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Enjoy your Thanksgiving without losing those hard-earned results! To anyone trying to lose weight or stay lean, Thanksgiving can be a cause for serious dread. The fear of undoing all of the hard work and progress you’ve achieved through the year is a very real cause for concern. After all, Thanksgiving is the day we’re supposed to stuff our faces with hoards of delicious, wonderful junk, right?  The best and most obvious way to avoid having to loosen your belt a notch or two over the holidays is, of course, sticking to your FlexPro meal plan, but for most of us who don’t really have the option to whip out our FlexPro BBQ Crab Cakes during your Thanksgiving get-together, there is hope.  Here are 10 tips to keep your nutrition on track over Thanksgiving: Don’t Go to Your Thanksgiving Festivities on an Empty Stomach: The hungrier you are, the harder it is to resist the tasty temptations of the dishes that are loaded with extra calories you don’t need.  Be sure to eat breakfast and grab a healthy snack before you leave the house or before your guests arrive.  Drink Lots of Water: Drinking extra water can trick your stomach and brain into thinking you are full, making it easier to pass up that giant piece of pecan pie Aunt Margaret is offering you. Workout in the Morning: Not only will working out help to counter the extra caloric intake of the day, the physiological effect of exercise has a tendency to keep you motivated to stay on point with your nutrition throughout the rest of the day.  Just be sure to avoid the mentality that you can eat whatever you want because you worked out. Also, chances are you will be too exhausted from the day's festivities to workout in the evening. Stock Up on Veggies & Lean Protein: While Thanksgiving is full of nutritional no-no’s, there are usually plenty of good options on the Thanksgiving buffet line. Load your plate up with Turkey and veggies like salad or green beans. This will leave less room on your plate for starchy carbs. Limit Alcohol Intake: You don't have to cut off your alcohol completely. After all, it's a holiday – let loose a little! Just be careful with how much and what you drink. If you're drinking wine, stick to a dry wine like chardonnay, sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio since they have little to no sugar in them. If you're more of a mixed drink type of person, try to stay in the vodka, gin, rum and bourbon realm as they have the least amount of calories. Also, make sure whatever you're mixing your liquor with isn't full of sugar. If you're not sure you can trust yourself on keeping the alcohol to a limit, try the water method. Every time you finish a drink, don't go for a refill until you've finished a glass of water. Not only will this help you to drink less, it will keep your body more hydrated and less likely to be hungover the next day.  Don’t Give into Peer Pressure: Chances are when your family or friends see how good you’re being with your food selection, the taunts and pressure to go back for thirds or a bigger slice of pumpkin pie start flying. Be strong and don’t cave in. Just remember how gross and bloated they’re going to feel after all is said and done. Wait Before Going Back for Seconds: Once you’ve finished your plate, instead of immediately going back for seconds, sit and socialize for a few minutes. This will allow your brain and stomach to get on the same page and signal to you whether you are actually full or not.  Chew Your Food: Spending extra time chewing your food instead of inhaling it. This will allow you to actually enjoy the flavors, plus it will buy your brain more time to signal that it's full. Don’t Deprive Yourself: If there are certain foods at your Thanksgiving get-together that you’ve spent all year dreaming about, don’t deprive yourself. Take a small spoonful or a small slice. As long as you don’t overindulge, a small cheat won’t hurt your diet. Leftovers: If leftovers are being shoved in your face as you head out the door, be sure to try and grab the leftover foods like lean proteins and veggies instead of getting stuck with the 3 leftover pies that will do nothing but tempt you the days following Thanksgiving. 

If It Fits Your Macros, or IIFYM as the “fitness crowd” calls it is relatively new as a meme, formerly known as “flexible dieting” but the dietary principles have actually been around for quite some time in the fitness world. IIFYM, or flexible dieting, is a method of dieting that revolves around meeting daily macro nutritional intake targets, and not on what you eat to get there.  It’s essentially a form of calorie counting (a gram of protein and carbohydrate both contain about 4 calories, and a gram of fat contains about 9). Tracking Your Macros How Many Calories should I eat per day? How many grams of protein should I consume per day? How many grams of carbohydrates should I consume per day? How many grams of fat should I consume per day? *Need help calculating?!  Check on our pasts posts and Keep an eye out for future blogs where we teach you how!

Find out how to calculate the right amount of protein for you! Figuring out how much protein you should be eating can be super confusing for a lot of people with all of the conflicting information out there. So what's the right amount for you?  The answer is-- it depends! Huge factors that figure into how much protein you should be consuming is your lifestyle and fitness goals, so not everyone will be the same. For instance, a professional bodybuilder would definitely not be taking in the same amount of protein as the average Joe who lives a sedentary lifestyle.  Here is a chart that shows the suggested daily intake of protein according to your fitness goals/lifestyle:   Goals/Lifestyle Daily Protein Intake  Muscle Building/Getting Toned 1-1.5g Protein/Pound of Current Body Weight Weight Loss 1g Protein/Pound of Target Body Weight Average Healthy Sedentary Person .36g Protein/Pound of Current Body Weight Examples: A 180 lb guy looking to add some muscle would take in anywhere from 180-270 grams of protein per day. A 200 lb woman wanting to lose 30 lbs should take in about 170 grams of protein/day.   How to fit all of your protein into your diet: Once you've calculated what your daily protein intake should be, you might be thinking, "That's A LOT of protein! How am I going to get all of that in?" Don't worry-- it's possible! The easiest way to fit all of your protein in is to divide it up into 5-6 meals per day. For instance, someone who needed 200 grams of protein a day might eat 6 meals a day with around 33 grams of protein/meal.   Protein bars and proteins provide a great way to help you supplement protein into your diet without having to take the time to cook a piece of meat 5-6 times/day. Just be careful to keep an eye on their nutrition labels. Lots of shakes and bars boast that they are healthy, but harbor a crazy amount of added sugar that you probably don't need!  What ways do you add the needed amount of protein to your diet? Let us know in the comments below!

Weight loss and fat loss are two huge buzzwords used in our society today. It seems like everywhere you turn there are products or services promising you weight loss or fat loss. Often, these two terms are used interchangeably even though they don't necessarily mean the same thing. But how are they different? Let's talk about losing weight vs. losing fat and what exactly the difference is! Let's Clear Some Things Up:  Weight Loss: When you lose body weight, which is the sum of your muscle, fat, skin, hair, bones, organs, etc.  Fat Loss: A more specific type of weight loss that occurs when only your body fat decreases.   The Problem with the scale:  Most people wanting to lose weight are actually only wanting to lose body fat. When they step on the scale and see their weight fluctuating for other reasons like hormone changes, water retention, muscle gain/loss, etc., they become discouraged and confused when in reality the scale is just not a reliable tool to calculate body fat percentage.  Clothes, mirrors, and pictures are all better indicators of fat loss than a scale. A tool that can help you accurately track your fat loss progress is a fat caliper. It's a cheap and easy way to measure your body fat percentage.  The table below shows the ideal body fat % for men and women according to The American Council of Exercise (ACE):   Women Men Minimum Fat Needed to Live 10-13% 2-5% Professional Athletes 14-20% 6-13% Fitness Junkies 21-24% 14-17% Average 25-31% 18-24% Overweight 32% and up  25% and up Train to Lose Fat, Not Muscle! Part of the fat loss equation comes with the time you put in the gym. Many people who want to lose fat quickly do tons and tons of cardio all day, every day. Cardio is great, but like all things, too much of a good thing is not so good. Doing only cardio can result in muscle loss instead of fat loss. Instead a better/smarter way to exercise is to do weight training while adding in some cardio a few days/week. HIIT Training is a great cardio option for you to add into your fitness regime. Click here to lean more about HIIT!! The Bottom Line When it comes to losing body fat, what you eat is 75% of the battle. Eating junk, eating too much, or even eating too little can hinder any fat loss program no matter how hard you train.  Don't let the scale get you down-- you can still be losing body fat and making progress even if the scale is not moving or going up!  

7 Benefits of Stretching Stretching has the ability to prevent a lot of problems! Among the fitness community stretching is often overlooked because the results are not as visible as lifting weights or doing cardio. However, if you've ever been injured or experienced chronic aches and pains, you can probably look back in hindsight and see that stretching would have saved you a bunch of grief. Not only does stretching offer benefits in the way of pain relief, it also has tons of other positive results that can make life a little easier.  Here are 7 reasons why you should incorporate stretching into your fitness regime: Mood/Mind Booster- Stretching increases blood flow/circulation, sending lots of oxygen to your brain resulting in clearer thinking and better moods.  Butt Saver- If you have a desk job, sitting for that long can cause your glutes to atrophy (lose muscle), which can then lead to other problems like lower back and knee pain. Stretching your glutes and hip flexors regularly can prevent that.  Better Posture- When you consistently stretch, your muscles loosen up, leaving you less likely to assume the hunchback position.  Increases Athletic Performance- If you are an athlete or a fitness nut, stretching can increase your ability to do certain athletic moves.  Slows Aging- As you age, your body begins to lose mobility, resulting in less activity and more health problems. Stretching regularly increases mobility.  Prevents Injury- Stretching makes your muscles more elastic, making you less likely to pull or tear a muscle during activity.  Prevents Muscle Soreness- Consistent stretching will help your muscles recover quicker from tough workouts and prevent them from becoming as sore.  Not only does stretching have a lot of benefits, it's incredibly easy to integrate into your daily fitness routine. A good stretch requires no special equipment and can be done practically anywhere! Using your body weight you can gently stretch to help maximize your desired fitness results! Tell us your favorite stretch in the comments below!

The plain and simple answer to this question is: there is no answer. There are too many variables that go into how long you should workout to have one definitive answer that holds true for everybody. Some fitness experts will tell you to do 45 minute workouts everyday; no more, no less. This may be the best route to go for some people - but not all people are the same. Therefore, you have to listen to your body and figure out what works best for you with a little trial and error.  Here are some things to consider when trying to figure out the duration of your workout: Experience Level- Are you a newbie to the world of fitness, a seasoned muscle head, or somewhere in between? If your body isn’t accustomed to the punishment getting in shape involves, your workouts should probably be short and to-the-point (anywhere from 20-30 minutes) to begin with. Once you start noticing that you are becoming stronger, you can either start bumping up the length and/or intensity of your workouts.  Fitness Goals- The types of workouts you do should be directly related to your fitness goals. If you're wanting to gain mass, then you will probably be doing a lot of high volume weight training routines which all vary in length according to how long your breaks are and what muscle group you are targeting that day. If you are training to be more athletic, some of your workouts, like plyometric or HIIT routines, will be shorter due to the high level of intensity.  Intensity- The intensity of your workout is a huge determining factor in how long you should workout. When weight training, some people can go for longer periods of time (1-1.5 hours), especially if they are taking long rests in between sets. In contrast, some CrossFit workouts only last 8 minutes, but they are so intense that you often won't be able to peel yourself off the floor for the rest of the day. The thing to consider here is, did you push your body to the point of extreme fatigue? This is what causes you to change and become stronger. Remember, quality over quantity! Personal Time Constraints- Some people have crazy, hectic lives that only leave them a small allotment of time to get a workout in. If you're one of those people that only have a tiny window of time to workout, doing a 20-30 minute workout is way better than doing nothing at all. The good news is, studies have shown that short, but intense workouts can burn the same amount of calories as a longer workout due to something called the after burn effect. This means you'll continue to burn calories at an accelerated rate even after you're done working out if the intensity was high enough. The key thing to remember is what works for someone else may not necessarily work for you. Listen to your body and happy working out!

Pull-ups have long been considered one of the most fundamental exercises in creating a strong back and that ever-coveted V-taper many guys desire. Being able to preform pull-ups is considered by many organizations, like the military, to be an indicator of superior physical fitness. However, pull-ups provide a lot more benefits than just looking good and impressing people. Here are just a few of our favorite benefits:  1. Compound Upper Body Move- Not only do pull-ups target your upper-back muscles, your biceps, forearms, shoulders, & core also come into play when preforming a pull-up. 2. Variation Variety- There are tons of pull-up variations you can do all depending on your hand placement. Each type targets your muscles differently. For instance, a chin-up incorporates more biceps while a close-grip pull-up targets more of your forearms.  3. Increasing Intensity is Easy- As with every other exercise, you must continually increase the intensity in order to grow and avoid a plateau. Pull-up intensity can be easily increased by simply doing more reps or adding weight with a weighted belt or vest.  4. Increased Heart Rate- Pull-ups use large muscle groups, so they will have your heart rate pumping in no time!  5. Increase Grip Strength- Pull-ups are one of the best ways to increase grip strength which comes in handy for other weight-training exercises and climbing. 6. Convenient- Pull-ups can be done almost anywhere. You don't need thousands of dollars worth of gym equipment to do this exercise-- just your body, a bar, and gravity. Don't Have Access to a Pull-up Bar? Doorframe pull-up bars are relatively inexpensive and work great!  Check out your local running trail. Many of them have outdoor workout stations that include pull-up bars. Head to the nearest playground and use the monkey bars. If you have an open beam ceiling in your basement, use the beam as a pull-up bar Head outside to your patio and use the edge of the deck or railing Do you integrate pull-ups in your workout routine? Tell us how in the comments below!

Get Ready to Burn More Fat in Half the Time! If you've been to a gym or opened a fitness magazine lately you've probably have at least heard of the word HIIT, but what the heck does HIIT even mean? HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and it has very quickly become one of top trending ways to burn fat. Why? Because if done correctly you can burn up to 9 times the amount of fat than a traditional steady-state cardio workout would!How is it Done?HIIT is done by alternating high intensity exercises with low intensity exercises (or resting) for a set amount of time (20-60 seconds) and can be done with pretty much any bodyweight exercise including running, squatting, lunging, kicking, punching, jump roping, & more! Benefits of HIIT Metabolism Increase- HIIT will speed up your metabolic rate for up to 48 hours after you've finished working out.  Fast & Convenient- Most HIIT routines are less than 30 minutes and you can literally do it anywhere since little to no equipment is required. Gone are the days of not having time to workout!  No Equipment Required- The only weight you need for HIIT is the weight your own body supplies. Most moves in HIIT routines use bodyweight exercises; although, feel free to add weighted moves to up the intensity.  Burns More Fat While Retaining Muscle- Studies have shown that over a 20 week period, people who consistently did HIIT routines burned 9 times the amount of body fat and retained more lean muscle mass over the people who just did low intensity, steady-state cardio.  Ready to give HIIT a try? Here are few example workouts for you to give a go!10 Minute Beginner HIIT Workout 3 rounds- 20 seconds high intensity, 10 seconds rest Jumping Jacks Squats Jab, Cross (Right Side) Jab, Cross (Left Side) *30 seconds of rest in between each round Advanced HIIT Workout3 Rounds- 45 seconds high intensity, 15 Second Rest Burbpees Jumping Lunges Tricep Dips Side Lunges Push-ups Tuck Jumps Mountain Climbers *1 minute of rest in between each round Have you tried HIIT Before? Let us know your favorite workout in the comments below!