Exercise for Weight Loss and How To Sustain Self-Motivation
By Alan B. Densky, CH
If you've
already made the difficult decision to lose weight -
congratulations! For many people, making the commitment to
their own well being is the hardest part. But despite
self-motivation, many people find they don't know what
exercises to do for weight loss.
There are
three major types of exercise: aerobic exercise, such as
walking, running, biking; flexibility exercises, such as
yoga and other forms of stretching; and strength training,
including weight lifting and resistance exercises.
Of the
three types, aerobic and strength training will help you
burn the most calories. Since weight loss is dependant on
either taking in less calories or burning more, it's best to
focus on these at first to ensure your self motivation
continues as you drop pounds.
Fitness experts generally agree that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week should be your initial goal, but it needn't be continuous: two 15-minute blocks works equally well. You can build up the time and frequency as you progress.
But many
people whose self
motivation has urged them to begin an exercise for
weight loss program often overlook the importance of
strength training. Aerobic exercise will burn more calories
at first, but weight lifting will increase your muscle mass,
and muscle burns more calories than fat. In fact, a pound of
muscle requires 35 calories a day to function at rest; a
pound of fat requires just two calories for the same
function.
The
fitness consensus used to believe that to "build"
muscle, you should do fewer reps (3-5) at higher weights,
and to simply "tone," doing higher reps (12-15) at
lower weights was best. But the fact is that there's no such
thing as "toning." The definition that comes with
what's mistakenly called toning happens because you have
lost the layer of fat covering your muscle, making it more
visible. The size of the muscle underneath depends on how
strenuously you strength train.
The tenet
of strength training is that you must "tear down"
the muscle so it can rebuild and repair itself afterward. In
fact, you don't build muscle while you're working out but
rather in the days afterward when it's "resting."
The
general rule for strength training is that you should begin
with three sets of 8-12 reps at a weight that leaves your
muscle group nearly incapable of completing one more rep at
the end of the set. Then you can rest for 30 seconds to a
minute before beginning your next set. Don't be discouraged
if you're not able to do all of the reps on every set. In
fact, you can use that to help you gauge when to add weight
to your sets. If you find you are completing each set of
reps without any muscle strain, you will want to add weight.
Self
motivation is what compelled you to begin your quest in the
first place, but many people have a difficult time
sustaining the pace. It helps to know that the source of
each of our motivations is a belief. Think about it: If you
did not believe that the gnawing sensation in your stomach
meant that you were hungry, you would not feel motivated to
eat.
Figuring
out what ideas motivate you is imperative to sustaining
commitment to weight loss, because when you feel powerfully
motivated, you will exercise consistently.
Thanks to
NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), a form of hypnosis that
can be used to create exercise motivation, it's a lot
easier to learn how to believe these new ideas than you
probably think. You may have a desire to exercise for weight
loss but, over time, that desire by itself probably won't be
enough to keep you going. And exercise hypnosis motivation
treatment can help.
Your
first task is to figure out the most important things in
your life. We call these things highly valued criteria. Your
most highly valued criteria are usually intangibles; money
wouldn't be highly valued criteria, but the freedom, fun, or
security that money can provide would be.
Next,
figure out what you need to believe to feel motivated to
exercise. For this step, it's important to remember that
logic has nothing to do with belief. Things don't have to
be logical for you to believe them. As a matter of fact,
they rarely are.
Just
figure out what you need to believe to feel motivated to
exercise no matter how ridiculous it may sound. When you
have, you may find you already have a belief that
contradicts this new idea. That's okay.
While
it's valuable to understand what motivates us, exercise
hypnosis motivation treatment can put these ideas to work
for you to ensure that your self motivation endures.
Hypnosis for motivation does this by modifying the computer
codes in your brain so you actually believe these
motivational ideas.
Our
belief systems are based in our unconscious mind. The
unconscious is like a computer, and computers don't reason.
The input controls the output. The NLP techniques used in
exercise hypnosis motivation treatment can make you believe
almost anything.
You start
out by making a picture in your mind that illustrates
something that you already believe, such as, "I love my
children." Then you learn how to calibrate the elements
or 'Submodalities' of that mental belief picture.
Next you
make a mental picture that illustrates your motivational
idea. Let's say you're your motivational idea is, "If
I exercise, then I'll look great and my marriage will
improve." Then you learn how to adjust the
Submodailties of this mental image to match the
Submodailties in your calibrated belief picture. It's just
that easy. Conversely, if you have a belief that is holding
you back, you can use the same technique to change that
belief to doubt.
© 2007 By Alan B. Densky, CH. This document may NOT be re-printed without permission. All Rights Reserved. We are happy to syndicate our articles to approved websites.