Weight loss trends for spring 2019 and the type of sport you've probably never heard of
Even from the experience of countries where people sometimes have to travel ten kilometres to the nearest source of drinking water and often have nothing to eat, one would think that if people have water running from the tap at home and only need to successfully make their way from bed to the bathroom in the morning without stepping on a lego or a dog ball, they would be satisfied. But the truth is that we stop appreciating what we've had in our lives for a while and it stops making us happy. And sometimes even the opposite.
And so, in developed countries, we lose weight almost permanently. The biggest wave of weight loss always comes after Christmas and before summer. If I got a hundred every time someone in my wider circle started losing weight, I wouldn't be writing this because I'd be on a beach in warm climes and I wouldn't care if I had a tyre or a beautybelly on my stomach under my cocktail.
Thanks to social media, losing weight and generally maintaining a gorgeous physique is already a collective craze. In certain circles, you can read first thing in the morning that half of your friends have already managed three hundred English with their partner and dog as a weight on their backs, had an icy shower and dipped their sill in a glass of green barley aka grass. You only half overcame clinical death, poured coffee over yourself and tripped over your half-asleep dog and partner.
But maybe you too want to lose weight and are wondering what the current trends are in this area. And now we're finally getting to it. If you're nervous about the fact that you're reading right now and therefore not burning as much, you can practice tightening your cheeks while reading. Incidentally, this reflex can come in handy for other occasions in these turbulent times.
Intermittent fasting as a new trend in weight loss
Intermittent fasting, also known as intermittent fasting, involves alternating longer periods of time when you don't eat with periods when you do. Minor spoiler: if you wouldn't alternate, you would. Fasting can last anywhere from 12 to 48 hours. Although now detoxes where you don't eat for a whole week and just drink green barley and coconut water are also trendy. But somehow that can't be recommended often, if at all. The usual and sustainable ratio of fasting to eating is 16:8. That is, you don't eat for 16 hours straight and then take several meals for eight hours. The bottom line is that you will burn all the energy from the previous day and then burn fat stores for part of the day, which logically helps with weight loss.
If this model doesn't work for you, there is also a 5:2 option where you eat regularly five days a week and then extremely reduce your calorie intake on two days, to a level of say 500 to 600 calories a day. There's also a diet called OMAD, which is a term formed from the first letters of the English name of the diet and translated means one meal per day.
A proponent of intermittent fasting is, for example, modern fitness guru Chris Heria, who is part of a very successful self-weight training and healthy lifestyle project called Thenx, which you can watch on YouTube, among other places.
Chris Heria"I usually skip breakfast in the morning, drink lots of water and do some high-intensity interval training based on cardio activities to completely empty the tank and burn off any leftover calories taken in the day before. That way I increase my metabolism and burn all those calories first thing in the morning," says Chris in one of his videos. Then he can have his first meal as late as 2pm.
Chris also tailors his food to the workout he's planning that day, with carbs from healthy sources when he plans to lift heavy weights and do peak training. At other times he keeps his carbohydrate intake to a minimum.
Ketodiet and protein slowly even in lemonade
This brings us seamlessly to another recent hit, the ketodiet. Simply put, this involves greatly reducing your carbohydrate intake and focusing on protein, and not worrying about (ideally healthy) fats either. You can see the popularity of this trend of increased protein intake in supermarkets, where you can already find signs enticing you to increase your protein intake even on popsicles. Soon you simply won't sell a hair shampoo without protein, it's so trendy now.
It has to be said, however, that you shouldn't cut out carbs altogether, and you should also be careful not to overdo it with fats (or protein, for that matter), otherwise you're more likely to harm your health.
Online training
Various online trainers and mobile apps are also a huge trend. Many people today are opting for remote methods that can be operated from anywhere instead of in-person workouts supervised by a trainer at the gym. In this case, for a smaller or larger sum, you get a specific program and you get a suggestion for an exact diet, an exercise program and often instructional videos. You can then proceed on your own, often with the help of various mobile apps.
Not everyone is into exercise. People help themselves to beer and puppiesBeer and wine yoga. And puppies!
And finally, the promised sport you may not have heard of.
The latest trend is designed to get people to exercise. Apparently someone thought that people have no problem getting together with others for a drink, but they don't really want to get together for exercise anymore, so they invented beer and wine yoga.
This exercise consists of drinking beer (or wine) outside or inside while you exercise, usually with a beer next to you in the grass or on the floor by your mat. The bottle or can of beer is involved in some of the exercises, so you may even pick it up for fun during some of the exercises. Beer yoga is very popular in Western Europe and the United States, but similar classes can be found locally in the Czech Republic, especially in the summer months.
However, the amount of alcohol drunk is equal to one drink, so it's not as if the whole class starts with a sun salutation and ends with a head-in-the-toilet salute. The exercises in these classes tend to be at a beginner's level, as it's really meant to be mainly a way in for those who are more likely to be still finding their way to exercise or just looking for a nice leisure activity.
And the best at the end. I haven't found it here, but it's quite a hit abroad. It's puppy yoga. Which, again, involves going to a yoga class. And there, puppies are released into the exercise area and they cuddle with you. When you have a puppy cuddling with you, it's just hard to worry about anything. I mean, I guess it's also exercising, but it doesn't really matter because... because puppies.
