The ideal is to eat within 30 minutes of your workout, but if you don’t eat within that time frame, aim for as soon as you possibly can.

The reasons behind this strategy: It is during the several hours after exercise that your muscles respond to the exertion, becoming stronger or more aerobic (depending on whether your workout has been strength-training or cardiovascular). By eating during this important window of opportunity, you’re giving your muscles the nutrients they need to rebuild.

Honestly, the best time to exercise is when you will do it.  The statistics may tell you that morning or evening is the best time.  However, what is the best time for you is when you will exercise regularly and consistently.  Here’s a concept – when do YOU like to exercise?  When is the best time for you and your schedule?   The answer to those questions as to when you like to exercise and what works best for your schedule are what is most important.  The answers that are personal to you are all that matters.

For me, I like to exercise when as few people as possible are in the gym.  I don’t like waiting for equipment or having people talk to me when all I want to do is work out.  I have a treadmill at home which is great.  I work out when it is best in my schedule.  Sometimes, depending on my appointments and meetings, I prefer exercising early before things get into full swing.  Other times, I like working out in the evenings.  Depending on the weather, I’ll take walks in the day AND in the evening.  So, the answer for me is dependent on my schedule and how I feel.  When do I want to do it?  As long as I exercise and am active in some way, that is what matters to me.

Rather than go by the statistics and research along with the opinions of many experts, go by what is best for you.  After all, what matters is what is best for you!!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back on Track Facilitator

Do you want to lose weight?  Are you hoping for a different way of life that includes losing weight, feeling good in your body, wearing a smaller size, and have a strong sense of confidence in yourself?  You can have it.  It is yours to make happen.  To reach any goal worth having, you need to be committed.  To lose weight requires persistence and consistency.  It requires saying “no” to food choices when sometimes you’d rather indulge.  It requires a commitment to your diet and along with a promise to yourself.

If you had a friend that constantly made promises to you yet regularly broke them, what would you think of that friend? Would you want that person in your life? Would you trust that person? When you don’t come through on your diet and regularly succumb to poor food choices, you let yourself down by a broken promise. You keep the promise of more often than not following a diet by commitment. A wishy-washy diet is nothing more than a wish. To lose weight and follow through on your promise to yourself is commitment.

A commitment is the sincere and steadfast movement toward a purpose. To be committed is to bind yourself to a course of action. When you want to lose weight, your purpose is to follow your diet, exercise regularly and adhere to healthy habits that you’ve adopted for yourself. You bind yourself to a healthy course of action by making healthy food choices (even when you don’t want to), exercise, being more active and incorporating movement into your day (again, even when you don’t want to). By each of these acts, you re-enforce your commitment to yourself to lose weight and confirm the promise you make to yourself.

Wishing for something to happen is passive. Usually wishing is stagnant and doesn’t involve any action on your part. It is similar to hoping lightening strikes and drops losing weight in your life overnight. Wishing is throwing a penny into a pool of water, shut your eyes and make a wish. Wishes are fun but wishes won’t make something happen as your reality.

Commitment is all about action. You can’t be committed without taking action. You can’t stand still as you want to make your commitment a reality. You want to make that commitment happen. Commitment is inside you, inside your heart. You want your commitment to evolve to fruition in your life. If you are committed to a cause, you go about fulfilling that commitment full speed. Bring that action of your commitment and go for losing weight – full speed ahead. Live your commitment to losing weight and the promise to yourself.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator