The healthiest air of Europe, hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails, and steep alleyways galore:
Sometimes, facing another never ending staircase leading to a church or castle, you wish you'd carry a few pounds less.
Couple this with the incentive of the beach- and pool culture, and you know why gyms all over Andalucia tend to fill up by March (and are again very empty - and very inexpensive - by the end of October).
Did you know that most villages, even the small ones, tend to have a small or even very well equipped gym… and that the prices are nowhere near to those in the north of Europe?
The Internet is saturated with tips to lose weight: with the beach season approaching, we thought of asking around in our office and let you know...
Our most popular weight loss tips
Popular, for they're either very easy or fun.
- Eat when it's time to eat. Do not wait until you're hungry. For the simple reason that you'll eat less and will still feel satisfied.
- Always have breakfast (fruits). Simply to avoid that your body goes into the mode of 'oh my god, there will be a famine, I better hold on to my fat'.
- Always have a jug of lemon water on the table. Squeeze half a lemon (or a whole one if you prefer) into a liter of water. Besides a dozen other health advantages, lemons contain pectin fiber, which assists in fighting hunger cravings.
- Teach yourself to like healthy snacks. Olives, almonds, carrot sticks… if that sounds like a bore the first time around, it only takes 3-5 repeats for something to become a habit, more: something you really like and start to look forward to (the same applies to: educating yourself to like coffee without sugar, … try it 4 times and you start to love it).
- Build a little group. You would say it's not difficult to lose weight or get into shape: all it takes is motivation.
But there you go: self-motivation is a difficult hurdle. It really helps if you can enthuse a few friends.
To go walking once a week. Why not, slowly turn it into a weekly run. You can teach each other new exercises. Apart from being healthy, this is great fun, a social event you'll quickly start looking forward to. Before you know it this is the highlight of the week.
- Go to those Sevillana lessons. Dancing is not only a shortcut to happiness and laughter, also to a lean body.
- And finally… climb that mountain! You know which one we mean. The one you see from your kitchen window or always drive past and that forever makes you say: 'One day I should explore that area'. Forget about the headaches of planning the next exciting excursion: almost anywhere in Andalucia you can see the perfect excursion from your rooftop.
Even if you don't actually get a lot of energy out of yourself, you are still in that great, healthy air of Andalucia, in a country with one of the highest life expectancies in the world (approx. 2 years longer than in the axis UK-Germany)… and those are very good for your health and morale, even without lifting one arm.
If you have a fun, easy or original tip… let us know!
We will share it here.
