My fitness Journey and Motivation

ChrissalmonPT · March 2016

I thought I would share this to hopefully inspire and motivate others, the before photo is me around 2 years ago and the after photo is from last week. I still have goals and I am still working hard. I have also listed some tips of things that worked for me or did not work for me.

I started out on my fitness journey around 5 years ago, the first 3 years were stop and start I would lose weight and get fitter for about 5 months only to give up and be back at square one. It has only really been the last 2 years that I have made being healthy and active part of my lifestyle again.

These are some fitness tips and healthy eating tips that I thought I would share; these are things that have or haven’t worked for me.

Decide what you want. Do you want to lose some weight? Do you want lose some fat and tone up? Do you want to build muscle?

Realise it is not going to happen overnight or even in a week, it’s going to be a few weeks before you notice any difference. Best of all make it your life style, most people want good health or to live longer but don’t look after their body to make these things happen.

Don’t diet, I never diet I eat (fuel) my body for what I am doing that day or week. If I am training I will eat over 3000 calories of healthy foods. If I am not training for a few days, I might eat 2000 calories of healthy food.

Never crash diet, don’t cut calories by a drastic amount, it’s never sustainable and most will give up or end up back at square one.

Calories in v Calories out, weight loss is pretty simple, you just need a calorie deficit, so whatever you eat you need to burn off. So yes some people do eat foods that are not healthy and lose weight or stay slim as they burn it off, but if you are going to exercise and train then you will perform a lot better if those calories you put into your body are healthy and beneficial.

Recommend daily calorie intake! 2000 for women and 2500 for men.This is one of the most important things to understand. This is recommended, it does not take inconsideration life style and activity. So for example I drive to work, I sit at a chair all day and then when I get home I sit and watch TV, if I do this I need less than 2500 calories a day. So as mentioned above you have to burn the calories you eat.

Plan and prepare meals, so that you can stick to the right choices with what you eat. I tend to make a batch of food up for 3 days and re heat every day.
Have healthy snacks to hand, I get the munchies so tend to have healthy snack to hand, like nuts and fruit.

Drink more water around 2L a day, more if you are exercising.

Don’t look at the scales! I hate the scales as it is never a true reflection of healthy eating and exercise. As you lose fat and build muscle the scales sometimes go up and people become disheartened. Take photos and tape measurements instead and if you must use the scales don’t be disappointed if you have worked hard all week, eaten healthy but the scales stay the same.

Don’t be lured into expensive supplements, diet kits, detox teas, body wraps etc. Most of them don’t offer any benefit and if you read the small print, they will say combined with a healthy diet and exercise, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the results from before and after photos are due to healthy eating and exercise not the supplements. Some of these shakes and juices are healthy but you are paying way over the odds for something you could just get from a healthy diet or an equivalent from Tesco.

The only supplements that are proven to work are creatine and protein, which you can get natural from a healthy diet but I choose to use them as it is handy to have when in a rush.

I have spent £££ on fat burners, pills etc. when I first started and really they offer no benefit.

Look for support in Facebook groups or Instagram for motivation, it’s good to surround yourself with people who are on the same journey. Avoid healthy living / fitness groups with a hidden agenda ££££ sales, some these groups are only after you buying products from them.

Ignore the doubters or haters, when you decide to be healthy sometimes people you know might try get you to stray you away and get you to eat bad food or not train.

Make time to exercise, if you have a busy life style get up 40 minutes earlier to work out. You don’t need equipment to exercise, run, walk, jog, press ups, push ups dancing.

If you want to exercise, find an activity that you enjoy which gets your heart rate up, you are more likely to do it if you like it. Walking, running, hit, weights, dancing.

I hope this helps inspire and motivate people and like I said these things worked or didn't for me but might not work for everyone. Also feel free to add me.

I post most of my fitness photos on instagram under the name chrismudrunner, feel free to check them out.