How to Lose Weight and Gain Muscle in 7 Steps

How do I lose weight and gain muscle? This is probably the top-ranked question heard daily as a trainer/coach. The question is not always easily answered. There is never a one-size-fits-all fitness program. That being said, I'm providing a general list of factors that should be considered to achieve your goals:

1. Mental readiness: If you're not ready mentally, your body is unable to follow. Mental readiness is accepting a change is needed in your life to improve your health. Our desire to finally get serious may come from a doctor saying your cholesterol, triglycerides, or blood pressure is too high. You may have been told being overweight has contributed to these issues and potential for increased risk of diabetes or heart problems.

Many times, the desire to change comes from our inner selves reaching a point of not liking how we feel or what we see in the mirror. Moments like this typically motivate us to finally commit to eating healthy and exercising regularly. We are ready for a lifestyle change.

2. Plan to succeed: Nothing happens without good planning. Whether achieving fitness goals with a qualified personal trainer or solo, you will require knowledge and a plan to succeed. If working on your own, you will need reliable nutrition and fitness books or online sources. Stick with realistic approaches and stay away from fad diets and trends. These are typically short-term quick fixes without long-term solutions.

Another strategy is seeking the help of a qualified personal trainer/nutrition counselor. Proper fitness/health coaching can really motivate you in the right direction. If taught correctly, you will gain lifelong education on healthy eating, proper exercise technique, weight loss management, and muscle growth.

3. Food and fitness journals: recording progress is a great strategy for successful weight loss and muscle gain. You can include 'before' pictures and measurements, feelings of the day, daily food and water intake, and exercises performed in your workout. This consistent information will allow you to repeat successful weeks and show you where things didn't go quite right.

4. Progressive fitness: you have heard fitness is about progress, not perfection. Getting fit will require patience and consistent effort. Every positive step toward your goal is making a difference even when we don't see it right away. Progressive fitness means we take it slow, keep going, and trust the process.

5. Eating healthy: losing weight and gaining muscle requires eating for your goals. This means the majority of our food intake will include vegetables and leafy greens, lean proteins, healthy fats, and lots of water. This will be a nutrition lifestyle change taking us from unhealthy eating habits to eating a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods. Physical demands will also increase the number of calories coming from these foods. For example, weightlifters and long distance runners will require more fuel than an individual selecting a light aerobics class for physical activity.

6. Exercise: workouts don't have to be extreme or long duration to be effective. We tend to overcomplicate fitness and consider workouts a burden. Find an exercise you enjoy and stick with it. Working out at least 4 times per week is recommended to increase muscle mass and reduce body fat. A balanced workout program includes exercise that challenges our aerobic, strength, balance and flexibility.

Applying a progressive workout strategy is also important. Allow yourself to be a beginner and increase in exercise intensity and duration slowly. This will give your body time to adapt, promote muscle growth, and progress at a healthy rate reducing the risk of injury.

7. Healthy lifestyle: adopting a healthy lifestyle includes a combination of eating right, exercise, adequate sleep, and balancing work and play. Losing weight and gaining muscle is just a result of living this way. It's really a goal achievable for everyone and simply applying these 7 steps is a great way to start seeing results and living healthy for life.

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Get Fit Working Out 30 Minutes 5 Days Per Week

Exercise doesn't have to be extreme to be effective. In fact, working out for at least 30 minutes 5 days per week can provide a fit body for a lifetime. Athletes with certain goals may need to perform above the maintenance requirement, but in general, active adults can achieve great results using the 30-minute strategy. 

Most of us want to feel and look good in and out of clothes with a simple exercise routine. This is possible without leaping over tall buildings in single bounds and lifting hundreds of pounds of weight. I'm not knocking those doing the leaping, heavy lifting, or extreme sports, but addressing the norm demographic of everyday people who just want to get and look healthy. 

Studies have shown that 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as brisk walking several times weekly is sufficient to maintain a healthy body. It would be reduced to 75 minutes per week if the exercise is vigorous like running or attending an aerobics class. High-intensity interval training reduces the minutes per workout even more.

Also recommended is weight resistance training two days per week. Although the guidelines are quite variable with weightlifting, you can accomplish an effective workout in less than 45 minutes.

This is getting down to the basics of how to maintain a healthy body. Exercise for 30 minutes five days per week and eat right at least 80% of the time to achieve and maintain a fit body.

Everyone has 30 minutes to give to their health regardless of any excuse thrown down on the table. If health and fitness are a priority, the exercise will be a priority and that is the simple truth of it. 

The best part about getting our sweat on for 30 minutes is making it our own.  Creating workouts that are enjoyable is what builds a lifestyle of physical activity. If the outdoors are your thing, lace up the tennis shoes or hiking boots and find some fun trails. If using cardio equipment while listening to music floats your boat, go for it. Love to lift weights? Get to the gym and put in the time.

The heart muscle responds to the demands of exercise being placed on it, not what you are specifically doing. Sweat is sweat, a mile is a mile, and 30 minutes is 30 minutes. What you do to increase the heart rate at a moderate level for that amount of time is up to you. The point is to just to move for 30 minutes.

Stick to the basics of exercise keeping it simple, fun, and a part of your everyday life. The latest extreme fitness trend, work until you puke, faint or die workout is not what will carry us from where we are now into our elder years. These types of programs may be used to meet specific athletic goals, however, not necessary for the active adult or newbie fitness enthusiast looking to get healthy and improve the overall quality of life.

The point of this blog is to motivate you to workout for at least 30 minutes to start. Forget about getting caught up in fad exercise movements that tend to overwhelm and discourage. These types of programs may be fabulous but not the right fit at this time. On the other hand, they may be right for some individuals. Work with what you like and at your fitness level. 

The amazing thing about workouts and fitness is being able to create what works best for each of us. There is never only one way to achieve the body we want. What works best for us is the exercise we look forward to doing and will repeat for a lifetime.  

Working in the industry for over 30 years, I have come to appreciate the simplicity of health and fitness. It truly doesn't require as much time as one might think to be a healthy person. For example, I keep my workouts to no more than one hour per session or less if performing interval training. Honestly, I can achieve an effective workout and prefer exercising for 30 minutes because it fits with my work schedule.

As long as we challenge our body and perform quality exercise movements, it's good enough. Try not to get caught up in the stress of what we think exercise is according to fitness marketing. This often intimidates many of us to avoid starting a fitness program. Honestly, some of the things I see scare me as well.

The caveat to remember is finding fitness programs that work best for you. Keep it simple, don’t stress, or sweat the small stuff. Also, all of us do have the time to exercise for 30 minutes and I hope this blog has provided the motivation for you to get moving. 

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Be well and Stay Healthy

Overcome Obstacles With Strength and Determination

Our body achieves what the mind believes! Life doesn't promise easy but prepares us to become stronger through the process. Obstacles will be part of our life, but we can overcome with strength and determination. 

Why do I post this particular picture? It represents achievement, strength, and determination to overcome obstacles in my life. This is one of my most cherished photo shoots with Gene X of Orange photography.

I was celebrating many things including my 45th birthday. More than that, I achieved what I thought impossible overcoming a year of physical struggle from injury. This was my true celebration of recovery, happiness and moving forward in my life overall. 

I have a cervical injury (double fusion) and unfortunately, another disc herniated above that area. This left me disabled for a year and told it would most likely be permanent without reconstructive surgery. It was a horrible time in my life and all I could do was lay on ice packs and pray. I refused surgery and determined to heal myself through physical therapy and rest. Long story short, it was one of the most painful years physically and emotionally as an athlete. I felt stripped, fearful and suffered daily. 

I refused to give up, had daily talks with God, and a great neuro physical therapist by my side. Together, through pain, ice, tears, and perseverance I began my journey of creating a new me. This was definitely a push through the pain to get to the other side moment. My faith dwindled and feelings of hopelessness were almost a daily occurrence in the beginning. After several months of therapy, I began showing signs of improvement. Each week produced baby steps of physical repair.
  
During this time I really embraced the positive power of everything positive (if that makes sense). I've always been a positive person, but going through the process of injury and recovery seemed to magnify it 100x more. Triumphant is a great word! My recovery was one of the most amazing feats of self-improvement accomplished in my life. 

Why do I share this story? I want to inspire, encourage and motivate you. We have all experienced things and sometimes we are brought to our knees. The important message is to never give up hope. The circumstance may seem dark at the beginning because we're unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We will never understand the reason why some things happen either, but how we respond to the obstacles of life is what makes us healthy people.

Although there are many things I am unable to do, I embrace those things I can do. Recovering from injury or illness will be a struggle but there is renewed strength stemming from our determination to overcome. Celebrate the new person you have become and without even knowing it, you are motivating others going through similar circumstances.  

Remember you are never too old, it's never too late, or circumstance too difficult to become your best healthy self. It may be different compared to before an injury or illness, but it can be better. When we focus on being positive and doing what we can at our current fitness level, that is what matters.

Life is pretty darn good and giving up just isn't our option. We may feel like quitting when life feels bigger than us and those feelings are valid. It's ok to go through the motions of the feelings but realize they are temporary. We eventually need to will that strength and determination deep inside ourselves and power forward. 

Obstacles are difficult, challenging, and often painful but we are stronger. We can accomplish great things, become better, healthier and fitter than ever before through our journey.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

   

Why Stress Can Be a Fitness Killer

Stress is the ugly part of our life package deal with no opting out button. Some individuals manage stress in a healthy way without impacting the quality of life. On the other hand, it can become a chronic problem with negative physical and emotional side effects. Studies indicate stress can increase our risk of hypertension, heart disease, and weight gain.

Many of us live in a constant state of stress caused by our jobs, personal life, or financial strain for example. Sadly, it's becoming an acceptable and normal way of life. We walk around with shoulders to our ears, adrenal glands working over time, and our body suffering the consequences.

Stress breaks down the body by elevating our cortisol levels causing increased blood pressure and waistlines. If you're wondering why weight loss has been so difficult, you may want to evaluate your stress. It can adversely affect our fitness and health. In order to reduce stress, it' s important to implement healthy strategies to manage it for improved fitness. We will never be stress-free, but healthy stress management is shown to promote a fitter body.

How we manage our stress is essential to maintaining our health and fitness. Some people may eat poorly, give up on fitness and take on a bitter attitude during stressful situations. These unhealthy behaviors only make stress worse and our body will wear the evidence of our choices. Continued mismanagement of chronic stress eventually leads to illness and unhappiness.

We really need to let go of things out of our control, not sweat the small stuff, and definitely look into what is causing so much stress in our life.

"Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it."

I love this true statement and live this philosophy to reduce stress and maintain a fit and healthy life. Letting go of things out of our control is important for healthy boundaries and improving the quality of our life. Also, reviewing our priorities and eliminating things creating a 'too busy' life will make for a happier, healthier you.

Focus on those things about yourself that are fixable to reduce the stress in your life. We tend to put undue stress on ourselves from things that just don't matter. Who cares what others are thinking, saying or even doing that may be about you? We are not meant to live a life of self-induced stress and drama. Learning to let go and walk away from unimportant things will greatly improve the quality of your life. Learn from negative stress and turn it into positive growth to create a stronger, healthier person.

Workouts are a great way to manage increased levels of stress. Make it your sweat therapy hour for self-improvement and a healthy strategy to reduce stress. After an exercise session, you will feel better, able to put the stress behind you and ready to move on with a positive day.

Mindful eating is also important during times of stress. Too many people use stress as a reason to overindulge in comfort food to feel better. This is a pseudo fix making stress worse and our body paying the unhealthy price. Remember, taste you want for 5 minutes or health you desire for a lifetime.

What it comes down to is how we want to live. Do we want to live under a cloud of chronic stress and a life of unhealthy choices? I can't imagine any of us want that for ourselves. If we start focusing on stress reduction as a top fitness goal, we will all benefit from significant health improvement. Now, that's a plan!

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