Did you know that when you go out to eat, that entree you just order is probably 4-5 servings- yikes!

The truth of it all is that we all eat too much food.

“Duh, Nicole.  I could of told you that” you might be thinking.

We generally only need about ¾ of a plate of food.  But most people go for seconds or thirds.

Are we really hungry?

Have you lost touch with your belly full meter??

Start listening to when you just start to get full then push the plate away.

Just that small act will have a HUGE impact on your waistline!

Here are some tid bits for ya:

Americans consume more calories per person than any other country in the world.

In 1970, the average American ate 2,170 calories per day.

In 2008, the average American ate 3,330 calories per day – no wonder obesity is so prevalent.

To burn 1 pound, you need to burn 3,500 calories.

You can burn anywhere from 600-800 calories in our SIU Boot Camp or Fusion classes. That’s 4 SIU Classes per week for 1 lb of weight loss.

Start by pushing that plate away when you just start to get full and then let me know the effect it has on you.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Your Fitness Professional,

Nicole Simonin, CPT, PTA, LWMC

P.S.  Grab your Complimentary Week Pass so you can get the inside scoop on what SIU can do for you!

About the Author:

Nicole Simonin is a local South Jersey fitness expert recognized for her well-rounded approach to health and fitness.  Nicole’s mission is to spread the truth about weight loss and how to become healthier.  Nicole’s S.H.A.P.E. Method Boot Camps have been helping many South Jersey residents reclaim their body.  To learn how Nicole can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit www.ShapeItUpFitness.com Get your Complimentary Week Pass while you are there.

Want to help me spread the word about health and fitness?  Forward this to your friends and family or share it on your Facebook, Twitter, etc. Thanks in advance!

How often do you take the time to be proud of yourself?

Do you acknowledge the steps (no matter how big or small) that you take towards better health?

Parking far from the entrance of a store…taking the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator….making healthy food choices…drinking lots of water each day….making your workouts a top priority…

We tend to focus on the negative and skip over the positive.

“I don’t like my thighs” or “ I don’t like that my stomach pouches over my jeans”….Does this sound familiar?…

What about looking at all the positives???

What body part on you DO you like?..

Pick one….and then pick another.

Every time you hear that little negative voice start to grumble tell it to be quiet.

Look at the small things you do each day to get you one step closer to better health.  Celebrate these small victories!!  You deserve that feeling of accomplishment. This will help fuel your motivation and ultimately your results!

Did you parents used to tell you to save your pennies because one day it’ll add up?

Same thing with healthy lifestyles.

The small victories will lead to more small victories which will snowball into a HUGE victory.

Doesn’t that excite you???

Don’t you want to have more energy and a healthy body… you DESERVE to have that!

So go after it…one step at a time!

Your Fitness Professional,

Nicole Simonin, CPT, PTA, LWMC

P.S.  Grab your Complimentary Week Pass so you can get the inside scoop on what SIU can do for you!

About the Author:

Nicole Simonin is a local South Jersey fitness expert recognized for her well-rounded approach to health and fitness.  Nicole’s mission is to spread the truth about weight loss and how to become healthier.  Nicole’s S.H.A.P.E. Method Boot Camps have been helping many South Jersey residents reclaim their body.  To learn how Nicole can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit www.ShapeItUpFitness.com Get your Complimentary Week Pass while you are there.

Want to help me spread the word about health and fitness?  Forward this to your friends and family or share it on your Facebook, Twitter, etc. Thanks in advance!

If I had a nickel for every time I have heard this I would be an extremely rich woman.

There are 1,000 of excuse you can say to yourself to not workout OR worse to talk yourself out of a workout.

Take a minute and think of all the excuses you have not to work out or to eat right.  Write them down (if you have the time J)…then once your done….tear them up!  There are a waste of your time and energy.

How much time do you spend watching tv?? Or surfing the wide web (aka internet for those youngsters)??

So be honest with yourself…it’s not because you don’t have the time…it is because you are not willing to trade in that tv/internet (or whatever) time for your health.

We all are given 24hours day.  There is no getting around that.

How do you balance those hours?…those minutes?

Stop making excuses.

If you want to change your physical body and become healthier then stop making excuses and start making a commitment.

Make the commitment to yourself.

Maybe take the stairs at work.

Or order a salad instead of chicken tenders for lunch.

Hold yourself accountable for YOUR actions.

You CAN fit in a workout and healthy eating.

Make it a priority.

You are worth investing the time and energy into this!

So get going…stop reading this blog and take a step to change your life

Your Fitness Professional,

Nicole Simonin, CPT, PTA, LWMC

P.S.  Grab your Complimentary Week Pass so you can get the inside scoop on what SIU can do for you!

About the Author:

Nicole Simonin is a local South Jersey fitness expert recognized for her well-rounded approach to health and fitness.  Nicole’s mission is to spread the truth about weight loss and how to become healthier.  Nicole’s S.H.A.P.E. Method Boot Camps have been helping many South Jersey residents reclaim their body.  To learn how Nicole can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit www.ShapeItUpFitness.com Get your Complimentary Week Pass while you are there.

Want to help me spread the word about health and fitness?  Forward this to your friends and family or share it on your Facebook, Twitter, etc. Thanks in advance!

It’s 5:30pm and you are staring into your pantry….”hmmmm, what should we have for dinner?”

What usually follows?…

Just grab whatever you can find…

or maybe you pick up the phone and order a pizza for delivery?

We all have done this one time or another.

But if you do this on a daily basis and your waistline is expanding, it’s time to make a plan!

A Meal Plan that is.

It all starts with figuring out what you want to eat.  This is done in advance… before you go grocery shopping.

Take 20 minutes (right now…well after you read this , sit down and plan out your meals for the week.  Knowing what you are going to eat for the week and having all the ingredients will take the stress off you and help keep you on your fitness goals.

Plan to make simpler meals on nights that you know you are rushing home or short on time.

Have a quick, healthy backup meal on hand for those nights that time is not on your side.

Check

out the internet for great healthy recipes. There is a wealth of information at your finger tips. Take advantage of it.

Your “Chef” Tools

A big help in the kitchen is to make sure you have the correct cooking tools and have them handy.

You don’t need to blow your budget. Keep it simple.

A good skillet, sharp knives and some Tupperware are a few ideal kitchen items.

Prep Your Food in Advance

As soon as you get home from the grocery store, slice, dice and store your foods.  This is great for veggies and your lean proteins.  Makes them easy to grab and to snack on!

Also, plan your weekly meals to include similar foods. For instance, if you bake a bunch of chicken you could have baked chicken on Monday, Chicken Wrap on Tuesday, Chicken Soup on Wednesday, Chicken Tortilla on Thursday and Chicken Parm on Friday.

If you don’t like to grocery shop, order your items online and have them delivered. You could join a co-op that will drop off your food to you.

Don’t like to prep, grocery stores now sell diced, chopped and minced foods for your convenience.  The are usually a bit more expensive but well worth it if you are trying to save time. I like to go to the salad bar and get some pre-chopped veggies like onions (I hate cutting them).  You could also invest in a food processor.

Don’t like to clean a ton of dishes?…(like me …stick to one dish meals or cook several meals at one time so you only have to clean up once. Crock Pot… need I say more.

Pantry Essentials

You can make a quick and healthy meals with the following staples:

• Black/red beans
• Canned tomatoes
• Whole wheat pasta
• Whole grain rice
• Quinoa
• Low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
• Marinara sauce
• Sweet potatoes
• Fresh Mushrooms
• Celery and Carrots
• Frozen chicken/ turkey and fish
• Frozen veggies
• Frozen Fruit

This doesn’t have to be a daunting task.  It’s like anything else.  Once you do it a couple of times you’ll find more short cuts

and have more time enjoying your meal with family and friends while keeping you on track with your fitness goals.

Nicole Simonin,

Fitness Professional, CPT, PTA, LWMC

I want to hear from you! Do you have a helpful tip for planning or making healthy meals?  You can leave a comment below.

Please feel free to forward this to a friend

But what happens if you venture outside of that zone?

Do you still burn fat ?

When you exercise, you use both fat and carbohydrates depending on the type of exercise you are performing.  Very low intensity like walking, fat is the first choice of energy source. As the intensity of the exercise increases up to your lactate threshold (the line in the sand where you go from purely aerobic to anaerobic) fat becomes less of the preferred energy source and carbohydrates start being used.  When exercising just below the lactate threshold, you are using mostly carbs.  Once past the lactate threshold you are only using carbohydrates as fuel.

If you exercise for a long time (90 minutes to 2 hours), your glycogen (think carbs in the muscle) and glucose (blood sugar) becomes low. This metabolic state threatens your muscle survival since carbs are your muscles preferred fuel.  When carbohydrates are not available the muscles are forced to use fat. There is a catch.  In order to sustain your workout and be able to exercise for that time duration, you need to eat carbs.  So don’t think if you eliminate carbs you’ll burn more fat because chances are you’ll burn nothing because you’ll be on the floor passed out So DO eat your carbs.

Because more fat is used at low intensity exercises, most people assume that low-intensity is best for burning (hence where the idea of the “fat-burning zone” came to exist).  Even though fat is used predominately right below the lactate threshold, the rate of calorie expenditure and the total number of calories burned are much greater than when exercising at lower intensities, so the total amount of fat used is also greater.

Your heart rate range can vary.  Depending on if you are on certain medications, more physically fit or deconditioned.  I like to use the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) along with a visual cue of my clients. This RPE is a scale from 1-10 (one is really easy and 10 is excruciatingly hard). You will hear me ask this quite frequently during my sessions.  This is a great gauge of how hard you are working.

The bottom line, if you want to burn that fat, what matters most is the number of calories you consume verses the number of calories you expend.  To lose weight, it matters very little whether those burned calories are from fat or from carbohydrates.

Side Note:

To get the most out of your workouts and really stoke that fat burning furnace, try the following:

Go For It!

A great way to decrease your waistline is with high-intensity interval training.  Go easy for a short duration then go hard for a short duration, keep alternating this and you have your intervals. Not only does interval training quickly improve you fitness; it is more effective because it burns more calories in the shortest amount of time. PLUS (mega bonus) you will continue to burn calories because you have increased your post-workout metabolic rate.

Nicole Simonin,

Fitness Professional, CPT, PTA, LWMC

Check out our SIU Boot Camps to see how interval training can annihilate your body fat!

SIU Articles are not intended to treat or prescribe a specific workout program.  Each person is different and unique.  To get a personalized workout program please contact Shape It Up at 609-501-0587.  And as with any workout program, always consult your physician before beginning a fitness program.

Barbara kicked some serious butt with this last Challenge!  She was consistent and stayed true to her goals…and it paid off in a big way!  Barbara lost 35lb, 14 inches and 4% Body Fat in 12 Weeks.

12 Weeks ago, I couldn’t walk up the steps without being out of breath.  I felt like a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen.  With every ache or pain… in the back of my head I would say to myself “You need to do something about your weight or your not going to be around for your family.   I was always used to being the center of attention and I found myself hiding in the background or not going out at all.

6 Weeks into the S.H.A.P.E.  Challenge, I felt great!  Let’s just say after one week I felt better and my clothes were already fitting better. My hips and thighs felt smoother and my body definitely was smaller.

Now today, I have new clothes!  Everyone at work tells me “your clothes are falling off you!”  I am down 35lbs and I feel awesome!  I am not done yet though.

~Barbara

Down 35lbs in 12 Weeks!

Barbara before Challenge

If you would like to leave a message for Barb, please write it below

Our next Challenge is starting soon…what can you do in 12 Weeks??? Click here for more info. Limited spots available.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

You’ve probably never heard that before….

Well, it’s true!

Your body has been fasting all night (while you are sleeping) and when you wake you are “breaking your fast”

When you wake up, are you hungry?

If your metabolism is on fat-burning mode, you will be.

It’s very important to eat something within the 1st hour of waking.  Breakfast will wake up your mind, give you energy  and start your day off right.

Here are some top fast-food breakfast Health Magazine has picked out to start off your day.

1. Spinach Florentine Breakfast Wrap (Cosi)
2. Protien Artisan Snack Plate (Starbucks)
3. Berry Topper Ideal Meal (Jamba Juice)
4. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (Au Bon Pain)
5. Scrambled Egg Whites, CHicken Sausage and Fruit (Denny’s)
6. Fruit & Maple Oatmeal (McDonalds)
7. Simple & Fit Veggie Omelette (IHOP)
8. Western Egg White & Cheese Muffin Melt (Subway)
9. Egg White Turkey Sausage Wake-Up Wrap (Dunkin Donuts)
10. Breakfast Power Sandwich (Panera Bread)

Check out the link listed below for more detailed info on why they picked these foods.  They also have a great at-home food list too!

 http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20464661_1,00.html

Have you tasted any of the above breakfast meals? If so, I’d love to hear how they tasted.  You can leave a comment below

The next S.H.A.P.E. Challenge is now open for registration. Grab your spot today!  Click here for more info.

And mean it.

Hiking  is a great family outdoor activity.

Today, kids spend a good deal of time sitting in front of the tv, computers and video games instead of going outside and being active.  It’s no wonder kids are struggling with weight issues.

Here are some tips:

Let Your Kids Be the Leader.

This will help you see what your kids find interesting. Plus they feel they are in control of the activity and will enjoy it more.

Baby Backpack.

If you have a baby, they have some great baby backpacks (where baby gets to go for a hike while snuggling close to mom or dad). If you have a toddler, start with short hikes (maybe add a picnic).

Plan Ahead.

Make sure you plan out where you are going to hike.  Choose places that are public and have a trail along with access to bathrooms

Teen Techies

Get teens involved with computer games with adventure technology.  There are games out there where you can plan out your routes, “walk” across the USA with a pedometer, map and pushpins and more…have them do some investigating where you are going and make a game out your hikes.

Nicole Simonin

P.S. Our next boot camp starts Aug 1st.  We are only taking 5 new people.  Are you going to be one of them? Click here if the answer is yes!

It was fun back then wasn’t it?
Did you know that jumping rope is fantastic way to burn some serious calories?!
Check this out…
Mark Rothstein was inducted into the National Fitness Hall of Fame (NFHOF)on March 5, 2011. The NFHOF was founded to remember and reward individuals and organizations who have help promote health and fitness in America. Rothstein has help more than 5 million young people across the country. He currently holds the Guinness World Record for jumping rope non stop for 36 hours. (Remember this when I ask you to jump rope for 2 minutes during boot camp

This little piece of equipment is so versatile and a must have in your fitness toolbox. You can burn on average 11 calories per minute of jumping rope. So Mr. Rothstein could have burned about 23,760 calories for his Guinness World Record.
So does anyone want to beat his record??
Maybe not.
But you can start off small and jump rope for 30 seconds and then rest 30 seconds. Repeat for 5-10 minutes.

Nicole Simonin

P.S. If you’d like to experience what Shape It Up Fitness can do for you, take advantage of our 1 Week Free Pass! Click here to get yours.

There is nothing like getting a great workout in the great outdoors!

But certain times of the year are downright hot and sticky(especially in South Jersey).

This can be challenging when you want to exercise outdoors.

Knowing how to acclimate yourself and handling hot weather can protect you from fatigue and heat related injuries and illnesses.

Water, water, water

You should be full hydrated before your outdoors workout.  Pre-hydration will help  control body temperature and help increase plasma volume to maintain cardiac output.  During 60 minute workouts, you should continue to drink water about every 15 minutes.  A good indication of your hydration levels is your urine color.  Your urine should be clear or pretty close to it (like lemonade color).  If the urine is dark yellow, you are very dehydrated.

How Much?

• Before a workout: Drink 16oz two hours before working out.
• During a  workout: Drink about 8 oz of water every 15-20 minutes, aim to match your sweat loss.
• After a workout: Drink 1 Liter per kilogram of weight lost during your workout.

Acclimate

Start off slow (especially if you are starting in the summer months).  Slowly, adapting your body to hot and humid environments will help adjust and decrease the stress on your body. It will take about 3-5 days for cardiovascular adaptations to take place.  Complete acclimation doesn’t occur until about 2 weeks.

So take 2 weeks to slowly introduce your body to your outdoor workouts.  This will help you get the most out of your workouts and will keep your body happy

Some more helpful hints:

1. If you are new to working out, you might want to start indoors so you can increase your fitness capacity before going outdoors.

2. Exercise at lower intensities when you first go outside.

3. Perform higher intensity workouts during the cooler hours of the day (morning and evening).

4. If you have to train during the hottest part of the day, try to aim for the shade and wear appropriate fitness clothing to help you stay cooler.

5. Monitor your hydration levels by weighing yourself before and after your workouts.  Replace your lost weight with water to ensure you are hydrated.

Nicole Simonin

Fitness Professional and CEO of Shape It Up Fitness

Help your friends out!  If you know of a friend that could benefit from this article please feel free to send them this link.

Our next boot camp session is about to begin.  Only 15 new spots available.

If you’d like to learn more about Shape It Up boot camps (indoor AND outdoor), click here for your 1 Week Free Pass