What to Take Before Your Workout for Optimum Fat and Weight Loss

UPDATE!!!

In 2009 I created a 28-day nutrition and fitness program called Virtual Boot Camp!   Participants averaged 13 lbs. of weight loss during the program in 2009!!! Get 28 days of perfect nutrition and exercise (complete with a grocery list, access to videos, and more!) for only $100 (NOTE: This is the very package I charge thousands for...the only thing you are missing is my physical presence!).  Enrollment ends on January 10th, so click to this website now!

Now, back to the blog...

One of the reasons I became a personal trainer (and now travel the world helping people pull off the most amazing body change possible!) is this: I got tired of hearing stories about personal trainers giving horrible nutrition and supplementation advice. Many personal trainers can name 80% of the muscles in the body, but don't know how to engage the various types of muscle fibers during workouts, cannot lock in fat loss without the help of a heart rate monitor, and cannot skillfully guide their clients around a nutrition store or grocery store. No wonder so many people who hire trainers struggle to see results!

What Fat Burners and Thermogenics Are Designed to Do

People spend billions of dollars a year on weight-loss supplements. Most of this money goes to fat burners and thermogenics. First of all, fat burners and thermogenics usually belong in the same category. If a supplement raises heart rate (therefore increasing body temperature), it is a thermogenic. A lot of products try to sell a technology as fat burning (and some products, the NxCare's Methyl Ripped seem to be onto something) when, in reality, they are primarily focused on raising a person's heart rate.

When a thermogenic raises your heart rate, your body is working harder, which means it is burning more calories. When taking a thermogenic, any exercise feels like an extra effort as far as your heart and metabolism are concerned. Therefore, walking feels like jogging, jogging feels like running, etc. When you burn more calories, you lose more weight.

Unfortunately, most people who use a thermogenic lose muscle! In fact, if a pre-workout thermogenic was the only supplement a person took, they would most certainly lose lots of muscle. Losing muscle would slow down the metabolism over time, paving the way for weight gain...which paves the way for the purchase of more thermogenics. In truth, most thermogenic products create a muscle loss/weight loss/slowed metabolism/weight gain/thermogenic-product-purchase cycle.

What Fat Burners and Thermogenics Need to Succeed

Every client I work with uses one of two fat-burning supplements to coincide with a thermogenic (if indeed it makes sense for them to use one...and it is a per-case basis). Idea #1 is conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a natural nutrient of grass that used to be prevalent in our dairy products when cows were grass fed. When we take a thermogenic (which helps burn more calories) and CLA (which helps burn fat, the RIGHT calories), we end up burning more of the right calories. Idea #2 is to take a very specific pre-workout shake or bar (email me at adam@rapidresultsfitnessmn.com to find out which shake/bar), which will help yield the optimum fat and weight loss in the gym when taken with a thermogenic/fat burner.

The bottom line is that a thermogenic/fat burner is not a stand alone product. When taken in conjunction with a nutritional piece (CLA or secret idea #2) that locks in fat burning, we can really get somewhere with our bodies in a very short amount of time.

Why I Recommend Thermogenics in Conjunction with Nutrition-Based Fat Loss Supplements

The reason I recommend thermogenics is simple: when taken in conjunction with CLA or secret fat loss shake/bar (send email adam@rapidresultsfitnessmn.com to learn what it is), the body burns more fat and keeps more muscle, which increases the metabolism and turns a person into a calorie-burning machine over time!

When I work with a client, my end goal for them is for their body to be a natural calorie-burning machine. Whenever fat is subtracted and muscle is added, this is guaranteed to be the case. And this is where most people go wrong: they only take a thermogenic (which typically locks in muscle loss) instead of taking it with a fat-burning-focused nutritional supplement that biochemically forces the body to lock in fat loss and muscle gain.

Supplements are helpful only when they are used correctly. Unfortunately for most of the people who are emptying their pocketbook and schedules to lose weight, they are one or two supplement strategies short of hitting the mark.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world to deliver one-on-one intensive boot camps for those looking to change their body now! His work is documented at www.rapidresultsfitnessmn.com.  Currently, he resides in Minnepaolis, MN and trains athletes and serious weight-loss clients.

Minneapolis Personal Trainer Tells How to Succeed with New Year's Resolution of Weight Loss

Happy New Year!  I'll bet that you found this blog because you are looking to lose weight in 2009.  Most people do not succeed with their weight loss resolutions, but if your search for answersand ideas brought you here, you most be serious about looking and feeling your best in 2009!  I'm here to help!

Reading today's blog provides you with three specific benefits: 1) get 3 ideas that will help you with your weight loss resolution, 2) learn how to get my $100 virtual boot camp for free, 3) learn how to get "The 27 Factors Affecting Fat Loss and Weight Loss" for free!

If you are serious about losing weight in 2009, here are the three most important things I can tell you about successfully losing weight...

New Year's Resolution Weight Loss Tip #1: Don't Lose Weight

Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, LA Weight Loss, and most other programs try to convince you that weight loss is the ticket.  If weight loss is the ticket, how come the weight keeps coming back?  Because weight loss is not the ticket.  When people focus on weight loss, they end up burning up their body's ability to burn calories and kill their metabolism as a result! 

Fat loss is the answer.  By focusing on losing fat (which is what I help all my clients to do, and can help you to do for $100 or free.....email me at adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com to find out how to do it for free!), I help clients lose fat weight instead of muscle weight, help them increase their metabolism instead of slow it down, and help them keep their new body instead of watching it slip away.

It is not about how much we weigh, it's about how much fat weight we have.  Don't lose weight in 2009, lose fat weight!

New Year's Resolution Weight Loss Tip #2: Start it the Right Way!

Are you tired and sluggish as you go through your day?  Are you stressed out and irritable?  Are you locked into cravings that help make you fat?  If so, you are like most of us in the United States!

Most of us have a severely damaged body.  We are filled with fat cells that don't burn calories!  We are filled with toxins and organisms that make progress more difficult for our body.  We have stressed our organ, digestive, and nervous systems so much that they are worn down and not functioning the way they were designed to function.

The first step for anyone wanting to lose weight is to clean the body out and get it ready to live again.  Doing a cleanse helps the body function correctly, makes fat loss (and weight loss!) progress happen more quickly, and helps us to have abundant energy!  If you want to lose weight and do it the right way, the first step is to do a cleanse.  And there are thousands of cleanses you could do by yourself, or....

Join me for the 2009 Total Body Makeover Virtual Boot Camp (www.keepyourbetterhalf.com).  We start January 15th.  We walk you through a gentle and body-changing cleanse.  You can join me as I help you and others around the world for $100 or do it for free (again, send an email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com to find out how to do it for free!)

New Year's Resolution Weight Loss Tip #3: Focus Some on Exercise, Focus Mostly on Foods and Life Changes!

For most people, exercise makes up less that 5% of our day.  Mastering exercise is a nice step for fat loss and weight loss, but taking care of the other 95% of our day is going to impact weight loss a lot more than the 5% of our day spent on exercising.  Mastering our daily intake of food is more important than anything else we can do to change your body.  Eating the right foods at the right times will do more for us than exercise ever could (exercise is tremendously important, don't get me wrong, but it's just 5% of our day).

For this reason, the 2009 Total Body Makeover Virutal Boot Camp (www.keepyourbetterhalf.com) has a food focus.  In fact, for 28 days you will know exactly what you need to eat.  No guessing, just a concrete plan full of foods you probably already enjoy...just put in the right order and in the right amounts!

To learn more about how to position your body for fat loss and weight loss, send me an email (adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com) and ask for a free copy of "The 27 Factors Affecting Fat Loss and Weight Loss!" 

Lose Weight in 2009 Successfully: Make Your Resolution a Reality!

Don't leave your weight loss to chance in 2009!  Join the 2009 Total Body Makeover Virtual Boot Camp experience or find out how to hire me personally (www.keepyourbetterhalf.com).  Make your resolution a guarantee today!

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer and the founder of Rapid Results Fitness.  He creates body changing and life-changing boot camp experiences for his clients that address weight loss and major health issues (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.).  Adam resides in Minneapolis, spending much of his personal training time in Eden Prairie, Edina, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Excelsior, Chanhassen, and Medina.  He also enjoys bringing his boot camp experience cities such as San Diego, Miami, Phoenix, and Sydney, Australia!  To learn more about how to bring body change to your life, visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com!

Minneapolis Personal Trainer Helps You Use Your Fitness Christmas Present

 

2009 UPDATE!!!

Before you read this blog, there are two important updates to share:

1) Join us for the 2009 Total Body Makeover Virtual Boot Camp, starting January 15th. Go to www.keepyourbetterhalf.com for more details, and send email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf .com to learn how to do the boot camp for free!

2) If you would like the free report "The 27 Factors Affecting Fat Loss and Weight Loss", send me an email and I'll get the report to you!

Now, back to the blog...

It's the day after Christmas and everyone who got a piece of exercise equipment is trying to figure out how to use it.  This is why I am a personal trainer!  I help people maximize their use of their new equipment.  So, if you have a certain piece of equipment you would like me to blog about, send an email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com and I will gladly expound on your new piece of hardware.

Without knowing which fitness equipment you received for Christmas, I will provide a few pieces of uncommon knowledge that will help you right away in your quest for advancing your health and fitness.

New Exercise Equipment Tip #1: Always Warm Up, Then Stretch, Then Workout!

Most people do not give the warm up and cool down their due.  Warming up is extremely important!  As a Minneapolis resident, I have to warm up my car every time I want to drive somewhere in the winter.  It is crucial for my brakes, engine, and belts to warm up before asking my car to get me around town in the winter.  Our bodies need to warm up as well, regardless of season.

A 3-5 minute warm up on a treadmill (or even walking up and down the stairs at home) is a crucial starting point.  Then stretch each muscle group you intend to work, then pursue warm up sets for your workout.  The more thoroughly you warm up, the better you will perform and the less likely your chances of getting injured.

New Exercise Equipment Tip #2: Focus on Your Breathing!

Breathing is a big deal.  There are three main benfits to breathing correctly during exercise: our performance improves, our blood pressure is lower (than if we breathed at the wrong times), and our recovery is improved.  Here is the basic idea on breathing during weight/resistance training: exhale when you are doing the most work. 

When we are performing a bicep curl, it is more work to curl the dumbbell or resistance band up than it is to lower it.  Therefore, exhale as you curl the weight up.  When performing a squat, it is more work to raise up to a standing position....so exhale on the way up.  If you exhale when you are doing the most work and inhale when you are doing the easiest work, you will trigger the benefits mentioned above.

New Exercise Equipment Tip #3: Focus On Holds, Not Just Reps

The best way to maximize any piece of equipment is to ask your body to hold still in a position that  is challenging to hold.  For example, if you are performing squats, holding in a low squat position for 10 seconds is a killer.  Or holding a bicep curl with your elbow bent at a 90 degree angle is very tough. 

I ask my clients to perform a 10-second hold on the 5th, 10th, and 15th rep of every set.  It is very challenging!  Try it during your next workout!

Adam Erwin is an in-home personal trainer who travels the world to work with people who are ready to put excuses aside and work hard to change their body.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about what Adam does, who he works with, and how you can have him come and work with you!  A Minneapolis resident, Adam will work close to home (Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Edina) or will travel to your location (San Diego, Miami, Phoenx, Sydney Australia) to work with you.

Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Prepare Your Body for Christmas and New Years!

So you just had amonster Thanksgiving.  You were already overweight, and you just added a few pounds.  With holiday treats surrounding you, more weight is almost a certainty by Christmas.  And don't even think about the impact New Year's will have on your body.

The calendar can make the calories pretty cruel this time of year.  The best way to fight back is to do a cleanse now.  Doing a cleanse now has three major benefits:

Cleanse Benefit #1: Lose Weight Now

Cleanse Benefit #2: Repair Your Body Before You Send it Through Holiday Season

Cleanse Benefit #3: Boost Your Immune System, Be More Energetic, and Change Your Cravings

Part of my job as a personal trainer is to lead my clients through the nutrition and supplemental steps to maximize their success.  I'm leading a few of my clients through a cleanse right now.  If I were training you (if you are serious about body change in '09, go to keepyourbetterhalf.com and read about what I do, then email me! I'd love to answer your questions and talk about how I may be able to help you change the direction of your health and your life!), this is what I'd have you do.

Personal Trainer Cleanse Tip #1: Get the Cleanse that Addresses Your Biggest Need

Some people may be experiencing significant digestive issues (daily upset stomach, bad bowel movements, or no bowel movements!).  If that is you, a colon cleanse or digestive tract cleanse may be right for you.  Getting rid of the excess in your system and cleaning it out will help to repair the entire system.  There are several great colon cleanses.  If you'd like help picking one, I'd be glad to help!

If you are super low on energy and constantly getting sick, going after impurities in the blood is your best bet.  There are many cleanses that touch up on everything, and these tend to help out the blood the most.  The Complete Body Cleanse at GNC is a good one for those of you with energy issues (or those of you who have been eating clean).

Some of you may have celebrated Halloween until Thanksgiving started, and now have an early jump on New Years.  If alcohol is your go-to beverage, a liver cleanse is probably overdue.  There are a few really good ones out there.  If you'd like help picking one out, send an email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com.  Whatever you do, pick a cleanse to fit your biggest need.

Personal Trainer Cleanse Tip #2: Drink Water Only

You cannot imagine the difference it would make if you did a cleanse and drank only water during that time.  No beer, no soda, no juice.  Just water.  Your body would feel so incredibly good!  Water is the ticket to a successful cleanse.  Be sure to buy filtered water, processed by reverse osmosis if possible (the label will tell you what type of processing was used).

Personal Trainer Cleanse Tip #3: Eat Clean

This is probably common sense (as is #2), but the benefits cannot be overstated.  If you took out processed foods, sugar, yeast, and dairy while you cleansed your body would feel ten years younger by the end of your cleanse.  Eating fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meats from the deli, and maybe an occassional grain (like long grain or brown rice) will help keep unnecessary toxins from entering your body as you cleanse.

If you decide to do a cleanse now (and asked me for help... adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com), you will be amazed at how good you will feel at the end of your cleanse journey!  Do a cleanse now!  Prepare your body for the holiday treats and a tremendous '09.

Adam Erwin is an in-home personal trainer who travels the world to work with people who are ready to put excuses aside and work hard to change their body.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about what Adam does, who he works with, and how you can have him come and work with you!  A Minneapolis resident, Adam will work close to home (Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Edina) or will travel to your location (San Diego, Miami, Phoenx, Sidney Australia) to work with you.

Adam the In-Home Personal Trainer is Tired of Soda Killing Metabolism, Making People Fat, and De-railing Body Composition Progress

2009 UPDATE!!!Before you read this blog, there are two things you need to know:1) Open enrollment has begun for the Virtual Boot Camp: Total Body Makeover!   Get 28 days of perfect nutrition and exercise (complete with a grocery list, access to videos, and more!) for only $100 (NOTE: This is the very package I charge thousands for...the only thing you are missing is my physical presence!).  Enrollment ends on January 10th, so click to http://keepyourbetterhalf.com/virtualbootcamp.html now!2) If you would like the free report "The 27 Factors Affecting Fat Loss and Weight Loss", send me an email and I'll get the report to you!Now, back to the blog...

Minneapolis is not the place to be right now if you are a soda drinker.  Adam the in-home personal trainer is going to war with weight-conscious folks who are drinking soda.  Here is another run-through and what soda does to you and why we must cut it out of the game plan when weight loss and fat loss are the goal!

Two quick things before we get to the main course:

1)  If you like today’s blog, pass it on to your weight-loss minded friend, family member, or colleague.

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2) If you like today’s blog, email Adam (adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com) and ask about his “Little Ebook on Fat Loss and Weight Loss” that will hit cyberspace next week.

Stop Drinking Soda Now! Reason #1: Diet Soda Kills Your Metabolism

I've blogged on this before, but it is worth restating: the artificial sweeteners in diet soda confuse your metabolic response to real sugars.  Artificial sweeteners teach your body to not respond metabolically to sweet tastes (be it artificial or real sugar).  So when you consume real sugar, your body learns to simply store it as fat instead of burning it off like it is originally trained to do.  If you can't metabolize sugar effectively, it is virtualy impossible to lose fat and lose weight for the long haul.

Stop Drinking Soda Now! Reason #2: The Amount of Sugars in Non-Diet Soda Is Fat in Waiting

Have you ever drank a 12 oz. can of lard before?  Soda is very close to that.  Pepsi, Coke, and others have 39 grams of sugar per can or more.  It is like putting 9 full tablespoons of sugar into a can of soda.  Yikes!  Your body cannot possibly burn off all that sugar when you consume it, so it gets stored as fat.  You are drinking lard!

Stop Drinking Soda Now! Reason #3: Soda Dehydrates, and Fat Cells Need Hydration

Dehydrated fat cells do not burn well.  Well-hydrated fat cells burn much more effectively!  Anytime you drink coffee or soda or something with caffeine in it, you are doing two things worth re-considering:  1) wasting a chance to hydrate yourself and provide nutrients your body needs.  2) dehyrating your body and robbing fat cells from water they need to effectively be burned off.

Stop Drinking Soda Now! Reason #4: The Toxins in Soda Attack Your Body

We all know that artificial sweeteners attack the nervous system.  What about all the coloring, flavoring, and carbonation in a soda?  Those ingredients attack your body as well.  Your blood stream turns more acidic by drinking soda (and don't get me started on that!), carbonation eats away at lung capacity, and the extra toxins like coloring have no good use in your body.  Every single time we consume soda, we are placing our body under extreme attack!!!  Let the madness cease!

Stop Drinking Soda Now! Summary

We are 70% water, and drinking soda instead of water is like stealing mass amounts of water out of a lake instead of putting water in.  There are few things that are worse to drink than soda (maybe alchohol).  Every single time we consume a beverage, we have an opportunity to improve or deteriorate our health.  Soda has no nutritional value at all, and plays a significant role in worsening our health.  One of the best things we can do to improve our fat loss and weight loss potential is to eliminate soda from the mix!

Adam Erwin is an in-home personal trainer who travels the world to work with people who are ready to put excuses aside and work hard to change their body.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about what Adam does, who he works with, and how you can have him come and work with you!  A Minneapolis resident, Adam will work close to home (Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Edina) or will travel to your location (San Diego, Miami, Phoenx, Sidney Australia) to work with you.

Minneapolis and St. Paul Weight Loss and Fitness Extraordinaires Give Praise to their Personal Trainer

The past two weeks have been loaded with testimonials and success stories.  I love getting feedback about the results people are getting from my work with them.  Here is a quick sample of success stories from the past two weeks...

11/18/08-I had to fasten my belt with a belt hole I haven't used in over 3 years!  I'm so pumped!  --Joe, 28 years old, Champlin, MN

11/18/08-Chris' basketball coach says that Chris is the best defender we have, and wishes he had 9 other players just like Chris on his team.  -Proud mom Carol of son Chris, age 11, Eden Prairie, MN

11/17/08-I can't believe I am down 10% body fat!  Amazing!!!-Shanna (Joe's wife!), 30 years old, Champlin, MN

11/15/08-This has been the best month of my life.  My strength, confidence, and build are beyond what I could have expected in six weeks.  You kicked my butt every single session! Now I have to wear a belt with all of my pants...and none of them needed a belt before we started.   Ray, 32 years old, Maple Grove, MN

11/13/08-I have never been able to climb on the monkey bars before, until last week.  How amazing is that??? Josiah, 14 years old, Plymouth, MN (however you can measure progress, righ?)

11/08/08-My husband noticed my body for the first time in our three years of marriage. I can walk better, I am sleeping better, my leg cramps have disappeared, and my daughters are inspired to workout too! -Karen, St. Paul, MN

If you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and are looking to get more out of your workouts and nutrition, visit keepmybetterhalf.com or shoot an email to adam@keepmybetterhalf.com.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer (with a nutrition background) who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Killing Your Legs One Exercise At a Time

Tonight I killed my legs in 20 minutes flat.  A lot of people believe a workout has to be 40 minutes or an hour to be a difference-maker...this is not the case.  I only had 30 minutes to go through a workout (warm up for 5, workout for 20, stretch and cool down for 5).

To kill my legs in the small amount of time I had, I opted to alternate between quad and hamstring exercises, mix in some calfs, and not rest for a second.  Here is what a personal trainer killer leg workout looks like tonight!

Killer Leg Workout Exercise Group #1

Weighted wall squats with swiss ball-holding 12K kettlebells in each hand, I lowered into a wall squat, with a swiss ball supporting my back...knees at a 90 degree angle.  I held this position for 30 seconds (holds are great for any muscle group because they stimulate every type of muscle fiber we have!), rested in a standing position for 10 seconds, then back down for another 30 second squat.  After three 30-second squats, I went onto...

One-legged lying leg curls with swiss ball-lying on my back with my right foot on top of the swiss ball and my butt off the ground, I curld the ball toward my body by using my hamstrings.  15 per leg. Ouch, these hurt.  After 15 per leg, I went to...

Killer Leg Workout Exercise Group #2

Weighted Bosu Ball Squats-standing on the black side of a BOSU ball, my feet shoulder-width apart, I squated while holding 12K kettlebells.  After 15 slow and steady reps, I did...

Leaning Leg Curls-Kneeling on my knees with my arms crossed and hands on my shoulders (with partner holding down my heels), I leaned forward while keeping my back straight, and used my hamstrings to curl back into an upright kneeling position.  5 reps of these was enough before I went onto..

Killer Leg Workout Exercise Group #3

Running Stairs in Place-I climb the lowest stair fast for 15 seconds, rest for 5 seconds, and climb the second-lowest stair for 15 seconds, rest for 5 seconds, and repeat one more time before I do...

Quick Jumps Over Resistance Band-With a band laying in a straight line on the floor, I jumped with both feet from left-to-right and back for 15 seconds (as fast as I could), rested for 5 seconds, jumped forward to back with both feet for 15 seconds, rested for 5 seconds, jumped left-to-right on my right foot for 15 seconds, rest for 5, then left-to-right with my right foot.

And then I repeated this circuit two more times through!!!  Talk about a tired, sweaty, legs-killed mess.

If you are looking for workouts like this, contact me about "The Little E-Book on Fat Loss and Weight Loss", which you can pre-order today for 40% off!!!  Send an email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about "The Little Ebook on Fat Loss and Weight Loss!"

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer (with a nutrition background) who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

What Restaurants Hope You Don't Do Before Your Next Meal

I am working with a couple on my 30-Day Boot Camp program (view the program at www.keepyourbetterhalf.com), which means we kick their butt twice a day and carefully manage every morsel that goes into their body.  Last week my client couple wanted to go out on a date night.  With two youngs kids at home, a short time at the corner sit-down restaurant chain (Applebees, TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Houlihans, etc.) was the best that could be arranged for the night.

Before sending them off to the restaurant, we went online to check out the nutritional data from their menu...

Chicken Caesar Salad: 1020 calories, 98g fat, 786mg sodium

Lettuce Wraps: 586 calories, 71g carbs, 1865mg sodium

Prime 5 oz Sirloin Steak (with green beans and baked potato): 1054 calories,  53g fat, 93g carbs, 2516mg sodium

And so it went for everything on the menu.  Lots of calories, too much fat, terrible amounts of sodium.  If one person ordered an appetizer and entree or entree and dessert, it would be easy to clear 2000 calories...and all after 7pm.  Yikes!

Here are the weight loss reality checks that restaurants are hoping you don't make before dine with them.

Weight Loss Reality Check #1: Check the Nutritional Data for Your Intended Meal Beforehand

Don't be a casualty of the calorie.  Many restaurant foods will kill you in at least one category (calories, fat, carbs, sodium, cholesterol), if not more!  Go online and find the nutritional information for the restaurant's menu.  Deciding what to eat and how much of it is easy when you are looking at their awful nutritional data!

Weight Loss Reality Check #2: Budget Calorie Consumption by the Clock

In America, we tend to eat the most calories when our body is least equipped to handle them: dinner! Talk about a recipe for a weight gain!  If you want to give your body a fighting chance to handle your out-to-eat calories, be sure to eat lighter the later you eat.  If your out-to-eat meal is a 12pm lunch, you can go a little heavier than if your out-to-eat meal is an 8pm dinner.  In America, we would all be better off if we swapped lunch and dinner.  It is crucial to eat lighter at a restaurant, and very light if it's late.

Weight Loss Reality Check #3: Be Wary of Sodium the Day Before and Day After Eating Out

Most restaurants douse their foods in sodium.   They are shameless in their use of sodium.  With this in mind, prep your body the day before eating out by having a super low sodium day.  Also, give your body a light sodium day the day after eating out to allow it to recover!  In the US the RDA for sodium is 2400mg per day (which is a ton compared to the UK's 1600mg).  If you are interesting in keeping off of blood pressure medication, pay attention to sodium!

Wrapping It Up

Getting fit and losing weight are tough things to do on a restaurant diet, and almost impossible to do on an unorganized restaurant diet.  To increase your odds of fat loss and weight loss, check restaurant information online before you order, budget your caloric intake based on the clock, and go easy on the sodium before and after a restaurant visit.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer (with a nutrition background) who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Top Ten Foods to Help You Lose Fat and Lose Weight

I just finished up with a six-week project with a client.  As we closed up our program today, he told me what a difference the food selections had made for him.  Rob had seen some specialists about his hypoglycemic tendencies and none of them provide him with solutions that made a difference.  We were able to pinpoint some ideas for him that proved to be difference makers.

Here are some of the best weight loss and fat loss foods(by food I mean consummable goods...not necessarily solids). 

Tenth Best Weight Loss Food: Whey Isolate Protein Powder

Protein can help conquer hunger.  Whey isolate protein powder (made into a shake) can really help the body reach a sense of fullness.  It can also feed muscle (which helps with fat burning), and is low in calories, carbs, and cholesterol.

Ninth Best Weight Loss Food: Pears

Pears are very nutrient dense, very filling, and are low in calories.   A great morning or afternoon snack!

Eighth Best Weight Loss Food: Chick Peas

Chick peas are a great item to put alongside a chicken or fish main course.  They are filling, have a good raiot of carbs/fats/proteins.  The only down side is they pack a little bit of sodium.

Seventh Best Weight loss Food: Lemons

Not only are they great to add to water (they have an alkalizing effect to water, which seems counter intuitive), lemons are very filling, are midly anti-inflammatory in nature, and contain a little bit of fiber. Add a lemon to your water, or add it to your chicken breast for flavoring and nutrition.

Sixth Best Weight Loss Food:Buffalo (top round steak)

The biggest thing about a source of protein is the cholesterol associated with it.  While buffalo has some cholesterol (82mg per 100 g of steak), it is also rich in protein (33g) and low in calories (146). It is typically leaner than venison and chicken, amongst others.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer (with a nutrition background) who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

The Missing Links for Weight Loss, Fat Loss, and Body Change

2009 UPDATE!!!

Before you read this blog, there are two things you need to know:

1) Open enrollment has begun for the Virtual Boot Camp: Total Body Makeover!   Get 28 days of perfect nutrition and exercise (complete with a grocery list, access to videos, and more!) for only $100 (NOTE: This is the very package I charge thousands for...the only thing you are missing is my physical presence!).  Enrollment ends on January 10th, so click to http://keepyourbetterhalf.com/virtualbootcamp.html now!

2) If you would like the free report "The 27 Factors Affecting Fat Loss and Weight Loss", send me an email and I'll get the report to you!

Now, back to the blog...

Boot camps are all over the place.  Pick a gym, find an instructor, and get ready to sweat next to seven other strangers.  When push comes to shove (or push-up comes to crunch), exercise is about 10% of your day.  The other 90% takes place outside the gym.

A good boot camp will take care of maybe 10% of your day.  What is missing in the 90% not covered by your boot camp?  Your pre-workout fat-burning supplement.  Your perfect post-workout shake.  The breakfast you need to eat.  A mid-morning snack with the right amount AND TYPES of carbs/proteins.  The on-target lunch, perfect mid-afternoon snack, and nutritionally appropriate dinner. 

The missing links in your boot camp are the 90% of your day that your boot camp doesn't help you build.  What would happen if your boot camp were designed with your nutrition in mind?

Boot Camp Designed Differently

What would happen if your nutrition was as on-target as your workouts?  More fat loss more quickly. Less soreness and body aching.  More visible progress your friends and co-workers would notice.  Less wondering "am I doing the right thing?"  All in all, you'd have one heck of a boot camp on your hands!  More importantly, you would have a body change experience everyone around you would be talking about!  Many people put too much stock in their workout boot camp and not enough stock in the nutrition and life habits that make or break their day and their boot camp progress.

Enter the Body Change Boot Camp!  With the Body Change Boot Camp (the BCBC), clients get a nutritional boot camp in addition to the exercise boot camp.  Want to know what to have for lunch at the corporate luncheon?  We'll help.  Need to know what type of chocolate will be best for that midnight craving?  We're on it.

With the BCBC we challenge you with great workouts and walk with you through your day to make sure you get the nutrition you need at just the moment you need it.  Need a protein shake in the afternoon?  We are already on the way to the office.  Need dinner made and delivered to you?  Done! 

Suddenly, the 90% of your day that doesn't involve exercise just got a lot better! 

Where to Find the Body Change Boot Camp?

The BCBC takes place in Minneapolis, MN.  We can travel to your door if need be.  And not just in the Twin Cities.  We can travel to San Diego, Delray Beach, FL, Australia, or wherever your body change needs to take place.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com for details!

About the Author: Personal Trainer Adam Erwin

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer (with a nutrition background) who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

How to Bring a Weight-Loss Camp to You

One of the most searched google terms within the field of body change is the term "fat camp".  Thousands of obese Americans are investing thousands of dollars to attend camps to get away from their out of control lifestyle and learn how to get healthy and be fit.  There is one problem, though.

Weight-Loss Habits Tend to Stay At Camp

The best and worst thing about any camp is that it is camp: it's a remote location far removed from reality.  The gap between a weight loss/fat camp and reality can be devastating.  Imagine going through a week of nutrition and exercise bliss, only to come home to the same old pantry, the evil fridge, and the impossibly convenient calorie factory: the workplace.

The biggest problem anyone should have with a weight loss camp is that it is a destination.  The workers of the camp won't come by and blow up your fridge.  They won't raid the pantry.  And they won't check in three weeks later when it's 11pm and the cupcakes at the corner store are calling you.  The unfortuante by-product of a weight loss camp is that all the strategies, progress, and new great habits tend to weaken quickly away from camp.  How disheartening it can be to spend a week or two making great progress in a safe haven, only to have your dietary will collapse at the very sight of the items in your own pantry.

How to Cultivate Lasting Weight Loss and Body Change: Bring a Weight-Loss Boot Camp to Your Door

What if a weight loss camp came to you?  What is the boot camp to body change stopped by your door on a daily basis?  Can you imagine eating the perfect food at the perfect time and completing the perfect workout for days and days at a time...all the while still going to work and living your regular life?

That's what I do.  I bring a weight loss boot camp to your door.  We meet daily for exercise, we build your meals and snacks, go grocery shopping, and even plan out eating out.  Instead of people going away to a weight loss boot camp safe haven, I work with people to turn their life into a safe haven for body change.  How can we re-write the rules of your work environment to get turn it into a place conducive to body change?  What do we put in your pantry (and your car, and your home office) so that every time you reach for a food it is the right food? 

What if your life was rebuilt to not only be conducive to weight loss, but was rebuilt to maximize it?  What if you knew what the tastiest 200-calorie breakfast tasted like?  What if you knew what to eat every single time you ate out with clients or family? Why go to a weight-loss boot camp when you can bring one to your door? 

Creating a Lifestyle to Maintain Weight Loss

A plan for weight loss is only as good as its execution.  Imagine having a meal plan that had 30 days of flexibility.  Imagine having an exercise plan with tremendous variety, had challenging and fun exercises for each day, and was built just for you.  When you bring the program from www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to your door, you are taught how to maintain and advance the lifestyle of weight loss and body change that began during your boot camp.  Not only do we walk with you through your first week(s) of weight loss, we give you all the materials you will need to maintain the habits of exercise and nutrition that fit nicely into your body change lifestyle.

Bring a weight-loss boot camp to your door.  Send an email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com or visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about bringing body change to your door.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Why the Zero Calorie Drink Should Scare You...

2009 UPDATE!!!

Before you read this blog, there are two things you need to know:

1) Open enrollment has begun for the Virtual Boot Camp: Total Body Makeover!   Get 28 days of perfect nutrition and exercise (complete with a grocery list, access to videos, and more!) for only $100 (NOTE: This is the very package I charge thousands for...the only thing you are missing is my physical presence!).  Enrollment ends on January 10th, so click to http://keepyourbetterhalf.com/virtualbootcamp.html now!

2) If you would like the free report "The 27 Factors Affecting Fat Loss and Weight Loss", send me an email and I'll get the report to you!

Now, back to the blog...

I was training at a Minneapolis-based gym today, working with a client who is preparing to shock his family at their upcoming reunion.  Right in the middle of our session a lady approached me and asked me to look at her calorie-free-fruity-tasting-vitamin-filled-sugar-free-water-drink.  Sigh.

My client, thankful for the interruption, begged me to indulge the woman so he could go and find his lungs.  I relented.  Upon analyzing the label, I asked the woman a few questions about her super-holy-water.  Here are three questions everyone needs to ask themselves before going crazy for calorie-free and calorie-depleted foods and beverages.

Does This Taste Like It Should Have Calories?

If it tastes like it should have calories and doesn't (or tastes like it should have more calories...Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi/Coke Zero), then it is going to have a negative impact on your body.  That negative impact might not be called calories, but the impact will still be there.  In the case of drinks filled with artificial sweeteners, the impact is that the metabolism is fooled by the taste of sweet without the raise in blood sugar.  Therefore, artificial sweeteners teach the body not to have a metabolic respond to sweet tastes, which is a killer when we consume real sugar (read my blog about diet soda to get the full story on this).

Water, unlike diet soda or vitamin water, doesn't taste like it should have calories.  It is free of color, free or taste, and usually free of smell (water in Terre Haute, IN never meets this criteria....proving there are always exceptions to the rule!).  I've never heard anybody say, "This water tastes SO GOOD, I can't believe it doesn't have any calories."  Water is a very simple drink.  It doesn't taste like it should have calories.  The same could be said for lettuce and celery.  Not a lot of taste there...doesn't taste like it should have calories.

Use common sense when thinking about purchasing a food/drink that is advertised as calorie free of "just 5 calories".  If it tastes like it should have more calories, and therefore has lots of artificial sweetener in it, avoid it.  Those foods/beverages will have a negative impact on your body.

Is This Fuel My Body Can Really Use?

A few years ago I decided to stretch my dollar a little farther by fueling up my car with E85 instead of regular unleaded.  Problem was, my car made to process E85.  Two tanks of E85 later, my car was towed away and donated to Cars for Courage.  The lesson I learned over my lost Mazda Millenia: never give an engine something it wasn't built to process!

Would you agree that we are hard on our bodies?  When we add up the things we eat and drink (snacks that expire in 2030, drinks with bubbles and poisions, i.e. alcohol), inhale (cigarette smoke, Al Gore's private jet fuel, ingredients in cleaners and detergents, deordorants and colognes/perfumes), and absorb through our skin (chlorine, ingredients in lotions, SPF)....we subject our body to things EVERY SINGLE DAY that it was not built to process. 

I know my body was designed to respond to fats, natural sugars, proteins, water, and oxygen.  It has adapted to virtually everything else.  How much of what we consume is treating our body like E85 was treating my Mazda?  The point is this: a lot of products are marketed as healthy choices when in reality they are not what our body was designed to process.  If it is artificial, do not embrace it as natural.  Learn from my E85 experience.

What types of artificial sweeteners should I avoid?

The way most people eat, it's virtually impossible to avoid artificial sweeteners because it would require a complete food/drink makeover.  As a rule of thumb, I would say it would be wise to avoid sweeteners that replace a significant amount of sugar.  Diet soda, for example, is a killer.  In a can of regular cola (Pepsi/Coke) there is about 40g of sugar.  Since the diet colas do not have sugar, that is 40g of sugar to replace.  Yikes! 

If a product would normally have 10g of sugar and offers a sugar-free version (which is replacing 10g of sugar wtih artificial sweeteners), that might be the product worth using IF you are bent on having artificial sweeteners.  What we don't want to do is fill our pantries and refridgerators with "sugar-free" products that are replacing a large amount of sugar with artificial sweeteners.  Diet sodas are out, people, as are any product that is replacing 20g of sugar or more.

With the advent of artificial sweeteners, weight loss is getting tougher and tougher.  We are constantly putting foods into our body that confuse our metabolism and are poor sources of fuel.  Virtually every single study on artificial sweeteners has grave consequences attached to it: weight gain instead of weight loss, slowing a metabolism instead of speeding up metabolism, gaining fat instead of losing fat. 

Believe the studies, use common sense, and avoid artificial sweeteners.  They will only make you fat!

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam plans on visiting Delray Beach, FL this fall to help a client or two get their body back.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

How to Get Your Body To Burn Fat, Gain Muscle, and Lose Weight Again

I met with a new client last week who was looking to get "unstuck" in his current workout routine.  Ron (not his real name, and not that it really matters because there are lots of guys named Ron out there) is a pillar of consistency.  He goes to the gym every day and will do cardio, abs, and then another muscle group (shoulders, back, chest, etc.) for his workout.  Ron could probably do his routine in his sleep and says he is bored in the gym now.  If he is bored with his workouts, his body is bored as well.

Here are a few tricks to help fix boring workouts, get your body working harder, and pushing you into new levels of fat loss, muscle gain, adn weight loss.

Fix My Boring Workout Tip #1: Exercise in the Elements

My training clients have a love/hate relationship with my outdoor workouts.  They love to be outdoors and hate how much harder it can be to exercise in the elements.  Jogging on a treadmill in the air conditioning is nothing compared to an interval workout in a grass field.  Lifting weights in the gym is a far cry from doing a kettlebell workout on a sand volleyball court.  The outdoors can put increased workload demands on your body, which can give your workout an entirely different feel.  If you wan to fix your boring workout, take it outside.  You will put yourself in position to burn more calories and stimulate your muscles in a different way.

Fix My Boring Workout Tip #2: Hold It!

Want to kill your biceps in 60 seconds or less?  Take a full-length bar (a 45 lb. used for bench, squats, etc.), sit at a preacher curl station, and hold the bar in curl position with one hand for one minute.  The elbow of the arm at work should be positioned at a 90-degree angle.  Good luck!

Any sort of hold (bicep curl hold, push-up hold, bench press hold, leg extension hold, etc.) is a shock to the muscle group(s) at work.  The trick is to hold position with a major joint (elbow, knee, or shoulder) at a 90-degree angle to force the muscle to perform an unusual amount of work.  Doing a set of holds will recruit every type of muscle fiber in the muscle being used...a truly unique way to work a muscle group.  If you perform a hold set (or two) for your major muscle groups, you will find this to be a great fix for your boring workout.

Fix My Boring Workout Tip #3: Incorporate Uneven Loads

Have you ever been in the middle of a dumbbell exercise and realized that you had accidentally grabbed two differents (a 25 lb. and a 35 lb. instead of two 35 lbs.)?  Your muscles notice the variable load as you launch into the set.  Your body works harder to compensate for the imbalance of weight.  An uneven load feels very different.

Instead of accidentally grabbing two dumbbells of different weight, why not grab them on purpose?  Make it a 10-20 lb difference if possible.  As you perform your exercises with uneven loads, make sure to alternate the weights back and forth so each muscle group (bicep, chest, etc.) has relatively equal time with each weight.    Incorporating uneven loads will help to fix your boring workout.

To learn more about getting your body where you want it to be more quickly than you thought possible, contact Adam Erwin to talk about where you are today, where you want to be, and how he can help you.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Weight-Loss Goal, Exercise Plan, Fat-Loss Focus Transform Woman From Self-Conscious to Sexy

Most people want to lose weight. Brandy HAD to lose weight. Her reasons, which were very privately hers, instilled her with a determination that was bound for success. All she needed was the right game plan, the right answers, and the right person to help her uncover the beautiful woman she knew that she was. I was that person for her.

Weight Loss with the Right Personal Trainer

Unlike most personal trainers, I help my clients attack what is truly getting in the way of their success.  Most people talk about portion control being a big problem with their foods.  The portions aren't the problem, the food choices are (going nuts on chocolate cake is bad news...going gangbusters on celery is not a problem).  Often times it is not infrequent gym visits, its the lack of fat loss/weight loss gameplan for the workouts (why not burn more calories on a treamill in 10 minutes than you can in 40?).  Usually the problem isn't a lack of progress, it's a lack of understanding about what progress looks like in the beginning, middle, and end of a body change and weight loss program.

With Brandy, I trained her in Medina once-to-twice a week, created workouts for her every day she exercised, and worked with her to create a food plan that she could execute every day.  With a few emails, text messages, and phone calls to check in and provide encouragement and accountability, I worked hard to provide the services and be the right personal trainer for her weight loss transformation.

Weight-Loss Success Story

So what does a 61-pound weight loss story look like?  And how does a 43 year-old mother of three go from a size 18 to a size 6 (which also hapens to be her smallest size as an adult!!!)?

Brandy was focused from the beginning and lost 25 pounds in her first six weeks.  With a weight-training-based program and cardio program concentrated on fat loss, paired with a food plan focused on nutrients over quantities, Brandy saw success quite quickly.  She started at 206 and was down to 181 pretty quickly.  We continued to chip away...some weeks no pounds lost, some weeks five pounds lost.  She didn't eat perfectly, but she consistenlty hit her nutritional marks.

We worked around Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years, and a surgery (almost every great weight loss story has major obstacles with time frame, peer/family pressure at celebration gatherings, etc.).  When all was said and done, Brandy had lost 61 pounds...and it was virtually all fat.  I cannot express to you her joy, when buying her first ever pair of size six pants, she figured out that she weighed a few pounds more than her previous adult low, but was a few sizes smaller than she could remember being.  That is a body composition triumph my friends!

Weight Loss You Can't See

(punctuation note: perhaps no one cares but me, but I will say that I am using/not using hyphens correctly in my headings...not sure if anyone even noticed but me...my copy editor for my upcoming book is a junkie on hyphens!  I digress...)

What makes Brandy's story remarkable is not necessarily her weight loss, not necessarily her fat loss, and not even her very obvious body composition change and related reduction in pant size.  What makes her story great is that, in the first ten days she lost zero pounds.  The scale, which is just an indicator of progress but not THE indicator of progress per se, didn't tip early in the journey.

I told Brandy to expect that, though.  She did lose weight in her first 10 day...she lost fat.  However, her fat loss coincided with some muscle gain.  The net result was zero change on the scale, but the fat loss/muscle gain switch was four pounds.  She was kicking butt those first ten days and didn't even know it...which is why it is important to include fat loss measurements in any significant weight loss program!

Why Most People Fail at Weight Loss: The Scale

Brandy is a scale monger.  She steps on the confidence-killer every single day...almost as if she was a stock to be traded on Wall Street or something.  Weight loss is not day trading, people!

Most people, when they start an exercise program in accordance with a nutrition plan, actually kick butt during the first couple weeks.  However, that progress doesn't show up on the scale.  It might be a tiny bit noticeable in how clothes fit (looser, perhaps) and the mirror might tease with signs of progress, but the scale says "No change here!" a lot during the first seven-to-ten days. 

For people who are trying to lose weight, I encourage you to take heart during the beginning process of your journey.  Your body is likely to burn some fat and build some muscle (especially if you are working with a good personal trainer!) in the early going, but not show that progress on the scale.  Keep at it, don't lose heart, and the visible and scale-based progress will come!

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Eden Prairie area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Top Ten Signs You Need a Personal Trainer

Number Ten: Your warm up by walking into the gym.

Warming up properly and stretching significantly contribute to a great workout.  Most people don't warm up before a workout, and the few that do typically do not warm up properly.

Number Nine: You run away from carbs.

There is still a fallout from the Atkins diet fad from 5 years ago.  Carbs are good and your body needs them, especially after a workout.  Which carbs, though, is the question (hint: not watermelon, but grapes).

Number Eight: Cardio is 60 minutes in length at the same pace, while watching tv!

If you are bored by your workout, guess what?  So is your metabolism!  If weight loss is not your goal, go ahead and keep the treadmill on a level 3.5 for an hour!

Number Seven: Jiggling your butt out the door is what you consider a post-workout shake.

Protein powder is HUGE after a workout.  And not just whey protein...it's more specific than that!  If you don't know what type of shake will help optimize the hour you just spent in the gym, contact me today (adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com).

Number Six:  You leg/shoulder/knee/back is always bugging you.

Old injuries and recurring injuries are a sign of poor rehab or poor development of surrounding and compensatory muscles.  Various injuries require stringent work...the body is amazing at repairing itself when you have a plan that stimulates its recovery.

Number Five:  Your can't lose that gut!

How hard to you work?  How much progress is showing from that work?  If you thought, "Weight loss can't be this hard," you are right.  Contact me (adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com) to re-introduce your body to progress.

Number Four:  You workout long and hard in the gym.

You can either workout long or you can workout hard, but you can't do both.  If you don't have a plan that helps you to work swiftly and also challenges you, you need a new personal trainer.

Number Three:  When you do exercises for your back you actually feel it in your shoulders.

Most people do not perform back exercises in a way to maximize the use of back muscles.  There is one major trick to getting the back muscles involved to the max, and you'll have to email me to find out what it is!

Number Two:  Your current personal trainer is also overweight.

If your personal trainer's gut screams, "Do what I say, not what I do!"...it's time for a new personal trainer that can walk the talk!

Number One:  You are sick and tired of not losing weight, looking and feeling your best, and wearing clothes that help you feel confident and attractive!

Is today the day you decide to stop wasting your time, money, and energy for a plan that is not working for you?  I hope so.  If you are ready to get in the best shape of your life, have the best month of foods and exercise you have ever had with total accountability, then we need to talk.  Go to my website (www.keepyourbetterhalf.com) today and fill out the contact information.  I only work with people who are serious about making the most dramatic and unbelievable body change.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Lake Minnetonka area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

The Word on Weight Loss Books, Fat Loss Guides, and Muscle-Building Programs

Have you ever stared at a jigsaw puzzle and been a little overwhelmed at the bijillion pieces laying before you? I am not good at putting puzzles together. Every time I pick up a piece, I have a hard time figuring out where it is supposed to go. Or if I'm playing with my nephew, I wonder if the puzzle piece I'm holding even belongs to the puzzle we're trying to put together.

At some time or another, most of us have perused the weight loss/diet/exercise section of Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, or wherever good books are sold.   Today I'm coming to you live from the Borders in Minnetonka, MN.  There is SO MUCH information out here...probably too much!

The problem I have with these books is that you can read for five or ten pages and not get one take-home idea about weight loss, fat loss, or body change.    This is why I am putting together an e-book that is short, to the point, and without needless information.  I want to pack as much wisdom into each page as I can...which is hard to do.  Shoot me an email if you'd like more information abou the e-book, which will be released soon.

For now, here is my list of "Three Things You Need to Know Before You Pick up a Book on Weight Loss":

Things You Need to Know Before You Pick Up a Book on Weight-Loss: It's 90% NOT About Your Workout

The biggest idea about weight loss is that 90% has nothing to do with a workout.  What you do outside the gym (or outside of your home-workout) is the biggest piece of the puzzle.  Major changes in eating habits (what you eat, when you eat it, and how much of it you eat) is a required activity of weight loss.  Putting together a fool-proof plan for the 90% of your time that is spent outside the gym is the most important criteria to weight loss one must consider when looking into a book or two about what to do.

Things You Need to Know Before You Pick Up a Book on Weight-Loss: It's Not About Consuming Less Food

Did you fall out of your chair upon reading the headline?  Some of you might have.  In reality, it's not about eating less food.  It's about what foods you eat.  Wanna go crazy on celery?  Be my guest.  Wanna eat grapes until you burst?  Feel free.  What kills us is not the habit of eating (or even the quantities), it's the types of foods that we eat that kill us.  Trading grapes for cupcakes and almonds for potato chips, that's what it's about: the substitutes.  Any book that tells you otherwise is not really with the program.

Things You Need to Know Before You Pick Up a Book on Weight-Loss: There are Lots of Right Ideas About Weight Loss

Many of the books I pick up about weight loss have ideas that make sense and could work.  There are a lot of good ideas out there, and most books tout their way as THE way.  THere are lots of ways to gain muslce, lots of ways to burn fat, and lots of ways to lose weight.  They may not all be created equal, but most are doable.

The best way to change your body, however, is to hire someone to help you that studies this stuff for a living.  I travel the nation helping people change their body.  If you'd like help with your body change, visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com.

AdamErwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Lake Minnetonka area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

A Personal Trainer's Secrets to Increase Metabolism, Lose Weight, and Lose Fat

Most of the people I work with have weight plateaus they cannot crack and stubborn fat they cannot lose. My job is to help them break the plateau and get a restraining order for the pesky fat that stalks them. Both of these tasks point toward one common foe: slow metabolism. Here are some of the metabolism secrets I use when helping a client look and feel their best.

Personal Trainer Metabolism Secret #1: Stop Robbing the Body of Nutrients

Everybody knows they should take a multivitamin (my doctor says....) but few people do consistently. I'm a firm believer (as in I really believe in it, and also my body is firm).

How many of us track our daily intake of magnesium? I'd say about nobody...I don't know and don't care about how much magnesium is in my foods. I know it's in my multivitman. I also know that magnesium plays a role in over 300 biological reactions in the body. It's an important mineral! How about the B-vitamin family? It's in my multivitamin, so I don't really worry about it (and it's water-soluble, so I can't really overdose on B). The B vitamins help process protein, fight stress, supply energy...their job description is endless!

A strong metabolism is one that can process the foods you eat. You need the right nutrients to process food correctly. Taking a multivitamin to ensure that your body gets enough nutriets (the right ones and the right amounts) is incredibly important. If you email me and tell me a bit about your situation (age, pertinent medical conditions i.e. anemia, osteoperosis, etc.) I can suggest a multivitamin to you (adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com).  I promise I will not suggest Centrum!

Personal Trainer Metabolism Secret #2: Eat Early and Often

Again, everybody knows this...but how many of us actually do it? Breakfast skippers are insane! So are late-night-big-dinner-eaters! You people are CRAZY! So are the too-busy-at-work-to-eat employees. Your boss WILL understand if you stop and grab some nutrients to increase your productivity in the afternoon.

Here's the thing about eating: it doesn't have to be a big deal. Eat a handful of almonds. Grab a dozen grapes. Surround yourself with "It doesn't matter how many of these I eat" snacks that are good fuel (and not likely to be stored as fat...again, email me, and I'll send you a list of foods you should go after). If you pick healthy options (not watermelon by the way, email me!!!!), they will be a blessing to your system and your metabolism . Eat SOMETHING every 2-3 hours. Make it your mission!

Personal Trainer Metabolism Secret #3: Make Your Workouts Fiber-Tearing Intense

When people tear a lot of muscle fibers during their workout (which almost always requires weight training), the metabolism is forced to work harder to break down nutrients better to repair the torn tissue quicker. Therefore, make weight-training a staple of your workouts. Studys have prove that metabolisms are boosted up to 39 hours after weight training, compared to up to 24 hours after intense cardio training. Read my other blogs about weight training to get an idea of what to do (or...you guessed it, email me....or submit a comment and I'll blog an answer for you). And after your intense weight-training workout, follow it up with a whey-isolate-based protein shake.

Personal Trainer Metabolism Secret #4: Run Away From Artificial Sweeteners (like Diet Soda!)

Artificial sweeteners are metabolsim killers (read the diet soda blog to learn more!). A 12 oz. can of regular Pepsi has 41 grams of sugar in it. Guess what Diet Pepsi has to live up to: 41 grams of sugar. If my only job was to drive around the Twin Cities area (Wayzata, Eden Prairie, Woodbury, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Minneapolis, St. Paul) and take diet soda out of the hands of people on the street and give them water instead, I'd have a full-time job (with a lot of angry, addicted diet soda drinkers chasing after me!).

Natural sugars in moderate quantities is much better than massive quantities of artificial sweeteners. Running away from artificial sweeteners will help to repair a broken metabolism.

Personal Trainer Metabolism Secret #5: Do Everything You Can to Feed Muscle-Growth

If I were to guess, I would say 90% of people pursuing weight loss go wrong by trying to lose any type of weight instead of focusing on losing fat weight. Guess what, I wrote an article on that too (keep reading the blog and you'll do just fine!). If you focus on feeding your muscle, your body will be forced to burn fat. And...the more muscle tissue you have (and it can be lean muscle tissue...I'm not talking about biceps that are so big that you can't scratch your own back!), the more calorie-burning capacity you have.

When we focus our foods and supplements on keeping, repairing, or gaining muscle, our body is forced to respond by burning fat (again, read the blog for more on this topic).

If a weight-loss-minded person took these five ideas to heart and applied the principles discussed above, their metabolism would be sure to take off...which would result in more calories burned, which would result (assuming secret #5 is being followed) in fat loss and weight loss.

AdamErwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Lake Minnetonka area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

What Antioxidants Do...

As I write this I'm sitting poolside at my place in Minneapolis, MN, eating an apple. I reach for the last slice of the apple and notice how brown it has become. The oxygen in the air has been advancing its decay before my very eyes. Oxidation can be a quick process!

When I worked in the nutrition field, it became evident to me very quickly that few people truly understand what antioxidants do, they just know that antioxidants need to be part of the supplemental program. Antioxidants, by and large, address the cells in the body that are actively decaying. It's like restoring the part of the apple that has turned brown. That's what antioxidants do.

Keeping cells healthy and young is the job of antioxidants. Skin cells, organ cells, every cell. With the amount of aging/decaying agents we bring into our bodies on a daily basis (through foods, chemicals in the air, etc.), antioxidants such as Coenzyme Q-10, quercitin, and the superstar alpha lipoic acid are worth considering as we age.

AdamErwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Lake Minnetonka area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Losing Fat and Losing Weight Are Accomplished Most Simply By...

As a personal trainer, I encounter many people who feel lost and defeated when it comes to fat loss and weight loss. They have tried everything! They work so hard but see very little return on their time and energy investment. Two ideas later they are new clients, excited about working out and getting their foods right, and on-board with a guy who has shown much of Minneapolis, MN how to burn fat.

NOTE: If you want to spend less time trying to figure out how to fix your body and have me work with you directly, please contact me through my website, www.keepyourbetterhalf.com.

The Fat Loss Principle Few Consider: Triggering Survival Mechanism to Burn Fat

Consider this: your body is constantly burning calories, but what kind? It has three options: calories you just consumed (the meal you ate 30 minutes ago) or the two forms of stored energy (muscle and fat). The calorie source your body will burn depends on what your body determines you need to burn. Most of the time our bodies burn muscle...this is a survial mechanism. Our body doesn't know when the next meal is coming, so it saves the best energy stores (fat) and pulls energy from the least effecicent source: muscle.

If you want to burn fat, it is critical to trigger the fat-burning mechanisms in your body. When exercising, this means creating a workout that demands the best energy source (fat) to be used. Heavy exertion (lifting weights, sprinting/interval training) forces the body to burn fat most effectively.

The Weight Loss Principle Few Consider: Consuming Calories That Trigger Fat-Burning

What happens a person consumes carbs? The body uses the energy from the carbs that it can use right away and stores the rest as fat. What happens when a person consumes protein? The body uses the protein to repair muscle tissue, and forces the body to use fat for energy while the protein is repairing muscle tissue. Therefore, the more protein we consume, the more our muscles are repaired (and therefore can't be used for energy), the more fat we burn. How beautiful is that?

Consuming protein throughout the day helps us to burn more fat. Brilliant! We still need carbs and protein throughout the day, but having a protein focus will help us to burn more fat and prevent us from burning muscle.

The Most Damaging Weight Loss Principle: Weight Loss at Any Cost

I cannot count the number of people I have worked that have said, "I just want to lose 15 pounds, I don't care how it happens." This is a dangerous way to think about weight loss!

When weight loss is the only goal, with no care of what type of weight is being lost, muscle is almost always the type of pounds lost. When we lose muscle, our ability to burn calories is decreased. If we can't burn as many calories (muscle cells burn 70% more calories than fat cells), weight gain is right around the corner!

This is why most people lose weight and then gain it back...they lose weight any way they can, lose muscle in the process, and then can't burn as many calories. For healthy and long-lasting weight loss and fat loss, be sure to steer clear of this type of thinking.

AdamErwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Lake Minnetonka area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Successful Weight Loss in 30 Days: Turning the Tide on Being Overweight, Diabetic, and on the Brink of Major Health Problems

Is your life upside down? If your energy is down and your cholesterol is up, if your new diagnosis of type II diabetes is supposed to be the tip of your pending medical iceburg, and if your waistline is growing faster than your company's bottom line...it's time for the 30-day weight loss program. What is the successful 30-day weight-loss program?

A Day in the Life of Successful Weight Loss in 30 Day

Day 11: Imagine you awoke at 6am to the sound of your favorite song. You roll out of bed, feeling pretty good. After all, you just lost 12 lbs in seven days, have enjoyed peaceful sleep, and notice that you are ready to get out of bed when you hear your daily anthem. Your new personal trainer was right, that cleanse last week was just what your body needed...and thank God he did it with you!

Morning Cardio with the Successful 30-Day Exerciser

You put on your workout clothes, head to the fridge and commence downing 12 ounces of water, the perfect first step for your day. You eat the perfect pre-cardio bite, which guarantees that you will burn fat for the next two hours.

You step outside and start your morning cardio. Your personal trainer (the one who set up your music, your water, your pre-workout nibble, and the current cardio session that is different from yesterday...and good thing because that one kicked your butt!) guides you through a quick warm up, a satisfying series of stretches, and then a fun little course he has set up on the beach of Lake Minnetonka.

After your cardio session, you return home and check email while your trainer makes you the perfect post-workout shake (a complete blend of the types of proteins your body needs at the moment). You sip it down and head off to shower.

Upon getting dressed and heading down to grab breakfast (a savory 300-calorie dish you had once last week and couldn't wait to eat again), you head to the office with your water in hand, mid-morning snack already in the car, and confident you have already conquered more of the world in your first two hours than anyone else will accomplish all day.

At the Office with the Successful 30-Day Dieter

Before you know it noon arrives. The mid-morning almond and fruit mix went down two hours ago and it's time to refuel. You walk out of your downtown Minneapolis office and find your hot lunch already in the lunch room, waiting for you. Your personal trainer IS GOOD! Another right-sized dish, a tender piece of tilapia, grilled to perfection with some basmati rice and a fresh salad. Accompanying your lunch is your afternoon nutrition: a protein shake, which awaits you in the breakroom refrigerator....compliments of your trainer.

The Workout Routine of Successful 30-Day Weight Loss

The workday breezes by and you head home, change clothes, eat a pre-workout bar (which must have been stolen from the Thin Mint cookie formula the Girl Scouts use), and begin your evening exercises with your personal trainer. Sweating, challenged, and invigorated, you churn through the workout, stretch, and relax as your trainer prepares your post-workout protein shake. You down the shake, shower, and prepare for dinner out on the town.

The Restaurant Experience of a Successful 30-Day Dieter

Before you leave for the restaurant for your business meeting, you get a note from your trainer with the perfect order at the restaurant tonight...he's already analyzed the menu and picked out the meal that will provide the best nutrients (considering the carbs, protein, fat, cholesterol, and calories he's already logged for you today from your meals, snacks and shakes) during this evening hour.

Dinner is flawless. You feel satisfied but know you haven't overeaten. You return home to find a note from your personal trainer, tomorrow's agenda, and a delicous and healthy midnight snack...should you have a late-hour need.

Wrapping Up the Day of the Successful 30-Day Program

As you retire to your bedroom, you think about what your day used to look like: waking up groggy and fighting with the snooze button, skipping breakfast, eating treats or vending machine junk until lunch, a gotta-grab-something-quick-because-I'm-too-busy-to-eat-right lunch, four diet sodas, an embarassingly huge dinner, and the guilty feeling of driving by the gym on the way home...knowing you have yet to visit there this month.

You contrast THAT day with the life you lead now: up early and feeling great, swift cardio, breakfast while overlooking Lake Minnetonka, a power day at the office, meals that are thought about for you so you don't have to think about them, the right snack at the right time, an invigorating late afternoon workout, a dinner out that actually serves your body, and the satisfaction of a well-executed day.

As you drift off to sleep, you think about your 19 remaining days of having your very own in-home personal trainer (and his comprehensive 30-day plan to teach you how to eat right without thinking about it, get more from your exercise in less time, and build a day of successful health and fitness habits), how he has helped turn around your life, and how your doctor, co-workers, family, and friends will not believe how much progress you have made in 30 days. Oh wait, you think, I forgot to take some of my diabetes medication today...and I still felt great. Hmmmm.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Adam Erwin is an in-home personal trainer who travels the world helping people turn around their health in 30 days or less. Follow his work at www.keepyourbetterhalf.com. If you believe you are a candidate for his comprehensive body-change boot camp, email him at adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more.