Hey There, Steve here and I hope things are going great for you!

I have a simple question for you:

Are you going to be fatter next year?

2011 will be here in about 2 months… that’s only 60 days.  But you’d be amazed how easy it is to gain 5-10 pounds (average

American gains 5-8 pounds) of fat

between Halloween and Christmas!

Actually, if you think about it, it’s pretty difficult not to gain weight.  That is, unless you’re diligent and committed to your fitness.

Take the extra candy and chocolate floating around the office, the Holiday parties, the major eating competitions we celebrate as Thanksgiving and Christmas and top it off with an excuse not to wear revealing clothing… it’s a recipe for disaster!

In fact, a long time ago when I was 75 pounds heavier, it all started during the Holidays.  I gained around 30 pounds before New Year’s and I would wear big sweatshirts to try to cover it up.

But that was a long time ago and I’ve since learned better.  One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is, if you don’t take a pre-emptive strike on the Holiday Pudge, you will certainly lose the war on fat!  And it isn’t a matter of if you’ll gain weight, but how much…

Important Lesson #2, don’t do what most people do.  And that is, wait till January 1st to make a “Resolution” just to get back to  their normal weight. (most people also, never follow through on their resolutions).  Instead get a head-start and take action now!

By re-vitalizing your fitness program now, you’ll gain major momentum and be ahead of all the pretenders come New Year’s.

Here are a few tips on how to deal with Halloween and make good on your fitness goals.

How to Survive Halloween

• Decide When to Cheat – Saying you aren’t going to have any candy and stay 100% to your program is unrealistic. And if you restrict yourself to such a degree you’ll be much more tempted.  Take a look at your weekend plans and decide at what times you’re going to designate as free-days.  If you’re a social butterfly and have a few parties to make a presence at, choose which one you’re going to go “crazy” at.  But only choose one and not all!  Generally speaking, one bad nutrition day won’t hurt your progress and can actually temporarily rev-up your metabolism.
• Drink More Water – As the weather gets cooler, (except for So Cal) you may find yourself less thirsty than usual.  Unfortunately, it’s much easier to be dehydrated and not even know it.  When you’re dehydrated, burning fat and building lean body mass becomes almost impossible.  Plus you’ll feel crummy and you’ll notice it in your skin, hair and nails.  Make sure you’re drink 10+ cups of water daily, even if you aren’t thirsty.
• Sandwich Workouts – no this isn’t a new menu item at subway!  What I mean by “Sandwich Workouts” is that you double up your workouts before and after your cheat meals.  If Saturday is going to be your designated “Go Crazy” day, then Friday and Sunday you’d make sure you doubled up on the intensity, duration and frequency of your workouts. This will help supercharge your fat-burning engine for the extra calories.  Bonus tip – recruit a friend.  You’ll have more fun and they probably need it too.
• Don’t Let Junk Linger – I don’t wanna spoil your fun and tell you not to keep junk food and holiday snacks at home!  Instead, either store it till you use it or do what I do and procrastinate!  If you keep the candy where it’s easily accessible, you’re guaranteed to snack on it.  And one piece here and one piece there eventually adds up to several pounds of fat!  Also, when the holiday and the guests are gone… get rid of it!  And don’t feel guilty about wasting food. Most of the junk food is truly junk and if you don’t “waste” it you’ll “WAIST” it!

So there you go, 4 easy tips to help you survive Halloween and gain fat-burning momentum through the holidays!

In a few days, I’ll be posting part 2 which you definitely don’t want to miss so stay tuned!

Ps. Please leave a comment and tell me your favorite Halloween survival tips!

Hey, Steve here with a another great article on how you can get great fat loss results, fast!

But before I jump into it, how are you doing?

Since you’re reading this, you’re important to me and I sincerely care about helping you get results!  So even if we haven’t met yet, say hello in the comments section below!

OK, so now I’ll get to the juicy topic…

First a quick confession, the title of this article is a bit misleading… You’re probably not going to get into Tip-Top shape “tomorrow”, but by following these tips you’ll definitely be quickly on your way!  I threw the word “tomorrow in there because it sounded better than “Fast”.  Non-the-less, the information I’m about to share with you is powerful and WILL help you reach your fat loss and fitness goals in no-time.  So take massive action on it!

If you’re lacking the fat loss results you want, are tired of your weight yo-yo’ing up and down and are ready to take back your body – then I have a simple checklist that will guarantee you crush you’re fitness goals!

Now, in order to be effective, you’re gonna have to be 100% honest and open with yourself.  You see most people, including myself at times, will create stories, excuses and false-truths to make it acceptable for failing to do what we should be doing.  If that sounds like you, it’s OK, but in order to turn the tide and take back your body, you’re gonna have to stare those bad habits and limiting behaviors in the face.

If you’re willing to do that, I promise you, the rest will take care of itself!

So below are the top 10 Tips to Get YOU into Tip-Top Shape. (I should mention that these tips are also the common denominators in all my successful clients).  If you practice all of these tips, nothing will be able to stop you!

The Top 10 Tips To Get YOU Into Tip-Top Shape, TOMORROW!

1) Set Specific Goals Using Your Driving Force - This is HUGE!  Imagine driving in your car looking for a foreign address with no directions or previous experience finding it.  If you don’t have specific goals and the driving force to keep you motivated, you’ll never reach goals – period.  Less than 1% of people ever do this properly and most people never come close to their weight loss goals.  Instead of being vague and setting goals like: “I want to get in shape” or “ I want to drop a few pounds.”  Be as specific as you can.  Here’s an example: “I want to lose 25 pounds to fit into a size 6 wedding dress in 4 months”.  That’s a specific goal and to develop a strong driving force, you’d go and try on the actual size 4 wedding dress so you know what it feels like for it not to fit and how great the feeling will be when it does.
Check out my post on “5 Easy Steps for Motivating Fitness Drive”.

2) Don’t Go At It Alone – No person is an island.  When’s the last time you met someone who lost 100 pounds on their own?  Now, I’m not saying it can’t be done on your own, but if you’re chances of success are 1000% greater by hiring a professional – why would you risk going at it alone?  The time saved and costly mistakes avoided more than justify the cost of most fitness programs. Plus you get built-in accountability from day 1.

3) Recruit a Loved One - Imagine this: when you’ve had a long and hard day at work, you get to de-stress by meeting your favorite person for a workout!  When you have the people you enjoy spending time with as workout buddies, you’ll always make time for it.  And, chances are you have a friend or family member who could also benefit from exercise.  So do the both of you a favor and schedule a weekly workout date!

4) Record What You Eat – I have to admit, this has always been a tough one for me to keep up with.  But when you record your daily meals, you have the truth all right there staring you right in the face.  If you did good for the day it will make you feel good and you’ll be more likely to do it again tomorrow.  If you did bad, you’ll know why your not seeing the results.  Plain and simple!

5) Don’t drink your calories – Your stomach and waistline aren’t fooled by liquid calories.  Therefore if you drink milk, juice, soda, alcohol and protein drinks, you’ll still be hungry for real food even though you’ve consumed a few hundred calories. The goal is to never feel hungry by eating lots of highly nutritious, low-calorie foods.  If you do feel hungry often, what you’re doing isn’t working for you!

6) Always eat BREAKFAST – This piece of advice is as old as… well it’s pretty old. And it still exists today because of how important eating breakfast is.  Breakfast sets the tone for how the rest of the day will go and also kickstarts your metabolism first thing in the morning.

7) Do Short, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for Cardio – There’s nothing worse than going to the gym for 1-2 hours a day just to look the same!  HIIT Cardio will activate your “afterburn mechanism” so you can burn 2x the amount of fat while you sleep.  To learn more about HIIT cardio, read this post, How to Burn Fat in your Sleep

8 ) Don’t Keep Ticking-Time Bombs in your Fridge/pantry - Don’t let your pantry/ fridge be your enemy.  If you know you have a weakness for something, DON’T have it in your house!  It’s only a matter of time for that you’re gonna crave the cookies (or such) and if it’s available, you won’t be able to say no. Chances are, no one should be eating the junk food anyway so just throw it away and save the good stuff for the “starving kids in China”.  If you’re having trouble deciding what qualifies as junk food and whats health food, ask yourself this, “would this be healthy for a baby to eat?”  Generally that’ll answer the question.  Click here to see, What’s in My Grocery Cart?

9) Do Complex, Functional Training – This means that instead of doing the Abductor/adductor leg machine at the gym to tone your legs, do a walking lunge while holding hand-weights. The more muscles and nerves you challenge, the better and faster results you’ll see.  You might wanna check out this post on the Best Fat Burning Exercise.

10) Cut your Carbs at Night – By removing breads, pasta, rice, potatoes and other processed carbs at night, you end up saving yourself anywhere from 300 -1000 calories of pure fat-storing sugar from your diet.  Plus it’s much easier to do at night when you don’t need the extra energy. Instead of carbs, eat lots of fresh veggies and lean proteins for dinner. Your waistline will love you for it!

10.5) Commit to Being the Best You Can Be – the next 12 months are going to come whether you sit on your behind or get to the gym. Every year that passes, you’ll either be better or worse- but never the same. Stay committed to being the best you can be. Every person in your life deserves that from you.  If you’re unhappy with a part of your life; work on your physical self first.  By being in the best shape you can be, you’ll have an increased confidence and self worth that will open all sorts of doors for you.  But you have to stay committed.  Winners will always find a way and quitters will find an excuse!  Checkout this great post – Successful People Don’t Make Excuses.

If you practice all of these things on this list, there will be no stopping you!

If you need any help or want to get started, contact me for a FREE Consult here

Hey There, It’s good to see you again and I hope you’re doing fantastic!

Just recently I asked a few clients what their top few tips where for someone who was looking to get into better shape and improve their fitness.  These clients are just a few of my of my favorites who’ve done exceptionally well.  If I were you, I’d definitely take their advice because they know what they’re talking about!

Let’s see if you can catch the reoccurring theme when you read over these tips…

So without further ado, here are my clients “Best Advice from Fat Loss and Fitness Success Stories”

Michael L.

Hmmmm – tips – besides trying to drive you crazy?  Let’s see ….

1. Consistency – for me set workout times are important.  It serves a way for me to set aside time for me – same time 5-6 days a week – this leads to success.
2. Small steps – don’t try to do too much at once – totally guilty here – in the beginning – walking for 10 minutes seems like futile effort – but that 10 minute walk will turn into  a 13 mile run with item 1 above
3. Goals – Have a goal in mind and keep to it till you reach it!  Once you reach it your goal – set it higher and try again …. working with a professional for guidance makes all the difference!

Jaime S.

Here are my fitness tips:

1. Do an exercise that you enjoy.  If you don’t enjoy it, you will not stick with it.
2. Make exercise a priority in your life.  It is easy to feel like you don’t have time to workout, but you have to make time for things that are important and there is nothing as important as your health.
3. It helps me to think of exercise as a way to make myself healthy on the inside (strong bones, healthy heart, lower cholesterol), rather than just focusing on losing weight and the external benefits.

Molly & Pam

1. Work out with a friend-(see below) My best tip is probably pretty obvious, but it’s to work out with a friend.  You motivate one another to get to the gym and push one another once you’re there. Afterwards you can congratulate or commiserate! You can tell yourself excuses, but it’s harder to tell them to a friend. It’s much more fun and motivating!
2. Vary your work-outs.  Challenge your trainer and yourself to keep it interesting, and to keep your body guessing.
3. Make your work-outs a priority. Make it a habit. Do your best to “protect” that time to maintain your routine.
4. (from Pam) It is important to take time off but when you do…. it is important to get right back on schedule – but much easier said than done after time off…relaxing, eating and drinking. Tip – the first day back is always hard but it is the first day that always gets me back to my routine. So as hard as it is…remember, just make that one step to get back to exercising in your daily routine and you will be back on track.

Eric F.

1. Start slowly, then increase intensity over time. If you are too ambitious at first, you’ll become frustrated and lose interest.
2. Your fitness must become part of your lifestyle. If your goal is to look good for one event, you’ll most likely stop working out after that event.
3. Don’t finish everything on your plate, except for the fruits and vegetables.

Julie N.

1. Get motivated- If  I see a cute dress or bikini in a magazine, I tear it out & put it on my fridge to remind myself of what I want to achieve. And don’t forget to reward yourself from time to time when you’ve reached a new goal. (shopping is the best reward because it is calorie free!)
2. Get a buddy- It is hard to skip workouts when someone else is relying on you to show up! It can be a friend, a spouse, kids or your dog- you aren’t going to want to disappoint them & its much more enjoyable.
3. Don’t give up- Anytime I start a new workout program, its difficult, I’m sore & it seems a lot easier to stay in bed, But if I stick with it for about 3 weeks, my body gets in the habit of  getting up & working hard. I’m actually disappointed when I miss a workout because I feel so rejuvenated afterwards!

Shannon F.

1. “If you bite it, write it!”- keeping a food dairy/log really helps you see pitfalls in your diet. Also we ALL under estimate our calorie intake and tracking helps keep you accountable.
2. Celebrate the small victories – every little bit in the right direction is worth reward and praise (even if it only from yourself and your trainer).
3. Believe in yourself! – Know that your body can go farther than you can imagine as long as you continue to challenge yourself. Try a new class, or bootcamp, or do that crazy burpee exercise you don’t think you can do…you can do it!
4. Buy smaller clothes! – dress the body you have now, no matter what your final goal is.  Wearing clothes that are too big for you makes you look FATTER!
5. Enjoy the journey and embrace self discovery. Improving your health and fitness will enrich all parts of your life without even trying:-)
6. Love your trainer and workout buddies! (Steve, Julie & Mike).

Jay A.

1. Stay Committed: When I feel like I want to give up I remind myself of how far I have come and what it took to get there.  Going forward is much more important than giving up and letting things go back to the way they were.
2. Stay Focused on your goal(s): I always set a goal or two for myself and work hard to stay focused on what it’s going to take to get me to the “finish line” and how good I’m going to feel and look once those goals are achieved.
3. Don’t second guess yourself: There are times when I say to myself “I can’t do this” but then I give it my all, get through it and then I’m like “that wasn’t so hard after all”.  You never know what you can do until you at least give it a try and the feeling you have afterward is amazing!

Hey, Steve here and I hope you’re having a great day.

My latest 6 week program is coming to an end and I’m happy to report about 90% of those that completed the program have seen incredible results – and in a short period of time to boot!

Today, I want to spill the beans on the biggest mistakes I made when trying to lose weight and burn fat, when I was 75 pounds overweight!  Some of these mistakes might be familiar to you and some you’ve probably never thought of.  Either way, whatever you do, don’t make the same mistakes I made!

Instead, learn from my trials and errors and take the short cut to success.  Believe me, it’s no fun spinning your wheels dieting and exercising and not seeing the results you deserve.

The Top 9 Fitness Mistakes I made While trying to Lose 75 Pounds

1. Working out alone – I’m sad to say… I used to be a “gym loner”.  I always worked out alone and at my own pace.  The problem with this is, 50% of the time I planed to workout, something would always come up, and I’d end up blowing off my training session.  I had no one to be accountable except to myself and I was the biggest buyer of my own excuses.  And when I didn’t cancel my workouts, I exercised at a Grandma’s pace (no offense to Grandmas!).  It’s not easy pushing yourself beyond your mental limitations.

It wasn’t until I recruited a motivated friend to be my workout buddy that I started to see real results.  Probably because I never canceled my training sessions and I didn’t want to disappoint my workout buddy.  We also pushed each other to work out at a super intense pace.  Plus, since we had so much fun, I always looked forward to those tough workouts.

2. Long Slow Cardio Workouts – Go in to any gym right now (except mine) and observe the people on the cardio equipment. You’ll undoubtedly witness dozens of men and women wasting their time on the treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, stairmaster and step classes.  They spend 45+ minutes on the darn machines barely breaking a sweat.  I hate long slow cardio workouts!  Probably because I spent so many years thinking that was the answer to losing my love handles!

Well I’m here to tell you, there is nothing more discouraging than spending several hours a week on the treadmill only to see your waist get bigger.  Instead of long slow cardio, do fast and short intervals.  When you do fast and short intervals, your body activates it’s “After Burn” mechanism which stimulates your metabolism to burn 200-300% more fat at rest.  And, most interval workouts only take between 10-30 minutes!  Now that’s more my speed.

3. Skipping meals – This is a guaranteed way to slow your metabolism to a halt.  I used to think by going a few days, only eating 1-2 small meals a day, that I was losing fat… WRONG!  When you skip meals and use extreme dieting techniques, you actually slow your metabolism.  And since your body thinks it’s starving – you’ll begin to break down your muscle for protein and nutrients.  Every pound of muscle burns between 35-50 calories a day – lose 5 pounds of muscle and all those extra calories get stored as fat.

4. Body Part Training – Do you ever go to the gym and focus on the body parts you’re most concerned about?  What I mean is, you want to get rid of the fat on the back of your arms so you do the triceps machine?  Body part training is inefficient and ineffective.  Plus spot-reducing any part of your body is impossible.  Instead, focus on doing combination exercises that work many bigger muscles.  This will burn 10x the calories and can also activate your ‘after burn’ mechanism.  Some examples of combination exercises are: a squat press or a walking lunge with a bicep curl.

Check out this article where I show you how to activate your fat burning mechanism and burn fat in your sleep.

5. Too Much Time in the Gym – Any more than 45 minutes in the gym is too much.  Another reason I used to blow off my workouts was because I thought I had to exercise for 2 hours at a time.  When your tired, the last thing you want to do is spin your wheels for 120 minutes!  If you workout at a high intensity, doing combination exercises and interval training, you can finish your entire routine in less than 30 minutes.

Try this 25 minute fat blasting workout to supercharge your results.

6. Low Carb Diet – Chances are, you’ve tried this one and probably lost weight at the beginning.  Low carb dieting will mislead you to believe your losing weight because of the huge amounts of water you lose when you first start.  Not all carbs are created equal and instead of going low carb, eat foods that qualify as “slow carb”.  All carbs get converted to sugar when digested and the more processed a food is, the faster it gets converted.  Slow carb foods include the following: most fruits, all vegetables, legumes, and some whole grains.  Bad carbs are: breads, white rice, potatoes, pasta, cereal, and all processed foods.  Replace as many Bad carb foods with ‘Slow Carbs”.

7. Not food logging – this for me was probably the hardest thing to do and one of the most important.  Most people will under report their total daily calories by 350-500 calories.  In a week that adds up to a pound of fat! (3500 = 1 lbs fat).  The simple act of writing down everything you eat makes you aware of your food habits and makes you less likely to cheat on your nutrition plan.  If you have a smart phone, there’s dozens of cool apps for food logging.  Try Lose It! or DailyBurn.com

8. Not Setting Strong and Specific Goals – If you don’t have strong enough reasons to get you off the couch and into the gym, you’ll be forever doomed to the body you have!  Before you hit the gym, take the time to develop a strong driving force.  Hint: it has to be more than, “I want to lose weight”.  That just isn’t specific or emotionally charged.

I recently wrote an article on how to develop a strong driving force and you can check it out here.

9. Not having a plan – if you don’t have an exact plan for your nutritional program—>  that compliments your workout plan—> that is designed to get you to your goals… then you you really are just exercising for the health of it, which is fine as long as that’s your goal.  But if you have exciting and specific goals like being able to look and feel sexy in a bikini for the first time in your life, this summer, then you’d better have plan if you’re serious about getting there.  If you need help developing a solid plan with proven results, request a free consultation with me here!

So there you have it.  I’ve spent the last 12 years testing and developing the most effective and cutting edge fitness programs.  Take my advice so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I made – instead take the short cut and enjoy having a fit body.  If you have any questions or comments, please add them to the comments section below or go to the contact page.

Thank you and have a great day!