Be Fit Fitness Blog

So it’s a new year and you are thinking about getting in shape. Perhaps it’s a New Year’s resolution that you have already made in the past, but you never get around to achieving it, for whatever reason! Online personal training is an inexpensive and effective way for you to get in shape this year. You could also hire a personal trainer at the gym, but they will be a lot more expensive and if you do not choose the right person, you may not achieve the results you are looking for.

Who should you hire to help you with your fitness goals? You should look for someone who is knowledgeable and can customize a fitness program tailored to your needs. Someone who lives the lifestyle of what they do. By this I mean, a personal trainer who is in great shape, toned and lives a healthy lifestyle. If they can achieve personal results with respect to their own fitness goals, than they can obviously help you! You wouldn’t want to hire an over-weight personal trainer. In my opinion, they wouldn’t be able to effectively help you and they send you a wrong message which could be detrimental to getting you motivated.

One example of a online fitness program that can help you is owned by Chad. His online fitness program: Global Health and Fitness has been helping clients to achieve amazing results since 1997 as you can see from his photo:

and some of his current clients:

As you can see in this photo, Chad is in amazing shape (2nd from left) and so are his 4 clients. If he can achieve results like this for himself and his clients, then he can obviously help you at Global Health and Fitness.

A lot of people use diet pills to lose weight quickly. Diet pill may work temporarily for some people, but to lose weight and keep it off for the long-term, there are only two real ways of doing it. They are regular exercise and proper nutrition. Sure it may take more time and involve more effort but the long-lasting results you receive will be well worth it!

Danger of Diet Pills

Just recently the FDA released a warning about a number of weight loss pills that can be dangerous to your health. There could be many others not on that list which the FDA hasn’t tested yet or knows about. When you purchase these pills, you really don’t know what they contain, sometimes where they were manufactured and what side-effects they may have especially if you are already on some form of prescribed medication.

So think about it, can you really afford to sacrifice your long-term health for fast and immediate weight loss? Nothing in life is accomplished fast. Everything takes time and sometimes you need to do it in small steps.

My recommendation to long-lasting weight loss

My recommendation is that if you approach weight loss with realistic and attainable goals, you will slim down and lose weight. Sometimes you need to do it in small steps. Like they say, Rome wasn’t build in a day. So take a look at your eating habits and embark on a regular exercise program.

Eating Habits

What I suggest is that you examine your eating habits by eliminating fatty foods and foods low in nutrient value (cakes, cookies, etc…) from your diet and by eating smaller meals.

Exercise

Set up an exercise schedule for yourself and stick to it. This way, it becomes a regular part of your life and not a chore.

You can exercise outdoors or at the gym. Sometimes it’s tough to exercise at home, that’s why I prefer going to the gym. In the warmer months, there’s nothing more enjoyable than being outdoors and exercising at the same time.

Instead of just watching TV, get yourself an exercise bike and ride it while watching TV. Or, you may want to buy an exercise workout DVD and exercise along with it. There are also specialty TV channels with all-day workouts focusing on Yoga, Pilates, aerobic and strength-training.

As you can see, there are a lot of fun and enjoyable ways to get in shape and lose weight the real way!

Every year I determine what I want to accomplish when it comes to my health goals and my fitness goals. What can I improve upon in my workouts, what exercise variations or new exercises should I incorporate into my workouts and how can I improve my nutrition, what I eat. I exercise to look and feel great. As I get older, I don’t want to look and feel beyond my years. I want to feel as if I am getting younger. Of course you can’t, but you really want to slow the aging process naturally as much as you can. There are a lot of active people who look great at their age. You may know quite a few.

I feel that I finished 2008 on a very strong note. I’ve increased my strength and endurance with respect to my weight workouts and thus, I have stayed very motivated. My weight is at a very healthy level. I’d like to increase muscle mass, but sometimes it’s better to let your body dictate your ideal and healthy weight, not let your superficial aspirations determine what you want to weigh. This year I’ll continue to increase my strength and continue to improve myn muscle definition. I also intend to increase the intensity of my leg workouts. I have to admit that the last few years I haven’t focused enough on legs, but I do a lot of rollerblading in the warm months to keep them fit and strong.

With respect to nutrition, I have made a few changes this past year that has boosted my energy levels at times substantially. I have gone back to drinking caffeine-free green tea on a regular basis. There are so many health benefits from green tea. I have also limited my coffee consumption to 1 cup per day. The problem with drinking too much coffee or any drinks with caffeine is that caffeine it is a temporary and short-term energy boost. In the long-run, it actually saps me of energy and it will weaken your immune system. I am also eating more fresh fish with higher protein amounts. Again the natural source of Omega-3 from fish has numerous health benefits. I also stopped buying frozen fish which tends to contain unnecessary sodium. The best is to buy fresh fish and freeze it yourself.

I also try to limit the amount of bad fats that I eat. Not only are they unhealthy for you, but they will drain your body of energy and weaken your immune system.

These are just a few of my goals and apirations for the new year. What I can attemp to do better and a closer look back at what I did well with respect to my fitness level and my nutrition, eating habits.

With the new year now here, it’s a good time to reflect on how successful you were with respect to meeting your health and fitness goals. One of your goals could have been the common problem a lot of people face, the weight issue. Either you were looking to lose a lot of weight or you just wanted to slim down a bit by losing a few extra pounds. If the weight issue was one of your concerns and you were not able to lose the amount of weight that you desired, it could have been due to the fact that you went back to your bad eating habits or that you didn’t stay committed and motivated to exercising on a regular basis.

On the other had, if you are a serious athlete or bodybuilder, did you advance to your next level. You may want to examine why you didn’t or what didn’t work for you and try a fresh and new approach.

Whatever your  health and fitness goals are, in order to achieve them, you must make sure they are realistic and attainable. Once you start to see results, you end up being more motivated and committed. If you set the standards or goals too high, you may fail and just give up.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss what I think I accomplished with respect to my health and fitness goals this past year.

Here’s a free weight loss DVD that I know you will find useful in the new year. 1000 copies of the new DVD “5 Simple Keys to Guaranteed Fat Loss” will be given away free. It shows you five simple steps for guaranteed fat loss.

All you have to do is to claim your free copy of Kim Lyons’ Biggest Loser Diet Plan (it’s the same plan Kim used with her contestants on the smash-hit TV show) and you’ll be put on the VIP list for the new DVD which will be available on Thursday January 1st.

Enter Here for your copy of the Biggest Loser Diet Plan and to be put on the Kim’s VIP list for your free DVD copy.

You may be thinking about joining a gym. Now is probably the best time. Towards late December and the beginning of a new year, gyms will be offering a lot of good deals and discounts. Just shop around. Ask what services they will be offering for each price plan membership. Some memberships only allow you to work out at one specific gym and not the entire chain or you can be limited to certain services at a particular gym. Also, read the fine print. Some gyms have a lot of strings attached!

What are some of the advantages of joining a gym over working out at home? Here are a few:

The Atmosphere

- By being exposed to everyone exercising, you end up being more motivated. Don’t be intimidated by others or how they look like, just do your own thing.

- It’s a great way to get away from work and your house. You get the chance to talk to people and meet new friends.

Learning Experience

- You can get the chance to see how other people work out, what they do that works for them and ask questions if you like. Most people are more than willing to share their successes and offer you tips.

Variety

- There are so many different exercise machines, barbells, free weights. This will help you vary your exercise program.
- A plethora of fitness classes ranging from Yoga, Pilates to aerobic and even strength-training classes designed specifically women.

Proximity to Work

Some gyms could be close to your work or along the way home making it convenient to stop by and do a quick or long workout.

With 2008 slowly coming to an end, so are a lot of great deals. In this case three freebies. I just want to remind you that Kim Lyons Sample Diet plan, her Fat Loss Tips, and her Grocery List from The Biggest Loser TV show will be available for FREE for only a few more days.

Click now to get all 3 for free.

Drinking caffeine-free Green Tea and exercising are the most effective ways to staying healthy, toning your body and losing weight. I find that by drinking 1 to 2 cups of Green Tea per day, it provides me with lots of extra energy, particularly useful when I am working out hard and recuperating after a workout. This is due to the fact that Green Tea boosts your immune system and your metabolism. A strong immune system ensures that your body is healthy and resilient. Some other health benefits are that it protects your teeth from tooth decay and it is supposed to prevent stomach and skin cancers.

With respect to weight loss, Green Tea along with regular exercise and proper nutrition, will help you to lose those extra pounds. It’s much cheaper than diet pills and just as effective!

You may be sceptical of the benefits of Green Tea, but even LL Cool J in his book: Platinum Workout
states: “Drink 2 cups of green tea every day. It gently boosts your metabolism and is loaded with cancer-fighting antioxidants. The most potent amont them has demonstrated 100 times the antioxidant power of Vitamin C and 25 times the power of Vitamin E.”

Just look at the results he has achieved by drinking green tea, exercising and eating properly.

LL Cool J

I was at the gym yesterday and they had this big poster up saying that the average person gains 8 to 10 pounds duing the holiday season. That’s a fast amount of time that so much weight can be put on! The reality is that it may be much more difficult to lose this weight after the holidays than it was to accumulate  for a lot of people.

My recommendations for the holiday season:

What I suggest that you do during the holidays is try to exercise at least twice a week. Gyms are relatively quiet during the holiday season and you should be able to do a quick workout in less time than it would normally take.

Watch what you eat. Try too avoid those very fatty, greasy foods and high-sugar content foods. Also, try not to over-eat.

Drink 1 to 2 cups of green tea during the holidays.

If you do end up putting on too much weight during the holidays, you can always try to lose the weight with natural supplements or with exercise. If you are not sure how to begin an exercise program, I recommend that you consult a fitness trainer who can create a customized exercise and nutrition program for you.

There are many foods and herbal teas that are beneficial to your health and that boost your immune system. Thus allowing you to achieve your peak fitness level. Fish is one of them.

I usually eat fish once a week. In the last couple of months I have tried something a little different. I have increased my fresh fish consumption to about 2 to 3 times per week.  Usually the day before exercising. I have found that I have a lot more energy and more energy during my workouts. Is this just coincidence?

This is most likely due to the fact that the Omega 3 boosts your immune system. In fact, there are many health benefits to consuming Omega 3 and various research studies indicating possible health benefits. Since your body also cannot manufacture Omega 3, it is a good idea to eat foods containing it. There are many foods containing Omega 3 and these days, many foods are fortified with it.

Try eating more fish for yourself and see if it does in fact boost your energy levels, boost your fitness level and makes you feel a lot healthier. I also suggest that you eat fresh fish or freeze it yourself since frozen fish from grocery stores tends to contain excess added salt, which your body really does not need! Also, be careful where the fish comes from and what type of fish you eat since some fish contains too many contaminants and could be detrimental to your health.

This is just my opinion and my experience. Try it for yourself to see what affect it has on your lifestyle and health.