How to lose weight – a Carnival fitness plan

Each year around November, every regional savannah and recreational park transforms into an outdoor gym. This answers the big question how to lose weight just before my Christmas splurge and keep it down as part of my Carnival fitness plan?

As we all know, food is an integral part of our culture and it is customary to over indulge during celebrations that fall one after the next. We can’t resist the sweets and roti during Divali and the mountain loads of ham and fruit cake during Christmas. Some of these foods that we love have the dubious distinction of being loaded with salt, sugar and fat, the key problem that makes us want to lose weight.

Then after the holidays comes regret, shame, and the inevitable New Year resolution to “eat healthy this year”. Sometimes no matter how hard we try to resist temptation we still find ourselves a few pounds heavier than the year before.

Life in Trinidad and Tobago has changed considerably during the last 20 years. Most of us have cars, and for the ones that use public transportation there is always a short-drop taxi available to make the journey more convenient.

As a nation we have slowly over time become more sedentary as we do jobs that require less physical effort. As that aspect of our lives have changed, our diets have also changed. We eat “Sunday lunch” every day and have adopted the high calorie, high sodium diet of our North American neighbours with disastrous results.

Physical health helps with mental health and is a sure way to keep chronic non-communicable diseases at bay. Below is a simple weekly exercise regimen if combined with a balanced diet and proper meal portion control will give you the results you need by Carnival.

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Monday: Cardio

Do 30 minutes of cardio.

Try biking, walking, hiking, or running on stairs. Try doing consecutive intervals — 1 minute of walking, 1 minute of jogging, 1 minute of sprinting — to maximise your results in minimal time.

Tuesday: Arms

Bicep curls, 10 reps

Triceps kick-backs, 10 reps

Shoulder presses, 10 reps

Repeat this circuit two more times.

Wednesday: Abs and Obliques

Crunches, 20 reps

Bicycle crunches, 20 reps

Oblique crunches, 20 reps

Plank, hold for 30 seconds

Side plank, hold for 30 seconds on each side

Thursday: Lower Body