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9 Secrets for Maximum Fitness and Weight Loss Results in Minimum Time!

Top Certified Fitness Expert Reveals the Essential Strategies for Lasting Weight Loss and Lifelong Fitness

Do you want to get a 6-pack? Maybe, build some nice toned arms and legs? Perhaps, you would like to go to the pool with confidence? And, do you want to improve your sex life?

Well, right now I am going to reveal to you 9 essential strategies that have enabled my clients to achieve these important goals. These simple strategies can be immediately implemented into your lifestyle with little sacrifice on your part (okay, if not belly inducing fast food burgers and fries is a big thing for you, then maybe you want look at the sacrifice as "easy," but I guarantee you it will add quality years to your life).

1. Don't be fooled by Quick Weight Loss Schemes- We have all been guilty of trying to take shortcuts and cutting corners at sometime. Unfortunately, taking these shortcuts is often counterproductive. In the long run diet pills, Atkin's diets, and liposuction are only short-term answers that more times than often hurt the people who try them. Stay with what works: cardiovascular training, resistance training (weight lifting), and a continual nutrition program. Oh yeah, don't be fooled by those late night infomercials.
   
   
2. Set Exercise Appointments with yourself- Use your day-timer to set appointments for exercise - and then stick to them. You wouldn't miss an important class, business meeting or client appointment,would you? So don't miss your exercise appointment with yourself. Nothing is more important than your health or fitness plan. Nothing. Everything else will crumble around you if your health goes south. So, make your exercise appointments a priority. If you find it difficult to keep these appointments, then consider hiring a personal trainer who will hold you to your commitment. When you have money invested, and someone waiting for you to show up - you are much more likely to show up!
   
   
3. Remember the benefits of exercise- Remember that feeling of euphoria you experienced after a particular work-out? You experienced that feeling because the most powerful "feel good" drug in the world - endorphins - are coursing through your veins. If there is panacea, it's exercise. Nothing feels better than the post-work-out high you experience after exercising. Revel in that feeling. Let it wash over and truly experience it. Etch that felling in your brain. It will fuel your motivation on those inevitable days when you just don't feel like exercising. Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better, and live better.
   
   
4. Perform Weight Lifting as well as Cardiovascular Exercise- One of the most common errors I have ever witnessed is when an individual tries to just "walk or run it off." Though walking and cardiovascular exercise in general helps to burn calories and is great for preventing heart disease, weight lifting is how you KEEP the weight off. It is a fact that weight lifting burns more calories than cardiovascular exercise, not as you are doing it, but at rest. Building lean muscle tone (not bulky and huge muscles) allows you to burn more calories throughout the day, week, and year. It's exponential. For optimal results, you should lifts weights 2-3 times per week and at least 30-45 minutes. If you are unsure of what to do or where to start, then you should consider hiring a fitness professional to help you with proper lifting techniques to prevent injury. More importantly, a professional will prevent you from giving up.
   
   
5. Know your Target Heart Rate- As I mentioned earlier, cardiovascular exercise does burn calories as you do it. However, if you go at a "mall-paced" walk, you are missing the true benefit. You must know your THR (target heart rate) in order to get maximum benefit. To discover your THR use the following formula: 220 - age - resting heart rate * 55% and 75%, then re-add your resting heart rate. Then you will find your range. Not everyone is the same and certain individuals may require lower intensity. However, if you do it for duration (30- 60 minutes) you can burn an efficient amount of calories. Your personal trainer can supply you with a simple heart rate monitor or teach you how to calculate and measure your own heart rate.
   
   
6. Set realistic attainable goals- You must have tangible, quantifiable, short-term and long-term goals for your fitness program so you can gauge your progress. It's crucial; to have a "baseline" before you begin, so you can measure success. A personal trainer can give you a complete fitness analysis (don't be shy- you need this) that will aid you or your trainer in developing a personalized fitness program that addresses your particular needs. Having goals, particularly short-term goals, allows you to track your progress and keep you motivated when times are tough and you don't feel like exercising. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance training workouts, as well as tracking what you eat is truly a fitness success "secret." Just remember that your goals should be realistic and attainable. The best way to find out what is realistic and attainable for you is to talk to a fitness professional - not to buy into the "hype" of infomercials, diet and fitness products that blatantly mislead.
   
   
7. Never, Never Skip Breakfast- If you want to maximize your fitness results or fat-loss efforts, you've got to eat breakfast. Just like mama taught us, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Your breakfast should contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates (if you're trying to lose weight, you should eat the bulk of your complex carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch and only have vegetable carbohydrates at dinner). A great breakfast is oatmeal (preferably not the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened kind) with a little banana and a protein drink. Or try scrambled egg whites (or Egg Beaters) with Healthy Choice turkey sausage. Stop saying you "don't have time," and just do it.
   
   
8. Eat Regularly throughout the day- Fasting or overly restrictive diets will enable you to lose weight - in the short run. Because the weight you lose is primarily water weight and lean muscle mass. But in the long run, it has exactly the opposite effect you want. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it is being starved and shifts into a protective mode by storing fat. Energy expenditures are fueled by your lean muscles. Therefore your body fat remains essentially the same and you lose vital fluids and muscle instead. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism becomes, and the less fat you burn. You should be eating three nutritionally balanced meals a day, and you should have at least one or two healthy snacks. This keeps your metabolic furnace stoked, so you burn more at a faster rate. I know it's counterintuitive, but it's the gospel truth.
   
   
9. Drink plenty of water- Yes, I know you have heard this over and over again. But there's a reason for that - it's the gospel truth as well. The recommended amount is about 64 ounces, or 8 glasses of water a day. When you are exercising you have to drink even more. Over 75% of your body is composed of water (even bone is about 20% water). When you don't drink enough water, and substitute other fluids like soda and coffee, you dehydrate your body, your blood doesn't flow properly and your digestive system doesn't operate smoothly (among other problems). Just think of a car that doesn't have radiator fluid but something like vinegar in the radiator instead, it just won't run properly. Even small deficits of water can radically effect how your body performs. Here's a good rule of thumb: if you're urine is dark yellow and/or has a strong odor, you're not drinking enough water. Drink Up!
   
   

There you have it. 9 Secrets for Maximum Fitness and Weight Loss Results in Minimum Time! I realize that starting (or re-starting) a productive and effective health and fitness program is not easy. That's why I encourage you to get help. If you're sick, you go to the doctor. If you have a tax problem, you see an accountant (or an attorney!) Have a toothache? You're off to the dentist. Leaky pipes result in a call to the plumber. So why is it that so many people attempt to solve their health and fitness problems without consulting an expert? I don't know exactly, but I encourage you to make the investment in yourself - in your quality of life - by hiring a qualified professional to educate you and help get you started. Because the hardest part is getting started and sustaining your motivation until fitness becomes habitual. Once you develop the habit, which can take as little as 30 days, your whole life will change for the better. If I can be any assistance to you, please don't hesitate to call me. I'm happy to speak with you and give you my recommendations. Please call me directly at 404.936.FIT-0 (3480) to initiate your subscription to my free health and fitness newsletter or obtain any additional information you may need.

Thank you.

Kelly Huggins, Exercise Science B.S., ACSM HFI, AJC's Good Form Team, Listed as one of ATL's top trainers.