Fitness Help

On this Page I tried to include some things that can help someone maintain their health and fitness on their own. Many people become dependent upon Fad diets, Large companies, or even trainers to tell them how to become fit. All of this is fine but it leaves peopl always dependent on someone else. The other route people often take is to just not try, which can never be the option for you. You can get into and stay in great shape by going out and reading about a few important topics related to fitness and nutrition including:
Your Calorie Requirements or Base Metabolic Rate(BMR)
The Use of Macro Nutrients A.K.A. Fat, Carbs, & Protein. Primarily be sure to use a balance at each meal.
The Importance of more smaller meals often
The Importance of Muscle - Hint: It helps you keep off fat and stay thin so stop fad or extreme dieting because when you do, you lose muscle!

In saying that, let me give you a basic understanding of how this all works. In general, your body is a survival machine. It does not care about what you look like in the mirror. The body has a set amount of Energy(Calories) it needs in a day to maintain itself. That amount is your Caloric Requirement or BMR. The more active you are in a day, the greater increase you will need in calories to maintain that Base weight that you are. Now most people want to lose fat, thus you need to make a deficit in the calories you consume compared to the calories you need. Roughly a 500 Calorie reduction a day from your Caloric requirements will allow you to lose One pound per week. You should not cut calories by more than 1000 calories or muscle will definetely be lost. Extreme weight loss causes so many problems that you should never do it this way. First, when you start eating again you will put on fat at a rapid pace because the body is worried about survival. Second, you lose muscle. Muscle burns at a higher metabolic rate, thus it helps you stay thin and makes you look firm & toned, therefore, Muscle is a must have. I will get more into muscle in a few. To help you figure this caloric requirement out, use the Excel sheet on this page.

The next area I mentioned was Macro Nutrients. This includes fat, carbs, and protein. I could write a book on this and each of their importance but the main thing I need to stress is that they are all important and required. Never cut out one of them as a part of some fad goofball diet. If something seems extreme, its crap. People don't want to work so they look for shortcuts. But if you stick to the basics, you will be fit for life. Now lets get a brief look at each of them. First, there are carbs, which are the body's gasoline. Carbs are what are meant to gives us our energy to function, whether its thinking or running. Carbs are in a form ready to be used for energy. One gram of Carbs equals 4 calories. When consuming your carbs try to think about what you will be doing the next few hours after the meal. If you are going to sleep, you shouldn't have too many carbs. However, If you are about to kick it out at the gym or run...you may want to get some carbs in you if you want to perform well. As a rough estimate, having 50 - 60% percent of your calories come from carbs is a good start. If you are dieting be on the lower end of that, but if you are fit, active, and just maintaining good health, you should and could be at the higher end of that spectrum. Fats are nothing more than stored energy. The fat on our bodies is just that. Meant for a rainy day when we can't find any food on the hunt, it is the fat that keeps us functioning. Fat should not make up more than 20-25% of your diet and should be closer to 15% when trying to lose weight or dieting. Another key to Fat is that the ones we usually eeat are saturated. Research and focus on getting your fats from healthy sources such as nuts or fish. The Final macronutrient is Protein, which is the builder of the three. It is what is needed to build muscle. As Americans we get plenty of protein usually in our diets but the problem is it is low quality because it is attached to a ton of fat. When eating protein, we need to get it from lean sources such as fish, chicken breast, lean red meats, turkey, or egg whites. Another benefit of protein is that it is complex for the body to break down. This causes the metabolism to increase and slows the release of our meals. Example would be if you ate an all carbs meal it could release fast into your system, but by adding protein, the complexity slows its release to be more steady. This steady release keeps you fuller longer, gives you steady energy, and prevents the food from being sent to be stored as fat. If you eat a meal that is either too large or releases too quickly, the body can not handle the load thus much is wasted or stored as fat. This is why small meals more often is so important. If you wish to understand this further, look into how insulin is used when eating.

The last thing I want you to be sure of is how important muscle is. I have mentioned it already but it is the most abused part of dieting. People crash diet and burn through thier most precious asset, MUSCLE. See the body needs energy and when you don't provide it through carbs, guess where it gets it from?? Thats right, MUSCLE! Overtraining or improper nutrition are the 2 greatest culprits of losing muscle. So think of what your body will look like after a lifetime of yo-yo or crash dieting. It goes something like this.....lose muscle and fat...put on fat....lose muscle and fat...put on fat. So after you have done this pattern for part of a lifetime, you are soft, loose, and easily put on fat. Muscle is one of those things that gets your base calorie intake up. When you have more muscle, you can eat more without putting on fat. If 2 people both weigh 180 pounds, but one is muscle bound and the other is chubby....The muscle bound guy can eat much more in a day. His BMR is Higher due to muscle. Fat doesn't require much to exist and hang around so it doesn't help you or allow you to eat more. Another key thing about muscle is that it tells your body what to do with what you eat. To have muscle tone, build it, or even maintain it throughout a lifetime..you need to lift or do some form of resistance training. In doing so you are telling your body what you need the nutrition for. As I mentioned in the beginning, the body is an adapting surviving machine. So when you lift weights, you are telling your body.."I need MUSCLE TO LIVE". When you tell it that, it says" OK...WE WILL SEND YOUR FOOD TO MUSCLE". What is happening is that you are conditioning your body. Your muscle cells become sensitive to nutrition uptake. But when you sit around all day, and stack on the fat...You are telling your body exactly what it needs. You then condition your fat cells to be more sensitive. I don't think you want this to happen do you????

This has just briefly tapped into the importance of nutrition and exercise. Remember, you are telling your body what you want and need based on your lifestyle.

Hope this helped and please use the Excel file and links to get started. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or need any help putting together a program.