Tag: habits
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Low-Carb Blues
Carb cycling means eating different amounts of carbohydrate day to day — a common pattern is high-fat/low-carbs on rest days and high-carbs/low-fat on “training days.” Many people find it easier to eat fewer calories to support a fat-loss goal if they eat less carbohydrate, but tough workouts may feel too tough when they eat low…
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Should I Join a Gym?
This may seem like a newbie question, but it spans experience from “just starting” to “planning to compete.” Whether to join a gym is about psychology and interests more than exercise ability. In favor of joining a gym: Gyms are expensive, and if you aren’t looking for instruction, specialized equipment, or a place to pursue…
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Are You a Binge Eater?
Nia Shanks has a nice post about the skills and mindset that helped her emerge from a diet–binge cycle. She emphasizes getting away from the cues that appear in “lose weight fast” pitches — like rigid, unsustainable rules and a laser focus on fat loss — in favor of thinking about positive actions you can…
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Tips for Better Sleep
Good health is a chair with three legs: good nutrition, regular activity, and restful sleep. The more even the legs, the more stable we are. Most of us do much better at one or another of the three. Some people even sacrifice sleep to make sure they work out during the week, a pattern that…
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Discovery and success
jitenshasw shares her process of discovery and success — see the rest at her tumblr. No quick fixes here — just a willingness to ask herself tough questions and actively decide how she wanted to eat and move — and a journey that established the (different) way she wanted to live. This kind of change…
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Should I Do a 30-day Challenge?
There are lots of 30-day challenges floating around online, urging people to focus on their abs, “get a beach body,” or practice a skill like planking or bodyweight squats. Are they a good idea? In favor of a 30-day challenge: — Relatively brief, improving likelihood of success — A decent chunk of time, promoting a…
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A Year from Now You’ll Wish You’d Started Today
Maybe. One problem is that we sometimes don’t recognize the future self as “self” — consider the example of the young person who smokes even though they know the health risks. A stronger connection to our future self can help. That doesn’t necessarily mean “visualizing,” which can actually distract us from doing the day-to-day work…
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Why Athletes Love to Sleep — and So Should You
You can have a perfect eating pattern, a flawless exercise regimen, and still be unhappy, moody, and struggling with your performance if you’re sleeping too little. (See the whole infographic at Fatigue Science.) And yet many of us make every excuse for not getting enough sleep. OK, so most of us are not Olympic athletes…
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It’s Never Just One Thing
Some say you can’t outrun your fork, or “weight loss happens in the kitchen.” You can outrun your fork — if you love running (or don’t tend to eat a lot), and as long as you don’t get injured (and knocked out of your routine). And you can definitely out-eat your exercise schedule, as many…