Posts tagged as:

weight loss

Top 5 Movies About Nutrition

by Rob on December 30, 2011

The end of one year and the start of another is usually a time for reflection. What went well this year? What are you going to work on next year? I encourage all of my clients to set goals before the new year starts so they can hit the ground running come January.

Sometimes you need a little inspiration though! And the holidays are the perfect time to kick back and relax…with some inspiring documentaries. Okay, maybe that wasn’t your first thought, but why not get inspired by learning more about why eating healthy can change your life and the world.

Here are some of my favorites that can be found on Netflix, and some on Netflix Instant Player!

1. Super Size Me - On the heels of recent lawsuits against McDonald’s, director Morgan Spurlock takes a hilarious and often terrifying look at the effects of fast food on the human body, using himself as the proverbial guinea pig. For one month, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald’s, ordering everything on the menu and “super-sizing” his order whenever asked. The result is a sobering examination of the line between personal and corporate responsibility.

2. Food, Inc. - Drawing on Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, director Robert Kenner’s provocative, Oscar-nominated documentary explores the food industry’s detrimental effects on our health and environment.

3. Forks Over Knives - Focusing on the research of two food scientists, this earnest documentary reveals that despite broad advances in medical technology, the popularity of modern processed foods has led to epidemic rates of obesity, diabetes and other diseases.

4. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - Focusing on two men whose bodies have been trashed by steroids, obesity and illness, this documentary chronicles the rigorous healing path — including a two-month diet of fruits and vegetables — that both attempt in a bid to rescue their health.

5. Food Matters - With a staggering number of Americans suffering from obesity and other food-related maladies, this film takes a timely and hard-hitting look at how the food we eat is helping or hurting our health, and what we can do to live (and eat) better. Nutritionists, naturopaths, scientists, doctors, medical journalists and more weigh in on everything from using food as medicine to the value of organic food and the safety of the food we consume.

Post by:

Christy Meyers

Certified Holistic Health Counselor

To get further support with incorporating these tips into your life and reaching your health goals, email Christy at info@howtochow.com, or visit www.howtochow.com and on facebook.

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5 Secrets to Successful Resolutions

by Rob on December 8, 2011

Happy Holidays! It’s that magical time of year when there seems to be a party every day of the week and an endless amount of baked goods at the work place. This doesn’t help us if our goal is to make it through the holidays without gaining unwanted weight. If you’re like the rest of us, you’ve gained a couple pounds and veered off your fitness path and into uncharted territory. Here’re 5 secrets to help you stick to your fitness resolutions.

1. Don’t Rush into Anything – It’s really important to ease into a routine that is doable. We get so ambitious after the New Year that we tend to jump into an old routine we remember or try to fill every free moment with some kind of exercise. I’m just as guilty as anyone when it comes to overloading my schedule and burning out. The trick is learning from that and not making the same mistake. Decide how many times a week is not going to be an overload and start there. If after a few weeks you’re ready to take on more workouts, go for it.

2. Set Goals – Give yourself markers and deadlines. Whether your fitness goals are to lose a few pounds or gain some muscle mass or increase your stamina on the tennis court, you should have a clear vision of how to measure the success of that goal. You can take pictures of yourself, weigh in every week or do body circumference measurements. Which takes us in to the next point:

3. Make a Plan and Write it Down – Create a calender with all the workouts that you plan to do that month. All the workouts should be in accordance with your goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, your schedule should be predominantly cardio workouts, inter-spliced with toning circuit training routines. If you are not seeing results, don’t give up, just make the changes necessary to your workouts so you optimize your time working out.

4. Find a Friend to Join You – Sometimes getting started on something new is scary. It seems like everyone or at least most of the people that you know have some kind of New Year’s Resolution that has to do with fitness. It’s not going to be hard to find a friend or someone that works in your office, a co-worker, who’d be more than happy to partner up with you and get in shape in 2012.

5. Don’t be Fooled by the Quick Fix – Make the lifestyle change that will last the rest of your life, not the next couple weeks. Don’t even bother with these starve-yourself-diets or pills that are guaranteed to burn more calories. Who are we that we can’t be accountable for our actions? If I eat junk food and sit on the couch all day, do I deserve to have 6 pack abs and athletic legs? Don’t fool yourself into thinking a pill or some cayenne pepper and lemon juice is going to solve all your problems. Make a choice to live a healthy life style and then start introducing the right choices into your life one at a time. Soon you’ll realize there’s no more room for the things that aren’t healthy for you.

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Blog 6: Three Weeks and Seeing Major Results

by Rob on February 9, 2010

Week 1 & 3

We’re three weeks in and already seeing some progress!

I’m down to 165 pounds from my pre thanksgiving weight of 175, and I’m back to feeling good!

The workouts are getting easier to wake up for and harder to peel myself off the ground after! Turns out there are some places in my body completely void of any muscles! Like my shoulders and lower back! But we’re workin’ on it…and as you can see in the picture, we’re starting to develop it, slowly but surely.

My diet is treating me nicely. The major mood swings and hunger have gone away. My cravings for junk food have been replaced by cravings for dried pineapple, carrots, and kale. Kale! I’m still eating my quinoa and almonds for breakfast every morning which really gets the day started off right.

My running is going well, too. Today for my 45 minute Saturday steady run, I felt energized and ran a little under 5 miles in the 45 minutes. I’ve also found a place I love running: Los Feliz Blvd. from AFI to the entrance of the 5…and moderately hilly and straight 5 mile loop.

A great friend of mine Josh Altman, who edited the best documentaries to come out of Sundance the past two years, helped me create an opening sequence for the rest of my video blogs…check it out! Next video will post on Monday!

Sky Fit Challenge Opening Sequence from Open Sky Fitness on Vimeo.

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Sky Fit Challenge Giveaway

by Rob on October 27, 2009

Open Sky Fitness and How to Chow have decided to choose another lucky person to participate in the Sky Fit Challenge for FREE!! Starting on November 30th, 2009 a new Sky Fit Challenger will start his or her 3 month life altering program.

Sky Fit Challenge is a personalized fitness and nutrition program designed to burn fat, build lean body mass and get your body looking the best it’s ever been, in just 3 months. Working 1 on 1 with Sky Fit Challenge creator, Rob Dionne, and How to Chow’s Christy Meyers, you will be molded into the person you’ve always strived to be.

The Sky Fit Challenge includes:

3 one hour sessions per week with Rob Dionne, Personal Trainer
Personalize Cardio Program designed to burn excess fat
Personalized Nutrition Plan with How to Chow’s Christy Meyers
Nutrition Consultation and weekly tracking sessions
Before and After pictures to track results
Monthly Results Tracking – including Body Fat % & Circumference Measurements

This is over a $4500 value for FREE!! All you have to do is join the Open Sky Fitness Facebook Fan Page and send your request to be the next Sky Fit Challenger to SkyFit@OpenSkyFitness.com and you could be NEXT!

Because we are offering this program ABSOLUTELY FREE it is very important for us to know that this new Challenger will be 110% dedicated. That is why we are requesting a short explanation of why you should be the next Sky Fit Challenge success story along with a full body photo. All applicants must email their requests by November 16th and the lucky individual will be announced on November 23rd.

Don’t forget to sign in on the right side of this page to get a FREE workout and nutrition plan to help you get started today!

Unfortunately this offer is only for Los Angeles residents at this time.

Jeff Meacham, the last Sky Fit Challenger!

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Calories and Losing Weight!!!

by Rob on June 7, 2009

Healthy Grilled Chicken Meal

There are a million and one fads out there right now to help you loss weight: pills, cleanses, fasting, crazy exercise machines, cabbage soup diets, lemon and cayenne pepper drinks etc. the list goes on and on. Why do people do all these kooky diets and buy all these crazy machines? Because they are just the like the rest of us, they want instant results. And that is what all of these products promise. But do they deliver? No. At least not when it comes to longevity.

So, how do you loss weight and keep it off? The secret is calories. Our bodies burn a certain amount of calories per day to function. Here’s an example: My body burns 2500 calories a day. If I consume 2500 calories on a regular basis I will maintain my existing weight. If I consume 3000 calories a day I will gain weight. And, yep you guessed it, if I consume 2000 calories a day I will loss weight.

I know this may seem elementary to some of you, but that’s how it works.

The best way to get started is to keep Food Journal. Keep track of everything you are putting in your body.

Here’s a link to a website that will help you figure out how many calories you should be taking in for your body.

Calorie Calculator

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Post-Workout Supplements

by Rob on February 3, 2009

stockvault_1211_20070301 I have to admit that I don’t normally recommend supplements to my clients. It seems like the trend here in Los Angeles is to keep it natural. At least when it comes to food that is. Alas, one of my clients recently asked me about drinking a shake after his workout. The reason being, it takes him 45 minutes to an hour to get home from the gym after work and he’s starving.

[click to continue…]

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How Will Exercise Help Me Lose Weight Faster?

by Rob on January 26, 2009

In the last post I already covered how the concept of calorie counting works in regards to losing weight. Now lets say for example, you have just figured out that your body burns 2500 calories a day to maintain your weight and you’ve decided to consume 2000 calories a day to shed a couple pounds.

If you incorporate some form of 20 minute cardio or circuit type training into your daily routine, you could burn an extra 200 to 500 calories. Which will leave you with two options: 1. Loss weight even quicker or 2. Eat 200 to 500 calories extra a day. Either way you’re still losing weight.

The one thing all people who have lost weight and kept it off have in common is consistency. You must be consistent with diet as well as your exercise regiment. It’s a lifestyle change. You have to be dedicated to your new way of life or things will never change. And the amazing thing is, things will change.

I had a client once who for the first two months of training didn’t lose a pound. We were circuit training 3 times a week and he was doing cardio on his own 2-3 times a week. And still holding the same weight. We had discussed diet and calorie intake and he had assured me that he was eating properly. Nothing but chicken and veggies. Fruits and nuts as snacks. But still the weight was staying on. I told him he was not in control of his diet somehow and that he should finally consider keeping a food journal. With skepticism he agreed. I was excited to see what the result would be. Was he sneaking food and not telling me about it? I’d soon find out. A week went by and he had tallied his weekly intake. To my surprise he was eating exactly what he said he’d been eating, BUT twice as much as he should have. He had been consuming over 3000 calories a day. The only reason he wasn’t gaining weight was because of our workouts. No joke, the following week he lost ten pounds. He dropped his daily caloric intake to 2000 calories consistently for the next 9 months and lost a total of 60 pounds. Sometimes things just are that simple.

If carrying a food journal is not your thing, there are some free websites that allow you to type in your meals and it will calculate you caloric intake. They will as well factor in calories burned during work outs. Try this Food Journal Website. This is just one site. There are many other free sites to choose from. You should search around and find which one you are most compatible with. If you own the iphone this one is a free application.

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