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The 2017 Preemptive Strike on Holiday Weight Gain!

11/30/2017

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Jeremy Koerber, ACSM Exercise Physiologist
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Most people fail to recognize the opportunity in front of them over the next four weeks, will eat their way through Christmas and New Year’s, gain 5-10 pounds and then swear that 2018 will be different as they make a veiled attempt to exercise and eat right the 1st week in January.  
In other words, they will do the complete opposite of what we are about to share with you.  You have a choice and we are going to provide for you the plan that will allow you to enjoy this holiday season looking and feeling great!
​1.  Start moving:
Regular physical activity (3-5 days per week) is an absolute must if you want to lose weight before the 2017 holiday run.  We recommend activities that will give you the biggest bang for your buck such as High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Spinning, Zumba and/or small group or 1-on- 1 training.  Oh, and if you want max results we suggest 5 days of activity.  Yes, you are busy but this is war against weight gain! You can also ask an IWC professional to help create an in-home tabata workout that requires little to no equipment for when you don’t have time to make it to the gym!

2. Shake it up:
Do you skip breakfast or make bad choices for lunch?  To jump start your weight loss, use meal replacement shakes to get the ball rolling.  We recommend Designs for Health Plain Whey Cool Shakes.  (They also have Chocolate or Vanilla flavors available) They taste great, mix well into smoothie recipes, are produced from hormone-free, grass-fed cows and are higher quality than the products you are purchasing at the super cheap super store.  You can get your whey cool by clicking here.

For the 1st five days of your strike have a shake for breakfast, a mid-morning snack (Greek Yogurt and a piece of fruit), a shake for lunch, a mid-afternoon snack (almonds and a piece of fruit) and a healthy, properly portioned dinner).  After the 1st 5 days, continue replacing breakfast with a Whey Cool shake and start planning healthy, properly portioned lunches.  It will take some work on your end, but if you can master this you will lose weight and save money by not eating out every day. 

Remember to use promo code: FIRST20 at checkout to get 20% off your initial order. Shipping is always FREE.

3. Get water logged:
The formula is simple.  Divide your weight in half and that is the number of ounces you need each day.  For example, if you weigh
150 pounds you need to drink 75 ounces of water each day.  Yes you will be in the bathroom a lot in the beginning but your body will adjust and you will jump start weight loss.

4. Plan parties around physical activity:
Social events will begin gearing up but that isn't an excuse.  If you know you will be in a setting where extra calories will be consumed hit the gym a little longer and a bit harder to offset the damage.  Parties and social events are a problem only if you let them become a problem.  

5. Actively manage stress:
Uncontrolled stress causes increased levels of cortisol production which promotes belly fat and slows your metabolism.  You are already
exercising (a great stress eradicator) but other strategies such as meditation, air breaks (getting up and away from your work station) or massage therapy are awesome ways to manage stress.

6. Find a buddy:
Corner a pal and get him/her to commit to gaining ZERO pounds over the holidays. The power of accountability has resulted in many weight loss success stories.  Get a friend, family member or co-worker to join you in the preemptive strike!

Follow these six tips and you will be lean, mean and looking good on January 1, 2018 which will give you even more to be thankful for!
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Ward Off Holiday Pounds with these NUTRITIONAL CONCEPTS

11/2/2017

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By Jeremy Koerber
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I believe it was sometime in late September when I realized I could purchase all of the Christmas lights I would need for some sweet holiday exterior illumination at the local Walmart. The shelves were already stocked with Christmas decorations!

These days it feels like retailers are getting a bigger jump on the holiday season; A concept that we at Integrated Wellness Concepts believe in whole-heartedly. I have been personal training and coaching clients for over 20 years and there is one constant that remains the same each year as the leaves change colors. The holidays throw our lives into chaos.

Shopping, parties, family gatherings and food…lots and lots of food makes it incredibly difficult to maintain healthy lifestyle habits. Many will give up completely but after four or five cocktails on New Year’s Eve, make the same half-hearted commitments to make January the time to change it all. Well, what if we could give you some tips that would help you stay on track and limit the damage that hits Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day? Here are some outside-of- the-box concepts that will help you stay on track with your healthy behaviors and thrive this holiday season.

​Dump the Halloween Candy:
Take it to the office, donate it to a charity…just get it out of the house. Sure it is just a mini-Snickers but mini doesn’t matter when you have eaten eight of them! Get rid of the temptation and get it out of the house.

Make the most of your time:
Most notably, the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Instead of slowing down, use these three weeks to ratchet your strategies up so your program is at its tip-top best. This means you are working out, meal prepping, drinking water, getting enough sleep, etc. Like a
champ. Athletes train to be in peak conditioning for their respective event. Have your program peaking and firing on all cylinders by Thanksgiving.

Practice the 85% rule and get really good at it:
This means you eat clean, healthy foods 85% of the time leaving 15% of the time to eat/drink whatever you want. Most of us have it backwards. We eat crappy 85% of the time and want a gold star when we eat a salad or piece of fruit. Try flipping those percentages. Pounds will fall off and when you do eat your favorite guilty pleasure foods, they will taste better than ever before because you will be eating them on your terms.

Fill up:
The simplest, go-to nutrition tip is to stay hydrated. Don’t ask me why it works.
It just does. Drink up. Seriously, I want you to have a water bottle with you at all times.

HIIT Your workouts:
Time is limited over the holidays making trips to the gym for your regular workouts problematic. If it gets too difficult, you will most likely skip the gym and that really shouldn’t be an option. High Intensity Interval Training workouts or HIITs are 25-30 minute routines that will give you the benefits of a full workout in half the time. They are hard but the concept is simple, elegant, and it works. Plus they can be done almost anywhere with limited equipment. If you need help creating a personalized HIIT contact us at iwcfitness@yahoo.com.

Think ahead:
Too often I see clients fail to think ahead and when that happens, they turn to easy things. This usually means grabbing a pizza or take out. Each week I ask them to tell me what their barriers are. What are the obstacles that are getting in their way of sticking to their program. We then brainstorm action items so we can help them work around the things that will prevent them from being successful.
This strategy should be your number one priority during the holiday season because without it, none of the above will matter. Think about the upcoming week and plan ahead.

Shake it up:
One should never live on a liquid diet but using a protein shake as a meal replacement to help offset calories is a
solid technique and will help limit the damage, especially on Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday parties.

Our favorite is Designs For Health Whey Cool Protein.

What are your favorite strategies to stay on track for the holidays?
Comment below and share your ideas!
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    Author

    Jeremy Koerber, MA is the owner of Integrated Wellness Concepts. An ASCM certified Health Fitness Specialist with 17 years’ experience in the health and fitness industry, his philosophy is to create wellness 
    plans and exercise programming that focuses on integrating physical and nutritional concepts into his client's lifestyles that fit their objectives, interests and personality. 

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