Friday, November 16, 2012

Legs and Shoulder workout

Please start with a 20 minute cardio warm up. Then everything is done in 3 sets of 20 reps per set. This is strength training. lunges 20 each leg Leg extensions Leg Curls Single Leg squats Calf raises Shoulders: Military press Front Lat raise
Uprite Rows
Shoulder Flies
enjoy your day

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Do we need supplements in our lives

So in the end the question still remains, do we all really need supplements and vitamins? Is there a point in our lives those supplements are essential? The answer is maybe. Depending on who you are and how active you are and how old you are will depend on whether or not you should be supplementing your diet with additional vitamins and supplements. As an example women in their 20’s should be supplementing their diet with Folic Acid (vitamin B). This is because they are in their child bearing years and this vitamin plays a very important role in child fetal development. Men in their 20’s, in my own opinion, if they are eating right and abstaining from those things that can have a negative effect on their bodies, all they need to do is eat a proper diet. For both men and women in their 30’s they should be consuming an additional dose of vitamins C and E because those vitamins will help them fight the development of cataracts and macular degeneration. This will set them up for better vision and better muscular tone later on in life. Yes, what we do when we are young will have an effect on what happens to us when we are older. Men and women in their 40’s need to begin to take extra doses of vitamin D and B12. As we get older our body cannot make Vitamin D as regularly as it did when we were younger and by this time in our lives we have screwed up our diet so badly that B12 will help us with absorption and overall energy. Here is the problem however, when we are in our 20’s, especially at age 21, we begin thinking that we are adults and have the RIGHT to consume alcohol. By doing this, even as our bodies are trying to get strong, we are inhibiting them from reaching their full potential. Women are having babies that are premature or way under weight. Men are, well, looking that they are about ready to give birth any minute. Yes, when we are young our bodies are more resilient, however at some point we will pay for the sins we have committed and that happens later in our 40’s and 50’s. In our 60’s and above supplements begin to play an important role in our everyday life because of the minerals and vitamins our body cannot create or needs help supplying for purposes of everyday energy. For an example ATP in our muscles as we get old is depleted and is vital to the consistency and strength or our muscular system. Our body, as we get older, makes less of it, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need it any more, we still need it and as we get older, even more than when we were younger. Protein drinks such as Quadplex and supplements such as BM&C (Bone, muscle and cartilage support) are very important in replacing what the body is no longer making on its own. The problem all starts with our diet and no amount of supplements or vitamins can cover the sins we are causing. Milwaukee has a week where, every year, many people go down to the lake front and consume foods where, well, I wouldn’t think about giving my worst enemy. They are just not bad for you, they can be deadly. The cholesterol alone that a person WILL get from eating those foods WILL clog their arteries and WILL cause heart attacks, strokes and major obesity (oh it’s done that already). There is no doubt about it. We need to start eating right when we are young especially in our 20’s when we are beginning to make life choices and everything we do will have a definite effect on our future health. By doing that our quality of life, in later years, will be so much better and your body will thank us for it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The process...Consistency

u local my home videos photos local voices add a local voice post my local voice most recent highest rated most viewed top favorites most comments sets Categoriesmembers message board Best of u local Homepage U LOCAL MY HOME VIDEOS PHOTOS LOCAL VOICES MEMBERS GROUPS Welcome, Kevin_Ellis my home my home sign outadvanced Search video photo local voice member message sets .. The process... Consistency 1 hour ago Uploaded By: Kevin_Ellis 1 hour ago Comments: 0 Tags: health .Category: health This by far is the key for consistency. You must become predictable when it comes to your everyday diet when it comes to maintaining your fitness levels. Most people do have an idea of when they will be eating and what they will be eating but here is the catch… the when is where most American get it wrong and this is what needs changing if we are to make any strides in becoming better in condition. Most Americans have a very small breakfast, very little lunch and then a huge dinner and have been doing that for years and you see what that has gotten us… fat. The way it should be is a small breakfast, and good lunch and then a very small dinner. Let’s look at the logic in this. Most people just don’t want to get up in the morning to eat and I can understand that. Most people are usually out of the house by 7am and at the office by 8am to start their day. Some much earlier and some much later, but the idea holds for everyone. At this point in the morning you are getting started and need some nourishment just to get going. So this should be your second biggest meal of the day. Why? Because in a short period of time you will be having lunch. In most cases three to four hours later. Then it is lunch time and this is when you should be eating your biggest meal of the day. Why? Because between this time and when you finally get home there is a longer period of time and you are in the middle of your day and expounding more energy now than in the beginning of the day. Between lunch and the time you get home could be as much as 8 hours, so you need to fuel your body to be able to sustain those many hours. For you guys that don’t believe me… how many times have you felt really tired in the middle of the day or gotten headaches and then realized that you did not eat lunch. If you make this your biggest meal you won’t have that problem anymore. When you get home, dinner should be your smallest meal of the day. Why? Well, most people have they eat go right to their lazy boy chairs and turn on their television or go to their computer and spend hours watching something. Your body is no longer in motion and thus your energy levels are at its lowest point of the day. Fuel consumption should be at its lowest at this point. Switching up the way we eat will make a big difference in your overall ability to maintain our fitness levels. However, making it a routine is like you swimming against the currents, very hard to do. In some cases it may seem impossible but trust me it isn’t. Consistency in what we eat is a very important key to your overall success. Tomorrow I will discuss the work out. .

The Process... Nicotine

Now I am not going to discuss the obvious, but I am going to write about the side effects that Tobacco causes in our body that we really never can overcome without very radical measures. The biggest effect that tobacco has on our bodies, besides cancer which is obvious, is that for those that quit… weight gain. Now, let’s get something out in the open right away… you do not have to smoke those cancer sticks in order to get nicotine in your body. Chewing tobacco and even the nicotine gum are just as bad and have all the same side effects. So for you all that think that this may not pertain to you, you’re wrong. While you are consuming nicotine it does speed up your metabolism and it does get your body to burn more calories. Did you know that every cigarette you smoke, cigars included, burns 200 calories as a minimum? What that means is that 20 cancer sticks equals 4000 calories. Now, imagine smoking more than 1 pack a day, you do the math. Now because your body is burning so much, this energy needs to be replace and in most cases this allows you to eat more than you really should and this is the biggest reason why when a person quits smoking they gain weight. It is not that they are eating more it is that your metabolism is not being as stimulated as it was when you are indulging. Now some may still be confused so let’s look at it in another light. The average workout burns 500 calories at best, trust me I’ve seen how some of you work out, and with that said if you had been smoking throughout that time you were burning an additional 2000 calories (assuming a whole pack of cancer sticks), which means you were burning 2500 calories a day. Now because of the other side effects of those cancer sticks you decided to quit. Now you are losing 2000 kilocalories of energy. So what is the overall effect of that… weight gain even while you are working out. The average person will gain 50 pounds over a short period of time after they stop smoking (less than 1 year). It is not that you ate more it is just that you never reduced your food consumption once you stopped. Ok, so now you stopped smoking and you are thinking to yourself why you stopped smoking. You don’t want to gain weight. Well look at it this way, better stop now and give your body a fighting chance of survival than commit slow suicide. Now here is how I believe you can minimize the damage and get yourself in much better shape in the process. We already know that for those who choose to use nicotine, once they stop they will gain weight and there is now stopping that so how can you slow that process down? It is actually one of the hardest things that you can do because it takes a long time before you begin to see the results of your effort. How long? 5 years as I see it. Your lifestyle changing has to be dramatic and your food consumption has to be minimal. There can be no alternatives or cheat days. You have to become really focused on one thing recovery. At first you will gain weight but once that begins you need to do one thing switch your diet up totally. What do I mean? If you are a meat eater, than you need to minimize your meat consumption and begin to look at alternative ways to get the same nutrients without consuming meat product. If you are a starch person, then reduce your intake and stop eating starches after a specific hour of the day. This is what I am referring to. Then once that is done and under control, then you should intensify your workouts. This formula will give your body time to recover and at the same time get you in much better condition. This is not easy to do, especially in the society we live in today. The best thing for anyone to do is just not start using nicotine at all. This will save you from having to deal with the weight gain when you decided to quit. The next step in the process is a routine.

The process... liquid consumption

u local my home videos photos local voices add a local voice post my local voice most recent highest rated most viewed top favorites most comments sets Categoriesmembers message board Best of u local Homepage U LOCAL MY HOME VIDEOS PHOTOS LOCAL VOICES MEMBERS GROUPS Welcome, Kevin_Ellis my home my home sign outadvanced Search video photo local voice member message sets .. The Process... Liquid Consumption 4 days ago Uploaded By: Kevin_Ellis 4 days ago Comments: 0 Tags: health .Category: health I am a true believer that we consume way too much water. Yes, the purpose of our consumption of water is to flush our system. Yes, we need water just to survive, but we have taken it to higher levels. Mary has been a member at my gym for years now and just recently she and I had a conversation about her weight problem. She tells me that she has really changed her dietary habits and she no longer drinks soda. She tells me that all she drinks now is water morning, noon and night. She is frustrated though, she cannot seem to lose any more weight and she is really about ready to give up. For a period of two weeks after our initial conversation I watch Mary and she was right, she really works out hard while she is in the gym and when I looked at her food journal it looks really good. Then what is the problem? To me it was clear but to many others, they would probably never get it, she consumed too much water. After two weeks I confronted Mary and asked her some questions. Mary why is it that when we go on a 10 minute run you have to have water with you? When we do a 20 minute workout you have to have water with you? Everything you do whether it is for 10 minutes of 30 minutes, you have to have water with you? She looked baffled and her response was, “Am I not suppose to drink water now?” Water wasn’t the problem it was the over consumption of it. I don’t think that Mary would die if she did a workout without taking 12 breaks to get water, so we tried that and just as I thought the weight came off and she actually felt better at the end of each work out. Now here is the problem, we are replacing the fluids in our body quicker than we are using them and well, aren’t we defeating our purpose? I had Mary try something and I want you to try this too. Instead of drinking constantly throughout the work out wait until the end, if you work out is 30 minutes or less, and trust me you will feel better for it. In the end you will be consuming less water but giving your body the liquid it needs. Now onto another matter… soda and alcohol. These things are just plain bad for us. I was listening to a ranger the other day and he was talking about how the shapes of rocks are formed and one of the things he said really has an effect on the formation of rocks is Carbonic Acid. Then he asked us a question which blew my mind, “Where else do we us this acid?” The answer… Soda. Well that is enough for me. If that acid is eroding the earth and the rock formations imagine what it is doing to my body, to your body? And let’s not get on the subject of alcohol. I’ll just say that I see no real good benefit to pickling my liver, ruining my brain cells and destroying my kidneys. My next blog will be on step 5… Smoking and tobacco products. .

The Process

This next series talks about the things that if every person did, would give them much better health. Not just better health but health that will last you a lifetime. Anyone can lose weight, but not many can keep it off for a long period of time. If these 12 steps are taken you will not just lose the weight you may be looking for, but keep it off forever. Today we will discuss step 1 mental preparation: Mental Preparation: Before you start anything and before you begin any new project there must be a vision and a dream and most important a burning desire to see that project to completion. Without any one of those pieces to the puzzle, at best you have a momentary vision that will peter out soon after developed. This should be the same with our health. So many of us try and enter a new point in our lives running solely on emotion and emotion is too unpredictable. We need to, no, we must sit down and calculate the costs of us changing our life. What is that costs? The things we may have to give up. The things we will gain. The things we will begin anew. Once we do that than just like any major project we may do on our jobs, we need to begin to put the puzzle together. What is our first step? Second step? Third Step? In this mental preparation we need to have a clear vision of who we ultimately want to be and yes look like. With that vision clearly imbedded in our minds we need now to begin the process of working our way towards that ultimate goal. There will be many barriers we will run up against while we are going thru this journey and this is when we must stay steadfast and continue to dream about that new reality we will one day have. Your vision and steadfastness is the key. If you lose that, you will lose the ability to strive for your ultimate goal, whatever that may be. When those barriers come (health, finance, time, etc) you will need to have the strength to overcome them and this is where your clear vision and mental focus should shine. This is where most people fail. They think that their emotional state can get them thru the hard times and it just isn’t true. Quite the opposite it can really mentally weaken you and cause you to take backwards steps and jeopardize your health even more than you first thought. So first sit down and think about what your ultimate goal could be. Stand by a mirror and look at yourself and dream about who you may want to become. Speak to your doctor and ask him to define what healthy really means for you. Write down your vision, begin to dream and focus on nothing but the final prize, your health. Tomorrow I will talk about step 2 The Process.

12 Important steps to better health

This next series talks about the things that if every person did, would give them much better health. Not just better health but health that will last you a lifetime. Anyone can lose weight, but not many can keep it off for a long period of time. If these 12 steps are taken you will not just lose the weight you may be looking for, but keep it off forever. Today we will discuss step 1 mental preparation: Mental Preparation: Before you start anything and before you begin any new project there must be a vision and a dream and most important a burning desire to see that project to completion. Without any one of those pieces to the puzzle, at best you have a momentary vision that will peter out soon after developed. This should be the same with our health. So many of us try and enter a new point in our lives running solely on emotion and emotion is too unpredictable. We need to, no, we must sit down and calculate the costs of us changing our life. What is that costs? The things we may have to give up. The things we will gain. The things we will begin anew. Once we do that than just like any major project we may do on our jobs, we need to begin to put the puzzle together. What is our first step? Second step? Third Step? In this mental preparation we need to have a clear vision of who we ultimately want to be and yes look like. With that vision clearly imbedded in our minds we need now to begin the process of working our way towards that ultimate goal. There will be many barriers we will run up against while we are going thru this journey and this is when we must stay steadfast and continue to dream about that new reality we will one day have. Your vision and steadfastness is the key. If you lose that, you will lose the ability to strive for your ultimate goal, whatever that may be. When those barriers come (health, finance, time, etc) you will need to have the strength to overcome them and this is where your clear vision and mental focus should shine. This is where most people fail. They think that their emotional state can get them thru the hard times and it just isn’t true. Quite the opposite it can really mentally weaken you and cause you to take backwards steps and jeopardize your health even more than you first thought. So first sit down and think about what your ultimate goal could be. Stand by a mirror and look at yourself and dream about who you may want to become. Speak to your doctor and ask him to define what healthy really means for you. Write down your vision, begin to dream and focus on nothing but the final prize, your health. Tomorrow I will talk about step 2 The Process.

The process... Consistency

This by far is the key for consistency. You must become predictable when it comes to your everyday diet when it comes to maintaining your fitness levels. Most people do have an idea of when they will be eating and what they will be eating but here is the catch… the when is where most American get it wrong and this is what needs changing if we are to make any strides in becoming better in condition. Most Americans have a very small breakfast, very little lunch and then a huge dinner and have been doing that for years and you see what that has gotten us… fat. The way it should be is a small breakfast, and good lunch and then a very small dinner. Let’s look at the logic in this. Most people just don’t want to get up in the morning to eat and I can understand that. Most people are usually out of the house by 7am and at the office by 8am to start their day. Some much earlier and some much later, but the idea holds for everyone. At this point in the morning you are getting started and need some nourishment just to get going. So this should be your second biggest meal of the day. Why? Because in a short period of time you will be having lunch. In most cases three to four hours later. Then it is lunch time and this is when you should be eating your biggest meal of the day. Why? Because between this time and when you finally get home there is a longer period of time and you are in the middle of your day and expounding more energy now than in the beginning of the day. Between lunch and the time you get home could be as much as 8 hours, so you need to fuel your body to be able to sustain those many hours. For you guys that don’t believe me… how many times have you felt really tired in the middle of the day or gotten headaches and then realized that you did not eat lunch. If you make this your biggest meal you won’t have that problem anymore. When you get home, dinner should be your smallest meal of the day. Why? Well, most people have they eat go right to their lazy boy chairs and turn on their television or go to their computer and spend hours watching something. Your body is no longer in motion and thus your energy levels are at its lowest point of the day. Fuel consumption should be at its lowest at this point. Switching up the way we eat will make a big difference in your overall ability to maintain our fitness levels. However, making it a routine is like you swimming against the currents, very hard to do. In some cases it may seem impossible but trust me it isn’t. Consistency in what we eat is a very important key to your overall success. Tomorrow I will discuss the work out.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Love Yourself

And there lies the problem; most people don’t really love themselves. What do I mean when I say that? How does one love themselves? Is it a physical or mental act? Can someone teach you to love yourself? Loving yourself is the most important thing any one person can do for themselves. Now I am not just talking about a physical act but it is also an understanding that your life matters and you are wonderfully made by the creator of life. Loving yourself starts with the understanding that you are a precious commodity in this world regardless of your economical status. Regardless of where you live, regardless of your educational background, you have an understanding that your life is precious and important. Then with that understanding you begin a process of only allowing those things that are pleasant, loving, uplifting, profitable, and positive enter into your world and into your life. You constantly groom yourself inside and out. Exercise isn’t something that you do because you think you should, but because you know that by doing it, you are helping your body help itself and you are giving it what it needs to fight off foreign matters that will invade your body daily. You only allow positive motivating information into your mind because you know that through a positive atmosphere you will have a better chance at having a good day and appreciating every moment of life. You love yourself by only surrounding yourself with positive, motivating and loving friends. These friends love you unconditionally and regardless of what you have done or who you are their love is steadfast and constant. However, these friends also hold you accountable on so many levels and always have your best interest in mind even when you may not. They are always honest with you. Even when the truth may hurt, they understand that the final outcome of their honesty will reap a benefit for you that cannot be measured at that moment in time. With these friends, there are never any strings attached to anything they do for your or with you. With that said, no one person can make you love yourself, not even your spouse. This type of love is the deepest emotion one can have. By you thinking that your spouse can help you in this area will only bring about stress and tension in your relationship. You must understanding that only you can truly make yourself internally happy and this only truly comes from our creator and our understanding that our body is his temple and we must treat it with the respect it deserves. No one can teach you how to love yourself but you can learn how to appreciate what you have. You love yourself by the food you eat. You have an understanding that anything that does not uplift and replenish the body does not belong in the body and you shy away from it. Smoking is out of the question. What good has smoking ever done for anyone except those who profit from other buying them? Alcohol is a no no and you understand that killing of brain cells and pickling your liver is not really good for your body. You don’t over-indulge and understand what part food plays in your life. Loving yourself is not a superficial act but one that starts from the inside and shines outward so that everyone can see it. Loving yourself exists in three areas of your life; Physical, dietary and psychological and all three of these areas must be in a perfect line. Love yourself not just to day but for the rest of your life. Your body will thank you on so many levels. Yes, by loving yourself, your quality of life will be much improved.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Just a little better

“It’s ok to be average.” I have heard this way too many times and where it is ok to be an average person, what really is average? I believe average is a state of mind. I believe you get to a point where you tell yourself, “Ok, I can live with this.” Some people will tell you that being average is ok because the major portion of our population is average and just because of that reason, being average is not good. My argument steams from the fact that every year average gets a little lower. We tend to lower our standards in everything we do. As an example compare the average American of today to the average American even 20 or 50 years ago. The average waist size for females was 24-26 and the weight was around 120 pounds. Twenty years ago the waist size for a female, on the average, was 28-32 and now it is 34-38 and the average weight is 180 pounds. Every year dress sizes change. What I mean is what a size zero was back in the 1950’s is no longer what a size zero is today. With men, the average waist size in the 1950’s was 30-32 inches. Twenty years ago it was 32-36 and now 40-42 inches is the new norm. I know this because the last time I tried to go get a belt I had to shop in the teenage department. My waist size is 29 inches and there was nothing under 34 inches in the men’s department. In the 1950’s what we consider medium shirts is now our extra small shirts and it is the norm for a man in his 40’s to walk around sporting a belly like they are 9 months pregnant. Back in the 50’s this was just unheard of. The average food consumption has increased while the average activity has decreased. The average person is 50 pounds overweight now and pre-diabetic. The average American test scores in Math, English and Foreign Languages has decrease and we have lost our dominance in those areas. I could go on but what would be the point. I think you get what I am saying. We need to not settle for what we have accomplished today because tomorrow, in so many ways, we will be falling behind. Every day we should strive to become a little better than the day before. There will be our long term success. Now I know that some of you work-a-holic types out there are going to use that as an excuse to work a little harder. “See, Kevin says that I need to work a little harder” and that is not what I am saying. My point is that we as a nation cannot settle for mediocrity any more. We have settled for that too long now and you see where it has gotten us. Other nations have just not caught us but surpassed us on so many levels in so many areas. Enough is enough don’t you think? We need to go back and remember what our forefathers taught us about hard work. America did not get great by us just sitting around, but it got great because of our belief in God and the blood and sweat we shed every day. Our forefathers had goals and dreams. Remember the airplane. They said it was impossible to fly like a bird. Many said, “Leave the flying to the birds. If man was meant to fly God would have given us wings.” Did that stop us from achieving that feat? Or sending a man to the moon? Or the telephone or the microwave oven and look at the cell phone and how small they have become. Somewhere we lost our drive and we have our priorities all wrong. Somewhere we have forgotten the biggest asset we all have, our health. We are so busy chasing after the wind to support our habits that we have forgotten to take care of the one thing that will never leave us our health and it is showing. We need to stop and rethink so many things but we must first start with the basics and the first thing we need to do is concentrate on our health. It should be priority in our lives. As much as most really don’t’ want to admit it, our confidence starts with how we really feel about ourselves. How we looked effects how we act. We can give millions of excuses on why we are the way we are, but in the end our self confidence is wrapped up in our appearance. You don’t believe me? Look in the mirror or go stand out in public and ask yourself the following questions; 1) How do I feel standing out here? 2) What do others see in me? 3) Why are people attracted to me? 4) Why are they not attracted to me? The answer to these questions will truly tell you how you feel about yourself. Now from this point, don’t be discouraged but understand that by beginning the process of making your today just a little bit better (health wise)than yesterday you will begin a process of improving your health and in turn making a difference in your world. This is what I feel America has to do for us to be the power we once were. The road we are going down now is slippery and we are picking up speed to an end we just don’t need to go to. Today is your tomorrow, so let’s get started. My next blog will discuss what should be our first step in finally changing for good.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Today let’s remember all that our forefathers did for us and stood for. I have stated on so many occasions that this land was built through the blood, sweat and tears of our past generations. Because of their sacrifices we can enjoy what we do today. Because of them we are a free nation able to do and say what we want without suffering persecution or abuse of any kind. But I believe that we have truly forgotten many of the life lessons they have taught us and one of them is our physical health. Now, granted, in the 50’s cigarette smoking was a big thing. Many Americans died of this habit and if we knew then what we do now about the effects of smoking, I don’t believe that many of those who smoked would have taken up the habit. Alcohol consumption was also on the rise and we all know the effects that are associated with that. However let’s look past that and let me ask you a question. What was the biggest lesson that we should have learned from our forefathers that should last us many generations? Let me see if I can help you with this. Adults are eating bigger and heavier portions now, and as a result, obesity rates increased by 214 percent between 1950 and 2000. Two out of every three people in the U.S. were obese or overweight in 2010. 1950s Statistics From 1950 through 1960, 33 percent of U.S. adults were overweight and 9.7 percent were clinically obese, with body mass indexes above 30, according to doctor and author Jeffry Weiss. Obesity was not yet recognized as a disease in the 1950s and no statistics were gathered on extremely obese individuals with BMIs of 40 or greater and I believe this was because it wasn’t as prevalent as it is today and the study samples were very few and far between. 1961 Through 1979 By the 1960s, both men and women began to consume more food and reduce their activity. Obesity rates jumped to 11.3 percent by 1970 and an additional 3.1 percent by the end of the decade. America's eating and exercise habits began to trickle down to U.S. children, with 4 percent of children under the age of 11 registering as obese and 6.1 percent of preteens and teens considered obese by 1971. 1980 Through 1999 Through the 1980s and 1990s, obesity rates continued to climb. During the time period of 1988 through 1994, 23 percent of people in the U.S. were clinically obese and 56 percent were overweight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention kept statistics on extremely obese individuals during this period for the first time and found that almost 3 percent of Americans had BMIs of 40 or more. Between 1991 and 1998, obesity statistics increased by 50 percent. Coincidentally, participation in high school gym classes -- once mandatory for all students -- had dropped to only 42 percent of students by 1991. Four states registered obesity prevalence rates above 15 percent that same year. Since 2000 By 2000, 30.5 percent of Americans, almost one-third, were obese. An additional 4.7 percent were severely obese. By this time our plate sizes increased from 9 inches to 12 inches to now a whopping 15 inches at some restaurants. We are eating 3 times the amount of food than back in the 50’s and doing a third of the exercise. By 2006, not a single state reported obesity prevalence at less than 10 percent and in 23 states; obesity prevalence was over 25 percent. An estimated one out of every three children is overweight. Only about one-third of adults get proper recommended exercise and 10 percent do not exercise at all. The biggest lesson we should have learned from those that have gone before us is their physical conditioning and their ability to understanding that their contribution to the overall gaol was very important to the strength of America. They did not wait for the “other guy” but put it upon themselves understanding that they needed to do their very best to make America strong. Today we wait for the “other guy” and not rely on our own abilities. We blame the “other guy” when things go wrong. But what we seem to forget is that we are the “other guy” and the strength of this country is on everyone back and is our responsibility to get to the next generation. Our biggest weakness is our inactivity and because of that we are more de-conditioned now than ever before. You will absolutely see this in this year’s Olympics. We will not be the same power house as we were just 30 years ago and that’s a shame. This memorial day, let’s take the example of our forefathers and show pride in what they were able to accomplish and who we are. Let’s give them the respect they deserve and get ourselves in better shape. In the past our strength was in our ability to stand strong and fight hard. Unfortunately, now it isn’t. However all does not have to be lost. Thru hard work we can get better and we should get better. Happy Memorial Day.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Commitment

Really, how committed are you to your health? Now let me help you really answer this question by asking you some other questions. 1) Right before you go to bed and while you are in bed, what are you thinking about? 2) Do you have a regular workout routine that you follow every day or do you go when your mood is right? 3) On your free moments during the day what do you do? 4) On your free moments during your breaks at work what do you do? 5) What does your diet regiment consist of? 6) Do you eat out more than twice a month? 7) What do you consider a good time? 8) When was the last time you really had a good sweat? I am not referring to glowing. 9) When you miss a day where you do no exercising, how do you feel? 10) How many times a week do you go to fast food restaurants? 11) When you are depressed or stressed out, how do you get over those feelings? 12) What health and fitness goals do you have for yourself? Depending on the answers to these questions will tell you how committed you are to your health. The person who is committed to bettering their health would answer those questions as follows; 1) While in bed they are thinking about what their workout will be for that next day and what time they can get it done and what they are looking to accomplish. 2) They have a regular workout schedule and they let very little stop them from accomplishing it. If something does get in the way, they figure out a way to still get it in that day. 3) On their free moments, they are either resting or looking for ways to improve their conditioning. This could be by reading up on a new idea or planning for that days exercise activity. 4) If they are at work and they have a free moment (30 minutes or more), they are either resting or looking for ways to improve their conditioning. This could be by reading up on a new idea or planning for that days exercise activity. 5) They are very particular with what they put in their body. Things such as soda, alcohol, junk food are a very small part, if not at all, of their diet. They bring fruit and veggies to work for snacks instead of candy bars. 6) These people rarely eat out. Only on special occasions do they do this and even then they are very particular on how much and what they consume. They may eat out or order out twice a month at best. All their foods are cooked at home. 7) A good time for these people always consists around some sort of exercising. They look for the opportunity to constantly improve on their health. Standing around drinking beer at a bar or socializing for no real purpose seems meaningless and is rarely done outside to context of something they just physically completed. 8) These people sweat every day. I am referring to cloths drenched, hair disheveled, make-up not running but off, sweat. They understand that it should be part of our life to help our body get rid of the toxins we have in our bodies and it helps our body work much more efficient. 9) These people feel bad. They feel as though they missed a good opportunity to improve on their health and they feel as though they need to hit it harder the next day. 10) These people go very seldom to fast food places. Let me be more specific… maybe once every two weeks. 11) These people feel as though if they do get stressed or out of sorts that exercise will give them the ability to think through their problems. The exercise does not solve the problem for them but it gives them the ability to find solutions to help them with the problem or stress. 12) Their goals are specific and in most cases written out. They never use the loss of weight as a goal but understand that once they achieve the goals they set forth, weight loss will be an ending bi-product. Now I know some of you are saying that these answers are just not realistic, but they are. This is not to say that they put everything else on hold all the time. But their health is the most important thing to them so they are committed to improving it every day. Just by truthfully answering those questions, you can tell where your commitment lies. Remember without our health we really have nothing. Let’s get committed to the very thing that gives us life and stop abusing it or in time it will finally give out and you will have no one to blame but yourself.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Qualities of a Good Personal Trainer

Mary is looking for a person to help her get into better shape. She has tried doing it on her own only to fail miserably. She just can’t get motivate and her friends are more enablers than anything else. Mary befriends Sharon who is one of the personal trainers at the club and she hires her for 20 sessions. Now Mary knows nothing about Sharon but that Sharon is well liked. So Mary starts working out with Sharon and at first things are going ok but after a few weeks she finds that the workouts are all the same and the results she was getting at first she is no longer getting. She questions Sharon and the answer she receives is quit confusing and really did not answer Mary’s concerns. What is Mary to do? After the sessions were all complete Mary finds Sally who seems to have a good reputation but everyone that she speaks to about Sally says that she is a slave driver and very tough. Mary is desperate at this time so she speaks to Mary and at first Mary rejects her offer to help her. Her reasoning was… no clear cut goals. Mary, very perplexed, goes home and sits down and thinks about the talk she had with Sally and as per Sally, she writes down everything and being the “never say never” person Mary is, approaches Sally again. This time Sally accepts her as a client and begins the process. At first it starts out very slow. All she does was assessments and talks about diet and positive thinking. Mary goes home most nights not even breaking a sweat. Mary begins to wonder what Sally is doing with her but she stays patient. Then after one month the workouts begin to get more difficult and after the first 10 sessions, the workouts are raised to a whole new level. Now Mary is doing things that she thought she was never going to be able to do. Her weight has dropped substantially after four months and her cardio strength is 100 percent improved. Along with that Sally has talked to her about diets and just plain everyday stuff. Sally is a complete trainer. Two years later Sally and Mary are just not good friend, but Sally still trains Mary three times a week. There are many types of trainers out there. I can tell you that there is not one trainer that fits all. Just as every person has a different personality, every trainer has a different personality and finding the right fit can be a chore. But there are certain fundamental basics that all really good Personal Trainers have in common. Here is that list. • Knowledgeable about the human body • Well experienced • They have working knowledge • Methodical in their approach to helping you • Knows their strengths and weaknesses and doesn’t cross the lines • Understands your strengths and weakness and works within those parameters • Always thinks of you first and never themselves • Able to remove themselves from the solution and give you appropriate workouts so that you can achieve the goals you set for yourself • Knowledgeable about nutrition • Believes in a natural approach and doesn’t automatically go to supplements as the ultimate means to an end • Very reasonable in pricing • Puts their clients before themselves • Passionate about what they are doing • Understands the business of Personal Training but does not emphasize it • Looks the part both in and out • Walks the Walk and Talks the Talk • Visibly respected by others whether they like them or not • Has a history of getting results • Conveys a positive attitude to all • Truthful, even when it might hurt • Your biggest cheerleader • Holds you accountable at ALL times Now for a Personal Trainer to be good they must have ALL of these traits, baring none. In my next blog I will be discussing how to find good Personal Trainers.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Rent a Personal Trainer

I know we have people in our lives that we want to help get in better shape. I know that you want to do the best you can to give them every opportunity to improve and this is a good thing. I know of one person who actually went out and bought a whole total gym for their husband. Her purpose was genuine, she wanted him to be around for a longtime and he needed to get in better shape to do that. She went as far as spending over $10,000 to get him all the equipment she thought he needed to get it done. For a while he did use it but after about 6 months, his use of the equipment became less and less. Now all that equipment has become an eye-saw and she tells me that this year it is going up for sale in their rummage sale for a tenth of the price she paid for all the equipment. A year ago if she had taken those same dollars and got a Personal Trainer for her husband, imagine where he could have been today. I know of another man who so wanted his wife to get in better shape. He went out and purchased a $7,000 treadmill with all the bells and whistles added including an HD television screen which was attached so that she could watch her television shows. After a while he then went out and purchased an additional $5,000 in weights to give her other options. One year later she had stopped using the treadmill and he was the only one using the weights. Imagine if he had taken those same dollars and just gotten her a Personal Trainer. Personal training has become very important in this society today. Back just 50 years ago, this occupation was looked at only by the rich and famous and only they could afford to pay the prices that the personal trainers back then were asking. Now however, because of the health crisis we have in America today, many are calling on personal trainers to help them help themselves. Personal trainers are looked at in a higher light and are now being asked to help people change their lifestyles. Andy has been a Personal Training client for some time now. I remember when I first met him. His problem was portion control and because of that he was morbidly obese. I remember meeting his family and them telling me that I needed to help him. I knew that this was not going to be easy because realistically as a personal trainer you only get to see y our people for no more than 2-3 hours a week at best and the rest of the time they are on their own. Well I began to work with Andy and from the beginning it was a struggle. It wasn’t the working out that was the problem, it was the over eating. I tried several techniques and even made up a few techniques to get him to curve his appetite and nothing was working. As time went on though, I began to notice that he liked consistency and planning, so I went with that and got him a scheduling book and I wrote in his book that every day he was to eat with me here at Parkers Place. Well, that seems to have worked and he is now on a great schedule and without him actually knowing it, he has changed his lifestyle and he enjoys it. It has been over a year now and Andy and I have become good friends through this process. A good Certified Personal Trainer will bring a few things to the table that will help you or that person you want to help out. They will bring accountability, knowledge, and enjoyment and in the end lifestyles will be changed and isn’t that what we want for our friends who need it? Think about it. Instead of buying all that equipment that in the end won’t be used, go buy a personal trainer and really make an impact in that person’s life forever.

Great idea

I was talking to a dear friend just the other day and we were talking about this very subject, what motivates people to get in better fitness condition. After talking to her we came to the conclusion that a person can only motivate themselves. No one else can. Yes, as a personal trainer we may be able to fuel that fire and help them keep it burning, but in the end if you don’t want to do something you won’t do it. I remember once having a member who was told by several people that he was not going to live another 10 years if he did not get himself in better shape. His doctor said this and his spouse said this and then finally when I met him I told him this. This man had to lose a good 400 pounds even to be considered for gastric bypass surgery. I remember one day meeting up with him and asking him to come into my office so that we could talk. He had not been coming in and not doing his workouts and he was falling back into his old patterns. I sat there and listened to him for 20 minutes give excuse after excuse and finally when I could stand it no more I told him that unless he lost 400 pounds he would make it to his 40th birthday. He was 36 at the time. Even with me getting in his face, it didn’t matter. I could not motivate him to make the changes he needed to make. He is 39 now and in February he caught a bad cold and to this day he is still suffering from the effects of that cold. He has been bed ridden for three months now. I had a man come into my office and start complaining about the medications he was taking. He hated taking them every day and really wanted to stop. I asked him what his doctor told him to do to get off the medications and he told me that he needed to lose 50 pounds and get his cholesterol below 200 once his weight was under control his diabetes should be under better control. Well a few months later he is still complaining about this medication and in reality is doing nothing about it. He tells me that some days he wants to work out and sweat and some days he just doesn’t want to. Over the last several months he has not lost an ounce of weight. He has not followed my advice about his diet. Yes, he is one that eats at restaurants three times a day. He has not followed the work outs I have given him. What will it take for him to finally get this done… not even he knows. He says he doesn’t want to pass away, but he is doing nothing to help his situation get better. The spirit may be willing but in most cases, the flesh is weak. Outside influences intertwine themselves into our everyday life and that gets us to do things that we know we ordinarily would not do. I am working with a man right now and he has a food problem, he doesn’t understand portion control so I am teaching him that. One day while eating here at the Parkers Place a member notices what he is eating and asks me why I am starving him and then tells me that he should be eating more than what I have given him. I immediately chimed in and told that member to be quite and remember that they too were here because of their weight problem. At that this member looked at me and walked away. Here is a great example of outside influences. If I had left him to get his own lunch, someone would have told him to get more than he really needed and for no real reason. This man is now learning portion control and has lost a ton of weight. The person who told him that he was not eating enough and should eat more, well, they are still struggling and just the other day stopped in my office to talk about, of all things, nutrition (go figure). Now I know we all have people that we want to help get in better shape. We all know people that are 50 pounds or more over weight and getting heavier. I want to share an idea with you that my friend and I had discussed. How many of us think that if we buy our friends or even ourselves a treadmill or some piece of cardio equipment we would be helping them or ourselves out in a huge way. We would be giving them a way to lose those unwanted pounds. You know just as well as I what happens to those cardio pieces of equipment after a few months, they become places we can put out books and old cloths. The problem with most people is not bad equipment, it is accountability and what better way to have someone hold you accountable than a Certified Personal Trainer. We go out and spend thousands of dollars on pieces of equipment only to have them break down or we just plain lose interest and stop using it. However, what if you, instead of buying that equipment, bought a Personal Trainer for that person with those same dollars? What benefit would there be in you doing that for them. What a good personal trainer can do for you will not just be immediate, but everlasting. In my next blog I will be discussing the benefits of highering a Personal Trainer for the long term.----

Freedom

Imagine being in your late 40’s and still being able to do the things that you were able to do in your 20’s. Imagine looking and feeling like you were still 23 years old while all the getting close to that 50 year mark. Imagine once being a dancer, runner or a gymnast and still being able to perform at those same levels. Imagine not feeling embarrassed or uneasy around others when you have your shirt off. There is freedom in not being obese. When you are in good fitness shape, the common cold cannot stay with you a long time. I can’t remember the last time I had a cold that stayed with me for more than a day. At night those that are in good fitness shape get good fast-rem sleep. Their bodies tend to relax much deeper and much longer. I have been told by so many that once they lost that excess weight, their whole world opened up. For so long they had been carrying around extra weight that they just could not shake. Even sitting was difficult. Their shoulders hurt, their chest was tight, their legs were always tired, their feet hurt and their lower back was always hurting. Then they lost that excess weight and like night turns to day, those issues disappeared and now they were able to do things that they thought they would never be able to do again. Two years ago, I decided to try something. So many people were telling me that I had no idea of what it felt like to be an overweight person, so I decided to put some weight on. What I did was wear a 20 pounds weight jacket around for two weeks without taking it off and boy were my eyes opened. Now I did not change my usual workout schedule, I still did all the same things I would normally do on any given day, but by the end of the first week, I began to compromise my workouts and take short cuts. Running the hill became very difficult at best and instead of going as fast as I usual go, I slowed down big time and cut the amount of times I would run up the hill. Not because I wanted to, it was because I had too. Everyday life, in general, became much harder. I found myself sitting more than I would normally. I found that my shoulders hurt, legs were constantly tires, neck hurt, cardiovascular system was poor at best. My feet and hands were swollen most of the time and I began to make excuses on why I shouldn’t do certain things. Those two weeks were very hard to get through. Then after that two weeks were over I took that 20 pound vest off and what a difference. The hill that seemed so hard became much easier. I could stand for a much longer amount of time without feeling faint or tired. My feet and hands were no longer swollen. I felt free and now able to do anything I choose to do and with ease. I now had a bit of a clue. The question I asked myself however was, how can anyone not want this for themselves? How can anyone stay the way they are and not strive for better and better health? What happens in the mind set of an obese person when the doctor says that they are 100 pounds overweight and getting heavier every time they see them? Why don’t they just get themselves better? Question we will try and tackle over the next several weeks. For now however know this, true freedom, true healthy freedom cannot be put into words. Here I am at the age I am at and able to do things that people much younger than I wish they could do. No I am not bragging I a stating a fact and I want you to experience it to. Tomorrow let’s begin to make that step into the world of total healthy freedom. Tomorrow!--------

the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

Most medications cannot cure you. They only allow you to operate at the fitness level you are currently at and no more. Most people don’t realize that. They think that once they get that medication in them that they are cured and they can go back to life as they knew it…and there lies the problem. Pharmacies are making billions off of our ignorance and dependence on medications. Health insurance companies are losing billions trying to keep up with the demand and for them to be able to keep up with the demand they need to charge us more in our premiums. There goes the vicious cycle. Have you noticed how some medications make you thirsty or your doctor tell you to drink plenty of water with the medication you are taking? Did you know that most medications cause you to gain excess weight? Think about what medications are… they are poison entering the system. Once these poisons enter the system they need to be diluted so that they don’t kill the body. The body dilutes these medications by surrounding them with water which weakens its strength. Now you know why there is such weight gain when you take certain prescriptions. But the question still remains, what do we need to do as a nation to fight this obesity problem? You have heard me say this many times that the only way to put a stop to the obesity problem is by us understanding that exercise, activity based exercise, is not a bad thing and MUST be done. Our body works better when stimulated. Our blood is the best healing agent we could ever have. But the problem is that we constantly barrage it with bad elements and over indulge ourselves in foods that at the end of the day do not allow the body to work efficiently. Many times I have seen where an overweight person with all types of ailments loses tons of weight and magically those issues disappear. God made this body to take care of itself, but if we constantly abuse it, at some point we will have to pay the piper. The unknown question is when and to what extent. We need to hold each other accountable. We all know right from wrong and good from bad. We all know those things that are good for us and those things that are not. We need to lift up our brothers and sisters and help them when they are weak or need a helping hand when they are fading fast. We need to hold each other accountable. We cannot do this on our own. Have you ever heard the saying, “A doctor who self medicates himself has a fool for a patient”? There is truth to that. In other words if you think you can defeat this obesity issue by yourself, your kidding yourself. Hey, so far, by you thinking that you can handle it yourself, look where it has gotten us. Think about that. We are imprisoning ourselves in our own bodies. We are keeping ourselves down from really achieving higher heights. Obesity, at any level, is not good and is a total slap in the face of God. Thru accountability of one another we can take back our health and fight this obesity epidemic. Tomorrow I will discuss the freedom we have when we take obesity off the table.-------

42

I just heard this number last night and it did not surprise me. According to a report that I just heard on MSNBC, by 2030, 42 percent of Americans will be overweight and by that time an additional 11 percent of Americans will be over 100 pounds or more over weight. They say that the number of Americans now over weight is 33.9 percent and they see no time in the future where that number is going to slow down. The question I want to tackle is why, why that number is ever increasing and rapidly picking up steam. Some people believe that this epidemic is due to our over eating and sedentary lifestyles we live now and they are right. I was talking to a person just the other day and we talked about the jobs our fathers had when we were growing up and how they were so labor intense. They would get up every morning and walk to the train or bus station, stand on a crowded train or bus and get to a job where they would use their hands for 8 to 9 hours then walk back to the station only to stand on the way back home. Now every American has a car and drives to work only to sit at a computer for 8 to 9 hours and only take a break when they get bored and then they eat at their desk for the most part. Back only 50 years ago, our mothers never has to tell us to go outside. It was more the other way around; they would tell us to stay inside. We hated rainy days because that meant we would be stuck inside and who really wanted to be inside when there were so many things we could do outside. Stick-ball, basketball, hide–and-go-seek, so many games we played. Now with the internet surge kids still see their friends but now on line. They sit in front of a computer screen killing each other and talking on the web. You would think that my kids would not be prone to this but quite the opposite. Just the other day I went into the basement to find one child on the computer skyping and the other playing on the Xbox while talking to his friends on his head set. I shook my head in disbelief. This is were America is going. Did you know that the FDA had stated that our children will not have the same quality of life we now have because of the problem of obesity? By 2030 most of us will be in our 70’s and 80’s and they will be ruling the roost. This really scares me, especially when the trends of getting fat are going up instead of down. I was just in a fashion show and the producer of the show did not think I was 49 years old. His tells me that I don’t look like a 49 or 50 year old man. Well what does one look like? They are overweight with a huge belly, graying beards and fat legs and well out of shape. They are at least 50 pounds overweight and most suffer from back issues of some sort. Exercising for this population of males is only on occasions when they “have the time”, but other than that nothing of great substance. The average waist size for this population of males is about 42” and growing. Their girth (their bellies AKA core) average about 48 inches and growing every year. Their sleep patterns are poor at best and, well family relations, oh boy. Let me just say that what they were able to accomplish physically only 20 years prior they can no longer accomplish nor can they even get close. I don’t have these issues. Just a few weeks ago I went to get a new belt. I looked for the longest time in the men’s department only to get frustrated and end up purchasing a belt in the young men’s department. Now I wasn’t frustrated at the selection of belts they had, I was frustrated because in could not find a belt in my size in the men’s department. You see I have a 29 inch waist and I don’t have a stomach and in the men’s department they started at waist size 34. REALLY! I did notice one other thing while I was looking frantically, if I were a size 42, I would have had my pick of the litter with no problem. THIS IS BAD, REALLY BAD. The question we need to ask ourselves is what we need to do to stop this trend. The answer is quite easy and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to explain. We need to get active again. We need to stop sitting and get walking. Did you know that the process of us gaining significant permanent weight starts right after we graduate from high school? The reason I can only give is our ability to drive instead of walk to where ever we want to go and our ability to consume alcoholic products as well as eating really bad food when we go off to college or work. Our activity, unless involved in college sports, diminishes quickly and we begin to switch from an active lifestyle to one where we find ourselves sitting at a computer screen or in a library for hours at a time. Unless this trend changes, I can’t see it getting better anytime soon. I knew that when I was in college, we had something called the freshmen 10 which is now the freshmen 20. What is that? They said back in my day that by the end of your first year of college you would have gained 10 extra pounds now that number is 20. Bad food, bad sleep patterns, over consumption of alcohol, and lack of activity are all the reason for this trend and when we get out of college it only gets worse. In this society today our medical expenses have tripled over the last few years and growing out of control. Medications are quickly become part of our everyday existence. We are becoming more reliant on medications than ever before. We spend over $550 billion dollars a year to medicate ourselves so that we can keep ourselves alive. REALLY! Medications are allowing us to feel as though we are ok when quite the opposite is true. Tomorrow I will discuss this in more detail and what we need to do as a nation to stop this trend and take back our health and stop this obesity epidemic.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Satruday's Challenge

Yes every year I do this challenge and yes every year we have surprise winners. This year however, instead of everyone having the same height, as far as boxes are concerned, I raised or lowered the height according to the person’s ability. This year Sarah won at 33:26 minutes followed closely behind by Jackie at 33:20 minutes. Everyone how ever did well and now has new bench marks to pursue.

Then we all talked about something that I feel is real important, their heritage. At first when I had my initial conversation with them everyone of them told me that they just wanted live to see their grandchildren, with the exception of Sarah who told me something much different. Everyone of them are in pursue of a better more active life. Everyone of them wants to get out of their imprisonment and feel free to do everything and anything. The question here is how can the accomplish that and how long it will take.

Well the answer to both questions is…a lifetime. The pursuit of a quality fitness life is a process that takes forever but during the journey many mild markers are achieved and dreams are made. Here is the best part though, our next generation, our kids, benefit more than we do. We are becoming the fattest nation in the world and this trend has got to stop. But how can it stop if we don’t give our kids the ability to know that they can win this battle of obesity. Our kids are a mirror image of ourselves and who we are…someday they WILL be.

So with that mentioned to them I began the process of individually talking to each one of them and allowing them to dream and picture themselves finally getting out of their prison and beginning a trend that will last for generations. There was not a dry eye in the place but an excitement that transcended even the most down-trotted person.

There was one other thing I did on Saturday. Jackie has been a member of Parkers Place for a few years now and she has been fighting weight issues and physical injury for years now. Besides a nagging leg injury that has been with her forever she also has a shoulder injury that really needs looking into. Most people would have quit and given up and by rights she could do that and many would consider her excuses valid. But she doesn’t see that. All she sees is just obstacles that need over coming and she has overcome them in a big way.

The other day she calls me and tells me that she was trying on some cloths the other day and she found the first pair of jeans she wore to see my a year ago. She said that they were a size 21 and now she wears a size 9. My response to her was, “So what does this mean?” I’m sorry, I’m a guy. She hangs up the phone and about 10 minutes later she comes walking in with these jeans and shows me. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! WOW! She has entered herself into many running challenges and has reduced her mile time from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Best yet though, two of her friends have followed her for such a long time during this journey that they too have decided to join and joined the Weight Loss Challenge and lost almost 30 pounds in less than 6 weeks.

Because of her efforts and how she has shown just not me but here friends how dedicated she is to her fitness, I have put her name on my FITNESS board for everyone to see. This board was designed for those who have really struggled and overcome many obstacles and now have achieve levels of fitness that surpass anything they ever thought they were going to achieve.

How about you? Are you making a difference in your children’s lives? Can they say that you have shown them that your health is the most important thing to you? Do you show it to them or do you just talk a good game? Remember, who you are…one day your kids will be.

Friday, January 13, 2012

total confusion

I was talking to a member just yesterday and we were discussing her goals and what it would take for her to achieve them. Her biggest goal was to LOSE WEIGHT and after listening to her for several minutes I chimed in and said that losing weight was not a goal and her eyes lit up like she had seen a ghost. After several minutes of trying to tell her why I said that, she folder her arms and stated that she did not believe me and then gave me her argument. It was the following:

1) She had a lot of weight to lose and once she lost the weight she would feel better
2) Her weight is what is keeping her from doing anything
3) Her weight has given her diabetes
4) Her weight has given her low self esteem

Now it in of themselves these are valid points, but only points. After listening to her I asked her about what she did in high school and college and she told me that she was an athlete and a good one at that. She showed me pictures of herself just 10 years earlier and I have to say… what a difference a few years have made. I then asked her what she thought had changed and she told me that when she was really active she ate like a horse and now that she is not as active she still eats like a horse. I then told her that she was right with that statement. Our bodies get accustom to the fuel we give it to support the activity we are presently in and when we slow that activity down unfortunate we don’t slow our eating paterns down.

Then I asked her a big question… “Say you achieve this goal of losing the 50 pounds you want. What next? How will you keep it off?” She looked at me as if I were speaking a different language, thought about it and said, “I don’t know I guess I will not be able to eat certain things any more, which I am not looking forward to doing. But I guess I will no longer be able to eat like I do now and become very cautious at what I put in my mouth.”

Now that statement she made is a true one but I said something to her that made her take notice and caused her to think… “All food is good and God gave us food for our consumption. Without it we won’t live. There is nothing wrong with having a hamburger or two with fries.” She was shocked to hear that come from me but then I went on. “The problem is not the food; it is you and your inactivity. By focusing on your weight, you make food the enemy and it is not. By focusing on your weight, now you say to yourself… I can’t do this or I can’t have that and in the end research shows that you put a lot of stress and tension on yourself and eventually give in and do what you said you weren’t going to do. You restrict yourself of the food when in essence you don’t have to and shouldn’t. Your correct response when faced with a dilemma should be that you choose not to indulge in that food because of a specific reason outside of our weight issue.”

The problem we are facing as a society in inactivity and wrong focus. The media wants us to believe that it is about our weight so that we will buy their products. It is not about our weight and if we just began to get active and plot activity based goals, we would feel much freer and much more in control of our ultimate outcome… better fitness. Your goals should be activity based and not weight based. Weight is the end result of you achieving an activity based goal. As an example, take the person who can run a mile in 12 minutes and after a few months can now run a mile in 8 minutes, do you think they lost some weight? Now if they want to stay at that level of activity, 8 minute miles, do you think they will maintain that new weight? Or take the swimmer or walker or biker, whatever, plot your goals in an activity then and only then will you finally LOSE THE WEIGHT you were looking for and keep it off. There is the real answer to the dilemma on how to lose the weight you want and keep it off.