How To Get Motivated to Lose Weight And Exercise
How To Get Motivated to Lose Weight And Exercise
Belly fat is a stubborn, unsightly beast. It’s also dangerous. Even if you’re slim elsewhere, a pot belly raises your chances of being hit by a heart attack, stroke or diabetes.
There are a few ways to check if that weight around your midsection has put you in the danger zone, but the simplest is to wrap a tape measure around you just below your bellybutton. If you’re a man and the number’s 94cm (37in) or more, it’s time to take action.
While you’ll find plenty of tips on the internet to help you lose belly fat, they’re just that – tips. To make a change, and fast, you need to eat healthily but also be in a caloric deficit, so that you burn more calories than you take in.
The best approach to achieving that is to both modify your diet and start exercising more. Simple to say, far harder to do. Below we’ve got a four-week plan that’s perfect for any fitness level because each move is for time rather than reps, so you do as much as you can manage.
If you’ve been put off taking up exercise to burn fat by the prospect of endless sit-ups, the good news is that there’s not a sit-up in sight – mainly because you can’t reduce fat from a certain area with specific exercises. Instead, this training plan consists of high-intensity exercise involving all major muscle groups, which will help shed the excess fat from all over your body. All you need are a pair of dumbbells, which are eminently affordable if you’d prefer to follow the workouts at home.
However, if you’re not getting on with the plan, not to worry – there are plenty of other ways to exercise. You might prefer running, in which case this beginner running plan will take you from the couch to 5K in eight weeks, giving you a great target to aim for while you burn vast amounts of calories. And if that’s not your bag either, check out our guide to getting started with all kinds of sports. You’ll find some type of exercise that suits you eventually, we promise, and any kind of movement will help you achieve that crucial caloric deficit, especially when you look forward to doing it.
Now, on to your diet. We’ve got specific diet tips for shifting belly fat at the bottom of this article, but one general tip that can help you lose weight is to adopt a diet that’s relatively high in protein, especially when you’re exercising frequently and need to maintain your muscle mass while losing fat. This exercise-friendly meal plan is a good option, and if you want to make things as easy as possible then check out our guides to healthy recipe boxes and meal delivery services, which can take all the hassle out of improving your diet.
However, for many of us, perhaps the easiest and most effective change you can make to help you lose belly fat fast is to stop boozing. When a writer tried it for four weeks he experienced what he called “ridiculously good results from a relatively minor lifestyle change”.
How The Plan Works
Here’s what you need to know before you start.
1. You’ll be doing circuit workouts
The plan involves doing four circuit workouts a week. Circuits are sessions in which you perform an exercise for a defined period of time or number of reps, then move on to the next exercise. Complete all the exercises listed to complete a round. You do multiple rounds per session – in this case it’s five. For this plan, you’ll move between exercises in a round without rest, only resting at the end of each round. This is effective because the lack of rest forces both your muscles and your cardio system to work hard, meaning you burn off as many calories as possible. Each circuit finishes with a “supermove” which requires you to do as many reps as possible – maintaining good form – in 60 seconds. These supermoves ensure that you finish each round having given every last drop of energy.
2. You’re against the clock
The five-move circuits are arranged so that you perform the first four exercises for time, as opposed to a set number of reps. There are two main reasons for this. First, it means that you can record the number of reps that you perform and then try to beat your score the next time you do the workout. That should keep you focused when the going gets tough. And second, it means that this programme can be used by beginners and experts alike. If you’re a beginner, you may complete six press-ups in a set whereas an experienced exerciser may do 30. You also get to pick a supermove to suit your fitness levels.
3. Things progress every week
Each week involves doing the same four circuits but that doesn’t mean you get to coast through the plan. For a start, we’ve made weeks three and four more challenging because we’ve increased the duration of each set from 40 to 50 seconds. An extra ten seconds may not sound like a big increase but it’s a substantial step-up in workload and you’ll notice a difference. The fact that you record what you do is also aimed at providing added motivation to help you keep progressing throughout the plan. If you managed 12 reps of a certain exercise in the first week, your week two mission is clear: aim to beat that number.
Week 1: Do exercises 1-4 for 40sec, then do the supermove for 60sec. Record your reps to give yourself a target for next time.
Week 2: Do exercises 1-4 for 40sec, then do the supermove for 60sec. See if you beat your previous week’s score.
Week 3: Do exercises 1-4 for 50sec, then do the supermove for 60sec. The time increases to 50sec per exercise in this week.
Week 4: Do exercises 1-4 for 50sec, then do the supermove for 60sec. You should be posting your best scores yet.
See related
13 Expert Weight-Loss Tips
This High-Fibre Meal Plan Is About As Healthy As It Gets
Fat-Loss Workouts: Five Circuits To Build Muscle
The Benefits Of A High-Protein Diet
The Best Dumbbells To Use
This training plan shows how much you can achieve with just a set of dumbbells, and it’s certainly going to be more convenient (and cheaper) to pick up a set for your home rather than heading to a gym to complete the workouts. We have an extensive round-up of the best dumbbells you can buy for your home, but there are few pairs we think are worth highlighting for this particular workout plan.
That’s because the renegade row exercise pops up in two sessions where you have to support yourself in the press-up position while holding dumbbells. Anyone who has ever done a renegade row will know that a dumbbell with a flat side makes the move far easier because it provides a more stable base than a round dumbbell. The JLL Hex dumbbells fit the bill, and give you a wide range of weights to pick from. If you’ve spent some time in the gym you’ll know what kind of weight suits you, although we’d err on the side of lighter because you’re doing 30-odd minutes of exercise with minimal rest – the final round is going to feel a lot tougher than the first.
How To Warm Up Before Your Workout
In each of the circuits below you’ll be working against the clock to complete as many reps as possible exercise, and there’s no rest between sets until you get to the end of the round. It’s a demanding style of training and given the variety of exercises you’ll be doing, you need to warm up muscles all over the body to give it your best and reduce any risk of injury.
You can follow the routine in this explainer on how to warm up at the gym but, in brief, you’ll start with a series of general dynamic stretches to loosen up your muscles, then move on to warm-ups that are specific to the exercise you are about to do. This can be as simple as doing the exercises without any weight or very light weights, or stretches focusing on the muscles you are going to challenge most in your session.
It should take you no more than ten minutes to get a good warm-up that will allow you to start your workout firing on all cylinders, which is exactly what you need to do if you’re looking to shift belly fat fast.
Circuit 1
Do each move for 40sec in weeks one and two and 50sec in weeks three and four, then rest for 2min between rounds. Do 5 rounds.
1 Squat curl
How With feet shoulder-width apart, simultaneously bend at the hips and knees to lower towards the floor with your chest up and your weight on your heels. As you straighten up, curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders.
Why The squat part of the exercise works your entire lower body. Holding the dumbbells for the duration of the set works your grip strength, and the biceps curl adds an extra muscle and cardio challenge to raise your heart rate.
2 Bent-over row
How Stand tall with your chest up and core braced, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Bend forwards – hingeing at the hips, not the waist – then row the weights up to your sides, leading with your elbows. Lower back to the start.
Why Using dumbbells for this back exercise will ensure that you get equal muscle development on both sides and gives you a big range of motion so you can concentrate on squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top of the move.
3 Romanian deadlift
How Keeping your legs straight, lean forward – hingeing at the hips – and lower the weights down the fronts of your shins until you feel a good stretch in your hamstrings. Then return to the start.
Why This deadlift variation shifts the emphasis to your hamstrings. Doing it with dumbbells will ensure each arm gets to hold its share of the weight.
4 Overhead press
How Stand tall with your chest up and core braced, holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height with palms facing forwards. Press the weights directly overhead until your arms are straight, then return slowly to the start.
Why Following a legs exercise with a shoulder move in a circuit allows you to keep your intensity, and therefore your heart rate, high because you’re working completely separate body parts
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