Goal Setting 101 for the new year

Goal Setting for the New Year

As we move through the holidays, inevitably the words “New Years Resolution” will come up in conversation. It’s usually something we KNOW we need to do, but is usually synonymous with “Seems Like a Good Idea at the Time”. It’s a half-hearted attempt to accomplish something we haven’t managed to do last year so why not give it a shot in a new year? Quit Smoking, Eat More Veggies, Read More, Learn A New Language and Lose Weight are all popular Resolutions. For the purpose of this post, we’ll focus on Weight Loss as a Resolution.

The month of January is like a 5K race with a lot of unprepared racers participating. They haven’t worn the right gear, trained, hydrated or even looked at the course map. Everyone sprints out of the start feeling great, moving fast and thinking, “If the whole 5K is like this, it’s going to be a breeze!” only to realize that it’s not possible to sprint a whole 3.1 miles at the speed they’re going. They get tired, sore, out of breath, and quickly drop down to a walk and don’t accomplish what they set out to. A similar thing happens with Weight Loss Resolutions – a lot of unprepared people will likely come out of the gates on a huge high only to drop out after a few days/weeks when they realize how unready they are for the task and they fail for another year.

Fortunately there ARE ways to ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS. If you’re calling it a New Years Resolution, so be it, but in reality all you are doing is expressing a goal of yours for a new calendar year.

Step 1. Write It Down

Don’t say you’ll do it, write your goal down and post it on your bathroom mirror, on your car dashboard, on your computer desktop, on your phone wallpaper, and since it’s food related – ON and IN your refrigerator! You want to be constantly reminded of WHY you’re sacrificing things and WHY you need to stay the course.

Step 2. Plan

Want long-term success? PLAN for it by researching best practices and tips and preparing your life for your new goal. If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll probably want to not have Oreos in the house on January 1 when you’re trying to start strong! And I’m not talking about the latest “Miracle Hollywood Pill” or any gimmick or gizmo that’s supposed to be a cure-all. Want to lose 30lbs? Find someone who has and ask them for advice.

Step 3. Set a Timeframe

Don’t just blindly plunge into it for “2012” because you’re not going to accomplish everything at once. Set up smaller 4-, 6-, or 8-week goals and use those in conjunction with Step 2. Plan each timeframe and what it will take to get the job done. Overall goal is 20lbs? Ok so in 4 weeks a reasonable weight-loss sub-goal is 8lbs.

Step 4. Tell Everyone

Seriously. Everyone. Use your friends, family, and social media to help you. If everyone knows about you wanting to lose weight, then people will hold you accountable when you want to give in. The same goes for food – use your real-life friends, online “Friends” and especially relatives. All of those people care about you so use them! If they don’t care about something that’s important to you then are they actually friends? But I digress.

Step 5. Post your progress

Facebook, Twitter etc. are all wonderful ways of mass-communicating how you’re doing. And you’ll be surprised at the snowball effect your small successes have when people congratulate you for the little things. Trying to lose 40lbs? Well if you post that you lost 4, people give you such a warm response that it is great positive reinforcement to KEEP GOING. So use your support systems!!!

Hopefully you’ve found these 5 Steps helpful in planning for success – At FX Fitness, we are in the business of helping people reach their goals. We have a wonderful 6-Week start-up package called New Year: New You so check it out and good luck in 2012!

Take advantage of our New Year, New You Promo

Adults and fat loss

Adults and Fat Loss

Do This, not That

Brett Klika C.S.C.S.

It has helped us humans stay alive during hard times for thousands of years, but now we have too much of it and it’s hard to get rid of.  I’m talking about the extra “meat” around the middle, the “baggage” on the butt, and the “thunder” on the thighs.  The battle to shed body fat is not one that youngsters need to concern themselves with.  They need only to eat real food and play like kids are supposed to and they should be fine.  Youngsters need fat for the maturation process.  As youngsters reach the end stages of puberty and enter into adulthood, excess body fat can create a decrease in their health and quality of life.  Many adults fight the battle to lose body fat as they age.

For adults, losing body fat is a matter of forcing the body to get rid of something that it perceives as necessary for survival.  For thousands of years, man was err to the cycle of feast and famine.  Sometimes there was plenty of food, other times there was none.  Storing body fat helped man stay alive when there was no food because the stored fat could be broken down and used as energy.  Only recently have we been faced with a situation in which we have an over-abundance of food.  The body still thinks it needs to “save up” for when there is another famine.

Many try in vain to lose this extra “trash pile” of fat.  Unfortunately, these unsuccessful, frustrated masses are basing their program on outdated or inaccurate information.  Considering what we now know about fat loss, it’s surprising that so many still succumb to old, unsuccessful methods.

To replace old, ineffective methods for fat loss with an updated, scientifically proven program try the “Do this, don’t do that” approach to your exercise and nutrition outlined below.

1. Do This: Resistance training

Not That: Cardio only

To burn more calories and fat, you need more lean muscle.  Resistance training is how you get it.  Lean muscle works like a car’s engine to use fat as fuel.  If you have a small engine, it doesn’t matter how hard you do cardiovascular exercise, you can only burn so many calories.  Doing whole-body, large muscle group resistance training creates a bigger lean muscle engine to burn calories and fat both while exercising and resting.   Add 2-4 days of resistance training to your program every week.

1. Do This: Whole-Body Metabolic Resistance Training

Not That: Body-Part Splits (chest, shoulders, triceps, etc)

Body part splits became popular with bodybuilders as they allow for focus on certain muscle groups, in addition to ample recovery days in between training.  For the average adult trying to lose maximal body fat in minimal time, this program comes up short. In comes “Metabolic Resistance Training”.

Pair your exercises with opposite movements together into “supersets”.   For example, you can pair a lower body exercise with an upper body exercise, an upper body exercise with a cardiovascular exercise, or a “pushing” exercise with a “pulling” exercise.  Perform each exercise for 30-50 seconds, and then go to the other exercise immediately after.  This type of resistance training not only aids in increasing lean muscle mass, it elevates the heart rate to burn extra fat and calories. Try this 2-3 times per week.

1. Do This: Focus your time on large muscle groups

Not That:  Focus your time on abs, arms, and other smaller muscle groups

Working smaller muscle groups is not “bad”.  When time and fat burning efficiency is of the essence however, these smaller muscle groups do relatively little to stoke the metabolism to create more lean muscle mass or burn fat and calories.

Focus your work on the legs, chest, and back with movements that incorporate the entire body like squats, lunges deadlifts, push variations (push-ups, bench press), pull variations (pull-ups, 1-arm rows).  As you will see, these exercises are much more taxing to the system and do a lot more for your fat-burning goals.

1. Do This: High Intensity Cardiovascular Interval Training

Not That: Sustained Intensity “Jogging”

Again, sustained intensity cardiovascular work is not bad.  It is just not as effective and efficient as high intensity work.  Research has found that high intensity intervals burn the same amount of calories and fat as longer sustained bouts of activity, in about half the time!  Try doing a 3 minute extremely hard, 3 minute easy cardiovascular piece for 4 cycles.  In 24 minutes you’ll burn more calories than your 45 minute jog.    Try to add high intensity work 2-3 times per week.

1. Do This: Eat Real, Whole Food

Not That: “Fat Free” or Other Modified Food

Natural, whole foods exist to give us energy from their combination of protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins, minerals, and other essential components of nutrition.  When humans start overly processing what we eat, the quality of that food is significantly decreased.  Additionally our body needs various forms of fat to function optimally.  Fats from nuts, fish, avocados, and other natural sources are essential to many metabolic functions.  Eat real food and listen to your body.

Brett Klika C.S.C.S., Director of Athletics at Fitness Quest 10, is a world renowned human performance specialist, motivational speaker, author, and educator. In his 14 year career, Brett has accrued more than 20,000 hours of training with youth, athletes, executives, and every day people.  He uses this knowledge and experience to motivate individuals and audiences around the world through his writing, speaking, DVD’s, and personal correspondence.   To contact Brett, send correspondence to brett@fitnessquest10.com.

Orgain- High Protein Nutritional Shake

What should I eat after I workout?  How fast should I get protein in after my workout.  These are a few questions we hear at FX Studios.  After a long time searching and taste testing, we have added a new product to offer everyone at the gym.  Orgain.  This is a great snack, meal replacement, and post workout nutritional shake.  It is important to get some protein in your system within 60 minutes of your workout.  This can be difficult if you don’t plan it because it’s easy to get distracted.  After you stretch, take a shower, drive home or to work; before you know it, its been way past an hour.  Plan ahead and get your protein in!

Because we favor whole foods, few “meal replacement” drinks meet our standards.  These flavorful shakes from Orgain surprised us which is why we now offer them to buy.  Developed by a doctor and cancer survivor seeking the cleanest, most palatable way to pack in nutrients, these drinks feature organic and minimally processed ingredients- and they go easy on sugar.  The vitamins, minerals, and protein come from identifiable fruit and vegetable sources like spinach, blueberries, and organic whey.  This is a healthy choice when a solid snack or sit-down meal is out of reach.

9 Food Swaps that WILL Save Your Life

Yesterday I posted something on Facebook that I saw a friend post “No Matter How Slow You Go, You’re Still Lapping Everyone on the Couch.” I received this from a good friend and mentor of mine, Chris Mohr and had to share it with everyone I know!

We always say not to compare yourself to anyone else …

… you’re the only person you can compare yourself to.

But this saying brought on a different meaning. To me, it basically says “simply get started.”

It doesn’t matter where you are, it matters where you are going.

And the same goes for your diet.

We can debate the “best” diet. We can split hairs and talk about nutrient timing, the best sugar to eat (or not eat), the choosing the right carbs & fats, if dairy is good, etc. The list can go on.

But when you’re trying to make change … or improvements … it’s the small baby steps that count.

Focusing on behaviors, not outcomes, will lead to permanent success.

That being said, here are 9 SIMPLE Ways to Clean Up Your Diet

1. Swap out 1 current snack with a piece of your favorite fruit. Nothing major, but surely powerful overtime. Do you have that go to snack each day? Maybe you’ve rationalized that as “I worked out hard, so ‘earned’ this today” or it’s your afternoon go to snack when you’re in a tired slump at the office.

2. Swap 1 current side dish for a veggie. Even if you already have a veggie side, add another. Out to eat? Ask to substitute the starch for the veggie of the day. At home, rather than the normal rice, potato, quinoa, etc add a colorful veggie. Again, small, but powerful.
3. Swap your high carb breakfast with eggs. If a bowl of cereal, bagel, muffin, scone, or Pop Tart normally shows its ugly head in the AM, swap it out for eggs. The protein in the eggs will help fill you up and it’s been shown that when you choose eggs vs. a bagel for breakfast, you’ll lose (or maintain) weight more easily. And when we look at the research, people are eating just 10% of their protein in the AM and eating most of it at night. The best approach would be to spread it out evenly throughout the day, though, for the best results. If you think you don’t have time to make eggs in the AM, make hardboiled eggs the night before, peel them and eat them in the morning with a piece of fruit.
4. Swap Chips/Pretzels with Nuts. Just the other day someone said “I can’t eat nuts, they have too many calories.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. Nuts — pistachios, walnuts, almonds, etc — are amazing for you. Eating 1-2 handfuls of nuts each day (1-2 oz) will not only help with weight loss, but will improve your health dramatically. And not only that, but the protein and fat in nuts will help fill you more than the fiberless carbs in the pretzels or chips you’re eating.
5. Swap Fiberless Carbs for Lean Protein. We certainly don’t believe you should avoid carbs. But we do think you should avoid the fiberless, overly processed ones … and when you swap out these with a healthy protein, it will help fill you up and give your working muscles what they need to repair and recover. Start with #3 above — swapping high carb breakfast with eggs — and then continue on from there.
6. Swap 1 Meal Each Day with a Huge Salad. This salad should be loaded with colorful veggies, lean protein, a handful of nuts and maybe some beans. Making this one swap can cover most of the others on this list! Pretty simple, right? The key here, though, is to watch all that you put on the salad — everything listed above? Perfect. Creamy dressing, cheese, bacon bits, croutons, low mein noodles, etc. Not so much. That’s making a good thing bad.
7. Swap Solid Fats with Olive or Canola Oil. Solid fats are typically saturated fats. And while not all solid fats are created equally (big difference between coconut oil and shortening, for example), as a general rule of thumb substituting an oil like olive or canola for solid fats is a smart move for most Americans who over eat saturated and trans fats. Notice I didn’t say ADD these oils — it’s swap out these oils — big difference. Just because olive oil is healthy, doesn’t mean it should be added to every food on the planet. That’s another message of a good message gone bad.
8. Swap Red Meat, Chicken and Turkey with Fish. Red meat, chicken and turkey can be great for you … but the right types of fish are even better. We are not eating close to enough omega-3 fats. You get those in fish like wild salmon, wild tuna, barramundi, sardines, anchovies and many others. We need a LOT more omega-3′s and a lot less other fats. THIS is the most powerful out of all 9 in our opinion considering 96,000 deaths per year are attributed to omega-3 deficiency. So change up your protein sources to add more fish weekly.
9. Swap Calorie Containing Liquids for Calorie Free Options. We drink enough liquid calories to gain nearly 1 lb PER WEEK! Seriously. But we’re also not fans of diet drinks that are loaded with artificial sweeteners. Best option? Water. If you find that boring, try seltzer with a squeeze of your favorite fruit. Even water with sliced fruit or veggies gives it a nice flavor that will make you think you’re in a beautiful spa. This could easily have the biggest impact on your weight out of all 9 swaps.

What do you think? 9 Simple Swaps that can change your life.

You’ll feel better. Have more energy. Weigh less. Be leaner. Be stronger. And think more clearly among other things. So, yes, these 9 food swaps WILL literally change (and save) your life.

Here’s the key. We’re not suggesting today you drop everything and try to implement all 9 of these. Again, think about the quote at the beginning of today’s blog – “No matter how slow you go, you’re still lapping everyone on the couch.”

One step at a time, focusing on the behaviors rather than the outcomes, will get you to where you want to be.

Let me know how you are making changes!

What has worked for you?

What can you improve on?

Alicia Obriecht

Baltimore’s Healthiest FAST Food

Who hasn’t pulled into a drive thru because they haven’t eaten all day; ate their meal while driving because they are running late for their next meeting, and still needs to figure out what they are going to do for dinner? Let’s face it, we can’t eat in every day, every meal, 24/7.  Who would want to anyways? Fast food isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Being able to know what to order is going to be key when trying to keep the waistline thin.

What really bothers me is all the marketing scams these restaurants are doing to mislead what is healthy and what is not.  Dunkin’ Donuts’ menu can be deceiving: a multigrain bagel sounds healthier than a donut, but add cream cheese and you’re looking at more calories than a Big Mac. A glazed donut has much fewer calories than the seemingly “healthy” items and all other donuts on the menu

Eating out can be a make or break when trying to lose weight.  Think about it, if you go to the gym 5 days a week and burn 500 calories every time…that is 2500 calories burned in a week (there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat).  Now, it is Saturday afternoon and you decide to go to Quiznos and order a Tuna Melt.   Eating this sandwich is the caloric equivalent to eating one whole bag of Chewy Chips Ahoy! Cookies, which makes it one of the absolute worst sandwiches in the country. Even if you order it without chips, you’re looking at 1740 calories and 27 grams of saturated fat. No thanks.

These past couple of weeks, I have been giving my clients “homework” I want to know where they eat out more frequently and what they usually order.  After a little research and some exploring of myself I came up with some popular places to eat in the Baltimore area and some “trainer approved” meals. The good news is what they told me they were eating, for the most part, seemed fairly healthy.  Consumers want to be able to go out and eat nutritious food, but what is actually nutritious is eye popping.  These are not okay to eat weekly, but when put in the situation, here are the best options.

Best Breakfast:

• Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal with Nut Medley and Grande Americano-255 calories, 11.5g fat(1.5g saturated).
• McDonald’s Egg McMuffin-300 cal, 12g fat (5g saturated)

Best Lunch:

• Chipotle Grilled Steak Salad with Black Beans, Guac, and Green Salsa-485 calories,20.5 g fat (4 g saturated),41 g protein.
• Quizno’s Roadhouse Steak Sammie-195 calories,4 g fat (1 g saturated)

Best Dinner

• Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich with Medium Fruit Cup and Unsweetened Iced Tea

• Baja Fresh Grilled Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos-(2 tacos)460 calories, 18 g fat (3 g saturated)

• Outback Steakhouse Seared Ahi Tuna-325 calories, 21 g fat (2.5 g saturated)

• Red Robin Natural Burger-570 calories, 25 g fat

If you would like more examples, check out a great book, Eat This, Not That

I would love to know your favorite places to eat! Where do you go and what do you usually order?  It takes only 1 minute to go online and search the nutrition menu.  I challenge you to do your own homework and find out what you are really eating before you head into the next drive thru.  If you are going for a healthy option, it pays to do your homework!