Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. Today I want to talk to you about some ways to make weight loss easier and show you one of my favorite hip exercises. With summer time finally here a lot of people are out on vacations; if that’s not you, you’re probably sitting in front of a computer. Either way you may be experiencing some significant tightness or pain in the front of your hips. If you have questions about today’s topics or would like further information, give our team a call: 806-322-3188.
People feel the idea of losing weight is very daunting and they wonder why it can’t be easier? Well, anything worth doing is worth doing well and this process is going to take a lot of time. Often with weight loss we focus on the negative: we are eating things we don’t prefer to eat, we have to do things we don’t like to do, and we are challenging ourselves to do things in a new way that maybe isn’t the easiest thing for us. For example, maybe stopping at the convenience store or a drive through on the way home from work is easier than trying to cook a meal. Restaurants it is easier to just order straight from the menu rather than looking for healthier substitutions. Sure, I get it, convenience is a strong driving factor for a lot of folks. There are ways around it and ways to approach things. This journey does not have to be as complicated as it seems.
One way to make it a little easier on yourself is food prepping. Let’s say you go to the store once a week. When you get home, before you put up your groceries take a little extra time to go ahead and chop up your fruits and veggies, start marinating your meats or put ‘em in the food processor, or portion out your protein into bags. Those are great ways to prep your food and get ahead for your week.
Another thing I do as a personal trainer in Amarillo is work with clients on food prepping to get ready for each day. You have all this food that is ready to go, but what do you do with it? How do you get ready for Monday morning? You’re exhausted from the weekend, maybe you have crazy children you are pleading with to get out the door, how are you going to get the food you need while trying to get in the car? One easy approach is grab a container (or even a brown paper sack) and write “MONDAY” on it. Put all your food in it for Monday: snacks, lunch, protein powder for your workout, etc. Then, when Monday rolls around, you grab it and go.
If you drink powder based smoothies or Super smoothies, go ahead and measure everything out on your food prep day, so when the morning comes all you have to do is just dump it in the blender. One less thing to do. Anything you can do to prepare for the next day will help. Definitely look at your plan of ‘what do i need to do to prepare for the week?’ and ‘what do I need to do to prepare for tomorrow?’ Another idea is to cook double portions of your dinner and split it, then freeze it in single serving containers. When you’re ready to take it to work you don’t have to thaw out an entire batch, scoop out your serving, and refreeze. Just grab it and go. Those are my food prep tips for today to help get you started on your weight loss journey. If you’d like more info, tips, or tools, that’s what my team and I are here for. We would love to help you with the process to help you actually achieve your weight loss success and help you maintain that lifestyle change rather than a diet or a new plan or program.
On to my favorite hip stretch. Start by sitting on the ground with your hands planted behind you and your knees in the air. Take one ankle and cross it over your opposite knee. Make sure your ankle goes out past the knee, flex your foot to the sky to keep the pressure off the knee, draw the knee that ankle has crossed into the body and sit up tall. Maybe you feel a good stretch here, maybe not. If not, walk the hip toward the ankle of the leg on the ground, walk the hands in as well. If you want a deeper stretch, bring your chest in closer to your thighs. The closer you are, the taller you sit (with a flat back) the more stretch you will feel. Still not enough? Press the knee, that is doing the crossing, out and away from your body for a deep stretch. Hold it for 30-45 seconds. Longer won’t do as much good; shorter won’t give your muscle enough time to relax. Make sure you use a tall, flat back for this one; rounding your back will lose the stretch. The move needs to stem from the tip of the pelvis. Alright, one more intensification: If you want even more of a stretch, take the foot that has crossed the leg and keep sliding it across further. Don’t move your shoulders. This should give you a very deep stretch. If you need more than that, maybe you should be working with cirque du soleil. 🙂
This is one of my favorite hip stretches. You can do it throughout the day as much as you want.
I’ll be back tomorrow with some more tips. In the meantime, if you have questions for our team, would like some one on one coaching, or needing some personal guidance we would love to help you with that. That is what our team does; we are personal trainers, we are wellness coaches, and health specialists. We are ready to help you. Give us a call and we will get your consultation under way. Our phone number is 806-322-3188 or e-mail us at info@customfitness.biz. We are located at 34th and Coulter. Remember, at Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. See you tomorrow.