Congratulations Amber on losing your first 8 pounds!
So I’ve been working out now for almost a month…good grief it went fast! I’m getting excited/nervous for my weigh in since I really want to see a big impact on the scales. The frustration though is that I don’t see a big difference yet. I have been busting my butt to get these pounds off and until last week I really didn’t see much improvement.
I got frustrated about week 3 and started complaining to all my friends and family. I didn’t understand how I could be putting forth such a great effort and not see any results. I know I’m getting into better shape…I don’t get as winded walking up stairs, I have more energy and endurance and things that were a challenge for me in week 1 are now getting easier. But hello? Why haven’t I dropped a size yet? Then this week I finally started noticing it. I tried on an old pair of jeans and I squished my butt into them. The squish wasn’t pretty but at least I got in. Mind you these are my fat jeans (right now I’m wearing my really fat jeans). There’s a difference, a big one.
So I guess the lesson learned is just to keep going. Keep eating small meals every day to stimulate my slooooow metabolism. And keep going back for support from the people who love me.
Hey Everyone, it’s Amber again. Still working on my 805 Challenge to lose 50 lbs! This week has been awesome as I am finally settling into a routine. I have been working out with Melody 3 days a week and eating all kinds of fresh veggies and fruit, yummm! Luckily I am one of those people who will eat just about anything so I have no problem eating healthy things. Although I’m not going to lie, I miss chocolate.
Melody suggested that I get in more than 3 days a week of exercise. Like really 6 days would be perfect. And while I would LOVE to work out with Melody 6 days a week, I’m guessing she would like to have her weekends off and have a life besides training me. So I racked my brain for what other options I have for getting exercise…I have been going for long power walks with friends and hiking with my husband. But its really not the cardio I need to burn up those calories.
I started looking into fitness classes, spinning, cardio dance, yoga etc. So this Friday I am taking my first class, Zumba…it’s like Latin dance aerobics. I love to dance and feel like this will be a fun way for me to burn some calories. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes, I’m nervous about joining a new class but very excited to get started.
The next weigh-in is coming fast…I’d better get dancing!
07.27Carry that weight!
This week I want to focus on what is probably the most common goal in exercising, and the main motivator for most people to become involved in fitness. I want to talk about weight-loss.
Wanting to lose weight is what gets most people moving, but before we put on our running shoes and start psyching ourselves up for hard work, it’s important to understand the difference between cardiovascular training and weight training.
For most people, thinking weight-loss means thinking cardio; and this is a good start. Cardio is great for conditioning your heart and making the body healthier by reducing blood pressure, improving mental health by reducing stress and reducing the risk of diabetes.
But when you go for a run, or a swim, or a bike ride, you begin burning calories when you start, and you stop burning them as soon as you stop exercising.
Weight training, on the other hand, has a longer lasting effect. During weight training, muscles are forced to adapt to an external load. In doing so, they grow stronger and bigger. That means that during those sore days that follow a trip to the weight room, your body is working overtime to repair muscle tissue and to provide all the nutrients the muscles need to strengthen and grow.
This means the exercise will stay with you, burning calories for days after you’ve finished. That’s right- while you eat, sleep, work and relax; your body is working away, using up lots of extra calories and helping you lose weight.
Now, don’t think I’m saying weight training is the only way to go for weight-loss, or that cardio is not important in this process. Far from it. The point is, beating yourself up by running 10 miles a day is not the answer. You don’t need to work yourself to death and still wonder why you aren’t losing much weight. Don’t make the process harder on yourself, or you’ll be that much more likely to give up.
Your best bet in building a successful weight-loss program is what we call interval training. Incorporate short blasts of cardio (say 2 to 3 minutes at a time) throughout your weight training workout.
Cardio is great for your body, but cardio alone won’t help you lose those extra pounds as fast as you want to. Make weight training a big part of your weight-loss workout, and put your exercise to work for you!
Sleep is something most of us take for granted – and, obviously, something we do without thinking. In fact, nothing else has the potential to affect your health quite as much as the amount and the quality of sleep you get each night.
Most of us are caught up in our daily schedule and don’t even take the time to wonder if we’re getting enough sleep, but this really is something we should all strive to get right. Most of us need between seven and eight hours of sleep to stay healthy.
What do I mean by ‘healthy’? Aside from weakening your immune system, affecting your ability to concentrate and – according to recent studies – increasing your risk of Type 2 Diabetes, sleep deprivation is directly linked with unexpected weight gain. It can be hard to eat right and to exercise as much as we know we should, so proper sleep is that much more important because keeping your body in its natural rhythm can actually keep those extra pounds from creeping up on us. Try losing weight without giving your body a full night of rest – it’s nearly impossible!
But even though it’s even more important for our health that we get proper sleep than work out, hitting the gym can actually help to regulate our sleeping habits and give us the rest we sorely need.
If you ever feel ‘too tired’ to exercise, it’s probably because you’re not sleeping soundly. Luckily, regular exercise not only gives us more energy during the day, but also makes it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep all night. Win-win!
Just remember to avoid strenuous exercise within three hours of going to bed. Elevating your temperature and heart rate at this time will actually make it harder to get to sleep. It is best, for your sleep schedule, to work out between the morning and the early evening – say right after or just before work.
As a new father, I know exactly how much my life is changed with a good or a bad night’s sleep. Getting in those full hours of shut-eye can mean staying slim, healthy, happy and energetic all day. So indulge yourself! Take time for all the sleep, and give yourself the chance to make every night and every day a good one.
07.02805 Challenge Begins
Hey Everyone…I’m Amber, the newest challenger for the 805 Challenge. I am lucky enough to have the help of my amazing trainer Melody and Fitness 805 to help me reach my weight loss goal of 50 lbs! I am really excited to be on this new journey and to see what my body looks like at the end of the challenge, it’s been a while since I fit into clothes that I like.
Like most people my extra 50 lbs did not happen overnight, but it was still a shock when I finally got on the scale and realize that I have let things go for far too long. I started really packing on the pounds about 10 years ago when I got married. I was so in love and didn’t really care what went into my mouth. Then about 6 months after we got married we decided to start a business together. We spent every waking moment working on our new coffee shop and had no time to cook so we ate fast food for almost every meal. Popeye’s Chicken and Burger King were our favorites and since my husband Eric has the fastest metabolism this side of the Mississippi, he didn’t gain a pound. Meanwhile every piece of fried chicken that I ate stuck to my thighs, stomach and hips. The following year I had two close family members die, my sister and my grandmother. Then all rules went out the window. I didn’t care what I ate and I tried to stuff my feelings with food to ignore the grief and the sadness. I ballooned from a size 7 to a size 14 in a matter of two years. Not cool.
So here I am 10 years later, 50 lbs heavier and ready to get my life back on track. I have a great support team in Jason at Fitness 805 and Melody and my amazing husband. They are all cheering me on as I sweat and complain and work this big booty off. Melody and I worked out this morning at Manning Park, I can’t tell you how fun it is to workout outdoors! I always imagined that working out involved a gym and I have never been very fond of gyms. But this is so fun! Each time we meet she creates new workouts, using whatever is around us. A tree, a rock, a pole. She is like a fitness ninja! I love it! So stay tuned, I’ll keep you updated on my progress and we will do monthly weigh-ins so we can actually see the difference on camera.
Here we go!!
Amber with her truck
We’re so excited to announce that Amber is our new 805 Challenge contestant (check out her video below). Tune in for frequent updates on Amber’s progress as she goes through her new lifestyle transformation.
Do you know what you’ve been eating? It may sound strange, but most of us know less than you would expect.
While I’m happy to say that nutrition seems to be something more and more people are thinking about, too many people unfortunately still tend to think about it the wrong way – and think that just because a food claims to be ‘low fat’ or ‘low calorie’ that it’s healthy. Not true.
The most important thing to realize when trying to eat healthy is that proper nutrition goes beyond counting calories, and requires first that we all educate ourselves. A lot of harm actually comes from five, sometimes invisible ingredients everywhere in the food we eat that we should strive to stay away from.
To keep better track of what we’re eating, there is one thing we all need to be doing every time we’re buying food in the supermarket: Read the ingredients! Find out what’s in it before you eat it.
In this age of processed foods, pre-made meals, and general bad eating habits, our best defense against unhealthy diets is staying away from these five ingredients:
1) Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Oils
2) Salt
3) Sugar
4) High Fructose Corn Syrup
5) Artificial Sweeteners (especially Aspartame)
Keeping track of these ingredients starts at the supermarket. Every time you pick something off the shelf, ask the question: What are the first five ingredients?
If anything on this list is in the first five ingredients, put it back on the shelf. It will do more harm than good, it’s not worth it. Also, keep in mind that if something you buy has a never-ending list of ingredients, it’s probably not good for you.
If you limit your consumption of these five things for a full month, I guarantee you will lose a MINIMUM of 5 pounds. Seriously. That’s the effect of these unhealthy ingredients.
Not only will your weight benefit from avoiding the things on this list, but you will be helping to avoid serious disease in the future. Limiting your consumption of these items will significantly drop your risk of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and many other major illnesses.
Remember, you are in total control of what you eat. No food in the store can hide these harmful ingredients from you. Know what you’re eating, educate yourself, and take the first step toward a healthy diet.
If you use Twitterfeed, then you probably know how much fun it is to post to your blog and have it automatically go to Twitter and Facebook. That’s what we have set up now so that you can see our posts everywhere throughout the Fitness805 social network.
The Importance of Washing Your Hands: Germs at the Gym
Let’s talk about washing our hands. It’s a pretty simple act that can actually have a huge effect on your health. Washing your hands often can do a lot to keep you from getting sick, and to keep you from sharing germs with everyone around you.
Believe me, as a new father of a toddler who makes sure to be a ‘walking germ pool’ by touching everything possible, I know how important hygiene can be.
In public places, people leave behind germs with every touch. This can pose a big problem at the Gym. We go to the Gym for our health, but we can sometimes make backward progress by exposing ourselves to the germs of other Gym-goers.
How to wash your hands
Most of us take washing our hands very casually, but E-coli, MRSA and other staph-a bacteria, as well as common cold and flu viruses can be left on surfaces at the gym. Proper hand washing is necessary to keep them out of your life. Most people end up bringing bacteria home without meaning to just because they aren’t paying enough attention to properly washing up.
Here’s how to do it right:
1) Rinse your hands first. You want to be sure the soap will cover every part of your hands equally, and for that they need to be thoroughly rinsed.
2) Lather and scrub for at least 20 seconds, being sure to scrub every part of the hand including the fingers, tips, the back of the hands and under the fingernails. Giving your hands the once over isn’t going to cut it. If you’re not thorough, you’ll end up hanging on to bacteria better left at the gym.
3) Rinse well. You used the soap to clean your hands, but the bacteria can survive. Carefully rinsing off every last bit of soap is the only way to be sure to get rid of all lingering germs.
4) Dry your hands. If possible, try and turn off the water faucet with the paper towel, or your elbows, to keep from putting the bacteria you just washed off back on your hands. And don’t touch that door on the way out! Public restroom door handles are coated with bacteria.
Diligent hand washing is something worth taking seriously. Wash your hands before you head home. You work hard at the gym to be healthy. Don’t bring germs home to your loved ones, and don’t fall short in avoiding illness.