Fitness and Weight Loss Blogby Joe Howard

If you have not heard, Fitpro Boot camp is kinda like Vegas (well kinda). Have you ever heard the old saying “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, well thats not true with FitPro Boot Camp. See just the other day, Jewel came up with a crazy idea about having a 80’s workout session. I seriously thought she was crazy thought it was a great idea.

So a bunch of the ladys got together and planned out the whole thing. 

Without further ado, I am going to turn this blog post over to Jewel now and she will tell you about her crazy boot camp.

********************************************************************************* 

Hey guys, JEWEL here.  Let me start off by telling you how my “crazy” idea came into play. 

I was sitting in the office last Tuesday moping about the fact that my birthday was that following Tuesday and that I would be turning “25″ (wink wink), if any of you know me then you know how much I hate my birthday!! Even though I look and feel better then I ever have in my whole life thanks to Joe and Fit Pro I hate getting older!! I mean come on who really wants to be like a fine wine that has been “aged”?!? Well not me, I want to be like a young green grape not a squeezed out raisin!!  Besides if you also know me then you also know I have a bucket list, and you know that I have many things that I want to accomplish before I turn 30!  I know that its “5″ years away but before I know it I will be 29 and only have a year before I’m 30 (wink wink)! 

So with all this thinking going on in my head, I said screw it! I thought, I was born in the 80’s so why not have an 80’s workout party to celebrate the year I was born and what has gotten me looking and feeling soooooo great, “which has been a great looking husband, working out, eating right, and helping those around me to feel the same way about their bodies as I FINALLY do, CONFIDENT! 

I have to admit that when I told Joe about my idea he did think I was nuts and advised that I re-think this! However, if you know me then you know I am a rebel and know I DON’T like to be told no! lol So I told the gals in my 4:00 boot camp that we are having an 80’s themed workout and prizes will be awarded to the best dressed and most creative. 

I was actually really suprised by how much everyone was really getting into it.  Yesterday came and most of the gals from class did dress up and it was hysterical!! Tracey MADE sweat bands for herself and Burken, Beth cut up a whole sweat shirt to get her look, Kami came complete in a Jane Fonda leotard and fRanny pack, Kim went Good Will hunting for her leg warmers and even wore fake hair, Fran even wore an 11 year old’s dance recital leotard.  These were women on a mission to have the 80’s workout look.

We designed the workout around the 80’s and even had 80’s hit music to workout to.  Our workout was HARD and we even used hula hoops.  We also had a Carolton hop (remeber how Carolton danced off of Fresh Prince)! This just goes to show you that you can have fun when losing weight and getting older! ;) Our prizes were completely surrounded around snack ideas. 

First Place: Kim Smith

Second Place: Kami Huizenga

Third Place: Fran Wilke

Fourth Place: Jennifer “Burken”

Speaking of snacks here is one for you that I shared with my class:

1/4 cup all natural popcorn kernels

1 brown paper lunch bag

microwave

Place the popcorn kernels into the paper bag.  Fold the top of te bag down, and place into your microwave.  Press your popcorn button or cook until you no longer hear the popcorn popping any longer.  Have this snack instead of the sodium and butter covered popcorn that you would normally eat or make. Enjoy this with a protein shake and you will have a complete snack ready in about 3 minutes.  Hint: if you do want to add a bit of butter flavor spray a couple of sprays of I can’t belive its not butter onto your already poped popcorn and shake the bag. 

Enjoy the snack and leave a comment down below about what you thought of the snack!!  Thanks again to my WONDERFUL clients for the birthday wishes, cards, and gifts!!  I also want to thank my 4:00 boot camp for humoring me and stepping back into the life of the 80’s, you girls ROCK!!

Take a look at this video of Jewel.   In this video Jewel shares a very cool trick on how to make a healthy snack.  I have to say, she is very creative when it comes to making healthy foods. ( I appologize the video is so blurry.  The person behind the camera is to blame. Sorry Kami)

Have you tried Jewel’s recipe before?  If so leave a comment below and let us know what you thought?

Do you plan for success?   I personally think planning is the key to success.  I take time every night to plan out my next day.  First I take a look at my schedule. If I have clients all day long (which as you all know, I do) then I must pick the right foods to get me through the day. 

What do you think would happen if I did not plan ahead?  I would probably skip my meals or grab something unhealthy to eat. 

As we all know, this would not result in a fit body.  I would actually end up losing muscle mass, gaining body fat, decreasing my metabolism, and spending more money. 

This is exactly why I plan for success. 

Listen to this audio interview I did with Heather Parker.  In this interview I made her reveal some of her planning secrets. : )

Planning for Success Interview - (please note: the audio interview will take about 30 seconds to download or you can save it to your computer by right clicking on the link and then selecting “save target as”)

Committed to your success,

Joe Howard

PS – Don’t make fun of me, I think my ADD was kicking in. In the first few seconds of the interview I said recrap and instead of recap

PPS – Keep your eyes open for Planning for your Success – Part 2.  In part two, Jewel is going to share a cooking tip to not only make cooking easier but to make the clean up time faster.  

PPS – How do you plan for success?  Leave a comment below.

Do you have what it takes to be different?

Make sure to leave a comment below and let me know what you are going to do to become great

Just the other day I received the email below.  Take a look at what I emailed her back.  Do you have any more suggestions to add to my email or any words of advice?  If so, leave a comment below.

***********************************************************************

Joe-

I talked to a trainer on the phone the other day to get more information about their training services and then a friend referred me to you.  I took a look at your website and I was shocked because you charge more than the trainer I talked to on the phone, but I did like the fact that you have more services to offer.  I need some help deciding what to do.  Any advice would help.

Thanks,

Rachel

*********************************************************************** 

Here is my response back ……..

***********************************************************************

Rachel-

I am not going to tell you how great we are. I think the results that we achieve says enough, but I do want to educate you a little more about how to pick a trainer.   These are the top three things you should look for. 

1) The first thing you should check is…… Is you trainer certified?  Find out who they are certified through and contact that company to make sure they are in good standings.  For example you can go to this website > > > NASM  and type in my certification number which is 1352801 and you will see that I am certified.

2) Make sure that people are achieving results.  That is why you are hiring a trainer right?  I offer a 30 day 100% money back guarantee.  I do not want you to pay for a service that you are not getting.  That is exactly why we do not have our clients sign a year contract.  Who wants to be stuck paying for a service that they do not like?!?!

 3) What does the trainer have to offer?  We probably charge more than anyone in town and that is because we offer a lot of services to you.  Typically, you will get what you pay for. (i.e.  Fast food vs. a nice sit down restaurant) We offer the following; grocery store tours, nutritional coaching, cooking lessons, weight loss workshops, bi-monthly newsletter that are jammed packed with tons of fitness and weight loss information, and many more bonuses.  

I hope this helps you make a good decision.  Let me know if you have any more questions.

Committed to your success,

Joe Howard

************************************************************************

Do you think I missed anything?  I think it is important for people to make good decisions when choosing a trainer. 

If you have anything to add, please leave a comment below.

Just the other day I heard a new client use the term skinnyfat and I thought I would make a blog post about it.

What in the world is skinnyfat and how can I be skinny if I am fat?

Look at it this way….. Skinnyfat is what you become when you lose weight the wrong way. Imagine starting a workout program and after the first week you step on a scale. As you are impatiently waiting for the scale to reveal your weight it flashes before your eyes… you just lost 5 pounds. You are so excited, all of your hard work paid off.

A week later, you step on the scale and BAM the numbers reveal that you are down 7 pounds this week. You get so excited that you decide to try on the pants that were slightly tight before you started your weight loss journey.

BUT WAIT ……..

As you slip on the pants and try to button them, they seem to be tighter. What is going on????????? Maybe you have the wrong pair of pants……. as you double check the tag you realize that you have the right pair. Confused and frustrated, you head to the gym to work even harder.

What is going on? You have lost 12 pounds now, why are they tighter? It is because you are skinnyfat ! ! !

The 12 pounds that you have lost are MUSCLE not fat. Matter-of-fact, it is scientifically proven that if you lose muscle, you will lower your matibolism and gain fat. You are skinny when it comes to your lean muscle mass, but you are still fat.

So how do you stop this from happening? It is simple, you must feed the muscle and not the fat. Many of us will restrict our calories when we go on a diet, but that is not good enough. Where are the calories coming from? All Carbohydrates? What about fats? 

The first step is to determine how pounds of leans muscle mass you have.   Then you must feed it the recommend grams of protein each day.   The next step is to determine how many calories you have left so you can divide it between the fat and carbohydrates.   

As you may have noticed, I did not say; figure out how many carbs we need and then split it up between the fat and protein.  Protein is Greek for first of importance.  It should be the first thing we focus on. 

What cracks me up, is when people always ask me if you can take in too much protein.  We are scared of protein, like it is a drug that we can overdose on.   Yes, if you eat too much it can be harmful but so can carbs.  Just look at the growing rate of obesity.  It’s not from eating too much protein!!!!!! 

Leave a comment below and let me know what foods you eat that contain protein.

Today I have a special video for you.  In this video I am interviewing Joel Marion.  For those of you who do not know, Joel Marion was the 2001 winner of the Body for Life Challenge and is the author of the book “Cheat Your Way Thin.”  In this video Joel is going to spill the beans and tell you exactly how you can accelerate your fat loss by eating cheat meals.  Take a look at the video below and learn how you can still enjoy your favorite foods while you are trying to lose weight  > > >

Here is where you can learn more about Joel Marion > > > Joel Marion – Cheat Your Way Thin

Did you know that going on a diet is bad for you? It’s true. Look at the people around you, how many of them went on a diet and kept the weight off? My guess is none. Matter-of-fact, I am guessing that they actually gained weight in the end.

This weight gain is a result of a restricted caloric diet.

When your body notices a decrease of calories it will increase the hormones that actually make you gain weight. This is actually a defense mechanism to keep the body alive.

So, how do you lose weight the right way? The answer is: Have a cheat meal because this will trick the body and increase the fat burning hormones. In my next blog post I am going share exactly how to use a cheat meal to lose weight. Until then, take a look at the video below where I enjoy my cheat meal. > > >

If you don’t use it you will lose it. It is true, if you do not do some type of activity to maintain your muscle mass you will lose it. Here are just a few of the side effects of not working out:

1. If you lose muscle mass you wil burn less calories

2. If you lose muscle mass you will lose bone density

3. If you lose muscle mass you will have a higher chance of injury

These three side effects are just the touch of the iceberg. Check out this video I shot in Venice Beach, California where I put together a body weight workout. Please don’t judge me, I shot the video during the last circuit of my workout and I had a hard time climbing the rope.