Posted by on December 15, 2008 under personal training, weight loss | 
2009 is here!
Its time to start thinking about what you WILL accomplish this year. The best way to get started is to write down what you want to achieve. Its one thing to have it in your head, but when you write it down…you make it real! Start making a list of all the things you want to get to work on in January 2009.
Do you have some Fitness Resolutions?
- Do you want to:
- Lose weight?
- Gain Muscle?
- Build endurance and stamina?
- Increase your flexibility, balance, coordination
I want to hear them! Start with the end result and we’ll map out a plan to get there!
Also get ready for a few surprises in 2009 from your favorite Long Beach Personal Trainer! I have some great specials coming as well as some added bonuses to help you reach your goals quickly and have a ton of fun along the way!
If you’d like to talk about your fitness resolutions and map out how to reach them, feel free to set up a FREE consultation anytime! Click here to get started!
Posted by on February 3, 2008 under diet, exercise, fat loss, muscle gain, weight loss, weight training |
Did you know that each lb of muscle you gain allows you to intake 25-50 calories more per day? (and thats just if you were lying still!) 3-5 lbs of muscle gain equals 150-250 calories more that you can eat each day to maintain your weight! Keep in mind that these figures are based on a resting metabolism…not an active one. So that means more calories burned.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Adding muscle burns more calories!
What does this all mean?
Bottom line: adding muscle lets you eat more and maintain your weight.
Now how about losing bodyfat?
Remember the example of 1lb of muscle burning 25-50 calories at rest a day. How much does fat burn? 6 calories….thats it.
One final point: the 1lb of muscle at rest can be active and burn alot more than 25-50 extra calories correct? Remember that stored bodyfat can’t become active.
Which do you want more of?
Posted by on January 7, 2008 under calorie burning, exercise, weight loss |
The average weight for American men was 191 pounds in 2002 and 164 pounds for women, about 25 pounds heavier than in 1960.
Americans are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year than they did in 1960 because of their expanding waistlines. (Yahoo)
The obesity rate among U.S. adults doubled from 1987 to 2003, from about 15 percent to more than 30 percent.
Something to think about to increase at least some gas mileage. Granted this is fitness related but there are other ways to save gas. Other ideas are to clean out the trunk of the car, go easy on the pedal and keep your car in the highest gear possible. Also getting your tires filled with Nitrogen has been shown to increase gas mileage and also minimize air leakage. Many tire stores now with the purchase of tires will offer free lifetime Nitrogen fill ups for your tires. More information on that here.
Oh and the very best way to save gas….Human Movement!! Walk, run, bike, skateboard, wheelbarrow race, skip, hop, rollerblade, etc! Combining exercise with having to get somewhere forces you to get it done, keeps your pace brisk and saves you time…and gas.
January is here! Lets get moving!
Posted by on January 2, 2008 under calorie, diet, exercise, fitness, metabolism, weight loss |
Proper Food Intake and Exercise! The MAGIC Pill!
Well the New Year is here and I’m waiting for the Diet Pill onslaught, the late night infomercial for .025 second Ab Machines, and the latest “Eat only______ and lose 10lbs the first day” Diets to hit the market. Its bound to happen and as a Personal Trainer, its just a part of life that we have to counter every false claim, misconception and wrong statement that these so called products purport.
So…I’m doing a little pre-emptive strike! I’m going to explain, in a nutshell, the basics of fitness for a specific goal. If I can save just one person from falling prey to these snake oil salesman, then I’ll have done some good.
Mantra: “Abs are made in the kitchen.”
Remember this statement.
I’m going to explain the concept of weightloss in terms all of
us can understand. MONEY!
Your body has a bank account. It has money coming in and money going out, these are called calories. Our paychecks/deposits are calories thatwe eat. Our spending is activities we do. Movement causes us to spend more “money.”
So lets say we have daily bills of $2000. Each day our “boss”(you) pays us $2000 and through the day with work, moving around and body functions we pay our bills of $2000, exactly. This is called a balanced system. No surplus no deficit. We’ll call this “Maintenance” for simplicity. We maintain without over or under spending.
Next example, lets say we are now making a little bit more per day. We got a raise…aka…we eat more. We are still spending our $2000. So now we have the ability to SAVE some of our hard earned intake. So we put our intake away in “savings.” Can you guess what “savings” is? We’ll just say that we have what is called a “surplus” and continue on…it will all make sense soon.
Final example. Times are tough. We aren’t taking home as much as we used to, but our “bills” or expenses remain the same. Remember our take home “pay” is the food we eat, our “bills” are our activities. So we are only taking home $1500 a day and still spending $2000. Now we have what is called a “deficit” and what do we do when in a deficit? Borrow!!! So we tap into
“savings” to pay our remaining $500 we owe.
Your body is very much like your bank account. If you take home too much you save it…in the form of body fat. If you spend the same amount as you take in you stay the same. No loss, no gain. If you take a pay cut (eat less) and spend the same (maintain activity) then you spend savings aka lose body fat.
So we’ve covered why correct food intake is critical right? What about exercise?
Here is the beauty of getting your ducks in a row with food first: everything else you do only enhances your results!
Exercise is the “spending” your body does. If your food intake is only $1500 a day and you spend $2200 a day, you now have to borrow $700 from “savings!” Exercise maintains or increases the muscle you have and can actually cause you to “spend more” daily. By spending more I am referring to raising your metabolism! Muscle has a way of doing that.
Consistency=RESULTS!
Imagine having to tap into savings every day drawing out $500 a day. Over the course of the week you would have withdrawn $3500, right? Here is where it comes together.
1lb of fat=3500 calories. 7 days of being at a daily calorie deficit of 500 calories=3500 calories. That’s 1lb of body fat lost for reducing your food intake 500 calories. That’s before “spending” more has occurred. Lets say you exercise 5 days a week and burn an average of 300 calories…that’s another 1500 calories on top of the 3500. So that’s a body fat loss of over1.5lbs a week!
So now we understand and see the relationship between proper food intake and proper exercise and how they work hand in hand to help you achieve fat loss safely and correctly. I hope that helps. Remember the Bank Account Example when someone tells you “lose weight and change nothing” and you’ll see right through the hype.
They say you should learn something new each day. (you know…”they”) Hopefully this will save you from falling for the hype, marketing bull and overinflated claims and put you in a realistic mindset about weight loss. It really is a math game.
Happy New Years!
