Tips To Stay In Shape

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Exercising daily can be a tedious and often difficult routine for those for whom exercise is not part of their lives. And many times, even if we have the disposition to exercise, it is almost impossible for us to find the time to do it. However, exercise physiologist Marta Montenegro says that we don't have to spend long hours in the gym to see results. According to her, 21 minutes a day is enough to get in shape. And that of dieting, the expert maintains that it is a method that does not work.

The Venezuelan, who has trained celebrities such as Mario López, Cristián de la Fuente and Helio Castroneves, has developed a method of high-intensity exercises that guarantees an athletic and toned body in just 21 days. Montenegro, who is the founder and editor of the international health and fitness magazine SOBeFiT, author of the book Forget Diet! Exercise and learn to eat and creator of the Montenegro Method, tells us how to lose weight and stay in shape now that summer is coming.

What is the most important thing to keep in mind to lose weight?

At the diet level, I recommend making small changes that you can incorporate every two weeks, but one change at a time. For example, one week you focus on having breakfast every day. It can be oatmeal with almonds or fruit, or egg whites with toasted whole wheat bread. If you don't have time at home, you can look for healthy options at coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin 'Donuts. But it is very important that you eat breakfast every day. After the first two weeks of eating a good breakfast, you can focus on changing drinks. If you drink juice or soda, substitute it with water. You can have a diet soda a day, and then drink plenty of water. And if it's coffee, have only one coffee. If you drink wine, have a single glass of wine. But don't drink coffee, soda, wine and juice,all in one day because those drinks are high in calories. The next week, start using the small appetizer plates and save the large plates. That forces you to control the portions. They are small changes, but believe me they make a difference. People think it should start on a Monday and change everything, and those drastic changes don't work. Diets don't work. And of course, you have to exercise.

Many people complain about not having time to exercise. What do you recommend?

You can do any exercise routine at home. Your own body is your best instrument. You can do breaststrokes, squats and sit-ups, then go up and down the stairs. You repeat this routine for 20 minutes and you already have a complete workout. All the physical activity you can do at home counts. Fix the garage, fix your garden. Unfortunately we believe that the only place to train is the gym, but moving around at home can cause the same calorie expenditure.

And can you really lose weight and stay fit with just 20 minutes of exercise a day?

Aside from having a balanced and healthy diet, doing 20 to 30 minutes of high intensity exercises a day will see results. You will look good and you will feel good. It is a change of life and not a fashion, you have to make it part of your lifestyle, that is the most important thing. Even if it's only 20 or 30 minutes, be sure to focus on what you're doing. That's what my Montenegro Method is all about, where you can change your body by exercising 21 minutes a day.

Tell us about your "Montenegro Method".

It is my new series of three physical training DVDs, which combine all the experience I have gained after having become very involved with sports and the physical training of athletes. The training is focused on working strength, endurance and power. In a way, one of the problems in staying in shape is that if you don't challenge the body to do different things every so often, you get stuck and that leads to frustration and you stop exercising. With my Montenegro Method you can combine the DVD's in such a way that one day you can do a fat burning circuit combined with the resistance circuit and the other day you do two different combinations. The promise is 21 minutes for 21 days and you will redefine your body. The idea is an athletic body, with muscular tone, slim, resistant,which is the way I have trained so many people.

What tips can you give us to cook in a healthy way without losing the Latin flavor?

Today there is a wide variety of healthy foods, from whole wheat bread, different kinds of rice. Don't be afraid to try different things, to try. What I recommend at the beginning is to mix the foods we usually eat with the healthy ones. For example, if you like rice, then take a little bit of brown rice and mix it with white rice. I do not recommend changing it suddenly because later you may not like it and that already discourages you and you do not want to eat brown rice. Same with cereal. Use half a cup of one you like and half a cup of whole wheat. In the case of sugar, you can use a little regular sugar and a little sweetener without calories. This way you don't feel like you are making a radical change. And it is very important to cook at home because that way you have control of what you eat and you can prepare it in a healthier way.

Get the Montenegro Method DVD series by visiting MontenegroMethod.com.