march2006

WE SHOULD FIGHT A GOOD FIGHT BECAUSE:

1. Our cause is good. It is the cause of truth & righteousness.

2. Our Captain is great. Heb. 2:10. He will not ask us to do more than He has done.

3. Our armor is perfect. Eph. 6:13-17. No soldier was ever better equipped

4. Our provisions are abundant. Phil. 4:19. Lack of provisions has caused many a lost battle.

5. The victory is certain. I Cor. 15:58. This victory comes through faithfulness to duty

6. The reward will be glorious. 2 Tim. 4:6-8

We are still waiting for the next step for our future center. I was told last week that we have investors interested in helping us get things going, so I am awaiting their offer!

I now have a sketch of the future building and you can view it HERE.

Last month's contest gave some terrific ideas of what others would like to see offered at our Center and here were just a few of the terrific ideas:

From Mandy: As a member of the Fit By Faith Center, I would hope to see and be a part of a Mentoring program. I would like to be part of a team of people who mentor others spiritually and physically (with their weight loss goals.) The spirit needs to be fit just like the body and everyone needs a "cheerleader"...someone who can intercede and encourage would be ideal.

From Wendi: Bootcamp Weekends!! A weekend away that is all about nutrition and getting your butt in shape! Can be done by beginners or people trying to lose some weight fast!

From Nikki: I would love to see not only strength training equipment and or couse tae bo classes, but classes on healthy eating. It would also be nice if it were possible to have some self help groups for people struggling with over eating, self esteem, etc... (Good news, my husband is about to get his LPC and was already planning to offer counseling services!)

From Julie: I am very self concious of my body, and would like to see a friendly enviroment that would allow me to feel comfortable, i would also like to see an excercise center for children maybe a rock climbing wall not just a day care but a place where children maybe over the age of 5 could learn good nutrition and have fun excercising.

From Christopher: Men's weight circuit training class

I have been taking my Personal Trainer course and I just wanted to share with you some things that I have found extremely helpful.

"A healthy metabolism needs many nutrients to function optimally. A slight deficiency of even one vitamin can slow down metabolism and cause chaos throughout the body."

I have discussed in the past how important it is that we do get all our vitamins and minerals and how lack of things like calcium and omega 3's can affect weight loss results, so this backs that up!

"Studies have demonstrated that when individuals go on a low calorie diet, the body's metabolic point because lower to conserve energy. It actually resets itself to burn fewer calories, thereby conserving energy. Exercise tends to keep the metabolic rate up, and more aerobic exercise tends to cuse the body to burn more fat for energy."

This is why it is so important to not only reduce your calorie intake when losing weight, but balance it out with exercise, otherwise, reducing calories alone will not help your metabolism and a great functioning metabolism is what we are shooting for here!

"Food efficiency is simply a measure of how efficiently a particular food is converted to body weight. Foods with high food efficiency are prone to be converted to body weight, while foods with low food efficiency are prone to be burned as energy."

So filling up with those healthy whole foods that are more efficient are going to get burned and not stored. This should help get rid of fears from those who are concerned about eating too many good calories. This also proves that simply counting calories will not lead to body fat loss. You might stay within your goals of calories and fat, but if what you ate was junk or foods with high food efficiency, it is still going to be converted to body weight and not be burned as energy.

Our goal isn't to try to starve or eat too little, our goal is to eat in a way that will program our metabolisms to function properly and efficiently. Once we have them working properly, then weight loss is not such a struggle. So this month, I want you to focus on trying to improve your metabolism.

Protein is needed for muscle growth and repair. While some protein breakdown may occur during exercise, protein build-up is enhanced during the recovery and the effectiveness of protein synthesis is increased. When muscle glycogen stores are high, protein contributes no more than 5% of the energy needed. However, when muscle glycogen stores are low, due to inadequate calorie and carbohydrate intake, protein is used for energy rather than for muscle growth and repair and may contribute as much as 10% of the energy needed for exercise.

Physically active adults need up to 50% more protein than sedentary adults. Protein should contribute 12-15% of total calories per day. To figure out the amount for you, multiply your weight in pounds by 0.6 to calculate the number of grams of protein you should consume per day.

Good sources of protein include lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products which contain all of the essential amino acids and thus are complete proteins. Other good protein sources are tofu, nuts and dried beans. Consume 3-5 servings per day.

So start building some lean muscle!

5 Ways To Work Out With Your Kids

1. Do Tae Bo Kicks Together!

2. Family Bike Rides, Walks or Hikes. If you have little ones, pull them in a wagon or push them in a stroller or use a baby backpack!

3. Jump on a Trampoline or create an obstacle course in the backyard.

4. Turn your living room into a dance club and pump up the jam!

5. Have fitness breaks between commercials: Push-ups, squats & sit-ups.