This 1 thing could be stopping your fitness progress

What Happens When You Don’t Eat Enough

When people start dieting most people cut calories and increase their exercise, specifically cardio.  This tactic will temporarily work, but for long-term weight loss you have to fuel your body.  This large calorie deficit actually works against you!

Not eating enough calories causes many metabolic changes. The large calorie deficit may work for a few days or even weeks, but eventually your body will wake up and sound alarms that it needs to conserve energy.  Your body needs fat to survive and the large calorie deficit causes your body to think it is in starvation mode and it will save everything you give it.

Not eating enough calories can do the following:

• Slows down thyroid production

• Decreases muscle mass

• Lowers testosterone levels

• Decreases leptin levels

• Decreases energy levels

Your goal should be to eat as many clean calories as you can and still lose weight.  There is no perfect calorie number because each person’s metabolism is different.  Calorie calculators are a good place to start, but they don’t take into consideration any individual variables.  Most people want the weight gone yesterday and they will try any and everything to drop the weight quickly.  Weight loss is about consistency, commitment and patience.  

You have to remember that it didn’t get there over night and it won’t disappear overnight.  So if you have hit the infamous weight loss plateau or your weight loss has completely stalled, I challenge you to try and eat.  It’s amazing what your body will do for you when it is fueled properly!

Paula
Van Alstyne Texas Fit Chicks Trainer

Texas Fit Chicks is a women only fitness program serving women in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, San Angelo, Temple, Waco, College Station, Katy, Spring, The Woodlands and Fort Worth
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Get FIT in just 4 minutes? Why this works!

Tabata seems to be one of the new fitness buzzwords, but in fact, it’s a concept that’s been around for over 10 years.  In 1996, Dr. Izumi Tabata used a specific method of interval training for his study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. In the study, he had cyclists perform 20 seconds of all-out effort followed by 10 seconds of rest.  The participants repeated seven to eight sets of the exertion-rest intervals, equaling just about 4 minutes of actual workout time.  The results were so amazing that this type of training was named after the creator, Dr. Izumi Tabata.

Tabata training can deliver big results in little time, but TRUE tabata training requires you to push yourself to the absolute max.  Tabata training requires you to push your body to the extreme. It is important that you know the proper form for the exercises that you plan to use this training principle with. Tabata training is perfect for lots of exercises, some of my favorites are: burpees, squat jumps, pushups, planks, jack knifes, sprints and so many more.

Tabata is a good form of training that you can add to your current workout schedule to help boost your metabolism and burn fat.  Tabata training is also good for those days that you are pressed for time and still need to get in a workout.   Remember that true weight loss comes from making lifestyle changes and there are no miracle exercises, diets or tricks that will give you the permanent changes you are looking for.

- Paula Bennett
Van Alstyne Texas Fit Chicks
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75 Weight Loss Tips from Texas Fit Chicks Bootcamp

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The Holidays are over, and now it's time for a NEW start in 2012! Tired of the jeans being tight? Ready to jump start your fitness? Here are 75 tips for weight loss that really work!

                                             I can only handle 1 change now. What should it be??

• Eating out? Halve it, and bag the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage, and dessert.
• When dining out, make it automatic: Order one dessert to share.
• Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate
• See what you eat. Plate your food instead of eating out of the jar or bag.
• Eat the low-cal items on your plate first, then graduate. Start with salads, veggies, and broth soups, and eat meats and starches last. By the time you get to them, you’ll be full enough to be content with smaller portions of the high-calorie choices
• Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you’ll lose 5 lb in a year
• Overeating is not the result of exercise. Vigorous exercise won’t stimulate you to overeat. It’s just the opposite. Exercise at any level helps curb your appetite immediately following the workout.
• When you’re exercising, you shouldn’t wait for thirst to strike before you take a drink. By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Drink 8 ounces an hour before and another 4 to 8 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. Finish with at least 16 ounces after you’re done exercising
• Drinking too few can hamper your weight loss efforts. That’s because dehydration can slow your metabolism by 3 percent, or about 45 fewer calories burned a day, which in a year could mean weighing 5 pounds more. The key to water isn’t how much you drink, it’s how frequently you drink it. Small amounts sipped often work better than 8 ounces gulped down at once.
• Skipping breakfast will leave you tired and craving naughty foods by midmorning. To fill up healthfully and tastefully, try this sweet, fruity breakfast full of antioxidants. In a blender, process 1 c nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt, 1 1/3 c frozen strawberries (no added sugar), 1 peeled kiwi, and 1 peeled banana. Pulse until mixture is milkshake consistency. Makes one 2-cup serving; 348 calories and 1.5 fat grams.
• If you’re famished by 4 p.m. and have no alternative but an office vending machine, reach for the nuts—. The same goes if your only choices are what’s available in the hotel minibar.
• Next time you’re feeling wiped out in late afternoon, forgo that cup of coffee and reach for a cup of yogurt instead. The combination of protein, carbohydrate, and fat in an 8-ounce serving of low-fat yogurt will give you a sense of fullness and well-being that coffee can’t match, as well as some vital nutrients. If you haven’t eaten in 3 to 4 hours, your blood glucose levels are probably dropping, so eating a small amount of nutrient-rich food will give your brain and your body a boost.
• Making just a few changes to your pantry shelves can get you a lot closer to your weight loss goals. Here’s what to do: If you use corn and peanut oil, replace it with olive oil. Same goes for breads—go for whole wheat. Trade in those fatty cold cuts like salami and bologna and replace them canned tuna, sliced turkey breast, and lean roast beef. Change from drinking whole milk to fat-free milk or low-fat soy milk. This is hard for a lot of people so try transitioning down to 2 percent and then 1 percent before you go fat-free.

How do I avoid late-night eating??

• Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The large majority of people who struggle with night eating are those who skip meals or don’t eat balanced meals during the day. This is a major setup for overeating at night
• Eat your evening meal in the kitchen or dining room, sitting down at the table.
• Drink cold unsweetened raspberry tea. It tastes great and keeps your mouth busy.
• Change your nighttime schedule. It will take effort, but it will pay off. You need something that will occupy your mind and hands.
• If you’re eating at night due to emotions, you need to focus on getting in touch with what’s going on and taking care of yourself in a way that really works. Find a nonfood method of coping with your stress.
• Put a sign on the kitchen and refrigerator doors: “Closed after Dinner.”
• Brush your teeth right after dinner to remind you: No more food.
• Eat without engaging in any other simultaneous activity. No reading, watching TV, or sitting at the computer.

How can I control my raging sweet tooth??

• Once in a while, have a lean, mean salad for lunch or dinner, and save the meal’s calories for a full dessert
• Are you the kind of person who does better if you make up your mind to do without sweets and just not have them around? Or are you going to do better if you have a limited amount of sweets every day? One RD reported that most of her clients pick the latter and find they can avoid bingeing after a few days.
• If your family thinks they need a very sweet treat every night, try to strike a balance between offering healthy choices but allowing them some “free will.” Compromise with low-fat ice cream and fruit, or sometimes just fruit with a dollop of whipped cream.
• Try 2 weeks without sweets. It’s amazing how your cravings vanish.
• Eat more fruit. A person who gets enough fruit in his diet doesn’t have a raging sweet tooth.
• Eat your sweets, just eat them smart! Carve out about 150 calories per day for your favorite sweet. That amounts to about an ounce of chocolate, half a modest slice of cake, or 1/2 cup of regular ice cream.
• Try these smart little sweets: sugar-free hot cocoa, frozen red grapes, fudgsicles, sugar-free gum, Nutri-Grain chocolate fudge twists, Tootsie Rolls, and hard candy.
• Give it away! After company leaves, give away leftover food to neighbors, doormen, or delivery people, or take it to work the next day (and don't set it on your desk :)
• Walk around the mall three times before you start shopping.
• Make exercise a nonnegotiable priority.
• Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled Egg, Apple, and a Thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).
• As obvious as it sounds, don’t stand near the food at parties. Make the effort, and you’ll find you eat less.
• At a buffet? Eating a little of everything guarantees high calories. Decide on three or four things, only one of which is high in calories. Save that for last so there’s less chance of overeating.
• Scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet. Pop some asparagus in the microwave, and add whole wheat toast. If your cholesterol levels are normal, you can have seven eggs a week!
• A bag of frozen vegetables heated in the microwave, topped with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts.

Great ideas for a low-cal dinner when you don't want to cook

• A smoothie made with fat-free milk, frozen fruit, and wheat germ.
• The smallest fast-food burger (with mustard and ketchup, not mayo) and a no-cal beverage. Then at home, have an apple or baby carrots.
• A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread with a glass of 1 percent milk and an apple.
• Skipping meals. Many healthy eaters “diet by day and binge by night.”
• Don’t “graze” yourself fat. You can easily munch 600 calories of pretzels or cereal without realizing it
• Eating pasta like crazy. A serving of pasta is 1 cup, but some people routinely eat 4 cups.43. Eating supersize bagels of 400 to 500 calories for snacks
• Ignoring “Serving Size” on the Nutrition Facts panel.
• Snacking on bowls of nuts. Nuts are healthy but dense with calories. Put those bowls away, and use nuts as a garnish instead of a snack.
• Thinking all energy bars and fruit smoothies are low-cal.

How to Cut Calories:

• Juice has as many calories, ounce for ounce, as soda. Set a limit of one 8-oz glass of fruit juice a day.
• Get calories from foods you chew, not beverages. Have fresh fruit instead of fruit juice
• Keep a food journal. It really works wonders
• Follow the Chinese saying: “Eat until you are eight-tenths full.”
• Use mustard instead of mayo.
• Eat more soup. The noncreamy ones are filling but low-calorie
• Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lb in a year.
• Take your lunch to work.
• Sit when you eat.
• Dilute juice with water.
• Have mostly veggies for lunch.
• Eat at home
• Limit alcohol to weekends.

How to Eat more Veggies:

• Incorporate Shakeology into your day
• Have a V8 or tomato juice instead o a Diet Coke at 3 pm.
• Doctor your veggies to make them delicious: Dribble maple syrup over carrots, and sprinkle chopped nuts on green beans.
• Mix three different cans of beans and some diet Italian dressing. Eat this three-bean salad all week.
• Don’t forget that vegetable soup counts as a vegetable.
• Rediscover the sweet potato.
• Use prebagged baby spinach everywhere: as “lettuce” in sandwiches, heated in soups, wilted in hot pasta, and added to salads.
• Spend the extra few dollars to buy vegetables that are already washed and cut up.
• Really hate veggies? Relax. If you love fruits, eat plenty of them; they are just as healthy (especially colorful ones such as oranges, mangoes, and melons).
• Keep seven bags of your favorite frozen vegetables on hand. Mix any combination, microwave, and top with your favorite low-fat dressing. Enjoy 3 to 4 cups a day. Makes a great quick dinner.

Mantra to stay on track:

• “The best portion of high-calorie foods is the smallest one. The best portion of vegetables is the largest one. Period.
• “I’ll ride the wave. My cravings will disappear after 10 minutes if I turn my attention elsewhere.”
• “I want to be around to see my grandchildren, so I can forgo a cookie now.”
• “I am a work in progress.”
• “It’s more stressful to continue being fat than to stop overeating.”
• You can't ever "Out-Train" a bad diet

Are you looking for a weight loss program that works? Do you live in McKinney, Allen, Plano, Prosper, Frisco or N. Dallas? Jump into a 5 week boot camp with Texas Fit Chicks on any Monday and get affordable training and amazing accountability!
Our Bootcamp is INDOORS for the winter ~ we don't brave the cold!
Texas Fit Chick clients get a FREE MEAL PLAN plus a Full Body Comp from your trainer before AND after your 5 wks to see your results!
Huge Weight Loss Competition starts Jan 9 ~ Prize package worth over $800 to the client that loses the most!
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20 Tips to get Great Abs

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Anyone can attain a flat stomach if they know the rules that govern getting it. Yes there are flat stomach rules. Follow these rules and you will slowly but surely get the flat stomach that you may be yearning for.

Belly Blast Rule 1 – Follow the Belly Blast Rules
Doing something that is contrary to the flat stomach rules could result in your body holding to your belly fat tighter than ever. Belly fat is the last bastion of fat storage in the body and the body will fight tooth and nail before releasing it. If you ever try to go in battle against your body, you will surely lose. Work with your body rather than against it.

Belly Blast Rule 2 – Be Patient
Everyone wants a flat stomach fast. Advertisements on how you could get a flat stomach quickly, are all over the internet. When it comes to weight loss or getting a flat stomach, slow is fast and fast is slow. This follows the law of the farm where everything has a gestation period. Just like pregnancy takes 9 months, attaining a flat stomach too will take time. Give yourself the next 21 days with our belly blasting program to see results!

Belly Blast Rule 3 – You Are Going to Have to Work For It
There is no magical pill or equipment that can give you flat abs. You are going to have to pay for it. Payment would be in the form of sweat. If there was a quick fix or magical diet, Oprah would have found it by now. So stop looking for shortcuts. These rules are the shortcuts.

Belly Blast Rule 4 – Stop Dieting
Dieting is war against your body. Your body will win any dieting war. It will even go to the extent of causing you to regain all the weight that you have lost, once the diet is over. For this reason, any unhealthy or fad diets must be avoided.

Belly Blast Rule 5 – Stop Doing Spot Training
100 crunches or even a thousand crunches will not get you great abs. You need to start exercising your big muscles so that it can help to remove the layers of fat on your body. In bootcamp, we focus on the entire core, which is more functional than 1000 crunches.

Belly Blast Rule 6 – Start Doing 3 hours of Weight Resistance Exercises
Exercises that work the big muscles such as squats, lunges, push ups are excellent for removing the layers of body fat. Weight resistance training exercises are the most effective known for burning fat and boosting your metabolism.

Belly Blast Rule 7 – Do Interval Training Instead of Steady State Cardio
Interval training is far superior than conventional cardio training. Try doing 2 sessions of this in a week. Be cautious of the strain on the body from interval training and start gradually. This takes priority over steady state cardio. So you should find time for this first.

Belly Blast Rule 8 – Do Cardio Exercises Once Completing 3 hours of Weight Training a Week
If you are able to spare more than 3 hours of exercise time, you could do conventional cardio exercises such as jogging, cycling or swimming. This should only be done if you cannot handle the stress of interval training. Interval training is far superior to shed belly fat.

Belly Blast Rule 9 – Remove or Absolutely Minimize Sugar and Simple Carbohydrates
Desserts, sweetened drinks, any sweet food or white flour should be avoided.

Belly Blast Rule 10 – Avoid Sweetened and Calorie Filled Drinks
Sweetened drinks pack lost of calories. Avoid drink that have lots of milk in it such as lattes. These too have lots of calories even though being low-fat. The calories come from the simple carbohydrates in the milk.

Belly Blast Rule 11 – Avoid or Reduce Milk to a Minimum
Lactose in milk spikes insulin. It would be wise to stay away from milk until you have achieved your flat stomach goal. You should be able to get enough protein from your meals. If you need more protein, it could be obtained from protein shakes.

Belly Blast Rule 12 – Understand Food Combination That You Should Avoid
Fat, sugar and alcohol taken in combination is detrimental to your flat stomach goals. Here is a detailed explanation of meal combination to avoid.

Belly Blast Rule 13 – Breakfast is Compulsory
Research has shown that people who skip breakfast store more abdominal fat. Skipping breakfast is a cardinal sin and should be avoided at all cost if you really want a flat stomach.

Belly Blast Rule 14 – Have 3 Small Main Meals and 2 Snacks
You should be eating every 3 or 4 hours to rev up your metabolism. Do not take this opportunity to overeat. Your main meals should be small servings. Eat nuts or fruits for snacks.

Belly Blast Rule 15 – Have 6 to 8 Hours Sleep at Night
Lack of sleep results in elevated levels of cortisol which promotes abdominal fat storage. A lot of people exercise and eat healthy but compromise on sleep. They have an extremely tough time losing belly fat.

Belly Blast Rule 16 – Strengthen Your Core Muscles

Belly Blast Rule 17 – Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol halts fat burning and increases appetite. Abstain from alcohol until your flat stomach goals are achieved. Read the earlier article for detailed information on alcohol’s effect on weight loss.

Belly blast Rule 18 – Be Aware of the Weekend Binge
An earlier article showed how a lot of people are disciplined on the weekdays but blow their diet on the weekends. Over consumption of food and drink causes a setback to a lot of people.

Belly Blast Rule 19 – The Flat Belly Diet Should Consist of Food With Low Calorie Density
Food with high calorie density have lots of calories in a small portion of food. These mainly include food with a combination of fat and sugar. One could easily overeat without realizing the overload of calories.

Great Abs Rule 20 – You Do Not Need to Finish Everything On Your Plate

Eat until you are 80% full. Do not eat until the food on the table or the food on the plate finishes.

Ready for your 21 Day Belly Blast Meal Plan? Find it here: 21 Day Belly Blast Meal Plan $29