Hey people!
I hope you guys read my previous blog on How to stay Fit and Healthy during quarantine.
So here I am going to throw some light on the recent Instagram live session by a friend on Mind and Body, where I joined to discuss about the general questions that pop up when it comes to Fitness and Health.
I know it can be a very confusing regarding how to exercise and what to eat when you just begin to workout and get into the world of fitness and healthy eating.
Here is what I discussed in the live session yesterday which I would love to share with you guys!
Why is it necessary to work out/ exercise, even for a few minutes during lock down?
Now that we stay at home,we either sleep or stay at one place while working from home, binge watch or end up eating.
Before the lock down, we were somewhat active, be it going to work or to chill outside with your friends.
We are now confined to walls of our house, that people who regularly go out might find it very frustrating, bored or sad, and some might even end up overthinking.
It is necessary for us to keep our mind and body active and that’s why exercising is good so that we can improve on our energy levels and as well keep ourselves occupied into doing something healthy and improve on our immune system by the production of more antibodies in our body.
How does working out help overall improvement of body & mind?
Working out helps us out in so many ways we even don’t think about which includes
- Improvement of blood circulation in the body.
- Improves your quality of sleep.
- Boost your energy level.
- Increases your metabolic rate.
- Somewhat helps with anxiety and depression
- Releases happy hormones like endorphins and dopamine in your body.
- Your body and mind will feel fresh and active.
- Normalizes leptin levels which is lower in case of people with more weight.
- Lower resting heart rate.
- Stimulates growth of blood vessels
How long should a basic workout last?
A Basic workout can last upto 15-20mins for beginners.
Incase of active people, it’s around 30-45mins.
And people into regular training like athletes around 90 mins.
Is only Cardio good enough?
In general NO, Because cardio alone will not help in losing weight. So cardio along with weight training is more recommended.
But now that we are at home with no weights or equipment, Body weight workouts are highly recommended like incline push ups or different forms of push ups or squats, increasing the reps in your home workouts etc.
What is more important? Diet/ workout?
Workout and diet go hand in hand. But without a proper diet, just by exercising one can’t lose weight because you might workout for hours in the gym and still not reduce because you aren’t keeping a check on the calorie intakes.
Importance of sleep and water intake?
Qualitative sleep is important to keep ourselves active and helps in recovery of body & mind.
In general Water Intake needs to be around 4-5ltrs.
- It helps in your body recovery.
- Keep your Muscles hydrated.
- Reduced soreness and recover the loss of water through sweat during the workout.
- Also it helps in reducing inflammation.
Is it advisable to concentrate on only one part of the body everyday? Ex-Abs
One cannot only reduce the belly fat without reducing the entire body fat because spot reduction is a myth and you cannot get abs just doing abs workout where you don’t concentrate on overall the body workout.
Is it advisable to concentrate on only one part of the body everyday? Ex-Abs
You have to burn more calories and create a calorie deficit through exercise and food.
Workouts like burpees, high knees, side sit ups, sit through, reverse push ups, sprawling, jumping squats can help in reducing your body fat including your belly fat.
Also when it comes to the abs, food intake is most important with a strict diet avoiding too many processed carbs ,fats and including moderate protein and good carbs from vegetables.
What should I eat after a workout and why?
Post exercise snacks include sports drinks within several minutes.
We can have banana or oats smoothie or brown sandwich with vegetables (with low fat sauce which is optional) or orange juice or some dry fruits after a workout to replenish the glucose in the body.
- Should be low in fat & fiber to minimize gastrointestinal distress.
- Moderate in protein.
If I am totally new to exercising, how do I get started?
- Start with a light workout and fewer reps.
- Begin with a basic workout of around 10-15mins.
Basic Workout of 30 sec and 10 sec break
- Squats
- Burpees
- Jumping Jacks
- Crunches
- High Knees
- Twisters
- Spot running
- Plank
Easy workout to begin with and you can increase the intensity as you do in on a regular basis.
What does eating right mean?
- Eating right is basically the right choice of food.
- When you eat right, the amount of calorie intake is almost equal to the amount of calories burnt per day.
- Half of your plate should contain green leafy vegetables and more colorful veggies like carrots, beans, sweet potatoes and fruits.
- Other half of your plate with protein, whole grains and dairy products like fish , beans , rice, oats, fat free yogurt.
What is Calorie deficit and how to follow that for weight loss?
- We can create a Calorie deficit by consuming less calories than you burn in a day.
- To follow that in a weight loss, one needs to keep a check on calorie intake.
- Person who is not active/ exercises depending on their age and gender requires from a range of around 1,800-2,400kcal in case of women.
- As per the research Women below 18 requires around 1,800kcal
- 19-30 age group requires around 1800-2,200kcal
- 31-40 age group around 1,600kcal and it keeps on decreasing as you grow old.
- When it comes to men they need to have high calorie intake due to their higher metabolic rates.
So calorie deficit doesn’t include maintaining the calorie intake for a week and then binge eating during the weekends. This is the reason some people get into a calorie deficit and end up with no good results.
How often can I have cheat meals?
- One can have cheat meals around twice or once a week.
- I would suggest for beginners to avoid strict diets because they don’t usually work due to the cravings and also because they have to cut down on all the unhealthy stuff at once. So it is going to be hard for them to continue for more than a week or two.
This quarantine, get into a diet where you can slowly reduce the junk or unhealthy food by half and reduce them more and more, so that you can always stick to eating good food.
What should I avoid eating, if I need to lose weight?
- Avoid processed carbohydrates like junk foods
- Avoid Carbonated drinks replacing with water or fresh juice
- High fat foods
- And even though it’s a good healthy food, portion control is very important to lose weight. Because at the end of the day, it’s the calories that matters.
You can always have the food that you crave for, but control in the portion size can help in not putting on weight as well as for a happy soul.
Importance of warm up/ stretching/ cool down?
We sometimes think warm up is not a necessary part of our routine and that we can directly start with our workout sessions, but that’s not the case.
So here is why Warm up, Cool down and Stretching is an important part of your routine.
Warm Up
- Helps in increasing the body temperature and blood flow in the body.
- Reduces muscle soreness from previous workouts.
- Avoid cramps and risk any injury while working out.
- Also warm up targets the larger muscle groups in the body.
- When you warm up, start slow and then increase the phase or intensity of your warm up.
Cool down
- Helps in recovery of heart rate and temperature of the body.
- Reduces body stiffness and soreness caused due to the workout.
- Regulates blood flow.
- Recovery of the body, and you will feel fresh.
- Cool down needs to be done in a slower phase and reduced intensity. Make sure you hold to each exercise for up to 15-20 sec.
Stretching helps in improving the flexibility and range of motion of the joints, improving the performance in your routine.
Here is the link to my Warm up, Cool down and stretching video on my Instagram page!
Stay home! Stay safe!
Stay Tuned!
Fitnutribuzz 