Jingle Bells to Dumbells to Barbells

The holiday season is upon us and that means the seasons are changing from Fall to Winter and with that brings the start of "OH Sh**!!! My Jeans don't Fit Anymore" season. I love this time year watching the infomercial gimmicks quickly enrage my TV screen with ripped-oiled up bodies telling me I need to buy their 3 easy payment piece of plastic "that will do absolutely nothing for me" machine. As a Physical Education Major and a Health Education Minor from the respected UWRF along with a one time fitness instructor for the elderly and currently employed Recreation Therapist Senior, I can say the gimmicks DO NOT WORK!!! However, I will let you in on a few secrets I have picked up along the way that do work. In no particular order here we go...

1. Start eating less then you are now. What I mean is you can have all the same food you are currently eating and can not live without, just do not eat so much of it in one sitting. If you love potato chips, Great!! eat some, just cut it back from half-a-bag in one sitting to just a handful on a napkin. If you love steak, hamburger, or other red meat, Great!! Have it, but in a serving that is about the size of the palm of your hand not two pounds. Fruits and vegetables are the great food we love to hate however packed with a powerful punch per serving in amino-acids and vitamins essential for the body.

2. With the food intake already sorted out, now it is time to start moving the body more so then from the refrigerator to the couch, from the couch to the toilet, and back to the refrigerator. Do you see the pattern! A general rule floating around today is moving your body for a half hour a day for 5 days during the week. That is a great foundation to start with. With this said walking, gardening, pushing kids in strollers, and anything else that requires exerting physical energy by way of sweating works. The goal or purpose mainly is to get the heart pumping and the metabolism firing up to break down proteins and fats more efficiently not to mention the positives in overall positive well-being and accomplishment that will be felt throughout this process.

3. This part is the not so fun piece about exercise that detail general myths out there that people honestly believe. First and foremost one can not "Spot Reduce." What this means is, one can not do 7,000+ sit-ups or ab crunches and all of a sudden expect to have the infomercial oiled up six-pack. Shedding weight is a team approach with corrective eating habits and a balance of cardiovascular and physical exercise in time your waistline will slime down and shed a few sizes. Another popular thing for people to do or say is "I lost 10 pounds in a week." First off it is generally not true, secondly if you lost 10 pounds in one week you are not healthy, but more so probably sick. Healthy weight loss is seeing roughly 2-4 lbs a week gone from the scale. Most of the time what happens a person gets Fired-Up quits drinking water and essentially tries to stop eating everything they once did only to become a salad eater. What they just did to lose all that weight so fast was basically dehydrate their entire body and lose all the water, or what we refer to as "Water Weight." It generally comes back within the next few days especially as the person usually can not keep up such Cold Turkey habits they instilled the week before.

With that said, Weight loss is a mind over matter phenomenon. If you can keep to a schedule and really motivate yourself to eat a little less and exercise a little more, you will lose weight. I can guarantee you that. Weight loss is hard work especially in maintaining yourself to keep up with keeping the weight off once you have lost it. I congratulate in my heart everyone no-matter size, body type, male or female I see at health clubs, running/walking on sidewalks, whenever I am out myself. If you can move your body a little more from the previous day to the next you have already started a weight-loss program. Now go for it!! and by the next "Swimsuit" season your attitude and outlook on life will be positively impacted that much more, "I Can Guarantee You That Much!!"

GOOD LUCK!!!