How I’m Trying To Tone Up

As you guys know, I started my personal training journey around this time last year and aside from a little break in autumn, I’ve barely looked back since. For me, I started strength training in an effort to tone up, as I had started to feel sluggish and squishy in myself. It’s no secret that as I’ve got older I’ve filled out and although some of that is to do with what I would consider to be natural ageing (and becoming a woman), I’m also aware that the longer hours I work as I move up the career ladder, the less I move and look after myself. I’m still working on myself and I’m still a long way off feeling 100% happy with my body, but over the past year I have taken various different steps to help tone up and become strong and healthier along the way. Today I’m going to be sharing some of these.

Do Weight Lifting

As you guys know from my strength training blog posts, weight lifting is my preferred method of working out and I’ve caught quite the bug for it! Weight lifting may not show results as quickly as cardio exercise, but it is guaranteed to help you tone up if done often enough and you keep consistent. You don’t need to weight lift every time you go to the gym, but if you aim to do it around three times a week, you’ll definitely start seeing results. I have. Not only that but weight lifting can help keep the muscles strong and it’s taught me that I am way stronger than I ever expected I  could be! It can also help with stretching them out so that you have fewer aches and pains the day after exercise, especially helpful if you have an office job where you’re stuck at a desk all day like me.

Start off low in weight and build your body up without pushing yourself over the limit. You’ll be surprised by how much your body can take on when it comes to weight lifting.

Reduce Your Portion Sizes

This is something that I’m still working on and for me, not taking the opportunity to binge on food is a daily battle. It’s easy to be unaware of the amount of food we’re putting on our plate, but it’s good to pay attention to this because this may be the reason as to why you’re not losing weight even when working out regularly. For me, I see noticeable differences when I consciously track my food over a week compared to when I try and just use ‘intuitive eating’ even when working out 4-5 times a week. This doesn’t mean starve yourself or ‘diet’ at all – I would never encourage this – but to be more mindful of the size of your meals and the ratios you give to each type of food i.e. I make an effort to have most of my plate filled with vegetables, then protein, then complex carbs.

To improve your ratio and amount of food, try using smaller plates to give the illusion of a bigger meal.  Fill half of your plate with either salad or vegetables and keep carbs to a minimum.

There should also be some source of protein on your plate too. Anything that’s left over from prepping, instead of piling the extra on your plate, freeze it or refrigerate it so you can save it for another day. Serve food on the plate rather than doing help yourself. This encourages you to just eat what’s on your plate, rather than going in for second helpings.

And of course, treat yourself every once in a while. One or two meals out a week won’t hurt if you’re consistent the rest of the time and I firmly believe in not depriving yourself.

Drink More Water

Water can dramatically improve the way you feel, and it’s important that you get plenty of it during the day, particularly due to change in weather as it gets warmer. Drinking water helps boost your metabolism, rids your body of toxins, and acts as a suppressant for your appetite. So that means whenever you feel the urge to snack, water can help fill you up and to stop you feeling those cravings. It also enables you to drop water weight by helping to stop the retaining of water in your body.

Aim to drink around a litre a day and drink more when exercising. If you don’t like water as it is, you can always add a bit of flavouring with cordial or fresh fruits and vegetables like strawberry, lemon or cucumber.

Yoga

It was one of my New Year’s Resolutions this year to start yoga classes, and I am happy to share that I am still going weekly! I have been consistent in this since January and I now can’t imagine not doing yoga. Not only has my flexibility improved noticeably, my personal trainer has even commented on how much my core strength has improved over the past 6 months.

I’m sure if you were to just do yoga alone then any toning up results may be slow, but for me it works well alongside strength training three times a week and brisk walks for cardio. Plus the mindfulness aspect of it does wonders for my mental health!

Wear a Fitness Tracker

I hate to be a Fitness Tracker n00b but after years of resisting, I recently gave in and bought a Fitbit to help track my steps and sleep. Although this hasn’t changed my life, it has helped me to be more conscious of the days where I move more than others. I don’t take any notice of how many calories it tells me I’ve burnt, I more use it as a comparison tool so that if one day I am feeling sluggish due to sitting around more than others, I have a reason for it.

The little reminders my Fitbit gives me to do 250 steps an hour is probably my favourite function of it. It’s just a little nudge to help me get up from my desk at least once an hour, which doesn’t sound much, but has greatly improved the amount of steps I take a day. Even just nipping to the toilet or getting a drink from the kitchen once an hour has started to contribute to my toning up.

Look At Beauty Treatments As Alternatives

The beauty industry is booming right now and it’s no surprise that more of us are looking at treatments that can help speed up the process of toning up, especially for those who have a busy lifestyle. Of course, I am not delusional and I wouldn’t recommend using this as your only method of toning up – if it was a miracle everyone would be doing it, after all! – but I see no harm in having complimentary beauty treatments alongside healthy eating and exercise.

One of the beauty treatments that’s recently become popular to remove stubborn fat is Coolsculpting. This works by freezing the fat which breaks down the cells and then naturally passes through your body. I’ve not tried it myself, but my beauty therapist friends tell me it is good way of achieving results quickly, which can be handy if you’ve got a deadline. With the ability to have non-invasive surgery treatments, it’s no wonder that these treatments are becoming more popular and sought after, but please remember that I don’t condone these as the be all and end all!