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7 Healthy Tips For Eating Out This Summer!
Now that we are in the midst of summer we all tend to eat out more often at restaurants and other outdoor events. If your goal is to continue to eat healthy and maintain a healthy eating lifestyle there are certain things we can do to stay on track when eating out in restaurants.
The following are 6 very simple tips you can apply the next time you eat out and will help save you some extra calories.
1) Dressing On The Side: Control the amount of toppings on your food by asking for salad dressing and sauces to be served on the side. This way you can control the amount put on your food. Make sure to put just enough for taste. Many of those creamy sauces while tasty are very high in fat and calories. Also you can ask the waiter to have the chef prepare your food without extra salt.
2) Control The Butter: Ask to have vegetables and other side dishes to be cooked without added butter or margarine.
3) Eat Before Going Out: Try to have something very light before going out to eat like a fruit or a small cup of yogurt. This will keep you from wanting to eat the bread on the table as well as order more food than you may actually need to. This will enable you to ask the waiter to remove the bread from the table or not bring any to start with. Many people go to restaurants already "starving" and eat the bread to kind of appease their appetite until the food comes. This is why I suggest not going to restaurants with your stomach growling. :-)
4)Exercise Portion Control: When your food is brought to the table, make sure to ask the waiter to bring you another smaller plate. Most restaurants give VERY large portions of food usually two servings worth or, believe it or not, sometimes three. What you can do is take half of the food off of the plate and have the waiter prepare the other half to go. You can also split one meal with the person you are out with. This will help you save calories and avoid eating two servings worth of food at one sitting.
5) Avoid Fried Foods: Try to stick to grilled, steamed or baked foods, as well as prepared without any breading. Unless it is a cheat/reward day. Aside from that try to stick to the healthy basics. Remember everything in moderation.
6) Watch The Alcohol: If you drink when eating out definitely enjoy and drink responsibly. But for the purpose of healthy eating and drinking. A few quick tips "hard liquor" has more calories then beer or wine. Liquors tend to be higher in calories because they have a lot more sugar.
7) Tips For Eating Dessert: One tip you can follow is to focus on opting for desserts with lower calories and less fat like fruit cups, fruit salads, yogurt, granola frozen yogurt, etc. If you are just flat out trying not to pack on any extra calories, another thing you can do is ask the waiter not to bring the dessert menu altogether or you can order some tea or coffee at the end of your meal. Now, in the event that you just have to have that chocolate cake or high calorie dessert, what you can do is share it with your friend or loved one. This will cut the calories in half, while still satisfying your sweet tooth."Desserts can quickly turn a healthy meal sitting into something else altogether. They can pack on an extra 500 to 700 calories, and sometimes even more, depending on what you order. Now, please don't think I'm saying don't ever have desserts when dining out! That's just not realistic for most people and it's not real life either. As we all know, the key to everything is moderation!
Note: Please keep in mind when eating out in restaurants the purpose of the food is to taste delicious for repeat business. This is why the foods are usually drenched with sauces, butter and other toppings. The food will still be delicious if you have these things on the side where you can control the amount put on the food. As I mentioned everything is about moderation, you can still have fun this summer try new foods and new things but stick to these basic tips when eating in restaurants. Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!
6 Ways To Beat The Heat While Staying Fit!
Now that summer is officially here it's the perfect time to mix things up and go outdoors for some different types of workouts.
During the summer you have more workout options outdoors like running, swimming, biking, hiking, and playing basketball just to name a few. Taking your workouts outside can add some variety and bring some fun to your training
But with that said the summer heat can be a problem and dangerous if you're not careful. Especially during extreme heat waves like we are currently experiencing in NYC. The following are 6 simple yet effective tips that you can use when exercising during these hot summer months.
1) Stay hydrated: Before you go out, drink a glass or two of water. One of the key things to pay attention to is proper hydration. When you sweat, your body loses not only water, but electrolytes as well as salt. This balance of water and electrolytes is important to maintain to help keep your body functioning optimally. Carry a bottle of water or even a hydration unit depending how long you plan to exercise outdoors. You can also drink coconut water to help replace lost electrolytes during exercise that regular water doesn't replace. Take a drink every 15 minutes, even when you're not thirsty. When you're done with your workout, have a few more glasses of water.
2) Wear The Right Attire: Make sure to wear comfortable light-colored clothing. The lighter colors will help reflect heat, and cotton material will help the evaporation of sweat. You may also want to try workout specific workout clothes. These are designed from material that is meant to absorb your sweat and keep your body cool.
3) Check the weather forecast: Before heading outdoors check to see if there is a heat advisory in effect. If so your best bet may be to just stay indoors and train in a nice cool environment. Training outdoors during a heat wave can actually have a counterproductive effect on the body and do more harm than good.
4) The time of day is important: If at all possible avoid training outdoors during the hours of 11am-4pm. Those are generally the hottest times of the day when the sun is its strongest. Try working out early in the morning or later in the afternoon when training outdoors during the hot summer months. This is especially true if it's going to be extremely hot that day (over 90 degrees).
5) Sunscreen is a must: Use a sunscreen that gives you full spectrum protection UVA/UVB and at least 45 SPF you can go higher if you wish. It's important to protect your skin, you can get burned and suffer sun damage to your skin.
6) Always listen to your body: And lastly always and i mean always listen to your body. If you're feeling lightheaded dizzy, faint or nauseous stop immediately. Find a nice shaded area and allow your body to recover.
There you have it 6 simple tips to help you get through your outdoor summer time workouts. Remember to train hard but more importantly train smart!
12 Foods To Help Belly Fat Loss!
Greetings,
Many times we are told that to lose belly fat we have to eliminate foods like carbs and fat that are essential nutrients to our well being. The reality is that we do need fat as well as carbs. The key is to focus on the types of fats and carbs that we are eating.
Research shows that eating healthy protein, healthy fats, and healthy carbs can aid in fat loss. Focus on eating healthy fats as well as on complex carbs. These foods are among some of the best sources to help fight fat!
Try to incorporate two or three of these foods into each of your meals and at least one of them into each snack. Diversify your food at every meal to get a combination of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. The following is a basic list of foods that help aid in belly fat loss.
Beans and legumes: Are high in protein and they help build muscle, burn fat as well as regulate digestion.
Spinach and other green vegetables: They aide in digestion as well as cleanse the body of free radicals that make fat loss difficult. There are many many more benefits to having greens some of which are decreased inflammation and greater energy to name a few.
Oatmeal: Is a good carb that helps boost energy, reduces cholesterol, maintains blood sugar levels fights obesity and helps with weight loss.
Natural Peanut butter: Has healthy fats as well as protein that helps boosts testosterone, helps build muscle, burns fat as well as helps prevent muscle loss.
Almonds and other nuts (with skins intact): ,Nuts help reduce cravings help fight Obesity, heart disease, muscle loss and help aid in fat loss. Almonds are healthy fats just be mindful portions.
Eggs: Help in building lean muscle providing protein as well as help with fat loss.
Turkey, Chicken Fish and other lean meats: Lean meats are very high in protein and assist tremendously in building lean muscle reducing cravings and assisting in fat loss. Keep in mind try to focus on having lean hormone and chemical free meats. Also when having other forms of meat like beef and pork focus on getting "USDA Select" that has the least amount of fat.
Extra Virgin Olive oil or Coconut Oil: These are also healthy fats that aid in fat loss as well as help lower cholesterol and boost immune system.
Protein Supplement (whey) powder: Whey protein helps assist in building lean muscle while assisting in fat loss. A great time to drink Whey protein is after a workout.
Whole grains: Grains are carbs. We need carbs because they are our bodies energy source. Whole grains help prevent the body from storing fat. They also help fight obesity, cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Avocados Avocados are also healthy fats and can aid in lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Avocados are also high in fiber, which helps promote weight loss, at least in the context of a healthy, real food based diet.
Chia seeds: are very high in fiber, calcium, omega-3s; and prevents body from storing fat.
Sugar & Weight Loss
Added sugar in the average diet is part of the reason many people struggle to lose weight and excess fat. Sugar in itself, isn't the actual problem - it's the excess amount that's added. There are many different names for sugar, so it can get pretty tricky to spot it on the food labels sometimes.
Most names for sugar end with the three letters "OSE" - for example, high fructose, dextrose and sucrose, to name a few. However, that's not all - there are a bunch of other names for sugar. The following is a short list of a few of the common ones you will come across when reading food labels.
Fruit juice concentrate
Maltrodextrin
Dehydrated cane juice
Corn sweetener
Saccharose
Syrup
Maple syrup
Lactose
Corn syrup
Corn syrup solids
High fructose corn syrup
Sucrose
Dextrose
As I mentioned, there are a lot more, but these are most of the common ones you will come across. Glucose is a form of sugar that our bodies produce naturally, and that's a good thing. But, as I mentioned, it's the added sugars as well as the artificial man-made sugars that are the real culprits. For example, fructose is not produced by our bodies and our liver can only break down limited amounts of it.
So, eating a lot of high fructose sugar overloads our livers, and our bodies end up turning it into fat. Excess sugar in our diets is the leading contributor to obesity in both adults and children. When we consume a diet that is high in sugar, what happens is that we actually become addicted to sugar. The more we have, the more we crave. Consuming too much added sugar leads to decreased satiety - that's the feeling of being "full" that we get after eating. Instead, it causes us to become hungry again shortly afterwards.
The people that consume the most sugar tend to be the most overweight. That, in itself, is a cause for concern and a powerful reminder to monitor your sugar intake. Another thing to keep in mind, when consuming large amounts of added or artificial sugar, is that it is very addictive. When consumed, sugar causes a release of dopamine in the reward center of the brain. This is why, when eating a lot of empty calorie high-sugar foods like Oreo cookies, most people can't stop at just one or two.
So here's the deal: I'm not saying to never have sugar again - that's just not realistic. There are cases in which sugar is, in fact, necessary - especially in athletes and very active people. However, that's not what I'm referring to here. If your goal is to lose weight, burn excess fat then it is imperative that you drastically reduce your intake of added sugar as well as processed artificial sweeteners.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that is found in most things we eat, chew, or drink that have the words "diet", "sugar free", or "fat free" written on their labels. Aspartame has been researched a great deal, and the problem with it is that it has been proven to cause weight gain, not to mention cancer in animals. The weight gain is caused because of the artificial man-made component of it. The body doesn't know what to do with artificial sugars and has a hard time digesting them, so what it does in the end is store them and then, finally, they get turned into fat. Please do yourself a favor and avoid this artificial sweetener at all costs!
Sweeteners that are a better alternative for you are Honey which contains some vitamins and minerals, as well as antioxidants. Honey does, however, raise blood sugar levels - not as much as regular sugar, but definitely enough to make a difference. However, it will not raise your blood sugar levels as fast or as high as sugar. So, because of that, honey is a better alternative to use as a sweetener than traditional table sugar. However, it's still not your best option.
The other thing to worry about when using honey as a sweetener is that honey does contain calories, so be mindful of that, because too much honey will have a high caloric number attached to it. Also, because it does raise blood sugar levels, it should not be the sweetener of choice for diabetics or obese people.
If you are an active person that regularly exercises and eats right, you can have honey as a sweetener and take advantage of the health benefits it provides. Just remember to use it sparingly, and just enough for taste. Generally speaking, though, darker honeys like Buckwheat honey are better than the lighter varieties. Agave, like honey, is a good alternative to use as a natural sweetener.
The same rule applies as well - because this is "real food", it does have calories attached to it, so use it sparingly and just enough for taste. Like honey, make sure to have this in pure and organic raw form. Stevia is also a sweetener that has been gaining a lot of popularity nowadays. It originates from a plant and is extracted from the leaves of that plant. Whichever way you decide to go just make sure you mainly watch your sugar intake from empty calorie food sources like cake, soda, candy etc.
Yours in health
John Gonzalez
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
Author of "The No Nonsense Guide To Healthy Eating Fat Loss & Longevity"
www.TempleFitnessPersonalTraining.com
718-971-3125
Meal Prepping Done Right
When trying to reach our fitness goals meal prepping is a great strategy to implement into your arsenal. Here are 5 simple tips you can begin to incorporate right away.
Determine What Your Exact Goals Are: Committing to meal prepping works best when there’s something behind it to motivate you. So what’s your goal? Perhaps you want to lose 20 pounds, or maybe you want to work on getting rid of sugar cravings, or you just want to develop healthier eating habits to get in better shape. Whatever those goals are that you are trying to achieve make sure to write them down and be as specific as possible. This will increase your chances at meal prepping success.
Make Your Grocery List: Write out your list of foods that you will be buying for your meal prepping. Write them down in sections on a piece of paper or in a folder on your smartphone. For example, a section for carbs, protein sources, veggies, healthy fats and snacks.
Pick A Day To Meal Prep: Now that you have your groceries, choose the best day to meal-prep your food for the week. In my opinion the best days are Saturday and/or Sunday before the start of the upcoming work week. This gives you a head start on the coming week and you will be prepared and ready to meet the week head on!
Schedule Your Meal & Snack Times:When we fail to plan ahead, it becomes so much more difficult to stay on track with our healthy eating lifestyle. Many people have very busy work days and won't step away from their desk to eat until they're stomachs are growling. As soon as we are hungry, we tend to react by eating the first thing we can get our hands on, which often times may not be the healthiest choice. Prepping your healthy meals and snack times in advance will ensure that you stay on track with your healthy eating.
Have The Right Containers In Place: And the last thing you need is to finish with all that meal prepping and have nowhere to stash your food. When you have matching containers or at least enough containers where you can store everything, it will help tremendously. I recommend color coded portion control containers to put your snacks in as well as to measure out your food portions. As well as divided meal prep containers so that you can section off your food plate into carbs protein and veggie sources.
When it comes to getting lean, losing weight and getting that healthy body everyone wants planning and preparing our meals in advance is critical! Make sure you prepare your meals in such a way that you plan for your full day of eating ahead of time. This will go a long way with your fat loss efforts.
10 Tips To Make 2018 Your Fittest Year Yet!
With the new year right upon us many people are getting their new years fitness resolutions ready and unfortunately many of them wont see them through. Not because the desire isn't there but because the strategy being used may actually be flawed.
The following are 10 basic tips to help you succeed with your fitness goals in 2018 and get in the nest shape of your life. Most of these are taken from a newsletter I sent out months ago but the principles and strategies are still the same and definitely work if they are applied.
The same basic principles to success on any level still apply. Working hard, staying the course and surrounding yourself with like minded people are timeless strategies that will always yield results.
1) Set very Specific Goals. Don't just say I'm going to the gym to start working out to lose some weight. Instead say, I'm going to work out to lose 25 pounds and drop two dress sizes in 4 months. Be as specific as possible, the more specific you are the better.
2) Find a Deep Personal ReasonToTrain: When we attach some form of emotion to it we will be more inclined to see if through and remain consistent. For example, you can say you want to exercise to be around longer for your family, Or to be sharper and have more energy to be more effective at work. Giving yourself deep personal reasons to train are always a much better motivator than just saying I want to work out to "lose some weight".
3)Announce Your Goals: Put yourself out there to your friends and family by telling everyone that you are on a fitness journey or will be training for a certain event this will help keep you accountable. Using social media to do this is a great way of letting everyone know. This in turn will help keep you on track because your friends and family are watching to see if you stick to what you said you would do.
4) Train With a Friend: Working out with a partner is a sure way to increase the chances that you will stick to your workouts. You can train with a spouse friend co worker or a loved one. Whoever you pick to train with you make sure they are motivated and you will keep each other accountable to make the scheduled workouts. If you tend to slack then picking someone that also slacks will not work. You need to train with someone that will call you and make you stick to your scheduled workouts together.
5) Hire a trainer or join a group class: When hiring a qualified personal trainer or joining a group fitness class you open yourself up to accountability and motivation that you normally would not have on your own. The right trainer can motivate you and train you to reach a level of fitness you may not otherwise would have been able to reach on your own. The same can be said for joining a good group training class.
6) Set Realistic Goals: Don't come out of the gate saying you want to lose 60 pounds in one month. You will set yourself up for failure that way and then be more inclined to give up thinking that this "whole fitness thing" isn't for you. Instead push yourself and work hard but give yourself the grace needed to make progress little by little. Celebrate every achievement along the way and keep building from there. If you could only run for 5 minutes when you started and now are doing 15 minutes without stopping give yourself credit for making that progress. Love yourself don't beat yourself up!
7) Change It Up: Don't focus on doing the same routine week after week because your body will eventually adapt to the workout and you will plateau causing you to stop getting results. Again a good personal trainer can design a personalized program and change it up every few weeks to ensure you have continued progress.
8) Completely Commit To The Process: Any form of success in life usually comes when someone completely commits to whatever it is they are trying to accomplish. If you are trying to start a successful business you must be all in! If you want to make that marriage or relationship work you must be all in! The same mindset applies to getting fit and achieving a healthy body. Promise yourself to commit to this process and give it your best effort.
9) Make Working Out An Appointment: Schedule your workouts the same way you would schedule a business meeting at work or a family appointment. Once you put it in your schedule stick to it the way you would any other appointment on your task list. Once you have this mindset you will see that half the battle is already won and sticking to your workouts will not be nearly as difficult.
10) Have Fun: Make fitness fun! Most people live very stressful lives with a lot of responsibilities. Make your workouts fun by choosing a workout you enjoy doing. This will not only be a great way to relieve stress but will also increase the likelihood that you will continue doing it and stick with it because it is fun for you.
I hope you found these tips helpful. Wishing you a very happy new year and all the best to you and yours in 2018 and beyond!
New Year Sale!
We will be offering a new year sale in the next day or so. Keep an eye out for that email in your inbox. You'll have the opportunity to start the new year right and get our services at a discounted rate.
Weight Loss Challenge!
Registration for our next weight loss challenge will start Jan 15th. Keep an eye out for emails and info on Social Media for challenge rules and prizes.
Online Personal Training!
I will be offering online personal training programs for those that can't make it to to the studio to train in person. You will get a full workout program with video demonstrations and meal plans. Again keep an eye out for that email and registration page.
Simple Nutrition Fat Loss Tips For A Leaner Body!
Greetings, here are some very basic simple tips you can use to help get your body leaner. These tips should be followed in conjunction with a good results based exercise program.
Don't Skip Breakfast: unless you're doing some sort of short term fast for a specific purpose skipping breakfast isn't a great idea if you want to lose fat and be lean. Breakfast means "to Break a fast." Its important to eat breakfast for several reasons. For starters, it increases our energy levels and gives us energy to start our day and get going. Breakfast also helps to regulate hormones and kick start your metabolism allowing our bodies to burn fat more efficiently throughout the day.
Eat 4-6 Meals: it's important to have healthy portioned meals every 3-4 hours to help the body stay in fat burning mode. Eating "more" doesn't mean eat anything, the key is to focus on foods that are nutrient dense foods that are high in water fiber and protein. You can have 3 square meals and 2 light healthy snacks like yogurt or a protein shake one between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner.
Have A Protein Source At Each Meal: (ex grilled chicken, fish, turkey etc) having protein is great because of its many benefits. For example, protein allows us to "stay full" longer, and releases fat burning hormones. Protein also helps to build as well as maintain lean muscle which is critical for the fat loss process. The more lean muscle we have the less fat we will have. If burning fat and getting lean is your goal adding an adequate amount of protein to your diet is essential.
Avoid Heavy Meals In The Late Evening: There's no set time as to when one should stop eating for the day. The reason being is everyone's schedule can be different and not everyone arrives home at the same time. Ideally I'd say try to have your last meal by 8 pm the latest and then have a protein shake before bedtime. Preferably have a shake that has a slow acting slow absorbing protein source in it like Casein Protein. This will help preserve your lean muscle stores while you sleep.
Avoid Foods That Increase Hunger: Monitoring this is very important because eating these foods will hinder your fat loss efforts. Avoid or significantly reduce eating foods that are loaded with synthetic artificial sweeteners, fast foods, tv dinners and high sugar sweet snack foods like cakes. Instead focus on foods and drinks that control food cravings like lean protein sources, green teas, water and foods high in fiber.
Don't Go Long Hours Between Meals: Whenever we go more than 4 hours between meals or snacks out bodies go into starvation mode and begin to store fat and feed off of lean muscle. Try to avoid this by having small frequent meals and healthy snacks like a protein shake or low fat yogurt spread out throughout the day. Not to mention when we are very hungry and haven't planned out our meals in advance it is common for us to eat the first thing we can get our hands on which usually isn't something healthy. At that point we eat to "survive" and our blood sugar levels are low.
Eat Healthy Fats: while reducing unhealthy fat from a diet is a good thing we all still need fats, the key is to focus on eating healthy fats. Eating healthy fats actually help with weight loss and fat burning efforts. Focus on getting your fats from Olive oil , avocado, fish, coconut oil, nuts, seeds and healthy organic grass fed meats.
Plan Your Meals In Advance: When it comes to getting lean and getting that nice, tight, healthy body everyone wants preparing our meals in advance is critical. This will go a long way in achieving success with your fat loss efforts. Make sure you prepare your meals in such a way that you plan for your full day of eating ahead of time. For example, take your lunch to work in Tupperware and have your snacks ready with you also (to eat between lunch and dinner), whether it’s healthy yogurt, healthy fats like cashews, or a nice meal replacement low-sugar protein shake or fruit. The best way to do this is to prepare your meals over the weekend, before the start of the upcoming work week. Have everything labeled and packaged nicely in pre measured Tupperware containers and Ziploc bags for each day.
Yours in health
John Gonzalez
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
Author of "The No Nonsense Guide To Healthy Eating Fat Loss & Longevity"
www.TempleFitnessBootCamps.com
www.TempleFitnessPersonalTraining.com
718-971-3125
Is Too Much Cardio Bad For Weight Loss?
Greetings,
I'm often amazed at how much cardio people actually do when it comes to trying to lose weight. In short yes too much cardio is counter productive to your weight loss and fat loss as well as your lean muscle building efforts. Here's the reason why, it's called "cortisol".
Cortisol is a hormone released in the body during intense times of stress as well as during excessive bouts of cardio exercise. What Cortisol does when released, it begins to eat away at lean muscle putting the body in what's called a catabolic state which reduces protein synthesis as well as tissue growth. This causes the body to store fat and cause the opposite desired effect which is fat storage and not fat loss.
Keep in mind, this is not just limited to traditional cardio exercises but to boot-camp style workouts as well. Training for over 90 minutes and over 2 hours doing boot-camp style workouts can also release cortisol and tap into your lean muscle stores. Be mindful when working out to keep your workouts short and intense this will help create an after burn effect within your body and enable your body to continue to burn calories after the workout is over for up to 24 hours. But the key is to keep the training short and intense, this is the reason why our personal training and boot camp workout sessions run from 30-45 minutes tops. No more than that is needed to create that desired after burn effect.
How much cardio is considered bad?
Typically anything over an hour of steady state cardio is too much. Now with that said, there are instances where people need to do cardio for over an hour. If you are training for an endurance event like a marathon or a long obstacle course race, those are times when you must do long bouts of cardio to prepare yourself for those specific endurance events.
We have several clients here at Temple Fitness that are endurance athletes, running marathons as well as obstacle course races. With that said I always stress the importance to them of strength training to preserve lean muscle to combat what long bouts of cardio and cortisol do. There are times that running for over an hour is justified, however if that's not the case for you there really isn't much of a reason to do so.
How much Cardio should one do?
If your goal is weight loss and to burn as much fat as possible then ideally you should try to keep your cardio sessions between 20-45 minutes working really hard during that short window. What this does is the opposite effect of long steady state cardio, you want to preserve your lean muscle stores so that your body can combat fat and help you to lose weight in the process.
One of the very best ways to achieve this is by doing "HIIT" High Intensity Interval training. The goal of your cardio sessions should be to preserve lean muscle, burn fat and calories while increasing the effectiveness of your heart. HIIT training does all of the above without taking up too much time which is perfect.
Ideally you want to keep your HIIT sessions short and performed at a pretty high intensity depending on your fitness level. For example, you can jog for 1 minute followed by a sprint for 30 seconds followed by another 1 minute jog then a 30 second sprint and keep repeating this until you get to the desired time. This is HIIT training and it can be performed outside on a track or on pretty much any cardio machine like a treadmill, rower or elliptical.
Lastly, don't forget to have an emphasis on muscle, meaning you should always lift weights and strength train. No matter what your goal is, it is always imperative to strength train to achieve your goals. The more lean muscle you have the less fat you will have. The long standing proven formula to get lean is to do short intense cardio, lift weights and have a balanced healthy meal plan. In applying these methods consistently your body will transform and you will arrive at your health and fitness goals.
Yours in health
John Gonzalez
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
Author of "The No Nonsense Guide To Healthy Eating Fat Loss & Longevity"
www.TempleFitnessBootCamps.com
www.TempleFitnessPersonalTraining.com
718-971-3125
10 Quick Nutrition & Fitness Tips For Fat Loss!
Greetings,
Here are 10 quick nutrition and workout tips for fat loss and to help you live a healthier lifestyle.
1) Change your mindset,decide that you're going to be healthy by working out and eating better. Nothing will happen unless we change our mindset first. Sometimes finding an accountability partner is ideal someone that can workout with you and keep you on the right track. If you don't have that you can join a group class or hire a personal trainer to guide you on the right path.
2)Focus on eating "real food" avoid heavily processed foods that are high in fat. Heavily processed foods have so many negative effects on our bodies too many to list here. Once in a while is fine if you're a fit active person but greatly reduce if not eliminate altogether fast foods that are loaded with hormones unhealthy preservatives and additives.
3)Add greens to your diet. vitamins are good but the body does not absorb all of the nutrients. You can add the greens to your protein shakes or just mix them into water. Juicing with a juicer is my preferred way of getting greens and all the nutrients that come with them into your diet. However, many people are so busy and don't want to make time for juicing so adding greens is a great way to get your greens in without juicing. There are many good brands on the market I like to use SANS Green Supreme Fusion.
4) Lift weights, lifting weights is extremely important to help transform your body. Strength training should always be done as part of a complete fitness program. Make sure to lift heavy challenging weight and that includes women as well. The more lean muscle you have the less fat you will have. Remember muscle actually burns fat.
5)Add body weight movements to your routine. Don't just focus on weights and on using machines. Machines in particular can cause imbalances and the weaker side of the body doesn't get stronger because our stronger side does a lot of the work and compensates. Body weight movements like push-ups pull-ups dips chin-ups squats, lunges and box jumps are great because the whole body is engaged during these movements and you will get stronger and leaner as a whole.
6) Limit Long Slow Paced Cardio unless you are actually training for an endurance event. Keep your cardio sessions to 20-45 minutes depending on your fitness level and goals. But when you do focus on doing High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) this will yield much better results in terms of burning fat without tapping into lean muscle stores.
7)Cut back on having too many carbs. If you're looking for a more lean look cutting back on carbs can definitely help. I'm not saying not to have carbs you need carbs to survive and it's our energy source. What I am saying is to mindful of your carb intake especially later in the day if your goal is weight loss.
8)Plan your meals for the week in advance. This is a tremendous way to increase your likelihood of success and getting the results you are looking for. Meal prep and planning takes the guess work out of things and more importantly keeps you regimented. If you have your meals and healthy snacks with you at work you won't be as open to eating the first thing you find which usually is unhealthy fast food when you have a long work day and are "starving."
9) Switch it up don't spend too much time doing the same workout over and over. You're body will eventually adapt to the workout routine and plateau. You will get results initially but then once you're body gets used to the routine you will see a dramatic decrease in your gains. Sticking to a plan is important but you must change it up at least every 4-6 weeks.
10) Focus on lifestyle not on a quick fix. Living healthy is a lifestyle and not something that should be looked at as a short term thing. Take the steps needed to get better and don't give up when you have setbacks. Setbacks are a part of life it's no different when it comes to exercising and eating healthy. The key is to stick with it and keep pressing forward and strive to be better than you were yesterday. Stay the course and never give up!
Yours in health
John Gonzalez
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
Author of "The No Nonsense Guide To Healthy Eating Fat Loss & Longevity"
www.TempleFitnessBootCamps.com
www.TempleFitnessPersonalTraining.com
718-971-3125
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