10 tips to get in shape

If you’ve committed to getting into shape, congratulations! Women's fitness will improve your quality of life and exercise and healthy meal planning will ensure you get the most out of every day.  If you’re not sure how to do it or where to begin, there’s good news. Although there is a huge amount of noise and information about ‘how to lose that gut’, the good news is that there is pretty much a standard approach to getting into shape that is tried and true. Below are some tips for living healthy and an overview of this approach in a very brief format that will give you an idea of what you can do to meet your fitness goals.

1. Enough Excuses and Commit
You would be shocked to learn of the thousands of people with an overwhelmingly hectic lifestyle and daily challenges who find the time to commit to a successful fitness program. You would also be shocked to learn of the millions who have the time yet are unable to spend 90 minutes out of 10,080 minutes in a week to dedicate to fitness. The key to ensuring optimal health, that killer body or whatever your fitness goals lies simply within your head. You do numerous activities to improve your quality of life. Well, what could contribute more to the quality of your life than your health (and hence, your life). Make the time, schedule it into the calendar and if you aren’t motivated, treat it just like every appointment you must commit to attending. There are so many benefits to exercise other than getting into shape that once you are on your way, you will wonder why you didn’t commit earlier.

2. Set Goals
To stay motivated and push yourself to realize the maximum benefits of an effective fitness program, set goals for yourself. They can be measured however you like, but be sure to aim for an objective that allows you the reward of self-fullfillment or even an opportunity to establish a material reward for meeting your goals. Perhaps you want to fit into a specific sized shirt. You want to run a half marathon. You want to bench press 1.5 times your weight, or you just want to lose that roll of fat around your waist. Whatever they are, write them down and focus on them. It’s easier to focus on the reward of meeting a goal than it is the 19th minute on the elliptical trainer or the next heavy set of squats.

3. Work Hard
There’s a reason it’s called ‘working’ out. It’s hard work. The people you see at the gym sitting on the bike reading the latest Grisham novel and not breaking a sweat are really only getting a small amount of the benefit for the full time they’re committing to their program. If you commit your time, make the most of it, and you do that by working hard and pushing yourself. Your time is valuable. Don’t waste it at the gym visiting with people or going through the motions. Come out spent and it will soon become a feeling you can’t wait to work for with your next workout.

4. Start Eating Right
There is no question that eating habits are the biggest factor in ensuring a healthy body. It is also the key in those looking to transform the composition of their body. The first crucial step you must do is determine your caloric intake requirements, or how many calories you should eat in a day. Luckily, there are a number of formulas that make this fairly easy to figure out. For the sake of this article, we’ll present the quickest and easiest formula:

• For sedentary people: Weight x 14 = estimated cal/day
• For moderately active people: Weight x 17 = estimated cal/day
• For active people: Weight x 20 = estimated cal/day

Note: Moderately Active is defined as 3-4 aerobic sessions per week. Active is defined as 5-7 aerobic sessions per week.

For greater detail on caloric intake specific to your needs, check out the numerous articles listed on this site.

5. Control Your Portions
A simple and common tactic used when helping control portions is to limit the portions of foods to the equivalent of the size of your fist. This is an effective method in absence of the nutritional detail of the food being eaten. Of course, there are more accurate and effective means of controlling what you eat, such as keeping a meal log or determining the caloric requirements for each meal to meet your daily goals.

Another important point to note is that it takes your brain time to realize that the body is full. We often continue to eat even though we are no longer hungry. If you eat a portion of your meal until you are ‘satisfied’ and then wait for 15 – 20 minutes, you will realize that you no longer require more food. The key message here is to eat until you are no longer hungry, not until you are full.

6. Eat 5-6 meals per day
Your body and digestive system is like a fine tuned machine always working to take in the energy you consume (food) and the energy you exert. By eating your caloric requirements over 5-6 meals during the day will provide your body with consistent energy throughout the day without overloading your system. You will keep your metabolism constantly chugging like a fine tuned machine and burning smoothly without allowing your body to switch into a catabolic state, which is when your body looks to your precious muscle to burn calories.

7. Drink water
It’s the liquid of life for good reason. Water has a number of benefits to your lifestyle and ensuring a successful fitness program. Water clears the system of toxins, suppresses appetite, contributes to a fast metabolism and hydrates cells, not to mention it’s good for the skin, too.

Anyone who exercises will have a higher need for water due to the body perspiring to try to cool off. During exercise it is necessary to drink at least 24 ounces per hour of exercise. You should also drink water during the day with the most common general guideline for water intake is to drink eight to 10 8-oz glasses of water per day (64-80 oz per day), not counting what you drink during exercise. You should also have a glass before you go to sleep at night as your body still has a need for water while you are sleeping. This will allow you to wake up feeling better and with your body functioning as it should.

8. Lift weights
Now matter your fitness or health goals, lifting weights (or resistance training) is key to meeting your fitness objectives. As most people are either trying to lose fat, gain muscle or both, lifting weights is key to success in any program.

There seems to be a fear by women that lifting weights will make them big, bulky or overly muscular. If that was the case, then every person that had the goal to look like Schwarzenagger would do so easily. More and more evidence is showing that although lifting weights will obviously have an impact on gaining muscle for some, it is also the most effective way to speed up your metabolism and hence, lose body fat. Lifting weights will help you firm the muscles underneath the fat and build new muscle tissue, and because muscle requires more calorie burning than fat, you’ll realize more results when you are not actually exercising. In short, the more muscle you have, the faster and more efficiently you will burn fat and develop the body you really want.

9. Do Cardio
Effective cardio exercises are the quickest way to burn a large volume of calories, but also include a substantial amount of other benefits, including:

• Stronger heart and lungs
• Increased bone density
• Reduced stress
• Reduced risk of heart disease and some types of cancer
• Temporary relief from depression and anxiety
• More confidence about how you feel and how you look
• Better sleep
• More energy

Cardiovascular exercise includes such exercise as running, stairmasters, soccer, swimming, aerobics, etc. As mentioned above, it is important to work hard during your exercise session. An effective way to determine if you are working hard enough to realize the benefits of your workout is to try and maintain a target heart rate. There are a number of formulas for determining your target heart rate listed on this site, and below is an example of how a young adult can effectively determine a target heart rate for a cardio workout with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute (*to get your resting heart rate, take your pulse for one full minute.):

220 - 23 (age) = 197
197 - 65 (resting heart rate) = 132
132 * 65% (low end of heart rate) OR 85% (high end) = 85.8 OR 112.2
85.8 + 65 (resting heart rate) = 150 112.2 + 65 (rhr) = 177
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 150 to 177

10. Keep a Workout Log
As we mentioned, it’s important to have goals when starting a fitness program. Because of that, it’s important to track progress and see where you are in relation to the objectives you’ve set. Keeping a workout log will ensure that you are continually progressing in your times, weight or activities of each workout. It will also allow you to quantify your results which can be rewarding for anyone wanting success in their program. Track the specifics of what you do in your workout, how you feel, how long you rest, etc. This can be done in any simple notebook. Go back to your log to assess what you’ve done and the results you realized so that you can make any changes or amendments to your program if needed.


Starting to get in shape can be intimidating and often scary. The important point is to educate yourself as much as possible to ensure that the time you commit to a healthy lifestyle is realizing the full benefits you deserve. This site and other sources are full of ample information to ensure that you’re meeting your fitness goals.
Don’t hesitate and don’t give up. As was said, it’s all in your mind whether you realize a successful program to get in shape…..and the good news is all of this is within your power.

Good luck!