All of us, as human beings, require a certain level of stress in our lives in order to remain stimulated and motivated. If  stress existed solely for this purpose, it would be a purely positive thing. Unfortunately, in today’s world, stress levels are excessive in most people and for the most part are negative in their nature.

But what does that have to do with overall health, and more specifically, weight loss? The answer is – everything!

One of the ways the body reacts to stressful situations is  by releasing a stress hormone known as cortisol. Cortisol is a scary word, but it really shouldn’t be! After all, it’s a good thing! Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands for energy production to respond to stressful events. In the days of our ancestors, cortisol is what was generated to elicit the “fight or flight” response in the face of danger.

We certainly can’t argue that having this hormone running through our bloodstream isn’t a positive thing when it comes to evading danger. However, when the stress response is being triggered repeatedly over time, the adrenal gland becomes fatigued and eventually loses its ability to release cortisol at normal levels. Just like any other hormone in the body,when its levels are constantly elevated, it loses its effectiveness.

Now, in this day and age, chances are we’re not going to come across a Bengal tiger while enjoying a leisurely stroll through the National Mall. However, we are constantly in a  state of stress to meet the demands of the hectic pace of a busy, driven lifestyle. Battling traffic, fighting for  parking spaces, meeting deadlines at work and watching the  evening news elicit the same physiological responses as  running for your life! Unfortunately for us, however, these stimuli never go away.

Therefore, without proper stress management techniques in our lives, stress levels and cortisol levels remain chronically elevated. If you’re trying to lose, or even maintain your weight, this is a recipe for disaster. Chronic stress and elevated cortisol can lead to weight gain in several ways.

Sugar Cravings – When you’re stressed out, are you reaching for a nice bowl of mixed greens or are you gravitating toward the candy dish? My guess is the latter. People just tend to  use sweet foods as a coping mechanism for stress. This of course spikes the blood glucose levels and ultimately leads to excess fat storage.

Slowed metabolism – Another bad side effect of over an over-stimulated adrenal gland. Cortisol eventually slows down your metabolism, which in turn slows your body’s ability to use calories efficiently.

Emotional Eating – This is a powerful thing! Increased stress levels create excess nervous energy which can often cause people to over eat as a way to cope with a situation. I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves absent-mindedly munching on food when we’re stressed out even when we’re not hungry.

Sleep Deprivation – When stress levels are high, we generally  don’t sleep well. When the body doesn’t get enough rest, the first thing it will crave to achieve an energy boost is a  glucose spike. Where do we get glucose? From sugary, processed foods. And so the viscous cycle continues.

Decreased energy levels – Remember that the adrenal gland is responsible for producing hormones for energy production. If it becomes fatigued from over stimulation, so will your body. With declined energy levels, obviously the motivation to exercise decreases as well. With all the other demands on your schedule, the tendency is going to be to plop in front of your television from exhaustion, not to exercise.

So what’s the solution? You certainly can’t eliminate stress from your life all together. If I could find a way, I’d be the first to share it with you. The key to making stress manageable (and in turn making weight loss more manageable as well) is finding stress reduction techniques. Everyone is different, but there are a few things that you can do that tend to work for  most people. Among these are exercise, different forms of meditation and breathing techniques, Yoga classes and low glycemic eating. You have to find what works for you, but you will find your weight loss struggles drastically easier once you do!

Also, don’t forget that time is running out to get FREE Personal Training! January 31st is the last day to take advantage of our offer to get 3 FREE sessions when you purchase a package of 12 or more. Call Mike at 888-872-7961 ext. 1 to get signed up!

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Throughout the last few years, the fitness industry has evolved faster than anyone could have imagined. One of its most significant improvements has been its adaptations to making exercise more convenient and more accessible to today’s working Americans.

As a result, home exercise video programs have become increasingly popular, as they deliver the workouts directly to your home, usually as a series of instructional DVDs. Some of the more popular programs have emerged as the industry leaders -P90X, Hip Hop Abs, and the Jillian Michaels Boot Camp series, to name a few.

It’s true that some people have achieved some great results  from these programs, but how effective are they overall? Let’s take a deeper look into some of the home exercise programs and if they truly deliver the results that they promise.

Hip Hop abs is a home workout program that contains high-energy dance routines that focus on abdominal strengthening. Most of its followers report that the workouts are fun, fast and produce a high calorie burn. While it certainly has its benefits, the program is too narrowly focused on aerobic training and abdominal strength. It neglects training through multiple modalities, therefore your body can easily adapt to the demands of the program. The result – you will plateau very quickly!

P90X, quite frankly, knocks it out of the park when it comes to avoiding plateaus. The program provides 13 different workouts that are performed at a random sequence and challenge multiple muscle groups. The power of this program is that it provides a total body focus, including upper and lower body strengthening, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, flexibility and core strength and stability. Fundamentally, P90X is truly an effective exercise program. So, what’s missing? Well, if you’re performing the workouts consistently, you’re executing your form to perfection,and you’re maintaining the right intensity level, then the answer is….nothing! The question then becomes – how do you know if you’re really doing all these things?  This program is very intense for people who are not in some sort of shape.  One recommendation I give people who ask me about it is to start with just the first 20 minutes of each 60 minute CD per day. The following week move up to 25, then 30, etc…

The Jillian Michaels home workout series is another great program for burning fat, building strength and sculpting a lean, muscular physique. Jillian gained national recognition through the Biggest Loser and is a world-renowned trainer. The results she’s gotten out of the Biggest Loser contestants speak for  themselves. Her home workout programs aren’t much different.They combine high-intensity strength training with mostly anaerobic conditioning routines across various modalities, including plyometrics, core strengthening movements, fast-paced weight lifting, and body weight resistance. If you’ve never tried one of her workouts, I’d recommend doing so – they are brutal! So where is Jillian’s home workout program lacking? Again, if you’re consistent with the program and can hold yourself accountable day in and day out, her program is not fundamentally lacking anything!

The bottom line is that these programs were created by true  experts in the field and they certainly have the ability to  help people make significant fitness gains. However, once  the program is delivered to your home, what are you left with? You are still ultimately responsible to take the ride on your own with guidance of nothing more than a DVD.

NOTHING truly replaces the value of having your own fitness coach. You can have access to the greatest exercise program in the world, but if you’re not being held accountable to executing it, what good is it doing? Having the constant expertise and feedback from a fitness trainer is what really ensures the success of an exercise program.

That’s why, as you saw in one of my recent emails, we’ve decided to roll out our Virtual Trainer Program. I realized that despite the value that home gym equipment and home exercise programs provide to their trainees, they lack the true follow through and commitment from a fitness professional after the product is delivered. So why not have a personalized exercise program designed specifically for you, with the constant follow up and knowledge of a certified personal trainer? All of this  will be offered through our new program, which will be rolled out within the next week. Stay tuned!  If you’re interested, please reply to dennys@achieve-fitness.com to have your name put on the waiting list for the program.

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Clients are always asking me advice about their diet. But more than anything, I get asked about the popular diet programs that are out there. Do they actually work? Are they actually healthy for you? Can you lose weight if you do them? In this article I will show you the advantages and disadvantages of the four most popular fad diets.

The Atkins Diet
Probably more than any other, the Atkins Diet has held a position of controversy. I mean, who would follow a weight loss diet that told you to eat fat and cut carbs. Well, tons of people! So let’s look at it more closely.

Pros — The diet has proven that people who follow it do in fact lose weight and improve their blood lipid profile(HDL LDL cholesterol and triglycerides). And if you love to eat meat and dairy and fats in large quantities this is surely diet heaven for you. However, you are steered away from eating carbohydrates, which is difficult for many people. That means that pasta, rice, potatoes, bread and whole grains and even fruits are off limits. Yet the diet claims that once you successfully cleanse these from your system by eating nothing but proteins and fats, their cravings disappear.

Cons – Since this diet is based on a no-carb regime, it begins losing its traction and benefits when even “low-carb” items are eaten. Atkins essentially eliminates an entire macronutrient all together. In terms of non-weight health issues, this diet does place a lot of stress on the body, forcing it into a state of relative ketosis, or the “I am sick” state. This creates marked energy loss, tiredness, and lack of energy available for exercise. If you’re going to stay active and exercise regularly, your body needs some carbohydrates from healthy food sources.

Conclusion — Making yourself ill to lose weight does not seem as important as being robust and healthy with the drive and energy for all life has to offer. In short, Atkins is an unhealthy way to lose weight.

South Beach Diet
Like Atkins, South Beach is a low-carb diet, but somehow managed to be structured in a way that didn’t bring on controversy.

Pros – The biggest pros of this diet is that it does bring with its weight loss aspect other positive health results, including reduction in triglycerides, blood sugar and blood pressure while raising good HDL cholesterol. The diet provides a simple form to follow, as it does not require people to track caloric intake with too much detail. It conveniently places foods in various lists to choose from. It also offer a tiered system designed to work back in more of the foods you would like to eat.  Thus making it a more sensible approach but with a definite shock factor to kickstart it initially.

Cons – The biggest complaint from dieters is the difficulty of the first phase of South Beach due to its tight food restrictions. In fact, they are so restrictive that even the author doesn’t recommend people stay there more than a few weeks. This makes it even more difficult for its followers to transition into the second phase of the diet where they are allowed to slowly re-introduce carbohydrates. There are no true guidelines to the quantities that are allowed in this phase and most followers report that the urge to carb load becomes extremely overwhelming.

Conclusion — For the most part this is not a terrible diet. It begins with a no-carb, low saturated fat phase then slowly brings you back into a more balanced eating approach. However, the diet is a bit “dated” in that it emphasizes the glycemic index of foods. This causes the diet to recommend quite a few foods that have a high glycemic load, as this concept was not really understood until after the book was written.

The Zone Diet
The Zone Diet isn’t a low carb diet but it follows a pie chart of macronutrients: 30% of the calories derived from protein, 30% from fat, and 40% from carbohydrate. And it is the strict balance of this equation that leads to the success or failure on the plan.

Pros – According to Dr. Sears, the founder of The Zone, if you are able to maintain a 30/30/40 balance of protein/fat/carbs then you will successfully maintain steady blood sugar levels. When insulin production is at the correct levels your body is able to effectively burn fat. The best part of this diet is that its proponents claim to have elevated energy and mental alertness and many athletes subscribe to it for this very reason. What’s more, with stable blood sugar comes a decrease in cravings for simple carbs and sugar laden foods, so weight is easier to keep off.

Cons – You have to follow a strict guideline of portion control, even when hungry in the initial stages. Also people say the rules are difficult to follow and the structure requires quite a bit of time to plan out meals and stick with its restrictions. If you don’t pre-plan your meals or portion them out in advance, it is extremely difficult to stay within the guidelines.

Conclusion – It is true that athletes say the diet gives them more energy. Yet many sports nutritionists and trainers are now saying their athletes are bottoming out during practice and games after long bouts of Zone dieting. This, they claim, is due to the lack of complex carbohydrate intake. Though, this is still avoidable within the Zone standards.

The Low Fat Diet
Pros – Eating low fat can be an effective way to eliminate harmful substances from your diet, including trans fats, hydrogenated oils and excessive amounts of animal fats. These, as we know, have been linked to several serious health issues including heart disease and various types of cancer.

Cons- Eating low fat substantially decreases your intake of an entire macronutrient that is critical to your overall health. As I’ve pointed out in other articles, there are definite benefits from eating the right fats, including the infamous saturated fats. Eating the right fats supports heart health and a healthy metabolism, and therefore is a critical tool for weight management.

Conclusion – Your body needs a steady, consistent intake of fat to properly dispose of stored fat, so why would you drastically restrict fat if you’re trying to burn it off? “Low fat” has also become synonymous with “high sugar” in most foods, so eating a low fat diet simply is not an effective weight loss tool.

The Bottom Line
All of these diets bring both positive and negative aspects to the table. So what’s the best approach to take? The best advice I can give is not to follow any fad diet. Rather, you must educate yourself in the pros and cons of all aspects of nutrition and focus on eating clean, quality calories.

When all is said and done, a healthy diet must contain a balanced combination of protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, fruit, vegetables and plenty of water. This will ensure that you’re eating to support  ANY of your fitness and wellness goals.

So if you’re considering jumping on one of these diets in 2010 to meet your weight loss goals, you might want to reconsider. We are still offering a more effective way to achieve your fitness goals this year. Until the end of January, we are giving away 3 FREE Personal Training sessions when you purchase a package of 12 sessions or more. Don’t miss your opportunity to pursue your goals the right way this year. Call Mike at 888-872-7961 ext.1 to get set up for your free trial with one of the area’s best personal trainers!

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Is Fitting Into An Old Pair of Jeans Better Than Sex?

Sorry for the provocative subject line but it is a quote I heard when watching the news the other night that left me to ponder its validity.

Here we are, starting out 2010 with a clean slate! This is a time when most people start reflecting on the improvements they want to make in the upcoming year. Amongst others, getting in shape seems to become an important goal for a lot of people as the new year turns.

However, here are the sad statistics…

Despite our best intentions, only about 5 percent of people
who set New Years resolutions actually achieve them. A big
part of this failure comes a result of not developing a true
action plan for achieving success. A goal without an action
plan is nothing more than a daydream!

This is where the help of a fitness professional can become
extremely powerful. Our personal trainers not only help you
create effective exercise programs, they also serve as fitness
and life coaches. They will help you set challenging, yet
realistic goals, then will assist you in executing a plan that
gives you the results you want, need and deserve!

So, I come to you today with a challenge AND an irresistible
offer. I don’t want you to be part of that 95 percent of
people who fail to achieve the goals they set out so eagerly
to accomplish in 2010. If you’re willing to put in the work,
our trainers are ready to help you achieve your fitness goals!

There may be several barriers that will make it more challenging for you to pursue fitness success, so I’d like to do my part in making sure that money IS NOT one of them! Until January 31st, you will receive 2 FREE Personal Training sessions when you sign up for a package of 12 sessions or more. Add in your free trial session, and that gives you 3 FREE sessions! Or 15 for the price of 12.

Here’s what one of our happy clients recently had to say:

“Yeah, it’s true that it’s not cheap to do this, especially these days, but I can safely say this was one of the best and easiest choices I’ve ever made, and given the chance I’d make the same choice over and over again. Working with Ashley was the absolute best investment I could have ever made in myself, and I hope to continue working working with her to get that PT score up higher and higher.  Thank you guys!”
- Jaime G

Like Jamie, we’ve helped over 400 clients reach their health and fitness goals.  So make the investment in your health like Jamie did.  But hurry, this special deal only lasts through the end of the month.

Stop making excuses and make 2009 the year you REALLY DO ITl! You can reach Mike at 888-872-7961 ext. 1 and he’ll get you matched up with the trainer that is right for you based on YOUR goals.  Then receive a FREE In-Home, 1 on 1 consultation with them.

You have nothing to lose except unwanted weight and fat! If our program isn’t right for you, there is no obligation to commit!

And heck, we even guarantee your success or you get your money back.  We know that if you do everything that your trainer lays out for you to do, you can’t not see great improvement in your health and fitness.

We can’t snap our fingers and POOF your fat is gone… but we can work with you step-by-step, showing you exactly what you need to do to get rid of excess fat once and for all… Forever!

So imagine yourself once again wearing that pair of jeans that has been hanging in your closet and that you haven’t been able to wear in years.  How good will that feel to put it on and button it up comfortably?

Here’s to a happy, healthy and purposeful New Year!

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