Getting Started

[sdcaliwoman]

Hello,

As a novice I am interested in any advice available. I am literally getting started on a healthy lifestyle. What do you guys think are important things to focus on? Are their foods that energize you? Should I have a day of rest?

Thanks.

 

[64Paramount]

Welcome aboard!

Since I'm the first to reply I get to state the most obvious and easy answers.

Diet and exercise are 2 key components to a healthy lifestyle.

Your current state of health and your age is a big factor in how you approach your eating habits and how much you should be exercising.

By state of health I mean:

Are you over weight or under weight?

How much exercise to you currently get?

Do you have any health issues that influence your diet and/or ability to exercise? ( Diabetes, heart trouble, high blood pressure, bad back, etc.)

Do a self evaluation to see what you think your current state of health is and then decide where you need to improve.

A person who is 30 years old and 10 lbs over weight, who doesn't get much exercise but is in good general health can be a bit more aggressive in making a lifestyle change than a person that's over 50 years old with a history of heart trouble.

I'm going to let some of the other folks take it from here. Good luck to you!

 

[bianchi10]

I think paramount has asked some good questions to further know where you stand. what are your goals...I.E. long distance cycling or just getting out and pushing some miles to get healthy?

In general, eating healthy (limiting the amount of junk food I.E. fast food, saturated fats like potato chips, fries etc. soda pop...) no matter what kind of cycling you are looking to do, eating healthier and getting the cardio excercise that cycling offers will help you loose weight.

I try to cycle 3 times a week and I go to the gym 6 days a week. I WANT to do these things and it has become part of my lifestyle. When I talk to others about there goals in wanting to lose weight the first thing I say is..."Losing weight means you need to change your lifestyle." The way you live now such as eating habbits, excercise, sleep...etc has gotten you to a point in your life that you obviously feel needs a change. Keep in mind this is harder to do than most people realize until they switch gears long enough to make it part of their routine. going to the gym or cycling for a month and changing some eating habbits for a week isn't going to get you anywhere. making a decision to start being healthy LONG TERM when you haven't been takes dedication and self controll.

That being said, start slow with baby steps. start cycling a bit 15-20 minute rides and then increase your time and pace each week. try and get out 3 or 4 times a week. When you start cycling your body will start to burn calories faster than it was used to so you will feel hungry after rides. (your body will have used the food intake you had earlier to use as energy) Be sure you aren't negating everything you just did with cardio by coming home and eating poorly. Have a protein shake (Be careful and do some reasearch as to what protein shake you are consuming. you dont want to have to many calories in the shake) eat some protein foods such as chicken or fish which is not only healthy but will help your recovery from your excercise. Before you know it you will have conditioned your body to ride further.

Hope that helps! Good luck