It will be a hot class- a Bikram boot camp of sorts.

As the temperatures rise, so does the anxiety level and desire to look amazing in a bathing suit.  It's either a code orange or red alarm.  Fret no more!  Use this new found motivation to turn up the heat on your exercise routine and consumption habits.
The warmer temperatures provide you an opportunity to eat clean.
And to step up your workout routine.
Today, let's look at your daily eating/drinking choices.

The first strategy is to look at how often you drink water.
Hot weather can cause mild dehydration which hinders your workouts and impedes recovery time. And it you may tend to interpret the desire to drink with "I'm hungry" causing you to eat more. And experience shows that this is the moment when the food choices tend to be poor.

So one tactic you can use is to carry a full water bottle with you and sip from it throughout the day.

Another tactic is to set an alarm reminding you to get up and get a cold drink from the fridge or water cooler.

Also eating water rich foods throughout the day will help you feel fuller.  Here is where the consumption of fruits and vegetables will help keep you hydrated and feeling full.

During the first few days of this wave of heat do yourself a favor and refrain from alcohol until your body adjusts to the sudden change in temperature. Remember you want to eat clean!  Alcohol is NOT eating clean.  If you do decide to have a libation or two, you can offset some of the negative effects by drinking water in equal parts to combat dehydration.

Remember, when you eat clean, your body will have an easier time cleansing itself.
You'll be eating better and healthier. You will also feel lighter.  Once step closer to bathing suit ready!

The biggest struggle to working out in the morning is.... Getting Up!

So how do you get yourself up to work out?

Plan the night before.  

1. Layout your clothes for the workout. Towel, mat, gloves, keys, water bottle and footwear should all be ready to go. 
2. Place your clothes in your line of vision in your bedroom.

My next tip  is to set the alarm and place the clock next to your clothes. It should require you to have to get out of bed to get to stop your alarm.  When the alarm goes off, you need to get up to turn it off. Your clothes are right there from the night before.  Grab them and get moving!  It's that simple!

Other tips include: 

1. Get to bed a tad earlier.
   
2. No alcohol beverages the night before.
3. Have a picture or a written goal of what you want to accomplish next to the alarm clock.
4. Do your morning workouts every other day.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday are ideal. This makes it easier since you have 4 days where you "sleep in" or sleep late. So it's easier to say to yourself- "Get Moving!"

It helps if you have a plan.
If you don't then commit to a class where all you have to do is show up!

Feel free to give this a test run to make it out to Morning FitCamp at 6:30 am M, W, F

Tomorrow we will crank out a special edition of FitCamp!
We'll meet at 12:30pm at 63rd and CPW!
This is going to be a hi calorie crusher.
Bring a mat/ gloves and water! We will burn fat!!!!

This weekend the opportunity arose to sit down with friends and the family of the off-Broadway play with Bollywood roots, Bunty Berman Presents  cast members. At the after show dinner the subject of "Why is it so hard to lose those final few pounds?"

It is because the body adjusts and adapts to the caloric shift (assuming one is using a traditional calorie deficit weight loss program).
The longer you are on it, the harder it is to lose weight.

Here is an example that will help you understand why the pounds come off slower.

When an overweight person cuts down significantly on what he eats, the body defends itself by using fewer calories. The effect can be long-lasting: If a person’s weight drops to 150 pounds from 250, significantly fewer calories must be consumed daily to stay at that weight than would be necessary if the person had never been overweight.

Even if a 170-pound person loses 20 pounds, he needs 15 percent fewer calories to maintain the new weight than someone who always weighed 150. Short of bariatric surgery, very gradual weight loss — say, no more than 20 pounds a year — may be the a way around this metabolic slowdown. This strategy gives the body and appetite a chance to adjust.

An alternative is to exercise which will increase metabolism instead of just relaying on calorie reduction to manage weight.

Another strategy is to replace some starchy foods with protein sources. This simple swap of calories makes it easier to manage weight because protein requires more calories to be broken down and used for fuel.

Strength exercises, if done properly, can also help you add or increase the muscle fibers in your body. These fibers require more calories. Effectively the muscle consumes calories that would be normally stored as fat. Thus keeping you leaner, stronger and healthier. Healthier because your body fat would be lower.

There are ways to reset or wisely manage your metabolism, but it usually requires a game plan and a dose of commitment.

Stay healthy, my friend.

Any questions please feel free to reach out to me at 212.729.4445

If you are trying to get leaner here are 3 quick tips to get you there.

1.  Keep track of what you eat.
This simple trick allows you to be mindful of what goes into your body.  Remember GIGO?  Garbage in, Garbage out. Not really what you want?
Well, then, tracking will help you consume healthier foods.

2. Consume all-natural, high-quality protein for breakfast.  Protein first thing in the morning can help you feel satisfied for a longer period, giving you energy, and help create fuller muscle fibers.  So ditch the cereal and bagel breakfast. And saddle up to the breakfast table with the incredible edible egg. There is scientific documentation that proves that consuming eggs for breakfast, as opposed to eating a bagel of comparable calories, will keep you feeling fuller longer and decrease the amount of food consumed throughout the day! You know what that means... a leaner you!

3. Move!! Exercise, preferably outdoors, because people report feeling more positive and more energetic after working out outdoors.