Best Fitness Blog

...By Karli Taylor

How many times have you asked the question “How can I lose weight”?

Though the answer has evolved overtime as more and more research is done on weight loss, obesity and health, essentially the answer remains the same: what you eat and how much you exercise directly relate to your ability to lose weight and keep it off.

However, there have been changes and advances on those ideas. For instance, did you know you should eat 5 or 6 times a day depending on how long you are awake? Yes, it is true, five or six smaller, healthier, nutrition packed meals are better than 3 larger meals. Not only will this keep you from feeling hungry throughout the day, but it will also help to increase your metabolism.

How often you eat is only a piece of the puzzle, however. Make sure you are paying attention to WHAT you are eating as well. Though home cooked meals are always the best because they contain fewer fillers and additives, life often necessitates pre-packaged or pre-prepared meals. When you need to make a “bad choice”, making “better bad choices” involves checking labels to make sure you can pronounce all of the ingredients, asking for no sauce or light sauce, asking for items to be steamed or baked instead of fried and eating only half of the portion that you are served.

In addition to the food that you eat, exercise is a factor in weight loss. Put simply, you need to burn more calories than you consume. This does not need to be as daunting as it may seem. What do you like to do? Find something that you enjoy and invite your friends to join you which will help to keep you motivated. If you don’t like to exercise with others, find a good book to get engrossed in while you walk on the treadmill.

In order to lose weight, you will have to make changes to your lifestyle. Make changes slowly as not to overwhelm yourself. Use low fat or skim milk rather than whole, buy wheat bread rather than white, drink 3 more glasses of water a day, park farther from the store entrance. Sneaking these changes in to your life will make change easier on yourself.

Contact Best Fitness in your area for more information and ideas on how to change your lifestyle in order to lose weight.

Visit one of our Best Fitness Clubs to learn even more about this topic. We have locations in Albany,NY, Tonawanda, NY, Schenectady, NY, Erie, PA, Nashua, NH, Chelmsford, MA, and Drum Hill, MA.

...By Karli Taylor

Looking for something new and different to add to your weight loss routine? Creating muscle is one of the best ways to increase how many calories you burn. With more muscle, your body burns more calories at rest. Seems easy right? Did you know that Pilates can help you build muscle while helping to create a trimmer appearance?

Pilates is an effective way to not only lose weight, but also to build strength in your core muscles for better posture, balance and flexibility, and it’s not just for the hard core fitness buff. If you're considering taking a Pilates class for the first time, here's what you need to know before you head to the gym.

Pilates, named for its creator, Joseph Pilates, who developed the exercises in the early 1900s, is a method of exercise that consists of low-impact flexibility and muscular strength and endurance movements. A typical routine includes 25 to 50 repetitive strength training exercises put together into what is known as a profile.

Pilates can be adapted to provide a gentle strength training and stability program or a challenging workout for seasoned athletes. By practicing basic Pilates regularly, you can achieve a number of health benefits, including improved core strength and stability, improved balance and posture and improved flexibility.

Because it's essential to maintain proper form to get the most benefit, arrive early to your first class and let the instructor know that you have not practiced Pilates before. A small amount of extra attention for your first experience will make a huge difference.

Visit one of our Best Fitness Clubs to learn even more about this topic. We have locations in Albany,NY, Tonawanda, NY, Schenectady, NY, Erie, PA, Nashua, NH, Chelmsford, MA, and Drum Hill, MA.

...By Karli Tayor

If you are a woman over 40 who wants to lose weight, you may have realized that it is a totally different ball game than it was when you were in your 20’s.

Not only do you have a slower metabolism; you may also be experiencing a hormone imbalance which can cause fluid retention, bloating, poor thyroid functions and weight gain. Though these things may seem like you are beginning a losing battle, all hope should not be lost! Weight loss is still possible, the process is just a bit different.

Over 40, dieting may no longer provide the best results. As you age, your body will not respond to quick fixes and short term plans like it may have at one time. When you are over 40, rather than dieting, you need to change your lifestyle to make it healthier. An over 40 diet needs to be different than your diet was when you were younger. Choose foods with higher nutrient value that provide more of the things you need for energy with fewer calories while avoiding eating out and pre-packaged meals which are common to the lifestyle of woman today.

Keep in mind that labels can be deceiving. Many foods labeled low-sugar often contain extra fat or salt instead of sugar to help the taste and texture. Similarly, many “low-fat” foods are loaded with excess sugar for the same reasons. Though life may get hectic, taking the time to prepare fresh foods will not only help keep your weight in check, but will also help keep you healthy.

"No time to exercise” is often a mantra of women over 40. But middle aged women must incorporate physical activity into their schedule. In fact, if you want it to fit in, you can fit exercise into your schedule. But you can add little things to your daily routine, such as parking farther away, take the stairs rather than the elevator and walking on your lunch hour. Increasing physical activity in your daily routine can have a large impact on your weight loss goals.

Believe it or not, a good night's sleep is essential for weight loss. Unfortunately, many women don’t get an adequate amount of sleep because of their busy lifestyle. It is important to get 6-8 hours of sleep a night, so if you want to lose weight, learn techniques to relax so you can sleep at night.

Lastly, don’t forget about the power of drinking enough water. Make a habit of keeping a water bottle with you at all times. Drinking water is one of the best things you can do for your health and it help your kidneys, helps your body detox, and it improves bowel movements. Keep a water bottle on your desk at work.

If you are a woman over 40 and you want to lose weight, contact Best Fitness in your area for help.

Visit one of our Best Fitness Clubs to learn even more about this topic. We have locations in Albany,NY, Tonawanda, NY, Schenectady, NY, Erie, PA, Nashua, NH, Chelmsford, MA, and Drum Hill, MA.

...By Karli Taylor

It is one thing to change your attitudes toward food and exercise when you are actively trying to lose weight, but those habits need to remain intact once the weight is off in order to maintain your weight loss. In short, permanent behavior change is necessary to effect long lasting physical change.

One of the best gifts you can give yourself whether you want to lose weight or not, is the gift of a personal trainer.

A personal trainer can create a program for you with your current fitness level and goals in mind. But more importantly, a personal trainer can help you stay motivated. Trainers provide education, support, and accountability. Just the fact that you have paid money for a personal trainer will help you keep your appointments.

Personal trainers will help you exercise at a level that is right for you, and can help push you to new levels. A good personal trainer can help you target the areas you want to work on and provide the right combination of machines, cardiovascular activity, and functional strength exercises for you.

Goals like building strength, improving posture, decreasing body fat, and staying fit, flexible and healthy are ones that can be capitalized on with a personal trainer. Clear goals keep you focused and moving steadily forward every day. Contact Best Fitness in your area to schedule personal training for weight loss.

Visit one of our Best Fitness Clubs to learn even more about this topic. We have locations in Albany,NY, Tonawanda, NY, Schenectady, NY, Erie, PA, Nashua, NH, Chelmsford, MA, and Drum Hill, MA.

...By Karli Taylor

Though it is true that weight loss goals can be reached through regular exercise, it is not the most efficient way to lose and keep off weight. Regular exercise, combined with healthy eating, is the most efficient and healthy way to control your weight.

Exercise is an important and essential part of effective weight loss. Through exercise, extra calories that otherwise would be stored as fat are burned. It does not matter what type of exercise you engage in. What is important is that you expend more calories than you take in.

Your weight is determined by the number of calories you eat each day minus what your body uses. Everything you eat contains calories, and everything you do uses calories. Any physical activities, in addition to what you normally do, will burn those extra calories. Balancing the number of calories you expend through exercise with the calories you eat will help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Regular physical activity can also improve your mood and the way you feel about yourself. Exercise is likely to reduce depression and anxiety which allows you to better manage stress. This in turn can also help you with balancing and regulating your caloric intake.

Contact Best Fitness in order to begin your daily exercise routine.

Visit one of our Best Fitness Clubs to learn even more about this topic. We have locations in Albany,NY, Tonawanda, NY, Schenectady, NY, Erie, PA, Nashua, NH, Chelmsford, MA, and Drum Hill, MA.

... By Karli Taylor

If asked, most people will tell you that drinking green tea is good for you. Over the last decade, green tea has been linked to health benefits ranging from fighting cancer and heart disease and lowering cholesterol to burning fat. More recent research has pointed out a few ways to get more out of that tiny little tea leaf….

Green tea has been linked to a reduced risk of heart attacks, thanks to powerful antioxidants called catechins. Studies show, however, that our bodies are only able to absorb about 20 percent of these healthful compounds. The good news is that by combining green tea with lemon juice, we can increase the absorption to over 75%!

So after brewing yourself a cup of green tea, squeeze in the juice of one whole lemon. If you don’t like the flavor of lemon, lime and orange can in at a close second and third in recent studies. It is the ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, that improves catechin absorption.

People who drink green tea with their meals report feeling more full and are less likely to want a second helping than those who drink plain water. Experts say the compounds in green tea can affect the hormones that regulate hunger and fullness. If you are drinking green tea for fat loss, you may want to try adding black pepper to your next meal. A recent study found that the combination of greet tea and black pepper boosts the absorption of EGCG, a key antioxidant in tea tied to calorie burning, by over 100 percent. Studies say as little as a half-teaspoon of black pepper can increase the absorption of tea’s beneficial compounds.

By Karli Taylor

Can’t find the time to exercise? With the busy lives that Americans all lead, this may be the number one excuse that I hear when I ask people why they have let their “unfitness” get so far.

I understand that we work longer hours than we did 10 years ago. I understand that commutes take time and the children have places to go and cannot drive themselves. I will not argue with any of those time constraints. However, when I ask people what their favorite television show is, they all have an answer…

Americans spend more than 35 hours every week in front of the television.

I’m not asking you to go cold turkey on CSI or American Idol. I know that the tv can allow you to “zone out” and forget about reality for a bit, and we all need a certain amount of that. For one week keep a journal of your tv habit. Write down every show that you watch. I guarantee you will be shocked at the amount of time you spend sucked into shows that you don’t even really enjoy.

In addition to writing down what you watch, write down what time you watch and what you snack on while you are staying up late to watch Dave or Conan. Not only does TV watching take away time that you could be exercising, it tends to encourage other unhealthy habits like mindless snacking and staying up too late. These habits are slowly sabotaging your weight loss goals.

Not enough to convince you to put down the remote? Studies conducted at Cornell University found that slouching on the couch while watching TV pinched nerves exiting the spinal cord, worsening neck, shoulder, back and headache pain for 90 percent of people studied.

Can’t imagine an evening without your shows? There’s good news. Researchers at Yale University concluded that people don’t start to suffer the negative effects of television watching until they surpass the two hour a day mark.

By Karli Taylor

Even though the low-carb craze has finally started to die down, I still hear people ordering burgers without buns and salads instead of sandwiches in an attempt to lose weight. There is not one particular type of food that makes us fat- Bread is not the enemy! Let’s take a look at some ways to keep the bakeries in business while still managing our waistlines.

Despite what disciples of the low-carb craze profess, bread can actually be an ally in the battle of the bulge. Though simple white breads can leave us feeling less than satisfied, hearty whole grain breads that are heavy and dense can help fight cravings for hours after we have eaten them. The complex carbohydrates found in whole wheat and whole grain breads provide fiber that makes us feel fuller for longer and keeps us from reaching for a snack 20 minutes after we finish our lunch.

So what should you look for when choosing something on which to spread your pb&j? I’m sure that you have heard to look for whole wheat or whole grain on the label, but make sure that the first ingredient is whole wheat or whole oats- without the “whole” you may be getting the nutrients of a white bread with some brown food coloring!

The key word is FIBER. Look for a bread that has at least 4 grams of fiber per slice, and you will feel fuller for longer while helping to maintain your gastrointestinal health at the same time.

Once you find something with 4 or more grams of fiber, make sure that the sugar does not outweigh the fiber. Some breads may have a decent amount of fiber, but the calories are through the roof . Your best bet is a light whole wheat bread or one of the newer sandwich thins or flat breads on the market. With about 100 calories and five or more grams of fiber and protein each, they really are the best things since sliced bread!

...By Karli Taylor

Did you know that 70% of the calories that Americans eat every year are from restaurant meals?

With our over-extended lives, it often seems easier to pick something up or stop somewhere on the way home to eat, but the benefits of preparing your own meals are hard to ignore.

First of all, it’s less expensive to eat a home cooked meal than to buy take-out or eat at restaurants night after night. Find a few recipes that appeal to you, make a list, and buy only what you need, you can make a week's worth of dinners for about the same amount of money you'd spend in a mid-range restaurant for two or three meals. As an added cost saver, there are usually leftovers when you cook at home that you can use for lunch the next day.

In addition to saving money, eating home cooked meals will save your waistline. When you are preparing your own food, you control the amounts of fat, sodium, sugars and overall calories. Restaurants typically add butter, oil, salt and sugar to make foods more palatable adding hundreds of unnecessary calories to your plate.

Home cooking also puts you in control of portion sizes. You are the one deciding how much food to put on your plate which eliminates the temptation to overeat. Did you know that today’s restaurant portions are almost double what they were 10 years ago.

Last but not least, preparing your own food at home assures you that the food you are eating is fresh and free of chemicals and additives. All the techniques used to process food - canning, dehydrating and freezing - virtually destroy the flavor of food, so chemicals are often added to enhance their flavor. While chemicals might make the food look and taste better, it's not doing much for our bodies. The fewer chemicals you have in your body, the better your health will be. Studies have shown that chemicals contribute to obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, and come neurological issues.

With a little planning and a few weeks to get yourself into the habit, eating in will be as easy as eating out- and your body will thank you for it.

... By Karli Taylor

So I swore that I was not going to jump on the band wagon and write about New Year's Resolutions - BUT...

Honestly, I have been reading all of the articles going out this year about making and keeping resolutions and there is one very important piece of advice that seems to be missing. Everyone says make realistic goals - good start. For the sake of this rant, let's keep our focus on weight loss as a goal. Saying that you want to lose 50 pounds by February is not a realistic goal- saying that you want to lose 10 is a bit better.

Some sources are going a step further telling you to break down your big goal into smaller more attainable mini-goals. That, in my opinion, is key. Setting your goal at a pound a week seems much less overwhelming than 5 pounds this month, doesn't it? One thing I would like to add to this step is to reward yourself for reaching these little milestones. NO- I do not mean by having a hot fudge sundae...

Find something non-food related to keep you motivated. One of my clients was lusting after a 64 inch plasma. His goal was to lose 100 pounds. After every 5 pound loss, he put 10$ into a jar and his wife matched it. This became his TV fund which grew as he shrunk. Not a bad idea.

The piece that I feel is vital to actually reaching your goal regardless of what it may be is this- YOU NEED A PLAN. Write it down. Map it out step by step. If you are going to lose a pound a week, what steps are you going to take to do that? Make yourself a daily or weekly task list and actually check things off of it. Hold yourself accountable.

Take it a step further and include your family and friends- have them initial your task list when you do certain things. Having someone check up on you will help on those days when the warm bed is much more appealing than the cold walk to the car to go to the gym!

We have a tendency to focus all of our energy on the big prize at the end. Sometimes that works, but more often than not it becomes a distraction. If you focus every day on the small steps you need to take to reach your ultimate goal, before you know it, you'll be right there.

So here's your homework- write down your resolution and create your own strategic plan.