Fit & Healthy Buffalo- Fitness Success After 40

  According to popular statistics, only 8% of New Year’s Resolutions are successfully kept. This means that 92% of us that are brave enough to set out for self-improvement will fail. Those aren’t very good odds. Thankfully there is science that explains this curious “Snap-Back Effect” and offers us tools to make the effect work in our favor. Snap-Back Effect:   A term coined by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, the author of Psycho-Cybernetics to describe the rampant self-sabotage of personal improvement goals. Maltz noted that you can stretch a rubber band only to a certain length and hold it only for a certain time until you get weak or get distracted and the rubber band will then snap back to its true shape. This is essentially what happens when you attempt to achieve a new level of self-improvement. Sooner or later you sabotage yourself and get back to your normal level of achievement. What sort of person do you believe yourself to be? This mental image of yourself is your self-image. All of your

Ready to make some serious progress on your goals in 2023? Well, I’ve got an exercise that’ll help in a BIG way. Remember this quote from Nelson Mandela:  “I either win or I learn” … because it’ll help set the tone for what you’re about to do. Ready? Let’s get into it! FIRST: LOOK BACK Think back to this time last year and ask yourself: What goals did you set for this year? Did you make the progress you wanted to make? What helped you? What got in your way? How different is your life now vs. then? SECOND: LOOK FORWARD Imagine yourself a year from now. What do you want to accomplish by Dec. 31, 2023? WHY does it matter to you? How will it make things different in your day-to-day life? THIRD: LOOK AT TODAY Once you’ve reflected on these questions, it’s time to apply your insights to help make your goals a REALITY in 2023. What do you need to learn? What do you need to do differently? How can you jump the hurdles that are su

  Do you follow fitness stars on social media? Their perfect, chiseled images popping up in your newsfeed to give you just the right amount of motivation to get you into the gym…or does it? Striving for perfection doesn’t always work. Quite frankly, perfection is unattainable, and will always leave you falling short and feeling bad about yourself. Instead I like to remind myself of this quote… ‘Strive for progress, not perfection.’ -Unknown Progress isn’t as exciting as perfection, but it is attainable. And progress builds upon more progress as you climb your way towards the accomplishment of real goals. And yet…the gap between your current body and the body you want gapes wide and deep. Any time that you want progress and improvement in your life it requires crossing over from one way of doing things to a new way. But how do you make it across? How do you go from 50 pounds overweight to a healthy BMI? How do you go from a junk food lover to a health food lover? How do you go from a sn

  You want to get into better shape, to drop the fat and to increase your tone and strength.  Join the club…most people are actively working toward an elusive fitness goal.  So what separates those who end up achieving their goals from the rest of the masses who are trapped in a fruitless struggle?  Winston Churchill hit the nail on the head when he said, "Never, never, never, never give up."  The bottom line is that it is possible to achieve any fitness goal when you lock on to it and strive towards it every day. Unfortunately distractions are everywhere, making it easy to fall off track.  This brings us to the classic Henry Ford quote, "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."  In order to stay the course it is vital that you keep your eyes on the goal.  Here's how to get to your goal in 5 Steps:  Step One: Only One At A Time When you're feeling motivated, and decide to set a goal

 Ready to burn your way to a leaner you? Dropping fat tends to be a tedious process that’s slow and steady. There are, however, 7 ways to add an extra boost to your results. Keep reading to find out how... Boost Your Burn #1: Track Everything Counting calories, weighing out food portions, and keeping tabs on how far and fast you run isn’t the most exciting thing to do. But if you want to burn more fat, you need to do it. Without tracking your intake and outtake, you will never be able to figure out the weaknesses in your fat-burning program. Once you grow accustomed to keeping track, it becomes very rewarding when you have a good day. And since you live in the 21st century, tracking the amount of fat you consume and burn is made easier thanks to all sorts of electronic devices and apps. So make use of those that make the most sense to you and stay on top of your fat-burning game. Boost Your Burn #2: Power Up with Protein br> Every time you eat a meal, toss some protein

  Are there things about yourself that you'd like to change?  Your weight, your habits, and maybe even your outlook on life?  We are trained to think that change is hard, that it takes time. But it really doesn't have to be.  I'm here to argue that lasting change happens in an instant.  I understand that this goes against mainstream belief. Most people believe that change has to be a struggle. We expect to try and fail numerous times before ultimately giving up or succeeding.  Think about this - how many people do you know who struggle with their weight? They want to make a healthy change by getting in shape, but the change never seems to happen.  What is it in your life that you want to change? Do you have inches to lose? Do you have preventable diabetes? Do you have a pair of skinny jeans that you want to fit into?  What is keeping you from making this change in your life?  According to professional speaker and author, Tony Robbins, it'

  All workouts were not created equally. Here are 5 secrets to achieve faster fitness results… Faster Fitness Results Tip 1: Use More Resistance  In order to get the most from each rep it’s important to challenge your muscles, and not to simply go through the motions. If you are able to complete 15 repetitions easily, then the weight is too light. On the flip side, if you aren’t able to perform an exercise through its full range of motion, and find yourself cheating on form, then the weight is too heavy.  The correct weights will feel challenging by your last few repetitions but won’t force you to sacrifice form. Faster Fitness Results Tip 2: Keep it Fresh You may have noticed that most people do the same exercises each time they visit the gym. Maybe you’ve been doing the same exercise routine as long as you can remember—if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it, right? The truth is that exercise routines have expiration dates, and that is the date that they begin t

  In order to have your best body in good health, you must eat healthy. Unfortunately for most,  healthy eating  is a confusing concept. There’s so much contradicting information out there about what is or isn’t healthy that even the most well informed dieter becomes overwhelmed. Should you eat a grain free diet? What about dairy? Is it OK to include fruit? What about rice? How about these granola bars that are labeled as heart healthy? It’s enough to drive you crazy! The most common reaction to this confusion is to give up. Why continue to strive for a healthy diet when a granola bar that’s mostly made with refined sugar is marketed as healthy? I’m going to clear up some of the confusion for you with this very simple, very effective healthy eating tip: Eat low sugar. By eating low sugar I mean check the sugar grams on each thing that you eat throughout the day, and only eat items that contain low single digit or zero sugar grams. This single strategy w

  There's no denying that the holidays have arrived.  Lights have been strung, gifts are being wrapped and holiday treats are everywhere.  It's no secret that most people gain 5 to 10 pounds over the next month. With all the parties, special meals and edible gifts, weight gain is pretty much inevitable...right?  Not so fast.  I've come up with a survival strategy to keep holiday pounds from making a permanent home on your hips.  This strategy is very simple. I'm not expecting you to have the time to log all your calories or eat every meal at home. We are going to be realistic...  Golden Tip to Avoid Holiday Pounds: Spend the next 4 weeks eating like a caveman, with 2 daily exceptions.  Here's why : Holiday pounds are caused by eating too many foods that are high in carbohydrates and simple sugars.  You can avoid all that by sticking with an eating plan created by our pre-historic ancestors, while still keeping things fun by allowing for 2 small daily exceptions.  Th

  Each day is filled with choices. We chose whether or not to exercise, to eat a healthy breakfast, or to do something productive. We chose whether or not to eat that donut, to sleep in, or to watch an extra hour of TV. At the end of each day the sum of your choices pushes you in a direction. It could be pushing you in the direction of fitness and health, if your choices were predominantly wholesome. Or the sum of your choices could be pushing you in the direction of weight gain, health issues and problems. I find this perspective to be helpful when it comes to making a major body transformation. It’s tempting to feel helpless in changing your body when you have so many pounds to lose and so much work to do, since you aren’t able to do it all in one day. However, by capturing the power of each day by making wholesome choices, you will be pushed in the direction of weight loss and health day after day, week after week. Until one day you’ll look in the mirror

 Most of the time, when encouraging you to exercise, I focus on your health and fitness goals. These are two significant benefits, but there’s another side effect of exercise that’s hugely important… How exercise makes you feel. Every workout has an immediate impact on your energy, mood, body chemistry, and even mental functioning. The endorphins released are specifically designed to make you feel good. All of these factors combined create your overall feeling of well-being. Don’t you want to feel good? The tricky part is that most of us are habit driven, and so our activity level (or lack thereof) is fairly consistent day-to-day and week-to-week. This makes the impact of each sedentary day less noticeable since another similar day causes no obvious change. It simply perpetuates your current state of un-wellbeing, with a slow decline. Why this matters: You could begin feeling a lot better than you do today by starting to exercise. This could come as a surprise, especially if you believ

  Do you ever struggle with sticking to your exercise and diet routine? One skipped workout leads to another, and another, and another. Then, before you know it, your fitness progress grinds to a halt. This frustrating cycle is all too common. Many of my clients have asked for a brilliant tip to stick with their exercise plan, and I found the solution in an unlikely place: from the mind of Jerry Seinfeld. The story goes like this… A few decades ago, when he was a touring comedian and the Seinfeld show was new to TV, a young man approached him behind stage at a comedy club to ask for advice. How can I become a better comic? He told the young comic that to become better he should write better jokes. And to write better jokes, he must write every single day. Seinfeld went on to describe his Chain Method for staying consistent. He hangs a big calendar of a whole year on the wall. On every day that he writes, he marks that box with an X. After a few days you have a chain that continues to g

 I know why you’ve been reluctant to jump on the fitness bandwagon, and I’m not blaming you for it.  Because fitness is hard .  Want to know just how hard? Here’s a glimpse into the Fit Life:  Fit Life Truth #1: Exercise Counts Lace up your shoes and hit the gym instead of getting extra sleep, watching TV or doing whatever else it is that you’d rather be doing. Do this 3–5 times each for 30–60 minutes.  Fit Life Truth #2: Nutrition Counts Choose your meals based on the nutritional makeup rather than following your taste buds. Limit your intake of simple carbohydrates and get lots of protein and fiber in each meal.  Fit Life Truth #3: No Room For Junk Turn down your favorite junk foods –even when you really, really want it. Cut simple sugars and harmful, processed fats out of your diet completely.  Fit Life Truth #4: Push Harder Push your body to be stronger, faster and better during each workout. Don’t simply go through the motions in your routine — consistently challenge your muscles

  Talk to 10 people and you’ll get 10 different opinions on the best way to get fit. One will tell you to attend an aerobics class. Another will swear by jogging. Yet another will tell you that dance and biking worked for them. The truth is that there’s really only one effective way to get fit. Before I get into the details, it’s important that we agree on the definition of ‘fit’. Too often thin is mistaken for fit, and that’s not what you should strive for.  When someone is thin, but has very little muscle tissue, they aren’t truly fit.  Here’s why thin doesn’t equal fit: Their body fat percentage will be higher than ideal — even though you won’t see a lot of fat on them, if their muscle percentage is low then fat percentage will be higher. Their resting metabolism will be low, since little muscle is present to burn calories at rest. Their body won’t be functionally strong, which will lead to injuries and frustrations. So how does one get truly fit? It’s this simple: Strength Training

  I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare… This one is a bit different. See the Tortoise and the Hare already had their race. We know who won… But years later the Hare was still upset about the loss. It had been some time since they had both exercised and they had gained some unwanted weight. So the Hare proposed a weight loss competition. Instead of a foot race, it was to see who could lose 10 pounds first. The Tortoise agreed and off they went. The Hare hit the ground running. Literally. He did HOURS of cardio. Running. Running. More running.  He ate VERY little. It would leave even the littlest bunny starving. He thought,  “If I do more and eat less, I’ll be sure to lose weight the fastest!” After the first week, the Hare was down 6lbs. He was starving and exhausted but the results were there. The Tortoise on the other hand ate balanced meals. She only exercised three times. After the first week, she was down 2lbs.   The Hare thought he had this in the bag. He w