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Personal Trainers at Shape Up Helping With Your Fitness While Traveling

6 Hacks on How to Stay on Track When Traveling

A lot of people have to travel regularly. They often come to my facility and tell me that they are doing great while in town, but every time they travel, they have business dinners, luncheons, and no place to cook.

Bloated Food Intake

The USDA posted in 2010 that a person eating out one meal a day eats about 150-180 kcal/meal more than they would when staying in. This can mean that during the days you are gone you can eat anywhere from 450 kcal to 600 kcal more than you would on any given day at home. No wonder you struggled to reach your goals.

Hack Your Trip

It is definitely not easy to eat healthily while being gone but there are some ways you can stay on top of your nutrition, and not sabotage yourself:

  • You might not be able to pick the hotel you go to, but you can pick the restaurant you are going to eat at. Before your trip browse menus of local restaurants and look at their healthy options. Choose veggies, protein, some fat and follow the 80% rule. Stop eating when you are about 80% full (you should not be hungry for 3 hours). You know you had too much if you have to open your belt or loosen your waist band :). As always fried foods etc are off limits [insert common sense].
  • If there are not any local restaurants with healthy options use postmate to have food delivered to you.
  • Choose a room with a kitchenette and prep your food on site. Ask the hotel staff for a local grocery store or do some research online prior to your visit!
  • Something that works for some people is shipping your food prior to your trip. Not necessarily my preferred method, but whatever works for you!
  • If you are driving you can always bring a big cooler with food in it. This way you have food for the trip itself and after your arrival, giving you some time to scope the area!
  • Bring powdered veggies, protein or homemade bars

Those are just a couple of hacks you can use to stay on track while you are gone.

Now, I need a drink!

The one issue I have not addressed yet is drinking. As much as you might like your [insert preferred alcoholic beverage], it contains mostly empty calories. Yeah, yeah, wine is good for you, blah, blah. Let’s be honest: You, living an overall healthy life will do more for you, then a glass of wine a day.

Having said that 🙂 I understand that you actually might enjoy a glass of x here and there, and that some perceive it being a social a must…. If you want to drink alcoholic beverages, then have one drink followed by 20 oz of water. It will let you be part of the group but cut down tremendously on your consumption of empty calories and as a nice side benefit: the headache the next day. Your body, as well as your self perception will thank you!

Conclusion

Traveling is not easy on your body and eating habits but it can be managed. Make the right choices and see the body fat melt off. If you are looking for more help with your goals contact me at michael at charlottepersonaltrainer.org.

Have an amazing day,

 

Michael

 

 

Healthy Nutrition at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

How much protein is too much?

Current Protein Intake Recommendations

The general recommendation for a sedentary person is 0.8g of protein/kg body mass.

Athletes take anywhere from 1.2-2g protein/kg body weight. Endurance athletes rank anywhere between 1.25-1.75g/kg while powerlifters and bodybuilders take in about 1.75g-2.8g/kg body weight.

What does research say?

Recommendations for athletes vary from 1.28g/kg body weight to 2.8g/kg body weight (divide your weight  lbs by 2.204). A short study lasting only 7 days did not find any significant changes in urinary creatinine, albumine and urea. The “Nurse Study” a survey, supports those findings but indicates that this might not hold true in people with renal failure.

In healthy people a steady high protein diet does not seem to have negative effects on the liver but might have damaging properties with a high protein refeeding when the person fasted for longer than 48 hours.

Some people argue that amino acids are acids after all that the acidity might become a problem. Looking at the research though it seems that it is not potent enough to cause harm to most individuals. It only becomes a potential risk if the calcium intake was below 400 mg/1000kcal consumed and even then the relationship seems relatively weak.

Kidneys seem to work fine unless there is a problem with the sodium-bicarbonate buffering system which balances out the acid:base ratio.

What have rats to do with it?

Well, rats that were exposed to resistance training were able to decrease the impact of a dramatic protein intake increase.

Take Away

It is pretty simple. If you are healthy a steady high protein diet won’t have a negative impact on you. Should you have liver or kidney concerns it is strongly recommended to consult with your physician first before dramatically increasing your protein intake. A higher protein intake has shown to improve weight loss, performance, & recovery.

We recommend our weight loss clients to take in about 1g of protein/lbs of weight and have a lot of success in weight loss, lowering BP, etc.

Adjustments need to be individually made. One size does not fit all but the research clearly shows that a higher protein intake is connected to more positives than negatives as long as the person is healthy.

If you are interested in find out more about us, click below:

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References:

Examine Can Eating too much protein be bad for you?

 

 

Nutrition Consultation at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

Food Sensitive? An Elimination Diet Might Help

According to Berardi & Andrews (2013) 3 out of 4 people have some form of food intolerance. These food intolerances are uniquely individual, some of which are benign, while others can lead to serious gastro-intestinal distress, hives, headaches, ulcers, stuffy nose, mucus build up in the lungs, etc.

If you suspect that you have some of these issues and want to address them, you can have yourself tested in a lab for a lot of money. I am not judging it. It is a legit path but the food elimination diet is still the gold standard.

If you want to figure out if you have issues with some of the most common food allergies and intolerances you need to be aware of them:

Common food allergies

  • in adults:
    • eggs
    • milk
    • fish
    • nuts
    • corn
  • in children:
    • eggs
    • milk
    • wheat
    • nuts
    • soy

Common food intolerances

  • gluten
  • dairy
  • fructose
  • yeast

Food allergies are the worse of the two. Some of you might have been hospitalized because allergies to certain foods but that does not mean that food sensitivites or gastric reactions do not have severe impacts on someone’s life.  Here are just some of the disorders and diseases caused or impacted by food sensitivities are:

  • asthma
  • autoimmune disorder
  • skin conditions
  • arthritis
  • ADD / ADHD
  • etc.

After you have removed the most common causes for food sensitivities, allergies for six to eight weeks you reintroduce them one by one. You might find out that you actually got rid of the issues. If your problem reappears you can simply remove the food from your diet and you should no longer have any issues.

Going in depth

I do not need to reinvent the wheel. Berardi wrote an excellent article with explanation on how to proceed best with food sensitivites. Here is the link to his article. Precision Nutrition: Elimination Diet.

Make sure to talk to your healthcare professional before embarking on this endeavor.

Yours in health & fitness,

Michael

Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting as the leader in weight loss & personal training in Charlotte

Fat or Carbs – What is the superior food source?

We have come more and more to believe that we need to cut out a certain food from our diet in order to improve our performance. Some ultra-marathoners go so far to have a ketogenic diet (30-50gs of carb/day).

We face a couple of problems here. I think and Mike T. Nelson PhD made a good argument for it as well that both carbohydrates as well as fats play an important role in our life depending on our activity level.

There is no research that is able to tell you that a ketogenic diet is better able to produce power & strength. I think along the line of Nelson who says that the emphasis should be the ability to switch from one metabolism to another based on the energetic needs at the moment. So let’s look at what that means for most of us:

How to approach carbs and fats in daily life:

If you are a typical woman or man who works out a couple of times a week but is primarily sedentary (anyone with an office job for example) then you should consider this approach:

Have some complex carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potatoto, sweet potatoes) or some fruit (banana, apples, etc.) before and/or after the workout with some protein (greek yogurt, meat, poultry, fish, whey protein) in order to speed up recovery.

Once you go back to your usual daily activity it is time to switch back over to the fat burning mode. Reduce the carbohydrate intake and focus on protein and fats. Most like you will end up with a diet that consists of 30-40% carbs, 20-35% protein and 30-50% fat intake.

If you want to gain some serious muscle mass

If you are looking to gain some serious muscle mass then you won’t be able to stick with an hypo-caloric diet unless you are a total beginner. You would start to compromise muscle synthesis. In order to build something you will have to have the nutrients to put it together, and the energy to work hard to have the stimulus. Cutting your carbohydrate intake at that point too low will be detrimental to your workout performance, since carbohydrates are major players in anaerobic, alactic and lactic metabolic processes necessary for power & strength.

06Your nutrient intake will have to be about 18-20 kcal/current lbs body weight. What does that mean in a practical sense:

A woman weighing 120 lbs looking to gain lean muscle mass, working out 3-4 times a week will have to take in between 2160-2400 kcal/day. Going by the lower number with the above mentioned percentages this means:

  • 162g of carbohydrates (30%)
  • 135g of protein (25%)
  • 108g of fats (45%)

A man weighing in at 170 lbs with the same workout frequency will have to take in about 3060-3400 kcal/day. So what does that mean for this man in regards to macro nutrients? Again we use the lower number for calculation

  • 230g of carbohydrates (30%)
  • 191g of protein (25%)
  • 153g of fat (45%)

You can clearly see that this is not a diet that is low on fat or on carbohydrates. This diet is designed to optimize the performance. This is not optimal for everyone but just an example. Nutrition like that should be modified for each individual depending on goals and body types.

Nutrient timing can be an important game changer in your pursuit for excellence.

Have an awesome day,

Michael

 

Changing Nutrition Is Not Easy For Everyone! – A RANT

This blog is kind of a rant. It is a rant against being self-righteous. We need to pull back because here are some of the things we say to others and most

Habit Changes take time and will include setbacks
Habit Changes take time and will include setbacks

importantly to ourselves:

“You just need to cut down on the portions!”

“You are so lazy, just get up and work out!”

“Just quit drinking soda!”

“Why is that person so overweight?”

To a person with anxiety: “Just relax!”

These are just some of the things we say to ourselves, about others, or to others. Here is a newsflash. Do you really think that they/we don’t know that already? If it was that easy for us to do just that, I am pretty sure we/you/they would have done it already.

Life is more complicated

What comes easy to one of us, might be much more difficult to someone else. Our own personal experiences, fears, addictions, passions, believes enable us in different ways to cope with life. Sometimes food is one of those coping mechanisms. Whenever that is the case [which quite honestly, is quite common] we need to understand that millions of people in the USA have the same problems.

Compensating with food

Sometimes we need time to be alone with ourselves. We are so used to headsets, music, videos, books, anything that drowns out our little inner voice. Sometimes it is important to feel the pain, feelings, etc, that we associate with with wanting to compensate with food.  We need to experience it with compassion knowing that we are not alone with it.

Life does not go in a linear way. It never has and never will.

We need to understand that our coping mechanisms have evolved over decades. If we want to change them it will take love, compassion, hard work and the willingness to fail, just to try it again. We will have road blocks, there will be tough times when we lose a job, a partner or simply when we have a fight, or a bad day at work. We don’t succeed every day all day long, nobody does! It has nothing to do with willpower but with forming a habit. Nobody has enough willpower. We simply form habits which takes time. Time during which we may fail, again and again. Just don’t quit.

My Call To Action

This is my call to action: Whenever you see someone who obviously, or not so openly struggles bring them the benefit of the doubt. You don’t know what that person has going on in their life. If it is you, then call to mind the things that you have had to deal with in your life. Meet yourself with compassion and give yourself a “reset button” after you fail.

Just hit the reset button and restart the computer called “LIFE”. Start again and move on.

We cannot change anything in our past. But we can reshape the future, slowly. It takes time for new habits to form, new ways of life.

Judging is normal

You might think now: “What the heck?” He jus told me to be less judgemental. Well, good luck with it. Just like anything else it is a habit. We have learnt it over decades. You cannot just “not be judgemental” anymore. Just acknowledge when you are doing it, smile and move on, knowing what you are doing and work towards acceptance.

“Japanese: DO”

“Do” in japanese means way, ergo Karate-Do, means the way of Karate. It basically tells you that this is a journey. You won’t just get to the finish line and be able to yell: “Heck, I made it!” It is always work in progress.

Yours in health & fitness,

Michael Anders

Head Trainer Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

5 Foods That Might Add to Your Waist Line

We strongly encourage our clients to eat a diet consisting of whole foods, as unprocessed as

Nutrition at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting
Natural can still add to your waistline!

possible. Almost always clients are really successful in transforming their bodies, losing body fat, gaining lean muscle, looking healthy and fit.

When eating healthy foods goes wrong

Sometimes though it does not work. Even though they are eating as we suggested (or so I think) our clients transformation seems to stagnate or slow down. When this happens we recommend our clients to write down what they eat by using a site/app like MyFoodDiary. It is an easy way to find out what our clients exactly eat and it is simple to use.
The results are astonishing: Here are some of the foods that turned out to be Waist Busters:

  1. Honey: Even though honey is a natural product and in its raw form can have healthy qualities, it still is primarily sugar. Excessive amounts of honey definitely can add to your waistline and mess with your blood sugar if you are pre-diabetic or diabetic. Keep the total amount of honey to 1-2 Tbsp per day at the most when trying to lose weight or body fat.
  2. Dried Fruit: Fruit is fruit, right? Nope, dried fruit has a higher density of carbohydrates, lower number of phytonutrients and can have lead to the same problems as honey. When losing weight we recommend to stay away from dried fruit. We had a client who ate 3 lbs of dates in a week and he was wondering why he was not losing any weight. After getting him off his dried fruit diet, the weight came off as well.
  3. Protein Bars, Lara Bars, etc: Even though some of the bars are not a bad, they all have one thing in common, they are fairly nutrient dense but often don’t satisfy for as long as real foods. If you do not have a choice but to eat a bar because you are stuck in meetings, then go for a bars like the quest bar, who have a relatively small amount of carbohydrates but high protein content
  4. Organic Agave Syrup. It is 2-3 times as sweet as regular table sugar. Therefore a smaller amount would be needed. In the end WebMD recommends the use of honey if sweetener is necessary because it has marginally more health benefits.
  5. Fatty Meats: I don’t particularly have a problem with you eating fatty meats, since cholesterol in your food does rarely impact serum cholesterol in your blood. In addition the whole cholesterol debate is rather controversial by now anyway. The problem you are going to run in though is, extremely fatty meats will contribute to your overall caloric intake. Even though some representatives of the overall pretty healthy paleo diet claim that you can eat as much as you want, it is simply not true. If you are an chair-warrior who moves very little you can overeat.

Just because you eat a healthy, whole foods diet, does not mean that you can go out and eat as much as you want…I mean, you can but your waist will have a tendency to expand.

Having decent portion sizes are crucial for success. Here are some rough guidelines:

  1. Eat Until you are 80% full
  2. Eat 1 fistful of veggies with each meal, 2 if you are a man
  3. Eat 1 palm sized piece of protein with each meal, 2 if you are a man
  4. Eat 1/2 thumb size of fat with each meal, 1 if you are a man
  5. Eat 1 cupped handful of carbohydrates (2 if a man) directly after working out.

If you are interested in breaking through your barriers then find out more about us and get started by clicking here

Michael

Maybe Fat In Your Diet Is Not Bad

Eat more fat?

Maybe you are saying: this is old news, maybe you are shocked and dropped your fat free cookie. Regardless: Reviews of past studies in regards to fat, total cholesterol, and saturated fats have shown that this is not true.

Obese woman eating a hamburger
This is still not a good idea!

Low fat diets have not led to weight loss in the long term and might actually associated with a higher risk for cancer in some areas. More and more research is reviews and new research debunks the old myth of fat making you fat, sick, causing cancer. Cholesterol does not, or very little increase by the consumption of cholesterol rich food. It seems that it is more important to have high HDL levels than low LDL levels and that the only food raising it successfully are saturated fats. Low total cholesterol levels seem to increase the risks for cancer and the mortality rate does not go down when consuming a diet promoting low cholesterol levels.

Can I eat what I want to?

Sure you can, still does not mean it is good for you. Fries are still not good for you, just like that burger with mystery meat and bun from your fast food joint. Now, if you would make a burger with a lettuce wrap from scratch, we can talk about it.

Here is what I have been doing for years:

  • Eat plenty of veggies (unprocessed as possible).
  • I eat fruit 2-3/day
  • Prefer to eat grass-fed beef, poultry, pork (5-7 days a week)
  • I have plenty of organic eggs (3-4/day)
  • Prefer small amounts of wild caught fish (watch for high mercury levels)
  • Refrain from GMO’s. Research is not conclusive, so…. uhm, it is not going into my body!
  • I personally stay away from grains for the most part with exception of organic whole oats.
  • I eat plenty of fat (37-45% of daily intake) and my doc’s response to my blood profile: Keep doing what you are doing.
  • Once in a while I have some legumes
  • I stay away from fried and processed foods.
  • I eat small amounts of relatively high fat dairy (European style yogurt, greek yogurt)
  • I cook myself!!!!

In a nutshell: If it has an ingredient list I don’t buy it or eat it. 

Eating is not everything

Some people say that eating is 80% and exercise is 20%. I disagree, eating is 100%, lifestyle is 100% and exercise is 100%. I know, I know it adds up to 300% but what I mean with that is simple: Each of them are part of the same equation and are equally important (I guess I could have given each 33.3% 🙂 ).

Your body is designed to move, to be active not to be chair-bound. If that is your fate because your company does not shell out some money for a standing desk or a treadmill desk, then make sure you get in as much movement as possible. You can even buy a desk adjuster for relatively little money from Amazon or another company yourself. Hey, it is your health! I personally use a mobile laptop stand until I have a little bit more cash for a full sized desk.

Pick up weights, do some cardio! Do something….

Go to the gym, lift weights, do some cardio. You don’t have to go crazy and spend 10+ hours exercising (that is for nuts like me :-)) . Even 2-3 hours total in a week can make a humongous difference.

What this does not mean:

This does not mean: all you can eat. 

It simply means that fat is an important part of your nutrition and has also a lot of beneficial effects on you. It does not make you overweight by itself. It is the way food is prepared and nutrients are combined that seem to matter more. Protein, carbohydrates, as well as fat are all part of a healthy nutrition.

Have an awesome start into the week!

Michael

 

Influence of Vitamins on Fat Loss

I think most people agree that it does matter what you eat when seeking weight loss, fat loss or increased sports performance. Vitamins play a crucial part in that process.

Nutrition Matters

Can you lose weight by ignoring what you eat and simply focusing on calories? Yes you can, many people have proven that. That does not mean though that you cannot optimize your goal achievement by paying attention to the detail.

A collage of vegetables
Do you have all your vitamins?

Role of Vitamins

Vitamins are an organic compound that only exists in small amounts in the body. They play roles in growth, energy transfer, nervous system function, and most importantly as co-enzymes, which means they provide the non-protein part of the enzyme. Enzymes are catalysts and they highly accelerate or enable metabolic functions.

What Does That Have To Do With Weight Loss

If you have a lack or overabundance of a certain vitamin (the latter due to unnecessary supplementation) certain functions of your body won’t work as efficiently anymore, or have deficiencies in some areas. You cannot build up new protein structures well, you have a delay in recovery from exercise and stress, part of the energy metabolism does not work properly, and many more issues.

Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) for example is responsible for the formation of acetyl-CoA which is part of the energy chain.

What Does Science Say?

Many of us are taking a multivitamin supplementation. Recent research indicates a couple of things though:

  1. Not everyone needs to supplement
  2. Athletes have a need for a higher vitamin intake and may benefit from supplementation
  3. Supplemented vitamins may be taken up differently from vitamins contained in food and may be less effective.
  4. Excessive vitamin supplementation intake may have negative health consequences, including cancer.

What You Can Do:

Eat a diverse diet of whole, unprocessed foods including dark, leafy, green vegetables, mushrooms, colorful fruits, grass-fed meats, poultry, fish, etc. Focus on foods that are naturally rich in vitamins.

I personally avoid enriched foods and concentrate on having a wide variety of natural, whole foods that provide me with the vitamins I need. Due to my heavy training schedule (10+ h/wk) I supplement with a multivitamin once a day but monitor closely for signs of toxicity, etc.

There are people who will tell you that foods nowadays do not contain vitamins anymore and that you need to supplement. This is simply not true. Choosing seasonal foods from your local farmer increases your chance of having vegetables & fruits that ripened longer and are richer in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.

I hope you have a fantastic day,

Michael

Home Weight Loss Training Plan


Okay, I have had several people ask me what they could do at home to help with the weight loss. This program is amazing and is based on something I wrote on my performance training blog earlier today and since I don’t want to bore you with the scientific details. Anyways, the article I read was pretty interesting and basically said that less is more. All you need is a timer or stopwatch. Each motion is done with moderate to fast speed, form must be maintained. You can do this training for 4 weeks, increasing the sets each week by one. In combination with our nutrition program, the fat will melt off fast.

Day 1 (Rest: easy jog on spot)

  • Push Ups 4 sets of 10s with 20s break (easy jog on spot)
  • Squat Jumps 4 sets of 10s with 20s rest
  • Pull ups 4 sets of 10s with 20s rest (feet on chair if necessary)
  • Plank 4 sets of 20s/10s rest
  • Reverse Plank 4 sets of 20s/10s rest

Day 2 

  • 20 min Walk/Run with 10s Sprint every 1 min (increase total time by 1 min each week)

Day 3 (Rest: easy jog on spot)

  • Incline push ups (can be on knees) 4 sets of 10s with 20s break
  • Rubber band rows  4 sets of 10s with 20s break
  • Alternating lunges (or lunge switch jump if you can maintain hip/knee/ankle stabilization) 4 sets of 10s with 20s break
  • One legged Bridge (raise/lower hip) 4 sets of 10s with 20s break
  • Supine (on your  back) Leg Raise Hold 4 sets of 10s with 20s break (make sure a neutral spine is maintained)

Day 4 

  • Off (Active Rest 30 min Walking)

Day 5

  • 20 min Hill of Death – Find a hill in your neighborhood and pedal hard for 10s on your bike up the hill, then coast back down (35 s of rest and repeat) Increase by one set each week.

Day 6

  • Repeat Day 1

Day 7 

  • Off (Active Rest 30 min Walking)

If my wife can get in shape and lose weight, then so can you!

You think I am kidding? Think again, I did not marry the type of woman that loves to exercise, actually quite the opposite. My wife used to hate exercise, she has two bad knees and had a ton of bad experience as a child in her physical education classes. You know what I am talking about: getting picked last for a team, being harassed by the so -called jocks! Yep, I married that woman…the best decision I have ever made.

When we met we could not have been more different: I exercised seven days a week, sometimes twice a day, did not smoke and did not drink. Jessi did not exercise at all, loved to party, hang around people, drink beer and wine and smoke. Usually that is a turn off for me but somehow our opposing characters were drawn to each other.

But I am not writing you today to tell you how much I love my wife. No, I am telling you about her amazing transformation into a fit, healthy person that still enjoys life!

After she quit smoking she replaced the cigarettes with candy and other food, needless to say, eventually she gained a good bit of weight and ended up at 184 lbs. She had started to exercise but she failed to lose weight. The reason for that is simple, she didn’t watch what she was eating. Just the thought of denying herself her favorite foods made her anxious and made her eat more.

You can guess that her weight loss was a difficult topic for us, because being a husband and a personal trainer didn’t make for the easiest combination :). Realizing that she did not get anywhere, she finally listened to my subtle hints (and trust me they had to be subtle to keep my head) that changing her diet would be beneficial. Slowly, over the course of weeks and months, she changed her diet, and started counting her calories. Initially just to get an idea of how many calories she was taking in, which led to her finally finding a healthy balance between weight loss and enjoyment of life. She still had the occasional glass of wine, she still had candy when she really wanted it but she watched the portions she ate. It worked because she knew exactly how much she took in and she ended up losing over 40 lbs. I can honestly say, my wife is sexier now than ever. Now, if you want to achieve that weight loss and be sexier and better looking than ever, here is what you need to do!

  1. Start to exercise (not optional) for at least 4-5 days a week. You don’t have the time? Do you sit in front of the TV or computer and shove food in your mouth? If yes, then you do have the time. What is more important? A silly TV show/ sports show or your own transformation into fabulous YOU? You can even work out in front of your TV, look through my blog I created a workout that you can do while watching TV. So no more excuses!
  2. Get on a well balanced diet! Kick out the crap! You are what you eat… if you eat Fast Food, you look like Fast Food, yuck! Eat fresh vegetables, lean protein (chicken, pork, tofu), whole wheat pasta, etc.
  3. Know how many calories you are putting into your body! Yes, I am sorry, it takes a little work but then again, you need to decide what you want to be: healthy and sexy or overweight and unhappy! If you want to stay overweight and out of shape, that is perfectly fine, but please stop whining about it! Go to www.411fit.com  (free food log) or use the weight watchers program. All these things really do work and I have had amazing results with my clients.
  4. Enjoy your sins in moderation. We all like things that are not healthy, I am no exception. I am a chocaholic. I bet you are laughing now, but I can tell you, I can consume 1000 kcal in 20 min without even noticing it. I just don’t buy it anymore but if you cannot go without it, then plan it into your day and only buy as much as you need for that day, not more, because you might find yourself grazing.
  5. Find people who want to achieve similar goals and are all gung-ho about it. Tell the people who drag you down to stop or cut them out of your life. I know it sounds harsh but the most important person in your life should be you. Only if you are happy can you make others happy.
  6. Set yourself a reasonable goal: 1-2 lbs/week fat loss are reasonable, more than that can be unhealthy and unrealistic. You are not on the “Biggest Loser”! It’s not a race, it’s a marathon!
  7. Don’t give up. There will be setbacks. Always get back on track. Try not to have so-called “Cheating Days”. They are usually not days but weeks and people have to recommit over and over again.
  8. Cook your own food (preferred), get on prepared food, or have a personal chef cook it for you. I know you think you don’t have time but you do. Slow-cookers can be awesome! A person eating out consumes on average 240 kcal/day more than a person who cooks themselves.
  9. Drink at least 80-100 ounces of water/day. Flavor it with pure unsweetened lemon/lime juice. Most people consume around 21% of their caloric intake as fluid. Just by cutting that out you can reduce your weight considerably.
  10. Stay the hell away from diet drinks! Diet drinks are associated with obesity. Having one here and there won’t hurt you but don’t make it your main source of fluids in a day.

I know this is a lot to take in, but remember you are what you eat/drink. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror right now then do something about it! Prove to me that you are different, that you can do it, just like my wife. Oh by the way, my wife was okay with me writing this here (I had to make sure because she proof reads my blogs, since my English is not as pristine as I wish it to be).

If you are ready to get your transformation going then let us personal trainers help you! We are 100% committed to your success.

Have a fit and healthy day,

Michael

The wife says:  Thank you for your patience and your expertise. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. Just to echo what you said in your blog, I feel fitter, healthier and, yes, sexier than ever! It was a lot of work but so worth it! Thank you, Honey! 🙂

Yup, this is me: The Wife!

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