By Womens Fitness and Workout Contributing Author Ms. X

Lately I’ve been watching Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, I figured it is good filler while I work from home, cook dinner, clean, etc. It’s an interesting show that is helping people make better choices, showing their progress, giving sound advice, and it is entertaining as well.

Before I go any further, let me say this: I cannot stand “Screech”.

So, as I was watching the show I sort of broke down the concepts and applied it to the rest of us. You know, regular people who were never on the Brady Bunch, teen TV idols or singers, hip-hop stars, or comedians–just average people with normal jobs trying to do the best with the time, energy and resources available.

The ideas behind the show come down to these 4 factors:

• Proper Nutrition
• Regular Exercise

• Healthy Mind-Set

• Support System

No-brainer, right? But having all 4 of these factors in play can be difficult. It seems that there is always one thing out of whack, affecting your progress and making your goals seem to forever be just out of reach. However, we can get a handle on these areas, and see some progress.

Proper Nutrition: You and I both know that you can’t eat junk food and look fantastic, even if you work out constantly. You might look better than the guy that eats junk food and then sits on the couch all day, but you still have to eat a healthy and nutritious diet to be a healthy and nutritious person. My least favorite person on the show, Screech, is planning on eating junk food like he has been, and plans to shape up with exercise alone. Well, if you are in the midst of a hamburger-hangover you probably won’t turn in the best work out of your life, will you? If you are weighed down with an order of Del Taco Chili Cheese Fries (my forbidden food of choice, which I have not had in over 2 years), your stomach will be rolling trying to process all that grease, and you will not feel like doing 200 crunches. To reach your personal goals you have to load up your plate with lean protein, lots of colorful veggies (the darker the vegetable the better for you is a loose general rule), complex carbohydrates, small amounts of good fats and lots of water, not diet soda. I know it has no calories, but water should be your drink of choice.

Regular Exercise: The same principle applies to the exercise part of your plan. You also cannot plan to meet your fitness goals by diet alone, you have to exercise! Eating well will only get you so far. Eating natural foods that are low calorie, low fat, etc. is a great way to start, but to burn off the fat already stored on your hips, and earn the added benefit of sculpted, toned muscles and a much leaner overall physique you have to work out. Regular exercise is a major part of any health regime, but you need to mix it up. When I say “regular exercise” I mean several times a week. Do different exercises at the gym, switch from the elliptical to the treadmill to the bike, get outside and run uphill, run on the sand, take a yoga class…you see what I am saying here. Not only will your body have to work harder to adapt to all the new motions and muscles being used, you will be less likely to get bored and stop altogether. On the show Celebrity Fit Club, the contestants have had to race ¼ mile, climb stadium stairs, do the long jump (remember from high school track?) and run an obstacle course.

Healthy Mind-Set: If you have a good attitude, it can only help your cause. To relate back to Celebrity Fit Club, I know that for purposes of entertainment they choose high profile people with egos bigger than their backsides, but the attitudes of a few suck! (You know who I mean…Screech) If you go out there to work out and complain the entire time and have no fun while you are out there, you aren’t too likely to go any time soon and do it again. If you are at dinner and gripe and moan about having to order a salad instead of the fettucine alfredo, you will probably just order it the next time. Have a great time tackling that monster hill, laugh about it on the way down! Order the fantastic salad, customize it to taste great, and love it! Know that you are doing these things for yourself, that the end result will be amazing, and that you will love the end result…so love getting there! The more you act like you are having a good time, enjoying the positive choices you are making the better you will feel, until you don’t have to convince yourself that you’re enjoying making the right choices….you WILL be enjoying making the right choices.

Support System: Having a team behind you is such a big help. I know VH1 isn’t calling you to be on the next season of Celebrity Fit Club, but you can make your own team of friends to keep you accountable and join in with you. On the show, I am sure they get monetary compensation, as well as a boost in their slipping public images, not to mention losing weight and becoming healthy. For us regular people, there is no monetary compensation, except for all the money you will be saving from abstaining from fast food chains. And there is no public image, unless you count all the friends, family, co-workers and strangers that will be telling you how great you look. You’re doing this for you, and why not bring a few friends on board? If your friends are waiting for you at a spin class and you don’t show, you will hear about it for days, right? If you stand up your trainer at the gym, not only will you be out the cost for that time booked, but you will catch hell from him too. These people want to see you do well, they are supportive of you, and you need to take advantage of that support system and use it to speed you down the road of health and happiness.

Easy tools to use, but sometimes we all forget what we have at our fingertips. Gotta go, Celebrity Fit Club is on. Can’t wait to see Harvey yell at Screech again!

Be eXcellent!

Ms. X

Irvine and Seal Beach Personal Trainer