Just a quick peek into the future...

If we could look 12-weeks into the future and look at ourselves, where will we be? What will we be doing and what will we look and feel like?

12-weeks from today it will be July 22: The middle of summer. Here are a few guarantee's.

July heat is a sure thing.

• It's gonna be hot. July 22nd is near the beginning of Bakersfield's hot season which usually lasts from the first week of July through mid-September. 

Yep and that's about all I've got for guarantee's! Everything else is unknown.

And there is some real beauty in this because you have 12-weeks worth of decisions to make. There will be tough times and good times but you have the choice as to how you will respond to them.

When it comes to how you look and feel, 12-weeks is enough to make some pretty significant progress! But consider that weight loss and body changes take hard work during exercise and some REALLY hard work in the kitchen! 

If you've been involved with the Hi-5 FitCamp, you've heard me say that you can't out-train a bad diet. There is simply no way around it. But changing your body is easier with a plan. Now although I can't give a custom nutrition plan for everybody, because everybody is a bit unique, here is what a typical day of food selection should look like. But again, quantity will be a bit different depending on each person's weight.

Breakfast

• Oatmeal + protein powder + fruit
• 1 Multivitamin
• Fish oil

Snack

Start going nuts for shakes!!

• Cottage cheese + salsa + flaxseed tortilla chips
• 1-cup water

Lunch

• Sirloin steak mixed into a large salad + pecans + vinaigrette dressing 
• 1-cup water/tea
• Fish oil

Snack: Smoothie (click here for the ultimate smoothie guide)

•  1 fruit + 1 veggie + handful of nuts + protein powder + liquid 

Dinner* (1/2 plate should be veggies, 1/4 plate meat, 1/4 plate grains)

• Meat + veggies + nuts + complex carbs (i.e. cous cous, quinoa)**
• 2 cups water
• Fish oil

**if you don't want grains, just add more greens to your plate! 

 Now this may seem quite a bit different than what you're currently eating. If it feels like this, then just make a small change at a time. For example, if you usually don't eat breakfast, you could have a small bowl of oatmeal and a glass of milk. Do this for a week, then add another healthy habit!

Want more information? Shoot me an email and I can help guide you in the right direction!

The Bad News

So I've got some bad news for everybody. And I suppose I should have come out with this when you first started the program. And I thought I did. But perhaps I just wasn't direct enough.

I've said it in a "round about" way when I said you have to change the way you eat.

I've said it in a "not-so round about" way when I said that you CAN'T out-train a bad diet.

But now I'm just going to say it -

Exercise alone does not work for fat loss.

A study at the University of Texas took 2 groups. One group exercised for about 5 hours per week for 12 weeks. The other group didn't change their exercise habits. Also, both groups were told to maintain their dietary habits, which data at the end of the study did confirm.

Obviously the group that didn't exercise or change their eating habits did not see a change in body weight or fat. But what was really interesting was that the group that DID exercise lost only 1.5 lbs of fat over the course of  6 weeks. 1.5-lbs of fat, THAT'S IT!!!

Exercise has many, MANY benefits: Increased strength, increased muscle mass, increased bone density, reduced risk of non-contact injury, decreased risk for heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases. But for FAT LOSS, it doesn't work.

Yes there are other studies that show perhaps a statistically significant but still very small weight loss due to exercise alone. But from a practical standpoint, YOUR EATING HABITS WILL DICTATE YOUR FAT LOSS SUCCESS!

The Hi-5 FitCamp is designed to elevate your metabolism by increasing muscle mass and increasing your post-exercise resting metabolism. Heck some of you may be burning  But if you have a poor diet, you will quickly "out-eat" any calorie deficit you may obtain from an increased metabolism.

Everybody in the Hi-5 FitCamp is getting stronger. 

Everybody is getting in better cardiovascular condition. 

Everybody can do more pushups, pullups, squats, and has a better heart rate recovery. 

But most struggle to lose weight. Why?

Eating habits. I'll post tomorrow with some simple breakfast meals that meet a specific calorie need for 4 different groups, each with a different calorie need. So tune in tomorrow!

Supplements cannot fix THIS...

Perhaps it is TV commercials, magazine ads, and other forms of advertising that somehow get us thinking that we can take a pill and it will magically make everything else go away.

We are told that we need to take a multivitamin, or fish oil, or CLA pills, or weight loss pills, or metabolism boosters, or...whatever.

Here is the thing: If you haven't refined your eating habits, then taking those supplements will be like pouring a bottle of water into a molded, algae filled, waste filled lake.

And here's the real kicker...when you clean up the lake, you won't need the bottle of clean water, figuratively speaking. When your eating habits are dialed in and you are doing the things listed below, you won't need to take any supplements because your vitamin, mineral, fatty acid needs will be met.

So here are 5 meals to eat, from breakfast to dinner, that would constitute a quality day.

1. Breakfast - 2 slices of whole grain toast, tablespoon of peanut butter, medium banana, glass of grapefruit juice/water (50/50).
2. Snack - 1/2 cup blueberries, small container of vanilla bean yogurt, cup of tea
   
3. Lunch - Small cup of minestrone soup, 5" turkey sub, water
4. Snack - apple slices + 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
5. Dinner - 4 oz salmon, 2 cups of romaine/spinach salad, 1/2 cup black beans
   

Indeed the amounts will vary based on your caloric needs, but the day listed above has plenty of fat, protein and carbohydrates, along with a variety of vitamins, minerals and anything else you could think to supplement your diet with.

Again, when you are eating a complete diet there is minimal, if any, need for supplements. Supplements are meant to supplement the diet. They are not meant to replace part of it.

So record your diet, write down how much, and how often you are eating. This will give you a more clearer picture of what you are eating and what you might be missing.