Here’s How You Can Get in Shape in Time for Chinese New Year

Just to inspire and motivate self.

With less than a month away to Chinese New Year, we’re pretty sure you’ve already started shopping for your New Year clothes. And maybe, you might be feeling a tad self-conscious if you gained some weight over the Christmas and New Year break.

But here’s the thing: You can still look and feel great in your new outfits by February! Today, Evolve Daily reveals 5 Ways You Can Get in Shape in Time for Chinese New Year:

1) Maintain a balanced diet

Whole grains help minimize your carb cravings.

Although crash dieting might seem like a great idea, it’s actually nothing more than a very temporary quick-fix solution that does more harm than good to your body in the long run. This is because crash diets deprive your body of essential nutrients, such as potassium and sodium, which play major roles in your body’s nerve and muscle function. Hence, you’ll feel more lethargic and tired. This would then lead to moodiness, irritability and in more severe cases, depression.

What’s more, crash diets slow down your metabolism greatly, which means you’ll gain even more weight when you start eating normally again!

Start getting in shape by including these fat-melting foods in your daily diet, and drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. It has been reported that drinking water increases the amount of calories you burn. Also, if you drink water before your meals, you’ll reduce your appetite and consume less calories!

Tip: Replace sodas and alcohol with water, and avoid sugary treats (for now at least). Save those calories for your festive gatherings with loved ones!

2) Tone your body with some intense workouts

A 60-minute Muay Thai class can burn up to 1,000 calories.

What better way is there to melt away fats and tone those muscles than a good, hard session at the gym? To begin, you should pick anaerobic exercises over aerobic ones. For example, choosing sprints over long distance jogging.

Apart from helping you burn more fats, high intensity interval training would produce better results than slow distance training – in a shorter amount of time! Remember, quality beats quantity, so you should never measure your workout’s effectiveness by the amount of time you spend on it, but rather, the intensity.

For a good full body workout, why not try Muay Thai? It not only teaches you self-defense, but also burns up to 1,000 calories when you attend a 60-minute class!

Tip: Plan your workouts well in advance, and log them in a workout journal so you can monitor your progress and stay motivated to exercise regularly.

3) Get enough sleep every night (even on weekends!)

Ideally, all adults should get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

When you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll end up craving junk food, as your ability to make good food choices gets affected. It has been reported that sleep deprivation increases activity in areas of the brain that seek pleasure (including the kind that junk food provides!) What’s more, activity in other regions of your brain that can put a stop to these cravings would slow down when you’re sleepy.

As adequate sleep plays a role in maintaining a healthy weight, we strongly believe you should catch 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep every night.

Tip: Switch off your phone, laptop and TV at least an hour before bedtime. By disconnecting from your electronics, you’re allowing your brain to relax and get ready for a good night’s sleep!4) Get a workout buddy to keep things fun

BJJ enables a much weaker person to overcome a bigger and stronger opponent.

When it comes to choosing a workout buddy, it doesn’t matter whether it’s your sibling, or your work BFF – as long as you’re both on the same page about getting in shape!

Besides working towards a common goal together, you and your workout buddy can keep each other motivated, as well as help each other stay focused if either of you starts to slack off.

Tip: Share not only your successes but also your fears and failures with your buddy. By doing so, your buddy will know exactly when to encourage you and remind you why you started in the first place. Psst! Never forget that you’re a team, so make it a point to do the same for your buddy on his/her bad days.

5) Carry on even if you don’t see immediate results

WBC Boxing World Champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam teaches Boxing and Muay Thai at Evolve Far East Square.

There might be moments when you get frustrated or disheartened, especially when you don’t see results despite pushing yourself in the gym, or maybe after the first few days of eating healthy.

But when you persist and get through these tough moments, we’re positive that your efforts will pay off, and you’ll be glad that you never gave up. After all, giving up would do nothing but take you further from getting that body you want.

Tip: Keep in mind that progress is more important than perfection, and don’t forget to celebrate your small victories – like squeezing in a good workout after a long day at work, or getting through a week without drinking sodas.

Now that you’ve already thought about getting in shape for Chinese New Year, it’s time to take action and work towards your desired body!

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