When deciding what’s right for you in a given day, pay attention to how you feel. As your diet becomes healthier, you’ll grow more aware of the foods that make you feel best. Stick to those! As an example, if you wake up feeling very hungry, eat a larger but healthy breakfast. If you don’t feel like having much, have a smoothie or a hot, unsweetened drink and a piece of fruit.
On average, a 150-pound person needs between 75 and 150 ounces of water each day. If they were sedentary and living in a cool climate, they would drink closer to 75 ounces of water each day; if they were active and lived in a hot climate, their intake would be closer to 150 ounces.
If you are chronically tired or have any other chronic health concerns, consult a doctor about taking supplements. As an example, if you’re often tired, you may find that your iron and/or vitamin D levels are low, in which case you might need to take supplements.
Some ballerinas start their morning with a smoothie, hot milky drink (e. g. , a cappuccino), Greek yogurt, or eggs.
Bad fats include saturated fats and artificial trans fatty acids. Saturated fats are found in animal products and in vegetable fats that liquefy at room temperature (e. g. coconut and palm oils). Artificial trans fatty acids are found in packaged foods and some margarines. Good fats include unsaturated fats such as those found in vegetable oils, fish, plants, flaxseeds, and walnuts.
Some professional dancers claim to eat mostly protein and to avoid carbs. Note that the lower your carb intake, the more likely you are to need a supplement, particularly fibre and folic acid. [6] X Research source While cutting carbs may help you lose weight, it may also cause tiredness and digestive problems. If you’re planning to go very low-carb, consult a nutritionist to ensure that you do it healthfully.
Most diet plans recommend avoiding processed foods as much as possible, as these are more likely to contain sodium and carbohydrates, both of which will do nothing to help you lose weight.
You don’t want to indulge every day, but you can definitely give into those cravings now and then — the key is to eat something relatively healthy, and only a small amount of it.
Many dancers start and end their day with at least some gentle stretching in order to keep their limbs feeling limber. Tailor your warmup to your exercise. If you’re going to do cardio, start with a slow activity like walking or biking at an easy pace. If you’re doing strength training, do a slow jog or walk, then some light activity that uses the muscles you intend to work on.
You don’t have to get the entire 30 to 60 minutes in in one big chunk. You can also do 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the afternoon, and 20 minutes after work/school, or at other intervals that suit you throughout the day — doing it this way will keep your metabolism revved.
Usually you’d use a weight that would exhaust you by the time you reached your 5th to 15th repetition (depending on the exercise and the trainer). This time, try weights that allow you to reach 18 to 20 repetitions before you have to give up.
If you currently don’t do any cardio at all, don’t try to jump into 30 minutes a day. Start with 30 minutes of brisk walking, three times a week.
If your calves begin to burn, that’s a good sign! Just make sure it’s a good burn, and not a painful tearing feeling. If at any point it feels truly painful, stop!
Lie on your back with your hands behind your head and elbows wide. Raise your legs to a 45-degree angle and hold them there while you move them in crisscross motions for 30 seconds — right leg in front of left, then vice versa. As you do this, your shoulder blades should be off the floor as well, as if you were doing a crunch. Your legs should remain straight the entire time. Lie on your back with your legs up at 45 degrees and your hands at your sides. Use your abs to raise your shoulder blades and arms off the floor. Again you should look like you’re doing crunches, but with your arms straight out in front of you and your legs at 45 degrees. Lie on your back and lift your shoulders a few inches off the ground as you move your legs into an L position. Place your hands behind your head and lift the leg that’s still on the ground slightly off the ground. Keeping your lower leg and shoulders off the ground, curl up towards the highest leg (the vertical part of the L shape) and pulse for 30 seconds. Then, switch legs and repeat. You can speed this up to single pulses as well. These exercises tone your abs, thighs, and bum. If you find these exercises challenging, you can raise your legs slightly higher than 45 degrees to make the exercise less difficult. There are also variations that include standing up and kicking your legs out behind you — these are great for firming up your buns. [18] X Research source
Maintaining a good posture, lift your heels 2 inches off the floor so that your weight is now on the balls of your feet. This is your starting position. Continuing to maintain your posture, bend your knees and lower your body up to 12 inches. Hold in this lowered position for one count (say one one thousand inside your head) before returning to your starting position. Do two sets of 10 repetitions. Stay on the balls of your feet throughout.
Draw your shoulders down and away from you ears, tighten your abs, tuck your pelvis, and bend your knees. This is your starting position. Ensuring that you maintain your starting posture (shoulders down, abs strong, pelvis tucked, knees bent), raise your heels off the floor as high as you can. Stay on the balls of your feet. Remaining on the balls of your feet, with bent knees and a tucked pelvis, squeeze your butt muscles, and press your thighs and knees back. This should be a small movement. Hold the tension for one count (say one one thousand inside your head), then release. Do two sets of 20 reps. This exercise will firm your thighs and bum.
Bend your elbows and lower your body roughly 2 inches, holding it there as you count to two. Being careful not to lock your elbows, push back up to your starting position (pelvis tucked, bum lifted). Do 15 reps. Be sure to keep your pelvis tucked and your abs strong (pulled in) throughout this exercise. If you find it too difficult, a variation is to place your feet flat on the floor and bend your knees
It may be enough to focus on the aesthetics at first — that you’ll be thinner — but this may not be enough to keep you motivated in the long run. Allow your motivations to change. If you’re feeling unmotivated, sit down and remind yourself why you’re working so hard for your new body. You may find it helpful to write it down in a journal.
Often weight won’t tell you much about how you’re doing in your exercise program. You might even find that you get heavier as you build muscle. Measuring yourself, or even just paying attention to how you feel and how your clothes fit, is generally more effective than weighing yourself. You can download apps on your smart phone or tablet that can help you record your progress and even share it with other people.
As an example, if you already jog once a week and do yoga twice a week, you could add one Pilates class (or video) and two 30-minute walks to your weekly routine.
An example of your first week’s goal might be 30 minutes of cardio for three days, plus two days of yoga, and one day of Pilates; in addition, you only ate carbs once per day, where you’d normally eat them at every meal.
You could even join a dance class, which would be particularly useful given that you’re trying to get a dancer’s body!
When creating a schedule try to account for things that might go wrong — for example, a meeting running late or waking up feeling sick. If you don’t carve out a specific block of time for your exercise and/or healthy meal preparation, chances are you won’t find the time to do those things.
For example, if you sleep in and miss going for a run on Monday, don’t give up on your whole week. Just get back on schedule and make sure you don’t miss your next scheduled exercise session.
Make sure that you don’t use their lack of motivation as an excuse for your own if your friend cancels on your workout sessions.
