Online Fitness Coaching!

Once again, this post is inspired by my client this morning that had a very great question,

“What online tools are there to help me track my diet, so I don’t have to write it down myself?”

There are so many out there it is really your choice. The top sites have a huge database for you to choose from when logging your meals. This database is great because it has all your nutritional info; calories, carbs, fats, proteins, sugars. The best feature (I think) is the favorite food feature. This will allow you to mark the foods you eat the most and quickly add them to your log, instead of always hunting for them in the database.

Another added bonus that most sites offer is a section for healthy recipes and dieting tips. Sometimes you may feel limited with what you can eat and here you will find many alternative choices to keep your diet fresh. If you become bored with your meal plan then you will start to stray, usually towards unhealthy foods!

These sites can also offer a form of support while you try your hardest to meet your goals. You will have a chance to connect with like minded individuals who are going through the same thing as you.

Before you check out my top 100 site list, you should swing on over and check out my Online Fitness Coaching!

Naturally I had to tell my client this was my favorite Online Tool and was the most Helpful for her to try!

You have the all the benefits of other top online dieting sites, with one Big Bonus…ME!

You will have access to

1. Top Expert Personal Trainer

2. Your very own Meal and Nutritional Database

3. Your very own Healthy Recipe Section

4. Tons of Dieting Tips and Healthy Eating Practices

5. Your very own Customized workout plan; with exercise descriptions and pictures showing exact form

Plus many more added bonus features! Check it out, and try my FREE 1 week test drive!

Then go ahead and check out this list of 100 Top Online Tools to Stay on Track of Your Diet

Calculators

Here you can figure out how many calories you need to eat each day, evaluate how many calories are hiding in your favorite restaurant meals and more.

1. Food Calories and Nutrition Calculator: Select grocery items, ethnic specialties and restaurant items to figure out your calorie intake.
   
2. MetaboCalc v1.0: Figure out how many calories you burn each day using this calculator.
   
3. Calorie Calculator: This calculator shows you how many calories you burn during daily activities and during workouts.
   
4. Calories Burned Calculator: Here you can calculate the number of calories burned during exercises like walking, running and biking. You’ll also find out your BMR and BMI.
   
5. Weight Loss Calculator: Learn about calorie intake and calorie burn with this tool, which also helps you set up weight loss goals.
   
6. Diet: Use this tool to calculate BMI, your healthy weight, daily caloric requirement, daily protein, carbohydrate, fat and iron requirements, target heart rate and more.
   
7. UMMS Health Calculators: The University of Maryland Medical Center’s calculators measure waist-hip ratio, calories burned, diabetes, BMI, fat intake, fiber and more.
   
8. Calorie Calculator: Figure out how many calories you burn during activities like gardening and raking, shoveling snow and playing cards.
   
9. Quiz: Are You Getting Enough Protein?: Let this quiz help you determine whether or not you need to add more protein to your diet.
   
10. Calorie Needs: Quickly calculate how many calories your body needs on a daily basis.
    

Goal-Setting Tools

Use these online tools to help you stay on track with your medical goals.

1. Ideal Body Weight: If your new diet is supposed to get you down to a certain weight, first figure out what your ideal weight is by using this tool.
   
2. Free Diet and Weight Loss Journal: This free food and fitness tracker can help you organize your healthy eating goals.
   
3. Online Diet and Exercise Journal: This website features community forums and free space for you to record your diet goals.
   
4. The Fat Test: This quiz will help you learn more about good fats vs. bad fats, which foods to cut out of your diet and which to introduce, and be more proactive about goal setting.
   
5. Standard Weight Charts: Understand your frame size, muscle weight and healthy weight here.
   
6. National Body Challenge: Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge encourages individuals to exercise and start eating more healthy foods. Register to access menu planners and other resources.
   
7. Diet Tools: This collection of tools can help you stay on track until you meet your goals.
   
8. iFitOne: This software program ” helps make tracking your diet, fitness and weight loss simple and fun.”
   
9. TeenBodyBuilding: While this program is marketed towards body builders, it offers great goal-tracking tools, workout tips and more.
   
10. Joe’s Goals: This easy-to-use goal tracker helps you organize work outs, home prepared meals and restaurant trips.
    

Calendars and Organization

The following list includes diet diaries and other tools that will keep you, your menu ideas and your calorie counts organized.

1. Diet Planning: Access a diet diary and other helpful planners here.
   
2. StartYourDiet.com: Register to access weight tracking tools, a meal planning tool, diet diary and more.
   
3. Menu Planner: Organize your daily meals by calories, food items, portion, and total fat and carbohydrates.
   
4. Daily Food and Activity Diary: Stay organized with this tool, which helps you record your hunger levels, motivation, serving sizes and more.
   
5. NutritionData: “Know what you eat” by researching food and nutrition data on this site, which also lets you analyze recipes and calculate your BMI.
   
6. NutriDiary: Organize your foods, meals and more on this site.
   
7. My Food Diary: Access an exercise log, food and ingredient tracker and more.
   
8. My Net Diary: This attractive, streamlined food log helps you achieve “safe, steady, long-term weight loss.”
   
9. Weight by Date: This tool can help Windows users track weight loss, keep a food journal and more.
   
10. My Pyramid Tracker: Evaluate your food intake and exercise with this tool.
    

Networks and Social Media

Join other healthy eaters and dieters through these sites, which also offer recipe tips and diet advice.

1. Food Count: Members in this network have access to 30,000 foods and nutrition information, diet analysis tools and more.
   
2. DietGuild: DietGuild is designed to organize and motivate individuals who want to lose weight and eat more healthy foods. You’ll access nutrition tables, public diaries, and resources like the food pyramid and an articles database.
   
3. The Daily Plate: Those who want to be super organized about their eating habits can turn to this site, which features a forum, groups, personal profile and more.
   
4. NutriCoach: Create your own personal page on this site, connect with other users, watch videos and access great diet tools and nutrition information.
   
5. Peer Trainer: Join this network to find buddies who will hold you accountable and keep you on track with your fitness and eating plan.
   
6. SparkPeople: Here you can take advantage of community features, motivation tools and health tips. You can even join and create SparkTeams to stay on track.
   
7. My Fitness Pal: Get tips from other community members, read articles and learn about healthy foods and snacks on this network.
   
8. Gyminee: Gyminee is a workout and food tracker that’s also a social media network.
   
9. fitsugar: Part of the popular “sugar” network, fitsugar is a network that features a blog with celebrity diet news, a celebrity fitness corner, community for sharing tips and food information, and more.
   
10. 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community: Visit these forums to learn about goal setting, diet plans and more.
    

Articles and Guides

Check out these articles and resources that can help you understand different diets, types of foods, and eating attitudes.

1. How to Read Food Labels and Nutrition Facts: Learn what you should be looking for on food labels.
   
2. Are You a Healthy Cook?: Give your cooking style a realistic evaluation with this quiz.
   
3. Eating Disorders and Emotional Eating Test: Make sure you’re not overcompensating with food for some emotional or mental problem.
   
4. How do I shop for healthy foods for my diet?: This article can help you stay focused and motivated at the grocery store.
   
5. Easing Into a Healthy Diet: If you love junk food, try the suggestions offered in this guide to help you get used to healthier eating.
   
6. 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap: Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive. Learn how to keep costs down here.
   
7. Eat a Nutritious Diet: HealthierUS.gov provides this resource full of healthy foods, a list of foods to limit and other articles.
   
8. 12 Tips for Eating More Veggies: Veggie Chic’s tips include creating a salad habit, veg up your sandwich and top pasta with tomato-based sauces.
   
9. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, By the Month: Bookmark this guide so you’ll always know which fruits and veggies are in season, saving you money and inspiring you to eat healthier.
   
10. Top Ten Wellness Tips for Eating More Vegetables and Fruit: Here you’ll learn new ways to add vegetables and fruit to your diet.
    

Recipes and Online Cookbooks

Head to these resources for lots of recipes and meal or snack ideas that are good for you.

1. Diabetes Meal Plan Recipes: From spring rolls and shrimp to Southwestern potato skins to avocado dip, find out how healthy eating is also delicious.
   
2. Healthy Recipes: Discovery Health provides lots of healthy recipes for kids, breakfast lovers, the holidays and more.
   
3. FoodFit: Visit this site often to get all kinds of recipes, organized by most popular, low-fat, low in sugar, vegetarian, quick meals and more.
   
4. Healthy Cooking: From Grandma’s Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili to Morning Glory Muffins, this section of AllRecipes.com is devoted to delicious healthy recipes.
   
5. Healthy Recipes: These recipes come from the MayoClinic, so you know they’re good for you.
   
6. Better Recipes: Healthy Recipes: Find healthy snacks, desserts, poultry dishes, vegetarian recipes, side dishes, breads, meat and fish ideas.
   
7. EatingWell.com: Here you can get diet and nutrition tips, as well as healthy recipes that are easy to whip up.
   
8. Delicious Decisions: The American Heart Association’s cookbook allows you to do a recipe quick find and find heart-healthy ingredient substitutions.
   
9. WeightWatchers Food and Recipes: Find recipes that adhere to WeightWatchers here.
   
10. Over 100 Quick and Easy Healthy Foods: Try out recipes for foods like Santa Fe eggs, ginger yogurt with fruit, festive fruit salad, zucchini bisque and more.
    

Inspiration and Support

When you need a little extra motivation, use these sites and tools to keep you going.

1. Healthy Weight Forum: Access inspirational quotes, read diet reviews and more on this forum.
   
2. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Chocolate is Not the Enemy: Beliefnet’s Health page features this story to help dieters keep their perspective.
   
3. diettalk.com: This network of dieters and healthy eaters supports each other, because “desire, dedication, determination and discipline = success.”
   
4. Weekend Diet Traps: If you’re known to binge every weekend, use this guide to help you curb your cravings.
   
5. Low Carb Friends: Turn to this forum for support groups and recipe ideas.
   
6. Low Carb Eating: This site “provides support for healthy, sustainable low-carb living — via community, education, and resources.”
   
7. What Did You Eat Today?: Refer to this thread on myjellybean.com for yummy but healthy food ideas and snacks.
   
8. The Seven Habits of Successful Healthy Eating: Dietician Lara Rondinelli urges you to “make healthy eating a priority” and forget about making up excuses.
   
9. Small Step: This government program inspires adults, seniors and teenagers to eat more healthy foods and have a healthier body image, one step at a time.
   
10. BuddySlim: Connect with other weight loss buddies over this network, where over 429,000 lbs. have been dropped by members.
    

Trying New Diets

Here you can research different types of diets that inspire healthy eating, including the raw food diet, veganism, and low-carb diets.

1. South Beach Diet: Get your diet profile for free on this site.
   
2. Healthy Foods Instead of a Diet: Consider introducing new foods into your menus instead of jumping on the bandwagon of a fad diet that could actually be unhealthy.
   
3. Veganism in a Nutshell: Learn all about veganism and diet ideas here.
   
4. High Protein Diets: The American Heart Association goes over high protein diets here.
   
5. Weight Loss: Reducing Dietary Fat: Learn about calories and sources of dietary fat here.
   
6. Raw Food Chat: This network will connect you to those who adhere to the raw food diet. Registering will also give you access to articles and recipes.
   
7. Every Diet: Get the lowdown on diets like Atkins, genotype diet, high protein dies and more on this site.
   
8. Popular Diets Versus Dietary Guidelines: This article explores what kind of diets and eating regimes are best.
   
9. Tips for Sugar-Free Cooking and Eating: Find out what foods are good to eat and which ones are off limits in a sugar-free diet.
   
10. Low Carb Diet: Get recipes, facts about the low-carb diet and more on this list.
    

Understanding Food and Nutrition

From the food pyramid to fiber charts, these tools will teach you about food and nutrition.

1. Fiber Chart: Here you’ll figure out what kinds of foods–and how much–equals the right kind of fiber.
   
2. The Food Pyramid: Refresh your understanding of the food pyramid and how many servings of each food group you need.
   
3. Low Carb Diet Tools: Discover how many carbs are in dairy products, vegetables, beef and more.
   
4. Exploring the USDA Food Pyramid: This intensive look at the food pyramid will help you understand your own nutritional goals better.
   
5. Fast Food Explorer: Find out just how many calories and fat are in popular meals at KFC, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and other fast food spots.
   
6. Calcium Assessment: Learn how much calcium you need in this quiz, which evaluates your intake and knowledge about calcium.
   
7. DietFacts: Get nutrition data for foods when you search by brand and restaurant.
   
8. Calorie King: Find out the calorie count in foods at restaurants like Chili’s and at retailers like Costco. You can also get healthy recipes and read articles about better eating.
   
9. Nutri-Facts.com: Instantly get nutrition information for nearly 6,000 different foods, including sausage, baby food items and even different cooking spices.
   
10. Antioxidants food chart: This chart shows you which foods are richest in antioxidants, which are important for healthy living, good skin, fighting cancer and more.
    

Portion Control

Understanding portion control is a huge part of healthy eating. Let these tools guide you when you start spooning out dessert.

1. Look at Three Hundred Calories: Understand portion size better when you can visualize what 300 calories is.
   
2. Portion Control: Here you’ll find tips for measuring out portions, as well as figuring out drink serving sizes and snacks.
   
3. Meals Matter: This fantastic tool helps you plan out meals for every day of the week, and you can also read nutrition articles, take quizzes and find yummy recipes.
   
4. Food Portion Sizes: This illustrated guide can help you determine the real portion sizes for meat, apples, ice cream and more.
   
5. Quick Guide to Food Portions: Here’s another guide that will help you better understand what food portions really mean.
   
6. French lessons: Eat petite, be petite: MSNBC’s article explores how simply downsizing at the dinner table can help you lose weight.
   
7. Understanding Portion Control: This guide explores the trouble Americans have with portion control and offers tips for eating light, even in restaurants.
   
8. How to Avoid Portion Size Pitfalls to Help Manage Your Weight: Here you’ll get advice for managing serving sizes when you eat at home, when you eat in front of the TV, and when you eat out of the package.
   
9. Portion Distortion: 5 Easy Ways to Downsize Your Servings: Tips here include trimming your trigger foods and to “create your own after-meal ritual.”
   
10. Nutri Diet Tracker: This system frees you from the stress and frustration of counting calories by organizing your diet with special cards.

3 Snack Benefits to Help You Lose Weight

When most people think of losing weight or going on a diet, they think they have to starve themselves, eat bland tasting foods, and have very little food choices to choose from. Also, they know snacking is out of the question!

Not true!

Snacking actually has many benefits to help you shed body fat! As long as you eat healthy snacks and have a little self control, remember everything in moderation, snacking is a great way to help control your diet and produce drastic new results in your weight loss efforts.

Benefits of snacking include:

1. Binge Control- If you eat a very small meal and then go a long period of time till you eat again, you may find yourself binging at your next meal! To avoid a binge meal, try eating a piece of fruit or other healthy snack. This will ward off hunger pains, keep you next meal in check, and help you to actully consume less calories during the day!

2. Extra Energy and Nutritients- If you live a busy lifestyle and find yourself on the go a lot. Planning ahead and bringing a snack will provide you with a burst of energy when you start to feel down. Plus, it will keep you from running to the next McDonalds for something quick to eat!

3. Controls Insulin Levels- You may think if you’re not diabetic then you don’t need to worry about your blood sugar. Well, your wrong! Trying to keep your blood sugar levels steady actually helps to keep your body in a fat burning mode. Once your blood sugar levels start to spike and plummet, your body gets out of whack and will start to store your calories as body fat! A steady intake of healthy foods will help keep your blood sugar levels steady.

As you can see these are only a couple benefits to snacking. Healthy snacks will help you stay on track in your weight loss efforts and help you avoid all the dieting mistakes and pitfalls most people run into.

Think of snacking as a “mini” meal not a chance to eat something bad!

If you need help with dieting choices click below to get started with your Online Fitness Coaching. Here you gain all the knowledge of an Expert Weight Loss coach for a fraction of the price!

One Great Benefit form Interval Training

Interval Training provides many benefits, increased calorie burn, increased cardiovascular workout, increased metabolism, increased feeling of accomplishment, and many others (notice the word increase being used a lot?). I just recently found out another benefit from using interval training, it can help to increase the bodies way it deals with blood sugars and insulin.

What does this mean exactly?

This means that if your diabetic and you follow a 30 minute interval training routine, you will see improvements in your blood sugar and insulin levels and an increase in your energy output!

How to perform an Interval Routine:
1. Perform a proper warm-up (about 5-10 minutes of cardio at a moderate level) and stretch
2. Decide what your intervals will be. We are going to use walking to make it simple. Lets say you are going to walk for 30 minutes. You will perform a fast walk (about 70-80% of your target heart rate) for about 1-2 minutes. Then you will walk at a moderate pace (about 60-70% of your target heart rate) for about 30 seconds to a minute. Continue this cycle for 30 minutes
3. Cool down. Allow yourself enough time to cool down and bring your hear rate and breathing back to normal. Then do some stretching as needed.

You see interval training is not that complicated and provides so many benefits. Begin your interval training today and see how much more difficult it is then your current "steady eddy" routine!

Need more interval training routines, check out www.MorganPersonalTraining.com for your Online Interval Training Coach!

Also, check out my new and exclusive, Private Boot Camp Program! This service will soon be coming to your neighborhood, so reserve your Boot Camp times and days now just click below

Also, don't forgot to follow your Favorite Personal Trainer on Facebook and Twitter to never miss out on any important update or tip that could change your life!

Clean Eating is the New Dieting

Inspired by my conversations with clients today I thought I would address the "Dieting" issue. There are so many do's and dont's out there and so many myths to debunk. So, let's dive in and discuss how 90% of people fail at diets but the majority of people succeed at "clean eating"

First off what is clean eating? Clean eating is supplying your body with the nutrients it needs, while trying to eat more healthy foods such as; fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains.

Isn't that a diet? Well, according to the Websters dictionary a diet is, "a regiment of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight". I do not know about you but that sounds pretty crappy and I wouldn't want to follow something like that!

Which one sounds better to you Clean eating or Dieting?

To further illustrate my point that dieting sucks, let's look at how to eat clean and how you benefit from it.

Include the following items in your meal plan:
fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, low-fat dairy products, protein and whole grains/complex carbohydrates

Foods to avoid:
Processed foods, refined foods, package snacks, candies, pastries, white bread and pasta, saturated fats, trans fats, and sugary soda's and juices

Follow these tips when constructing your menu:
1. Eat 5-6 times a day. Mixing 3 to 4 meals with 2 to 3 healthy snacks
2. Try to eat every 3-5 hours, unless you really are not hungry
3. Try to pair a source of protein with a carb source. This will help you digest your food more slowly giving you a satisfied feeling for longer.

Benefits of Clean Eating:
more energy, clearer skin and shinier, healthier hair, increased mental well being, better sleep and of course weight loss!

As you can see doesn't clean eating look more appealing then a diet of regimented foods and water taking in sparing to lose weight!

Now don't forget to exercise to increase weight loss and overall health!

Don't know what to do to get started with your clean eating plan? Check out www.MorganPersonalTraining.com for your expert "Clean Eating" Coach!

Also, don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. You will never miss out on important life changing tips like this!

P.S. One of these has a FREE Healthy Living Report full of 21 great tips....can you find out which one?

How to Go From Couch Potato to Exercise Enthusiast

To be successful at sticking with your diet and exercise routine, you need to change your habits. If you have decided to start exercising and dieting you have to look at your life now. If you spend a lot of time watching TV, sitting on the computer, or anything that doesn't require a lot of work, you are going to find it hard to go from doing a whole lot of nothing to working out!

You have spent time developing habits that your body has gotten used to. Those habits are causing you to become out of shape, overweight and lazy. To get yourself back in shape, have more energy, and to lose weight you have to become more active and reverse those unhealthy habits!

Let's take a look at some things you can do:

1. Start your routine on Monday. Most people view their week as starting on Monday. So make an effort to be active on Monday; start the week off right. Start eating right, get some exercise in and try to stay as active as possible most of the day. This will help set the tone for the rest of the week!

2. Exercise before or right after work, if possible. If you can exercise first thing in the morning, then it is out of the way for the rest of the day. Nothing can pop up and temp you not to workout if you have already completed your workout. Also, this will give you more energy throughout the day. If you can't exercise first thing in the morning, then plan on going directly after work. If you go home, turn the TV on and sit down, chances are you will not get back up. Avoid this situation altogether and just stop at the gym on the way home.

3. Don't take too many days off in a row. Once you start exercising, try to stick with it daily. You need to take a day or two off to rest your body, but don't miss anymore time then one or two days. If you start missing three, four, or even a week you will start to fall out of your new habit of exercises and pick up your old couch potato habits.

These are just three things you can do to improve your chances of sticking with your new exercise and diet routine. It takes about 40 days to produce a new habit for the body. So, after a week don't expect to not want to watch some TV and stay home fro the gym. Keep pushing and forcing yourself to go and before you know it, you will start to look forward to exercise. That's when your new habit will form and you will start accomplishing your goals!

Check out www.MorganPersonalTraining.com for FREE weight loss and fitness tips. Also, there will be some new services available soon!

I would love it if you became a fan of my Facebook page. You will stay up to date on every tip I gave out and I would get a chance to know my readers so much better!

Also, if you're a Twitter, follow me there too!

Best workout for Buring Body Fat

How many times have you heard a commercial or saw an ad telling you to "do this" and you will lose weight and feel great"?

I see everyday! America wants to know what they can do in the shortest amount of time to Burn Body Fat and Lose Weight!

Well, honestly the answer is pretty simple....

Want to know?

I will tell you but you have to do one thing for me...

Spread the word and let everyone else know too! That's it, how simple is that? You read this and share it with someone else. Don't be selfish and keep this information to yourself, help out a family member or friend!

Okay, so the question is how can you burn fat in the fastest time possible...?
Simple....full body workouts with high intensity cardio and little rest periods! Sounds like a lot, but don't worry this is too easy. All you have to do is go at it hard, work your full body and do cardio and strength training together and BOOM instant fat loss!

Let's break this down and see what you really need to do:

1. Full Body Workouts: During your workout, make sure to do compound movements. These are exercises such as a squat. You are working more then 1 muscle group at once. This is essential for a couple of reasons. You will cut down on the number of exercises you have to do because you are working more then 1 muscle at a time. The more muscles you use at once and the harder you work at a given time equals more energy used, the more energy you use at once equals the more calories burned. This happens because the body converts calories into energy! The more calories you burn the less are stored. Also, you will find that a full body exercise may make you winded a little, another bonus...you work your cardio while you do strength training!

2. High Intesity Cardio: This is any form of cardio that raises your heart rate to 70-80% of your max heart rate. Working in this range will stress your cardiovascular system causing your body to work harder to perform exercises and supply blood to the muscle. Plus, you will have to expend a lot of energy to keep up this pace, more energy out equals more calories burned! You can use cardio equipment, weights, or even body weight to perform this style of cardio. This is a bonus of full body workouts, done right and they are a great high intesity cardio exercise as well!

3. Limit Rest Periods: Short rest periods will help keep your heart rate elevated. Remember, the compound movements help raise your heart rate through cardio work along with any high intesity cardio you will do. Take a long break and your heart rate returns to normal. The longer your heart rate is elevated the longer your body is using more energy to pump blood, once again more energy equals more calories burned!

So, this is just a short explanation of how to burn up the most body fat and lose weight in the shortes amount of time. I can get a lot more specific, but I don't want to bore anybody.

If your interested in a Full Body Workout for your weight loss needs, check out www.MorganPersonalTraining.com.

Also, keep an eye out for some up coming changes to my services...there has been a lot going on this week with Morgan Personal Training and I will be unvailing new services to better help you lose weight, get into shape and feel great about yourself!--Stay Tuned

P.S.---Don't miss out on this big announcement! Follow me on Facebook and you will be the first to hear about some killer new services that could be just what you are looking for! Should be coming sometime next week! Also, there is a special FREE fitness report for you to help jumpstart your health and fitness efforts!

Top 3 Ways to Stick to Your Diet

90% of people who start a diet fail!

That's a lot of people and chances are you are one of them. I have even been one of the 90% myself! There are many obstacles to sticking with your diet and most people do not address them or even worse they do acknowledge those obstacles, accept them, and don't try to diet because they know they will fail!

You have to understand what obstacles lay ahead and have a game plan to overcome those obstacles. Not trying because or think you will just fail anyway is never going to bring you closer to your weight loss goals.

So, let's jump in and look at 3 obstacles that cause most people to fail.

1. Unrealistic Goals. If you think you can drop 10 pounds the first month you diet, well think again! Be realistic, the first month of dieting is going to be your hardest because you are changing the way you eat! You may see some changes but they most likely will be small ones.

2. Starvation Diets. If you want to lose weight and think you just want eat anything, that is also unrealistic. You body needs nutrients. If you go a long period without eating, you will end up gorging at some point throughout the day. Break you meals down into smaller meals, spaced throughout the day and you will find that you will be hungry less and eat less food!

3. Track Your Diet. I know, writing down what you eat is boring, takes too much time, and you just don't feel like doing it! When you first begin the diet you need to track what you eat. This will help make you accountable for what you eat and show you what foods you need to change. If you have to write down and see that you just eat 1 whole pizza for 800 calories, then you will be more inclined to change your habits because it will seem more real. There are a ton of online tools to make tracking your diet so much more simple then writing everything down, plus the iphone has over a 100 different apps to help also!

As you can see, these dieting mistakes are very common and most people break them everyday! Knowing these obstacles lay ahead and having a proper plan will help you overcome them and accomplish your weight loss goals!

For more great weight loss tips, check out my Facebook Fan Page. Become a fan and never miss out on the tips that will make a difference in your health and fitness life!

If you just tired and frustrated and want to get started with your expert personal trainer go to www. MorganPersonalTraining.com and sign up now!

Do You LIve in a Fat State?

In honor of my travels this weekend I want to share a little of what I saw. I drove from Pennsylvania to Tennessee. The route I drove took me through Maryland, Virginia, and West Virgina. It was a long drive, about 13 hours with stops (and they where frequent)!

So, with two days of driving and lots of stops, I was able to see a little snapshot of our country. Most of us know there is an obesity epidemic sweeping the nation for the last couple of years. Some parts of the country are effected more then others, mostly because of economic status and location. The states that have a fairly good economy and seem to offer more things to do (tourist stops, beaches, cities, and things of that nature) are less obese states. So the question is...how does your state hold up?

I live in PA, which is right about average in the obesity scale. This doesn't surprise because our economy is pretty good around the bigger cities, but when you go to a more rural area everything changes. Then, I look at Tennessee and what I saw there....a whole lot of nothing to do, except in the bigger cities. Tennessee ranks very close to the top of the list, which sounds about right from what I saw over the weekend. Now, I only saw a little bit of the state so I cannot draw a complete conclusion, but it seemed like health and fitness was not a priority to them. There was not a whole lot to do but sit around, talk with one another and eat!

Don't let yourself fall victim to your surrounding. Health and fitness should always be a priority no matter where you live. Just because your social settings may be against you, doesn't mean you should give up. Stand up and fight back. Follow some tips from my earlier posts and live the healthy life you deserve.

Here is a link to a map that will show you how fat your state is...http://calorielab.com/news/wp-images/post-images/fattest-states-2008-big.gif.

Check it out and understand that you may be falling victim to social influences. Now that you know this could be a possibility in your struggles do something about it!

Need advice as to what to do? Go to my web page and fill out the contact form and we will get started on your weight loss plan Today! Do not wait another day and let society keep you overweight....www.MorganPersonalTraining.com is your social influencing fat buster!

On Vacation!

Well...been a busy two weeks. Had the Ican Challenge last and going on vacation for a couple days. I will get back to my regular posting schdule one I am back and settled in.

I appreciate everyone who follows this blog and I hope you find the information helpful. When I get back I will continue to provide the most convenient and I hope helpful dietand exercise tips. My goal is to help you live the healthiest lifestyle you can!

Have a great rest of week and enjoy your weekend! Thank you!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Healthy Snacks...Do They Exist?

The Biggest problem my clients face in cleaning up their eating habits is snacking. Earlier I did a post on How to Stop Snacking to Increase Your Weight Loss, tonight I am going to give you a few healthy snacks to substitute the crappy ones!

I know what you're thinking already though, "healthy snacks do not taste that good", well here are a few that actually do taste good and almost seem like you are eating something bad because it does taste so great!

1. Sunflower Seeds. This is a great snack because they are so good. There are many different flavors to choose from, although you have to watch the sodium and salt content. You can eat a lot of these and not take in too many calories...as long as they are NOT heavily salted. Opt for the roasted ones for best nutrient content.

2. Apple Butter on Rice Cakes. Most people, in fact just about everyone, do not like rice cakes. They are a very great snack if you can stand them. So add some apple butter and they become great tasting! Apple butter is not really made from butter and is good for you. Combined with a rice cake and you have a moderate carb snack that will actually fill you up.

3. Chocolate covered Banana or Apricots! This is great for sweet tooth snackers. Chocolate in small amounts is actually good for you! Melt some in the microwave and dip in cut up banana or apricot (or fruit of your choice)! Does it get any better then this?

4. Salsa and Chips. For the Chip Snackers out there, here you go! Stick to tortilla chips and don't eat the whole bag, everything in moderation! No need to explain this one, straight forward and to the point!

There you have it, 4 easy and tastey snacks to add to your Healthy Eating Plan (I do not like the term diet. Makes people think of calorie restricted, non tasty food)! Mix these into your daily routine to keep yourself interested in your weight loss attempts!

If you like these 4 tips, get your very own Nutritional Guidence at, www.MorganPersonalTraining.

How would you like a FREE 21 Tips to a Healthier Lifestyle? Here you gain access to my 21 simple tips you can make to your current way of life to improve your weight loss attempts. Easy to follow tips, 0nly a couple pages long! Check it out...on my FREE STUFF page!

If you love these tips follow me on Twitter or Facebook to stay up to date and not miss out on the tip that will change your life!

Hope to meet you soon!

Your Very Own Home Workout!

Hello All! Sorry it has been awhile, I have had the busiest week! I am back though and ready to give you the quality diet and exercise advice you have come to love!

Inspired by this weekends event, the Ican Challenge (I did a post yesterday, check it out!) I decided to change it up a little. I normally give simple, yet effective dieting and healthy eating tips, but today I am going to give you the simpliest little workout you can do, whether at home or in your office.

See, the biggest thing about losing weight or maintaining a healthy lifestyle is actually finding the time to commit to it! You have to eat right, exercise, take care of your family, work, etc....There are always a million excuses to not workout, but you should only remember the reason why you want to workout!

So, try this little workout. It can be done in 10 minutes or you can stretch it out to 30 minutes. You are only using your body weight, which means there is no excuse to not do this workout!

1. Prisoner squat, 20 reps- place feet shoulder width apart. Hands on head (just like you got arrested!). Then perform a regular squat. Keep feet flat on floor. Sit back pushing your hips back to keep knees aligned with your ankles.

2. Air Presses, 20 reps- place feet shoulder width apart. Stand straight up. Arms are straight up above your head. Then lower your arms to your side, bending at the elbow until your back of your arms are parellel to the ground. Your hands should still be facing straight up (Just like doing a shoulder press). Key here is to imagine pushing a heavy weight.

3. Lunges, 10 reps per leg- This is your basic forward lunge. Step off with one foot. Take a wide step forward and bend at the knees. Do not touch your knees to the ground, and then step back to starting position.

That's it! Just 3 exercise. Now I know this does not sound like much, but complete each exercise one right after the other (circuit style). After lunges take short break, no more then 30 seconds and perform again. Go through this at least 3 times or as many as you can! Have fun

If you are not sure how to do any of these, just hit me up for more advice!

You can also join my new morning boot camp, www.MorganPersonal Training.com.

Also you can get more great workout from my Squidoo Page! All about diet and exercise

Ican Challenge Event!

Back from the FOX 43 Ican Challenge event...what a great time! So, many great testimonials, life changing stories, and great people to be around all day.

The Ican Challenge was formed to show people easy steps they can take to improve the health and to live with a heart condition or diabetes. Many participants learned how to live healthy and how simple yet sometimes obvious choices can really make the difference. Some participants where able to come off their blood pressure medications and others have lowered there A1 levels significantly, all through healthy eating habits and a consistent exercise routine.

Here is a link to the Ican Challenge Website, http://www.icanchallenge.com/home-page.html. Check it out, there are blogs, life stories and all kinds of simple tips and advice to coping with heart disease and diabetes.

I was able to lead a short Fitness Demonstration. Many people at the event participated and had a great time. I showed them how just simple body weight exercise can be enough resistance to work their muscles and done right, will elevated your heart rate. I later showed them the benefits of Kettle bell exercises! Something total new to everyone. I had a participant from the crowd and showed her 4 full body exercises that we did in a circuit style workout. She really felt how Kettle bells work your body and loved them!

I just want to thank FOX 43 for hosting this event and being a leader in our community to help teach residents that living with diabetes or a heart condition can be manageable and can be a lot easier then expected. Thank you!