Saturday, July 23, 2011

I Need to Lose Weight and Fast – Should I Join a Gym?

I Need to Lose Weight and Fast – Should I Join a Gym?
i need to lose weight and fast
Anytime a person comes to me and says, “Isabel, I need to lose weight and fast. Will joining a gym help me achieve my goals?” I simply tell them that no two people are alike. It’s all about what works for you. There are a lot of good reasons to join a gym, but there are also some drawbacks.



Reasons You May Want to Join a Gym

■Motivation. Everyone at the gym is there for one reason—to exercise. Being around people who share the same objective can motivate you to dig your heels in and get your workouts done. If going to the gym will encourage you to exercise regularly, then I say go for it!

■No Distractions at Home. There is always something to do or someone who needs you at home. These distractions can easily take priority (in your mind) over exercising. When you do most of your workouts at the gym, the dishes, dinner, phone calls, laundry and anything else you “need” to do will just have to wait.

■Access to Exercise Equipment and Fitness Classes. You don’t need much exercise equipment to get a good workout. However, doing the same old exercise videos and running on the same old treadmill can bore you to pieces. When you opt to workout in a gym, you have access to tons of equipment and a variety of fitness classes, so you rarely get bored.

Reasons You May Not Want to Join a Gym

■You May Get Stuck in a Contract. Plenty of people join a gym and use their memberships religiously. Others start off with a boom and then fade away. If you are one of the faders and you sign a 12 month contract, you’ll be stuck paying for a year long membership that you never use. Basically, it will be a waste of money.

■Fees are Continuous. Most contracted gym membership fees are collected via automatic bank draft. If you lose your job or run into financial hardships, there is no way to stop the gym from pulling money out of your account until your contract expires. If your finances are really messed up, the money the gym takes out of your account can cause overdraft charges and other financial hardships.



■Overcrowding. Gyms are in the business of making money. The more members they have, the more money they make. These facilities can be pretty crowded during peak hours. If you hate crowds or are uncomfortable exercising around others, the gym atmosphere may not be for you.

■Germy Equipment. Sweaty bodies and dirty hands—it’s no secret that the exercise equipment and locker rooms at gyms are stomping grounds for germs. Anytime you come into contact with germy equipment, you become vulnerable to illnesses and infections. If you are a germaphobe or slack about hand washing, you may be better off exercising at home.

Some Ways to Combat Gym Drawbacks

While it’s not necessary to join a gym to lose weight, some people thrive in this type of setting. If you’re not sure if a gym is right for you, go to a nearby facility and ask for a free trial membership. This will give you a chance to use the facility for a couple of weeks to see if joining is something you really want to do.



If you feel like a gym membership is what you need to get off your hump and exercise, negotiate with the fitness club to save a little cash. Some gyms will waive their registration fees or offer as much as 30 percent off membership prices–all you gotta’ do is ask.



If you detest the idea of being trapped in a contract, ask for a month to month membership. Most gyms don’t advertise the month to month thing because it eats into their profits. With this type of membership, you simply pay as you go. When you get sick of going, you can quit without paying any additional fees.





Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Cheat your way to fat loss

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Let me ask you a question: Have you ever felt extremely guilty after eating something you “shouldn’t have” while trying to lose weight?








Believe me, I know how you feel. Like I said, I’m no different than you.





So did I quit?





Not this time. Even with my royal screw-up hanging over my head, I knew I needed to get back on track.





So I did what any good fitness pro would do: I stood up, brushed off the dirt, and got on with the plan.





Now for the really embarrassing part.


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No more than a few days later, temptation decided to rear its ugly head once again, this time in the form of not one, but two large, freshly baked pizzas sitting on my kitchen table as I walked through the door from a long day at work.





Apparently, my roommates at the time didn’t much care that I was “on a diet”. Nice looking out, guys.





So I get offered a slice, and naturally (so as not to be rude, of course) I accept.





Before you knew it, that one slice turned to two, then three, and it wasn’t long before I had put the finishing touches on nearly an entire large pizza.





Can you just imagine what I’m thinking at this point?





Just in case you can’t, let me get you up to speed: I’m thinking I might as well find a new freakin’ career path because I can’t even manage to resist the same cravings I regularly tell my clients to withstand.





Talk about a humbling experience.





So you’re probably wondering, did I quit after yet another “screw-up”? Surprisingly, (even to me) I didn’t.





Believe it or not, the next day I woke up, did some cardio, and actually managed to have a pretty successful remainder of the week diet-wise.





Then, the day I had been dreading—weigh-in day—finally rolled around.















To be honest, I stepped on the scale that day for one reason: to find out just how much ground I had lost—and would therefore have to make up—over the course of that last week.





Well, I never found out that number.





No, it’s not that my fat butt broke the scale, and no, I didn’t suddenly, albeit conveniently, forget how to read.







You see, when I looked down at the scale that day, I discovered something pretty unreal—despite having just experienced the most undedicated week of my entire dietary life, I somehow managed to lose three pounds.







A simple weigh-in fluke? I’m right there with you, but get this: No more than a few seconds later I grabbed the measuring tape from the bathroom sink only to find out that my waist measurement went down a full inch to boot.





What?





I was floored. This made absolutely no sense to me (at least at the time it didn’t; now, it makes all the sense in the world, and I’ll soon fill you in).





So what in God’s name happened?







How in the world did a week full of pizza, pasta, and pastries pull me straight out of a fat loss rut and supercharge my results way beyond what I was able to accomplish by staying “strict” with my diet for weeks beforehand?







Is there an explanation?





You better believe there is.





In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that the information I’m about to share with you will probably prove to be the biggest “ah-ha” moment you’ve ever had.





You see, if you’ve ever started a diet only to quit a few weeks later from a lack of results—if you’ve ever seemingly done everything right only to find that the scale wouldn’t reward you for your efforts—or if you’ve ever given up your favorite foods in the name of health and weight loss only to later discover that the sacrifice didn’t quite pan out, I’m here to tell you…







It’s NOT Your Fault







Simply put, “diets” can’t work.





If you tried ‘em and failed, you’re just like 99% of the rest of the world, myself included: normal.





You see, any time you restrict calories, you literally “program” your body to fight against your every effort to lose weight.




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