For the first post in the Fitness section I’m going to give you a summary of the core elements in any fitness and nutrition program. This article assumes you know Nothing about getting into shape, changing your diet or fitness in general. We’ll go into detail in future articles…ok let’s start

Maybe getting healthy and losing a few pounds was your resolution this new year, maybe the doctor told you the ol’ blood pressure is high and your resting heart rate sucks - or if you’re like I was, you eventually just start to realize that you’ve ballooned out from your former self and decide it’s time for a change.

Note: I’ve been an athlete my entire life, yet during college I expanded to nearly 300 pounds…so I KNOW what it feels like to be overweight.

So we know it’s time to make a change, now I’ll explain how to do it:

Any weight loss or fitness program will combine 2 things:  exercise and nutrition. You HAVE to do both in order to make noticeable improvements. Sure there are trendy diets and workout devices like those ab balls you see on tv….but don’t worry about any of that right now. You aren’t going on a “diet” and you won’t rely on anything you have to buy just yet.

Remember this article is called “The Basics” - it assumes you have absolutely no workout experience, and no clue about your diet.

Let’s start with nutrition first, because this is more then 70% of the overall weight loss equation. Again there is so much to discuss in future articles, but for now I’m just going to lay out what you need to do. You need to begin eating 4-6 small meals per day. You must eat breakfast. You need to up your protein intake, lower your carbohydrate intake, and take in more healthy fats.  Eat a small meal every 2 to 3 hours…it might seem like alot, and you may actually be full the first few days of doing this - but what you are doing is increasing the speed of your metabolism by making it process the food more frequently, and by not gorging on 3 huge meals a day your body does not store as much excess for energy later, which is another way of saying - fat.

There are plenty of healthy foods out there, just to get you started on the right track here are a few:

Carbohydrates

• Oatmeal
• Whole Wheat Bread
• Sweet Potatoes
• Brown Rice

Protein

• Chicken
• Tuna
• Lean Beef
• Turkey
• Soy
• Salmon

Fats

• Fish Oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Peanut Butter
• MCT Oil

As before, I mentioned this is not a “diet” - this is a life long method of eating. Diets are temporary, they work for a bit but are unreasonable and unhealthy to stay on long term - and you inevitably gain any lost weight back. Learning about nutrition is worth the effort, and it makes a huge difference in the way you look and feel, so start reseraching in more detail what I’ve discussed here and begin the 4-6 meals a day plan.

Now briefly on to the workout portion of this equation. For now all I ask is that you begin to get no less then 30 minutes of having your heartrate up per day. This is a SIMPLE task, so don’t make excuses and don’t slack - it’s worth it. You might say you don’t have the energy, time or motivation to start putting in a brief amount of activity per day - but I’m telling you, as soon as you start doing it you will find your energy levels throughout the day raise, you feel better mentally and you are more focused. Most people make excuses and decide to do nothing, but then again - most people are unhealthy and lazy….don’t let that be you. Make the change and you will never regret it

Examples of activity that will help you get off the ground on your fitness program are as follows:

• walk for 30 minutes around the park at lunch time
• do pushups when you wake up, a few more when you get home and a final set before bed
• situps while watching tv, couldn’t be easier - you’re laying on the floor doing crunches while watching american idol - NOT that hard!
• shovel your driveway and stop relying on 4 wheel drive over an ice sheet to get you out in the morning
• run around with the dog for a half hour - he will appreciate that just as much as you
• don’t take elevators, use the stairs every time

See….these are SIMPLE things to get you in the right frame of mind. This is where you need to start…to alot of people this all might sound silly, but the fact is most people get zero physical activity per day - and I can’t expect you to join a gym and workout 5 times a week until you build some sort of base, so get moving on this and be on the lookout for future articles which are progressively more detailed