Fit & Healthy Buffalo- Fitness Success After 40

  I saw an infomercial the other day for a weight loss solution targeting the frustrated people who,   “fail to see results from diet and exercise.”   Had to scratch my head on that one. When does diet and exercise fail? This, of course, is a trick question. Diet and exercise don’t fail. The only way for diet and exercise not to work is if you fail to stick with it long enough for the results to show. Plain and simple. End of story. I’ve seen more clients than I can count transform their bodies through the power of diet and exercise. Without surgery. Without gadgets. Without pills. The real question to ask, when you’re not making progress towards your fat loss goal, is not why diet and exercise has failed you, but rather why have you not stuck with it? How to stick with a diet and exercise plan… I will not downplay the hard work that goes into sticking with a diet and exercise plan, day-after-day, week-after-week, in order to achieve a stunning body transformation. It takes dedication,

  Here are my 5 personal lifestyle rules. Stick with them at least 90% of the time to keep your body healthy and hot. Lifestyle Rule #1: Don’t Eat Just To Eat There is no place in your healthy lifestyle for mindless snacking. I’m talking about a tub of popcorn at the movies or a bag of chips in front of the TV. All the calories ingested from mindless snacking have to end up somewhere…and that somewhere is around your waist or on your thighs. Snacks are fine when you are aware of how much you’re eating in order to balance it with the rest of your meals for the day. Lifestyle Rule #2: Stand (And Walk) When Possible Have you heard the saying sitting is the new smoking? The idea is that a lifetime of sitting all-day-every-day is as harmful to your body as smoking. Think for a moment about how much of your day is spent sitting. You wake up and sit down for breakfast. You sit on the drive to work. You take the elevator up. You sit for most of 8 hours at work. You take the elevator down. You

Raise your hand if you love a “how am I doing?” quiz. (I know I love them!) I’ve got a little fitness & health self-audit for you today to help keep you on track with your healthy habits. This can be a good self-check to see if you need to double down on your healthy habits after the past few months. How to take this quiz:  Think about your past week, then answer the questions based on your actions (vs. your intentions!), and keep track of your “score” as you go. Over the past 7 days, how many days did you: 1.  Work out for 20+ minutes 1 - 0-1 days 2 - 2 days 3 - 3 days 4 - 4 days 5 - 5+ days 2. Get 7+ hours of sleep 1 - 0-1 days 2 - 2 days 3 - 3 days 4 - 4 days 5 - 5+ days 3. Drink at least 8+ glasses of water 1 - 0-1 days 2 - 2 days 3 - 3 days 4 - 4 days 5 - 5+ days 4. Eat fruit and/or veggies at every meal 1 - 0-1 days 2 - 2 days 3 - 3 days 4 - 4 days 5 - 5+ days 5. Avoid sugary, fried, and/or salty food 1 - 0-1 days 2 - 2 days 3 - 3 days 4 - 4 days 5 - 5+ days 6. Work on self-d

  What’s the big secret that they know about losing fat, getting lean, and looking amazing? The answer is as simple as it is difficult: Avoid Sugar. While you do your best to eat healthy, do you know how much sugar you are actually consuming everyday? The answer will surprise you. The average American consumes over 80 grams of sugar everyday, an amount that’s easily three times more than is safe and healthful. How much sugar do you eat? Write down the sugar count on everything you eat for the next few days and then find your average sugar gram intake. Now work on slashing this number. Part of the problem is that food items are often sneaky about how much sugar is really hiding within. Deceiving messages on the packaging imply that the contents are beneficial, causing us to ignore the high sugar content. In the end whatever supposed benefits being advertised are overshadowed by the negative effect of the sugar. What’s the big deal about taking in a lot of sugar? Well, you won’t achieve

  That can’t be true! How could it be? I’ve always heard you need to eat less and move more. Let me explain. In order to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit doesn’t mean 0 calories… A calorie deficit means that you need to burn more calories than you consume. Here’s where most people get it wrong though. Your body needs a MINIMUM number of calories to function properly. Your heart beats. Your lungs breathe. Your organs function. Your brain thinks.   This all requires fuel (aka calories). If you eat too FEW calories, your body will regulate in order to protect itself (survive) . Your metabolism will slow down, you will burn muscle for energy, and your body will want to store more fat.  Fat is the longest, slowest burning energy source that we have. Will you lose weight this way?  Absolutely. But the goal isn’t to weigh 0 lbs… The goal is to be strong, lean, and toned. FOR LIFE! So eat the amount your body needs and get better results!  Win/Win. Yours In H