How to stretch your health and fitness budget- 5 tips
by craig on Jul.06, 2010, under Personal Training Tips, Vancouver Personal trainer Tips
Look at all the money you can save with these free health and fitness tips
I did a presentation on this, recently and thought I would share it with my loyal reader(s).
How to get the most results from your fitness budget.
5) Healthy Eating at work- Most people make poor food choices at lunch and say” nothing healthy was available near my work”. If you are going to be eating 5 meals a week or 20 per month at one location you need those meals to be as healthy as possible. Pack your own lunch, ideally a balanced meal of protein, whole food carbohydrates, and essential fats. Better yet, form a lunch bunch with other healthy eaters at work. Then you would have to prepare a healthy meal for five one-time per week (or once per two weeks in a group of 10), instead of for yourself daily. We all know it’s much more reasonable to buy in bulk. Simply place a sign-up sheet with strict rules for what the foods can be in your office reception or lunch room. A daily organic salad with grilled chicken, fish or meat prepared fresh that morning, and at low cost because you are buying in bulk is a great way to help eliminate food court cheat meal mistakes.
How does this strategy stack up against your current lunch regime?
4) Eat Organic where possible and naturally raised and non-medicated for meats where possible. These foods can seem more expensive when at the grocery counter compared side by side based solely on price. However, organic food has been found to be up to 20 x more nutrients dense. Your body craves nutrients not calories. Therefore if you eat low nutrient high calorie food your body will still send hunger signals at it will be lacking nutrients. So, when you eat low nutrient food it costs more than the sticker as you are left low on nutrients and you eat again. Also, commercially farmed meats have a lot of hormones which help fatten up the animal. This ends up in your body working against your efforts in the gym.
Where can you eliminate low nutrient foods from your diet and replace them with organic whole food choices?
3) Take advantage of metabolic effects of training and diet. Weight training, including body weight exercise and sprinting for cardio instead of steady state cardio, have a greater metabolic effect after your session ends. Weight training and sprinting increase your metabolism for hours after you workout. This is like getting an extra workout in for frees (no trainer fees, gym fees or even time required). To maximize this effect, its best to train in the morning so your metabolism is working at a higher level all day (burning more calories at rest). For food, digesting protein has a positive metabolic effect (almost 10 calories). By having a small amount of protein with each meal and snack you can basically create the effect of an extra workout (400 -500 calories based on 4-5 small meals each with 2-4 oz protein).
What can you do to maximize your calories burned from metabolic effects?
2) Find a workout partner or join a group class. The extra motivation of working out with someone will push you harder. Additionally, you will have someone holding you accountable (your partner or the group). This accountability will lead to more consistency and consistency is the key to results. As a bonus having a workout partner is cheaper (60% the cost of a one on one session) and group fitness classes are much cheaper than having a one on one trainer.
Who do you know that wants to get fit and will hold you accountable?
1)Eliminating is free. Eliminate grains, sugar and alcohol for as many consecutive days as you can. All of these items cause inflammation. To fight the inflammation your body holds onto water. Eliminating the alcohol will also allow your liver to breakdown fat. Many people workout hard but their body is unable to process fat as a fuel source as it is busy processing fat. Sugar causes your body to release insulin. Insulin is a fat storage hormone. Your body will not be burning fat while you exercise if you are eating sugar or high fructose corn syrup (found in soft drinks). The more days in a row you can go without having these items will increase your chances of burning fat while working out.
Where are you consuming these items that can be eliminated?
Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, boot camp, and CrossFit instructors. Check out his websites http://www.precisionathletics.ca/ and http://www.precision-bootcampvancouver.com
