S3 Week 6 Results – Holy Moley It’s Tight!

It’s the home stretch and it is crazy tight!

Success Story – Colleen Snow-Leung

I was very grateful to receive this heartfelt note from Colleen, and she was gracious enough to let me share it with the Get Fit NH family, and by extension the world! 🙂

“Hi Erin, Dean, Nancy and Megan,

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all that Get Fit has done for me these past four months.

I loved Get Fit when I was there for a year before stopping due to personal life experiences, including the passing of my mom and then being pregnant. On the anniversary of my mom’s passing, I started boot camp again after taking just about a year off. I couldn’t think of anywhere she would rather I be on that day than starting to train again and feel good about myself.  

Through the S3 challenge, my husband and I have completely revamped what meal time looks like and have quit the snacking and no longer do I think about what to have for dessert after each meal.  I can’t say the same for Howie once he leaves the house but I am eternally grateful for his support in our home.  

Yesterday I went shopping and bought things two sizes smaller than what I had been wearing at the beginning of S3 and am fitting into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes.

Through learning the seven habits of S3 I now understand the saying, “You can’t out train bad nutrition.” I remained at the same weight the first three months of boot camp and then have lost a good amount of body fat (I think and hope) throughout the past six weeks.  

My goal for S3 was to lose weight, build muscle, feel good in clothes, especially a bathing suit this summer with my daughter, and run the Color Vibe 5K. While I wanted to skip my last goal this morning when it was raining and gross out, I didn’t mostly because of fellow boot campers who encouraged me, especially Lori and Kelly. I felt so incredibly accomplished at the end of the race.  

Thank you guys for your constant emails, Facebook messages and being there four mornings a week ready to make training fun and new every single day.  I am very thankful!” – Colleen

And we are very thankful for amazing clients like Colleen.

Keep Making It Happen!

Spring Seminar Series Finale – Optimal Body Weight & Composition

Don’t miss the finale of our Spring Seminar Series, Tuesday June 4th at 7:00pm.

Once again we will be meeting at Get Fit NH Concord with Drs. Laura Jones and Amanda Hegnauer from Whole Health Concord.

Body weight and composition have a significant influence on our current health and our risk of developing some of our nation’s most common diseases including Diabetes and Cancer.  The purpose of this lecture is to provide you with an overview of current research regarding naturopathic tools and approaches that can help you attain the weight and health you are striving for.  Come learn about the most promising and well-studied vitamins, minerals, and herbs for optimal wellness and healthy weight loss.

Optimal Body Weight & Composition
Tuesday June 4th, 2013
7:00pm to 8:30pm
Get Fit NH Concord

It’s Memorial Day. Remember.

I was blessed to be raised by parents who instilled into me a love of country and an appreciation that freedom is not free.

That the freedoms we enjoy and the rights that  have been bestowed by the Creator and recognized by our founders have been protected by blood and sweat over centuries.

And while we may or may not agree with current or past administration and policies, we should not take it lightly we have the right to do so, and we should not so quickly dismiss any attempts to infringe those rights. At the least we owe it to the women and men who gave “the last full measure of their devotion”.

I like to think that I have instilled in my children the same love and respect for country that was nurtured in me. In fact I know that to be true. But this year it hits a little closer to home.

My son Tim resigned his job as a Vermont State Trooper last month and is pursuing something he has wanted to do for a while now, Army Special Forces. He is currently at my old stomping grounds of Fort Benning, GA. Kind of ironic that he is back where he spent the first few years of his life when I was stationed there.

When he first told me he was enlisting I responded kind of poorly. Something like “What are you doing that for?” He was leaving a stable job, his home, and his (very supportive wife) and pursuing a path that there is no 100% guarantee he would even complete. I know he wasn’t very happy with me, but we’ll get past it. I have always been proud of him for his accomplishments, but this was a hard one. I think maybe as a veteran I realize the potential consequences of his decision, and while it might be ok for me to make it, this is my son.

But then I was reminded in a recent conversation about men like Tim who make such decisions. Decisions to leave the comfort of home, and relative safety and ease. Men and women like this are why I can sit here at this keyboard in my office, drinking a cup of coffee, doing a job I love to do. Men and women like this who leave home and family so I can be here with mine.

Men and women like Steve Veinotte, Justin and Raechel Strevig, Ken Jones, Justin and Meagan Sbat, Spencer Wilbur, Brad Lepelley, Dan Parker, Taylor Anne Frazoa, Michael Gilbert and many more that I could name that have and continue to honorably serve their country, and understood the decisions and consequences. Men and women who sweat in the desert in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan so I can sleep on my Select Comfort.

So today as you celebrate, I ask you to remember who and what you are celebrating. Today there are wives without husbands and children without a mom or dad to whom this day brings back floods of memories you and I cannot understand.

Remember them.

Never, ever forget.

I love you Tim.

Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown Final Weigh & Bonus Points

As we move into the final week of the 2013 Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown we just wanted to update you on how we are going to wrap things up as well (as promised) let you know how bonus points will be awarded.

We have modified the end date by a couple days in order to allow us to get a full 7 days of Habit 7 in the books, to be consistent, and to keep the point system stable.

Due Dates:

Monday June 3, 2013: Your final weigh-in is due by this date. You can do it anytime next week up until that day. Once we have it recorded, that is your final answer.

Tuesday June 4, 2013: Your last card with your points will be due. Captains, please remind your team to get them in, tally up their points and record on your sheet. We are going to be spending some time checking point tallies and making sure there are no tally errors. It’s going to take a bit of time, so the sooner you get them in the sooner we can announce the winners! 🙂

Bonus Points:

We have not revealed the bonus points to this point for one primary reason. The most important thing  about S3 is not whether you win or lose (although that’s a lot of fun!), the most important thing is you understand that the habits you have learned are fundamental to your health, body composition and weight control. The scorecards are a way of keeping us accountable to the daily choices we are making that count over the long term. We wanted you to focus on the behavior – the habits, not the outcome.

I love to compete, and I love to win, make no mistake. But it wouldn’t do me much good to win a contest and then in 3 months revert back to what I was doing that made me overweight and unhealthy to begin with.

Let me remind you about the word “Habit”.

The Free Dictionary defines it this way:

• A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
• An established disposition of the mind or character.

I absolutely love those definitions.

A habit is something that is 2nd nature to us. We don’t even have to think about it, we just do it.

Are the “7 Habits” truly habits in your life now, or something you are just doing so you can win a game?

Now I know that many of you think that Nancy and I are psychos because we eat this way the vast majority of the time. I assure you this did not happen overnight, but as we began feeling better and getting healthier it was natural to keep eating the way that made that happen.

I mean why can’t a spinach salad with strawberries, walnuts, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette be your dessert? Why do our plates have to be piled high with potatoes and pasta? Why do we use so much sugar and cream in our coffee? Reclaim your taste buds and start enjoying your food again.

Ok, back to the matter at hand. Final scoring and bonus points.

Keeping the cards and tracking your habits daily is crucial, as we said before. But we also want to keep ourselves honest, and the truth of the matter is if you are consistent with your behavior – the habits, you will most likely see the desired outcome, which is better body composition.

The bonus point structure is super simple. You will be awarded 1 bonus point for every 1% of body weight lost. While we would rather use bodyfat %, our studies have shown that the 1 point test that we did to begin the contest was not as reliable as we wanted to be a fair measure, so we are going with straight body weight.

Here’s an example:

Bobby Sue started her transformation at 155 pounds, and at the final weigh in she weighs 145 pounds.

Bobby Sue lost 6.45% of her body weight, and is awarded 6.45 bonus points for her team.

We are excited to see how well you all did!

Don’t stop now.

Keep Making It Happen!

S3 Week 5 Is In The Books – Keep It Up!

We are through 5 weeks of our Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown. Now is NOT the time to do anything but buckle down and keep the momentum going.

If you have been consistent with the habits you should feel, well, different.

Your blood sugar is more stable, you are never starving, your energy is up and you might even be sleeping better.

Not bad!

We are on the home stretch, and every point counts, because when we do the final weigh in that is where we are going to see how all that hard work has paid off.

And yes, results count, so don’t think this contest is over by any stretch of the imagination!

Week 5 Results

Traveling from East to West. Am I Making Progress?

Have you ever asked yourself that question?

I know when I am driving out to Nancy parents home in Indiana, across states like New York or Pennsylvania which take 6 or 7 hours to traverse, that question pops into my mind a lot.

Now that may not make a lot of sense, because I know that I am traveling from east to west at somewhere relatively close to the speed limit.

It’s just that it doesn’t seem like I am getting anywhere very fast. My GPS shows me I am moving, but I just don’t feel like I am making progress.

Ever felt like that with your training?

You have some vague sense that something good is happening, but you can’t quite tell what it is?

It doesn’t have to be that way. There are many objective measures that tell us we are making progress on this health and fitness journey.

Blood Markers

There are some basic tests that can give us a great idea of the state of our health and measure improvements.

• Cholesterol (HDL/LDL)
• Triglycerides
• Fasting Insulin
• Hemoglobin A1C (blood sugar)
• C-Reactive Protein (systemic inflammation)

I cannot tell you how many times an excited client has come back and said how thrilled they (and their doctor) was at their latest results. Talk to your doc about these tests and what they mean for you.

Blood Pressure/Resting Heart Rate

Heart rate monitors are relatively inexpensive as well as easy to use. Blood pressure is also pretty easy to get tested at your doctors or a lot of local pharmacies. We look for a RHR <60 as a general indicator of cardiac health, and it’s pretty easy to measure once a week to see what is going on in that regard. You can also get really fancy with a piece of equipment I have been testing called the BioForce HRV, which not only measure heart rate but how you are actually recovering on a daily basis from your training.

Body Composition

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to get your body comp done on a regular basis. We use the BodyMetrix ultrasound system, generally using a 3 point test. It only takes a few minutes and is the only proper way to figure out what is really “going on”  as far as lean tissue/fat ratio.

Let me say it again: The bathroom scale and BMI are stupid. They do not and cannot objectively measure your lean/fat ratio, and that is what counts.

I have done 3 body comps on female clients over the last two days. Only one of them had lost weight. ALL of them had lost bodyfat! Net muscle gain + net fat loss = big time success.

You see you can lose 10 pounds, but if it is all muscle you realize you just got fatter, right? That is a fool’s game.

The clients that have the most success are those that regularly have their body comp tested, every 4 to 6 weeks.

Why are they successful?

Number one they are holding themselves accountable, which is huge.

Number two we can make outcome based decisions based on the results. If progress slows, halts or even reverses, we can adjust our nutrition intervention and start moving in the right direction again.

You can make an appointment online here, so just do it!

Training Markers

There are many different ways we can assess physical progress, both objective and subjective. We know we want to get stronger, which is why we have traditionally assessed performance on “achievement day”, which has evolved over the years in the way we assess both strength and metabolic performance.

But on a regular basis you can also do some self assessment. Are you actively seeking to increase loading when appropriate? Are your  skills improving on movements and patterns? Are you working with more intensity, longer? While these may be subjective, they are still important markers.

I Feel Good!

I admit it. We really stink at getting before and after photos. Part of it is because a lot of you want no part of a before, and while we respect that it is more important that you see where you have come from. Gonna get better at that.

But there are some “feel good” ways to measure progress too. Your pants are looser, you dropped a dress size (or two), your friend start telling you how great you look. Maybe even the mirror isn’t as nasty as it used to be. These are all good things!

So don’t think in 1000 mile chunks from NH to Indiana.

Maybe hitting the VT/NY border is losing that first 5 pounds of bodyfat. When you get into Ohio you are deadlifting 1 1/2 times your bodyweight. And home sweet home in Indiana is fitting back into your wedding dress.

But the journey doesn’t stop there.

Because the journey doesn’t stop until your heart stops beating. 🙂

So don’t wait to celebrate just the “big” stuff.

Be proud of putting one more mile on the odometer and keeping the foot on the accelerator.

Keep making progress.

And Keep Making It Happen!

Coach Dean

S3 Habit 7: Eat Mostly Whole Foods

By the time you read this you should be halfway or better through the torturous Habit Six 🙂 so this one is going to seem pretty easy by comparison.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you, adopting this habit for the rest of your life could be the most powerful thing you do for your health.

Bonus! It make reading labels very, very easy.

S3 Habit 7: Eat Mostly Whole Foods

It’s pretty simple, really.

Turn the package over and look at the ingredient label.

Ummm, wait a minute, there is no package, and there is no label, and that is kind of the point.

You see if we choose the hundreds and hundreds of foods that don’t need a label, we are probably eating a Whole Food.

Think of it this way. Choose as many 1 Ingredient foods as possible.

Take a look at the shopping lists from ThePPWKitchen.com

PPW Kitchen Shopping List 1

PPW Kitchen Shopping List 2

What did you notice?

That’s right. These are lists of almost all 1 ingredient foods.

You may also have noticed that most of these are fresh foods. If they are not refrigerated, frozen or eaten within a few days they will spoil.

Those are the nutritious, nutrient packed, and yes tasty foods you want to fuel your body with.

When you eat Whole Foods – 1 Ingredient foods, you are avoiding a lot of the nasty stuff you just shouldn’t be putting in your gut.

• Added sugars
• Added sodium
• Preservatives
• Artificial sweeteners
• Food dyes
• Chemicals

and who knows what else!

When you start with whole foods YOU are in control. You get to decide what spices, and herbs or garnishes you add. You don’t have to worry about what’s “in there” except what you choose to add.

And while there is no rule against combining whole foods into a recipe, think simple.

The simpler you make things the better, this eating healthy thing does not have to be hard, in fact it really isn’t.

Don’t try to make it hard! 🙂

So what’s your favorite Whole Food?

I bet you are about to discover some new ones!

Make It Happen.

Coach Dean

S3 Week 4 Results Are In – It’s Tight!

Keep up the great work gang. It is still anybody’s game!

How?

Because Results Count Too!!!

Stay tuned and keep Making It Happen.

S3 Habit 6: Yeah, I Know – You Hate Me

And I can live with that.

Why?

Because I am guessing that you will get over it. 🙂

Plus I know from experience that both the physical and psychological benefits of Habit 6 are worth it.

S3 Habit 6: Don’t Drink Beverages with more than Zero calories.

This is the one that I have heard the most about even before the contest began.

“No cream in my coffee?”

“What about wine, that’s healthy for you!”

Well when it comes right down to it cream in a cup of coffee or the occasional glass of wine is probably not the deal breaker when it comes to your weight management. There are usually bigger fish to fry.

But that doesn’t mean the calories are irrelevant. A couple tablespoons of half and half in a couple cups of coffee a day adds up to almost 600 calories a week, or 30,000 a year.

That’s enough to put on an extra 8 or 9 pounds a year!

And alcohol isn’t exactly calorie free either. A 6oz glass of red wine has 150 calories. Add on top of the fact that you aren’t burning any fat while alcohol is in your system and you have something to think about.

But besides the extra calories that your sodas, juices, latte’s and brewski’s add to your overall calorie count, there is another factor to consider.

The absolute power that food and drink has in so many of our lives.

Think about it.

We are seeking after our healthiest selves, aren’t we?

Mind, body and soul.

Emotional, physical and spiritual.

I would submit to you that being controlled by food and drink is not healthy.

Now I am not condemning, because for years food controlled my life, and it was not healthy in any of the 3 areas I mentioned.

I mean do you really want to HAVE to have any particular food or drink to be happy?

Do you want to be controlled by a powerful stimulant drug like caffeine or a powerful sedative like alcohol?

I am not judging, condemning or otherwise criticizing. I just want you to think about it.

The S3 Habit 6 Five Day Challenge

All I am asking you to do is commit to zero calorie beverages for 5 days – Monday May 20th to Friday May 25th.

After that all bets are off. You can have whatever you want for the rest of the S3 contest and for the rest of your life if you so choose.

Who Is With Me For Five Days?