Don't Fall for Gimmicks or "Quick Fixes"

I often get approached by people who would like to work with me and are also in the business of weight loss. Sometimes it's cool, but most times it's not. Why is it NOT cool? Well most of the time the people that want to work with me have some sort of gimmick to what they're doing. They believe they have the "magic" product that's promised to deliver BIG time results in a little amount of time. Whether it be a pill, shake, or whatever else you can think of... most of these products are marketed as being too good to be true. And more times than not, that's usually the case!

The reason why most of these diet products are successful is because they substantially restrict your calorie intake. Remember the old Slim Fast slogan, "A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and a sensible dinner?" Well who the heck wouldn't lose weight on a 800-900 calorie diet? What Slim Fast doesn't tell you is that you're slowing down your metabolism, losing lean muscle, and putting your body into FAT STORAGE mode! What happens when you get tired of drinking shakes all of the time and want to actually eat some food? Oh I'll tell you. You know all that weight you lost, well it's going to come back and it's bringing the calvary. I don't mean to isolate Slim Fast here, but I've noticed that there are a lot of other programs / products that follow the same protocol.

Then there are programs out there that allow you to eat anything you want just as long as you fall within a certain amount of points. That's sounds cool and makes dieting easier for us. However when a slice of pizza is given the same value as salmon and broccoli, that raises a couple of red flags. Pizza = unhealthy fats and starchy carbs. Salmon and broccoli = healthy fats, protein, and fibrous carbs. Hmmm...doesn't seem like their value is equal anymore, does it?

Then you have fitness products such as Shape Ups, Perfect Push-up, Shake Weight, Ab Circle Pro, and whatever other silly devices out there that claim their product will give you the same body as the person in the commercial. Do you actually think that the person in the commercial got their body by Ab Circling or working that Shake Weight for 6 minutes a day?? C'mon now.

Don't even get me started on weight loss reality TV shows that are FAR from real. These shows, which can be very motivational, also feed us with many misconceptions about weight loss. They fail to mention that in TV Land there's this thing called editing, so what you see isn't always what you get. They make many of us think that if we're not losing 15-20 lbs a "week", then we're doing something wrong. This can lead us to overtraining, under-eating, and can create a drastically distorted self-image of ourselves. All resulting in being counterproductive to our health and fitness goals.

Then there are the magazines that are covered with fitness models or celebrities that are there to push the latest fad workout or diet. We buy into it because we don't look like that person on the cover. Well I have a NEWSFLASH for you. NOBODY looks like that person on the cover. Not even the person on the cover! It's not a big secret that photoshop and a little airbrushing go a long way. Even knowing that, we're still left feeling insecure and unhappy with our current physical state.

At the end of the day, that's how ALL of these products, TV shows, and magazines want us to feel. They feed off of our insecurities and vulnerabilities in order to SELL, SELL, SELL us a "better" and "happier" life. I understand this, but a vast majority of us fall victim to these tactics and that just doesn't sit well with me.

If you truly want to be successful in achieving your health and fitness goals, then you need to be exercising correctly, eating correctly, and resting adequately. You do those 3 things and you'll set yourself up for long-term success and none of this up-and-down crap that these fad diets and products often lead to.

If you need help getting started on your journey to health and fitness success or want more education on how to do so safely, please feel free to email me or visit the website. Healthy Fit is neither a gimmick nor a "quick fix". Our program is designed as a way of life, and that's the only way you'll find lifelong success.

Being a fitness professional, there were a few things that I just HAD to get off of my chest and if you made it all the way through this posting, THANK YOU!

Snow Trip

So it was my brother Little Dave's birthday yesterday and we decided to go snowboarding. Keep in mind that I haven't been snowboarding in 2 years and Dave hasn't been in 6 years. We both have very minimal experience, but we figured since we were going with a few people that knew how to do it, we'd just take their advice and save the money that would've been spent on lessons with a professional instructor.

So we get there and hit the bunny slopes, trying to reacquaint ourselves with our boards and the snow. Let's just say the 1st couple of runs weren't the prettiest. We tried asking for tips and tricks, but we received conflicting information, so we tried to position ourselves next to the groups that were getting lessons, in hopes of hearing some key info that would set us on the right path. Unfortunately we only heard tidbits of info here and there and never really got what we had hoped for.

After a few more runs of tough spills and bruised egos, we decided to take a lunch break. We were both pretty frustrated with our poor results up until that point and thought we'd have picked it up a little bit better by then. We were so frustrated that we decided to call it a day early, as we'd rather just hang out and watch the rest of our group have a good time out there on the powder.

After spending some time joking around and watching everyone else come down the mountain, we decided to give it one more try. It's not in our nature to just quit and we definitely didn't want to go home defeated, so we ended up hitting the slopes for another handful or runs and found that we were doing much better the 2nd time around. However, I couldn't help but feel that had we just taken the lessons earlier in the day, we would've performed much better and would've been able to go on some of the intermediate runs with the rest of the gang. By trying to do it our own, it ended up costing us more in time and effort for the minimal results we achieved than had we just took the time and a few extra bucks to learn from a professional.

So why am I sharing my snow trip with you? I'm glad you asked!

I see and hear about this same scenario ALL of the time, but instead of snowboarding being the topic, it's with working out! Especially now that it's January and everyone is at the gym working hard on their New Year's Resolutions (that only lasts a few weeks, but that's another blog). People go and try to do the latest workout that their favorite celebrity is endorsing at the moment, thinking that they'll end up looking just like them. They do so with little-to-no knowledge of how to properly perform the exercises, how much resistance they should be using, how many repetitions they should be performing, or whether or not that program even pertains to their goals.

If it's not the magazines or infomercials that tells them how to workout, it's their under-qualified friends, family, or simply them looking around to see what everyone else is doing. That's all fine and dandy, but when all is said and done, you'll end up just like me and Little Dave, too much time and effort spent with minimal results. I think it's pretty safe to say that when you see you're not getting the results you expected, there's an increased chance that you'll quit working out altogether.

Don't learn your lesson the hard way. When it comes to your health and fitness goals, maximize your time and effort by hiring a fitness professional who is TRAINED to help you reach those goals. Trust me, if you don't, you'll just be kicking yourself when you're at the gym next January still working on this January's resolutions.

Your friend in health,

Rich Rodriguez

Healthy Fit Boot Camp

Certified Fitness Trainer

Specialist in Sports Nutrition

rich@healthyfitbootcamp.com

www.healthyfitbootcamp.com

(925)586-7473