Fitness 'N' Oklahoma City

Posts Tagged ‘Oklahoma City Weight Loss’

Unable to sleep is common for most even me. That is the reason I am writing about it at 11:30pm.

A lot of you are familiar with the common question I ask every morning before boot camp. “Did you get plenty of sleep last night” and more often than not I hear the response “NO”!!!

How important is it really?

Lack of sleep increases snacking and bingeing

Multiple sleep related studies have found a connection between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behavior. Two major hormones are involved. Ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger. Leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop eating. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. This equals an increased craving for food and not feeling full. And sleep deprived people tend to choose different foods to snack on—mainly high caloric sweets and salty and starchy foods. These small changes can lead to long-term weight gain.

How much sleep should I get to lose weight

The average person needs between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. Some more, some less. Very few of us actually get the minimum of seven. How do you know how much sleep you really need? Experts suggest to sleep as long as you want for several days (best done on vacation somewhere with sandy beaches and warm weather . Then, your sleep should stabilize and you’ll find yourself waking up after the same number of hours daily, within 15 minutes or so. Once you know about how much sleep you need, start getting into a steady routine. Set a regular time for sleep. Start getting ready ahead of time. And avoid using the bed for watching TV or doing work (Guilty).

Exercise + Sleep + Healthy Diet = Weight Loss

Disclaimer: Don’t think snoozing a few hours longer each night will solve a weight problem. It won’t. You can’t use this article as an excuse to miss 5:30am boot camp.  Exercising and eating healthfully is still the way to go. But, lack of sleep may soon be considered another risk factor for obesity. Especially since 65 % of Americans are overweight and 63% of people don’t get eight hours of sleep a night. Interestingly enough, many of those who are overweight also don’t sleep enough.

A recent study

At the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies today, Dr. Walter Moraes of Universidad Federal Sao Paolo, Brazil, presented the findings from a study he recently conducted which demonstrated that people lose weight three times as fast while asleep than while lying in bed awake. Dr. Moraes studied 14 healthy men age 21-30, confining them to a bed with a built in scale which allowed him to constantly monitor their weight. The subjects spent the night in bed asleep, and then remained in bed for the next 8 hours, awake. They were given food and drink proportionate to their body weight and, according to the poster, did not urinate or defecate during the study. Dr. Moraes found that the average weight loss during sleep was 1.9 gram/minute (or ¼ pound an hour), but only 0.6 gram/minute while lying in bed awake.

Good night and sweet dreams.

Hope you enjoyed this post and if you want to get more info about weight loss click the face book icon or check out our site here Oklahoma City Fit Body Boot Camp.

Can you believe  the first week of the new year is almost over. I thought this would be perfect a blog post on how to reach your goals. I am going to share my own 2010 goals with you at the bottom and I want to hear yours as well.

Some of you may of heard about this but if not in 1953 a very famous study took place, the graduating seniors of a major university (Yale) were asked if they had written goals, and plans to achieve them, after they left the university.
It turned out that 3 % had written goals and a game plan to reach them. 14 % had goals but they were not written. The other 83%  had no goals or plans at all, aside from getting out of the university and going on vacation that summer.
Twenty years later in 1973, they did a follow up on the graduates in the study and asked them, among other things, about their financial situations. They found that the 3 percent of students who had clear, written goals and plans upon graduation were worth more than the entire 97 percent of graduates put together.

So what does this experiment have to do with your fitness goals?

It has EVERYTHING to do with them

Before we start an exercise plan, we must write down our fitness goals.

This will program your subconscious towards achieving your goal.

EXAMPLE

Imagine that you have two drivers, each with a brand new Car.

They both set to travel across the country toward a distant destination.

One sets off with no road map, navigation system, nothing.

The second driver takes the time to plan his trip carefully using road map, navigation and getting advice from people who have traveled that path.
Which driver do you think will reach his destination on schedule??

The first driver probably won’t even reach his destination.
Your fitness goals are pretty much the same.

People with clear, very specific goals and plans that they work from each day, accomplish on average, 10 times the result as others who don’t have a clear idea of where they are going or when they want to get there.

Hope enjoyed this short post and may all your fitness goals come true for you in 2010.

If you would like to check out Oklahoma City’s Number one way to lose weight and have fun while doing it… click here

Or stay in touch with us by clicking on the face book icon to the right.

Here are a few of the designs I have thrown together. All design are from boot campers request, and I have added a few of my own.

I still have about 5 shirts to design but take a look at what you will be voting on so far. I will place a number next to the T-shirt design and if you like that design leave a comment. Only vote up to three times. Please leave your comment on the blog not face book or email. I will only tally the votes from the comments below. The top three T’s will be made.

Disclaimer: Some shirts may offend  (More shirts to come so you may want to hold off on using all your votes at once.

(CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

FRONT BACK

1

23

4567891011

Can you believe 2009 is almost over.  As I talked with one of my boot campers this week we were discussing fitness trends for 2010. As I look ahead to 2010 I see some emerging trends that will be picking up steam and some that are going to be dying.

1. More emphasis on strength training: strength training is getting closer everyday to being accepted as the most effective exercise mode for losing body fat.  TV shows like the Biggest Loser (my wife fave) are introducing many people to the understanding, that weight training isn’t what is causing people to look “bulky and hulk-ish,” but rather the extra fat that is on top of the muscle.

2. Long distance running will continue becoming less popular for weight loss purposes: there are millions of American’s who are torturing themselves by running long distances in hopes of losing their muffin tops and reducing the size of their thighs. More people are going to realize that this isn’t a very effective way of losing body fat.

3. Running races will continue to boom: this might sound contradictory to the one above, but the allure and challenge that running a marathon, or a 10K brings is very powerful.  The desire to beat your last 5K run is a challenge many want to accomplish.  Running races provide a start and end and give instant feedback about how well you did.

4. Triathlons will continue to gain popularity: triathlon participation has exploded the past decade and will continue to gain momentum. The idea of cross training with 3 different activities is attractable to many people and the challenge that is brings to the person is very exciting and addicting. I think triathlons are great, especially the short distance races, but caution those who just swim, bike, and run for their exercise. You need to be doing some total body strength training, core training, and do a lot of work moving side to side and backwards to make sure your body doesn’t get overuse injuries.

5. Time efficient workouts: our lives aren’t going to be slowing down anytime soon, and we will have less time to devote to working out. 30-45 minute workouts will become the norm and people will realize that 60-90 min workouts are the thing of the past and aren’t necessary to get results.

6. Convenience is key: programs that are quick and easy to use and follow will gain popularity. Right now P90X is the hottest selling fitness product and it is a follow along DVD series that you can do at home with a set of dumbbells and a pull up bar.

7.  Exertainment: videos games like the Wii Fit will continue to be popular and new games and toys will be made that make working out fun and entertaining.  I still haven’t seen many of these new technologies actually get people working out very hard, but something like the Wii Fit is definitely better than sitting on the couch playing video games!

8.  Well designed group fitness programs: small and larger group training will continue to increase since the economy is making it difficult to pay $400-$800/month on a personal trainer.  The participants will get the knowledge and expertise of the trainer, but also the support and accountability from the group.  Side note: many gym group fitness programs DON’T fall under this category by my standards.  If someone is going to a class and just following the workout that the instructor is doing from the stage, then I feel like it falls short.  Each person in a class needs to be building friendships, be held accountable for their actions, have constant interaction with the trainer, be taught proper nutrition, and be able to have access to the trainer who is instructing.  This is why my Oklahoma City Boot Camp program is so popular and why many have a health club membership at the same time as being part of my Fun Bootcamp.

9.  Millions of more people will get suckered in to buying the latest and greatest ab gadget, and fat loss supplement. In 2010  millions and millions of more people will post on craigslist trying to sell these gimmicky products after they have been sitting around for the past year :

10.  Buy local or grow your own: As the truth becomes more widespread about where our food is coming from and how toxic and dangerous it is to our bodies, more people will “go green” and support their local farmers.  As grassroot documentaries like Food Inc (a must watch DVD!) gain popularity we will realize that we are voting with our paychecks each time we go to the grocery store.  If everyone decided they weren’t going to by Tyson chicken because of the awful conditions the animals are in, and the poor quality of the food, and instead by the free range chickens at the local farmers market or at the local dairy and beef farm, Tyson would either go out of business or adapt to the demands of the buyers.

10.  Kids fitness: With the obesity rate in children skyrocketing and adult onset diabetes now found in many children, there is going to be a huge emphasis on helping kids eat better and move more… but as I always talk about in this blog, it starts with YOU buying the right foods for the house, and being the example of healthy living through exercise and eating right.

11.  Project-X: with 2010 upon us I will be setting Project-X in motion.

Again as always having a blast bringing you my latest thoughts and inspirations hope you enjoyed my last post for 2010.