How to get rid of a double chin

If you have the true “double chin” it generally means you are carrying excess fat under the chin near the throat area. The fat tends to sag down creating a wrinkle, hence the term “double chin”. In this case, all you need to do is lose weight by consuming fewer calories than you .  That is, maintain a calorie deficit by moving more, eating less or doing any combination of the two. No matter what you read, no exercise alone can fix this problem. When you gain fat, you gain it everywhere, and each person gains more in certain places than others. Unfortunately, just as you can’t control where you store fat, you also can’t control where you lose it. In other words, you can’t spot reduce so no exercise can target losing fat from a particular area. You can only decrease your fat stores overall by eating fewer calories than you burn. Continue this process until the fat layer around the chin and neck area reduces to the point where the “double chin” disappears. As you maintain a calorie deficit, body fat will leave from whatever area your body was genetically programmed to draw it from. As a rule of thumb, the last place fat was put on is the first place off when dieting. The other option is to surgically remove the fat pad under the chin or liposuction.


A double chin also results from losing fat in the neck area, and the skin that was stretched by the previous increase in fat stores doesn’t resume its original size and shape because of age-related decline in elastin. Elastin is a protein in connective tissue that is elastic and allows tissues in the body to resume their shape after stretching or contracting. Elastin helps skin to return to its original position when pushed or pinched. As we age, elastin significantly declines leading to loose, wrinkly skin. The other reason a double chin forms is from having loose skin which may be a result of genetics. There is no cure for either of these “double chin” causes except cosmetic surgery that removes the loose skin.

Your Holiday Survival Strategy

There's no denying that the holidays have arrived.

Lights have been strung, gifts are being wrapped and holiday treats are everywhere.

It's no secret that most people gain 5 to 10 pounds over the next month. With all the parties, special meals and edible gifts, weight gain is pretty much inevitable...right?

Not so fast.

I've come up with a survival strategy to keep holiday pounds from making a permanent home on your hips.

This strategy is very simple. I'm not expecting you to have the time to log all your calories or eat every meal at home. We are going to be realistic...

Golden Tip to Avoid Holiday Pounds: Spend the next 4 weeks eating like a caveman, with 2 daily exceptions.

Here's why: Holiday pounds are caused by eating too many foods that are high in carbohydrates and simple sugars.

You can avoid all that by sticking with an eating plan created by our pre-historic ancestors, while still keeping things fun by allowing for 2 small daily exceptions.

This is what you would eat...

As many fresh and fiber-filled vegetables as you want.
Load up on salads.
Enjoy vegetable side dishes.
Just no starchy vegetables like potato or corn.

Lots of lean, protein-filled meats and eggs.
Stick with meat that has been roasted, barbequed, or baked.
Avoid fried meats and eggs.

Fruits, nuts and seeds in moderation
Fresh fruit for a delicious dessert.
A handful of nuts or seeds for a snack.
Don't eat sugar-added fruits, nuts or seeds.

Then enjoy 2 small exceptions...
Bread or grain product: No larger than the size of your hand.
Starchy vegetables: Half of a cup.
Baked goods: Should fit into the palm of your hand.
Candies or confections: The smaller the better.
Holiday drinks: 8 ounces.

This plan works because it allows you to indulge in 2 exceptions each day. This encourages you to pick and choose the holiday cheat food that you really love, as opposed to feeling obligated to eat everything in sight.

When you navigate the buffet line at your next holiday party, feel confident knowing that you have a game plan. Stick with salad, vegetables and meats first, then pick out your 2 small exceptions and savor those.

Remember, I'm here to help you meet your fitness and weight loss goals. Email today and I'll get you started on an exercise program that will make your goals a reality.


You didn't think I was going to forget to mention the importance of exercise in avoiding holiday pounds, did you?

I know this month is extra busy. You will be tempted to skip out on workouts.

Decide right here and now that you will stick with your exercise schedule throughout the entire month of December. Write it into your calendar.

Exercise is your secret weapon against holiday pounds.
Fig, Goat Cheese and Bacon Appetizer


Here's a great recipe to bring to your next holiday party. Fresh fruit, nitrate-free bacon crumbles and high-quality goat cheese crumbles make a tasty appetizer that is gluten-free and caveman-friendly! Servings: 6

Here's what you need:
6 figs, halved
1 Tablespoon balsamic glaze
6 Tablespoons goat cheese
1 slice nitrate free bacon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium skillet cook the bacon until crispy. Allow to cool then crumble.
Lightly grease a baking pan with olive oil.
Halve the figs and line, cut side up, on the prepared pan.
Drizzle balsamic glaze on the cut side of each fig. Sprinkle with goat cheese and bacon crumbles.
Place in oven for 5-8 minutes. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 98 calories, 3g fat, 68mg sodium, 14g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, and 4g protein

Thanksgiving Workout

for anyone who plans to stay inside nesting and tending to the meal and festivities, here's a little something you can do amidst the preparations. If your loved ones look at you funny as you squat in front of the oven, just tell them you're basting your backside ;)


Circuit 1 - Before you hit the kitchen: Tabata Cardio and Tabata Strength
Tabata Cardio Drill (4 minutes)

• Jumping Jacks: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
• Running in place high knees: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
• Mountain climbers: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
• Plank leg thrusts (get into a plank and hop legs up to chest and back to plank, over and over):  20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.

Tabata Strength Drill (4 minutes)

• Pushups: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
• Chair/Bench/Floor Triceps Dips: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
• Pushups: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
• Chair/Bench/Floor Triceps Dips: 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat once more.
 

Circuit 2: In the kitchen, as the bird cooks
Squats and Sumo Squats

• The first squat brings you eye-level to the oven as you stick the bird in.
• Now, after you shut the oven door (or watch your loved one squat and put it in), do 49 more squats for a total of 50.
• Before you walk away, do 50 Sumo Squats (legs wider than hip width, feet turned out at 45 degrees)
• Every time you check on the bird, do 25 more regular and 25 more Sumo Squats right there in front of the oven.
 

Circuit 3: As you set the table
Incline pushups and chair dips

• Pull out one of the chairs and do 25 chair dips for triceps.
• Set half the plates, and do 25 incline pushups, hands on the seat and facing the chair back.
• Set the rest of the plates and do 25 more chair dips.
• Now, finish with 25 incline pushups.


Circuit 4: The post-meal cleanup.

• This burns calories and keeps you moving, thus moving that food better as it digests.
• If you're so inclined and it's not too late, and if the weather is nice, take a leisurely walk after dinner to cap off an awesome day.

Is exercising enough to lose weight?

Not according to the majority of exercise studies. The general conclusion from many, including the most recent studies on exercise and weight loss, is that exercise alone is not a weight loss program for anyone. Diet is simply far more effective and easier in producing weight loss, but exercise is just as important in maintaining the loss and in delivering unique long-term health benefits that diet alone cannot.

Here are the latest facts:

The latest exercise and weight study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) completed in March 2010 followed 34,000 chronic exercisers for 13 years and the average weight GAIN was 6lbs; 13.3% of those who gained slightly less but still GAINED, performed 60min/day of moderate to vigorous exercise and were normal weight at the start.

Conclusion from study:

• Exercise alone is not a weight loss program for anyone

• If overweight, it’s too late to reverse it with exercise alone, you must restrict calories

Earlier short-term studies comparing diet alone and exercise alone were even more dramatic:

Diet alone groups lost an average of 19.8LBS in 6 months, while exercise alone groups lost less than 2LBS in the same period.

Keep in mind that one single fact determines the rate of weight/fat loss: the average daily calorie deficit. This is defined as the difference between how many calories you burn and how many calories you consume. Therefore it’s easier to remove 500 calories of food from your daily diet to produce a 1LB/wk loss of weight than it is to perform 1.5hrs/day of vigorous exercise to accomplish the same result. That said, exercise is needed to improve your body structure, function/performance, longevity, visual appearance, etc. Exercise also increases daily calorie burn and helps you maintain your desired weight. So participating in both proper diet and exercise, you get faster, healthier and longer-term weight loss.

Top 5 Tips to Build Muscle Fast

Some people find it almost impossible to gain muscle or just get toned.  They waste time and money going to gym’s and trying strategies that do not work.  It is in reach for everyone to get in shape. You just need to know some key things to get you there.  Whether you just want to bulk up, build up you biceps, or achieve any other muscle building goal, follow these 5 tips to get you to build muscle fast.

Muscle Building Tip #1: Hit Mutliple Joints
Building muscle quickly will not work doing single joint movements like bicep curls or tricep extensions unless you are already very muscular. Multi-joint exercises like pull-ups, squats, bench pressing, or deadlifts will do the job. These exercises will not only work muscles in less time, but will also allow you to use much heavier weight than you would with single-joint exercises.

Muscle Building Tip #2: Get Heavy
A lot of people that try to build muscle do not use heavy enough weight. Pick heavy weights and go to failure for each set.

Failure=until you can’t do anymore even if I put a gun to your head! One of the reasons bodybuilders have a partner is so there is someone there to help them when the weight gets too heavyto lift with good form. If you don’t have a workout partner, just stop when you get too tired to lift with good form, rest a few seconds, then keep lifting to complete the set.
This is much better than using a weight that allows you to comfortably complete a set without muscle failure.

Muscle Building Tip #3: Do Less Cardio
Your body needs calories in order to build muscle so if your doing a significant amount of cardio like bicycling or running, your burning calories that your body could otherwise use for muscle building. If you want to build muscle as fast as possible, limit your cardio to a brief 2-3 sessions of H.I.I.T. CARDIO

Muscle Building Tip #4: Eat
To put on  muscle you have to consume more calories than you burn. Instead of shoving anything down your throat, try to grab calories from healthy protein sources like grass-fed beef, healthy fat sources like coconut milk, avocadoes, and healthy carbohydrate sources like potatoes and yams. you should be eating 6-7 meals a day!

Muscle Building Tip #5: Rest
To build muscle quickly, you need to fatigue a muscle group, but then give it time to rest. If you work a muscle too hard, too many days in a row, those muscle fibers will become too damaged to properly repair and grow. Typically, a muscle needs at least 72 hours to properly repair from a muscle-building, weight training session. A good rule to follow is to wait until you are no longer sore in a muscle before working it again. For example, do a shoulders and chest workout on Wednesday and Saturday, a leg workout on Tuesday and Friday, and a back, arms and abs workout on Monday and Thursday.

Also, MAKE SURE YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP!!

Fitness Tip

Fitness is constantly evolving and I enjoy trying different things. I may not be the best but its a new and exciting challenge. I see many people just going through their long-standing routines, not getting as much out of their exercise workout as they could, and they look the same year after year! Begin throwing your body curveballs and explore other programs. Don't let fear hold you back. If you never confront fear, you’re missing the essence of the challenge. Without pain, there’s no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement and when there is no improvement there is no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy.

Each of us have to earn our bragging rights so what are you waiting for?

Keeping it simple

GymPact! Doh!

There are a plethora of fitness apps and gadgets out there to help you track distance, heartbeat or total time. Now, there's an app that makes you pay cash every time you miss a visit to the gym. Ouch!

Developed by two 2010 Harvard graduates, GymPact is an iPhone app that offers cash incentives. You lose $5 (you can choose to pay more) if you miss a scheduled gym visit and make money if you stick to the pact you set at the beginning of each week.

If you're the competitive type, feel better knowing that the money you make is an equal portion of a pool collected from your lazier peers who sat on the couch.

Why cash incentives?

Users have to commit to at least one 30-minute workout per week and the app knows if you're really at the gym because it will confirm your location whenever you check in for a workout. And yes, you really do have to pay $5 because it deducts the fine from your credit card on file.

Do you think this app would help you stick to your weekly gym schedule, too? Is cash really a strong motivator?

Your go to workout

15 squats, 10 push-ups and :30 of planks. Do as many rounds in a circuit as you can. Cool down with a quick walk around the block. 


You can do this anywhere and instead of making excuses why you don't have time to get to the gym, you can be done with a full body workout, fully anaerobic and stimulate muscle growth in 10-20 minutes!

Do Less Cardio...Get Better Results

Don't waste time doing the same old thing that's not getting you results. Ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. Are you happy with what you see in the mirror?
2. Do you have too much free time on a daily basis?
3. Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Now, if you answered "yes" to any of these questions then this post is not for you. However, if you answered "no" to these questions, then please stop doing the same old routine and getting less than exciting results. You can get the body you want in less time than you can possibly imagine.

Let me be plain and clear --

I am asking you to stop doing steady state cardio since you already know it will not give you the results you want. I read on people's Facebook all the time, bragging about how they do SPINNING six times a week if not more. SERIOUSLY?!?! That's what you call an obsessive spinner.
 

Try spending less time doing cardio and put more effort in getting your nutrition in order. Be willing to challenge yourself to do something different or go out on a limb and try another instructor. Remember you can always go back to your favorite one. Impress yourself.

New Year. New Start. New You.

You've got a clean slate to start from.  Pretty much no matter how the year before turned out, you have a fresh new year to start off right and achieve the things that you didn't have a chance to get to last year. 

It's a prime opportunity to get clear on what it is you want out of this year and create a plan to achieve it.  A chance to review the things that are adding to the quality of your life (friends, positive habits, personal and professional groups that keep you on track, etc) and those that are distracting (the judgmental friends, associates that when in their presence always seem to drag you down, and bad habits that sabotage your progress).  It truly is an excellent time to really get dialed in on how to make this year better than the last.  As well as an opportunity to clear out that which is distracting or not serving you.

Yet even with all of the opportunity provided by a new year and a fresh clean slate, there are still those that complain about how they can't accomplish their goals because of such and such: they're too busy, don't have time, work long hours, have to take the kids to their events, they don't like the gym, etc.  And for every excuse I can, in most cases, show you a person that has as much or more on their plate and still is able to get it all done.  

Sure this week I could have blogged about things that you and I both know you need to be doing. Now you have something you can read, print out, and re-read when you find yourself getting off track.

You see it's not a matter of your circumstances.  It's a matter of your commitment to success.  You achieving your best is going to take time.  That's not the issue. Question is, are you committed to getting it done?