Introduction

Starting off in the field of Personal Training you are given the opportunity to see the big picture of Health & Wellness and Fitness. The first question I want you to consider is ‘what are you doing it all for’? Why are you limiting your calories, why are you eating low-fat/low-carb foods? Why are you putting more time in at the gym in a week then with your friends and family? Why do you beat yourself up after eating that cupcake? Why do you weight yourself everyday and look in the mirror while you pinch your love handles? It is for Health reasons - do you want to lower your cholesterol, improve your heart health, increase your quality of life and decrease your chances of developing a chronic disease such as Diabetes or HTN? Is it for self-esteem, vanity and personal image? Or is it because you have no choice in the matter? Now think.. Which one of these reasons is the healthiest and which is the least?

You’re probably thinking to yourself, why does this matter? The answer is – when you do something for someone else or for other reasons then your own, you tend to start off really good and then lose track of the ‘what’ and ‘why’. The other reason is when you try to obtain perfection by calorie watching, being at the gym 24/7 and trying to reflect your success solely threw appearance, there will never be such a thing as perfection. You will always need to “work on something a little more” or lose maybe just one more pound and in the end that is not a healthy nor satisfying way to live.

What I am trying to get you to think about is - what is it that you truly want to accomplish? Do you want to just lose 5 pounds to fit into your Wedding dress and just go back to your ‘normal life’ after or do you want to make a lifestyle change towards a longer, happier, healthier life? Being a personal trainer these are the people we can mold into true success stories, the others may look great in those wedding photos but in five months look back and feel even worse about themselves than before their attempts.

Health and Wellness is no fad-diet or short-term decision – it is something you need to plan on committing to. It is a vow you need to make with yourself and only yourself for the long haul. We all slip up, there are events, parties, vacations and even bad days that just call for the bin of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream. Being healthy is not about giving it all up and living on carrots, tofu and fish - food was meant to be enjoyed! The difference between a healthy person and a non-healthy person is simply awareness, education and balance – whatever goes in must come out.

Studying for my Certificate I have looked through dozens of diet fads that go from one extreme to the next – low-carb diets, high-protein diets and no fat diets. They definitely do the trick and there are plenty of success stories but only about 10% of the success stories are long lasting. Do you know why? Let me ask one question: Umm… who wants to eat such a restricting diet like those forever?! Not me! Like I said it’s about understanding the logistics, getting education of what foods are better for you than others and balancing the good with the bad. Remember when I said ‘what does in must come out’? This basically means that in a single day you must burn as many calories as you consume. For example you eat three meals and two snacks in the day and consume a total of 1600 calories. You burn off about 1300 doing routine daily activities, you go for a 30 minute walk with the dog (79 calories), you do some house work and make dinner (82 calories) and then after eating you go down stairs to watch your favorite TV show while getting on the Elliptical for 45 minutes (297 Calories)

Total Calories IN: 1600

Total calories OUT: -158

Now what does this all mean? Means you are on your way to a health happy lifestyle while you lose weight. If you were to stay at this pace for two months five days a week you have the potential of losing 2 pounds without even trying. Think of what you could do with cutting out that morning muffin and replacing it with low-fat yogurt and granola, going for a nice 20 minute walk at lunch, getting off the bus a stop early and walking the rest of the way, replacing your afternoon snack with a handful of almonds or a banana and maybe heading to the gym 3 times a week. You could be looking at not only losing 7-15 pounds but also improving your Cholesterol, your risk of heart disease, increasing your mobility and energy levels and on a great start to a new lifestyle.

All right, I think this is enough for the introductory. If you are ready to be on your way to a longer healthier life, here are some things you should start to consider?

1.      What are your short-term goals?

2.      What are your long-term goals?

3.      How do you plan on achieving these goals?

4.      What is your starting point? What are the things you currently do that could be seen as issues or health factors? Example: eating out often, not physical activity other than the walk to and from the car, over-weight, lack of support, smoking, high levels of alcohol consumption, ect.

5.      Why are you doing this?

6.      What supports and resources do you plan on using?

7.      What are going to be your obstacles?

8.      How can you overcome these obstacles?

Right out these questions and really think about where you are. Stay tuned and together we can learn what the best way is to be fit, healthy and look great all at once! Best of luck in your new lifestyle commitmetnts and stick to it!

Footnotes:
3500 = amount of calories in one pound
1200-1500 = the number of calories the average person burns in a day doing routine activities and bodily functions