Subtle Changes – Healthy Lifestyle

Subtle Changes – Healthy Lifestyle

Each January a New Year arrives. With the each New Year, Midtown Fitness hosts its own “Biggest Loser” contest. Midtown’s owners, Mike Bogdanski and Kristin Duethorn, along with our staff of personal trainers and fitness instructors have the privilege of watching the participants work toward their weight loss goals. The contest comes to its 12-week end this week, on Thursday the 18th with the final weigh out and announcement of our 2010 Biggest Loser.

It is our hope, as fitness professionals, these participants will continue their pursuit of a healthier lifestyle by incorporating exercise and healthy eating habits into their routine. How do they accomplish these changes? How do any of us? And why should we? I cannot stress enough the importance of a healthy lifestyle. For any individual, adult or child. It is an investment in your future, your family’s future, your children’s future. As adults we can make the decision to make these healthy changes for ourselves, and set a foundation for our children through example…children learn healthy habits from their parents. Why should they eat properly, play a sport or exercise if you don’t?

What all of us need to remember is this – the weight comes off one pound at a time. A lifetime of neglecting both exercise and healthy eating will not be shed in a month’s time. And, unfortunately, the older we get the more effort we need to put into achieving the end result. That said, the time to start is now. It takes tremendous dedication and commitment, and it is not always going to be easy – or fun for that matter, but looking down the road, meeting challenges, achieving personal goals, seeing and feeling changes are huge rewards.

Small, subtle changes at home are a great start to big improvements in health and weight control. One less can of soda a day, no more sugared cereals, eliminating junk food from your house and placing more emphasis on fruits and vegetables as available snacks, or mainstays at mealtime. Portion control is incredibly important, and will make a noticeable difference in your waistline. Unfortunately, the food companies have made good tasting, low nutrition food easy to store by packing them full of preservatives, and keeping them affordable by using chemicals rather than real food. All the money families “save” by buying these items is lost when poor health factors are plugged into the equation. Poor health is worsened through poor nutrition.

Incorporating activity and exercise also needs to become a habit in order to make this lifestyle change. You don’t need to spend 2 hours a day at the gym – unless you want to! But a gym membership is a great investment in your health. Most people say they don’t have the time to exercise, but what harkens more true is that they fail to make the time for it. If you get in the habit of saving 30 minutes (for beginners) that is all you need to start making long-term improvements in your health and happiness. A fully rounded, healthy lifestyle-including weight loss, is not possible without exercise. Personal trainers and class instructors at the gym are great resources to help with your efforts, and give you the encouragement you need. It is easy to get caught up in the chaos of “life”. Don’t let the cycle of stress, poor diet and sedentary lifestyle be your theme.


Melissa Richards -Certified Personal Trainer