So Christmas and New Year have been and gone and losing weight is now at the forefront of our minds. The festive period has meant that any form of healthy eating magically vanished: chocolates, mince pies, unhealthily large portions of beef, turkey and pork, cheese boards and Christmas puddings and maybe a few extra tipples along the way! All food and drink that we consume in proportion throughout the rest of the year, but for some reason we get to Christmas and say to heck with it – it’s Christmas. The result : waistlines that have increased and scales that read a lot heavier!

For those that exercise on a regular basis, losing weight isn’t that much of a problem, we’ll all start the beginning of the year with extra classes or trips to the local gym – and then by February drop back into a regular(ish) routine. This will probably shift those extra calories and we will be back to our normal weight and fitness levels.

For those that don’t exercise on a regular basis, a problem starts to occur, in that we’ve added a large amount of extra calories but have no way of burning them off – and so the New Years resolution of “I’m going on a diet to lose weight“ or “I’ll sign up for the gym to lose weight” gets set. The Atkins Diet, The Soup Diet, The No Carbs Diet, The High Carbs Diet, The “I don’t know what I’m doing diet” that still somehow includes chocolate biscuits, crisps and an extra bit of lettuce. Trips to the local gym, where you don’t know anybody and you don’t really know what to do, except run on the treadmill or lift a few weights without understanding how each of them can help you.

Whichever resolution is chosen, there is a high percentage that it will be broken (80% of New Years resolutions are broken within the first three months). Some of the biggest reasons for breaking your New Years Resolution are :

• lack of structure to your resolution
• no planning
• no support
• no measure of what is or isn’t working

all or any of them can lead us to break our resolution and give up.

Well, a combination of a balanced diet and regular exercise is only part of the answer – you will probably have neither. A change in your mindset is probably the biggest thing you will have to alter. Let’s face it, nobody goes out to lead an “unhealthy” life style, it’s just that the healthy aspects in our lives become smaller, whilst the excuses that stop us doing something about it grow bigger. Altering that balance and making time for adjustments in our lifestyle is key – get this right and we will really head in the right direction to becoming healthier, fitter and as a result – losing weight. It doesn’t have to take a lot of adjustment or extra time either. In fact things like working out what we are going to healthily eat for the week, and preparing these meals in advance can not only be a time saver, but a money saver!

For some people making this change alone is easier said than done – and we have had quite a few people over the years join Marsden Martial Arts who had this problem. Without fail though, they have found that the discipline they achieve whilst learning Martial Arts with us, translates to other areas of their lives, making changes to their diet and lifestyles easier. They have lost weight, gained confidence, met new friends, as well as learning a range of Martial Arts – all as a result of making a commitment to spend time with us each week. But the one thing that all of them did, was decide that they needed to change something in their lives, we just helped them identify what it was.

You’ve already made the biggest decision – deciding to do something. The next step is deciding what it is you want to do? The NHS suggests that adults should do a combination of moderate and vigorous intensity aerobic activity and Martial Arts is listed as one of the vigorous activities. We believe that Martial Arts is not just exercise, but will additionally help you :

• Lose Weight
• Get Fit
• Learn Martial Arts
• Meet New Friends
• Gain Confidence
• Develop Your Discipline
• Improve Your Lifestyle

Now how many diet regimes or gym memberships will help you do all of these?

If you want to do any of the above, give Marsden Martial Arts a call and book in for your FREE induction course, a major step towards a happier, healthier you.