Tag Archives: diet

Fitness

Is your Christmas going to help you get in better shape?

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2014

How many of you are getting Christmas gifts geared toward fitness? New bikes, running shoes, gym memberships, work out apparel, treadmills and so on.

The kids and I always get a kick each year around this time, counting all the people on the side of the road cardioing with their new Christmas gifts.

It’s truly great to see everyone trying their best to start a fitness program to get in better shape with a new healthy lifestyle. The sad part is, by mid-February, the numbers rapidly dwindle.

Admit it, your in-house equipment becomes a laundry clothes rack. All the new bicycles end up taking space in the garage gathering dust.

Statistics show that most people quit and give up after about six weeks. Only 7 percent of people stay with their new program and change their lives.

There’s no secret, losing weight and getting in better shape is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish. You have to remember how long it took you to get overweight and out of shape.

First of all, get rid of your weight scale. Scales will only be frustrating because your weight will fluctuate. You see, what happens is when you’ve been sedentary for a long period of time, your muscle mass has atrophied (shrunk). Muscle is 5 times heavier than adipose tissue (fat).

When you start working out, your muscles will grow while you’re losing fat weight, and that will offset your scale.

The only true way to measure if you’re making gains, is to strip naked and look in the mirror. Of course, we all do that anyway, but do some “flex time”. Squeeze all your muscles to see which ones are starting to show up. Do some naked jumping jacks to see what’s jiggling the most, not counting reproductive parts.

Have fun with the new Christmas gifts and make 2015 the best year ever. Don’t forget to love to all people, and I’ll see you on the side of the road

Diets

Eat, if you want to lose weight

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Most people think they must skip meals or eat as little as possible in order to lose weight, but doing either of those makes you feel horrible and almost certainly fails.

The good news is, you actually should never go hungry and eat six to seven times a day. I eat all day long and have a low body fat percentage.

You’ve might had heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Guess what? It is. This is the meal you can load up on carbs like whole wheat pancakes, toast, waffles or oatmeal for the best choice.

These complex carbs give you energy to burn throughout the day. Then, every two to three hours prior to lunch, replenish energy levels with raw nuts, fruits and vegetables. Repeat process until dinner. There are other healthy snacks. I only listed a few.

Note: It’s important to reduce carbs after breakfast to very minimal by dinner. Eating carbs into the evening will only store as fat.

Replenishing your body with quality food keeps metabolism burning all day. When you starve, your metabolism shuts down and tries to hang on to as much fat as possible. Starving also forces your body to tap into muscle tissue for energy. So, when you look at the scale and are excited that you’ve lost weight, sorry to inform you but a good percentage of that weight loss is muscle. And, if you blow your diet, you’ve put more fat on top of smaller muscle. Now you look worse than ever. That’s the destruction of fad diets.

Think about it, how did our prehistoric ancestors survive through harsh winters? The body has an amazing way of surviving. It won’t burn fat if it’s needed to live. When you skip meals, the body goes into survival mode. Make sense?

Dr. Roxanne Edrington from Friendswood said it best, “It’s like building a fire. You have to keep adding a log every hour or so to keep the fire burning.” The fire is your metabolism and the logs are food energy sources.

Remember, you’re only trying to be healthier for a better quality of life. Don’t worry about a little extra fat here and there. Just as long as you feel better and have more energy.

Strive for progress, not perfection

Inspiration

Your ideal weight is really a mental state

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

We are all hardest on ourselves in regards to body image.

We know our own bad habits, food choices and lack of exercise.

There is no secret, dieting is one of the most challenging components of losing weight.

Every day through advertisement, we are bombarded with unhealthy food choices.

So, we mentally tell ourselves, “I don’t want to be fat, I don’t want to eat fried foods, ice cream, burgers or chips.”

We repeat this in our minds over and over.

Well, guess what happens?

All you’ve accomplished is to think about being fat and eating unhealthy foods – so, you become overweight and out of shape.

You have to change the way you think and your approach to life.

Mentally see yourself as the perfect image desired.

If you have a picture of it, tape it on the bathroom mirror.

Now, visualize yourself repeatedly as that image and create the feeling of it.

Carry yourself throughout the day with confidence as if you already possess that desired image. You’ll be amazed how life will transpire. Remember, we all look different, and it’s wonderful.

Just imagine if we all looked and dressed the same — how boring.

Now, moving forward.

Ladies, whenever you undress, say the words, “These stretch marks are really beauty marks proving that I’m an amazing beautiful mother.”

For men, say “This hair loss and extra wrinkles on my face make me look wise, distinguished and handsome.”

And, for all of us, say, “There is no person in the entire world that looks like me, and I love me.”