Just getting started exercising? Congratulations! Your decision is one that will bring you face to face with improved health, looks, energy, and more. While there is a great temptation to swallow the entire gym whole in one bite, it’s better to take stock and come up with goals that fit your needs.
Ready to create some gym-worthy goals that will help you reach your destination of a better, healthier life? Get started with the list below.

Goal 1: Find a Time

The first thing you have to do before you work out is figure out when you’re going to head to the gym. Sure, you may go to the gym on a whim on occasion, but you can’t depend on these spur-of-the-moment trips to help you meet your other fitness goals. Rather, you’re going to have to come up with a regular time to get to the gym. Whether it’s at 4 a.m., during your lunch hour, or right after work, having a predetermined time to exercise will help you with the next goal.

Goal 2: Stick with It

Once you’ve figured out when you can work out, it’s up to you to make sure you follow through. Though you may think the benefits of exercising are enough to keep you going strong, you may be wrong. To make it a little easier to stick with your routine, give yourself a goal of sticking with your routine three days a week for three months. Once you’ve been at it for that long, it should be cemented into your schedule, making it easier to stick with exercise for the long haul. If you constantly need another goal, reset your clock for another three months a week or two before completing the initial three months.

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. - Jim Ryun

Goal 3: Trim or Tone

Toning up and trimming down are often the primary purposes for working out. If these are reasons for your new interest in exercise, use them to your advantage. Every day you work out, write down your weight, the most important measurements to you, and the exercises you perform. Over time, you’ll be able to see improvements in all three areas. And if you’re having trouble in one (it can be difficult to continue losing weight after a certain point), you can be encouraged by other statistics, such as your lowered blood pressure or how much longer you can stay on the treadmill now than when you first began.

Goal 4: Be Honest

When you’re first getting into your exercise regimen, it’s easy to be forthcoming about your workout routine. After all, you’re in the gym three times a day, lifting more weights in a day than you have in the past four years, and running six miles during lunch. But it becomes more difficult to be honest when you’ve been at it a while. To keep yourself honest, get an exercise partner to hold you accountable. The best way for this to work is to work out with this person every time you go to the gym. This way, your partner knows when you’ve worked out and can help you work out at the intensity necessary for you to meet your other exercise goals.

Goal 5: Limit Rewards

It’s not uncommon for people to feel they deserve rewards for every positive thing they do. If you’re one of these people, you may seek a reward for your exercising prowess. But it’s important to see the way you feel and look as your reward. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with missing a day at the gym or licking an ice cream now and then. However, if you’re not careful, your reward system can wind up making it impossible for you to meet your exercise-minded goals.

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When the sun begins peaking over the horizon, you shouldn’t be burying your head underneath a pillow, praying it will get dark and turn into night again. Instead, you should take advantage of the early hours to get in an hour of exercise. Why? Because the benefits far outweigh your desire to sleep in a bit.

Benefit #1: You’ll Lose Weight

Exercising during any time of the day is proven to help you obtain and maintain a healthy weight. However, recent research hints that exercising in the morning gives your weight-loss goal an extra push. How’s it do this? By improving your life a few ways all at once.

The first change is that working out during the first few hours of the day helps you sleep better, whereas working out in the evening can actually make it more difficult to sleep at night. Since healthy sleep habits assist your weight-loss goals, it only makes sense to want better sleep.

Working out in the morning also helps your metabolism to get high early on in the day and stay there throughout your day.

In addition, exercising early puts you in a healthy mindset from the moment you wake up, helping you make better decisions later in the day.

Benefit #2: You’ll Stick with It

Another reason morning workouts benefit you is the ease with which you can stick with them. Whereas it can be difficult to find time during your busy day to squeeze in exercise, making exercise the first thing you do during the day ensures you get in some calorie-burning time no matter what the rest of the day may bring.

Think you may not have the strength to stick with an early morning exercise regimen? Remember that in addition to sleeping better, early exercising gives you increased energy and gets the blood pumping throughout your body. This helps you fire on all cylinders, whether you have a big meeting coming up or have to pull a double shift at the warehouse.

Benefit #3: You’ll Get a Raise

As if an energy boost in the morning and increased metabolism weren’t reason enough for working out in the morning, this early-morning fix-all may be just what your career needs. If you’re skeptical, think about your attitude at work. Have you been down in the dumps? Too tired to go the extra mile?

Working out first thing in the morning may give you the boost you need to get past these issues. Once your boss recognizes your improved can-do attitude, your sudden willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, and the infectious smile you carry everywhere you go, you may find yourself on the fast track to promotion. And to think-all of this just because you woke up a few minutes early for some running, weight lifting, bike riding, swimming, or calisthenics!

Welcome!

WELCOME!

Reshanda Tatum

Cheryl Fidelia

Angela Clemons

Timika Bynog

Gaynor Lewis

We welcome Angie Kopec and Natasha Conboy to our evening boot camp class!

What is the HCG Diet?

This diet plan was formulated by Dr. Albert T Simeons, who stated that a hormone HCG, can help men and women lose unwanted body fat, thereby assisting in weight loss.

The human chorionic gonadotropin hormone is a glycoprotein hormone naturally produced in pregnant women by the placenta, to nourish the growing fetus and provide nutrients.

The function of the HCG hormone is to signal the hypothalamus gland in the brain to mobilize fat stores and release the fat from the reserves. The hormone thus fuels the body with required energy by using up the fat from the reserves in the body.

Okay, okay enough of the science…

The HCG diet plan claims that it can help a person lose 1-3 pounds of weight per day. A person on the HCG diet plan is required to take HCG hormone (125 i.u. to 200 i.u. of Hcg everyday) on a daily basis. The number of days in this particular weight loss will depend on whether a person is taking injection or drops and the amount of weight wants to lose. Mostly, this diet plan runs over a period of 23 days.

One of the many things that scares me is that a person on this diet is strictly allowed to consume only up to 500 calories. Thus, besides taking HCG hormone, one also has to supplement the hormone intake with an extremely low calorie diet. The diet comprises of raw, steamed or grilled vegetables like spinach, celery, cabbage, etc. Organic fed veal, beef and skinned chicken are also permitted.

But is this diet plan safe?

HCG Diet Side Effects

Nevertheless, there are some human chorionic gonadotropin side effects that people on such a diet face. They are as follows:

Some HCG diet side effects in women are stomach ache, swelling of extremities, pelvic pain, etc. which occur due to Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), that has been caused as a result of an HCG diet. People on HCG diet injections are also seen to experience additional side effects of HCG diet, such as muscle cramps, lumps, gynecomastia, premature puberty in men, etc.

Another side effect is sudden weight gain. What!!!
Well, an HCG diet calls for consumption of only 500 calories a day, which is not enough for supporting normal brain function. The body compensates the deficit by using up the stored glycogen, protein and fat. The additional hormone will suppress appetite, however, once one is off the diet and begins to eat normally, the weight lost is gained back. Moreover, since people have starved for over 3 weeks (500 calorie diet!) they usually tend to eat more once the diet program is over.

Irregardless of the alleged HCG diet side effects, it is important to remember that even though the HCG diet proposes to help with weight loss, it is yet another crash diet and is not a healthy way to lose weight.

Here is what our Food and Drug Administration has to say about HCG as a dietary supplement,

It is not FDA approved for weight loss at this time for the following reason, and I quote ” It is not possible to obtain uniformity in the reporting of results solely through the use of a common standard, since hCG is a complex molecule.”

To lose weight in a healthy manner there is no shortcut. Eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly is mandatory for losing weight the right way!

Just get yourself to the gym and do Boot Camp! Call me at 254-247-4999

American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition  http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/29/9/940.pdf

American College Of Bariatric Physicians http://www.asbp.org/resources/uploads/files/HCG%20Position%20Statement.pdf

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/06/hcg-diet-reviewed-by-fullbars-dr-michael-snyder/

Welcome Melissa Beckham!

Welcome Melissa Beckham!

I want to welcome Paige Claro and Norma Martinez to our evening Boot Camp class! Oh and they totally rocked the “Murph” workout today. Just sayin.