Spoke too soon - found out why my posts were not posting and fixed it

Holiday party tips

Hello, So now that Christmas is upon us, the holiday parties are the focus of spreading that cheer. And really, it is hard to pass them up. Let me give some quick tips and revelations.

The average alcohol drink will set you back from 100 to 800 calories! And that is just for one drink. HO Ho doesn’t sound so fun the next day after you gained a few pounds for a few hours of joy. And that yummy spiked eggnog comes in around 400+ calories!

Now lets add in the holiday cookies and cakes and well it goes on and on.

How does one have fun and still stay on target?

1) Between each drink of alcohol drink a glass or bottle water. This helps with keeping your more sober as well.

2) If you will be going to many parties set up a food theme strategy. For one party tell yourself that this will be your sweets events and have your sweets – hopefully within reason. Same goes for other parties. Maybe one you will indulge more with the drinks, another maybe take the healthy road and eat the veggies and dips if available.

3) While mingling stay close to the healthy foods since you will be apt to pick as you mingle.

4) And if you are dedicated and stick to the healthy food go for it. Your goals will stay true to the body you want inside and out.

5) Eat first before you start drinking. You’ll be least apt to consume those high calorie drinks.

6) Dance the night away if available. A sure way to burn calories and limit access to that food and drink.

My answers might surprise but I have learned that if you take away guilt and empower an individual during these types of events you will have a greater chance of success. In my business I have had great success with these types of strategies.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT
Perfect You LLC

Thanksgiving

Now that Thanksgiving is over I want you all to take a moment and ponder the following.

How much love and happiness did you experience when you saw family and friends as well as others when they saw you?

Exercise and good health allow us to continue to spend many "Thanksgiving Days" with the ones we love. As well as they with us. Never forget your health goals and work it all year to be healthy. And never hesitate to reach out to the friends and family you saw over the holiday to assure they are as healthy and fit as possible as well. It could just be your simple words that make all the difference for their current or future goals.

Remember you ALWAYS matter to somebody. And so does anyone else.

All my best Perfect You followers.

All my love and respect,

Eddie Camaroto

Thanksgiving survival guide

Ah, the joy of stuffing our faces among great company. Yes Thanksgiving is a few days away and for most of my clients this time scares them.

You see they have been on target with all their goals and they know that Thanksgiving is a day to EAT.

I will share some tips that I relate to them to make this day of thanks happy and not stressful.

1) The average person will consume 3,000 calories at the dinner. WOW! It takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound so this number is significant.

2) Do not skip breakfast or a small lunch before the feast. If you think that this will save you calories you are off track. It will make you more hungry later and you will then over eat. Plus no matter how much you starve yourself realize that ingesting 3,000 calories is way more then the body can handle at a sitting so it will be put away in the fat stores of your body. So by "saving" those calories you have done nothing but make you eat more. Eating before will make you less hungry and yes likely to over-indulge. I am sure this bursts a few bubbles of your Thanksgiving attack.

3) Sample everything. What I mean by that is take a small helping of "everything". By engaging your taste buds to a variety of foods and textures you are less likely to over indulge in 4 helpings of sweet potatoes. Plus you are more likely to eat more healthy choices.

4) Watch the bread it is the killer of many successful diet strategies. If you love bread choose a multi-grain variety and dip in olive oil or use a butter substitute. Any never touch your bread till you have eaten 2/3 of your meal. By the time you get to your bread your feeling of fullness should just be about starting to register.

5) Don't skip the desserts. But rather use the same strategy you used with your meal plate. Take a lot of different items just assure that they are small slices or portions. And use a napkin to hold them all (if possible). This forces you to manage those portions more effectively then a plate where you could layer the sweets on to.

6) If there is a fat-free option available jump at it: Example: fat-free ice cream to top that apple pie etc.

7) Eat your meal as some traditional Italian families do: Eat in small focused sittings. Like soup/salad first then leave the table and come back 1 hour later and eat the main course etc. The same applies to waiting 1 hour for the dessert. This strategy works so well that this one step alone could make your day must more pleasant and less stomach bulging.

I hope my tips help you out and actually allow you to enjoy a day of feasting without all the guilt.
And for all you hard-core exercisers out there I remind you of my TV workout. In the search window in the top left corner (of my BLOG) just type in tv workout and you will be taken to the article.

Enjoy and I wish all my followers a rewarding Thanksgiving Day.

All my best,

Eddie Camaroto

Second opinions

Second opinions matter

Even though I have my own in-home Personal Training business I still continue to work at one of the best “medically” structured gyms in the state. And because of my position there I see dozens of members daily and many share with me their stories of dismay.

I meet people whose Physical Therapy was cut off too soon and they never questioned why. Or others that were told nothing further could be done for them and they would just have to live it. We, as a society, for the most part, have forgotten that we are empowered to take ownership over our health and quality of life.

But sad as it is I meet TOO many that just accepted what they were told. I see this more with the older population who grew up with the belief that doctors were the experts and the final say on care.

Let me share some personal stories of clients that were told nothing else could be done and then they were lucky enough to see me.

1) One client just went through breast cancer surgery and was given the drug Tamoxin. It is given as preventative maintenance for 5 years after breast cancer surgery. Standard protocol. My client was told that the Charlie horses that were keeping her up every night and I mean every night would be something that she had to live with – it was a known side effect. After three sessions with me she sleeps through every night and is still on the medication. I have given back her life when others said deal with it. All she needed was the proper massage to fix her. She was looking at 5 years of this. I fixed her in three hours.
2) My stroke victim client has her right side paralyzed from a stroke 11 years ago. She was told she would never walk, talk, or move again. Guess what after 4 months with me she talks, walks, and is fast becoming a survivor. Our sessions end in tears of joy with every little progress.
3) Or my client that was told nothing could be done about their skin infections that crippled their legs every month or two. After the proper exercise regiment and a simple application of Vaseline to their legs they have been pain and symptom free for 2 months now. He has lived with this condition HIS WHOLE LIFE! Not so anymore.

I consider myself more educated then most Personal Trainers. I have skills in massage, chiropractic and holistic healing but the fact that I hope I have driven home here is you need to get second opinions (one pro and one con). They only believe the con if you fail at your resolve to get better. I have only taken three clients of mine but I have dozens of stories that all ring the same bell. I fixed them when another professional said they couldn’t. If they never met that second opinion (ME) they would still be in the crippled states. So many clients have come to me with years of trying to battle weight gain and after a month or two with me they see 30-50 pounds off their bodies (and it STAYS off). I gave them hope and never ever said there was nothing else I could do for them. I do not believe in failure – period. There is ALWAYS a way folks. Always!

Please take a hard look at any condition that some professional told you to live with and see if just maybe there is hope with asking the same questions again with someone else.
Please NEVER EVER give up hope.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT

Perfect You LLC

Nutrition websites

Websites that can help your nutritional goals

This will be a very small article tonight since I want to only address some really great sites that I use daily with my clients to help them with their nutritional goals.

1) http://www.sparkpeople.com/
2) http://www.mypyramid.gov
3) http://www.weightwatchers.com/

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT

Perfect You LLC

General Nutrition

What is nutrition

When I start training a new client the biggest barrier to their success is nutrition. It always seems that a person will let me put them through a very challenging workout but they will not let me dictate what they can eat. Food it seems has a very powerful connection that is hard to change.

Over time I AM able to change their habits but it is really hard to do.

So let me write this article, as I would talk to my clients.

First and the most important component of nutrition is discovering what your BMR is (Basal Metabolic Rate). There are multiple sites on the web that you can enter in specific information and uncover your BMR. Basically, your BMR is the absolute minimum calories you need to take in EVERY day to satisfy your bodies operating requirements “if you do absolute nothing per day but breath etc.” And I have to tell you that 75% of all of my clients that are trying to diet do not come close to their BMR. When one takes in fewer calories then their BMR they are going to keep gaining weight. This is biological science. You cannot fight the laws of nature! So for ¾ of my clients, I need to tell them to eat more. Well, you can imagine how that goes. But for the clients that heed my words - they discover weight loss is rather easy. Give the body what it wants and it will regulate your weight, as it should. Of course such things a thyroid issues etc. can prevent this but for the most part the statement is true. You need to eat to lose weight.

Get your BMR reading ASAP and start eating at least that to be successful in your weight control goals. Don’t do it and the statistics will be your enemy and you will not lose the weight you so eagerly desire.

CARBS:
So many of us have had it drilled into our heads that CARBS are bad and yes, the simple carbs are bad (sometimes) but complex carbs are what your body uses as fuel. Cut them out and you will suffer – I promise you that. You will suffer with reduced energy (muscles use carbs as their fuel source and you cannot change that). So what is the recommended carbs per day for a healthy individual? 125 grams a day but optimally it should be 350 – 400 grams or 55 – 65% of your daily caloric intake. After an intense workout the recommended carb intake is simple carbs. A bagel or white bread is actually a good thing to refuel your muscles.

FAT:
No more then 25 – 65 grams a day or no more then 25 – 30% of your daily caloric intake.

PROTEIN:
No more then 50 to 70 grams per day or 12 – 20% of your caloric intake. The media has conditioned us to eat more protein for greater muscles size etc. We have been introduced to the Atkins Diet that states that protein is good. And yes you will lose weight by increasing your protein intake for the short term but of the long term you will gain all that weight back. Don’t take my word for it - there is 10 years of solid science to back up my claims.

WATER:
Though no study to date has established an absolute requirement I do believe that 1-ounce of water per body pound is solid and safe. Again, this is based on solid science of what normal bodies require.

Some of you reading this article are going to snicker and do what they always do but for the few that heed my advice I will be hearing from you about how you finally lost that weight.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT
Perfect You LLC

Working out with your significant other

At lot of times the best way to start exercising is by enlisting the help of your significant other. Maybe you both are sick of feeling un-fit or you just made fitness your New Years resolution. Whatever the reason the fact is you both want to train together and that can prove to push you both farther and see better results.

I have addressed in a previous posting how to do some exercises together so this time I will address a few simple cardio routines for partners.

1) Jumping rope together has always been a proven way to push each other. There are so many routines you both can do – I urge you to seek some out.
2) Group classes together. There are so many out there – even dance type ones. Take a relaxing Yoga class together and be relaxed and at peace the rest of the day.
3) One you probably never thought of but it provides a huge cardio benefit. Go play some Frisbee together.
4) Do some interval jogging/walking together. Five minutes waking to every one-minute jogging is a good formula.
5) Use some resistance bands and wrap one around your waist, face away from your partner and do hop away as they pull on the band. Not only is this cardio for both of you but you will also get a whole body workout. Try to go three minutes each.

A short article this week but none the less important for spicing up your partner workouts in a cardio sense.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT
Perfect You LLC

Support channels for your fitness goals

Hello, So you tried to get all of your friends and family to workout with you or support you but it hasn’t worked out like you planned. Now what do you do?

1) Go to the website http://www.presidentschallenge.org/ and pick a challenge for you to complete. This site is really cool and you can even track your success. You can do these challenges all by yourself or you can even gather a group together to perform the challenge as a group effort.
2) Get a virtual Personal Training program. This is a program (usually 8 weeks) that a certified Personal Trainer creates for you. You and the Personal trainer communicate over email to track and support your goals together. Better yet hire a Personal Trainer that will assure you are never alone or lax in your fitness goals.
3) Send out a flyer to your neighbors and see if anyone is interested in creating a walking group for fitness.
4) If you belong to Weight Watchers or another weight loss group see what kind of eager members might love to have a workout partner. I am sure you will have lots of willing participants.
5) Team up with someone who will never say no to you for a good walk. Your dog.
6) Join a sport. Some gyms have racquetball courts, basketball, or even outside bicycling weekly events and almost all of them have single member signup sheets.
7) Join a group exercise class at your gym. If you have never participated in a group exercise class you will find that for the most part the group becomes very tight and supportive of each other.
8) There are a lot of websites that offer support specifically geared for motivation.

I have just touched upon a few ways to garner support your fitness goals when you feel all alone in your quest.

Next months theme will be (Making fitness a part of your daily living).

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT
Perfect You LLC

What happens when your fitness support dries up

What happens when your support dries up

Hello, for this week I wanted to talk about a real concern for some exercisers. What happens when your support stream dries up? What happens when the people you depend on for your fitness support goes away?

For many of us we find that we need the support of others to continue on our fitness quest. We like hearing their positive admiration as we progress to fit and fitter individuals. Maybe these same individuals also exercise with us or are our walking partner. What do we do when they “fail us”?

First and foremost as I have cautioned before (http://personal-trainer-nj.blogspot.com/2009/04/support-for-your-fitness-goals.html) you should always be exercising for your OWN goals. Be your OWN support mechanism. Anything less then exercising for you puts the rate of failure higher.

Maybe you relied on Mary from accounting to walk with you during lunch – but now she cannot. Do you stop walking and getting fitter because of Mary? Of course not! Take some initiative and go to Human Resources and get their buy-in for a walking club at work. Maybe have the company sweeten the pot by giving the top walkers certain benefits (better parking spot, vacation time, free meal at the cafeteria, a plaque highlighting the top walkers, etc.). I have YET to find a company that would not buy-in to this. Now you are the HERO. And you will have lots of walkers to reach your goals.

Grab your IPOD and listen to some great music and walk alone.

But what happens if the partner you go to gym with fails you. Well, first do you really need a partner? If you do then go to some group classes and find that “someone”. Ask your spouse to try the gym with you. It will be quality time you both can share and you will BOTH be getting fitter for it. If the club has a Jacuzzi like my club – that only sweetens the pot for your spouse and you. Make the gym a special time for you both.

Start walking the dog at home if that is your only avenue. The point I hope I keep making is work the problem and find solutions. Never – ever give up your fitness goals.

I really could’ve written a volume on this topic but I kept it short. There are so many roadblocks that I hear from potential clients on this. In fact some clients of mine that have signed on for my Personal Trainer services do it because they want accountability and a partner during their workouts. They love the idea of someone looking out for them and pushing them to their limit.

Always remember that YOU started your fitness goals with YOU in mind. Never let someone else take that away from you!

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT
Perfect You LLC

Tools to help you make exercise a part of your life.

Hello, this week I would talk about some tools to make your exercise and fitness goals easier.

1) One thing ALL successful dieters have utilized to make their weight loss efforts stick is to keep a food log. With the advent of the Internet this is easier than ever. Most sites allow you to just drag and drop your meals based on a food database. If you need help finding one reach out to me about what I feel are the best.
2) Even if weight loss is not your goal keeping a food log goes far in showing you exactly what you are eating and how balanced your nutrients are for a given day. Below is what each of you should strive for per day.
a) PROTEIN: 50 to 70 grams per day or 12% to 20% of total caloric intake.
b) CARBOHYDRATES: A minimum of 125 grams per day, optimally 350 to 400 grams or 555 to 65% of total caloric intake.
c) FATS: Approximately 30 to 65 grams per day or 25% to 30% of total caloric intake.
d) WATER: At least 1 ounce per pound of weight.
3) Get a jump rope – and us it daily! Why? Because it is still one of the best ways of getting an intense cardio and building lower body strength. If you do not have a jump rope you still can pretend and go through the motions as if you did have one to supercharge your cardio.
4) Buy a cheap pedometer to assure you are getting 10,000 steps a day. By taking 10,000 steps a day you will burn an additional 500 calories a day. See my post http://personal-trainer-nj.blogspot.com/2009/03/walking-as-part-of-your-fitness-goals.html
5) Take a multi-vitamin daily. Very FEW of us ever get all the required nutrients we need daily. Buy the store brand multi (with minerals) – they work just as well as the pricier ones.
6) Write into your calendar/planner set times to exercise and OBEY the appointment you have with yourself. Research has shown that this little step goes far in your goals for obtaining a fit body.
7) Buy some Personal Trainer sessions (Believe me I am not trying to self-promote myself here). When you are accountable to another about your fitness goals research has shown you are more apt to go the distance to achieve your goals. I have some clients that only see me once a month to assure they are at their best. Others only buy ½ hour sessions with me weekly. The point is my clients realize that having a professional review and work with them really makes a BIG difference. Again, research shows that people who utilize a Personal Trainer are happier with their exercise experience and obtain results MUCH quicker then if they tried to go it alone.
8) Plan on two days away from the gym to achieve your goals. On these days walk your neighborhood. What this does is get you into the mindset that the gym is NOT the only place to get fit.
9) Keep an exercise diary. Map out your goals, what you did, how many sets/reps and pounds, and write how you felt before and afterward. Strive to better your results daily.
10) Make exercise a part of your favorite TV show. If you watch a 1-hour sitcom plan on either stretching or doing easy exercises while you watch it. I use this technique with all my clients and they are amazed how good they feel about themselves when then do this.
11) Fit exercise into everything you do.
a) Park farther away from your destination.
b) Bike more.
c) Take the stairs more.
d) During your lunch break grab a willing partner and walk.
e) Do some sort of stretch every 45 minutes while at work. See my post for some simple all body stretches. http://personal-trainer-nj.blogspot.com/2009/02/basic-stretches-to-keep-you-relaxed.html

12) And lastly – love your body. It is the only one you will ever have – make it ready for the challenges that life demands.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT

Support for your fitness goals

Hello, Some of the toughest barriers you may encounter when you are working towards your fitness goals is lack of support from those around you. Below I will talk about some obstacles you may encounter and offer some steps and hints that hopefully will get the needed support you want. I have picked some of the most common arguments I get from my Personal Training business to show you how I answer to them.

Dilemma: Your spouse thinks you are trying to get fit to leave them or test the waters (You would not believe how many times I hear this one).
Response: You should reassure your spouse that rather then testing the waters you are assuring that you will be around for a long time and that you care about them enough to make a change to make that possible. That you are making yourself into a healthy person that can keep up with them (even if you feel they are of shape) to have the best possible life. Try to get them to do a few workout moves with you like partner push ups, medicine ball twists, etc. Your goal here is to make them feel good about your efforts while drawing them in to the benefits. With the right coaxing you will snag them into your fitness web. I caution you to not give the answer that you are doing this for them. Don't ever ever forget that you are doing this for YOU!

Dilemma: Your friends and everyone around you think you are perfect just the way you are.
Response: Tell everyone that you truly appreciate that but you are not changing the old you. Your personality will still be the same - except now your body will be able to do more. You may look better but that is just an added benefit of why you are doing this.

Dilemma: Your friends miss the old you. They miss a night of ice cream and sorrow stories with you.
Response: Let them know that they still can have those days with you but you might just eat frozen yogurt instead. Your mind and compassion hasn't changed just your fitness level. Let your friends know how great exercise has been to your well being. Offer to exercise with them and THEN grab that ice cream. Better yet - go for a long walk with that ice cream cone around your neighborhood with them in tow.

Dilemma: Your spouse is suspicious of your gym time.
Response: Invite your spouse to join you. Even if exercise isn't their thing. All gyms offer some sort of free pass to potential members. Show them your workout - your dedication - and show them how great you feel afterwards. Tell them how great you would feel if you could workout with them and them alone. Make them feel special and wanted. For example one of the gyms I work at offers boxing instruction. Not cardio boxing but true boxing instruction. Other gyms offer martial arts training. Maybe this is the hook you need to get your spouse wanting to go with you to the gym. Most gyms have pools as well. Sweeten the experience with your spouse by telling them you both can relax in the jacuzzi after working out. Make it your own private time together.

Dilemma: Your friends tell you that the effort you are putting into your fitness goals is not working and it is a waste of time.
Response: Accept their judgement. And prove them wrong with every clothes size you go down. Never be in their face - let the results talk for you. Before long I can guarantee you (based on past experience) that they will be coming to you for help with their fitness goals.

Dilemma: Your friends and/or spouse tells you that they miss the old you.
Response: Reassure them that you still have the same personality and mind. All they miss is the unhealthy you.

Dilemma: You miss being one of the crowd.
Response: Do not give up. The more fit you get the more opportunities you have to cheat once in a while. Do not be one of the crowd anymore be the leader.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT