Typically  you hear 6-8 weeks on infomercials, fitness shows and product sale pitches but  let's get down into the nitty-gritty process of how your body adapts to exercise  and a cleaner diet. 

Do you want  the bad or the good news first? 

Bad News: You can not spot reduce any particular area of your body. If your overall goal is to see weight loss you must be very diligent with your cadio.  Also keep in mind that the more muscle you have in your body (especially your larger muscles like legs, bum & back) the more calories you will burn throughout  the day. 


Good News: Small changes with your diet can be a huge help in changing your body shape. Remember that transforming your body is not just a diet - it's a lifestyle change and it starts with what you put in your body. When you don't put crap in your body, you won't have to kick your butt to work it off! Right? 

Some More Good News: Muscle memory! If you have ever been an avid gym goer, sporty spice or runner, chances are you have some muscle in your body! Did you know that we all have a 6-pack underneath our fat cells? Yep - every single one of us  has a solid 6-pack and it's aching to come through :) As soon as you start working your muscles, they will re-build and thank you for every squat you do!

What is Your Goal?

To Lose Weight
If you start a cleaner diet & a routine of exercise 4-6 times/week you can see weight loss in as little as a few short days. Keep in mind that this is typically the loss of water retention and can be gained back just as quickly as it was lost, so keep at it! If you continue with this healthy diet and a workout regime that pushes you outside your comfort zone, you can easily drop 2 pounds per week, starting at week one. 

To Gain Muscle
Many factors play into how quickly you gain muscle or strength after you start working out diligently. They consist of past fitness, genetics, diet, gender, and age. Men and women also gain muscle at different rates. When sticking to a protein based diet & carefully created workout routine men can gain 1/2 lb/week and women can gain 1/4 lb/week or 1 lb/month (however you want to look at it).

To Increase Endurance
Interval training, interval training, interval training! This is key! Pushing yourself past your comfort zone 4-5 days/week for 2-3 weeks you will notice a difference in your lung capacity. Plus, intervals keep things new and exciting. The bonus of interval training is less time in the gym. Studies show that shorter, more
intense workouts increase endurance levels vs. longer more stable workouts. 

I always try my absolute hardest not to eat before I go to bed and it's incredibly hard because that's the best snacking time, right? Well I decided to do some research to see if this torture was needed to lose and/or stay at my healthy weight.

Your last meal (aka dinner) should be consumed 2-3 hours prior to you saying goodnight. However, if you are starving, feel free to grab a snack before you crash. A snack meaning a banana, 1/2 an avocado, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese or 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. You're basically looking for something that will cure the hunger but not give you that bloated or full feeling. Check out my list of snacks under 200 calories for some more examples. If you are trying to lose weight, try to go to bed on an empty stomach. If you are finding that difficult, chug some water or have a small glass of milk.

Here are some facts to back this up:

• Eating too much, especially carbohydrates, late at night increases your fatty storage and therefore will increase your fat. Duh.

• Eating high-glycemic carbs (pasta, potatoes, white rice, sugar, etc.) right before bed will spike your insulin levels and slow down your nighttime Human Growth Hormone (HGH) production. That's very bad because about 80% of this fat-burning, muscle-building "super hormone" is released during sleep.

• If you fast for 11 hours (8 pm to 7 am for instance) your body will begin burning significant amounts of fat around the 5th hour (1 am) and continue to do so until you wake up.

To maximize your last meal of the day, it should consist of:

• A lean protein (like baked chicken breast) and low-calorie, fibrous carbohydrates (veggies and fruits) - avoid all starchy carbs close to bedtime (breads, pastas, rice, potatoes, etc.)

• If, like many of us, you get big-time carb cravings right before bed.....eat some carbs! Just make sure they're the high-fiber, low-glycemic kind: apples, berries, peaches, plums, bran cereal, fresh vegetables, vegetable juice, etc.

• If you're currently strength training to build muscle, a great end-of-the-day meal option is low-fat cottage cheese (full of slowly-digested casein protein) with no-sugar-added fresh or canned fruit.

To sum it up, don't hate yourself if you have a little snack before you hit the sack. However, if you're striving for that summer body and trying to knock a few pounds off, try satisfying that late night craving with water and you'll wake up a skinnier you!

Some of this information was taken from this article: 
http://www.illpumpyouup.com/articles/eating-before-bed.htm

Your body needs to experience new things, so you need to change your workout routine every 4 weeks. The problem is that most of us don’t even
have time to work out on a regular basis, let alone sit down and create a new workout plan. So here are some creative tricks and tips that I use with my clients.


1. Change the order you do your exercises: 
If you do cardio before your weights, try switching the order. If you work out your legs first, try starting with your shoulders or arm exercises and then moving to your legs. Although these are small changes, your body will notice and your results will improve.

 2.  Simple changes to your cardio: 
If you regularly run on the treadmill at a high speed and a low incline, try mixing it up with a high incline and a moderate speed. Or try interval training by changing speeds every 2-3 minutes from a sprint to a fast walk. 

3. Change up your weights: 
This is all about tricking your body. If you usually do 12-15 reps with 10 lbs, try doing 8-10 reps with 15 lbs. Remember, weight lifting is an important key to changing your body. Don’t think that lifting weights will make you big and bulky; it takes a lot of dietary supplements and expertise training to create a bulk.

 4. Add new moves: 
All it takes is picking up a Health & Fitness Magazine or going on to YouTube. This takes less than 5 minutes and it gives you that excitement of trying something new! Try adding plyometrics or explosive exercises to your workout. These moves are created for fast body transformations and are used in my Urban Hiit and Body Burner Classes.

 5. Mix and match your fitness classes: 
You might stumble across a class that really suites you and makes exercising fun again! The bonus is you don’t have to think about what machine or what exercise you’re going to do next in a busy sweaty gym because the teacher is there to do that for you! Try out a few of TeckFitness's classes, boot camps or book me for a one.on.one.