Each New Year about 70% of Americans make resolutions to lose weight, become more fit, and eat healthier. Are you among that group? After all, most of us want to be more fit, healthy, and happier and our personal fitness level is a big part of that. Health and fitness is almost always in the top three New Year’s resolutions and almost everyone makes the resolution, but few keep it. When we look at how people plan to meet their health and fitness goals there are a variety of methods they choose. For example, 43% of Americans say they plan to lose weight by making healthier food choices, but 76% said they have not followed a weight loss or diet program in the last couple of years. Last year, Americans lost about one billion pounds, but gained back 970 million pounds. It is a constant tug of war.
The top obstacles to achieving a healthy weight, based on a national survey, are: not enough exercise (69%), slowing metabolism through ageing (62% – 35 years and older) and too much snacking (52%). The average American consumes about 4,000 calories per day. Even a large man at about six feet tall and 185 pounds should only consume half that much. Constant snacking gives you more energy than your body can use; that excess energy is stored as fat. While calories consumed are not a constant each day, some days more and some days less, just 10 extra calories per day in excess of what is needed adds about one pound of body weight per year!
Some of the reasons given for weight gain are more gender specific: Women often eat for emotional reasons (50%) while men find themselves overeating at mealtimes (44%). The My Health and Fitness 90-day program consists of two parts: (1) instructions on how to eat, what to eat, when to eat, including basic nutrition; and (2) the exercise program that includes workout programs, as well as restrictive weight loss (RWL) dietary menus that will help you achieve your weight loss goals. The RWL menus are often called by my client’s rapid weight loss. Why? Because these menus are restrictive in food items, but often yield an initial 10-20+ pounds weight loss during the first four weeks.
Will this program work for you? The answer is an emphatic yes! Follow the program as you would a recipe. It will however, require some effort on your part. Our goals are to: (1) help you lose initial pounds quickly to get you close to where you want to be; and (2) empower you to become your own fitness, training, and nutrition expert. Why this method instead of very intense programs such as ‘Insanity’, ‘Asylum’, ‘P90’, ‘CrossFit’, etc.? Because this program will help you lose weight quickly and then, put you on a good path that will help you change your health habits (especially eating habits) for nutrition and exercise. Also, while very intense exercise programs work, they are much more demanding than the average person, can or wants to do. Simply stated, this program will put you on a path that will allow you to choose any future direction. So, let’s have some fun.
You could just jump right into the workouts and the menus listed in our program, but because these programs can be difficult, it would be best to understand why you are doing them and what types of results to expect. Therefore, it is recommended that you obtain a base foundation, prior to beginning the actual 90-Day program so that you have some insight into what lies ahead. However, the sequential steps of the 90-Day program are relatively simple (you need to be persistent) and include:
(1) Measure your body fat;
(2) Calculate your calorie requirements (see our tools section);
(3) Determine your target heart rate for training (see our tools section);
(4) Follow the workout programs given (or fill out your personal fitness profile and use the ones we design for you that are accessible from your smart phone, iPad, etc.); and
(5) Follow the dietary program menus given.
The complete details for each of these steps are fully explained in our 90-Days to a New You book.
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For those interested in a complete guide to nutrition we recommend the book “Nutrition Made Simple” that is available on Amazon—it goes beyond the nutrition explained herein. Also, to rip a body so that it is completely lean with visible abs, the normal dietary plan does not work short-term thus, you are receiving that short-term plan herein. After you achieve your goal, it is important that you work into a good dietary plan that will change your eating habits to help you obtain and maintain the kind of body and health you desire to have.
A great many celebrities and other famous individuals have put forth volumes of information about how to shape up. However, most of these people lack proper training in this area and the majority of their advice is actually based on comments from behind-the-scenes personal trainers that designed programs specific to them as individuals. Although some programs will work that are on the market, one must use caution in adopting them. A good program will have two major keys; it will be based on: (1) sound nutrition; and (2) sound fitness concepts. If the program does not suggest changes in eating habits, it is of little use.
Many people seeking health and fitness have simply succumbed to bad advice, but perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that they blindly follow erring advisors down a path that will bring about only short-lived success and ultimately, personal failure, and finally and tragically, loss of self esteem. Following are articles from major news services that were selected at random from hundreds of similar ones. The second news clip truly captures what has been going on for the past decade in the area of nutrition fads and fitness scams.
[UK News] London: Exercising to celebrity fitness videos could be injurious to health, warn health experts and claim that as many as 14,000 people are treated in hospitals each year after working out at home. According to the article, millions prefer to work out at home guided by a famous celebrity, but they risk serious injuries, which include pulling muscles by skipping over warm-up routines, dizzy spells caused by over-exertion, and a high chance of tripping on objects scattered around living rooms. While some individuals push themselves too hard to copy the celebrity instructor, others don’t even bother warming-down afterwards, which results in aches and pains. Unfit people doing some of these exercises at home risk causing serious injury to themselves.
Should we try this at home? With some gym fees sky high and the lack of will power to go to the gym regularly, it makes sense to buy an exercise video and sweat off those pounds in private. But celebrity workouts could do us more harm than good. It’s February, it’s cold and you’re comfort eating. You want to shed those extra pounds that have been lurking since Christmas, but can’t be bothered to go to the gym. So, is a celebrity fitness DVD practiced in the comfort of your living room the answer? For one thing, while one Pilate’s session could leave you $65 out of pocket, you can buy a lifetime of video exercise routines for less than $25.
Experts have warned that people risked injuring themselves by exercising incorrectly or over-enthusiastically at home. Home exercise is often undertaken by people who are inexperienced and unfit, and don’t warm up properly before a session, leaving themselves vulnerable to pulled muscles and dizzy spells. So, could these living-room workouts be doing you more harm than good?
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Figures show that 14,000 people per year are treated in hospitals following an exercise session at home. Meanwhile, experts say that some celebrity workouts are worse than useless. “People don’t think they’ll hurt themselves,” says Sammy Margo, a chartered physiotherapist. “But without guidance or proper knowledge, celebrity fitness videos have the potential to be dangerous. In the hands of people who are unfit, they can pose a real hazard. Exercise should be about looking and feeling good about yourself, however, lots of people do it thinking they will look like the celebrity they are following. They are so focused on looking like the celebrity that they don’t even think about whether or not [that person] is properly qualified.” And, generally, over 95% are not!
The ability to stop and pause videos is also seen by some experts as dangerous. Missing the beginning of the video or stopping before you reach the end will not improve your fitness and can be very hazardous. It is crucial to follow the whole program, including warm-ups, if you are to exercise safely and efficiently.
Dr. Tindall’s advice to you is to choose from among the thousands of qualified professionals in gyms across America and to stay away from celebrity and “want-to-be” experts! Why? Last year Americans spent about $60 billion on diet products and lost about one billion pounds. By the end of the year only 3% kept the weight off, the rest gained back about 970 million pounds.
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You must have a plan if you are to succeed at losing weight and keeping it off. I will show you how. Within 90 days there will be a new you—healthier, more invigorated, more fit, and better looking you in terms of body—a total body makeover that will surprise you. How do I know this? Because I have helped many others accomplish this goal; all of whom were successful.
Begin your path today and look like the person you envision yourself to be. If you are unfamiliar with the exercises in these programs find a local personal trainer or attend one of Dr. Tindall’s “LifeForce” camps for a more complete knowledge.
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Let’s now consider Tanya (photos below – used by permission). If she remained on the same course she had been on, she would continue to look like the picture on the left, perhaps worse. However, she chose to accept the 90-Day challenge and now looks like the picture on the right (both are untouched photos)! Ninety days after beginning our 90-day program, Tanya competed in a fitness contest and as you can see, did very well.
As part of our 30-day express programs on the main page of the My Health and Fitness website, we will begin phase 1 of a 90-Day program beginning in June so, stay tuned.
