Weight loss 101
September 8, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Articles
Why do some weight loss programs fail?
Diets, especially fad diets or “quick-fix” pills and plans, often set you up for failure because:
- You feel deprived. Diets that don’t allow certain types of food (carbs, fat, sugar) in moderation are simply not practical, not to mention unhealthy – eliminating entire food groups doesn’t allow for a healthy, well-rounded diet and creates imbalances in our bodies.
- You “plateau” after losing a few pounds. There’s actually a second component to healthy weight loss: exercise. Often your body adjusts to a new way of eating, and it’s only with increased physical activity that the pounds will continue to melt away.
- You lose weight, but can’t keep it off. Diets that severely cut calories, restrict certain foods, or rely on ready-made meals might work in the short term. However, once you meet your weight loss goal, you have no means of lifelong, healthy diet maintenance, and the pounds quickly come back.
- After your diet, you seem to put on weight more quickly. Restricting your food intake slows down your metabolism – another reason why starvation or “fasting” diets are counterproductive.
- You break your diet and feel too discouraged to try again. Just because you gave in to temptation and overindulged, doesn’t mean all your hard work goes down the drain. Healthy eating is about the big picture – an occasional splurge won’t kill your efforts. And again, diets that are too restrictive are conducive to cheating – when you feel deprived, it’s easy to fall off the wagon.
- You lose money faster than you lose weight. Special shakes, meals, and programs may be cost-prohibitive and less practical for long-term weight loss and healthy weight maintenance.
- You feel isolated and unable to enjoy social situations revolving around food. Without some practical, healthy diet strategies, you may feel lost when dining out or attending events like cocktail parties or weddings. If the food served isn’t on your specific diet plan, what can you do?
- The person on the commercial lost 30 lbs in 2 months – and you haven’t. Diet companies make a lot of grandiose promises, and most are simply not realistic. Unfortunately, losing weight is not easy, and anyone who makes it seem that way is doing you a disservice. Don’t get discouraged by setting unrealistic goals!
Why do some weight loss programs succeed?
While there is no “one size fits all” solution to lifelong, healthy weight loss, try these tips:
- Lifestyle change – Permanent weight loss is not something that a “quick-fix” diet can achieve. Instead, think about weight loss as a permanent lifestyle change. You are making a commitment to your health for life. Various popular diets can help to jump-start your weight loss, but permanent changes in your lifestyle and food choices are what will work long term.
- Find a cheering section – Social support means a lot. Programs like one in your gym or with your personal trainer use group support to impact weight loss and lifelong healthy eating. Seek out support, whether in the form of family, friends, or a support group, so that you can get the encouragement you need.
- Commit to a plan and stick to it – Experiment until you find a good, long-term plan that helps you lose the weight and maintain that loss in a way that works for you. If you cut out just 100 calories a day you could lose 10 pounds in a year. Remember, one 12 oz can of soda can contain 150 calories.
- Lose weight slowly. Losing weight too fast can take a toll on your nervous system, making you feel sluggish, drained, and sick. When you drop a lot of weight quickly, you’re actually losing mostly water and muscle rather than fat. Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week to ensure healthy weight loss.
- Stay motivated and keep track – Short-term goals, like wanting to fit into a bikini for the summer, usually don’t work as well as goals like wanting to feel more confident or become healthier for your children’s sakes. Keep a food journal or weigh yourself regularly. Find and use tools that help keep you motivated. Stay focused: when frustration and temptation strike, concentrate on the many benefits you will reap from being healthier and leaner.
Gaining and losing weight like celebrities, is it safe?
August 31, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Blog
Roshini Raj, MD, is Health’s medical editor and co-author of What the Yuck?! The Freaky & Fabulous Truth About Your Body. Board-certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine, Dr. Raj is an assistant professor of medicine at New York University Medical Center and a contributor on the Today show. In our new book, Dr. Raj fields personal and provocative questions—about your body, sex, even celeb health fads.
Q: Is it safe to pack on and then lose weight rapidly like the stars do?
A: Julia Roberts told Entertainment Weekly that she gained 10 pounds while filming the scenes in Italy in the new chick flick Eat, Pray, Love. “If you look at any of the scenes of eating, by the end of the scene, I’m done eating. Like in the scene with the pizza, by the time the scene is over, I’ve eaten the entire piece. When we were in Naples, we started shooting at 8 in the morning, and I think by 8:45 I’d eaten 8 or 10 pieces of pizza. Pizza was what I ate all day that day,” she said.
Unlike Julia, who probably lost those pounds with a few extra cardio sessions, some stars are adding and dropping much larger amounts and much more quickly. Take rapper 50 Cent, who dropped over 50 pounds for his role as a cancer patient in Things Fall Apart. Or Russell Crowe, whose scale goes up and down for films such as Gladiator and Body of Lies. They have been fodder for many celebrity-magazine headlines.
Here’s the bottom line: It’s risky. Rapid weight gain can put a stress on your heart and joints. Rapid weight loss can damage your liver and cause gallstones, hair loss (due to low protein), and loss of muscle mass; in starvation mode (which happens when you restrict calories too severely), your body hangs on to fat and breaks down muscle. It can also lead to loose, hanging skin, which—while not dangerous—is unattractive and hard to get rid of without surgery.
Of course, celebs are under a lot of pressure to shed their movie-part pounds in time for the next awards show, but no one should be speed dieting. One to two pounds per week is the fastest anyone should be losing weight. Even celebrities.
Gazpacho salad
August 31, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Recipes
This is salad is a quick refreshing twist to a hot day. Add some sliced avocado and a drizzle of hot sauce for an extra kick!
Makes about four cups
1 cucumber, diced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 small red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonaded
1 can tomato juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
Sea salt, pinch
Ground black pepper, pinch
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Combine everything in a large bowl. Puree half in a blender and add the remaining vegetable mix to the puree. Season with sea salt to taste and chill for about 3 hours before serving. Serve with country bread topped with goat cheese.
Enjoy,
Chad
Your trainer is here for you!
August 17, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Blog
Know that whatever health related question or concern you may have, we are here for you. We want to help you reach your goals and if you feel a particular diet or program is not working for you, let us know. That is an advantage of having a personal trainer that knows you, your body and your needs. A trainer can customize a routine made especially for you. So if you or a friend need this kind of one on one, talk to us and we will get you into a more personalized program. Together we can do it!
5 Common myths proven wrong
August 17, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Articles
Myth: Cutting carbohydrates helps you lose weight
Doing it the wrong way can also make you feel rotten and unhealthy. Carbs are to this decade what fats were to the last: food demons. Truth is, though, you need them for energy. And, like with fats, some are better than others. Experts suggest a minimum of 130 grams of carbs a day—a far cry from low-carb diets that start with 20 grams or less. Short-term effects of such diets include fatigue, constipation and irritability; long term, you could be putting yourself at risk for heart disease and colon cancer.
Fad diets aside, what may matter most is how refined the carbohydrates are. The best idea is to cut back on refined carbs such as soda and foods made with white flour, while loading up on healthier carbs like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Myth: Diet foods help you drop pounds
They can actually do the opposite. You may be doing yourself more harm than good by scanning labels for the lowest calorie and fat counts. Prepackaged diet foods can have a lot of sugar and trans fat.
As with carbs, it’s the quality of the fat, not the amount, that makes the difference. Monounsaturated fats (found in nuts, olive oil, and avocados) and the polyunsaturated variety (in corn, soybean, and safflower oils) help your cardiovascular system, improve weight loss, and are crucial for absorbing beta carotene from vegetables like carrots. Trans fats and saturated fats, on the other hand, have been linked with heart disease and even cancer.
A recent study found that replacing just 30 calories of carbs a day with the same amount of trans fats nearly doubled the risk of heart disease. Replacing the same ratio of carbs with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, on the other hand, lowered the risk of heart disease by 30 to 40 percent. So consider boosting your good fats by adding nuts to your morning cereal or avocado to your salads. Just watch your daily calories to keep them in check.
Myth: The more you cut calories, the more weight you’ll lose
That can actually hurt you. Cut your calories too far—below 1,200 a day—and you’ll end up with a double whammy that quickly decreases your metabolism and muscle mass. To get the most out of the calories you do eat, choose whole foods such as produce, fresh meat and fish, and whole grains that are as close to their natural state as possible. They have a higher “nutrient density” than refined foods, because they pack more vitamins and minerals into fewer calories.
Myth: Dairy makes you fat
Cutting dairy just shoots you in the foot (and fat cells). Combined with calorie control, a dairy-rich diet can nearly double body-fat reduction and weight loss and help prevent weight gain. Part of the reason is the hormone calcitriol, which helps conserve calcium for stronger bones while telling fat cells to convert less sugar to fat and burn more body fat. The result is leaner fat cells and a leaner you. Stick to the government’s latest dietary guidelines, which recommend three servings of low- or nonfat dairy a day.
Myth: Brown equals whole-grain
There are lots of whole-grain poseurs out there. Look for labels where “whole-wheat” or “whole-grain” top the list. It’s worth the extra effort: More and more research is finding that whole grains reduce your risk of many chronic ailments, from obesity and diabetes to cardiovascular disease. The extra fiber in whole grains is key: It makes you feel full, which means you eat less. It also helps level out the peaks and valleys of insulin that a meal produces. An added boost: Whole-grain foods tend to be higher in vitamins B and E than refined grains.
Physical Fitness and what it means to us.
August 9, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Articles
What Does Physical Fitness Really Mean?
Physical fitness is very important for our health and well being! That’s what we’re being told. That’s great! But what in the world is it? Don’t you think that if we’re going to explore the possibility of doing something about it, then we need to know what we’re talking about?
Here’s A Definition . . .
The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Research says, “Health related fitness consists of those components that have a relationship with good health . . .
The Components Of Physical
Fitness Are . . .
Aerobic Endurance – the ability to do moderately strenuous activity over a period of time. It reflects how well your heart and lungs work together to supply oxygen to your body during exertion and exercise. (This keeps the pump pumping properly.)
Muscular Endurance – the ability to hold a particular position for a sustained period of time or repeat a movement many times. This could be the capability to hold a two-pound weight above your head for five minutes or the effort required to lift that weight 20 consecutive times.
Muscular Strength – the ability to exert maximum force, such as lifting the heaviest weight you can budge, one time. It is possible to have muscular strength in one area, say your arms, while lacking strength in another area such as your legs.
Flexibility – the ability to move a joint through its full range of motion. This is how limber or supple you are. (Wouldn’t it be nice to bend down and pick something up without struggling?)
Body Composition – the proportion of fat in your body compared to your bone and muscle. It does not refer to your weight in pounds or your figure. (But if the ratio is good, you will look and feel better.)
Balance – the ability to maintain your body in its upright posture, especially when abnormal stress (such as tripping) might cause you to lose your balance.
Metabolic fitness – the ability of the body to efficiently burn fuel (food) for energy. (Maybe you can eat that doughnut without it immediately going to your waist.)
Why Do I Want To Improve My Physical Fitness?
Maybe you would like help improving some of the following conditions:
If any of these things make sense to you, then you should be looking into what it is that you need to do to improve your physical fitness. It is definitely not just about looking like a body builder or a fitness model. It’s all about lifetime fitness and the joy of being happy.
Do you have questions about possible injuries or illness that might be caused by starting to exercise? Come in and have a consultation with me to discuss it more in depth.
Chad
Let’s get back into the swing of things!
August 8, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Blog
Summer was about spending time with our families, vacations, cook-outs, traveling and well, less time in the gym. It is easy to to get caught up with family functions and work and somehow we make less and less time to squeeze in a workout. We know that it happens to the best of us and we are here for you to get you back into the swing of things. It is never too late to get back into shape and we will help you reach your goals. Come in and have a sit down to understand where you are and where you need to go and we will get you into a routine that works for you as an individual. Remember that you are only a decision away from getting where you need to be.
See you soon!
Saturday’s Fitness and Wellness Fair was a success!
April 12, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Blog
I hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready to start the week with a positive and healthy mindset. I wanted to take some time to thank all of our participants and sponsors for helping make Saturday’s Fitness and Wellness fair a success, we could not have done it without your help and support. Our objective for this event is to bring awareness to our community about healthier living and how to be a little more active. Exercise and good diet is vital in living a longer, healthier, happier life. Here at Chad’s gym I am here to help you overcome any hurdle or obstacle you may face when entering a new exercise and diet regimen. Let’s strive to help you be the best you that you can be, one day at a time. Remember if you have any friends ready to make that commitment, I am here to help. Let them know about my no obligation consultation. I will put together a lifestyle change plan that best suits their needs. Again thank you all for working as hard as you do and I will see you in the gym.
Please join us Saturday 12-4 p.m. for our 1st annual Wellness and Fitness fair!
April 8, 2010 by Chad Falco
Filed under Blog
This Saturday Chad’s Gym teamed up Posh Talent Boutique to provide you with the 1st Annual Wellness and Fitness Fair. With you, your family and friends health and wellness in mind, we have organized an array of participants to be on site to provide you with free information and healthier living tips. We will have medical professionals available for any questions you may have as well as United Blood Services for any of you willing to donate blood. We will have music there for your entertainment, over 11 booths, a car show, a model/talent search, Miss Border City Queen pageant winners, goodie bags, raffles and private consultations with Chad Falco and so much more. So please bring everyone you know to this exciting FREE event and let’s make El Paso a happier, healthier community together.
Need Supplements? Get Them At Wholesale Prices!!!
May 18, 2009 by Chad Falco
Filed under Articles
We do not stock many but we can get most major lines of supplements. They come direct from the wholesalers. Looking for that protein shake in a RTD or powder form? Fat burners? How about protein bars or meal replacements? We can get you just about anything at half the prices. The supplements are sold at wholesale price with only a $5.00 handling fee and applied taxes.
You could save hundreds of dollars a month or yearly depending on your supplement demand!!
