Starting on a new health and fitness journey can be super exciting time, especially when you are really committed to it. We all tend to get a bit impatient when we haven’t lost five kgs or see clear muscle definition within the first week and it’s easy to get disheartened and give up. Let’s be real though, noticeable changes don’t happen overnight and it will take time.
How much time exactly though? Well, Bulk Nutrients ambassador and qualified personal trainer Ella Martyn is here to share her timeline and tips on the changes you should see at certain points to keep you motivated along the way.
The First Month
Arguably the first one is the hardest, but it’s also the month to set up a nutrition and fitness plan and find out what works best for your body. If you are new to resistance training generally you will see some results with an increase in muscle tone, decrease in body fat and increase in strength in as short as two to four weeks. This is what you can call ‘newbie gains’ when an untrained individual begins resistance training for the first time they have a huge window for adaptation.
Three Months In
The three month mark is when the changes really start to show and not just in the way of weight loss. You should be feeling fitter and your overall strength should have increased. If you have been keeping to a nutrition plan you should also see a noticeable body fat drop at this point as well as feeling better as your body would have adjusted to the nutrition plan. Three months could also be a good point to start changing up your workout plan and try something new. If the gym has been your jam start a new class like boxing or join a bootcamp to keep your workouts exciting and ignite different muscles.
The Six Month Mark
By this point you are well and truly into your new health and fitness lifestyle. You should be well on the way to reaching your goals (or have achieved them depending on what goal was set) and see a serious change from day one. Around this time weight loss could also plateau so try changing up your nutrition plan to reboot your metabolism and keep your progress going.
This however, should just be used as a guide as there are a lot of other factors that can also affect results. Ella’s top tips for getting the best results are:
- Get adequate sleep each night (7+hours). Insufficient sleep can have a negative impact on dieting and fat loss. Repair, recovery and rejuvenation happen at night, so the less sleep your getting the less of a chance your body has to repair itself.
- Protein requirements are a big one for women when it comes to fat loss. Protein has a thermogenic effect which means your body burns calories as it breaks down protein. This results in feeling fuller for longer. A great way to get your extra protein is to put protein powder in a smoothie at breakfast or for a snack. My favourite is Bulk Nutrients Whey Protein Isolate in Salted Caramel.
- Ensure your drinking adequate water, every cell in your body needs it. Being dehydrated is often a misunderstood hunger signal. If you consume 500ml of water before each meal you will stay hydrated, fuller, and may even boost your metabolism for an hour.
Ella is a qualified Personal Trainer (Certificate III and IV in Fitness), Online Fitness Coach and Founder of Females In Fitness, a mentor program for female personal trainers. Her passion is seeing women grow in a saturated fitness market, and her mission is to mentor more women to reach their peak. She wants to motivate, inspire and educate women on the benefits of weight training, flexible dieting, positive mindset and self-love practices to prove that you too can have a strong and healthy body with sustainable and long-term results.
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