscle Building

 

Lift heavier

Using the same weights constantly, and not increasing the weight will get you nowhere. The only way to muscle growth is muscle hypertrophy, and for this, we recommend progressive overload! 
Progressive overload is a way of training that involves challenging your body, and slowly increasing the intensity of your training, in our case that would be increasing the weight of the equipment you are using. There is no need to rush, take this slowly, find what you are comfortable with and grow slowly but surely!

Give your muscles some rest

Rest is key in order to prevent muscle fatigue and injuries, but also essential for muscle growth. Exercising and lifting weight “tears” your muscle tissue, but when you rest, your cells repair those tears and help your tissue grow. It’s also important to note that working the same muscle groups every day is putting too much stress on them, it won’t help them grow! Make a plan, organize your trainings, and make sure to have rest days in order to achieve the best results possible.

Fuel properly

Eating well and eating enough food is the key for muscle growth. A restrictive diet, or a calorie deficit may impact your growth badly, if you aren’t eating enough protein. If your goal is muscle and mass growth, you should try a calorie surplus instead. Beware of not fueling your body properly if you train daily. Intense daily training and exercise, can actually have the opposite effect and you can lose muscle tissue, if you aren’t eating enough protein. If you struggle with counting your macros and protein intake, use an online protein calculator, or a calorie counting app to your advantage!

 

Make sure to read more of our blogs on related themes such as physical health and nutrition, for more tips and advice for your fitness journey!

Most women and men start their fitness journey with one goal in mind – weight loss. The food we eat nowadays is highly processed, unhealthy and bad for us. Not everyone can afford fresh, organic and food better in quality. Most people settle for what they can get their hands on, and what their budget allows. Furthermore, This leads to people making the wrong choices for their health, while obesity is a growing factor in our society. It’s no wonder that we get obsessed with losing weight, nowadays, it can be such a difficult thing to do. Even food that is marketed “healthy” and “diet” friendly, is processed and full of sugar, and the scale keeps going up, so what do we do?

Undoubtedly, its important to set realistic goals in order to take care of our mental health and promote healthy weight loss. Measuring your weight every day, and counting calories of every bite you eat, will not help you. Your goals should be measured in healthy ways that will motivate and help you push forward to be the healthiest version of yourself. Here are 3 reasons why you shouldn’t measure your goals on the scale:

1. Being skinny doesn’t always equal being healthy.

 

Excessively dieting and over exercising can lead to many issues such as malnutrition, weakened immunity system and heart problems. Your pursuit of the “perfect body” can lead you on the wrong path, being underweight can be as bad as being overweight!

2.  Your body changes as you age.

 

Your body goes through a lot of change during your lifetime, this counts for both men and women. The biggest changes happen during your teenage years when growing into your adolescent body, and after the age of 40. You can’t expect to have the same weight at 18, 28 and 38. It’s normal for your body to grow and go through change, so you have to accept the change and work with it!

3. Your goals might change with time.

 

Goals change along with your fitness journey. Firstly, you might start exercising and eating healthier in order to lose weight and be as thin as possible, but then you change your perspective. You notice how you start feeling better and stronger, and wish to look more like you feel, so you end up wanting to gain more muscle! Consequently, this change will affect the number on your scale, but there is no need to panic. Gaining weight isn’t always a bad thing, and it might be a sign of you achieving your goals, but your mindset about it is what matters the most. What’s important is that you feel and look better, stronger and healthier, do not let the number on the scale mislead you.

 

You may have trouble accepting your weight and your body, especially if you let how much you weigh bother you, so, here’s how to measure your goals instead:

 

1. You look better

 

One of the first things you notice after a few months of exercise, is the way you look. You slowly notice your “beginner gains”, meaning that you gain some muscle, lose some fat and your body is starting to look more toned. During these few months, you’ll probably lose some weight. In the next few months, you’ll notice that the scale is going up again. Now you wonder, “why do I look better, but the scale is going up?” the answer is that your body is replacing fat with muscle, and that’s good news! This is the first reason why you should probably ignore the scale, and trust yourself instead.

2. You can find clothes that fit you.

 

Picking clothes that fit well can be a nightmare. Not everyone enjoys shopping, especially if it reminds them of their insecurities. Overweight and underweight people can struggle with their confidence and buying clothes for themselves. No matter if your goal was to lose or gain weight, when you start achieving it and building confidence in your looks, shopping gets easier. You can finally find fashionable pieces that make you feel and look good, and that’s a good reason to motivate you to keep going. However, extrinsic motivation may not be enough , so your best bet is to focus on your how you’re feeling inward.

 

3. Finally, Its most important that – You feel better

 

The most rewarding thing about practicing any form of fitness or exercise, are the countless benefits! Not only will you look better, but you will feel better, in every way. Your mental health will have significant improvements: you’ll get more dopamine and serotonin, making you happier, feeling more energized and getting better sleep. You’ll have more strength and endurance, energy and willpower to live your life, and that is the ultimate goal!

 

 

Cellulite is a problem all women face. It’s a concern, and a reason for insecurity for a lot of women. But have you wondered – can skinny women have it? how about men? what is it? and the most frequently asked question – can I make it disappear? Well, we have good and bad news – you can’t make it disappear, but you can reduce it!

What is cellulite

 

Cellulite is structural changes in the subcutaneous layer, leading to impaired microcirculation and lymphatic outflow. Put simply, these are pits and irregularities that spoil the aesthetic appearance of the skin. The fact of the matter is, 90% of women have cellulite, no matter if they’re overweight, fit, or skinny, everyone can have it. However, some women have thicker skin, and cellulite is not as visible on their skin. On the other hand, when it comes to men, only about 10% of them have cellulite.

It’s a common misconception that losing weight can help you get rid of cellulite, but sadly, that isn’t true, here are three things that can actually help you reduce or improve the appearance of cellulite:

 

 Nutrition and hydration

 

Hydration and proper nutrition can help minimize and fight cellulite cellulite. Drink plenty of water, exercise daily, or be active daily in any way you enjoy.  Try to avoid sugary drinks, fast food, and smoking. In fact, both skipping meals, and overeating, won’t help you with cellulite, so, try improving your relationship with food!
Some of the best foods to eat for fighting cellulite are: watermelon, flaxseeds, nuts and bell peppers  Try practicing a healthy lifestyle, and eating balanced meals for the best results.

Exercise and active life

 

Exercise is sadly not a miraculous solution for getting rid of cellulite. Training and exercise alone, will not help your cellulite disappear, but staying active and exercising, in combination of proper nutrition, is the key to minimize it! Building and Firming the muscle underneath the cellulite will help smooth the skin’s appearance, and make your cellulite less visible. Losing a bit of fat might help too, but this affects every person and each body differently. When it comes to exercise,  what you need to do is focus on strength training and exercises that target the hamstrings, quads, buttocks and hips. Try to train your lower body multiple times a week, and use progressive overload to challenge your muscles! Don’t forget to stay as active as possible, take long walks, run, or do anything else that will keep you outside!

Targeted massage

 

Cellulite massage involves deep tissue massage, lymphatic drainage, and myofascial release techniques to help break up the fat deposits and smooth out the skin. The massage therapist uses firm pressure and long strokes to manipulate the skin and underlying tissues. Simply put, they stretch the skin tissues, redistribute fat cells, improve circulation and lymphatic drainage as well, which reduce the appearance of cellulite. A few massages will not get rid of your cellulite permanently. Repeated treatments and massages are necessary to reduce cellulite. You can use foam rollers, handheld massagers, and try Endermologie massage at home, or you can visit a massage therapist.

Cellulite is a manageable problem, but even if you can’t reduce it, slowly learn to accept it! Cellulite is normal and every woman has it, it doesn’t make you ugly, unwanted or less attractive.