When Fitness is a Lifestyle

April just flew right by! There has been a lot going on the past month with Functional Conditioning and myself.  First of all, I have left the Cherry Creek Athletic Club.  I enjoyed many years there.  Many people will be missed, but in every change comes an opportunity.  I have since become General Manager at Premier Fitness in Arvada, Colorado.  Premier is less than one mile from my house, and has served the Arvada area for more than 17 years.  I am excited to be part of such a great organization.

Functional Conditioning just continues to grow at an outstanding rate!  Again, thank you for all of your wonderful referrals.  We are opening our second location inside Premier Fitness in Arvada. Hopefully, we will have a third location in Boulder very soon.  I want to thank my wife for her hard work, and support growing our business.

You may not know why I have the passion and desire to help so many people.  Let me explain what I have gone through in my past to bring me here and now.  As an adult (my wife would argue that I do not act like one) I have struggled with my weight.  Ballooning to 250+ pounds while smoking a pack of cigarettes a day I was pushing size 40 pants.  I got so disgusted with myself that I lost almost 100 pounds, and dropped down to around 150 pounds and 11% body fat.  As you can imagine, that was way too light for me.  Losing weight was easy - I quit smoking, joined Premier Fitness, and ate a vegetarian diet.  Now, staying at a certain weight was a different story.

I was the classic yo-yo dieter.  I would bounce up and down the scale.  Not ever really settling on any particular weight.  Most fad diets require you to do things that go against the grain.  They work for a short time, but in the long run you move right up the scale and get heavier that you were before you started your diet.  All this time you beat yourself up thinking it was your fault. When in fact, it was the diet that failed or the medieval torture workouts, and not you.  So, the real secret is to eat in the manner you would like to for the rest of your life.

At the time of my serious weight loss, people would ask me what I did to lose the weight.  I was very willing to help them, but without a formal education in exercise and diet it would be tough.  I went back to school, got my degree and two excellent certifications so that I could help as many people as I could reach.  I still struggle with my weight, but love the fact that I can relate to my clients. I have been there, and felt the way that they do.  I know what its like to outgrow clothes, and beat myself up for not succeeding.  There is nothing that warms my heart more than the hundreds of successful people who have let me improve their lives permanently.  Remember, people do not fail!  Its the diet itself and the exercise program that is unreasonable for that person.  We also have to look at the portions of food we eat.

Speaking of food portions, here are some popular dinner and desert selections:

So, as you can see, it is very easy to consume 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day. In order to put on two pounds of fat a month, just eat an additional 250 calories a day over your body’s caloric intake. Energy in verses energy out equals your body weight.

Myth #2

In order to lose weight I need to drastically cut my calories and exercise for hours per day.

Truth

Some commercial weight loss centers put men on a 1500 calorie a day diet, and women get to eat 1200 calories. So, you weigh yourself weekly and you get so excited that you are losing weight. Weeks go by, and all of a sudden you have reached a plateau. Consequently, you decide to eat even less. One day everything gets to you, and you start eating the same amount of food you used to eat, plus a little more. Eventually you will be like the other 95% of people who fail to keep their weight off. Why? Simply put, when you starve yourself the human body slows down its metabolism. The body begins using protein from your muscles as fuel instead of ridding the fat. Muscle is active tissue, however, when your body is in starvation mode the weight you’re losing is MUSCLE not FAT. Our bodies do not know we have an abundance of food available. We are the same genetically since we were hunters and gatherers. One answer is having your metabolism tested with the BodyGem, strength train, and do moderate amounts of aerobic activity. With this game plan you will lose that unwanted fat permanently.

Client of the Month

Neshama Fried

I am so very proud of Neshama. When we first started working together she was worried that she would be unable to make the change that she had wanted. Neshama made a goal of participating in the Avon Breast Cancer three day 60 mile walk in San Diego, California. Not only has Neshama lost over 10 pounds of fat, but she finished her walk and raised more than $5,000 for breast cancer research. This is a remarkable woman who has shown me that once you put your mind to something, great things will happen!!

Life is a journey, not a destination