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If you’re using my ap or working out with me in Houston, TX, you know I highly recommend a program of healthy eating. Weight loss and fitness starts in the kitchen, which is why I made it easy for you with the weekly menu and shopping list ap. I’ve had several people follow the plan and ask what the best day to meal prep is. That’s one thing that’s so great about the program. You get to choose. It should be a day when you can have time to stay home and don’t have to go to work.

Some people use two days for meal prep.

Since the ap eliminates the need to create a menu and shopping list, that’s one task you don’t have to do. You still have to shop and should do it after you’ve eaten, to prevent those chips and snacks from jumping into your grocery cart or the need to check out empty cookie boxes. It happens and we all know it, so take precautions to prevent it. People who have a Monday through Friday job often do meal prep on the weekend. Most of the dishes can be created and cook while you do other things around the house.

If you have unusual hours, you be the judge.

It’s easy to say use your day off to cook, but I know those, like nurses and shift workers who have odd hours. They may work 10 hour shifts for four days or work a straight week and take a half week off. It’s all about having time at home to do the cooking. Once you make that time, the rest is a breeze. Just like our nutrition programs, find the one that works for you.

Planning your meals, including snacks, helps you avoid junk food.

It’s pretty easy to stop for drive-through or grab something quick and easy at the grocery, but you won’t be tempted when you know you have a great meal waiting for you at home that you can just heat and serve. In fact, it’s actually faster than waiting in the drive-through line or stopping for a quick meal from the deli section of your grocery. That’s why meal planning works…and helps you stay on track.

• Don’t forget about snacks. You’ll be more likely to eat the cantaloupe or grapefruit if it’s already in the refrigerator in a bowl. It makes it easy to grab a quick snack and doesn’t pack on the pounds.
• You’ll be amazed at how much time you’ll save after a few weeks, especially when you double the recipe and freeze meals for another week. In fact, you’ll probably be able to take a week or two off from prep after a while.
• You’ll have pre-measured meals when you do meal prep and freeze ahead. That cuts the need to measure everything you eat when it’s dinner time, you’re starved and more likely to eat more than you should.
• Meal prep saves money, too. You won’t have food that goes to waste. My ap makes it easy and each meal is designed with you in mind.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

What is accountability? There are a lot of definitions, but they all boil down to someone holding you personally responsible for your actions. When you work with a personal trainer, he or she tracks your progress when you exercise and measures and records your success. The trainer knows your goals and what you should be achieving, so if you don’t meet them, either you didn’t follow the path or there needs to be changes in how you reach those goals. Someone who has to meet a trainer at a gym or report to a trainer is being held accountable for his or her actions.

If you workout with a trainer and record your results, you’ll be more apt to finish every set.

Everyone has probably gotten near the end of a task and wanted to quit. Getting started may be a problem, but finishing something is just as big a problem, maybe worse. It’s the same for working out. You’re tired and achy. It seems so easy to just cut out the last few push-ups or last few minutes, where in reality, it’s those minutes that do the most good. If you’re working with a trainer and reporting your progress, being held accountable, you’re more likely to do every set and finish the entire workout.

Accountability is important in diet, too.

One reason people often fail to lose weight is that they don’t realize just how much they eat. How many times have you walked into the kitchen and mindlessly grabbed a cookie or a cracker, and you weren’t even hungry! Whether it’s cookies, candy or snack food, eating out of habit, rather than hunger, does occur. Whether you follow a specific diet plan or choose to eat healthy, recording everything you eat, you’ll be more aware of those habits. When you’re accountable for tracking food, no matter which way, you’ll be more successful.

Everyone wants recognition for their success, too.

Being held accountable isn’t all about having to report failure. It’s also about reporting success. Whether it’s a workout friend or one of the RC Fitness Team, it’s nice to be able to report how well you’re doing. Unless someone is also going through the same weight loss and fitness struggles, has been there or works with others with the same problems, they simply don’t understand what an accomplishment it is to be successful.

• Having a friend to workout with and share your trials and tribulations is also important. Not everyone has a friend that wants or needs to transform their body and fitness. It’s important to find other ways to get support and accountability.
• Documenting your progress with a log or through pictures also holds you accountable and gives you a visual for success.
• Being held accountable keeps your goals to the forefront. Whether it’s logging into the dashboard or recording your progress, it keeps your mind on your fitness goals.
• Getting fit and even being held accountable can actually be fun. It’s always important to challenge yourself and see how much you can achieve. Consider fitness your challenge.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

One client in Houston, TX, asked me whether she needed a preworkout. When I said that it all depended on her situation, she looked puzzled. She thought a preworkout was a warm-up, which is important for every person that exercises. I reassured her that a preworkout was a drink or other type of supplement taking before starting a workout and that there were reasons to take them and also reasons they’re unnecessary.

Whether it’s a powder you mix with water, pill or liquid, most preworkouts have certain ingredients in common.

These dietary supplements are created to increase athletic performance and boost your energy. Most of them contain creatine, caffeine, all types of B vitamins and amino acids. Some have artificial flavor and sweeteners. There are no standards set for these products and some can actually have a dangerous and unhealthy effect on your body. Some may contain artificial sweeteners, including sugar alcohols, which can cause abdominal distress, such as diarrhea, gas and bloating. That’s not a recipe for a good workout. Excess caffeine in these products can elevate blood pressure and cause anxiety.

Do you have a nutritional deficiency?

If you’re trying to overcome a known nutritional deficiency, a preworkout supplement may be for you until the effects of an improved diet take over. However, for those that just want to boost flagging energy levels, adequate dehydration and sleep should be your top priority. Our society is constantly looking toward pills as a quick fix for bad habits. Don’t fall into that trap. Make sure you drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water daily and get seven to nine hours of sleep a night and you won’t feel the need for a supplement.

Should you take a preworkout supplement?

In my estimation you don’t need to do that if you’re eating healthy, getting adequate sleep and are well hydrated. However, if you feel you need a boost for your workout, consider drinking a cup of coffee before you start. Studies show it can make the workout more efficient and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg like the energy preworkout supplements do.

While most preworkout supplements contain the caffeine equivalency of a cup or two of coffee, it’s easy to consume too much or use a product that has far more.

Be careful to identify the country of origin of the supplement. Some from countries that don’t regulate products closely, have banned substances or dangerous amounts of others.

Most research hasn’t found that preworkout concoctions aren’t as effective as eating a whole food diet that’s loaded with nutrients. Try a cup of coffee and banana before your next workout and you’ll find it works as good as preworkout supplements.

If you decide to use a preworkout supplement, always find as much about the company and supplement as possible. Read both reviews and the ingredients before you take it. It could save your health and money.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

I have a lot of clients in Houston, TX, that tell me they actually are staying healthier, looking great and avoiding illness now that they are working out. One even told me that he was ready for the flu when there was chaos at work, but it didn’t happen this year. That’s because working out burns off stress hormones. There’s a link between stress hormones and illness, so burning them off can keep you healthier.

What are stress hormones?

Your hormones are messengers. You may immediately think of sexual hormones like estrogen or testosterone, but there are so many other types of hormones that don’t affect your sexuality and are responsible for keeping you healthy. Hormones are chemical messengers that affect all parts of the body and triggers proper functioning. Stress hormones prepare your body for fighting or running. In early man, that was beneficial. It helped prepare the body to escape a predator or fight when attacked. Today, stress comes from far different types of things. It can occur when your boss yells at you, the baby cries or during a traffic jam. None of those situations would benefit from the fight or flight response. Adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine are the three primary stress hormones.

Adrenaline raises your blood pressure, boosts your heart rate and increases your energy supply.

Cortisol, another stress hormone and the primary one, triggers more sugar to be put in your bloodstream, sending more to the brain, while also boosting the amount of the substance that stimulates the repair of tissue. It ensures the essential functions necessary for flight-or-fight receive the majority of energy by curbing nonessential functions or those that would interfere with running or fighting. Norepinephrine causes blood flow to increase to the muscles that help you run or fight or reduces it to the digestive system, while also inhibiting digestive and even voiding.

Stress hormones do more than just that, they affect your metabolism, too.

When stressors are always present and you constantly feel under attack, that fight-or-flight reaction stays in “on” position. It slows the metabolism and affects where the body stores fat. When you have high levels of cortisol, fat is stored around the abdomen. This visceral fat crowds organs and can create even more digestive problems than the original hormones, while also crowding and interfering with vital organs, like the lungs or heart. It causes anxiety, depression, headaches, heart disease, sleep problems, digestive problems, weight gain and affects concentration and memory.

• Why do clients find they stay healthier when they exercise. Stress hormones suppress the immune system. When they workout, they mimic fight-or-flight and burn off stress hormones.
• When you burn off the hormones of stress, you also improve your sleep. During sleep the body makes repairs, while chemicals boost the immune system.
• Stress hormones can lead to craving unhealthy food, such as those high in sugar. Exercise helps burn off stress hormones and makes eating healthier easier.
• At Reggie C Fitness, I’ll provide help with a program of exercise and healthy eating to help you deal with stress hormones, burning them off and getting back into shape and healthier.

For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness

No matter what you’re talking about, if you’re looking for results of some type, the eighty/twenty rule is significant. Believe it or not, the rule actually is one of the most significant rules when it comes to fitness. What is it? It’s the rule that 80 percent of your results will come from a specific action, diet in the case of fitness, and 20 percent will come from everything else, exercise in this case.

You can’t out exercise a bad diet.

If you workout for an hour, you’ll burn from 200 to 1000 calories, more or less, based on your weight, amount of effort and the actual exercise. For instance, walking would burn fewer calories than running at top speed. A 200 pound person would burn more calories than a 130 pound person would exerting the same effort at the same activity for the same length of time. Now that you know how many calories you’ll burn, lets check out how many calories the typical fast food meal has.

A burger and fries with a soft drink is one option.

If you ate a double quarter pounder with cheese with an order of fries and a coke after your workout, no matter what the workout, you won’t lose an ounce. The double quarter pounder with cheese is 780 calories, large fries are 510 calories and a soft drink adds another 150 to 200 calories. That’s a whopping 1440 calories, more than you burned in an hour of exercise. A Big Mac meal with a medium fry and medium soft drink is 1100 calories, again far more than you could work off in an hour. Consider the consumption daily of a typical Frappuccino from Starbucks that adds up to an extra 500 to 600 calories, you’ll never lose weight UNLESS, you change your diet. 80 percent of your weight loss is diet.

So why bother exercising if diet is so important?

Diet is important, but exercise is also a priority. Exercise does more than just burn calories. It helps build muscle tissue and tone your body in the process, giving you a curvier look. Even if you never lost weight, but built muscle, you’d wear a smaller clothing size. That’s because one cubic inch of muscle tissue weighs more than a cubic inch of fat tissue. In other words, it’s like comparing lead to feathers. Since the lead weighs more, the container to hold a pound would be smaller than the container to hold a pound of feathers.

• Exercise also can help relieve stress. As mentioned before, exercise also has other functions. It helps burn off the hormones of stress, like cortisol, that can cause belly fat.
• Not only does combining that 20 percent beneficial exercise with the 80 percent beneficial healthy diet make weight loss faster, it also builds muscle tissue. Muscle tissue burns more calories to maintain than fat tissue does, that boosts your metabolism 24/7.
• Once you start eating healthier, you’ll find you love how delicious the food tastes. It can also be faster and cost less than junk food, especially if you use our menus and plan meals ahead.
• At RC Fitness, our online training is affordable and provides help with both healthy eating and exercise. You’ll love how quickly you’ll lose weight and become the person you were meant to become.

For more information, contact us today at RC Fitness