We’ve all heard that snacking is great for the metabolism…but have you taken it too far?

In other words, your excessive snacking may be killing your fitness results.

Let’s face it, there are only so many extra calories that the body can take before it adds those on as unwanted fat.

Even if you’re eating perfectly healthy meals and putting in your time at the gym, if your snacking is out of control then your results will be disappointing.

Here’s what you need to know to avoid The Snack Trap:

1) Calories Count. Even when you’re snacking on “healthy” food, you’ve got to keep track of how many calories that you’re taking in. Almonds are healthy, but if you down 800 extra calories in them you’ll quickly gain weight.

2) Fill Up on Protein & Fat. A lot of well-meaning people are still afraid of fat. They think that if their snack is high in fat then it will end up on their body as fat. This is simply not true. Healthy fat, such as avocado or almonds, is a wonderful thing to snack on as it fills you up and keeps you full longer.

3) Avoid Sugar Calories. Sugar is an awful thing to snack on when weight loss is your goal. Refined sugar is a catalyst for fat storage, so avoid any snack that contains sugar. Remember that eating sugar will satiate your hunger for a very short period of time, and then you’ll quickly be hungry again.

4) Don’t Be Fooled By 100-Calorie Packs. A popular marketing technique is to package junk food into 100-calorie packs. These could be crackers, cookies, chips…basically any guilty snack food you could think of. The premise is that since you’re only eating 100 calories, the snack is healthy. I’m sorry, folks, but eating 100 calories of junk food is not a healthy snack. You are better off avoiding the junk completely and eating something wholesome.

5) Use The ‘Is It Real’ Test. As a rule of thumb, you should use the “Is it real?” test when deciding if a snack is worth eating. The test goes like this: If your snack can go bad, then it’s good for you. If your snack can’t go bad, then it’s bad for you. The idea is to eat fresh, real foods that are unprocessed and wholesome. These real foods are naturally filled with fiber, vitamins, and minerals and will assist you in achieving your fitness goals.

6) Avoid Refined Carbohydrates. Processed and refined carbohydrates make up the bulk of popular snack foods. Take a look around the snack aisle at the grocery store and you will see that most packaged snacks are made with grains. When your goal is to lose weight and increase lean muscle then eating refined grains will work against you. If you only take one tip away from this article, let it be to remove grain-based snacks from your life. This single change could very well recharge your weight loss.

Now you know how to snack in a healthy way that will not derail your fitness goals.

Remember that exercise plays a huge part in getting in shape and losing weight.

Call or email me today to get started on a results-driven exercise program.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.

If you don’t eat right, neither will your children.

As much as you’d like to see the kids enthusiastically eating a pile of green veggies, you’ll need to be the first one to dig in. The easiest way to model healthy eating habits is to eat most of your meals at home.

When you eat out, the kid’s menus options are mainly fried and carbohydrate-filled, and most come with a sugary beverage. When you make your own meals at home center the meal around a lean protein, such as chicken or fish, and then add in lots of colorful veggies. Start with the recipe for Blackberry Chicken below.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.

Wouldn’t it be great if your kids naturally enjoyed exercise? If this were the case then childhood obesity wouldn’t be the looming problem that it is.As adults we exercise to improve health, stay fit, and control weight. But what motivates a child to be physically active? Fun. Ultimately, if children and adults enjoy an activity, they’re more likely to stick with it.

As you know, an inactive child has a greater chance of becoming an inactive adult if healthy habits aren’t instilled early in life. And it’s never too early to start.

What better way to get your kids moving than to find a fun exercise activity your whole family can enjoy together? Your family will not only be healthier and trimmer, but will spend quality time connecting and set habits that may last a lifetime.

Just remember that exercising as a family won’t look like your typical workout. Here are some fun, creative ways to incorporate exercise into the life of your family.

Make Chore Time Fun Time
Let’s face it: chores and kids don’t mix. Not willingly at least. Chores and fun don’t usually mix, either. How can you combine chores with fitness while making it fun at the same time?

Turn up your family’s favorite tunes and sing and dance while cleaning the house. Let the kids take turns choosing the music. All ages can be involved. The youngest can pick up toys or sweep the floors. The older kids can vacuum, dust, and help with laundry.

While you’re at it, turn chores into a competition. Who can clean his or her room the fastest? (Without stuffing everything in the closet.)

Dance Party
Want a little more wiggle in your family exercise routine? Invite the kids’ friends over for a dance party. Move the furniture out of the way, turn down the lights, and turn up the tunes! Then get moving.

Kids will have a great time with this. If you have a Wii dance game, take turns in dance competition.

Family Fitness Nights
Family fun night is often spent sitting around watching a movie or playing a board game. How can you turn family nights into fitness nights?

Go on a bike ride together. Head to a nearby trail in the woods and go on a hike. Invite another family to join you and organize a soccer game, whiffleball tournament, or relay races. Set up a badminton net in the backyard.

If there’s snow on the ground, get out the sleds and head to a nearby hill. What about roller-skating as a family? Now there’s a fun family workout! Let each family member take turns choosing which activity to do on family nights, but keep the nights focused on fun fitness.

Hire a Personal Trainer
Each person has different fitness needs and goals. Call or email me today to design a workout program for each family member.

Track Progress
A great way to stay motivated as a family to keep exercising is to track individual progress. If one family member needs to lose weight and another is trying to bench press heavier weight, track both of their progress and encourage them along the way.

You can also have all family members wear a pedometer and reward the person with the most steps, or choose an exercise of the month. Good choices are squats, lunges, sit-ups, push-ups, or jump rope. At the beginning of the month, each family member must perform his or her maximum number of repetitions. After a month of training, the person with the highest percentage of improvement gets a small reward.

And keep progress at the forefront with a chart on your refrigerator to track your family’s fitness goals.

A Way of Life
When fitness is incorporated into everyday life, it won’t become a drag or another thing to fit into your already busy schedule. Set aside just an hour two to three times a week to get moving as a family. Your kids will have fun and learn valuable life lessons.

Call or email today and I will schedule a time to meet with you one-on-one to strategize the quickest and most effective route to meeting your family’s fitness goals.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.

1. Stay Hydrated. Drink water throughout your day, rather than calorie-filled drinks.
2. Cut Your Carbs. Eliminate bread from your diet, as well as carb-filled snacks like pretzels or chips.
3. Exercise Your Abs. Perform the above ab exercises every other day.
4. No More Sugar. Eating sweets is the easiest way to gain fat, so avoid sugar.
5. Make Exercise Count. To make sure your exercise routine is effective, call or email me today.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.

You want your love handles gone.You dream of what it would be like to have a six pack.

On top of being less than attractive, excess belly fat increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease. While your midsection is one of the most difficult areas of the body to trim and tone, it can be done!

But it’s going to take some work.

If your abs are completely hidden under an oversized belly, it takes more than just crunches to reveal toned muscle underneath. To burn off this extra layer of fat, you’ll need to increase the intensity and consistency of your workouts and cut the junk out of your diet.

Get 30 to 60 minutes of challenging exercise five days each week. Call or email me to make your workouts more effective.

In addition to your regular workouts, include an ab workout every other day. What should your ab-centric workout look like?

Check out the exercises below to find what you should add to your ab routine. Choose at least four of the following exercises and perform 15 to 20 reps of each.

The Bicycle
One of the best ab workouts that also works your obliques (side muscles) and back is the bicycle. Lying on a mat, put your hands behind your head and gently support your head with your fingers. Lift your knees toward your chest and lift your shoulder blades up off the floor. Twist your body toward the right, bringing your right elbow toward your left knee as you extend your right leg out straight. Switch sides by bringing your left elbow toward your right knee and extending your left leg. Continue in this pedaling motion.

The Crunch
A classic exercise known for effectively toning abs, the crunch starts as you lie on your back, bend your knees, and keep your feet flat on the floor. Bend your elbows and cross your arms over your chest. Keeping your lower back on the floor, use your ab muscles to lift your head and shoulders off the floor. Hold for two to three seconds, lower back to the starting position, and repeat.

Reverse Crunch
Targeting a tough area to tone—your lower abs—the reverse crunch is another great abdominal muscle workout. Lying on a mat, keep your arms at your sides with your palms facing down. Lift your knees up toward your chest until your knees are bent 90 degrees. Using your abs and avoiding a rocking motion, curl your hips and lower back up off the floor, lifting your legs toward the ceiling. Hold for two seconds and then lower your hips down. Repeat.

Trunk Rotation
To do a trunk rotation, you’ll need a dumbbell or medicine ball. While sitting on the floor, hold the weight near your body, lean back slightly, and bend your knees so your heels touch the floor. Twist your body to the right, hold for a second, twist to the left, and then repeat, twisting to the right next.

Front Plank
Planks work your abs as well as your back. Lying face down on the floor, place your forearms on the floor. Lift your body up on your forearms and toes, keeping your elbows under your shoulders. Using your core muscles, hold yourself up for as long as you can until lowering to the floor. Practice your planks until you can hold yourself up for 60 seconds or longer.

Bird Dog
Another exercise that works both your abs and back is the bird dog. In a kneeling position with your hands and knees on the floor, raise your left leg up behind you until it’s parallel to the floor. At the same time, lift your right arm up in front of your until it’s parallel to the floor as well. Hold for a second, lower your leg and arm back to starting position, lift your right leg and left arm, and repeat.

Remember that your diet plays a huge part in getting flat, sculpted abs. Cut out all the junk from your diet by eating wholesome, real foods and drink plenty of water.

Want flat abs faster? Call or email me today and I’ll get you on the fast track.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.

On the other hand, if you stuck with a long session of steady cardio, your calorie burning would stop quickly after you hopped off that treadmill.I don’t know about you, but I like the concept of burning more calories after I’m done exercising. Talk about a bonus!Say goodbye to steady cardio and embrace a whole new fitness philosophy centered around HIIT.

Watch how quickly your body begins to transform.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.

These ideas are passed from one unsuspecting person to the next, a little tidbit of misinformation that does more harm than good.I’ve heard them all.

There’s the myth about ab crunches melting off belly fat. (Sorry folks, spot reduction doesn’t exist. You’ve got to burn the fat from your body as a whole.)

Then there’s the one that says the faster you do an exercise the better, even at the expense of form. (Ouch. This philosophy has caused many an injury. Never sacrifice form for speed.)

I’ve even heard one that says recovery days are not necessary. (Rest days are actually of vital importance to your recovery and weight loss.)

But of all the fitness myths out there, the one that gets under my skin the most is the belief that fat loss comes as a result of long, slow cardio sessions.

I’ve seen many people waste their time and effort on this one.

The truth is that intense, shorter workouts that incorporate resistance training with challenging bouts of cardio will burn fat quicker than a long, steady cardio session.

Who doesn’t love to save time?

If you are still plodding away on the treadmill 60 minutes at a time then you are spending more time to get half of results.

Allow me to introduce you to a little technique called HIIT.

High-Intensity Interval Training is an exercise strategy that improves performance with short training sessions. These sessions involve a warm up period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts that are separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cool down period.

The addition of explosions of speed into your comfortable pace will increase your power, muscle tone, speed, strength, endurance and best of all it allows you to burn more calories.

There you have it-all you need to know to take your workouts to the next level.

Do you have questions about using HIIT to get better results? I would love to hear from you.

Call or email today and I will schedule a time to meet with you one-on-one to strategize the quickest and most effective route to meeting your fitness goals.

For more insightful health and nutrition articles, please subscribe to our newsletter. While you are there please refer a few friends.