Expert Advice

Benefits of fat loss

5 Big Benefits of Fat Loss

Almost every new client comes to me with the desire to lose fat – for a variety of reasons. The most prevailing reason that I hear is that they want to look more fit and attractive as a result of the fat loss.

Maybe losing fat in order to look better is a strong enough motivator for you, but I’ve found that most people need something more compelling. My experience with helping my clients achieve their fat loss goals has really opened my eyes to exactly what they gain when they lose the extra weight.

My hope is that by reading the 5 Big Benefits of Fat Loss below, you’ll feel the driving motivation that you need to jump into fitness with both feet, and that you’ll find out just how amazing and capable you’ve been to achieve your goal all along.

 Benefits of fat loss #1: Confidence

You may not consider it a concrete benefit, but that doesn’t stop confidence from being one of the most important perks of dropping fat. When you have increased confidence, you change how you view yourself and go about your daily routine. The world is at your fingertips and you are able to take on whatever it throws your way.

Additionally, when your confidence increases after losing a few pounds, you’re poised to keep losing. So the confidence you gain gives you what you need to lose more weight and feel even more confident.

Big Benefit #2: Money

It may be difficult to understand how losing weight saves you money, but it happens. How? Because one of the best ways to trim pounds is to cut down on the amount of calories you consume every day. When you start eating and drinking fewer calories, that means you don’t have to buy as much food or high-calorie drinks. Additionally, losing weight may make it possible to stop taking certain medications, which will help save you even more money.

On top of that, when you lose weight, you get a boost of confidence. (See previous point.) That boost of confidence will change how you handle yourself at work, helping you make the right impression on your boss, so you can get the promotion you need.

Benefits of fat loss #3: Better Health Now

Go to the doctor with some sort of health condition, and unless it’s the common cold or flu, losing a few pounds can almost always help you manage the condition better. From diabetes to heart disease to joint pain, trimming the fat from your body gives you a heads up right now. Cutting fat makes it easier to get around on your joints, reduces your blood pressure, and helps you sleep better.

As additional perks, less fat today means better sleep and better sex tonight. Since both of these improve your quality of life, taking the time necessary to shave off fat will give you the best life you could experience!

Big Benefit #4: Better Health Later

Today isn’t the only time your health will improve if you lose some fat. Shed some pounds and you’ll reap the rewards for years down the road. Instead of having to manage a variety of health conditions, you will be able to keep those conditions at bay. A few health issues you can cut your risk for by cutting fat are diabetes, heart disease, joint pain, a variety of cancers, high blood pressure, and dementia. In other words, get rid of the fat today and you can avoid all the health issues in the future that requires fat loss for maximum management.

Big Benefit #5: Everything Tastes Better

As you settle into your new fat-burning lifestyle that includes eating healthily and working out regularly, you’ll notice something. Because you no longer overeat at the buffet or go for a second or third helping, you will begin enjoying every bite that you take. As the bite sits in your mouth, you won’t swallow it before tasting or chewing. You will take your time and really savor the flavor.

And when you do start chewing your food and enjoying the flavors, your brain will have time to register when you’re full and cut you off before you stuff yourself with more calories than you can burn. Do this regularly and you’ll lose even more fat!

I’ve dedicated my career to helping people, just like you, conquer their fear of exercise and clear up their confusion with healthy eating. I know that a healthy life is within your reach – I’ve seen hundreds of my clients before you do it, and I’ll see hundreds after you do it. Today it’s your turn.

Big benefits of fat loss

Call or email now to get started on an exercise program that will make fat burning second nature, and will transform your body for the best.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com

 


Reduce body fat

Reduce body fat

7 Ways to Reduce Body Fat

Got body fat? Today I have 7 simple and effective ways for you to shed that unwanted body fat. While fat loss can be quite frustrating, these 7 strategies are proven to help you slim down fast.

1. Drink a Gallon of Water
Water is always a crucial element for proper bodily functions, and even more so when fat loss is your goal. The conversion of fat into energy takes place in your liver, and this process requires that you be well hydrated.

Drinking a gallon of water over the course of your day is a wonderful goal to aim for. This goal is easily met when you get into the habit of sipping water throughout the day, coupled with drinking a full glass before meals, upon waking and before bed.

2. Cut out Alcohol
This fat loss tip is always met with groans, but despite its unpopularity it remains one of the most effective. The first reason that alcohol should be cut out in order to lose fat is that it’s filled with empty calories. These are simple sugars that taste great but add up quickly as stored fat in all the wrong places.

The second reason that alcohol should be cut out is that the simple energy that your body derives from the alcohol will be used as energy long before your fat stores are tapped, making it impossible to reduce body fat on days when alcohol is consumed. That should be incentive enough for you to put down your glass and reach for some water.

reduce body fat

3. Do a Variety of Aerobics
Variety is key when it comes to the aerobics side of your routine. Getting in calorie-burning activities is crucial to quickly eliminating fat stores. We no longer believe that long cardio sessions are the holy grail of fat loss – but getting your body moving with calorie-burning activities is a wonderful way to intensify your fat loss results.

The great thing about aerobic activities is that these can and should be fun! Hiking, biking, swimming, surfing, jogging, brisk walking – any activity that requires you to move your body for a decent duration of time and break a nice sweat in the process.

4. Cut out Processed Junk
This is one of the easiest ways to quickly and effectively reduce body fat, and yet it is met with such resistance. Why? Why is it so difficult for us to give up our packaged, processed snacks and treats? This is one obstacle that prevents most people from achieving the body that they want.

The best tip for successfully getting processed junk food out of your life is to have wholesome alternatives on hand while removing the junk food from your home. If you are a late night snacker, then be prepared by having fresh fruit, sliced veggies, plain Greek yogurt or other wholesome snack replacements on hand. When your belly is full of wholesome snacks, it’s hard to care too much about the processed junk you missed out on. And soon you’ll learn to love how lean and energetic these healthier foods make you feel.

5. Lift Weights
You might consider this to be pretty obvious, but many people are still resistant to the idea that resistance training leads to fat loss. If you find yourself puzzled by the idea that lifting heavy things will reduce the layer of fat on your body, then allow me to explain.

The act of lifting weights causes those targeted muscles to stimulate new muscle tissue growth. Now this doesn’t mean that your muscles are going to get noticeably larger (relax, ladies!) but it does mean that your muscle tissue will become tighter and more toned. The increase in muscle translates to a higher metabolism, which means that your body will naturally burn fat faster and more efficiently.

6. Use HIIT
High Intensity Interval Training is a method that has been quite popular in the past decade – and for good reason. This advanced form of aerobics, when done correctly, is one of the most effective methods for burning fat.

HIIT is achieved by performing short, intense burst of aerobic intervals between less intense bouts of aerobics. For example, 2 minutes of walking followed by a 30 second sprint, done for 20 minutes.

7. Work with a Fitness Professional
When your car needs new brakes, you take it the mechanic. When you wake up with a fever and sore throat, you go to the doctor. When your hair gets too long, you go to get it cut. When you need to reduce body fat, you…try to do it all on your own? That makes no sense.

Look, we all have our expertise, and we rely on each other when in need. My expertise is fat loss. When people in our community need a new and improved body they come to me. I’m passionate about getting my clients results, and my programs have been proven effective.

Call or email me today to get started on a fat loss program that really works.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com


Metabolism

Metabolism

5 Metabolism Myths-Busted!

Sometimes, your metabolism works against you even when you think you’re doing everything right. It’s time you took a good, hard look at how your metabolism really works.

Check out the metabolism myths below and then use your new knowledge to put your metabolism to work…

Myth 1: Metabolism Works from 9 to 5
Difficult as it may be to believe, your body’s metabolism does not stop working when you do. In fact, your metabolism works all day, every day. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t even have the energy to get out of bed in order to read this article. (You are out of bed, aren’t you?) Also the time of day that you eat isn’t what makes you gain pounds. It’s what you eat. So if you think you can get away with eating that quarter-pounder with cheese, bacon, mayo, and bun; a large order of greasy fries; and a 32-ounce milkshake without any consequences—just because you ate it at lunch and not late at night—think again! Eat smart all day long, have a healthy snack at night if necessary, and then sleep well, knowing your metabolism is doing its thing even while you’re catching some Zzzzs.

Myth 2: It Can’t Be Controlled
You’ve probably met someone who seems to be able to eat anything they want without gaining weight. You may have even dreamed of having such a metabolism. Well, there’s good news. You may not have the metabolism that lets you do that just yet, but you can work toward it. Help boost your metabolism by lifting weights, getting a good night of sleep, eating enough protein to power you through the day, and drinking plenty of water. Want something more than water? Here’s another smidgen of good news: a little caffeine in your daily intake will help you get rid of calories faster than going without. Just make sure your caffeine isn’t bathed in sugar and unnecessary calories.

Myth 3: Skinny Folks Have Higher Metabolism
Yes, a high metabolism can help you burn more calories than a low metabolism. But don’t let that fool you into thinking the skinniest people around have the highest metabolism. Quite the contrary. If the thinnest individuals had the highest metabolism, they would likely be dangerously underweight. As it is, when you are very thin, your metabolism will likely be lower, as there’s not much of you to burn away safely.

However, you shouldn’t grab the ice cream carton in order to put on extra pounds to up your metabolism. Instead, focus on adding muscle pounds via the weight room.

Metabolism

Myth 4: Getting Old Makes Your Metabolism Go Bye-Bye
There is a bit of truth to this myth. As you age, your metabolism will drop a tiny bit. Not enough to make a meaningful difference, but it does drop. Much of this decrease (again—it is almost negligible) is due to the typical muscle loss that accompanies aging.

Want to curb your body’s age-related drop in metabolism? Include resistance training in your exercise routine. As you age, keep up the weight training and you’ll keep your metabolism strong and steady throughout all the stages of life. In the event it does drop a little, you’ll be in such good shape you won’t notice.

Myth 5: You Can Eat Your Way to Higher Metabolism
Occasionally, the world is taken by a weight-loss idea that is so simple you’d be a moron not to give it a try. One of these recent ideas is that you can eat or drink certain things to boost your metabolism and lose weight with greater ease.

While eating peppers on a regular basis and drinking gallons of green tea each week offers some health benefits, it won’t do more than temporarily boost your metabolism. Approximately half an hour after consuming these supposed metabolism mega-boosters, the boost is over and you’re back to your normal metabolism. A normal, well-balanced diet is a much better option.

When it comes to achieving and maintaining your most effective metabolism, a consistent and challenging exercise routine is key. Call or email today and I’ll get you started on an exercise program that will take your metabolism to the next level.

Don’t wait around for another year to pass. We are now a full month into 2015 – are you any closer to achieving your fat loss goals? When you work with me I make it my personal mission to get you the results that you deserve. Lets boost your metabolism!

Let’s do this!

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com


Gaining weight

Gaining weight

7 Sneaky Reasons You’re Gaining Weight

Are you plagued with unwanted pounds, despite your best efforts to eat healthy and get fit? You’re not alone. Millions of others across the globe, just like you, are struggling to shed weight in an uphill battle.

Here are 7 Sneaky Reasons You’re Gaining Weight…some of these might surprise you.

Sneaky Weight Gain #1: Sucking on Cigarettes. You may think it’s common knowledge that smoking helps you stay thin. However, you may be surprised that this is actually a common misperception. Recent research has shown that contrary to the long-believed lie that smoking keeps you thin, it actually leads to weight gain. This happens by interrupting your body’s metabolic function and causing it to be insulin-resistant. Interestingly, the same is true for those exposed to second-hand smoke.

Sneaky Weight Gain #2: Working Nights. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for some, this measure is working the graveyard shift. While it may provide a boost to your pay (third-shift workers often get paid more than others), it wreaks havoc on your body. From messing up your sleep cycles to putting you in a position that requires less movement to eating more out of boredom, working through the night is full of weight-gaining risks.

Sneaky Weight Gain #3: Having Too Many Choices. If you’ve ever eaten at a buffet, you know what happens. There are so many options you don’t know what to pick. So you get a little bit of everything. Putting yourself in a position to be surrounded by food—even if there are plenty of healthy options—can be very dangerous. Even if you go with healthy options, it’s easy to eat too much of a good thing. When the options overwhelm you, stick to your guns: a small portion of lean meat and appropriate portions of a couple fruits and vegetables.

Sneaky Weight Gain #4: Overestimating Your Routine’s Intensity. Yes, you’re sweating up a storm when you make your way to the locker room for a shower. And your wobbly legs are the result of the squats and running you just combined in a single workout. But don’t use your routine as an excuse to eat everything in your path. To maintain a healthy weight or lose weight, you can’t eat more calories than you burned. Still feeling hungry after eating? You may not need to eat more. You may need to eat smarter.

Sneaky Weight Gain #5: Chilling On Your Backside. Everyone needs downtime. But if you’re not careful, you can wind up spending too much time on your rump. Between workouts, take a look at your daily routine. Do you work an office job? Does family time center around watching television shows together or playing board games? It may be time to make a change. No, don’t quit your job. But walk down the hall to talk to the person you’re about to email. And when family time comes around, use movie night to go on a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood.

Sneaky Weight Gain #6: Beefing Up Your Snacks. To stay healthy, you’ll need to eat something between meals. Otherwise, it’s very easy to overeat and put on extra pounds. However, you’ll need to watch what you eat for a snack. It’s easy to make a snack that is as large as a meal. But remember the purpose of your snack: to eat a little something before your next meal. It is not to fill yourself, but to knock the edge off your hunger. Keep your snacking light by drinking plenty of water.

Gaining weight

Sneaky Weight Gain #7: Chasing Beer with Food. You go out to eat and there are no tables ready. So you grab a beer and hang out, waiting for an opening. Unfortunately, you just made a belly-busting boo-boo. Because research has proven that drinking beer before you eat will result in you eating more than you would have otherwise. On top of eating more calories for dinner, that beer you guzzle is full of calories, which means before you even take the first bite of your food, you’ve already sucked down quite a few calories.

One of your best defenses against unwanted pounds is to participate in a consistent, challenging exercise routine. That’s what I do for my clients to keep them filled with energy and in fantastic shape. And that’s what I’d love to do for you.

Give me a call, or shoot me an email, and let’s get started on getting you into the best shape of your life.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com




The truth about 10 min workouts


The truth about 10 min workouts


The latest trends in fitness are leaning toward the ‘shorter is better’ philosophy…but do dramatically shortened workouts really get the job done?

No one can deny that the days of spending hours running, biking or doing any other number of slow, cardio-based exercise sessions (Jazzercise anyone?) are long gone. We simply don’t have the time, and have come to realize that these long, drawn out workout sessions don’t give us the best return on our time investment.

But how much of this desire for short, efficient workouts stems from shortened attention spans or just plain laziness? Is there true science behind the claims that 10 minute workouts deliver results?

In fact, there is a slew of new research that points to the true benefits of short, intense bursts of exercise.

This is great news for all of us with hectic schedules, especially during these crazy holiday months. Short, intense workouts are manageable and even enjoyable.

Here are the top 3 reasons that 10-minute workouts are worth your time…

#1. It Burns Fat
Multiple studies have proven the effectiveness of both Tabata and HIIT exercise sessions. These techniques take short bursts of activity and create a heart-pounding workout in 10 minutes or less. The key to making these workouts as effective as possible is to crank up your intensity to the max.

#2. It Makes You Happy
We all know that exercise releases endorphins, which makes us feel oh-so-good in the aftermath of a great workout. But don’t fret if you only have 10 minutes to exercise, studies have shown that an intense 10-minute burst of exercise is enough to get those feel-good juices flowing.

#3. It Protects Your Heart
According to researchers in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people who get just 7 minutes of intense exercise each day are 45 percent less likely to die from heart disease. It’s also worth noting that people who maintained their exercise routine for six years or longer saw the greatest benefit.

the truth about 10 min workouts

I hope that I’ve convinced you of the value of an intense, 10-minute workout. In this busy holiday season it’s so crucial to our health and physiques that we make time to exercise – even if it’s just 10 minutes.

Call or email me today to get started on a fat loss program that that will make all of your fat loss dreams come true in the New Year. Make 2015 your best year yet!

The truth about 10 min workouts

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com


Lean eating rules

9 New Rules of Lean Eating

Lean eating rules:

You’d like your eating plan to work for you – to get you the results that you want without lots of complicated steps. The good news is that lean eating does not mean complicated eating…it just means eating smart.

Read on for the NEW rules of lean eating that will make fat loss second nature. And don’t worry, lean eating can still be very delicious. In fact, you’ll find many of your new, lean meals to be better in flavor and more satisfying than your old, fattening eats.

1. Eat the RIGHT Type of Carbs
There is a hierarchy for which carbs have a place in a lean diet and which carbs will only fatten you up. The success of your eating plan rests squarely on which of these carbs you regularly include in your diet.

  1. Green Vegetables
  2. Non-Green Vegetables
  3. Fruit
  4. Whole Grains and Starches
  5. Refined Grains
  6. Foods with Added Sugar

The top 3 ranked carbs are where 90% of the carbs in your diet should be coming from…in order to get that lean physique that you want. Immediately cut out the bottom 2 (refined grains and foods with added sugar) and on occasion include a limited amount of Whole Grains and Starches.

2. Track What You Eat
The only way to improve upon your diet is to actually know what you’re currently eating. Keep a food journal, or download a free food tracker app, and input all of the calories that you consume over the course of a week. This will give you a broad look at where your low quality calories are coming from (high sugar, empty calories).

Your first step will be to eliminate these fattening calories and to start replacing empty calories with nutrient-filled whole foods.

Lean eating rules

3. Space Meals Apart
Much has been said over the past decades about the importance of eating small frequent meals throughout the day. This is old, outdated science. New research has proven that there’s more harm than good to eating more frequently than every 4 hours.

Stick with 3 meals each day, and fill in a protein-based snack if your meals are going to be more than 4 hours apart.

4. Never Restrict Calories to the Extreme
There’s a certain allure in the idea of temporarily restricting calories to the extreme. The idea that one can drop a down a size or two in just as many weeks is quite tempting. I hate to be the one to burst your overambitious bubble, but extreme calorie restriction NEVER WORKS. It’s terrible for your body and it is not something that is sustainable (namely because you’d starve to death) so the pendulum inevitably swings in the other direction, resulting in binges.

The key to being lean for life is to eat in a way that you can sustain forever. Eat whole foods. Eat a moderate amount of the RIGHT calories. Every day, ongoing, forever.

5. Eat Veggies First
This may go against all of your instincts, but hear this one out. When you sit down to a meal first eat all of the veggies and salad, before moving on to the main dish. This simple strategy helps to fill you up with lower calorie foods first, before moving on to the higher calorie items.

By making this a habit you’ll naturally and effortlessly consume fewer calories at each meal, which will add up in a big way.

6. Include Protein at Every Meal
Each of your meals should be built around a healthy serving of protein. This protein could be meat (chicken breast, fish fillet, roasted turkey, braised beef etc) eggs, or protein powder.

Having protein as the focal point of your meal is important for two reasons: 1) You’re fueling up in a way that builds muscles rather than stores fat and 2) By default, you’re avoiding high calorie main dishes, which are what really cause most weight gain.

7. Ban Liquid Calories
Liquid calories have no place in a lean eating plan. No place at all. Anytime that you are drinking calories, it’s safe to assume that you’re adding inches to your waistline. Put down the beer, just say no to the blended coffee drink, and forget about fully loaded soda pop.

Filtered water and unsweetened tea are both wonderful alternatives to calorie-laden beverages.

8. Avoid Prepackaged Foods
Prepackaged foods and snacks have no place in a lean eating plan. These processed foods contain numerous fattening ingredients such as refined sugar, sodium, grains, fillers and other artificial ingredients.

If you are currently eating packaged foods on a daily basis, then cutting these items out will quickly translate into pounds lost.

9. Swim Upstream
As a society we are overweight. We are riddled with obesity related ailments. We are uncomfortable in our own skin. We are craving weight loss.

So…it’s safe to say that whatever you see the masses around you do, when it comes to food and exercise, you should aim to do the opposite.

See a line wrapped around that fast food joint’s drive thru? Do not enter. Instead, eat a simple meal made with vegetables and lean protein.

See all 5 people ahead of you in line at the coffee shop order a sweet drink? Do not follow suit. Instead, order an unsweetened drink.

See the movie theatre parking lot packed to the brim, and the gym parking lot empty? Skip the movie and hit the gym.

Swim upstream, be different than the masses by living in a desirable, healthy, lean body.

Lean eating rules

Call or email me today to get started on a fat loss program that really works.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com