 The Greek island of Santorini, located in the southern Aegean Sea, is home to breathtaking sunsets and cliffside towns with narrow, cobbled streets. It is currently one of the top tourist destinations in the world, hosting millions of visitors each year, with only 15,000 permanent residents.
Those permanent residents are easily distinguished from tourists. Just look for the most agile and lean, moving swiftly through the hard-to-navigate, steep terrain. The people of Santorini are in phenomenal shape. Living in a cliffside city means walking up hundreds, if not thousands, of stairs every single day. For many it means pushing or carrying crates of water up steep inclines to homes and hotels, since the tap water is unsafe to drink. Live in Santorini and you’d quickly have a chiseled, beach-ready body. It really goes to show you that your lifestyle creates the body that have. And while I don’t expect you to drop everything to move to a cliffside town in order to achieve your fat loss goals, there is a valuable lesson here. The truth is that regardless of where you live, your lifestyle is something that you control. If you want your body to look or feel differently, then all you need to do is change the daily habits that make up your routine. For the people of Santorini that means fighting gravity by moving their bodies up and down cliffsides every day. For you it could mean adding in that hour of exercise that you’ve been telling yourself you should do. Or cutting out that sugary snack you gravitate towards after dinner each night. Here are 5 lifestyle factors to consider… 1. TV Time: Many people are in the habit of sitting in front of the TV for hours on end after a stressful day at work. Yes, you may be worn out and need a break, but sitting on the couch, zoned out, watching TV is not the way to lose weight. If you must watch the evening news or see your favorite show, use the time to burn a few calories. Keep some hand weights next to the couch and work your biceps and triceps. Stand up and do some squats or lunges to work your legs and buttocks. Get on the floor and do some sit-ups to tone your abs or push-ups to tone your arms. Make a change! 2. Sleep: Most adults need an average of eight hours of sleep each night. Is that a lot more than what you’re currently getting? Then you may be interested to know that if you’re not getting adequate amounts of rest, you’re more likely to be hungry, overeat, and gain weight. How does this work? Something like this. If you’re tired, you won’t feel like cooking a healthy meal, and you’ll opt for fast (fattening) food instead. This very same lack of energy will also likely cause you to skip a workout. On top of that, sleep deprivation causes your metabolism to slow down, which promotes fat storage. 3. Drink Choices: Lasting weight loss is about changes. Unfortunately, some of the changes one must make are difficult. If you’re one of the millions hooked on soda, alcohol, or other sweetened beverages, your weight goals may remain out of reach until you replace these drinks with water. You should also know that your brain often confuses thirst with hunger. So at the first sign of hunger, don’t grab a snack or calorie-filled drinks. Instead, grab a glass of water. 4. Breakfast: Want to know a secret to successful weight loss? Eat breakfast! Try cutting calories by skipping breakfast, and you’ll be excessively hungry by mid-morning. As a result, the healthy calories you would have eaten at breakfast are replaced with calorie-filled snacks and an over-sized lunch. Once again, fitting breakfast into your busy schedule may mean dramatic lifestyle changes. But research shows that the habit of eating a healthy breakfast is key to losing weight and keeping pounds off. Get to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual and set your alarm 10 minutes earlier to give yourself time to eat breakfast. 5. Physical Activity: Weight loss is about burning more calories than you consume. Remember the people of Santorini and their all-day exercise! Therefore, it should make sense to you that dieting and exercise must go hand in hand. If you want to speed up fat loss and keep it off, add or increase the amount and intensity of physical activity in your daily life. For many people, this is the most difficult lifestyle change of all, but the benefits are well work it. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of intense exercise on most days of the week. When exercise is a normal part of your everyday routine, it’s more likely to stick, and your body will become slimmer and more toned. The quickest and most permanent weight loss comes as a result of a combination of healthy eating and consistent, challenging workouts. I’m here to help you meet your fitness and weight loss goals. Call or email today to get started on a fitness program that will get you on the fast track to your best body ever.
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 Most snack foods that you’ll find at parties, at the movies, or at amusement parks are filled with refined sugar and unnecessary fats. Making your own quick and wholesome snack, like these Spiced Party Nuts, is a fantastic way to avoid those fattening snacks without missing out.
This recipe is super quick to make — literally 10 minutes of prep. Put a bowl of these out when you have company over, take a bag of them with you for an on-the-go snack, or give it away as a healthy hostess gift. What You Need Serves 16 4 cups mixed nuts – pecans, almonds, pistachio, walnuts, cashews, and/or brazil nuts 1 teaspoon sea salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon sweet paprika 1 teaspoon chili powder ¼ teaspoon ground ginger ½ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ cup coconut sugar ¼ cup water 1 Tablespoon coconut oil Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. 2. In a large bowl combine the nuts, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, chili powder, ginger and garlic. 3. In a small skillet combine the coconut sugar, water and coconut oil over medium heat. Mix until the sugar has dissolved, about one minute. Pour the mixture over the nuts and spices. Mix until fully coated. 4. Spread the coated nuts over the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven and then stir. Bake for an additional 10 minutes until golden. Nutrition One ¼ cup serving equals: 135 calories, 12g fat, 139mg sodium, 6g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 3g sugar, and 4g protein I hope that you get a chance to give this recipe a try this week. Remember that I’m only a call or email away to assist you in all things fitness. And if you are not yet one of my prized clients then call or email me now to set up your first workout – I’d love to help you achieve your best body ever!  There are many complex reasons that make fat loss a challenge, reasons that go deeper than simply calories-in versus calories-out. I’m talking about the life issues that get in the way of your success. Here are 5 things that block fitness results along with the solutions to unlock your best body. 1. You are crazy busy. Let’s face it, you work too much, commit yourself to too much and don’t even get enough sleep most of the time. The fast-paced way you live leaves you exhausted, stressed and hungry for comfort food. You even begin to feel too busy to take care of your health. It’s time to reprioritize. Let go of your perfectionist standards and remove a few commitments from your schedule so that you are able to cook healthy meals, exercise and get a good night’s sleep. Remind yourself that taking care of your health is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. 2. You don’t want to wait for the good stuff. Just as you wish to avoid pain, you are also an expert in seeking out pleasure—namely food. This served the cavemen well, but these days it ends up as extra pounds around your waist and thighs. There’s good news: extra calories are not your only option to stimulate the pleasure center of your brain. Find an activity or two that make you smile and indulge in those regularly.
3. You don’t want to be bothered. It’s in your DNA to avoid pain and seek out pleasure. Unfortunately, this works against you when trying to get fit. In your mind, it’s painful (or at least uncomfortable) to deny yourself the tasty food that you crave and to exert yourself with exercise. There’s a simple way to work around this obstacle: Find something painful about being out of shape to motivate yourself towards healthy eating and exercise. Focus on the negative impact your current shape has on your health, self-esteem and lifestyle. Convince yourself that the pain of being out of shape is much greater than the discomfort of losing the fat. 4. You don’t deserve it. I don’t agree with it, but you sure act like you don’t deserve to live the good life in the body of your dreams. Take a moment to think back on all the times you have self-sabotaged your weight loss efforts. If you don’t believe deep down that you are worthy, then you’ll never give yourself a chance at a fit body. I believe that you deserve to have a healthy body—and I urge you to dig deep down to uncover why you don’t. Once you conquer your feelings of unworthiness, getting on an exercise and healthy eating plan will be easy. Take the time to take care of yourself. You DO deserve it. 5. You are afraid. You’re afraid to start because you just might fail, and wouldn’t that be embarrassing? You’re also afraid to start because you just might succeed, and change makes you uncomfortable – even if it’s change in the right direction. When you decide to get fit you will need to go through a bunch of changes:
I want to personally help overcome every obstacle standing between you and your ideal body. Call or email today to get started on a program that will change your life and body forever…in the best way!  It’s important to avoid traditional breakfast foods that are filled with carbs, grains and sugar, and to instead stick with protein-rich recipes like the one for Eggs in Clouds below. A wholesome breakfast kick-starts your metabolism and helps you to burn more calories throughout the day.
These flavor-rich, fluffed, and baked eggs are great for delivering big nutrition in a fun package. The nutritional yeast adds nutty, cheesy flavor, making it the substitute for dairy cheese. What You Need Serves 4 4 eggs 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast ¼ cup scallion, minced ¼ cup bacon, cooked and minced sea salt black pepper Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 2. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks, placing the whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and the yolks in individual ramekins, being careful not to break the yolks. 3. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Gently fold in the nutritional yeast, scallion, and bacon. 4. Spoon the egg white mixture onto the prepared baking sheet in 4 mounds. Use the spoon to create a well in the center of each mound, then bake for 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and add a yolk to the center of each mound. Return to the oven for 3 minutes, until the yolk has set. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Nutrition One serving equals 101 calories, 7g fat, 229mg sodium, 1g carbs, 1g fiber, 9g protein I hope that you get a chance to give this recipe a try this week. Remember that I’m only a call or email away to assist you in all things fitness. And if you are not yet one of my prized clients then call or email me now to set up your first workout – I’d love to help you achieve your best body ever!  It takes dedicated hard work to drop a significant number of pounds. But afterwards it’s incredibly easy (and frustrating!) to find those pounds creeping back on. Maintaining fat loss is certainly possible, however it does require that you remain vigilant with your healthy routine. Here are 5 secrets to maintaining your amazing body transformation for life. Think of these as your own personal lifestyle rules and stick with them at least 90% of the time to keep your body healthy and hot. Hot Body Secret #1: Don’t Eat Just To Eat There is no place in your healthy lifestyle for mindless snacking. I’m talking about a tub of popcorn at the movies or a bag of chips in front of the TV. All the calories ingested from mindless snacking have to end up somewhere…and that somewhere is around your waist or on your thighs. Snacks are fine when you are aware of how much you’re eating in order to balance it with the rest of your meals for the day. Hot Body Secret #2: Stand (And Walk) When Possible Have you heard the saying sitting is the new smoking? The idea is that a lifetime of sitting all-day-every-day is as harmful to your body as smoking. Think for a moment about how much of your day is spent sitting. You wake up and sit down for breakfast. You sit on the drive to work. You take the elevator up. You sit for most of 8 hours at work. You take the elevator down. You sit on the drive home. You sit to eat dinner. You sit to watch TV. That’s quite a bit of time spent sitting! Now imagine if you consciously stood for some of this time each day and took the stairs instead of the elevator. Over weeks, and months, it really adds up in calories burned, muscles engaged, and overall fitness and health. Hot Body Secret #3: Avoid Sugar I might sound like a broken record about this one, but that’s OK, I’ll keep harping on this point until more people listen. Our bodies weren’t designed to ingest large amounts of sugar on a daily basis. When you regularly take in excess sugar the results are always the same. You. Gain. Weight. The tricky part is that sugar is all around us, so avoiding it takes real vigilance. Start with your morning beverage of choice. Does it have sugar in it? Most of the beverages that are blended and brewed at coffee shops are simply vehicles for ingesting sugar. Find a beverage that you enjoy without any added sugar and stick with the rule of not drinking sugary beverages throughout your day. Hot Body Secret #4: Keep Dinner Light Who says that dinner should be the biggest and heartiest meal of the day? Instead, focus on enjoying light dinners that are centered around protein and veggies and avoid starches and carbs in the evening. The recipe below for Beet and Grapefruit Salad is a great example. Add a grilled chicken breast to a serving of this vibrant, fiber-filled salad and you have a nutritious dinner that’s light and healthy. Hot Body Secret #5: Always Exercise How often do you brush your teeth? Do you sometimes take a few weeks or months off brushing your teeth? Um, no. That’s gross. You brush your teeth everyday as an ongoing habit because you know that the benefits outweigh the slight inconvenience. Can you see where I’m going with this? :) Exercise only truly works when you do it as an ongoing habit because you know that the benefits outweigh the slight inconvenience. It’s part of keeping you healthy. It’s part of who you are. I’m here to make your daily exercise habit fun and effective. If you aren’t yet my client then call or email today to join now. Let’s do this! |
David CorderOwner and Lead Personal Trainer at Perfect Fit Wellness Center. Archives
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