Ever wondered why you are always told to drink lots of fluids? Here is a question I received asking if we should really drink a gallon of water per day!
“I just read that we should drink a gallon of water per day to maximize fat loss. Was this a misprint? I picture myself on the restroom all day from drinking all that water. Please clarify. Thank you for your great articles!” M.H.
Did you know that 50-70% of our total body weight is water? The brain is composed of 70 percent water, lungs are nearly 90 percent water and our blood is about 83 percent water, which helps digest our food, transport and eliminate waste and toxins, mobilize fat, and control body temperature. Think of it this way, every tissue cell, organ and system is comprised of water and functions optimally only in the presence of adequate hydration. So even fat loss will not occur at an optimal rate if you are in a dehydrated state. Plus water helps to Read more on Drink a Gallon of Water?…
“My life is so busy that I have a hard time eating healthy. Any tips for someone who is trying to eat nutritiously on the go?” P.C.
I can appreciate that sometimes life is so busy that it becomes difficult to stick to a healthy eating plan. Here are some ideas for eating on the go:
Breakfast
Break for breakfast no matter how busy you are. Try these balanced, quick breakfast options: Read more on Eating on The Go…
Some fitness enthusiasts complain that the more they workout, the hungrier they are and the more they eat counteracting the calories burned during their exercise sessions! A 30 minute workout will burn approximately 300 calories. The bad news is it can take just a few minutes to consume 300 calories. Some people make the mistake of thinking that since they exercise that gives them free reign to eat whatever they want. Unfortunately that’s not the case. If your goal is to lose weight, you need to practice healthy nutrition and portion control just like everyone else.
Read more on Is Working Out Making You Hungrier?!…
This is the time of year for holiday parties, community events and family get-togethers! It’s all so much fun but it’s going to take more than will-power to make sure your holiday season is healthy and doesn’t completely sabotage your fitness goals. You CAN party and still stay fit!
Read more on Party And Still Stay Fit…
Our annual 6 week Spring Makeover Challenge allows our clients to participate in a fun, friendly team competition to help them shed that extra winter layer that most of us put in during the cold, dark rainy days. Each of our trainers recruit team members and we all compete against each other to see who can ramp it up the most and achieve the best results. There’s nothing like a little peer pressure to get you to do what you need to do to reach your goals.
Read more on Spring Makeover Challenge – Week 6…
Our annual Spring Makeover Challenge allows our clients to participate in a fun, friendly team competition to help them shed that extra winter layer that most of us put in because it’s colder, darker and days are shorter. Each of our trainers have teams and we all compete against each other to see who can ramp it up the most and achieve the best results. There’s nothing like a little peer pressure to get you to do what you need to do to reach your goals.
Although the principles to fat loss and healthy living are pretty simple, each trainer has a different approach to encouraging his or her team to adhere to the program and win. This year, I thought I would share each team’s approach so that you could follow along from home. Feel free to adhere to just one trainers’ program or mix it up and try each approach and see which one works best for you. So far in this series, I’ve shared with you 3 different approaches to maximizing weight loss. You can review past articles HERE.
Today, I am sharing with you Kristin Healey’s fast and effective fat loss approach. Kristin is our NWPT Fitness & Training Director, holds a B.S. in Exercise & Movement Science, has won Personal Trainer of the year multiple times and her teams are always highly successful during this Makeover challenge so she knows what she’s talking about!
Step 1: Find Your Mantra
Attitude is everything! Find your Mantra for the next 6 weeks and post it everywhere you think you will need it. On the refrigerator, in your car, at your desk, on your TV… all of those places where some of your bad habits peak their ugly little heads when you are feeling tired, stressed and weak. Here are some examples. Read more on Spring Makeover Challenge – Week 4…
Last week, I shared with you Derrick DeLay’s “Interval Diet” approach to maximizing fat loss during our Spring Makeover challenge. It basically requires you consume a super healthy, low calorie diet 
Monday through Friday and then eat whatever you want on the weekends in combination with some cardio and weight training. If that approach doesn’t work for you, today I am sharing Jill Schiller’s approach, “Body Overhaul” to shedding that winter fat layer quickly. Jill is a mother of two, our NWPT running clinic leader, certified VIPR and Schwinn cycling instructor and American Council of Exercise Nationally Certified Personal Trainer.
Read more on Spring Makeover Challenge – Week 2…
Achieving Your Goals and Dream Life – Step Three
So far we’ve discussed the importance of 1st step, writing down your goals for all areas of your life and taking action and 2nd step, getting physical so you feel great and have the energy to achieve great things.
Today, we discuss the 3rd Step to achieving your Dream Life – Eating like a Champion. To reiterate, it’s difficult to live your dream life, if you don’t feel good. Think of your body like a high performance race car. You’ve got to fuel it correctly if you want it to perform and function optimally.
There really is no trick to eating well. It’s stuff we have all heard before. Drink lots of water. Consume a high level of fruits and vegetables. Eat a balanced diet. Minimize alcohol and sugar intake. Control your portion sizes. But there seems to be a gap between knowing what to do and actually adhering to these simple guidelines. There is no special grapefruit, cabbage, Low-protein or High-protein diet or pill that will get you the results you want quickly. And knowledge alone is not power! We all know what we have to do! It is finding the motivation and inspiration to make and adhere to very small changes in our nutrition plan that will facilitate success. Finding the motivation to stick to a healthy nutrition plan day-in-day-out is all it takes. Here’s the good news - you don’t have to starve yourself and you don’t have to limit your diet to bean sprouts and broccoli.
With nutrition, the very small changes to your eating habits will often bring about big differences. The new habits just need to be consistent and ongoing on a long-term basis. Perhaps start with one area at a time. Once you have that habit mastered, tackle the next nutrition goal. One step at a time and soon your diet will provide you with all the nutrients necessary to reaching your personal best.
The bad news is that it’s a lot easier to put the calories in than it is to take the calories out. Think of it this way. How long does it take to burn 1000 calories? About 90 minutes of exercise or 10 miles of running! How long does it take to consume 1000 calories? In about 5-10 minutes! So nutrition is at least half the battle!
Bottom Line:
Whether you commit to a plant based, raw food, Paleo, modified vegetarian or any other type of dietary approach, we can all agree that we need to eat foods that are nutrient-dense, calorically inexpensive and that suppress our appetite. Foods that you give you the best bang for your buck, so to speak! To summarize, these critical foods are:
- Fruits & Vegetables
- Beans & Legumes
- Lean Meats/Poultry/Fish or other non-meat, high protein choices (Tofu, quinoa)
- Whole grains or non-grainy, high carbohydrate options (ie sweet potatoes, quinoa)
In contrast, you will need to avoid foods that are nutrient-poor, calorically expensive and stimulate your appetite. These include processed foods such as candy, chocolate, fast food, muffins, chips, cookies, pastries, soda….foods packed with salt and sugar and preservatives! Read more on Achieving Your Goals and Dream Life – Step Three…
I recently received the following email.
You would think that summer would be the easiest time to lose body fat, but I always gain weight every summer. How can I overcome all my nutrition vices during the summer months? What am I doing wrong?
Managing summer nutrition is a timely topic considering summer is the season of BBQs, parties, beach get-togethers, camping and vacations. To help ease your guilt the good news is this – a summer out of your normal routine is okay so long as you’re eating well and within a healthy range of caloric intake most of the time. I am definitely a huge supporter of “everything in moderation” and do not believe in depriving our clients from a fun time just because they are following a health and fitness regime. Enjoying summer should be a well-deserved treat.
Read more on Managing Summer Nutrition…
Eating healthy on your summer schedule is doable!
Summer holidays, kid’s clinics and camps, travel plans, camping, and more! We can appreciate that summer life can be so busy that it becomes difficult to stick to a healthy eating plan. Here are some ideas for those of you always on the go:
Read more on Eating Healthy on Your Summer Schedule…
