Rania Gamal, a Dubai-based fitness guru, model, actress, and TV presenter gives five simple tips for women to stay fit that spells as ‘women’:
Wake Up 3 (+ Travel Time) Hours before Your Work Timing
If there is one common thing about CEO and successful people, they all wake up early. If your office timing is 9am, don’t wake up by 8am and rush to the shower as whatever you do, you’ll still be late for work and you wouldn’t have a healthy breakfast, not unless, your office is just 2 blocks away or in the next room and it can result to a bad day. Furthermore, it is important to give a grace period of 3 hours before your office timing, aside from the travel time that you have, meaning if your travel time is 1 hour, you need 4 hours in advance. Why? Because you need 1 hour to exercise so you have a stronger body, 30 minutes to prepare a healthy breakfast and not those easy-to-cook frozen, ready-to-fry and any food with preservatives, 30 minutes to eat, 30 minutes to shower and get dress and 30 minutes to read or watch some news, it is very important to do all of these — exercise, eat healthy, read and enrich your knowledge every morning. Remember your work is not your life, it is just a part of it, but your body and mind is all part of your existence.
Open Your Eyes to the Truth
Sometimes you should know how to classify truth from advertising, just because you heard that a certain slimming tablet have made your friend slim then it doesn’t mean it could be effective for you, first we have different blood and body type so something that works for others may not work for you and vice versa, also just because you see the package of a tantalising-looking juice drink claims that there is no added sugar doesn’t mean it has no sugar, or just because it is under the diet section doesn’t mean it will be healthy for you. I believe in natural things such as fruits and vegetables and the right amount of protein and carbohydrates rather than buying ‘dietary’ products in the supermarket except from the honest brands that I have studied and I really trust.
Mind Your Own Business
Don’t be envious with Sarah if she has a slimmer body, don’t get jealous with Wafa if she has a flat stomach. You don’t have to focus on what other’s have and what are they doing, except focus on how would you improve yourself and how would you reach that goal of being fit and healthy.
Everything Else Matters
When it comes to losing weight and being fit, everything matters, you cannot go to gym regularly and eat buffet everyday or grab fast food after a sweat of just 30 minutes on the treadmill. You also cannot skip lunch and stay at couch every night or every morning. Fitness is the right amount of balance of everything, healthy eating and regular exercise, and the good news is you don’t need to force yourself to do rigorous exercise or not eat carbohydrates on your first few weeks, you can start by little dietary programmes and try to challenge yourself for a harder exercise and lesser carbohydrates gradually as it is much more effective that way.
Never Stop
Never ever stop, that is the main and most important thing that you should learn when you are in the journey of physical fitness. You have to be strong emotionally inside to be able to fight the battles and challenges that you have outside. You may think it is a cliché but it is really true that the beginning is the hardest, but it doesn’t matter, what matters is that you push yourself, you fight your demons inside and you show yourself the you are stronger each day than yourself yesterday — and you keep on going.
Rania Gamal started modelling when she was 17-years old while living in Germany and was the face of L’Oreal products and the cover of different international magazines. Rania loves travelling the world and she can speak four languages fluently including Arabic, English, Danish and basic French. Rania is also a fitness, lifestyle, and health aficionado, teaching women not only to eat healthy but also about being independent and being empowered. –[email protected]