Talk: Getting in shape the sustainable way part 1 or 3

You Don't Need To Do 3 Sets

Having to do 3 sets per exercise in order to get best results from your workouts is not exactly true!  This has been one of the biggest myths to hit the gym, along with spot reduction. Two studies that I know of have shown that there is no difference in muscle or strength gains in the first four months of a beginner’s workout, between doing one set and three sets.  The difference came after the fourth month, where the people who did three sets continued to make gains, where the people that did only one set hit a plateau.  However, there is a way to do one or two sets per exercise and gain more strength and muscle than doing three sets per exercise.  But if you are a woman and you only care about toning your muscle, not bulking up or increasing strength, you do not have to do more than one set.  

Remember if you are trying to achieve a toned, defined body, although weight training is very important, more weight training will not help you get toned faster. In most cases, if you have been doing resistance training, what prevents most people from looking toned is not lack of tightness in their muscle, but too much fat covering the muscle. The best way to lose fat is by doing aerobics and eating a proper diet.  Once you reduce your body fat, you will be able to see the toned muscles that you have achieved through the weight training, and that will give your body the look you have been working for.

In a weight training workout, around 90% of the benefits come from the first set (if done correctly), and around 10% from the second set.  A third set is a waste of time in most cases.  The only thing a third set will do is increase your chances of burning out or getting injured by making the workout unnecessarily longer and harder.  Even if there is a small benefit from the third set, does it worth the risk of burning out or worse getting injured and end up with no results?  You don’t need to be dying at the end of the workout or feeling sore the next day in order to get results.  Did you know that too much exercising can be almost as bad as not enough?  If you trim off all the unnecessary sets, and exercise gimmicks, from your exercise routine you can get maximum results without having to spend hours in the gym. 

When it comes to weight training, more is not better. Better form, better exercises and using the right weights is better.

Why Are We Still Losing The Weight Loss Battle?

95% of people who lose weight, regain the weight back!

Every month some new diet or weight loss program comes out, claiming they have the secret that will  This has been going on for years and although there are thousands of weight loss and diet programs on the market today, we are still gaining weight as a nation, with no end in sight. 

help you lose all the weight you want overnight.

The fact is there is no secret when it comes to losing weight and getting in shape.  The main reason why we are still losing the weight loss battle is not because we have not come up with the right workout or the perfect diet, but because most weight loss and diet programs focus on the wrong thing when it comes to sustainable weight loss.  

You see, most weight loss and diet programs focus on the weight people want to lose and that is the mistake.  Yes, you read correctly, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you should not be focusing on the weight you want to lose.  The thing that people (and many fitness professionals) need to realize is that we don’t have a weight problem, what we have is a behavioral problem; weight gain is only the symptom.  If you want to eliminate a symptom permanently, you need to eliminate the cause of the symptom.  When it comes to weight gain, the cause is our daily habitual behaviors.  So if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need focus on the habitual behaviors you need to change in order to lose weight, and not on the weight you want to lose. 

Unfortunately, most weight loss and diet programs on the market today don’t help people lose weight by eliminating the habitual behaviors that got them overweight, but through temporary changes in their eating and activity behaviors, so they can lose weight fast.   This is the biggest reason why over 95% of people regain the weight back after they lose it. 

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, this is how you do it.  First, identify the habitual behaviors responsible for your weight gain.  Second, you need to work on changing one unhealthy behavior at a time.  This is the way I have been approaching weight loss with my clients for years, and as far as sustainable weight loss goes, there is no other weight loss system out there that can compete with the success of my system.

I have been in the weight loss business for close to 25 years and I don’t know of any other system that works better at helping people achieve sustainable weight loss than changing your habitual behaviors.  The sad fact is that most weight loss programs don’t really care about sustainable weight loss - all they care about is what sells and what sells is fast weight loss. 

My question to people who want fast weight loss is this.  What is the point of losing weight fast if you are going to regain the weight back?  Wouldn’t you rather take a little extra time and do it the sustainable way and never have to worry about your weight again?  Besides, the sustainable way only seems slower, but in reality, it is the fastest way to lose weight because you only need to lose the weight once.

If you would like to learn more about the Live Your Way Thin approach to sustainable weight loss, visit my website www.LiveYourWayThin.com

Are You Still Exercising?

Are You Still Exercising?

Did you know that there is an actual date that most people give up on their New Year’s fitness resolution?  Well according to Gold’s Gym most people stop going to the gym by February 9^th.  So if you are still sticking to your exercise program, you are doing very well, so keep it up, but if you are not let me give you few tips to help you get back on to exercising.

Tip #1:  Focus on the habits you need to change not the weight you want to lose.  Remember, weight gain is only the symptom, not the problem.  The real problem is you daily habitual behaviors, like your eating habits and/or lack of activity.  If you are overweight, the reason you are overweight is because you engage in behaviors that are bad for your health and weight.  

Tip #2:  Whatever habit you are trying to develop in order to lose weight, break that habit down to the smallest action possible and then focus on taking that action on a regular basis.  For example, let’s say you want to develop the habit of doing aerobics on a regular basis.  Start by making a commitment to yourself that you will do some form of aerobics for 1 minute at least 3 times per week.  So if you have a treadmill at home, every time you get home from work get on it and walk for at least 1 minute.  Don’t judge whether you are getting any benefit or not from doing only 1 minute, just do it.  By keeping the action so small, it is easy for you to keep up with it.  Before you know it, 1 minute will become 2 minutes and then 5 minutes and so on.  This is how you develop habits.  By the way, you are getting a benefit from doing only 1 minute of aerobics consistently. 

Tip #3:  Don’t try to do everything perfectly.  Perfectionism is not a good thing when it comes to getting in shape and losing weight.  The fact is, you don't have to be perfect to get in shape, all you have to do is be perfect most of the time.  If you have the attitude that you must be perfect with your workouts or diet to get in shape, it is only a matter of time before you burn out and quit. 

If you need help starting an exercise program feel free to call us for a free consultation.  We can do the consultation at our facility in Danbury, or over the phone.  We now offer online personal training too so we can help you regardless where you live.  For more information on the services we offer visit our website:  http://www.liveyourwaythin.com/

How to Develop Sustainable Weight Loss Thinking

If you want to get off the vicious cycle of losing weight only to regain it back and finally achieve sustainable weight loss you need to realize the following 7 things:

1) If you want to lose weight and keep it off you must change the habitual behaviors that lead to you being overweight in the first place. 

2)  Before you can change any behavior you must first believe that is possible. 

3)  The only way to change habitual behaviors is through small steps and one behavior at a time. 

4)  Fast results are impossible to maintain because the only way to achieve fast results is through big changes and with big changes you can't develop new habitual behaviors.  Without the development of new habitual behaviors sustainable weight loss is impossible

5) You need to realize that you are in charge of yourself.  If you are not happy with your current shape you have the ability to change whatever needs to be changed in order to get in shape.  Think about it?  If you are not in charge of yourself who is?  Yes, I understand a lot of your behavior are habitual so you are not completely aware of them, but if a habitual behavior is bad for your health you still have the ability to change that habitual behavior. It is up to you, no one else. 

6)  Now, is the only time you control, not yesterday and not tomorrow.  So if you want to make a change in your life, focus on what you can change right now.  Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do right now.  The problem with tomorrow is that it never comes.  There is no point of dwelling on what you did yesterday either.  There is nothing you can do about what you did yesterday or even a minute ago.  Whatever happened, happened, learn from it and move one.  Dwelling on it will not change a thing.

7) You must be patient, it takes time to develop new behaviors and make them habitual.  Habits are like seeds they won't grow into a plant overnight and they need to be watered and nurtured in order to grow into a plant.  But once you have developed all the right habitual behaviors, keeping the weight off will be almost effortless.  Again, my question to people who want fast results is, what is the point of losing weight fast if you are going to gain the weight back?  Wouldn't you rather take your time and do it the right way so you never have to worry about your weight again?

The ironic thing is that losing weight by making permanent changes in your habitual behaviors only seems slow, but in reality is the fastest way, by far, to losing weight because you only need to do it once. Whereas the fast way, you need to keep losing the same weight over and over again every year with no end in sight. I know people who have been losing weight the fast way for years and they are still overweight.  So my question is, which way is really faster?

In all my years in the weight loss field, I have never seen a method that works better in helping people lose weight and keep it off than small, steady changes over time.  This is not just the best way to achieve sustainable weight loss, this is the only way to achieve sustainable weight loss.

Let me give you an analogy.  If you were the pilot of a Boeing 747 and you were flying from NY to Fiji and as soon as you took off you realized that the autopilot is set to fly to Antarctica, what would you do? Would you just grab the wheel and just turn it in the direction you want the plane to go and fight the autopilot the whole way to Fiji, or would you take the time to reprogram the autopilot to fly you to Fiji?  Of course, you would do the latter, it makes sense. 

Well, we also come with an autopilot, our subconscious mind.  Our habitual behaviors are the programs that determine where the autopilot will take us.  If you don't want to go where your autopilot is taking you wouldn’t it make sense to change the program (habitual behaviors) of your autopilot?   I think the answer is obvious. Change the programming in your autopilot and your task of getting in shape all of a sudden becomes much easier. 

This is the way I have been approaching weight loss for years at my facility, Live Your Way Thin, located in Danbury, Connecticut, with great success.   

ANNOUNCEMENT

Starting sometime mid-January, 2017 I will start offering online personal training & coaching, so no matter where you live in the world you can join my sustainable weight loss program.  I will be making an official announcement about my online personal training & coaching very soon!  If you are interested in my online personal training & coaching program, when the program becomes available you will be able to access it and learn more about it, by going to this link: http://www.liveyourwaythin.com/online-personal-training---coaching.html

Your Habits Hold The Key To Good Health & Sustainable Weight Loss

A day does not go by without hearing about all the health problems the citizens of the western world are facing and despite all the billions of dollars we spend every year to solve those health problems, the health of the western world is getting worse.
The truth is that the solution to the health problems that we are facing, is very simple, but the solution does not make money for anyone, and therefore there are very few people out there promoting the real solution. 

Many people are waiting for the medical industry to solve the bad health epidemic.  What People need to realize, is that the medical industry is not into preventing bad health, they are into managing bad health because that is where they make their money.  Don't get me wrong, I am not against the medical industry.  The medical industry has made great contributions to human society but the fact remains that they are not into prevention.  Besides, the vast majority of the diseases that people are suffering from, are easily preventable by few changes in their habitual behaviors.  The medical industry is not going to help you change the habits that got you the disease, it will only give you a pill that will manage the disease.

The industry that is into preventing bad health is the fitness industry but they are not doing a very good job. Here is a very interesting fact.  Since 1992 in America alone we have more than doubled the amount of money we spend on weight loss products and services and yet the obesity rate went from 12.6% to over 36% today.  Isn't it obvious that whenever the weight loss industry is doing is not working?  Spending more money on solutions that don't work will not make them work any better.  One of the main reasons the weight loss industry if failing is because most fitness professionals, who create all those diet and weight loss programs to help people get in shape, they don't understand people who hate exercising and dieting, which is most people.  So, they create weight loss and diet programs that the average person can’t follow or can’t follow for a very long time.  This is why, only around 5% of the people who lose weight, are able to keep it off!

Our habitual behaviors hold the key to sustainable weight loss and better health.  If you want to lose weight get in shape, and more importantly stay in shape for the rest of your life, you must first identify the habitual behaviors responsible for your bad shape and replace them with healthy behaviors that will help you lose weight and improve your health.  There is no other way to achieve sustainable weight loss and better health.  

The reason we are losing the weight loss battle and our health is getting worse is because very few weight loss programs and fitness professionals focus on helping people make permanent changes in their habitual behavior.   Their focus, unfortunately, is to deliver what people want, fast results, which don't last. 

This is one of the biggest reasons why we are losing the weight loss and health battle and this is what I am trying to change through my sustainable weight loss project.

Click Here to learn about my sustainable weight loss project.

You Can't Target a Specific Area of the Body to Lose Fat

Sorry, but “spot reduction” is a myth.  As a matter of fact, it is one of the biggest myths that many fitness “experts” are helping spread.  Many people and companies in the weight loss industry would

Don’t fall victim to this. All you can do is create the environment where your body can lose weight, and genetics will determine where you are going to lose the fat from.  You have absolutely no control of where the fat will come off from.  Here are two studies that basically prove that spot reduction is not possible.  These studies were taken from the Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant Manual of American Council on Exercise.

One classic study examined the muscle and fat mass in the right and left arms of high-caliber tennis players before the two-handed backhand became so popular.  At that time, the diameter and muscle mass of the dominant playing arm in professional tennis players was much greater than the non-dominant playing arm.  If spot reduction truly worked, we would expect to see less fat storage in the dominant playing arm.  However, no differences were found in the sum of multiple skin fold measures of either forearm.  Thus, sustained exercise in the playing arm did not result in a reduction of fat storage over the exercised muscle (Gwinup et al., 1971).

Another study done by Katch and colleagues (1984) examined the effects of a vigorous sit-up exercise program on adipose (fat cell) cell size and adiposity.  They had subjects perform more than 5,000 sit-ups over a period of 28 days.  Skinfold thickness, body composition, and circumference measures were taken before and after the exercise program.  They also took fat biopsies from the abdominal, buttocks and subscapular regions to assess the number and size of the cells in each area at baseline, and after the vigorous training program.  The extensive sit-up routine resulted in no changes in skinfold thickness, body composition or circumference.  Interestingly, the fat biopsy data did not find any selective differences in the preferential use or reduction in fat cell size or number in the abdominal region compared to the sub-scapular or buttocks regions.  Basically, what this means, in plain English, after all those sit-ups there was no fat loss in the midsection.

So, you see, it is not my opinion that spot reduction is not possible; it is a fact.  Just in case you are still not convinced that spot reduction is not possible, I will give you one more example to prove it to you.  As you know, everybody has a dominant and non-dominant side.  Especially for arms, the dominant arm does a lot more work than the non-dominant arm.  If spot reduction was possible, the dominant arms should have less fat on it then the other arm.  In many cases, the dominant arm might have more muscle, but the fat is always the same on both arms.  It is a good thing that spot reduction is not possible because then most people would end up with a fat side and a lean side.

 The question many people raise after they learn that spot reduction is not possible is “How can those ab machines you see on the infomercials guarantee you will lose one to two inches in the first two weeks if spot reduction is not possible?”  The answer is very simple.  When you don’t do any form of midsection exercise, the midsection muscles, like the rectus abdominus muscles, are relaxed and the organs push them slightly outwards.  As soon as you do any form of crunches, the first thing that happens is your midsection muscles pull in a straight line, so they are no longer pushed outwards by the internal organs.  Just by the midsection muscles tightening up and pulling in at a straight line, most people will lose one to two inches off their waistline.  That is how those ab machine infomercials can promise that you will lose one to two inches off your waist in the first one to two weeks.  The problem is, although they don’t say it, they make you think that you lost fat off of your waist, but in reality, all you did was pull your ab muscles in a straight line.  What they don’t want you to know is that any decent midsection exercise will do that for you; you don’t need to spend money to buy their ab machine.  Like the study proved, you will not lose fat off your waist by doing midsection exercises.  To get in shape and lose body fat, all you can do is create the environment in which your body can lose weight in, and your genetic make-up will determine where you are going to lose the fat from first, but eventually you will lose it from all over the body.  The 3 things you need to do, in order to create the right environment for weight loss and better health, is some form of resistance training, some form of aerobics, and proper nutrition. 

hate me for revealing to the public one of the biggest lies in the weight loss industry.  The sales of a
lot of fitness equipment are based on the promise of spot reduction.  How many times have you seen commercials and infomercials on TV that advertise specially designed abdominal toning equipment, that guarantee you will get washboard abs? There are hundreds of exercise videos on the market today, designed to tone and shape “problem areas” on your body.  Many health clubs have fallen into the trap too, and have added “ab, butt and thigh” toning classes which have become very popular.  All these classes and exercise machines claim that exercising the muscle beneath the fat in the “problem areas” will help you lose that fat.  To be able to spot reduce sounds great and it is easy to sell, especially to people who don’t know any better.  Many companies and fitness experts take advantage of the ignorance and the desperation of people to tone problem areas and sell them equipment and exercise programs that will not fulfill their promise.