Many people choose to lose weight by getting involved with an online fitness program. They figure it makes sense to either grab a few ideas from YouTube or blogs, or buy health fitness books to learn how to get started on their road to a whole new body.The internet has become the ultimate tool in gathering knowledge, and it’s become so important many of us cannot imagine life without it. When it comes to the area of health and fitness however, the internet is a double-edge sword. The net allows you to learn about almost any health and fitness program that has ever been designed… the problem is that the net allows you to learn about almost any health and fitness program that has ever been designed – get it?It’s like how Life Coach Anthony Robbins describes society’s thinking nowadays, “We’re drowning in information but we’re starving for wisdom.” Having options always beats not having any, but when you have thousands of options to choose from – analysis paralysis can set in. This is where we become inundated with information and choose to do nothing because we’re not sure what the right course of action is.The other end of the stick is possible as well, choosing exercise training programs that promise quick weight loss and realizing that the “best weight loss program” you thought you were buying was an attainable but unsustainable model. Too many of these programs make weight loss an overly complicated process, and stress unnatural movements along with unnatural methods to lose weight or get in shape.The key to remember when you’re searching fitness programs is to remember that they stress “fitness” and not weight loss. Although many people believe fitness programs will help them lose weight, and you will, they are not designed for weight loss. If they are designed at all (many programs are thrown together using rehashed ideas), they are created to help you get fit and in shape – that’s it, plain and simple.The truth, whether you want to believe or not, is that movement, even something as simple as walking for 25 minutes every day, and making whole food the main part of your diet will help you lose weight and keep it off. Instead, we stay worrying about pills, smoothies or our resting heart rate in relation to the output of energy during a workout – this may work for some people, but it obviously doesn’t work for the majority.The U.S. is now the world’s fattest country and the only good news is that the growth rate of the obese and overweight has begun to slow. We now need to stop that growth pattern altogether and put it in reverse. The challenge is that America has become complacent – too many of its citizens have created environments that revolve around eating and sitting.Think about it: what is the normal routine of the average hard-working person? They come home, eat dinner with the family (many times they eat while watching TV and not at the dinner table) and afterward retire to the living room to watch their favorite television programs. It’s no secret that the average American watches TV 7 hours a day. The average workday is 9 hours if you add half an hour to and from work, and if 7 hours are spent watching TV, with the average time slept being 8 hours – that’s a full 24 hour cycle, where’s the time spent on making sure your body is well nourished and conditioned for maximum use?Significant weight loss can only occur when you cut your calories and up your energy output, through exercising or work that requires manual labor. What people need to understand is that they can eat MORE whole food, which will give them the feeling of being full, and still take in fewer calories that way than by eating less processed foods and starving throughout the day.An online fitness program is 1/3 of the weight loss equation, with food and mental preparation making up the rest. We don’t have time to cover the last two here but food does matter and how you think is going to determine how much weight you’ll lose and whether or not you’ll be able to keep it off long term.When deciding on an online fitness program to add to your overall health plan, be sure to include these features:• Stresses working out in “advantageous positions” only – you want to keep your joints and spine healthy at all times. Too many programs uses exercises that do more harm than good – be on the lookout for programs that cause you to lift heavy weight in a position that can potentially harm you.
• Uses intensity for short periods of time to build muscle and endurance
• Uses aerobics to build heart power
• Uses correct stretching principles to create flexibilityObviously, there’s more to this with fitness but these basic features will help a long way in choosing which program you will be able to benefit from most. Just remember, fitness programs do help you lose weight but they are not weight loss programs, and choose your fitness program wisely so as to get the most benefit from the time and energy you will be spending.Searching the net for ideas on health and fitness can be a daunting task, but when you know WHAT to look for, the process just becomes that much easier. Knowing what you’re looking for will help you acquire the program that best meets your needs, instead of an online fitness program that will end up on one of your external hard drives – never to be or heard from again.