Diet:
Problem: Eating three big meals a day.
Solution: More meals (5-6 per day), less food per meal. Most people still stick to the outdated advice of 3 big meals per day. The problem with that advice is most people stagger their meals too far apart often resulting in overeating at each meal. Whatever your body isn’t using for energy gets stored as fat. Eating this way is also metabolically inefficient for calorie burning. By eating before you’re starving at regular 2-3 hour intervals you keep your metabolism working throughout the day often resulting in more energy and more calories burned per day and less food stored as fat.

Problem: Eating processed foods and simple sugars
Solution: Don’t eat anything that comes in a box and avoid simple sugars/carbohydrates. Complex carbs such as those found in brown rice, whole wheat bread etc help regulate glycogen and insulin levels in the body leaving us with more energy for longer periods of time, and tricking the body into feeling fuller longer. Simple carbs such as those found in white bread, white rice, soda etc are processed quickly resulting in quick bursts of increased energy and the subsequent crash. Furthermore if those simple carbs are not being used for energy as you eat them your body will store it as fat! Processed foods have so many negative effects and short comings compared to their non processed counterparts it would take pages to explain. For brevity’s sake, try to only eat foods that ran on land, swam in water, or grew from the earth, minus the human additives. Organic is good.

To learn more about what to eat to fuel your workouts, please contact one of our registered dietitians.

What do you have to lose but some weight?

We spend our days here at Fitcorp trying to convince the 60% of American's who are overweight that joining Fitcorp will make their lives better. They will feel better, look better and be healthier. It is so hard to see people choose an inactive lifestyle over a healthy lifestyle when the benefits of a regular fitness routine are so profoundly beneficial to everyone.
What makes our jobs here have significant meaning is when we hear back that we did "make a difference". It is the gas that keeps our engines going.
I mean we see folks every day making new and better choices with their lives but when it is validated, it is an amazing feeling.
Below is a letter that we received from a member who has tasted her own personal victory and she feels better now because of it.
We want everyone to feel the benefits of a healthier and more active lifestyle. That is why we are offering a once in a lifetime deal. It's our way of helping you get in better shape. Take the plunge at Fitcorp and you too can start feeling better each and every day.

What do you have to lose but some weight?
Gary Klechenski
President. Fitcorp.


Dear Scott:
As we wind up our Challenge this morning (I'll be there for the weigh-in soon), it seemed the appropriate time to offer some words of praise for Brendon and for the Challenge itself. While my team is finishing last (or, as Brendon in his typically positive way puts it, "tied for third"), and while I didn't lose as much weight as I'd hoped, I'll still come away a winner. Why? Because I'm wearing clothes I haven't been able to wear in 3 years. Because I am sleeping better and have more energy. Because my commitment to getting in peak condition and then staying healthy has been renewed. And because I have learned an amazingly broad range of new ways to work out. All of this is due to Brendon and his Challenge.

I've known Brendon for years now, through my membership at Fitcorp, and I have always liked him and had high regard for him (as I do for all of you who work here at Reservoir Place Fitcorp; your team is exceptional.). However, the experience of going through all these classes with Brendon has given me a new and profound respect for his knowledge, his professionalism, and his ability to inspire. Brendon demonstrated in every class his command of physical conditioning, and his ability to adapt exercises to accommodate individual needs. I am the oldest participant in this project, and I have rotator cuff issues, joint issues and I managed to break a toe in the last week, but Brendon never let my issues slow the class down nor allowed me to slack off. He seamlessly adjusted whatever we were doing (weights, core work, "boot camp", whatever) to make it possible for me to learn, get a good workout and remain a good team member, and he did so without interrupting the flow for the others.

Perhaps most importantly, Brendon has the gift to inspire his pupils. He may be demanding (that's the point of the Challenge, I think), but he is ceaselessly positive, too. He never, ever makes anyone (even me) feel inadequate or foolish, and he is endlessly encouraging, making us feel we actually cando it. And so we do. That's a gift.

The proof of all this is that I (and everyone I've talked to who participated) can't wait for Round Two. We know we're going to learn, that we're going to challenge ourselves, that we're going to be smarter and stronger and healthier, and that regardless of where we place in the contest, we're going to be winners. I'll never be able to adequately thank Brendon for all of that. We-and Fitcorp- are lucky to have him!


Best regards,
Laurie

One Step at a Time: The David Wheeler Story

“Before, I would go work out, and when I finished I would feel hungry. That hunger made me scared, and after leaving the gym I’d run down the street and get a burger. Any weight that I had lost at the gym was put back on, and probably more,” said Professor David Wheeler of Suffolk University. Before, Dr. Wheeler weighed 274 lbs.

Before, he had a cholesterol level of 229 mg/dL (too high) and triglyceride level of 242 mg/dL (also too high). Before, he was running a risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Before was just two years ago, in February of 2007, when Dr. Wheeler decided to get serious about his health. His transformation started off slowly, knowing that “a lot of people will come into the gym trying to get it all done in one day. They have a bad experience and end up not coming back,” he said. Dr. Wheeler began tracking his weight with a digital scale. He continued to exercise at Fitcorp, already a member here, going on walks with a digital pedometer clipped to his pants, and eating less “bad” foods.

“Giving up four donuts in the morning wasn’t easy,” said Wheeler, “and it sounds like it wouldn’t be that hard but when you’re used to that routine it is.” And that is why the first ten pounds are the hardest to get rid of. “You feel like you’re going to die,” he said. “You get nervous because sometimes that feeling of light headedness makes you think you need to eat to live, but your body can live on its fat. I could have lasted on my fat for a while at 274 lbs,” he said, laughing.

After the first ten pounds, the next ten, and the next, are easier and easier. Dr. Wheeler started walking further, using Fitcorp’s resources, and eating healthier. “The trainer, Ryan, was phenomenal. He was good at showing me exactly how to use the machines and tell me what I was doing wrong. And Maria is my and my wife’s favorite. She has that personality that makes you want to come back,” he said. Inside the gym, Dr. Wheeler likes to use the stationary bike so he can read screen plays that he’s working on at the same time. And, after injuring his bicep in an accident, the adjustable weight machines have been helpful in building back his strength.

He is also now participating in Fitcorp’s, “Commando Krav Maga,” Israeli self defense class, which he feels is really pushing his endurance, but says yoga is still out of his limits. “I’m almost 70,” Wheeler said, “it’s hard for me to stretch like that.” Outside the gym, Dr. Wheeler has been pushing the distance of his walks. “Once the endorphins get flowing,” he said, “I feel like I can glide along.” In one instance he walked from Beacon Hill over to Brighton and upon returning felt good enough to ride Fitcorp’s stationary bike for a while. Throughout the month of October, Dr. Wheeler recorded that he walked a total of 150 miles.

Now instead of a burger, Dr. Wheeler recommends stopping in at Kinsale Irish Pub for a caesar salad topped with salmon. He also enjoys cereal with Whole Foods orange/banana juice, and has given up meat. Now Dr. Wheeler weighs 219 lbs. Now his cholesterol and triglyceride levels are perfect. “The biggest change is how I feel,” he said, “It’s good for your body and your mind. I’m more prolific in my writing and activities and my thinking has improved. I no longer feel like a sloth.”

He has published a best selling book called, “Journey to the Other Side, Life After Death”, has a sailing license, a pilots license (which he mentions is good until you kill somebody), has traveled the world, has taught in Thailand, and participated in a two week “walk-about” with Aborigines in the Australia outback. “I don’t want to grow old,” he said, “I can’t do much about growing old… but I don’t have to be stodgy.” And so far, he’s not slowing down.