You can find the past installments of “Weight Management 101″ here:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part IV

Making supportive food choices is your secret weapon in the quest to achieve a toned and sculpted body. Eating supportive foods frequently will help you lose fat and increase your energy dramatically.

- Protein provides four calories per gram. Thermic Effect: for every 100 cal = 20 cal are burned
- Besides water, protein is the most plentiful substance in the body. Made up of structural units or chains called amino acids

-  In the absence of sufficient carbohydrates, protein is used as an energy source.
-  Protein is the primary component of building material for muscles, blood, skin, hair and internal
organs such as the heart and the brain. Used in the formation of hormones, enzymes and antibodies
-  Protein is vital for growth, maintenance and repair of body tissue.

-  Complete Proteins:  Complete proteins contain all the essential amino acids (not made by the body) Sources include:  Animal products such as beef, chicken, fish, milk and cheese.
-  Incomplete Proteins:  Incomplete proteins do not contain the adequate of essential amino acids. Sources include:  Plant products such as grains, legumes, cereals, nuts and starchy vegetables.

-Carbohydrates provide four calories per gram. Thermic Effect: for every 100 cal = 10 cal are burned

- Your body’s main source of fuel
- Carbohydrates are converted to glucose (blood sugar), your body’s primary energy source.
- Glucose is used to help burn fat for a fuel.

********* SIMPLE CARBS have NO Thermic Effect**************

-  Fat provides nine calories per gram. Thermic Effect: for every 100 cal = 5 cal are burned
-  There are three classifications of fats

- Fat provides energy for aerobic energy metabolism (sitting, walking, jogging)
- Fat assists in membrane cell structure, function and hormone production
- Fat transports and mobilized fat soluble vitamins in the body.
- Fat contributes to satiety

- Saturated sources:  meats such as ribs, chicken with skin, dairy foods, butter, most fast food, etc.
- Unsaturated sources: salad dressing, oil, margarine, mayonnaise, nuts, avocados, etc.

So what determines which sort of weight you will lose? The types of foods that you eat along with how big of a caloric deficit you create will be the main factors in determining your body’s ability shed fat. A supportive nutrition plan includes whole foods: lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, veggies and healthy fats.

Each time you eat, your body must expend some energy to digest food. Each type of food creates different demands for energy expenditure - Thermic Effect of Food. This is what sets each of these nutrients apart and divide them into smaller versions to absorb them into your bloodstream to perform a variety of tasks – some are used to help burn fat and build muscle.

When foods are processed, much of this work is done for you. For example, processed flour is ground into small pieces that the body can digest more quickly. This means your blood sugar rises faster and your body expends fewer calories processing the flour.  Whole foods, on the other hand, pack more nutrients, are higher in fiber, and force the body to work harder to use them as energy.

Consuming food triggers digestion, and digestion requires calories. By eating more frequent, smaller meals, you continuously supply your body with nutrients while forcing it to digest and break down the foods. This, in turn, can have the net effect of raising your metabolism.

Ideally, you want to eat a supportive meal every 3 hours. Eating frequently stabilizes your blood sugar levels, providing a steady flow of quality fuel to your muscles and brain. This helps to steady your mood and boost your energy. Besides making you feel better, this increased energy can help further fat loss because you will naturally want to be more active. Another benefit of a stable blood sugar levels is a suppressed appetite. By eating a supportive meal, frequently, you are reprogramming your appetite. You will begin to have fewer cravings and binge less often because you no longer experience the pain of hunger.

When you constantly give your body food with small meals your body does not feel the need to store fat. On the contrary when eating large, infrequent meals your body feels the need to store some food as fat for it is unsure as to when it will be fed again.

Eating frequently throughout the day can also help you stay energized and avoid making poor food choices.  Eating smaller balanced meals often helps to reduce blood sugar fluctuations and leads to stronger compliance in making supportive food choices and long term success.

You will not receive an individualized menu or the perfect calorie count. That’s right, we gave up telling you exactly what to eat. First, there is no “magic” number. One of the main problems with other diet programs is that they focus on – or emphasize –the numbers. Remember that food is fuel.  But food should also be pleasurable.

Secondly, we could create the perfect menu plan, but you won’t follow it – at least not the majority of the time. This was our protocol in the past. Our Fitness Professionals would spend hours creating the perfect menu plans for clients. But time after time, clients reported their frustration and inability to follow such an idealistic menu plan. However, these same clients experienced amazing results. Our conclusion; as long as you make an effort to change the way you eat each day, you will achieve results.

For those of you who need more numbers, you can figure out what percentage of your meal should be protein, carbs and fat.  The numbers here can only be very general and educated guesses.  You are going to have to do some trial and error to see what is best for you.

These are numbers based upon averages, based upon what tends to work for most people.  You may find that you’ll have to change it around just a little bit.

Of the calories in each meal, approximately:
40% from carbohydrates
30% from lean proteins
30% from fats (with as little of that as possible coming from saturated and hydrogenated sources)

~Cheat Meals~
Everyone loves their Cheat Meals! Simply having something to look forward to is extremely motivational. It makes it much easier to avoid temptation in the short term. On the other hand, the fundamentals of successful fat loss remain constant…If you make a point of eating cheat meals often enough, you reduce the chances of successful fat loss.

As you apply these supportive nutrition habits, you make your body very efficient at burning through calories.  And then, on occasion, you can put a not-so-supportive into your body because it is going to be quite good at burning through it.  You’re going to enjoy that favorite food even more, because it’s become a special treat.

A general rule on cheating: make sure that no more than 10% of your meals are missed or cheat meals. So if you’re eating six meals a day, seven days a week (for a total of 42 meals per week), then no more than four of those meals should be misses or cheats. If you can achieve 90% adherence you will without a doubt get the results you want.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Do you know how MUCH you are eating?
One of the key  ways to promote fat loss is to control your portion sizes. Research has shown that Americans often underestimate how many calories they are consuming each day by as much as 25%. If you are a healthy eater, it is possible to sabotage your efforts by eating more than the recommended amount of food. If nutrients are available at proper times and in the proper quantities, your body can use them for energy to keep you feeling full, promote muscle growth and burn fat.

Importance of accuracy
Under eating or overeating may cause muscle tissue loss or fat gain. A serving isn’t what you happen to put on your plate. It’s a specific amount of food defined by common measurements, such as cups, ounces or pieces.

How to Estimate Portion Sizes
Learn food weights, measurements and portions by using the examples below and by using a food scale, measuring cups and spoons in your kitchen.

Typical Portion Sizes:

• 1 ounce of cheese is about the size of 4 dice
• 1 fruit serving is about the size of a baseball
• 1 serving (½ cup) of vegetables, pasta or rice ½ of a baseball
• 3 ounces of cooked meat, fish, or poultry is about the size of a deck of cards
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter is about the size of a large marshmallow
• 1 serving (1 cup) of milk, yogurt or fresh chopped greens is a fist

Tips:
Take time to “eyeball” the serving sizes of your favorite foods.
Measure out single servings onto your plates and bowls, and remember what they look like.
Avoid serving food “family style.” Prepare plates with appropriate portions in the kitchen, and don’t go back for seconds.
Never eat out of the bag or carton.

What gets Measured, Gets Managed
One of the most powerful ways you learn is from yourself, keeping a journal will teach you more about you than any book you read or course you take. Many people are unaware of their unsupportive habits. Denial and vague ideas are of no use in the process of achieving results. You need to be in control of the way you eat and move and all the variables and you can’t control something you’ve never measured! ENTER – The Fitness Journal

Your goal is to keep a journal for at least 3 days. You get to choose three days that are a typical representation of your general eating and exercise habits (one work day, one training day, and one weekend day, for example) and on those days record everything you eat and the workouts that you perform. There are two reasons do this as soon as you get started.

One, you need to see how “off” your nutrition is. Two, you to see how “off” your nutrition is. Even if you don’t record your foods accurately, you’ll have to make a conscious choice to guess or omit – which is an admission to yourself (though not to your Fitness Professional) that your nutrition and exercise habits need improvement.

It is inevitable that there will be some of you who are simply lazy and forget to record, while still others are so deep in denial that they’ll lie outright with no regrets. For both types, sticking to an integrated fitness program will be either extremely difficult or impossible. For most people, journals are excellent motivational tool and will help them commit to new, supportive habits.

FYI: Tracking your daily food intake and exercise habits is a great way to take action and prove to yourself that you are serious about your achieving your goals! Don’t worry about the occasional setback – you are only human! Instead of giving up entirely, simply start fresh the next day. Make an effort to do better than you did the day before. Keep in mind that lifestyle changes won’t happen overnight. Be patient, make small changes and gradually add new supportive habits.

Journal Guidelines:

Time: Write the time of day you ate the food.

What kind: Write down the type of food you ate. Be as specific as you can. Don’t skip the “extras,” such as soda pop, salad dressing, mayonnaise, butter, sour cream, sugar and ketchup.

How much: Record the amount and calories of the particular food item you ate.

Where: Write what room or part of the house you were in when you ate. If you ate in a restaurant, fast-food chain or your car, write that location down.

Helpful Hints:

1. Be Honest. There’s nothing to be gained by trying to look good in your journal. Your Fit Pro can help only if you record what you really eat.
2. Record what you eat each day. Keep your journal with you all day, and write down everything you eat or drink.
3. Do it now. Don’t depend on your memory at the end of the day. Record your eating as you go. Be Specific. Make sure you include “extras,” such as gravy on your meat or cheese on your vegetables.

By keeping records of your past, you will shape your future. See something you like in your past? Work to replicate it. See something you don’t like? Work to re-shape it.

I read an interesting, and important, quote recently.

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”

- Alan Simpson

What does this have to do with weight management?

The first person you need to be honest with (your food log perhaps?) and show integrity towards, is yourself.

Are you following the steps necessary to reach your goals, or are you just reading this series in hopes of some “magic bullet” that will help you avoid what is hard?

Do you have integrity?

To Your Best Health,

Dean

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

How do YOU measure success?

Do you measure at all?

Today we will discover strategies that help “Set Yourself Up To Succeed!”

It’s not enough to eat supportive foods and exercise for only a few weeks or even a couple months. You must incorporate these behaviors into your life to achieve lasting results. Lifestyle changes start with taking an honest look at your eating habits and daily routine.

When you combine the Five Factors of Fat Loss, you take total control of that word we talked about earlier… metabolism.  And it is your metabolism that defines the composition of your body. As you begin to change the way you eat and move, your appetite will change, your energy levels will change and then you will find, in a very short time, that if you go more than three hours without eating or skip your regularly scheduled workout, you will be affected!

You’ve made it clear that you’re not happy living in the body that you are in. It’s time to take responsibility for creating the body you desire.  You have to start creating new habits.

This may be quite a change for some, and change is not always easy.  Our promise to you is that if you apply the Five Factors of Fat Loss and make the commitment for just one week, and really stick with it, you will find it very difficult to go back to your old way of living.

Success and failure are simply habits, and the good news is that good habits are just as difficult to break as bad ones. Motivation gets us started on the road to success and good habits are the fuel that keeps us making progress. Just as bad habits can lead to a downward spiral, good habits escalate and lead to an upward spiral.

Welcome the challenges that face you. With effort and patience you have the full potential to create a positive change with your physique and your quality of life. There are only three conditions necessary for the acquisition of any new habit or skill. The COURAGE to try something you do not know how to do, the PATIENCE to try again once you have discovered that you don’t know how to do it and the PERSEVERANCE to keep trying, as many times as necessary, until you do know how to do it.

The first thing most people inevitably notice when they apply the Five Factors of Fat Loss is a dramatic change in their energy level.  You will wake up in the morning and be surprised that you actually have energy!

As you put quality fuel into your body – regularly – and when you optimize the way your body functions through a combination of smart cardio and resistance training, you will start to appreciate what energy REALLY is!

When you change your habits and apply a formula that guarantees results, you will begin to feel a change in your energy levels as quickly as three to four days.  So, within a couple of weeks, typically, you will probably start noticing your clothing fits differently – perhaps a little looser.  That doesn’t mean you should jump on the scale if weight loss is a goal. You will soon discover why the scale is EVIL.  It can’t tell the difference between water weight, adipose (stored body fat) weight, and muscle weight.   So, when your clothes start to feel looser, realize that something good is happening.  Fat is leaving your body.

As you change your habits and consistently apply the Five Factors of Fat Loss, others will notice a change before you ever do. Someone who hasn’t seen you in a couple weeks may suddenly say “Wow!  You look great?”  You can count on the next question they’ll ask to be something like, “Are you on a diet?”  And you can quickly reply “No!  I’m just eating more and exercising less.”  You will leave them feeling stunned!  But eventually they’ll ask you how you did it – and they may end up applying the same factors themselves!

Before you begin this life-changing journey, you must accept and live by the basic understanding that this course is built around the premise of “progress, not perfection.” By developing awareness that improvement is measured by your daily progress, you can save yourself a lot of grief and frustration from the get go. Simply focusing on small, positive steps in everything you do is a vital component to a permanent physical change. With time, commitment and a willingness to continue to take those small steps, failure is not an option.

The following steps will ensure that you receive the maximum benefit from your experiences. They will play an essential role in helping you achieve your goals of ultimate leanness and energy. Improvement will become apparent in a matter of weeks.

I will…

1. Decide on what I want to achieve – Have a clear vision of the end result. Close your eyes and visualize your ideal body. Picture exactly how you look, size and shape you are and how you feel.
2. Know and feel my REASON for wanting to achieve these particular results – Continue to ask yourself “why” until you elicit an emotional response.
3. Believe I am capable and deserving of reaching this goal – If others can do it, why can’t you?
4. Make this a priority in my life, every day – “We do not set out to fail, we simply fail to plan” - Schedule workouts, schedule your meals, keep kitchen stocked…
5. Start taking actions that bring results – each day strive to do something a little better than the day before. “I am making progress if I am better today than I was yesterday” ~Dr. Wayne Dyer.
6. Be grateful - understand that the quickest way to achieve my goals is to be happy NOW. When you look to the future for your happiness, you can guarantee you’ll never be happy. Focus on the present. Life shouldn’t be something to be endured until the future arrives. Your present should be thrilling, exhilarating and inspiring.
7. Be forgiving -  I will not beat myself up when I haven’t done everything perfectly. If I slip, I will quickly return to my plan. I won’t feel guilty, but will remain enthusiastic about the process and with myself.

You can begin, right now, by taking a different, more positive course of action. Take a chance, have faith and proceed with confidence. You are about to become yet another success story; joining hundreds who have successfully learned how to eat, how to move and how to believe in themselves once again. They are experiencing the joy of living life to the fullest. So will you.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Setting healthy and realistic goals is an overlooked but crucial component to achieving healthy and lasting weight management.

Today we will outline specific steps you will take to set goals. Don’t skip this step! This simple exercise is foundational to your success.

So grab a piece of paper and pencil, and let’s get started.

Setting Healthy Goals

The first step to achieving results is setting a realistic goal. No matter what the reason, successful and healthy weight management depends on sensible goals and expectations. If you set sensible goals for yourself, chances are you’ll be more likely to meet them and have a better chance of managing your weight long term.

Setting healthy goals at the start of an ongoing program can help you change and improve your physical activity and eating habits. To set goals that are right for you, think about what you want to change and why, and what steps you can take to reach your goal. These changes don’t have to be big. Even small steps can make a difference. Also, think about who can help you, and how you’ll reward yourself for making these changes.

5 Steps to Setting Goals

1. Make a choice - Look at your body, your quality of life. What do you really want to have?
2. Be specific - Leave no detail left behind.
3. Find Your Reason – Now that you know what you want to change, ask yourself WHY?
4. Form your plan – What is it going to take to get there? What are you going to have to do?
5. Take action - Do you know what the number one cause of failure is in most people’s lives? Never taking action. We develop these comfort zones and become afraid to step out of those boundaries and really go after our goals. We know that we must change; we know that we have to follow our plan to be happy, but seldom do. Do not let your written plan of action go to waste. Start immediately on working towards your goals!

Realistic expectations are based on the fact that – safe and long term weight loss is 1-2 pounds of fat per week, 2-3 months to drop one size or 2 inches off a belt size.

—

All actions start with a change — no matter how small. This is the first step toward making that change: an inventory of exactly how you really feel about losing weight and exactly what you are willing (and in many cases, not willing) to do.

List 3 Things you want to change about your body.

Why is this so important to you? What is your Reason?

List the habits or actions that have contributed to why your body is the way it is today. (What are you doing right now that allows you to keep this body?)

List 3 things you could do right now that will make a difference today (an action, no matter how small, that will bring you closer to your goal).

List at least 2 things that you are giving up by not being more fit or having a body you can be happy in. What is it costing you? (If you’re really ambitious and want some extra credit, try tackling this one as well: What do you gain by keeping things the way they are? What’s the hidden payoff?)

Now I want you to take the sheet of paper that you wrote your answers on and post it where you can see it - Every Day! Keep yourself accountable and take action Every Day!

___

Did you complete the exercise?

If not, why not?

Most people reading this will not take the time, and they will fail - again.

Don’t let that be you!

To your best health,

Dean

http://Cr8Health.com

http://GetFitNHbootcamp .com

It was a lot of fun to change things up for a day, get a little creative, have some fun and best of all - get a great workout - all using a pumpkin!

Many thanks to all of you who came to visit that day - we appreciate getting to meet you and show you why so many people choose “Get Fit NH” bootcamps to train.

Here are a few shots from the days activities:

Resistance training is the superior method of exercise for reshaping your body and shedding unwanted fat. Want to raise your metabolism? Start by understanding that the main tissue that burns calories is muscle, even at rest. Muscle is in essence, your fat burning machinery. The surest way to raise your metabolism and burn fat is to build and maintain muscle.

Resistance training is performed by using weights, machines and even your own body weight to effectively work your muscles. The goal of resistance training is to gradually and progressively overload your muscles so they grow stronger. This signals your body that it’s growing and healthy, not deprived and starving.

As you increase your lean body mass, you increase your metabolic rate and this makes it easier to lose fat. With a faster metabolism, you’ll burn more fat all day long - even while you’re sleeping! Fat doesn’t require any energy at all to maintain - it just sits there.  That’s why resistance training takes priority over cardio based exercise for people who want to lose body fat. Resistance training addresses the core of the problem – the rate at which the body uses energy, 24-7.

There are numerous reasons for increasing muscle beyond making clothes fit better. One of the major benefits is in the possible prevention and rehabilitation of bone injuries. Since proper resistance training strengthens the muscles as well as the supporting structures around the joint, this form of exercise will protect our joints from the stresses of an active lifestyle.

Another benefit of resistance training is improving the ability to perform daily activities. By increasing strength through resistance training, you move more efficiently with daily activities such as; lifting your children, carrying groceries, playing sports, moving furniture, taking out the trash etc.

The most important aspect of resistance training is correct performance of the exercise. Too many people become concerned with how fast an exercise is performed or how heavy a weight is being used. This means that the exercise is done incorrectly. This can cause injury and most often results in endless resistance training without benefit or results.

The Benefits of Resistance Training

• Increased Bone Density
• Improved Posture
• Increased Lean Muscle Mass
• Improved Work Capacity
• Increased Metabolism
• Reduces Depression
• Increased Self-Esteem
• Increased Strength

Factor Four: Smart Cardio

Cardiorespiratory exercise is a term that best describes the health and function of the heart, lungs and circulatory system.  This system is considered the body’s transportation network for it functions by circulating blood throughout the body. The goal of any cardio workout should be to get as many large muscles working as possible.  They not only need to work hard, but continuously, in order to burn the greatest amount of calories during and after exercise.

How much is too much? The Concept of “Smart Cardio”:
It is important to perform “smart cardio” for your body quickly adapts to cardio-based workouts. The more you do, the more efficient your body becomes, causing you to burn fewer calories from your fat stores each time you exercise.

Because your body adapts so quickly, cardio-lovers are forced to adjust their workouts to last increasingly longer in order to provide the same calorie burn. This not only increases the amount of time you have to spend in the gym but also increases the odds that your body may start breaking down muscle instead of fat for fuel.

Additionally, the benefits are temporary. Aerobic activity doesn’t increase the amount of fat you burn after your workout like resistance training. Your metabolism returns to normal shortly after stepping off the treadmill.

Smart Cardio will greatly enhance the rate at which your body burns calories. The most effective Cardio programs are designed around the HIIT principles - High Intensity Interval Training.

Factor Five: Personal Assistance

When you combine an effective fitness program with proper nutrition, supplementation and accountability, you can make incredible changes.

It is the job of your Fitness Professional to give you the right amount and type of work for your goal and ability. However, your body is naturally driven to adapt to this workload (i.e. plateau). A plateau occurs when the body adjusts to changes in internal and/or external conditions or circumstances. Science is still unable to predict when a person will plateau, but one thing is for certain – it will happen..

Doing the same type of exercise without variation or failing to increase the challenge when your body “adapts” to the present workload, are just two examples of conditions that will steer your results to a complete halt. In order to avoid a plateau during your transformation, your Fitness Professional will make changes in your exercise routine or eating habits to help you reach the next level. The best way is not to do more of the same, but try new exercises or change the frequency, intensity, or duration of the routine.

Even though your Fitness Professional individualizes each of the components necessary to begin the journey toward your goal, it does not end there. There are many factors that may affect when and how significantly the other four components will need to be manipulated to keep you on the path to success.

Nutrition has by far the greatest impact on fat loss. Eating supportively will not only allow you to improve your health and energy, and it also provides the ideal environment for your transformation - maintain lean muscle while reducing unwanted fat.

If your goal is to lose body fat, you must eat slightly fewer calories than you burn.  This may seem simple, but when calories are reduced, the body becomes imbalanced.  It is the body’s job to restore balance, and it inevitably does so by either reducing the amount of calories it burns for energy ( by using muscle instead of fat) or by forcing you to eat more through hunger and cravings.  This is one of the main reasons why fad diets do not produce long term results.  The goal of our program is to ensure that you lose fat, not muscle.

Most fad diets are simply low-calorie diets disguised by great advertising or a clever marketing gimmick.  There are currently thousands of diets listed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  This number alone proves that no one diet works long term.  If a magic diet or formula for fat loss existed, everyone would be on it and no one would be overweight. 

But why is it that some people do lose weight on diets?  The immediate success most people experience from fad diets is due to water loss, eating fewer calories or a combination of the two.  However, less than five percent of these dieters are able to keep the weight off.  Diets simply don’t work long term because of improper nutrition and the failure to change exercise and eating habits for life.

America is fatter as a society today because we consume approximately 300 to 500 more calories per day than we did 10 years ago, yet we move less because of advances in technology such as computers, escalators and other labor-saving devices.

Supportive nutrition can be mastered by understanding that everything you eat and drink can either positively or negatively affect your fat loss goals.

Factor Two: Sensible Supplementation

Supplementation gives your body the nutrients it needs without adding calories.  It is virtually impossible to satisfy your body’s nutritional needs with the number of calories recommended to lose fat. In addition, due to a typically busy lifestyle, it is difficult to eat perfectly every day for the rest of your life. Therefore, when following a fitness program, muscles become undernourished, causing your body to shed the muscle it can’t feed.  By supplying the body with the nutrients it needs without additional calories, (e.g., a multivitamins), you can help satisfy all your nutritional needs for repair and growth without exceeding the amount of calories your body needs to maintain the mandatory deficit for fat loss. 

The benefits of using supplements as low-calorie nutrition during an exercise program are well researched.  The daily use of a multivitamin formula has been found to be the most inexpensive nutritional insurance

The reason behind adding supplements to your daily meals is to supply the body with calorie-free nutrition and select compounds that have the potential to improve health, alter body composition and increase performance and metabolic rate.

The Categories and Uses of Supplements

A multivitamin formula is the foundation of any complete fitness program.  Additional vitamins and minerals will boost your nutrient intake beyond what is available through the foods you eat.  These additional nutrients allow cells to reach their potential creating the ideal environment for positive physical change. Taking other supplements before creating a nutritional foundation is like adding expensive accessories to a car that doesn’t run properly.

Altering Body Composition
It is difficult to get enough nutrients from your normal diet to support your fitness goals.  Any time there is an increase in cellular activity, as during exercise, the body increases its use of nutrients.  By supplying these nutrients without additional calories, the attempt is made to satisfy all nutrient needs for repair and growth without exceeding the amount of calories needed to sustain the mandatory deficit for fat loss.  When undernourished, the body must shed the muscle it cannot feed.

Increasing Performance and Metabolism
Specific nutrients and combinations of nutrients have been found to improve exercise performance and increase the calories burned during and after exercise. Supplying the body with calorie-free nutrients can improve performance and, therefore, assist with fat-loss and muscle-gain goals.

Sensible supplementation is recommended in order to supply the body with the right combination of calorie-free nutrients and compounds that have the potential to enhance performance, reduce body fat, increase muscle and/or improve health.  Proper supplementation creates the environment your body needs to get maximum results.

There is one way to achieve permanent results; follow a complete and integrated fitness program that focuses on a change in body composition (body fat vs. lean muscle) rather than weight. It is lean muscle that plays the key role in any type of fitness program. Whether you’re interested in fat loss or muscle gain, lean muscle requires certain conditions in order to allow a positive change in body composition.

Calories In vs. Calories Out
To positively change the composition of your body (decrease fat, increase lean muscle) you have to know how to play the game of numbers. If you burn more calories than the calories you take in each day you will lose weight, this is called creating a caloric deficit. It is the only way to lose fat. If you do the opposite, take in more calories than what you burn, then you will gain weight.

Too much of anything gets stored as fat - even if you’re eating nothing but healthy, supportive foods. If you eat too many of them, your body will still store the extra calories as fat. Even though this appears to be a simple concept, don’t be fooled. The caloric deficit must be kept small for you want to maintain lean muscle and only lose fat weight. This strategy allows you to keep a high metabolism while at the same time transforming the shape of your body.

If calories are severely reduced, your body thinks you are starving and sets into motion a series of metabolic and hormonal events, which ultimately leads to muscle loss and a slower metabolism. Even more tragic, skipping meals and starving yourself causes your body to increase the level of fat storing enzymes so you are actually teaching your body to become efficient at storing fat!

Muscle is your Metabolism
The amount of lean muscle you hold is directly related to your metabolism and your metabolism defines the shape of your body. Your metabolism is simply the rate at which your body burns calories. Lean muscle burns a lot more calories than fat so when you lose muscle, your metabolism drops and you burn fewer calories.

So not only must you take in sufficient calories to burn fat rather than muscle, it’s also possible to build muscle, which in turn boosts metabolism. And the way to do this is, of course, to increase the amount of exercise you do. While aerobic activities such as running, swimming, fast walking help to tone muscle and burn extra calories, resistance training is the only way to increase the amount of muscle you have in your body. A consistent and effective exercise program is mandatory to help you to burn more calories and maintain or even build lean muscle mass. Your goal is to keep your activity up and your intake down and you will achieve results.

NOTE: It will be impossible to reach your best body by exercising more if you’re neglecting nutrition. You won’t get fit by eating supportively if you’re missing workouts.

The Total Body Transformation program provides the complete formula for success:

The Five Factors of Fat Loss

• Supportive Nutrition
• Sensible Supplementation
• Resistance Training
• Smart Cardio
• Personal Assistance

Traditional fitness programs isolate only one or two factors. The truth is all factors MUST be in place in order to bring about a lasting, positive physical change. If any one factor is neglected or missing, the program will fail to produce results.

You are about to gain insight into exactly what you need to do and why you need to do it in order to achieve your ultimate fitness goals. Not only will your body transform, but you will also develop a better understanding how your body works. You will learn how to make wise, informed choices around a balanced nutrition and exercise program. In the process you will be able to replace unsupportive habits and develop a new outlook how to take complete control over how your body looks and feels and achieve a consistent, long-term fit and healthy lifestyle.

I’m not talking about witches, ghost, and goblins - I’m referring to those insidious creatures that sneak up on us in the night, crawl up our arms, and throw themselves at us until we are forced to get rid of them by ripping the package open and destroying them by consumption - halloween candy!

Did you know that the average American consumes 26 pounds of candy a year (you’re holding up your end of that average - aren’t you?), and that for most the bulk of that is consumed around Halloween?

But it doesn’t stop there.

The feasting continues through Thanksgiving, then Christmas, right on to New Year’s.

Not good.

The next thing you know, 5 or 10 pounds have magically attached themselves to your backside!

Here’s some tips to help you get through October with your girlish figure intact (Yeah - I’m talking to you Joe)

1. Don’t “stock up” on the candy. Buy just enough to get you through the night. If you know only 5 or 10 trick or treaters normally visit you, 10 bags of peanut butter cups may just slightly  - a little bit - perhaps maybe - be too many.
2. Allow yourself one piece (not bag) of candy per night. None would be better, but let’s be real. And no, peanut butter cups don’t get separation anxiety if you only eat one at a time.
3. Try some new and healthier recipes around the holiday season. You can get the holiday flavors we all enjoy so much without feeling guilty about it. It is very easy to get trapped in an emotional eating pattern. You eat too much, feel guilty about it, eat too much to feel better…you know the drill. If you make a poor decision, nothing you can do about that decision. Make a better one next time.

Here’s a delicious recipe that’s also great for your body. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Creamy Pumpkin Shake

Ingredients:

• 3.5 tbs. Pumpkin puree
• 1-2 Scoop(s) Vanilla Protein Powder
• 1 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice
• 2/3 Cup of Ice
• 2 tbs. of cool whip
• 2/3 Cup of Calorie countdown fat free milk
• 2 tbs. Splenda
• 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions:

Put the ingredients in a blender, blend away, pour into a glassand enjoy. Top with whipped cream and Pumpkin Pie Spice for added flavor.

Don’t let candy season hold you back and weigh you down - you can do it!

To your best health,

Dean

He said it brought him to tears - and when I watched it I had the same reaction.

This video is why Nancy and I do what we do, but we can’t do it if YOU don’t get involved too.

Stop making excuses and do something about your health - when you need us, we are here.

If the yard looks like a construction site, it’s because it IS a construction site. 

You can get a glimpse of the building with the roof on it in the background.

Anyway, on to the mornings activities.

This morning we were playing cards - the “Get Fit NH” bootcamp way.

Remember playing the game “WAR” when you were a kid?

Well here’s a video that shows how WE play that game…

What are you waiting for? 

The time to get moving toward the healthy, fit new you is TODAY!

You can do the same old boring thing at the gym, like a hamster on a wheel. 

Play with all the shiny gizmos and gadgets, widgets and watchamacallits.

Or you can genuinely Get Fit with us - and have a blast doing it!

Register for the next session now!

We looked into a number of options as far as renting space, etc.

But the answer was right in front of us - We’ll build an indoor training facility right we already are!

We are very excited to keep the program going through the winter, and the new facility will open up even more ways for you to get in the best shape of your life.

So here’s a few shots of the walls going up…I’ll keep you up to date as we approach Grand Opening!

P.S. The really cute kids are just an added bonus!

A French woman, upon seeing Picasso in a Parisian restaurant, approached the great master and insisted that he put down his coffee and make a quick sketch of her. Graciously, Picasso obliged. When he was done, she took the drawing, put it in her handbag, and then pulled out her billfold.

“How much do I owe you?” she asked.

“$5,000,” was Picasso’s reply.

“$5,000? But it took you only three minutes!” she exclaimed.

“No,” Picasso answered. “It took me all my life.”

Now the point of the story in the newsletter was that great skill takes a lifetime to achieve.

Mastery takes a great amount of effort and continual refinement.

And when you find someone who has mastered that skill, the reason that it looks easy was because of the thousands of hours practicing the skill.

But how does that relate to your fitness and weight loss goals?

Perfectly!

You will be doing yourself a HUGE favor by fixing this thought in your mind right from the get go -

“A healthy lifestyle is a lifelong journey, not a short term fix.”

You see, many of us want everything to happen NOW!

Fast food, quick oil changes, express line checkouts. The list goes on and on…

We just don’t like to wait for anything.

But consider this…

Many of our clients come to us to lose weight, or more to the point - lose bodyfat.

But then if that 25 (or 50, 60…whatever) doesn’t come off in a month, discouragement sets in.

When that happens, I usually ask them “How long did it take to get where you are at now?”

Most of them don’t even answer, because they get the point.

It was a steady, consistent pattern of overeating and/or lack of training that has left you overweight, tired, and frustrated with your appearance.

On the flip side, it is a steady, consistent pattern of supportive nutrition and regular efficient training that is going to get you the body you’ve always wanted.

Put in a simpler, blunter way - “You didn’t get overfat in a month, it’s going to take you more than a month to lose that fat.”

Don’t get me wrong, if you are willing to make the changes necessary, you can and will lose bodyfat very quickly.

But you won’t lose it all overnight.

As trainers, Nancy and I live the lifestyle that we teach.

But it didn’t happen for us overnight either, or even all at once.

• Daily exercise.
• Preparing meals ahead of time.
• Cutting out excess carbs and junk food.
• Restorative session such as stretching and massage.

These are all part of our lifestyle now, but it did take work to get there.

And we are still learning, and will be for the rest of our lives.

At our “Get Fit NH” Boot Camp,  you not only get a great workout, you are establishing the habit of regular exercise.

Some of our clients come for one session at a time, as a way of breaking a plateau or getting out of the same old routine.

But the vast majority come month after month.

Why?

Because it is one less thing they have think about in their life.

There is a time and a place to be every training day.

There are people (coaches and training peers) who expect you to show up an train hard every day.

It is a place where questions about how to fit supportive eating into a busy life are asked and answered.

It is a place where we just flat out have fun. Laughter really is the best medicine!

And you get 4 weeks of training and coaching for the price of 2 or 3 hours of personal training at your boring gym.

So what are you waiting for?

Mastery takes a lifetime to achieve, but you have to take that first step.

September classes are filling up now, so don’t delay. Register today!

Congratulations to Christine Shultz of Epsom for winning our drawing at for a free month of “Get Fit NH” Boot Camp.

It’s August, and as you probably know, the Olympics in Beijing China start in just a few days.

Most of us are not heading to China.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own Olympic games.

Nancy has set up a challenge for us at our support site over at http://cr8health.ning.com

Will you earn Gold, Silver or Bronze?

No matter which one you earn, you will be fitter than when you started, and that’s always a winner!

If you haven’t signed up for your fr*e account, you are missing out.

Nancy does a great job keeping the site fresh with great ideas, and our group has made friends all over the country that are also striving to look and feel great.

Head on over and Go for the Gold….today!

The study was designed to determine which type of three diets worked best. For purposes of this letter, the three types don’t even matter, as I’ll explain.

It was a good discussion, but when I thought about it afterward, I realized something was amiss.

Described as a “tightly controlled study” by the New York Times, the 322 participants lost an average of between 6-10 pounds.

Not too bad - right? I mean it must have been a 2 or 3 month time frame, right?

Try TWO YEARS on for size!

That’s .333 pounds a month.

That’s not so good. (In fact it’s downright lousy!)

To me the take home point is this -

It doesn’t matter how good the “diet plan” is -

If you don’t actually DO IT CONSISTENTLY!

I suspect many if not most of these participants were, how shall I put it? - less than truthful about their compliance to the diet.

I come to that conclusion based on experience.

You see, I have a philosophy regarding nutrition - principles that if applied produce the desired results.

If a client tells me it “doesn’t work”, 99 times out of 100, when we look at what he ACTUALLY does, it not the plan that isn’t working, it’s the client not working the plan.

(Note the “if applied” part above.)

So what do we do about it?

Here are 5 principles of nutrition that anyone CAN do.

The real question is - WILL you?

1) Track how much you are really eating. Log 2 weekdays and 1 weekend. Fitday.com is gold, and it’s no cost.

2) To lose weight, all other things being equal (your exercise plan for instance) - you need to eat less. Start with a 300-500 calorie reduction. Use fitday.com to track it. Adjust every two weeks as needed.

3) Don’t eat food from a box, bag, wrapper or can. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, and protein are the basis of a “good” nutrition plan.

4) Don’t make excuses. If you “fall off the wagon” and eat something you know doesn’t help, don’t turn it into a binge. That extra piece of cake DOES make a difference. Once in a while doesn’t mean once a day. Remember, making excuses only burns .02355 calories a day. (OK - I made that up)

5) Plan ahead. Pick a day when you can prepare ALL the meals for the week. If you are not willing to plan ahead, you aren’t serious about making the change.

Which is the most important?

In my opinion - #5.

If you don’t know what you are going to eat next, you’ll eat anything you can get your hands on.

I know, because I am right there with you.

But IF you combine these 5 tips consistently applied (i.e. EVERY DAY) with a good training plan (consistently applied) you will start to achieve the results you want.

As we like to say in Boot Camp - It’s Simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s Easy.

Nothing worthwhile ever is.

To your best health,

Dean 

I saw her last weekend, and she couldn’t wait to tell me!

After 1 month - 16 one-hour training sessions, her total body measurements were down eight inches!

She was thrilled, and it won’t be the last time she will see that kind of progress.

You see, she had been training for quite awhile without seeing progress she was happy with.

One month at Boot Camp changed all that.

What makes our fitness bootcamp a solution that can work for “Every Body”?

A comprehensive system of:

We don’t have a health care system in this country, we have a sick care system. We are way more about “fixing” the problem, or maybe more accurately, treating the symptoms, than we are about education and prevention. 

What’s easier - giving someone a pill, or taking the time to educate them on making good choices to improve and maintain health? I am not necessarily blaming all medical professionals. Because of the way the current system works too many of our health care providers do not have the time necessary to spend on such educational efforts. Ways to fix this challenge is a discussion for another day.   

The thing that disturbs me most about the new guidlines is the focus on prescribing cholesterol lowering drugs to kids as young as 8 years old. The guidelines from 1992 suggested that drugs be prescribed AFTER 6-12 months on a nutritional protocol designed to lower cholesterol. As far as I can tell, this has been thrown out the window in favor of a more immediate call for drugs.

Now proponents will tell us that this is only in “high risk” kids, but we have been down that slipperly slope with a wide array of drugs for both adults and children.  I have also seen it stated that these drugs are needed because over 15% of our children are obese, with many more overweight. That may be, but is prescribing drugs treating the symptom - obesity, or the cause - poor nutrition? I think the answer is obvious.

We are in a health care crisis in this country not because of the quality of the system, but because we have become sedentary and undernourished. Not under-FED, but undernourished. With the US population now approximately 66% overweight, we have a real problem, and it’s only getting worse.

Children need activity and exercise, not TV and Xbox.

Kids need fruits and vegetables, not soda and snack cakes.

It starts at home. We must take personal responsibility for our own health and the health of our kids. Don’t feed them junk, and don’t let them vegitate in front of the idiot box. And keep your kids off drugs - even the “good” kind.

For more information on kids and cholesterol lowering drugs, please take time to read this interview Newsweek magazine did with Dr. Peter Belamarich: http://www.newsweek.com/id/144960/page/1