Fit & Healthy Buffalo- Fitness Success After 40

  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

 When it comes to excuses for not exercising, I’ve heard them all.  Sometimes the excuse is self-inflicted:  I don’t have the time. Other times the excuse is pure procrastination:  I’m going to start as soon as tax season ends. And then there are excuses that are downright funny:  I don’t like to sweat.  As delicately as possible, I point out to these well meaning excuse-makers that, even though they don’t want to do it, exercise is an important part of cultivating a strong, healthy and attractive body. I tell them that if they would just exercise 2 to 4 times each week they would feel a dramatic improvement in their daily life, starting with renewed energy and strength. Then I bring up the health benefits and explain how many of their health problems would improve or even disappear. I talk about how great they will feel, and look, dropping those extra pounds and rediscovering a slender figure. Even with all this experience in excuse squashing, there used t

  If losing fat were easy then we’d all look like fitness models, right? Unfortunately, the fat loss game is more frustrating than most care to admit. The scale quickly becomes a dreaded enemy—a constant bearer of bad news. If the number on your scale won’t budge then read on for an explanation: Possibility #1 : You’re Not Eating Enough Calories This only happens in cases of severe calorie restriction, so don’t take it as a license to eat whatever you’d like. When you’re trying to drop a few pounds by eating next to nothing, it actually counteracts your efforts. There’s a base number of calories that you should be eating in order to maintain your proper bodily functions, including fat loss, so check with a doctor or nutritionist to make sure that you’re eating enough. Possibility #2 : You’re Eating Too Many Carbs Processed carbs will promote fat storage quicker than you can say the alphabet backwards. Blood sugar and insulin levels always respond the same to processed carbs – whether t

 A toned, lean stomach is the ultimate sign of a fitness plan that’s working. It’s also one of the hardest things to achieve. It’s time that you forget everything you’ve heard about how to sculpt your abs. The truth is that crunches simply won’t give you a six-pack. Ever. Doing crunches with the hope that it will turn your midsection into a washboard is to operate under the most widely held fitness myth. I’m talking about the spot reducing myth. Here’s the truth: training one area of your body will not specifically burn fat from that area. Even those who have heard that spot reducing is a myth often still train as if it is true. So here’s the hard truth that you need to face: Doing crunches will not magically make your tummy shrink, it will not cause your muffin top to melt away, and it will not give you washboard abs. Only a reduction in body fat will do that for you. So want the secret to great abs? The secret to great abs is a combination of fat burning cardio,