Weight Loss Tip of the Day

This is for all my friends, clients and neighbors here in the La Crescenta, La Canada area. Here is a weight loss simple tip from your local personal fitness trainer. If you want to lose fat not just weight, try a small salad or cup of soup a half hour before dinner. The act of fork or spoon to mouth has a satisfying effect. There is also a ton of evidence that it takes about 20-30 mins. for the brain to figure out that the stomach is full. Eating less is a sure fired way to lose weight and this is a proven way to eat less and still feel full after dinner.

A Good Breakfast to Build Muscle

As a local personal trainer in La Crescenta, I always encourage my clients to keep a food diary. One of my long time clients sent me picture of her breakfast. I always preach how you should eat within the first hour after waking and to let me know what you're eating. The picture was a beautiful presentation of an oatmeal bowl. It had sliced peaches, sliced bananas, slivered almonds and blueberries. As pretty as it looked it had one very big problem, too many carbs.

If you want to build muscle or even maintain muscle mass you need protein with every meal and that includes breakfast. What this breakfast had was carbs with carbs, carbs more carbs, fat and a little protein. The way to turn this weight gainer into muscle builder was easy. If you lose the high carb banana and add a scoop of whey protein you have a winner. (Mix the protein with 1% milk, drink half and pour the balance on the oatmeal)

To keep it simple, if you want to lose weight and maintain muscle, don't forget protein for breakfast. A man should have 30-35 gms. and a woman should have at least 20-25 gms. If you go low fat it's easy to eliminate protein in the process.

Finally a Program you Can Stick To

The facts are in. If you stick to an exercise program, you benefit in health and appearance. Everyone wants to look better, live longer and avoid cancer and heart issues. Then why do only a small fraction of people exercise.

The major problem is methodology. Most people have had an initial bad experience in the past. They have done too much. It has been too hard and they have not experienced results quickly enough to continue.

If you want a program that you will stick to, you must start with small steps and realistic expectations. As a personal trainer with 1000 or more client's, one thing still surprises me. Most new clients can't believe that the first session is over. They expect it to be more work and go more slowly. You MUST work at a level that is within your capabilities and only then proceed to a more intense level.

A few tips to the beginner. Don't do the same exercise more than once and don't ever work out hard enough that you can't talk. Variety will keep you from getting bored and a heart monitor will keep you from working too hard.

There are hundreds of exercises. Start a program where most of those exercises are ones that you like (or at least don't hate). I've had clients who were 200 pounds over weight and could do our program. The key is small steps and consistency. You can do it! If you want proof give us a call for a free session.

Eat Healthy - Live Longer

Poor eating habits have been linked not only to obesity but to health problems like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. If you want to change your habits you need to look at what you eat, how much and then when you eat.

As a personal trainer I found some simple tips may be a big help for anyone looking to lose weight and eat healthier. The first thing for most overweight people is to deal with that sweet tooth. Two tips: #1 Eat fresh fruit every time you would eat the bad stuff (candy, cookies, ice cream etc.) #2 Try your coffee black instead of with cream and sugar or artificial sweetener. It may sound terrible but you only need to do it for a month to get the desired result.

With dinner a big help is to have a small salad BEFORE your meal. Use low cal. dressing and wait a few mins. before the entree. This will improve digestion and make you eat less high calorie food.

When it comes to implementing your new eating program, do some planning. The best thing to do is clean out the pantry and freezer of any temptations. Shop when you're not hungry and have low cal.veggies cut up with some low cal. dressing handy. Avoid late night eating by allowing yourself 100-150 calories. It may be better to have a little of the good stuff (low fat popcorn, pretzels or veggies) than to totally blow it with a 300-500 calorie binge.