Do You Have An Unhealthy Relationship With Food?

Is Food A Friend Or Foe?

We live in a society based on food. It is the center of social events. It is one of the most important parts of family gatherings and holidays. Food is on our mind 24/7. But when does your relationship with food become an unhealthy one? How do you know if you have an unhealthy relationship with food? When your relationship with food is out of balance, it can lead to unwanted or extreme weight gain and weight loss, as well as, an obsession that can consume all of your thoughts. Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food? To determine this, you can start by answering two main questions.

1. Do You Eat To Live Or Live To Eat?

The first question to ask yourself is, do you eat to live or live to eat? If you’re not quite sure, then ask yourself, do you spend most of your time looking forward to the next meal that you have planned? There is a huge difference between the two. If you eat to live, then you use food as a necessary tool to keep you alive. If you live to eat, then food is the main thing that is driving your life and that can be an indicator of an unhealthy relationship with food.

2. Do You View Food As Mainly Fun Or Mainly Fuel?

The second question to ask yourself is, do you view food as mainly fun or mainly fuel? A healthy relationship with food can include both of these aspects but must have an emphasis on food as fuel. If food is only something that you consume for fun, then it is likely that the cravings of what you consider to be “fun foods” are controlling your decisions. Remember, balance is the key to a healthy relationship between the two! Food can be fun, but must first be thought of as fuel.

So You Have A Unhealthy Relationship With Food?

If you have an unhealthy relationship with food, the first thing that you need to do is identify the underlying cause of it and when it started. Awareness is a large part of overcoming the battle. Once you identify the cause, you can work to build mental and physical habits that will help you change the way that you view and consume food. For help overcoming your unhealthy relationship with food, talk to an Access Change trainer today!

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Join our 5 Week Summer Shape Up Fitness Challenge!

Who’s Ready To Commit 35 Days To Their Fitness Goals this Summer?

Registration closes soon and space is limited. Call (657) 444-2634 to reserve your spot.

Our Fitness Challenge is designed to be FUN and effective! You get to work on your individual goals all while having a ton of fun completing tasks and participating in Team Relays to earn tickets towards our Giveaway Drawing at the end. Perhaps you have an upcoming class reunion, wedding to attend or just want to be more healthy and fit? We’ve got the challenge for you! Our program provides built in accountability and a trainer whose available to make adjustments and recommendations as needed to get you to your goal and beyond!

Tickets, What’s With The Tickets?

Trust us, you want all the tickets! Complete tasks like attend a training session, check in on social media before your workout and compete in our fun and friendly Team Relays to earn tickets along the way. When the challenge is over not only will you see all the progress you’ve made but we’ll hand you all your earned tickets so you can put them in our drawing box. We’ll announce a time for the drawing… You don’t have to be present to win but it’s always more fun when you are. Top prize is $300 cash!!! Yeah, I said C-A-S-H! Now who doesn’t like that?! Other prizes are FREE Personal Training Sessions, restaurant and movie gift cards among other items.

New To Access Change?

Attend one of our 3 Informational Meetings to Get Started! We’ll explain the ins and outs of our challenge in detail, how to earn tickets and take your “before” picture. Sign up and your training begins Monday June 19.  Info meetings are Sat 6/10, 9:30am, Mon 6/12, 6pm and Tues 6/13 7pm.

Registration closes soon and space is limited. Call (657) 444-2634 to reserve your spot.

Already A Member?

Sign up in store the next time you’re in.

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How To Burn More Calories

There’s Nothing Wrong With Your Metabolism

So you want to burn more calories? The media will tell you that some people just have faster metabolisms, but this is false. Your body isn’t broken. Your body isn’t slow. There isn’t anything wrong with your body or your metabolism. In fact, the Oxford dictionary defines metabolism as “the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.” (Oxford Dictionary). Metabolism is a broad term to describe everything that happens inside your body to keep you alive. It doesn’t mean that you cannot lose weight.

Weight loss is all about eating less calories than you are burning. This can become difficult though when you are only burning a limited number of calories and have to reduce it even further. So what do you do? You need to increase your calorie burn. How do you do it? By doing the two things listed below.

1. Move More

It’s simple. To burn more calories, the first thing that you need to do is move more throughout the day. Your workout is only about 10% of your daily calorie burn. Think of it this way… Your workout is only one hour. It’s what you do in the other 23 hours that really matters for your calorie burn. If you spend most of the day sitting, invest in a stand up desk. When you are taking a break, make sure to go on a walk around the building. Pick the restroom that is furthest away and park at the back of the parking lot. Purchase a movement tracker and make sure to get 12,000 steps every day. MOVE MORE.

2. Build More Muscle

Now that you are moving more, build more muscle to move with. Muscle is a high maintenance tissue, meaning that it requires more energy (calories) to survive. This will work to your benefit because the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn doing everyday tasks. Walking will burn more calories, brushing your teeth will burn more calories, even making dinner will burn more calories. THIS is why men tend to have a higher average calorie burn than women, and thus seem to be able to lose weight faster. They have more muscle and just naturally burn more calories doing the same amount of activity as someone with less muscle.

Build More, Burn More

In order to burn more calories everyday, you need to move move and build muscle. It’s that simple. When your goal is weight loss, it’s important that you burn as many calories as you can. These two factors will help you get there. For more help reaching your goal, speak with one of our trainers today!

 

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3 Steps To A Flat Belly

So You Want A Flat Belly?

It’s well into spring and it’s finally warming up. You know what that means. Bikini season is right around the corner. Are you ready to head to the beach or are you still packing on a few pesky pounds? Here are three steps to flatten your stomach and feel your very best.

1. Lose The Extra Belly Fat

The very first thing that you have to do to get a flat belly, is lose the extra belly fat. I know this sounds obvious, but it is constantly overlooked by many men and women. Remember, no matter how much muscle you have, if it is covered by body fat, you won’t be able to see any definition. So how do you do this? You can do as many sit ups as you want, but that is not going to make you lose belly fat. The ONLY way to lose belly fat is by eating less calories than you are burning, a calorie deficit, and losing overall body fat. It is impossible to spot reduce body fat. Trust me, I’ve tried. Science has proven time and time again that you cannot target body fat in specific areas. To lose belly fat, you need to reduce your calories and lower your overall body fat.

2. Activate Your Core Muscles

Do you ever feel like your stomach just won’t stay in? It could be that you need to activate your core muscles. When the inner core muscles are active, they will naturally be able to hold your belly in tighter. This is a crucial step, because without your core muscles engaged, any further core work won’t have it’s desired effect. You can activate your core muscles by lying on your back and practicing pulling your bellybutton in towards your spine.

3. Build and Strengthen Your Core Muscles

Once your core muscles are nice and active, you can work on strengthening and building them. This is important because no matter how much body fat you lose, if you don’t have any muscle underneath, you still won’t have any definition. You need both. The best way to build your core muscles is through strength training. This can be done with weights, body weight, resistance bands, or any other tool to create resistance. Speak with a trainer to learn more specific exercises for your body.

Your Tool To Success

The beaches are calling and nothing should stop you from enjoying the summer sun. If you want to flatten your belly a bit before soaking up the sun, all you have to do is lose the extra body fat by eating less calories, activating your core, and then strengthening your core muscles. These three components are all crucial to your progress. For more information on achieving your ideal shape and health level, speak with a trainer today!

 

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The post 3 Steps To A Flat Belly appeared first on Access Change.

3 Things To Know About Postpartum Fitness

From Pregnancy To Recovery

So you just had a baby… now what? It’s time to get your body back to functioning at it’s full ability. In order to do that, there are a few key factors that you must know. Here are the three most important things about postpartum recovery and fitness.

1. The Abdominal Muscles Come First

When you are pregnant, the abdominal muscles separate. This is called Diastasis Recti. After delivery, these core muscles typically don’t just go right back to where they were before pregnancy. They have experienced a trauma and must be rehabilitated through a series of basic exercises that include belly breathing, and single leg reaches. If you don’t take the time to build your core back up, you run the risk of having back pain or an injury.

2. Cardio Alone Won’t Cut It

Cardiovascular exercise is great, but it’s not enough. After pregnancy, your body is adjusting back to it’s original positioning and you need to focus on strength training to support these adjustments. Along with the previously mentioned core muscles, it is important to strengthen your back, postural muscles, and glutes to support your new body. Strength training also helps you lose the pregnancy weight faster because, the more muscle that you build, the more calories you burn.

3. Take It Slow

You just had a baby. Your body needs time to recover. You can’t expect to immediately jump back into your old fitness routine. Start slowly while your body is recovering from pregnancy and delivery. The worst thing would be to push it too hard too fast and get an injury that prevents you from even walking. Enjoy spending time with your new baby as you slowly work exercise into your daily routine.

Now You Know

Returning to a normal routine after having a baby is on most new mother’s minds. It is a process that requires starting with rebuilding the abdominal muscles, focusing on strength training in addition to cardio, and taking it at your own pace. By following these three tips, you can make the adjustment from pregnant mother to fitness lover in no time!

 

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Do’s and Don’ts of Rewarding Success

Go For Gold!

From a young age, you are rewarded with success. You get stickers for potty training, trophies when your team wins, and you get to go out for ice cream if you do well on a test. Rewards are often used to enforce good behavior. This can directly apply to fitness. You can reward yourself for good lifestyle habits that will get you to your goal. It is a great way to keep motivation high, as long as you avoid the common mistakes that are made with rewards. Here are 5 “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of rewarding your fitness success.

Do

Set weekly, monthly, and biannual goals. You can increase motivation for the longer goals by making your biannual rewards larger and even more desirable than the weekly reward. Setting goals in smaller increments helps to keep motivation up because it gives you something specific to achieve every week, instead of one end goal somewhere in the future.

Don’t

Reward success with food. This will only enforce the habits that you are trying to break. You’ve probably heard of a “cheat day”. Cheat days are just an excuse to not follow your plan for a day. You can stay on track all week and then, in one cheat day, ruin your entire week’s progress by eating too many calories. This is why you should NOT reward your good behavior with the very habit that you are working on breaking.

Do

Be specific. Just as you need to be specific with your plan to get to your goal, a specific reward will give you something to look forward to. Instead of saying, “I will reward myself with something nice for eating my calorie number everyday,” say, “I will reward myself with a facial for eating my calorie number everyday this week.”

Don’t

Set goals that you know you will not achieve. Your body can only burn so many calories in a day. In order to lose 10 pounds in one month, you would need to lose 2.5 pounds per week. This would mean a calorie deficit of 8,750 each week, or 1,250 per day. This means that you would need to eat 1,250 calories less than you’re burning every day. An average female only burns about 1,800 calories per day. So, in order to lose 10 pounds in one month, the average female would have to consume 550 calories per day. This is absolutely unrealistic and unhealthy. Consult a professional to learn what is realistic for your timeline when goal setting.

Do

Choose rewards that you genuinely want. I know that this sounds like a give in, but if your reward is something that will bring you joy, it will help keep you motivated to keep going. Rewards that are only mildly rewarding, may lose their appeal as your motivation starts to dwindle. For example, the more your cravings increase when you are losing weight, the less valuable that manicure may seem. You may become more inclined to give in to the craving and put off your reward if it isn’t something that you truly desire.

Rewarding Your Progress

Rewarding success in a fitness program is an excellent way to encourage adherence to the program. When you have been working so hard day in and day out to follow your plan, it is nice to reward your progress. Just make sure that you follow these key rules. DO set goals in increments, be specific, and choose rewards that you genuinely want. Don’t reward success with food, or set goals that are unrealistic.

 

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The post Do’s and Don’ts of Rewarding Success appeared first on Access Change.

You Aren’t Burning As Many Calories As You Think

Don’t Be Fooled

You know that calories are the most important factor in weight loss. How can you know how many you are burning? If you step on any cardio machine, it will give you this little miracle number of how many calories you are burning. But is that accurate? If you aren’t completely sure, then you can’t be completely sure that you will lose weight.

The Treadmill Doesn’t Know You

The cardio machines don’t know you. Even if you put in your age and weight, it doesn’t know if your weight is mostly body fat or muscle. Muscle burns more calories than body fat because it is a high maintenance tissue, meaning that it takes more energy to maintain. Even if the total weight is the same between two people, the person with more muscle will burn more calories. That is why a 200 lb, 6 ft man that is mostly muscle will burn more calories than a 200 lb, 5 ft female that has more body fat. It also explains why men typically lose weight faster than women. They burn more calories because they have more muscle. So, when you put in your weight on a treadmill, it doesn’t know you and can’t give an accurate calorie burn.

Is It Really That Far Off?

Yes. University of California, San Francisco’s Human Performance Center tested the accuracy of various cardio machines. Treadmill’s were found to overestimate caloric burn by 13%. Stair climbers were found to overestimate caloric burn by 12%. The elliptical was the most shocking by overestimating caloric burn by a whopping 42%. The following table demonstrates the difference between what the cardio machines are telling you and what you may actually burning.

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Equipment                                         Estimated Caloric Burn                                                 Actual Caloric Burn

Treadmill                                                         800 calories                                                                    696 calories

Stairclimber                                                    800 calories                                                                    704 calories

Elliptical                                                           800 calories                                                                    464 calories

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 If you are eating as if you are burning 800 calories when you are actually only burning 464 calories, you could be overeating  by almost 500 calories every single day. This would result in GAINING 1 pound per week.

So What Can You Do?

Ignore what the cardio equipment is saying and get yourself a wearable tracker, like a fitbit or apple watch. By wearing a tracker, you can customize it to your own personal body as well as track your calories throughout the whole day. Most trackers allow you to input your height, weight, body fat percentage, health history, and lifestyle. This allows for a more accurate caloric burn estimate. Wearing a tracker also allows you to track all of your movement. Your workout is only 1 hour of your day. But what about the other 23 hours? What you do the rest of the day will make a significant impact on how many calories you burn. A wearable tracker is the best way to go.

Get Fueled!

The cardio equipment will fool you. It can often be as much as 42% over when estimating your caloric burn. This will greatly impede your weight loss goals. The best thing to do is get a wearable tracker, such as a fitbit, to determine how many calories you burn in a day. Take control of your caloric burn and take control of your life.

 

Related Links

• Calories First!
• Private Personal Training
• Group Personal Training
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