I’ve been a Personal Trainer for over 30 years and have known the secret to spot reducing for all of those years. Why is it a secret? Beats me. I’ve been preaching it as long as I can remember, but it just doesn’t seem to catch on. I’ll tell you it… are you ready? Wait for it… the secret to spot reducing is…you can’t! That’s it. That simple. There is no spot reducing. There is no triceps exercise that will get rid of the fat on your arms, no abdominal machine or gadget that will hit those love handles.

So here’s how it works: ]]> http://guidingstars.com/fitness-and-weight-loss/lose-the-muffin-top-the-truth-about-spot-reducing/feed/ 0 http://guidingstars.com/fitness-and-weight-loss/excuse-itis/ http://guidingstars.com/fitness-and-weight-loss/excuse-itis/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:15:15 +0000 Mark Nutting http://guidingstars.com/?p=3364 We all know that there are many excuses why people don’t exercise or don’t exercise enough. Are they valid? I polled colleagues to come up with a top ten list of excuses. Let’s explore them David Letterman-countdown style:

#10 You’re Too Embarrassed to Start

Really… it’s surprising how often we’ll hear “I’ll go to the gym after I lose some weight.” People can be very worried about what other club members are thinking about them. In fact, whatever shape you are in, by going to the club, you draw admiration because you chose to come in and change it. See Priscilla’s story on Fit at Five.

#9 You Have No Motivation

Change in behavior takes two beliefs: you must believe you can change and you must believe it’s worth it to change. There’s your motivation question: Is it worth it? Specifically, how would you feel differently if you reached your goals? How would your life be different? Your health? Now, is going to the club, working out, watching what you eat, worth it?

#8 You Don’t Know What to Do/How to Start

As with anything new, from ballroom dance, learning to play an instrument, to using a new computer program, get professional instruction. In this case, hire a Personal Trainer or take a group exercise class.

#7 Exercise is Boring/Don’t Like to Exercise

Did you know that 20% of four-year-olds in the US are obese? 1 in 5 four-year-olds!

Now you may say that it’s just baby fat and that they’ll grow out of it, but here are some things you should know:

• 10% of non-obese children become obese adults
• 40%-50% of obese children become obese adults
• 70% of obese adolescents become obese adults
• 80% of obese adolescents become obese adults if one parent is obese

In addition to their weight itself, most obese children have at least one other major cardiovascular risk factor, (i.e. high blood cholesterol, high triglycerides, high insulin or high blood pressure). These risk factors were previously thought of as adult conditions, not ones you’d find in kids. Our children’s generation could be the first generation where the parents live longer than the kids do.

So who’s to blame? In my opinion, we all are. Parents, schools, the community, and society all carry the burden of what’s happening to our kids. We all need to step up and do our part to help overcome it.

What Parents Can Do

Here are the five pillars of brain fitness:

Pillar 1: Nutritional Guidelines

Proper nutritional habits are associated with better brain health (ratings like Guiding Stars can help you make better food choices)

• Decrease saturated fat (fats solid at room temperature) and sugar in your diet
• Increasing intake of antioxidants (found in beans, berries, apples, nuts, etc) & omega 3 fatty acids (including fatty fish, flaxseed, walnuts. sprouts, kale, etc)

Pillar 2: Stress Management

• Reduce cortisol, increase rest/recovery. Cortisol increases with stress. Elevated levels of cortisol interfere with the brain’s energy supply, the function of neurotransmitters, and helps increase free-radicals that damage brain cells. Reducing stress (through exercise, meditation, etc.) can help keep cortisol in check.

Pillar 3: Physical Exercise

• As little as 3 hours/week of cardiovascular can stimulate increases in Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF), described as “Miracle Grow” for the brain

Pillar 4: Mental Stimulation

• Variety, challenge, novelty are essential to brain function. Just like our bodies responding to physical exercise, our brains respond to the challenge of mental exercise. What kinds of new, different things can you try?

Pillar 5: Social Interaction

• Create more opportunities to interact, build friendships. The more friends and daily interactions you have, the better it is for your brain function.

The answer is that we must change our belief system to succeed. Change takes two beliefs: I CAN do it, and it’s WORTH doing. Failing to lose weight is failing to believe one or the other (or both) of these statements.

Think about it. If you, down deep, don’t believe that you can lose the weight you need/want to, whether it’s because your family doesn’t support you, you feel you don’t have time, or even that you don’t have the willpower to stick to a program, how much effort will you truly put into it?

What if you don’t believe it’s worth it? “Working out, sweating, watching what you eat, smaller portions…. that’s not worth it. It’s just too hard. Isn’t it?”

Those are the fundamental beliefs that we need to change in order to attain our health/ weight loss goals and I’d like to offer a few words to help you move forward with that.

Can you? Absolutely! In my 30 years as a Personal Trainer, I have never met anyone that couldn’t, if they thought it was worth the effort. You don’t have to change your life all at once. It’s about making small modifications (tweaks) in what you’re currently doing. Ask yourself, “What 1 or 2 things could I change this week to start me in the right direction?” When you accomplish that, pick another 1 or 2 for the next week, then the next week, etc. Before long, you’ve accumulated enough better behaviors to really see a difference in yourself. Next stop… reaching your goals.

Is it worth it? Ah, this is one that only you can determine. Health risk warnings aren’t enough, if effective at all. It has to be very personal to you. How would being leaner/healthier change your life? If you can’t answer that question with clarity, you’ll never care enough to change. Try answering this way, “I want to be able to (i.e. look, feel, do) because..."

Like a toddler, you have to continually ask yourself “Why?” So, you want to lose weight…why? Your doctor told you you should…why? Because he said you were at risk for cardiovascular disease…why does that matter to you? You could die prematurely…why is living longer important to you? You have two young kids and you want to see them grow up and be an active part of their lives. Now we’re getting somewhere.

So, if you’re going to try to lose weight and get healthier, first make sure you believe.