7 Ways to Achieve Fitness Goals

7 Ways to Achieve Fitness Goals

The most difficult part of achieving your weight loss goals is just getting started. However the best part of weight loss is achieving RESULTS. I am not quite sure which seems to please my members more, feeling strong and empowered during a tough workout or slipping on those skinny jeans and laughing because they are now just a bit baggy. Losing weight takes persistence, patience and perspiration. Here are a few more tips to keep you going.

1.   Rethink your drink. Lose the sugar and drop the weight. You can still get flavor in water/tea while skipping the sugar. Try adding citrus wedges, chopped mint, sliced cucumber or frozen berries to tea or water.

2.   Slow Down to Lose the Pounds In a study in which female participants were instructed to wolf down their meal, they ate, on average 70 additional calories and felt less satisfied than the group that was instructed to eat slowly and enjoy their meal. It is important to eat slowly, take small bites, chew thoroughly and put your fork down between bites.

3.   Know Your Serving Size.  The palm of your hand is approximately 3 oz. serving of meat. Your fist is a good measurement for ½ cup, which would be the serving of pasta. Thumb is about 1 ounce and the tip of the thumb measure about 1 teaspoon.

4.   Aspire to Perspire. When it comes to working out, there are more options than there are shades of green. When creating your workouts focus on transforming your body as well as tuning your mind. Try it all and find the activities you enjoy the most. Remember 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity and 30 minutes of weight training at least 5 times per week.

5.  Scale down. As the number on the scale goes down so should the number of calories you are eating. To figure out your BMR – divide your current weight by 2.2 pounds then multiplying this number by 0.9 and then by 24. Now multiple your BMR by 1.2 and you have arrived at the number of calories your body burns per day when you factor in your physical activity. (300 – 500 calories per hour of intermediate exercise) Once you have your final number- shave off 500 calories to find how many calories you need to eat to lose a pound per week.

6.   Mix It Up. Have you been doing the same workout day in day out? If so, your body has more than likely become just familiar with the physiological conditions and this is no longer a challenge. To grow no more and to increase your body’s metabolism, you must change your workouts on a regular basis to continue the challenge. Increase your flexibility, strengthen your core, improve your agility and work on your speed.  Constantly mixing it up will keep your body guessing, changing and improving.

7.   Make a Promise. And keep it. It is very difficult to blow off a commitment that you have made public to people that are important to you. Tell your family, your friends, your trainer and anyone else you think will be supportive of your new aspirations.

Tammi Jacobs, Health and Wellness Expert

 Results Health and Fitness Center, Chandler, AZhttp://www.resultshealthandfitness.com/

Calorie Counting Myths

Myths of Calorie Counting

1. Are their certain foods that burn fat because they have “negative” calories?
UH-no
There is no real evidence that this is true. While your body will benefit from eating more protein because it can help control appetite and eating more fiber may result in some calories passing through undigested, neither food will burn fat.
2. Should I eliminate all saturated fat from my diet?
Beyond a doubt, that is a great diet choice.
Not all fat is created equal. The fats that should remain off your radar screen are solid at room temperature and are referred to as Trans and saturated fats. These types of fats lead to weight gain and arteriosclerosis, particularly the arteries that supply the heart.
3. In one instance I read fats are bad and another I hear fat is essential. Which is it?
Thumbs Up to Unsaturated Fats and Thumbs Down to Trans and Saturated.
Unsaturated fats are fats that are liquid at room temperature and provided health benefits. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated boost your immune system and decrease the risk of heart disease.
Some good choices of unsaturated fats are:
nuts, salmon, tuna, flax oils, avocado
4. My friend is on a pineapple diet because she said it helps to burn fat. Is that true?
Veto. Sorry but your friend is miss guided. Pineapples do contain enzymes that aid in the digestion of fats but burning fat is a different scenario all together. Remember to lose weight the formula is simple. You must burn more calories via exercise and BMR than you consume or your body will store it as fat.  The bottom-line is pineapples and various other fruits and vegetables contain nutrients, fiber and digestive enzymes but do not stimulate fat burning.
5. What is the difference between simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates?
Simple carbohydrate are absorbed quickly and utilized for energy immediately. If they are not used immediately they are stored in the body as fat. Complex carbohydrates take longer to absorb and supply energy longer which make them a better source for fat loss and healthy weightrange maintenance.  The best sources of complex carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.




Results Health and Fitness, Tammi Jacobs

Exercise Can Make You Thin - When It Doubt Workout

Exercise Can Make You Thin
Exercise is good. It is a principle that most people agree. It is good for permanent weight loss, accelerating the metabolism, burning calories, strengthening and sculpting muscles, keeping our bones strong and dense, reducing stress and releasing feel good hormones. However there are a few misinformed individuals at TIME magazine with a warped perception of what healthy really is. They even to go so far as to publish unenlighted information, “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin.”  
John Cloud, a reporter for Time Magazine, and self proclaimed exercise geek, attempts to disregard the importance of the three cornerstones of health and fitness: education, fitness and nutrition. Mr. Cloud misinterprets the research released at the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam, where a team of researchers from Peninsula Medical school presented their discovery on energy expenditure with children ages 7 -11, across different socioeconomic backgrounds.

     It is common knowledge that exercise is a major component to a healthy lifestyle and the ability to maintain a healthful weight range, permanently. Myriad of research, thousands of health and fitness professionals who devote their life and research to exercise and the  number of people who have lost incalculable pounds of fat all will confirm the fact that working out works.

1. Exercise Annihilates Midsection Body Fat. To beat the belly bulge, moderate to high intensity cardiovascular activity is a must. The body utilizes the triglycerides stored in the visceral body fat as an energy source. This stored adipose tissue has the greatest impact with concern to the risks of stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease.
2. Energy In  Energy Out. Keep it simple: You need to burn more calories than you consume to lose body fat. Regular exercise helps to keep calories in check and therefore helps to maintain a healthy weight range.

3.  Consistent Exercise Keeps the Fat Away. 90% of people who exercise on a regular basis and have lost weight and kept it off for a year do so by exercising for at least one hour per day, most days, while maintaining a healthful and well balanced diet.

4.  Exercise Boosts the Metabolism and Changes the Set Point.

Regular exercise has double benefits if performed correctly. Cardiovascular activity such as walking, running, step aerobics and hiking burn the maximum calories while exercising. Weight training increases the lean muscle mass, which in turn increases the body’s BMI or ability to burn calories while not exercising. Long, lean muscles will torch calories and keep you energized. (which is another way of explaining a change in Set Point)
    This is the area of concern in which Mr. Cloud further displays his lack of knowledge. His example of the “set point” theory as it was a theory to explain why repeated dieting was unsuccessful with long term in body composition. The “set point” is the only plausible theory to readjust the body's ability to increase the number of calories burned is sustained physical activity. The set point can keep weight fairly constant (stark contrast to his reference of increased obesity across the board: (children, adolescence and adults) and simultaneously pressures the conscious mind to change behavior. When a person’s weight is at set point is optimal for efficient activity and stable, optimistic moods. However, when a set point is driven to the lower end of the spectrum, depression and lethargy set in slowing a person down and reduces caloric expenditure, due to lack of movement, not the opposite.

5. Exercise Curbs Eating. If you are an emotional eater, exercise is for you. Working out on a regular basis has been proven time and again to release hormones that regulate mood swings. So when planning your day, schedule in some sweat time and you won’t have the need to reach for the Ben and Jerry’s any longer.

6. Exercise brings Joy. Let’s face it; dancing around listening to exhilarating music, hiking with a cool breeze through your hair is a lot more fun then eating a handful of baby carrots. If you examine people that schedule exercise successfully into their lives, you will have an opportunity to watch a group that truly enjoys what they are doing.

7.  Exercise Decreases Hunger. A recent study by the Journal of Obesity found that people who exercise on a regular basis experience more self control with less hunger.

8.  Exercise Causes a Chain Reaction of Good Things. 

Focusing on a balanced diet and a well designed workout program lends it self to other good habits as you will be surrounding yourself with people striving for a common goal. People who workout with a friend workout 40% more than those who sweat solo. Be a motivator and a health ambassador.

The bottom line is, when in doubt, WORKOUT!
Tammi Jacobs, Health and Wellness Expert
Results Health and Fitness Center, Chandler, AZ

Answer to Permanent Weight Loss Questions

1.  If I skip breakfast will that help me lose weight faster?  
Fitness fabrication at it's best. 
You may think by decreasing your calories by skipping a meal you will lose weight but deprivation is a key to weight loss disaster. A healthy plan is to distribute your meals and snacks evenly throughout the day, allowing for a steady supply of energy. Designing your food intake this way will help to keep your glucose level in control and avoid overeating.  

How to Get a Flat Tummy 

Tammi Jacobs,
Results Health and Fitness Center

Fitness: Facts or Fiction by Tammi Jacobs

Fitness Facts and Fiction
Are you one of those people that believes the best way to flatten your abdominal section is to do crunches for hours on end? Then stay tuned into this blog and we will answer any of the exercise, diet and work out myths.


Exercise Question

1.  I used to workout and when I stopped my muscle turned to fat.

Negative 
Muscle and adipose (fat) tissue are two completely different tissues, and one will never turn into the other. However this situation is a perfect analogy for “use it or lose it”. If you are not using your muscles, they will atrophy, shrink. Additionally, if there has not been an adjustment for less activity concerning caloric intake, fat cells will fill.

Exercise Question
2.  Yo Yo dieting has ruined my metabolism and now it seems impossible to lose weight. Wrong

A person who repeatedly loses and gains weight should not have more trouble trying to reach and maintain a healthy weight than a person attempting to lose weight for the first time. Studies indicate weight cycling does not affect one's metabolic rate - the rate at which the body burns fuel (food) for energy, therefore weight cycling should not affect the success of future weight-loss efforts. A more plausible explanation to difficulty in weight loss is the decrease in lean muscle mass that may have occurred over time and a disproportional rate to fat increase with lack of physical activity. Making regular physical activity as well as healthy eating habits a part of your life will assist maintaining a healthy weight range and improve health overall. One study by the American College of Sports Medicine revealed that much of the problem with the inability to lose weight was not lack of the body’s ability to metabolize nutrients but actually the participants in the study underreported their true food intake by 47% and over reported their physical activity by 51%.

                                       
Exercise Question
3.   I should only do cardiovascular exercise while I am trying to lose weight as weight training will adversely affect my weight loss.

Negative  

Weight training is a very important component of a well balanced workout regime because it helps to increase lean muscle mass which in turn gives the metabolism a boost. Research studies indicate that after age 45, the average person loses about 10% of their lean muscle mass due primarily to lack of physical activity.

    A recent study which followed 164 women in Minnesota, one half of the women participated in weight training 30 minutes to 1 hour most days of the week while the other half did no weight training. The group that participated in weight training lost 3.7 % body fat while the control group did not change.

Exercise Question

4.   Overweight people should not exercise and only focus on diet.  
Not By Any Means  Recently the media and medical profession have begun to focus on obesity as not only a personal health issue, but as a driving force of the impending medical crisis. While evidence shows a genetic component, lifestyle factors are probably more important when the goal is to reverse obesity.

    My recommendation for people who are overweight (BMI 25) or obese (BMI 30) is a balance of healthy nutrition and exercise. But, what does that really mean. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends at least 200 minutes of exercise per week – translation - 40 minutes per day on 5 days each week. The same study also revealed another interesting fact concerning caloric intake and activity level. Exercise does work and weight loss will occur if more calories are burned than consumed. But, even if a person exercises for an hour, they may not lose weight if they consume an excessive number of calories that day.

Exercise Question

5. Sit ups are the best exercise to give me a flat tummy?    
Never  
If your desire is a flat tummy the best exercise for you is cardiovascular activities like, step aerobics, walking, jogging, coupled with a good diet. You must get rid of the layer of fat around the mid section to unveil the muscle hidden beneath. It is also important to note that you can not specify where you lose fat. Spot reduction and toning are another myth all within themselves.

  Keep in mind common exercises for the abdominal and the core like crunches, sit ups, leg lifts, trunk rotations are designed to strengthen and tone the muscles and to help provide support to the core allowing for better posture which is a good thing.  However these exercises will not decrease the waist line and give the flat tummy many people are looking for.


Tammi Jacobs, Health and Wellness Expert
Results Health and Fitness Center Chandler, AZ

What is Pilates at Results Health and Fitness? Free until Feb. 24, 2010

What is Pilates at Results Health and Fitness? Free until Feb. 24, 2010

What else is Pilates? A stimulating and visionary system of mind-body exercise evolved from the principles of Joseph Pilates. Pilates definitely transforms and renews the way your body looks feels and performs. It cultivates strength without bulk, creating a sleek, toned body with slender thighs and a flat abdomen.

It teaches body awareness, good posture and easy, graceful movement. Pilates improves flexibility, agility and economy of motion. It can even help alleviate back pain.

Professional dancers have known the benefits of Pilates for decades. Top athletes use it for strength, flexibility, and injury prevention. Hollywood celebrities and supermodels use it to maintain beautiful physiques. Results Health and Fitness Members use it to maintain strength, variety and enjoyment for FREE from now until Feb. 24, 2010. Wednesday Evenings at 6:30 pm Bring Your Friends!

How to Get a Flat Tummy!

Your Walk and Tone Workout

Your Walk and Tone Workout

Stay Slim and Get Strong with Fat-Blasting Firming Moves

Yes, I know that working out takes time and energy. The good news? Interval workouts, combining fast and slow paced walks will help you reach your fitness goals quicker. Follow this fun workout that targets multiple muscles congruently. You will get a full body shape up and see results in less than a month. Plus you can pair the following toning routine with our meal plan to keep your metabolism in high gear and shed those 10 pounds before short season is here. 

Your Program at a Glance...

Exercise Tips

1. Eat a light snack 1-2 hours before your workout. This provides energy necessary to push yourself and allows your body to burn more calories. It also prevents fatigue, dizziness, and nausea. A banana or any fresh fruit is ideal.
2. Drink plenty of water before/during/after workouts and daily. Keeping hydrated increases endurance, prevents injuries, and promotes fat loss. Results has a wide selection of fitness and energy drinks.
3. Use Proper Tempo for Strength Training. Take about 4 counts to complete each rep and focus on contracting the muscles. You'll work harder, get stronger and leaner faster. Never rush your movements.
4. Plan workouts ahead of time and schedule them into your diary and lifestyle. Making time for yourself is just as important as making time for your job and your family. Scheduling also cuts back on excuses.

5. Keep it simple. As you become fit you’ll find that you’re able to do more. Striving for consistency not perfection is the key to staying on track. Regular visits are the key.
6. Strike a balance between strength training, cardio, and stretching. You'll improve your flexibility faster, prevent injuries, and burn more calories when you address all aspects of fitness especially the ones you find more challenging.
7. Manage your stress levels. Reducing stress will reduce fat and help you eat less junk. A stress free life will give you more energy for your work outs. Exercise is a great way to release stress but so is taking time out to enjoy what you love.
8. Challenge yourself a little bit more each time you workout. Whether it’s extra reps, a little more weight, or tougher cardio intervals. Working harder and pushing yourself each time is what causes your body to respond and to change. This will help you get to your goals quicker.
9. Set achievable and fun goals. Your goals may be to lose 1 pound per week or to ass 1 more push-up to set, while adding more veggies each day. You may even choose to participate in one fun healthy walk per month, or to a new group training class. Having short-term goals keeps you positive and moving forward towards your ultimate goal.
10. Don’t over do it. You can’t get in shape overnight so take it easy and progress yourself safely. Your body responds better to subtle changes so keep that in mind when increasing weight, running more miles, and trying new stretches.

Weight Loss Basics

Take a Load Off

    Male or female, young or old, weight loss is a challenge for everyone. Pick up any magazine, flip on the internet and there you have it... some crazy hocus pocus concoction or new invention that is going to shed the pounds off over night. What we all must realize is the basics are the foundation – they remain the same regardless of the newest fad diet. We must cut through the hype and relearn the basic of living healthy to feel healthy and look healthy.

• What is you healthy weight range?
• What are the nuts and Bolts of calories and metabolism?
• What are the healthiest foods to eat and the best exercises to lose weight?   

Do you need to lose weight?
If you think you need to lose weight, you are in good company. Studies indicate that 60% of American adults say they would like to lose 20 or more pounds. If you are overweight, it is to your advantage to shed the extra pounds, as maintaining a healthy weight range reduces the risks of diabetes, certain types of cancer, heart disease, gallstones, sleep apnea as well as various other conditions. To determine if you need to lose weight let’s consider two issues (we will discuss more later):

• Your healthy weight range.
• Your body shape.

Healthy weight range: Although there is no single number that defines an ideal weight for each of us, we can target a weight range considering our age, gender and height. This formula is called the BMI and it considers height weight in ratio. To determine the BMI follow this formula:

BMI = 704 x (weight in pounds)   or  BMI =   704 x 125  = 21.48

            Height2 (in inches)                            (64)2         

BMI score ranges

Below 18.5:      Underweight

18.5 – 24.9:     Healthy Weight

25 -29.9:         Overweight

30- Above:       Obese

Only those who fall into the overweight and obese categories will benefit from losing weight. Limitation of utilizing the BMI for healthy weight is the fact it neglects the lean muscle mass for individuals who are extremely athletic and conversely the underestimate of body fat in the elderly population who may have lost lean muscle mass.

How to identify your healthy weight range:

Gender  Formula                                    

Female  Begin with 100 pounds and 5 feet. For every inch over 5 feet,add 5 pounds. Your healthy weight range                                      is 10% under and 10% over.

Male      Begin with 106 pounds and 5 feet. For every inch you stand over 5,                                             

             feet, add 6 pounds. Your healthy weight range is 10% under and 10% 

             over.
Body Shape: Another way to determine health is body type or where fat is disturbed on your body. It is more advantageous to have a pear shape than an apple shape. Stored fat in the midsection indicates greater health risk.

Waist to Hip ratio:

1. Measure your waist by relaxing your abdominal muscles and measuring around the narrowest point of your waist.
2.   Measure your hips by wrapping the tape around the widest point.
3.   Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement to get the ratio.

A. Female – a ratio of greater than 0.8 indicates an apple; ratio of less than 0.8 indicates a pear shape.

B. Male – a ratio of greater than 0.95 indicates an apple share; a ratio of less than 0.95 indicates a pear shape.

Understanding Weight Loss

In order to loss weight it is important to have a basic understanding of how the body processes food.

What is a calorie?

A calorie is a unit of energy.  We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example a gallon of gas has about 31,000,000 calories.

Here is the simple part – 
you will gain weight if you consume more calories than you burn. Conversely, you will lose weight if you consume fewer calories than you burn.Most health and fitness professionals concur if the goal is weight lose; you must cut calories by approximately 500 per day.