This goes along with the new years resolution stuff we talked about earlier. along with utting out the sugar from your diet, youre going to do two things differently. They are both easy to do, and require little on your part, other than getting it done. I noticed huge improvements in my mood, energy, and results when i started doing these consistently, and I know that you will as well! I have heard some great things back from my personal training clients with the results and changes that they are seeing from these two things.

1. Eat breakfast within 15 minutes of getting up.
This is hugely important, and i try to stress it to my personal training clients all of the time. You HAVE to eat breakfast. This serves two purposes that are applicable to us. One, it gets nutrients to the muscles. After 8 hours of sleep, your body has hammered away at most of the fuel sources floating around in your blood stream, and has possibly started in on your catabolizing, or breaking down your muscles to use for fuel. If you have any interest in getting stronger, or getting bigger muscles, or losing fat, this is something that we DO NOT want. It is literally taking your hard work and undoing it. You are literally moving backwards. Another thing that it does is get you ready for the rest of the day. i know so many people whose first meal of the day is lunch, or something crappy from a vending machine or gas station on the way to work. AWFUL. Not only is it bad for you, it tastes like shit. It also helps you eat less throughout the day. research has shown that people who eat breakfast consume less. Without trying. This is huge for any of you who are trying to lose fat and weight. Another thing that I have noticed too, not only with myself but my training clients is that eating breakfast really helps “set the tone’ for the day. You eat a good breakfast, and it sets you up for a healthy lunch. I know that one of my personal training clients used it as a deterrent mentally, and said that he “couldn’t justify” the extra calories at lunch from a missed meal at breakfast.

2. Eat a protein shake after you train
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the one you consume after you workout, your post training meal, is number two. Like we talked about with breakfast, your muscles have just done a ton of work, and need fuel NOW! For those that are trying to lose fat, a protein shake is the best way to go. just make sure that you are using a high quality whey protein, and not some shitty Walmart or GNC brand. They ARE cheap, i realize this, but like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. Also, as far as the protein goes, you get what you DON’T pay for. Things like gas, bloating, and diarrhea. These come from shitty whey concentrates, that dont have the lactose, or fat taken out of them. Try to avoind them at all costs, and get a high quality Whey Protein isolate. Way easier on the stomach and digestive tract. Your friends will appreciate it too.

Now what you have to do is take these two things, along with reducing the sugar in your diet as uch as you can, and use this week to make them habits. Do them every day. Your body will thank you. I promise.

If you missed the New Years Resolution Post, You can check it out HERE

Sugar is by far the biggest roaadblock to your goals!

If you guys read the blog yesterday, you saw that I wrote about a few different things to help you keep on track with your New Years Resolutions. The first topic I touched on, and one of the biggest, after taking action, was breaking into your diet slowly. This is something that I talk to all of my personal training clients about, and an approach that I have found is the best way for me personally to transfer from eating like crap all of the time into more of a fat loss type of nutrition. I hate calling them diets, but that is another topic for me…

There are a few things that I tell all of my clients to do, regardless of their goals, and a few that are more geared towards those who are trying to lose fat and get back into shape. While some of these are more restrictive than others, they are all not only effective, but important steps for you on the road to your goals in 2010. I will talk about more of these as the week goes on, as you will really get the best results if you take your time and fully implement them as time passes. You will also see that some are diet changes, and some are lifestyle changes. They are both based around your nutrition however, as it will be the most important piece of the puzzzle for you to really have a good grasp on.

DIET CHANGES

1. Cut out the sugar!
The biggest one for most people is also the first one for a reason. Sugar, whether it be in the form of sugar in your coffee, high fructose corn syrup in your daily 44-ouncer from 7-11 sugar alcohols in your sugar free cookies, do more to derail you on the way to your goals than anything. Its hard too because anymore, there is sugar in damn near EVERYTHING that we eat. Did you know that there are 9 grams of sugar in a Quarter Pounder from McDonalds? That’s the same as 3oz of Coke or Pepsi. You don’t taste it like that though do you? Remember, its everywhere, and paying close attention to food labels is going to become very important. Now, it is going to be impossible for you to really eliminate all of the sugar from your diet, as even potatoes and rice have some sugar, but you really need to cut out as much as possible. If its sweet, and its not a Diet Coke, you can probably figure out that you’re wrong. a few things you can do is switch your sugar in your coffee for splenda. My wife did it and she hates anything that isn’t full flavor! trade out your regular pop for the diet variety. Coke Zero and Pepsi max beat the crap out of diet coke and diet pepsi, and it only takes a day or two to completely forget that it tastes a touch different than the norm. Take a week, cut out as much sugar as you can, and keep your sugar intake at this new lower level as you go on. You may find that you lose 10-20lbs just from switching from regular pop to diet. My dad did. You can to. Now get to reading those labels!

Like I said a bit ago, this is just a bit of some of the things I have for you guys to help you out on your way to losing weigh, getting fit, and having a kick ass 2010. ALL of these have been used not only on myself, but after i tested them, I introduced them to my personal training clients, and they are having great results with them as well. Keep in mind that with your diet, little changes can go a long way, especially if you were way off track in the first place.

As a personal trainer, if there is one question I get asked after “How much do you bench press?” It is “How do I lose weight?” Well, to be honest, I always recommend a structured diet and exercise plan, but it often goes deeper than that, especially on the diet end of things. Making it to the training sessions is easy, all it involves is a little scheduling, and perhaps some rescheduling, if you are new to training. The diet aspect of the program is where it seems that clients miss the most. For some, it is the inability to eat 5-6 meals per day, whether it be due to travel, incompatible work schedule, or what have you. For others, it is the sudden influx of all healthy foods, replacing their normal fare of comfort foods, is too much for them. We all know that people have different abilities when it comes to willingness, or ability to stick to their plan. For the ones who have a difficult time with the conversion to clean eating, I try to recommend two things:

• TRY TO ADHERE TO THE 90/10 RULE

The 90/10 rule is actually one that I try to recommend to any client who walks through the door of our facility. On the most basic level, what it amounts to, is that we would like to see a personal training client stay the course 90% of the time. It sounds great to expect clients to have a 100% compliance with the dietary program that has been laid out, but in the real world, some slipping is to be expected. As the saying goes, “Life happens!” Think of it like this. If you are eating 6 meals per day, that is 42 meals per week. If you adhere to the 90/10 rule that means that 38 meals will be spot on. It also means that you have room for 4 meals to be a bit looser than what they normally would be. Judging by the way most people eat on their first trip through our door, 38 good meals per week will do wonders for getting them well on the way to their health and fitness goals. There is one thing to remember here though. Just because you have 4 meals a week that can be a bit more “loose,” it doesn’t mean that it is a free pass to run to the chinese buffet, then head down the road to the ice cream parlor, and finish it off with some beers at home watching the game four nights a week! Try to keep it reasonable. Some icecream at your kids birthday party? Go for it. Beer and wings for Monday Night Football? Try to avoid it if you can.

• BREAK INTO NEW EATING HABITS SLOWLY

As a trainer, it pains me to say this, but sometimes, breaking into the diet slowly is sometimes the path we have to take to make sure that clients are making lifestyle changes that they can stick with, versus just going on a diet, doing it for 12 weeks, and then going right back to their old ways as soon as they finish the program. By breaking in slowly on the diet, it allows you to make small changes to your diet, one at a time. While this may seem like the wrong way to go about it, it allows people to break old dietary habits and relearn new ones. If you have been stopping at the gas station every morning for the last few years and grabbing a big 44 ounce Pepsi, it may take some time before passing the fountain and reaching for the liter of water becomes a habit. I know this because I struggle with it sometimes too. Something you should do in that situation is simply stop, and ask yourself what is more important? Getting that Pepsi, or losing those 10 pounds to look great at your daughters wedding? I bet I know the answer to this one, and I am guessing that it is the same as mine.

If losing weight and getting healthy is something you have wanted to do, but arent sure how to start or what to do, why not give us a call?