The quickest way to correct this is to pick up a good fitness and nutrition book or magazine, or search the internet for reputable health sites….teach yourself as much as possible and avoid the gimmicks and unrealistic promises because there are a lot out there. 

Try keeping a strict food log for a week (don’t change anything about the way you’d normally eat) and take this to a professional to assess and offer recommendations. 

One last thing—if you see the word “diet,” RUN!  There are no magical “diets” that will produce results in every individual.  Some will work in the short term, but most all will fail in the long term.  Rather, I recommend making healthy nutrition choices.  This is a much better option that will allow you to achieve weight loss without depriving your body of certain foods, vitamins and minerals, or adequate calories in general. 

Nutrition is an extremely broad and difficult subject….being that this is probably the single most important factor in successfully losing weight, please do not make the mistake of assuming your thoughts on nutrition are absolutely correct…this is a surefire way to prevent weight loss before it even starts!

2)  You are making poor lifestyle choices.  Lack of activity outside of workouts, regular consumption of alcohol, smoking, eating large and infrequent meals, drinking too little water, and downright laziness are just a few examples.

It seems like the more successful our country becomes, the worse it is for our health.  We have too many options and too many conveniences!  Although it is usually the culmination of all the aforementioned poor lifestyle choices, probably the most abused and detrimental to achieving fat loss is that of eating out.

The best example of this is the over-abundance of restaurants and fast food joints.  I do not care how many restaurants are claiming to offer healthy options—if you want (and need) to lose weight, stay home!    

This concept shouldn’t be hard to understand….recovering alcoholics don’t go to bars and hope to order a Sprite while everyone else knocks back Red Bull Vodkas; and gambling addicts wouldn’t visit a casino hoping to go the “healthier route” and spend just $20 on a slot machine…

If you consistently place yourself in situations where you are tempted to over-indulge in delicious (and very fattening) foods, your chances for success are minimal.   

Please note that in my mind, this is different than poor nutrition—this is the belief that you can still go out to eat whenever the opportunity arises and that you had no choice in the matter.  Believe it or not….you may have to give up Happy Hour or eating out for lunch because you and a friend are bored during the middle of the week.  This is about making healthy lifestyle decisions to accompany your nutrition plan. 

3)  You are expecting too much.  With all of the fitness gimmicks being marketed today, the cheesy infomercials jam-packed with unrealistic promises, and reality TV programs (i.e. The Biggest Loser) showing extreme weight loss, it’s not surprising you are expecting immediate and drastic weight loss from the smallest of lifestyle changes. 

Don’t believe the hype!  Real world weight loss will be much slower and most people will be lucky to average 2 lbs lost each week.  Yes, I said “average,” meaning some weeks you may gain, some weeks you may stay the same, and others might be exceptional. 

If you are consistently doing the right things, however, weight loss will indeed happen….just be sure to give it time and reassess your plan when you hit plateaus. 

4)  You aren’t working hard enough.  There aren’t too many things in life that provide us with great satisfaction that are easily attainable.  Dream jobs generally take difficult degrees, years worth of hard work to climb the corporate ladder, or major financial risk and the ability to take chances others wouldn’t.  Material possessions require the hard-earned cash you worked your butt off to save up.  And the examples can go on and on. 

A great body is no different….and if having a great body was easy, everyone would have one and you wouldn’t be reading this. 

If you think a 20 minute walk several times a week with your best friend or spouse is enough to lose weight, think again!  Light walking is actually an extremely inefficient way of burning calories. 

Weight loss requires hard work….the type of work that raises your heart rate, causes you to sweat, and makes you feel like you want to stop.  If you are not getting to this level (most people don’t), it is time to switch things up a little. 

As I have talked about in previous blogs, high intensity intervals offer a more efficient alternative to longer, slower-paced cardio workouts such as walking or jogging.        

5)  You aren’t lifting heavy enough weights.  This goes hand-in-hand with reason #4…weight training, along with cardio work, needs to be strenuous!  Women especially, are prone to unintentionally slacking in this department. 

The common misconception is that women should lift lighter weights for higher reps.  The truth, however, is this:  women need to work even harder at lifting to ensure they are creating a metabolic disturbance that will appropriately reap the fat-burning benefits of weight training. 

This is, after all, the reason you are lifting in the first place.  Most sets should be taken to failure, meaning another rep or two would be literally impossible to complete. 

The same thing goes for the type of exercises as well—single joint exercises like bicep curls are important for symmetry, but will not stimulate the metabolism like squats or chest presses…the multi-joint movements recruit more muscle fibers and force the body to work harder. 

Once again, start slow and work with a professional Chandler, AZ Personal Trainer before taking your weight or cardiovascular workouts to greater intensities. 

Before claiming to be one of the “unlucky” victims of obesity, who simply must have a slow metabolism, try addressing these common roadblocks to weight loss.

Maintain strength and lean muscle if you would like to live longer and prevent life-threatening diseases.  An 18-year-long study published in the British Medical Journal found that above average muscle strength was associated with significantly lower death rates from cancer, heart disease, and all causes.

Strong muscles promote metabolic health, increase mobility, allow for efficient processing of fats, carbs, and proteins, help to better regulate blood flow, and produce greater levels of muscle growth factors.  This, in turn, leads to enhanced vigor, vitality, and sexual performance. 

The many beneficial effects of weight training have been strongly linked to a reduced risk of disease and increased longevity.

Resistance training may be the absolute most important form of exercise for older adults because it increases strength and muscle mass.  On average, people lose about 20% of their muscle mass between the ages of 40 and 60.  Aging, inactivity, poor nutrition, and obesity are all factors that promote this deterioration that will eventually lead to diseases and death. 

Furthermore, the obesity epidemic that is taking over our country has led to an increased risk of early death from heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory, and metabolic conditions.  Muscle mass is the most important controllable factor we can use to increase our metabolic rate and fight obesity.  Weight training has been shown to add lean muscle mass, make it easier to lose weight, and maintain weight lost. 

There is sufficient evidence to link greater muscle strength with increased longevity.  Simply put, stronger men and women will live longer!

To enjoy a longer, healthier, and happier life – free of disease and immobility – make sure you incorporate weight training into your fitness regimen. 

I’d recommend hitting all major muscle groups 2 to 3 times weekly, focusing on multi-joint movements that will be beneficial in everyday life.  If you would like professional assistance in creating an appropriate weight training routine, please consult http://wellnessengine.com/health_is_wealth  and I’d be happy to help via my online personal training program.

You talked a big game, but are you actually going to follow through with your fitness resolutions this year?  And if so….where do you start?

As a personal trainer, I strongly suggest you begin this task by incorporating the following 6 tips into your daily life.

You may just find yourself looking lean and mean before springtime.   

1)  Have you ever noticed the skinny girl who constantly seems to be eating?  I’m sure you have and you most likely concluded that she has a ridiculous metabolism and is very lucky! 

The truth is that skinny men and women snack every 2 or 3 hours throughout the day and never really indulge in a large meal. 

They consume around 1600 to 1800 calories per day, broken up into 5 or 6 smaller meals (snacks), and therefore have actively increased their metabolism.  As a result, these skinny people are never overly hungry….they have no desire to over-eat…and therefore NEVER GAIN WEIGHT!

2)  Don’t work out too much.  Workouts should last no longer than 1 hour per session and some people like to break this up into two 30 minute sessions—1 in the morning and 1 in the evening.  This can be extremely beneficial because working out first thing in the morning jump starts your metabolism and working out at night ensures your metabolism remains elevated while you sleep…sweet dreams! 

The take home message, however, is this:  working out too much is not necessary and may even be counterproductive.  Keep workouts short, intense, and vary them constantly for best results.

3)  Drink water constantly!  Take a look around at the people you see throughout the day…you should notice that those looking really fit are almost always carrying a bottle of water. 

Pass on soda, fruit juices, or other high calorie drinks and replace them with water.  This will not only be an easy way to reduce daily caloric intake, but drinking more water itself has major fat loss effects…so drink up!   

4)  Get your lift on!  Slanging around some heavy iron in attempt to build lean muscle no longer requires a “meat-head membership.” 

I cannot stress this enough— toning muscles will make you look better and will work wonders towards burning off excess body fat. 

I can tell you that the muscle tone I have personally added to my body frame is my savior….it allows me to make mistakes (yes, I’m human) and over-indulge once in a while with literally no effects! 

I can wake up the next day, still see my abs, and the scale has not changed a bit!  Again, those around me consider me to be “lucky,” but the truth is that I have primed my body to be a calorie-burning machine.

5)  Eat your fruits and vegetables.  You thought childhood was over, didn’t you? 

Consuming fruits and veggies throughout the day provides your body with high fiber, low-calorie snacks that fill you up without adding fat.  

By making wiser food choices, you can feed your face all day long (remember our skinny girl example), but still keep your total calories and fat content held to a minimum.  

6)  Make a conscious effort to move more throughout the day.  We have become such a lazy, sedentary society! 

A typical day starts after about 7 hours of sleep and is followed by 8 to 10 hours of sitting at a desk, only to head home for several more hours of sitting on the couch watching TV. 

This lifestyle will pack on the pounds on in  a hurry if you cannot break the cycle.

There you have it….6 techniques that will certainly have you cruising down the lean lane en route to Skinnyville!

I am offering 1 completely FREE week of online personal training to the first 50 clients who email me with interest– no strings attached. 

Simply email me at:  campbellbradley@yahoo.com and provide your name and what you are looking to achieve.  I will set up your account and email you immediately (this offer will demand I stay close to my computer for the next few days) with your user name and password. 

You will then be able to log in, take a look around, and get started on your fat loss mission! 

Depending on your specific goals, I will create an individualized fitness regimen that includes strength training and cardiovascular assignments.  I can design a plan that incorporates whatever equipment you have access to (ie a fully equipped gym, pair of db’s, resistance bands, or nothing–strictly body weight, etc). 

You will also receive sample meal plans, nutrition info, grocery lists, health and fitness articles, and my proven metabolism-boosting techniques. 

By now you are probably wondering what the catch is….  

So why would I offer FREEonline personal training?? 

Well, to showcase my innovative personal training site and highlight my expertise as a top level personal trainer.  Basically, I am confident that you will love the sight and quickly realize just how effective and convenient my online personal training system is!

I think that by giving the general public a risk-free way to ”test-drive” this new age form of personal training with a true fitness leader….I can open some eyes to a more affordable and effective method of personal training.

I can afford to offer this special promotion for free because I know most of you are going to love it and some will want to stick around after the first week is up. 

So what are you waiting for?  

Again, just email me at:  campbellbradley@yahoo.com and say you’re interested in the free week of online personal training.  Include your name and fitness goals and that’s it!  This is literally easier than signing up for a free email account…..you do not have to give your address, phone number, or credit card info! 

After the first week, if you do not want to join….I simply deactivate your account and you can no longer log in. 

If, however, you are impressed with the rich content, the ease of use, and the expert support and motivation from your personal trainer (yours truly), you can then use credit card or PayPal to sign up for whatever plan will best fit your needs. 

And it’s that simple!

So, what’s the worst that could happen?  You don’t like it (I highly doubt this will be the case) and you end up with a week’s worth of free fat-burning workouts and nutrition plans? 

Give it a shot – risk free – and let me prove my worth before you go and pay another personal trainer thousands….only to realize their personal training services are ineffective and inconvenient! 

If you want to check out the website, here it is:  http://wellnessengine.com/health_is_wealth

Be sure to check out the FAQ’s and learn even more about the benefits of online personal training. 

I hope to be receiving your email soon, so you can immediately get started on your new body for 2009!  Oh, and did I mention this is absolutely FREE with ZERO RISK?!?!

Hurry because I am only taking the first 50 inquiries!  Don’t miss out….I can guarantee this will be the most valuable “free thing” you’ve ever signed up for!

THROW AWAY THE SCALE… 

If you want to become skinny and lean, throw the stupid scale away.  Okay, if you feel as though you absolutely have to use the scale to measure your progress…try to weigh-in no more than once a month. 

Weighing in daily or multiple times per day only stands to add confusion, disappointment, and unhealthy obsession into the already difficult task of losing body fat.  I know this sounds painful, but the truth is that most people do not understand body composition and it’s relevance to their weight loss goals.   

Allow me to break this down for you….  

In order to understand why I’m telling you to throw away the scale and ignore body weight, you must understand the premise behind a commonly misunderstood fitness myth. 

So here goes:  “Does muscle weigh more than fat?”   

No!  One pound of muscle weighs one pound….and one pound of fat weighs….yep, you guessed it—one pound!  So why have we heard this myth over and over again? 

Well, because muscle is actually more dense than fat.  This means that a given volume of muscle will weigh more than the same volume of fat.  In other words, muscle is smaller, more dense, and firmer than fat—it takes up less space.  You may want to re-read the last sentence….isn’t this exactly what we all want?!        

To drive home the difference in composition between muscle and fat, let’s compare five pounds of feathers to five pounds of bricks.   

Both weigh exactly five pounds.  However, five pounds of feathers would take up significantly more space…..say about ten large pillows worth of space.  Now think about setting five pounds of bricks next to those ten pillows….you would have maybe two bricks sitting next to a huge mountain of feathers. 

Imagine two people of the same weight—one who has to stuff all of those feathers underneath their skin and one who only has to add the size of the small bricks.  Both individuals are now five pounds heavier and weigh exactly the same weight, yet the person with more fat (feathers) will look substantially heavier, lumpier, softer, etc…and the person with more muscle (small, compact bricks) will look skinnier, leaner, and much more healthy.   

Hopefully this explanation will help you to understand why using a scale to measure total body weight is a relatively insignificant barometer by which to measure your fitness success.  You should instead become focused on lean body weight, body fat percentage, BMI, and girth (i.e. waist measurement) changes. 

The downside is that most of the former are slightly complicated, may require special equipment, and would be best assessed and explained by a trained fitness professional.  This is why it is so important if you are serious about weight loss (or other fitness goals), to meet with a professional who can properly explain, measure, and assess body composition.   

Using a scale as the sole measure of your weight loss progress is a recipe for failure.  This will generally lead to false conclusions regarding the effectiveness of your current regimen.   

If you still have questions regarding weight loss and body composition after reading this, email me at campbellbradley@yahoo.com or check out my site:  http://wellnessengine.com/health_is_wealth