SHAPING UP: Four simple tasks that will have a huge impact on a person’s health

Fourteen stones were lost between the group, an average of seven pounds loss per person. Everyone’s lost inches, their clothes now fit better and they’re full of energy – a great start to the year!

How do we get such good results in such a short space of time? Well, I’m about to share the secrets with you…

The 14-Day Shred is not a crash diet or an insane workout routine. It’s not a diet that leaves you feeling hungry. We don’t cut out carbs, we don’t cut out fats, we don’t push diet shakes on you, and we don’t tell you to exercise until you drop.

We just encourage the participants to follow 4 simple tasks, consistently over the course of the 14-day programme to improve their lifestyle.

These 4 simple tasks have a big impact on their health and the best thing is that they can quite easily implement them into their lifestyle without it feeling like a chore.

If you perform these tasks CONSISTENTLY, you too can see some amazing results, quickly!

DRINK 2 LITRES OF WATER EVERY DAY

If you're dehydrated your fat burning process will slow down. So, don't wait until you're thirsty to take a drink of water. Start drinking water as soon as you wake up on a morning - have a glass with your breakfast. Then keeping sipping throughout the day. You need to have a minumum of 2 litres of water per day. That may seem like a lot but trust me it really will help you lose weight.

When your body is hydrated you will also see other benefits including suppressed appetite, improved digestion, more energy, healthier skin, healthier teeth and bones, and healthier joints.

10-MINUTE HIIT WORKOUT A DAY

‘HIIT’ stands for High Intensity Interval Training. Typically, HIIT consists of short bursts of high intensity exercise, followed by a short rest period, repeated for a set amount time. In my 14-Day Shred programme I set the participants the task of doing a 10-minute HIIT workout every day.

Ten minutes may not seem like much but if you work at high intensity you can really raise your heart rate, burn some calories, strengthen your muscles and boost your metabolism.

These short workouts are ideal if you have a busy lifestyle and struggle to find time for the gym. You can start with the workout on this page and you can see lots more 10-minute HIIT workouts on my YouTube page www.youtube.com/grahamlowpt

TRACK YOUR CALORIES

To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit, which means you need to eat and drink fewer calories than you burn. To make sure you’re in a calorie deficit you first need to know how many calories you’re burning in a 24-hour period. I recommend using a fitness watch, like Fitbit, Garmin or Apple, for this. If you don’t have a fitness watch you can use a TDEE calculator to give you an estimate (you can find these online).Once you know how many calories you’re burning you just need to make sure you’re eating and drinking less calories to make sure you’re in a calorie deficit. I recommend MyFitnessPal for keeping track of the calories you’re consuming.

Typically, if you’re in a 500-calorie deficit every day for a week, you’ll lose about 1lb a week.

Like I mentioned earlier, the key is to be CONSISTENT with these tasks. Drinking 2 litres of water for one day, doing 10 minutes of exercise for one day, getting 10,000 steps for one day and tracking your calories for one day isn’t going to make much difference. But, if you do these tasks consistently over a few weeks, you will lose weight and you’ll definitely improve your health.