Lean and Sexy...Great! But there's more to it than that...

I tell you guys all the time how great you look--because you do! But you know there’s more to it than that, right? Yeah, it’s great that you guys are all lean and sexy, but there are so many other benefits...I’m just going to jot down a few that come to mind...

You probably feel more relaxed. You probably don’t get sick as much as you used to. You probably feel better overall--and why wouldn’t you? Regular exercise can help manage or prevent high blood pressure. Exercise also boosts the “good” cholesterol while decreasing the bad! And the Mayo Clinic also says regular physical activity can help prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer!

Obviously you’re leaner, which makes you look better, but you got to admit, you feel better having shed body fat. And I guarantee you carry yourself differently at work and other social situations as a result. Being fit gives you more confidence. There’s nothing better than feeling good about yourself. When you feel good about yourself, it shows!

And I bet all of you have more energy now! Think about it...we work not only your muscles, but your cardiovascular system too. We’ve made your body more efficient circulating blood and delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. You probably have energy now like you did when you were much younger.

Surely you sleep better overall too. Putting your body through the amount of physical activity I put you through should directly translate into you sleeping like a brick at night. You should be falling asleep faster and sleeping deeper...especially exercising early in the AM like you do. I bet some of you have never slept so well.

I’ll just write the following two words: sex life. Remember the confidence and endurance things above? How you feel about yourself? How you feel about your body I wouldn’t be surprised if your significant other hasn’t said something like the following in the last couple of months, “You know honey, I was thinking I might start working out again.” I’ll leave it at that.

And how about FUN! I try and keep it entertaining with my singing, dancing, dorkiness, and inappropriate jokes. I switch the training up a lot to stop you from getting bored. And I’ve seen friendships build in class...hell, many of you have become good friends to me. I get sad when you sleep in and don’t come to class. Seriously. That’s how I feel about you guys.

So yes, all of you look amazing...and I mean AMAZING!, but the results from this class go more than skin deep. One of the best comments I ever received from one of you was as follows: “You know Bill, you’re not only changing the way we look, you’re changing our lives.”

Alcohol and Diet

Many of you may not realize that there is a very easy way to make big progress in your health and fitness—eliminate alcoholic beverages from your diet. Some of you may already know that alcohol is full of empty calories, and by “empty calories”, I mean calories that aren’t useful for the functions of the body but still have to be worked off just like useful calories.

Here is some less widely known information about alcoholic drinks: A shot of alcohol contains about 100 calories. So, lets put a night of drinking into perspective. If you have 6 shots of alcohol during a night of drinking that is 600 calories. Margaritas have significantly more calories than shots. A typical margarita has 300 calories. If you have 6 margaritas, that is 1800 calories! A woman that weighs about 130 pounds and exercises 5 times per week burns about 1700 calories over the course of a day. Depending on the drink you choose to imbibe during a night of drinking, you will have consumed between 30%-105% of your daily needed calories by the end of the night.

The following is a list of the other effects of a night of drinking:

1. In addition to having ingested many extra calories, since the drinks were consumed right before going to bed, very few of the calories will be used as fuel in the near future and instead will be stored as fat.
2. The next effect of consuming alcohol at night is the disruption of your normal sleep cycles. Since you don’t sleep well after a night of drinking, your body doesn’t repair itself as well as a normal night’s sleep.
3. Drinking alcohol dehydrates your body as well as depletes your body of vitamins and minerals that it needs to function. Until your body is rehydrated and supplied with the needed vitamins and minerals, it will not process food correctly. The process of rehydrating and replenishing your body with the needed vitamins and minerals takes a day or more.
4. Drinking alcohol slows your metabolism. The more you drink, the worse the effects are.
5. Many studies have shown that consuming more than three drinks in one sitting will halt all muscle repair for many days. This means that the muscles that you worked out earlier in the day will not repair themselves well, resulting in little strength and muscle gains from the day’s workout.

All of these side effects of a night of drinking add up to halt any weight loss for a number of days and possibly lead to weight gain. My suggestion to those that do drink is to cut down on the number of drinks you take in during one sitting and stick with drinks that are sugar free so that the calorie content is lower. Some people only drink one or two drinks at night to “ease the tension” and those people probably are wondering if all of these effects apply to them as well—the answer is YES. Obviously the effects aren’t as sever, but they are still there slowing/stopping your fitness progress. The moral of this story is, enjoy the company of your friends and your surroundings without drinking alcohol so that you can reach your goal of a healthier, sexier body.

Robert