FitSW Blog - Page 7 of 20 - Personal Trainer Software & Fitness Business Blog

iOS App For Trainers – Drafting Update

We recently released many new features and updates to our iOS, Android, and Web applications! These updates included changing the word “Diets” to “Nutrition, deleting an entire series of events, countless usability improvements, and various bug fixes. Now, we are excited to announce that we have added the ability to view drafts to our iOS app for trainers!

New Drafting Feature

We have added the ability to see your drafts in our iOS app for trainers! While we are still working on adding the ability to create drafts directly in the iOS app, you can see all of the drafted and published events in our iOS app!

What Are Drafted Workouts, Tasks, and Diets?

Drafting your events makes it so your clients will not be able to see them until you publish them. This is great if you are creating a new workout that you still need to tweak or if you are too busy to finish the event that day. Also, if you accidentally quit out of FitSW, or something happens to your internet connection, all of your data will be saved as a draft. This ensures that you never lose any of the data that you worked hard to input!

Examples Of New Drafting Feature

If your event is in draft form, you will see text under the event name titled “Draft” in red. If the event is published, you will not see any text under the name of the event. This makes it easy to tell which workouts, tasks, or diet is in draft form. For an example of what this looks like from the workouts dashboard, please refer to the image below.

If you are on the details screen (for example the Workout Details screen), there is a status event on the bottom of the page. This is where you could previously see if the workout was Open, Not Met, or Complete. Now, in this section, you can also see if the workout is Published or a Draft. For an example of what this looks like, please refer to the image below.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On These Updates To Our iOS App For Trainers!

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously. So, if you have any feedback or comments on these updates or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article or on any other article on our blog! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

Updates To Our Android App For Trainers

We are excited to announce that we have released a big update to our Android app for trainers! In this update, we have changed the word “Diets” to “Nutrition” throughout the Android app, saving events as drafts, countless improvements to existing features, and various minor bug fixes.

New Features To FitSW’s Android App For Trainers

Diets Changed To Nutrition Throughout Android App

We have been working hard to change the word “Diets” to “Nutrition” throughout our software on all platforms. We have already ensured that our web software and iOS apps have had this change. Now, our Android app for trainers also received this change! The reasoning for this change was because the word diets can have a negative meaning for some individuals. Conversely, nutrition has a more positive meaning and usually convey’s a more accurate description of what nutrition and health coaches do.

Saving Workouts, Tasks, & Diets As Drafts

android app for trainers drafting update

Last month, we added the ability to create drafts of your workouts, diets, and tasks on our web software. Now, this feature is live on our Android app for trainers! You can save drafts of your events and your personal training clients will not see them until you publish them. This is perfect for new programs or events that you wish to revisit later. Also, if you accidentally quit or your connection is lost, your events will automatically be saved as a draft. This ensures you never lose any of your data!

Applying Changes To All Events In Series

You’ve always had the ability to create a series of events for your personal training clients. Or in other words, you can create repeating workouts, tasks, or diets that will repeat as much as you want. Now, you can update all of the events associated with the original one that you created! This makes it faster and easier to update your workouts, diets, and tasks.

Improvements To Existing Features

This most recent update included many improvements to existing features that our Android app already had. These improvements include changes to our

Continuous Line For Notes

android app for trainers note improvements

When adding notes to your workouts, tasks, and diets, you used to have to scroll to the right if your text exceeded the screen limit. However, now your notes section will continue on to the text line, making it so you can see all of the text you have entered.

Result Data Improvements

Previously, if your client entered exercise progress data and you wanted to edit that workout, the results would have to be deleted in order to edit the workout. However, you can now edit workouts that have exercise progress data without removing the results!

Bug Fixes

As with all software, we’ve received some isolated reports of minor bugs in our software. These bugs included some users not able not to view the equipment list when editing an exercise, custom YouTube video URL’s not functioning when adding them to a custom inputted exercise, and the tasks section not having notes. All of these bugs have been identified and resolved!

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On These Updates To Our Android App For Trainers!

FitSW Personal Training App – iOS Updates

We’ve just released a new iOS update for our personal training app! These updates include the title “Diets” being changed to “Nutrition” in our iOS app, the ability to delete a series of events, and multiple other usability improvements and features.

Diet Changed to Nutrition

We recently changed the title “Diets” to “Nutrition” throughout our web software. We just made it so that this change is now live on iOS. The reason we are making this change is because of the difference in meaning between these two words. The word diet can have a negative meaning to a lot of trainers and clients. Conversely, nutrition has a much more positive meaning. For more information on this, visit our blog article on the reasoning we changed the title “Diets” to “Nutrition”.

Delete Entire Series Of Events

iOS personal training app delete series of events update

You’ve always had the ability to delete an entire series of workouts, diets, and tasks on our web software. Or in other words, if you created a repeating event, you could delete all of the repeating events with one click. We are excited to announce that this feature is now available on our iOS personal training app! This feature applies to all repeating workouts, tasks, and diets that you create or have already created. You can still have the option to only delete one event, though now you can delete all of the repeating events for a workout, diet, or task.

Other Usability Improvements & Features

We also added multiple other usability improvements and features to our software. These include the ability to delete specific time frames, the ability to scroll down completely when the keyboard is active, a better flow to entering progress, and improvements when entering workout data.

Deleting Time Frames

You can now delete time frames for your workouts. For example, if you set a time for your workout from 12:00 – 1:30 PM, you can now delete this time frame. You already had the ability to edit it, which you still can do, though now you have the ability to delete the time frame entirely.

Scrolling When Keyboard Is Open

We found that the keyboard on specific pages may cover up some lines. Thus, we have added the ability to scroll much farther down, ensuring that every line and screen is fully visible.

Entering Assessment Progress

We’ve made it easier to add assessment progress data into our software via our iOS personal training app. Now, there is a faster and better flow when you are entering your data, making it more seamless and taking less time than before.

Whole Numbers For Workout Data

Previously when entering workout data, you could add any type of number, letter, or symbol. However, the data would only be saved if you entered a whole number or a comma (when separating your sets, reps, or weights). This was because our system couldn’t recognize how many reps or sets you wanted to give to your clients if it wasn’t a whole number. Now, you can only enter whole numbers and commas for your workouts. This ensures that your data is always saved and you never lose any of the progress you enter!

We Want Your Feedback On Our FitSW Personal Training App Updates!

Personal Trainer Nutrition Plans – Updates

FitSW has used the title “Diets” to describe our nutrition and diet planning feature for quite some time. However, some users have reached out and said that the word diets can have some negative connotations. There are multiple reasons for this, though many people thought that the word diet doesn’t encompass what they do. Therefore, we have changed the word “Diets” to “Nutrition” throughout our software. This better represents the personal trainer nutrition plans that are assigned to clients. This feature is currently available on our web software and will be added to our iOS and Android apps very soon.

Diets Changed to Nutrition

You will no longer see the word Diets in our software. Instead, we have replaced it with the word Nutrition. One of the reasons for this is because of the technical definition of these words. The definition of diets is: “a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons”. Conversely, the definition of nutrition is: “the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth”. As you can see, nutrition means something much different. While the word “diets” technically translates to “losing weight”, nutrition has a much more positive meaning and connotation. Furthermore, since multiple trainers reached out to us about changing this, we thought it was a great time to change it throughout our software.

We Want Your Feedback On Our Personal Trainer Nutrition Plans Updates!

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously. So, if you have any feedback or comments on this update or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article or on any other article on our blog! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

FitSW Personal Trainer App – Dark Mode Updates For iOS

Apple recently released a brand new update that enabled the use of dark mode across all of the apps and programs on the App Store. Many users prefer using apps and software in dark mode, thus the reasoning for this update. Our app was not previously available in dark mode, being permanently set to a light mode setting. However, we are excited to announce that our iOS personal trainer app is now 100% functional in dark mode!

What is Dark Mode?

Dark mode is almost exactly what it sounds like, its a dark mode for your iPhone. Instead of the background being white, it is now dark colors such as black or dark grey. This makes it easier on your eyes and many users prefer to view different apps and software in dark mode. Some apps had previously had the option within them to turn them into dark mode, though this Apple update made it so all apps and screens will be turned to dark mode, depending on your iPhone’s settings.

Dark Mode Examples

If your phone is in dark mode, your FitSW iOS app will automatically change! Above you can see some examples of what dark mode looks like in our app. However, this feature is currently live! This means you can go into your FitSW app and see all of your own screens and data in dark mode!

FitSW Wants Your Feedback on our Dark Mode Updates for FitSW Personal Trainer App!

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously. So, if you have any feedback or comments on these dark mode updates or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article or on the rest of our blog! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

How To Keep Online Training Clients Motivated

Motivating your online training clients can seem like a daunting task, as you never, or rarely, meet with them in person. But, there is a reason that online personal training has been growing rapidly. Because it works. Motivating your clients is an important part of making our online fitness programs successful and there are many strategies you can use. These methods include scheduling weekly calls, assigning tasks/goals, and showing them their progress.

Weekly Calls

Holding weekly calls with your clients is a great way to motivate them. Having your clients hear you (and possibly see you) is a great way to connect with your clients. Additionally, it is a fantastic way to show your clients that you are a fitness expert, as hearing is much more convincing that reading. Reading your fitness programs through software can still have a great effect on clients’ motivation, though it’s important for them to feel engaged.

On these calls, you can talk about things such as:

What worked with the training program?
Is there anything that didn’t work with the training program?
Were there any highlights about the week?
What were their struggles this week (not just with the fitness program)?
What did they enjoy or dislike about the training?

These are just some examples and you should make them personalized for your online training clients. However, using weekly calls like this can have a huge impact on your clients and really push them to the next level.

Assigning Tasks For Online Training Clients

Your clients have probably already told you what they are hoping to achieve through your training. Additionally, you’ve created a fitness program for the long-term goal. However, what about short-term goals? Tasks can be a great way to help your clients achieve their short and long term goals.

Assigning tasks for your online training clients is a great way to keep them motivated. This may be the extra push they need to achieve their fitness goals. Some examples of tasks you can assign your clients is:

Take the stairs at work
Sleep for at least 7 hours
Drink at least 5 full cups of water
Do not put any sugar in your coffee

These are merely examples and you should personalize each task to your client’s goals. However, creating tasks is a great motivational tool. They can keep your clients on track and help them towards their long term and short term goals. Additionally, creating them is easy with the use of personal trainer software. Your clients will have a list of all of the week’s tasks whether they are on their computer or phone.

Exercise Progress/Assessment Graphs

exercise progress for online training clients

Exercise progress graphs and assessment graphs are great for keeping your clients motivated and engaged. These graphs take the data from the results of your client’s workouts and automatically inputs them into beautiful looking graphs. Additionally, taking bicep measurements, BMI, and other assessments are also input into graphs.

Both you and your clients can see how they are performing and it can be a powerful motivational tool. If they miss a workout and start losing progress, you’ll be able to show them. If they’ve been staying on track and getting closer to their fitness goals, you can show them that too!

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On Motivating Online Training Clients!

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously, So, if you have any feedback or comments on how to motivate your online training clients or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

Copying Workouts, Tasks, & Diets For Clients

We’ve been working hard to update our software and make it even easier for you to manage your fitness business. Recently, we released new features such as improvements to our workout creator, the ability to ungroup supersets seamlessly, making it possible to create drafts for your events, and many other features! Included in these updates was a better and easier way to copy. We changed our old copying method slightly which appealed to many users. However, after listening to the feedback from our community, we found that some users preferred our original method of copying workouts, tasks, and diets for clients. So, we’ve made it so both ways of copying are available for use!

Updated Way To Copy Workouts, Tasks, & Diets For Clients

copying workouts, tasks, and diets for clients

Included with many other features we released was a new way to quickly copy workouts, tasks, and diets for clients in seconds. We already described this new feature. However, for all intents and purposes, we’ll run through how it works again! This new way of copying included the ability to copy events and then apply them to additional clients. Also, this is where you can set it to repeat, how often, and if it is saved as a draft or a published event.

This new way of copying makes is a much faster process to copy workouts, tasks, and diets for clients. However, some users preferred the original method of copying events.

Original Way To Copy Workouts, Tasks, & Diets For Clients

As soon as you clicked the copy button, it would take you to the workout creation screen. This is where you would edit the event for your client and then publish it.

This method of copying has returned! The original option to copy is right next to “Copy Workout” and is titled “Copy & Edit”. This will allow you to copy an event for one client and go to the edit workout, task, or diet screen. See the image below for an example of what that looks like.

copy and edit modal window — Copy & Edit Screen

If you want this workout to repeat, be applied to additional clients, or want to add it to your schedule, you still can! Once you edit your event for your client, there will be an “Additional” section at the bottom (see image below for an example of what it looks like). This is where you will make the event repeat. Additionally, this is where you can apply it to additional clients and add them to your schedule.

additional section for workouts, tasks, or diets for clients

FitSW Wants Your Feedback!

We are very excited to have released these improvements to our software and would love your thoughts! If you have any feedback or comments on this or anything else, contact us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

Becoming an Online Personal Trainer: A Step-by-Step Guide

Online Personal Trainer Creating Programs

At some point in their career, many fitness professionals will look at becoming an online personal trainer. Becoming an online trainer is attractive as it can drastically expand your income potential. The internet knows no hours, it knows no boundaries. It doesn’t get tired and doesn’t stop growing.

However, before you get started with online personal training, there are some important pieces of becoming an online personal trainer you should consider.

DO,

take a calculated approach.

DON’T,

just start a website up, run ads at random people, and hope for the best. If there were a getting started guide for “How to fail at becoming an online personal trainer“, that would be it right there.

Anyway, we press on. Here is our step-by-step guide on How to Become an Online Personal Trainer.

Step 1: Find your Target Audience

This is one of the most important aspects of becoming an online trainer. Without this, you are either trying to be an “all-in-one” trainer or you are going to lack direction.

Your target audience will be the people who need something that you are good at. So it’s important to…

identify your strengths and weaknesses.

What are you passionate about? Where do you like helping out the most? Do you feel like you’re going to pee yourself in front of large crowds?

If so, coaching large groups may not be the direction you want to take.

Pro tip: if you’re a new personal trainer, train a crowd with diverse needs and find where you did best. Use this later on to develop your target audience if you are considering becoming an online personal trainer.

Here are some good examples of niches you can occupy as a personal trainer:

Train people battling chronic illnesses.
Prepare people for going to a Military Boot camp.
Helping pregnant woman get fit and ready for child birth.
Getting woman post-child birth back on their feet.
Training police officers for fitness exams.
Creating programs for triathletes.

Notice how specific each one of those is?

There are many reasons why you should pick a specific niche. You cut out some competition and it helps you refine your marketing and branding messages to ring true with people.

In addition, since your niche is something you have passion and expertise in, it can help avoiding burnout later on down the road.

You’ll see later on that your target audience is like your foundation of your business. If you are serious about becoming an online personal trainer, you won’t skimp on these details.

Step 2: Develop Your Business Model

There are a lot of different ways to run your business when becoming an online personal trainer. Having a business model in place can help you take more concrete steps rather then just selling something you “feel” might sell.

Your business model helps you define your brand, the services you provide, and how you provide those services.

Questions that should be answered by your business model are:

What type of training do you offer? In-person private training? Online coaching?
Will people buy single sessions? Packages? Will it be a subscription?
What will your prices be?

A lot of this depends on your target audience. Do you see why it’s so important to have a well defined target audience?

While building a business model, it’s also important to consider the pros and cons of each business model.

Offering a subscription model can have a lot of earning potential. But, it also takes a lot more skill in sales and marketing to get a good client base going.

Step 3: Build your Website

With a business model and target audience in hand, it’s time to build a website.

There are many ways to go about building your website when becoming an online personal trainer. You can have one built for you or you can build it yourself with a site builder.

There are negatives and benefits to both. For starters, site builders like Wix make it quick and easy to get a website up and running, for cheap.

However, sometimes their interface can be difficult to deal with. In turn, this might cause you to settle on a template that you either bought or got for free. This might also mean sacrificing some user experience which can reap havoc on whether or not you’re turning visitors into customers.

On the flip side, getting one built for you is a sure fire way to have a more customized option. One that you might feel conveys your brands messaging seamlessly and will more likely provide a cohesive user experience as well. If you’d like to have a website built for you, you’re faced with a couple options for this.

You can post a job listing on a site like Jobsora for a freelance web designer/web developer. This option is more likely to be your best bet in finding someone who has experience and is able to translate your vision into a real product. The only drawback to this is the price tag is more likely to be higher. But when you think about it, the payoff is more likely to be much larger then the price you pay for the website.
Alternatively, you can go to sites like Fiverr or Upwork to find cheaper rates if you are on a budget. However, you will probably have a harder time finding someone who has the experience you need.

Step 4: Make a Marketing Plan

There’s no use in a site if no one’s going to it!

There are many ways to market yourself as a personal trainer, whether you’re an online trainer or in-person, the marketing strategies themselves are often similar.

Digital Marketing

Utilizing digital marketing efforts can be one of the most effective ways to drive visitors to your site, collect their info, and eventually turn them into paying customers.

Digital Marketing can be broken down into a couple main categories:

Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Sponsored Ads

When using these strategies, you just have to make sure you are driving the right people to your site.

This is where you develop an online marketing/sales funnel. In order to determine where to get started with your marketing/sales funnel, put yourself in the shoes of your target audience.

What problems are they trying to solve for themselves? What are they searching for on the internet? And where do your services fit in as a solution?

Content Marketing

The first part of your funnel visitors might encounter is your blog geared towards solving their problem. This is an example of Content Marketing. This is often considered a “top of the funnel” activity. All that means is you are in the early stages of the marketing process.

An example blog might be “5 tips that guarantee you pass your police academy fitness exam“.

In the blog, the goal is to provide valuable information to the visitor and then allow for them to subscribe to your newsletter if they determine the blog was helpful.

SEO

There are a variety of methods you can use to make sure people are seeing your blog. One method that’s a must is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO can get complex. But it doesn’t have to be.

Essentially, you are optimizing your blog for search engines to read. Which, in turn, allows for them to rank your blog according to “how relevant” the search engine determines your blog is.

This involves doing research on popular topics and keywords. In the example blog above “5 tips that guarantee you pass your police academy fitness exam“, the keyword would be “police academy fitness exam” or something similar.

In choosing your keyword you want to make sure it’s relevant to the blog topic and is at least somewhat relevant to your business. You wouldn’t want to be writing a bunch of blogs on obscure topics. Sure, you might have written a masterpiece of a blog but if it isn’t relevant, does it even exist?

SEO Tools

Using tools like Ubersuggest can help you do this research. Don’t worry, it’s free and pretty easy to use.

You can also use popular plugins like Yoast SEO as well. Yoast helps you make sure your blog is SEO compliant while you are writing your blog. It’s a very handy tool to use and helps take the stress off your back.

One last point before moving on, you can also use social media to drive traffic to your blog. Starting an Instagram account for your business is another great content marketing method. On your account, you can post pieces of valuable content that help visitors to your account solve problems. It’s like a small taste of what’s to offer in your blog.

In the sponsored ads section, you’ll see one last method of driving traffic to your blog.

Email Marketing

In the last section I mentioned allowing for blog visitors to subscribe to a newsletter. You provided a piece of valuable content to them and in exchange they give you their contact info.

There’s a caveat to this. Your content has to be valuable.

Without the value, there is no exchanging of contact information. They just leave, never to come back and thus, no lead to send lovely emails to. 🙁

Anyway, back to email marketing. Since they have given you their email, this gives you the opportunity to streamline content straight to their email inbox. And what does this content do? It solves problems for them and drives them to your site where you have listed client testimonials, you services, etc…

Hopefully by now, you have a beautiful specimen of a site. One that’s easy to navigate. One that converts visitors into leads. If not, you’re doomed. Pack your bags and go home. It’s over.

Social Media Ads

There are different types of social media ads you can run. There are some that focus on creating brand awareness.

This might entail running an ad that provides some information about the service you offer and provides a link for them to go check out your site.

Then there are ads that focus on conversions.

The term “conversion” is used a lot in digital marketing. Basically, a conversion is a user completing some action you intended for them to complete through a marketing activity.

In different cases, conversions can mean different things. Maybe the intention of your ad was to get them to sign up for your newsletter or maybe you were trying to get them to purchase a package from you. It really just depends on the goal of the ad you are running. However, a successful completion of the overall ads goal is a conversion.

Social media ads can be a really powerful tool to reel in site visitors who might be on the fence with signing up or purchasing a package. This is because you can run re-targeting ads.

With re-targeting ads, you can really simply create audiences that your ads are shown to based on their interaction with your site.

For example, you can tell Facebook ads to create an audience based on “people who viewed the check out page but didn’t check out”. Because you know they viewed the checkout page but didn’t check out, you can run an ad to that audience with a promo code or some other ad that is geared towards getting them to purchase something from you.

Step 5: Using a Client Management Software

Imagine this. You have found your target audience, built a solid business model, launched an amazing site, come up with a genius marketing strategy, and the flood gates have opened.

People are purchasing your packages left and right. You can’t believe it. It’s a dream come true.

Then it dawns on you.

You have to manage each one of those clients and their programs through a combination of email, excel, word, the invoicing service you use, and any other software you are using as a part of your service.

Not to mention you need to be have good and consistent record keeping. Both for legal and tax purposes.

What if a client gets hurt while doing a workout you gave them and they try to sue you?

Well, no big deal, right? You had them sign a liability waiver that should have you covered. It’s just somewhere on your computer… with the hundreds of other documents… or in that pile of paper, or is it the other pile?

Crap.

Don’t get sued. Use a client management software.

The situation above is exactly why FitSW has features like client forms.

This way, instead of nervously searching your PC or piles of paper for that liability waiver, you can just go straight into that clients profile in FitSW and pull it up. Along with their existing workouts, nutrition programs, exercise history, past communications, and many other key aspects of your business.

Aside from legal and tax reasons, there are many other reasons to use a client management software.

Antiquated workflows, such as, using Excel, Word, and email messaging to deliver programs simply are not scalable. They take way too much time.

FitSW offers exercise libraries complete with demo videos, a pre-made food list to choose from for nutrition programs, the ability to turn past workouts into templates for future ones, scheduling recurring workouts, and much more.

The entire system is meant to be scalable.

Thoughts on Becoming an Online Personal Trainer: A Step-by-Step Guide?

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously. So, if you have any feedback or comments on this article or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article or on any other article on our blog! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

Personal Trainer Weight Loss – Tips & Information

Whether you want to lose weight for special occasions or just improve your health, weight loss is a common goal. When someone wants to lose a couple of pounds, the most common question is: “How quickly will I lose weight?” Personal trainer weight loss programs are a great option, though it’s important to understand how to be able to lose weight on your own. For people to quickly achieve effective results, the key to effective weight loss is in the number of calories. To set realistic expectations, you may need to know what healthy weight loss is, and this article explains the factors that affect how long it should take you to lose weight.

Calories In VS Calories Out

Calories, compared to calories from the body, are the key to weight loss (and gain). Usually, people who try to lose a few kilograms are told to count their calories. Whether you want to lose 5 or 20 pounds, this can be equally difficult. You can also use a metabolic approach based on metabolic confusion, where one can train their metabolism to burn fat faster and more effectively. It is recommended that you choose a diet that is appropriate for your calorie intake.

How Weight Loss Occurs

Weight loss occurs when you consume fewer calories than you burn every day. On the contrary, weight gain occurs when you eat more calories than you burn. Any food or drink you ingest with calories is taken into account in your total calorie intake. However, the amount of calories burned per day, which is known as energy or calorie consumption, is a little more complicated. Calorie consumption consists mainly of the following three components (1 Trusted source):

Resting Metabolic Rate of Rest (RMR). This is the number of calories your body needs to maintain normal body functions, such as breathing and pumping blood.
Thermal effects of food (TEF). This applies to calories used for digestion, absorption, and metabolization of food.
Thermal effect of activity (FSE). These are the calories you use during your workouts. The feasibility study may also include the Thermogenesis of Non-Chargeable Activity (NEAT), which takes into account calories used for activities such as yard work and nonsense.

If your calorie intake is equal to the number of calories you burn, you maintain your weight. If you want to lose weight, you need to create a negative calorie balance by consuming fewer calories than you burn, or burn more calories through increased activity.

Slow Weight Loss

Rapid weight loss, such as trying to lose 10-20 pounds in a week, is not only unrealistic but also harmful to health, therefore it is better to lose weight at a slower rate. The real goal of weight loss is to lose one to two pounds a week, says Jennifer A. Linde, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. Linde adds that the goal of reducing the starting weight by 5-10 percent is achievable.

Set a Realistic Time Frame

Weight loss in a healthy way – slowly – takes time, so do not plan to lose 25 pounds of weight in just two weeks. If you lose one to two pounds a week, it will take you just over 12 weeks, or three months, to lose 25 pounds a week. To lose weight in a healthy way, you need to reduce 500-1000 calories per day, consuming less food and more exercise.

In addition to determining the long-term duration of your weight loss, you should also set short-term goals. Focus on the first five pounds of weight and celebrate when you lose it.

Tracking Progress

Keep track of your progress, such as weight loss and inches, in any way you like, whether online or in a print magazine. Many studies have shown that keeping a food diary or calorie tracking journal can help and motivate you to lose weight. It’s hard to eat this grand burrito when you look at the number of calories it contains on the page in front of you.

How About Quick Weight Loss?

Of course, losing 20 pounds of weight will quickly leave your friends and many others, amazed at your miraculous weight loss. However, such rapid weight loss can be dangerous, if it is not done under the guidance of a doctor.

You will have to devote more than seven hours a week to intensive exercise under medical supervision. According to Tansinger, diets that consume between 1050 and 1200 calories and exercise for at least one hour a day can lose 3-5 pounds of weight in the first week: two pounds in the diet and one pound in physical activity every week.

To achieve rapid but healthy weight loss, Tansinger recommends reducing sodium intake and starch consumption. This will reduce fluid intake and retention, which can result in a loss of up to five pounds of fluid.

Personal Trainer Weight Loss Program

There are a ton of personal trainers that specialize in weight loss. Their personal trainer weight loss programs are designed to help clients lose weight. Additionally, they are experts in the fitness industry and can give you helpful tips that you can’t find anywhere else.

If you’re having trouble staying on a weight loss program and need additional motivation, a personal trainer might be right for you. Also, there are a ton of online personal trainers. You can find a personal trainer regardless of where you are located or your time availability, making it easier than ever to find a personal trainer weight loss program that’s right for you.

Summary of Personal Trainer Weight Loss Info

As a result, you can quickly lose a lot of weight, but you need to do it safely and under medical supervision. However, the safest method of weight loss is to reduce your food intake and exercise, while taking into consideration your calorie intake, with the goal of reducing your weight by 1-2 pounds per week.

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How Stretching Before Bed Can Improve Sleep Quality

Most people have a regular bedtime routine, even if you don’t necessarily think of yours in that way. At the very least, your routine probably consists of teeth brushing or removing your contacts — but are you doing anything to get your muscles and brain ready for bed? In a review of Chinese and American studies from the medical journal Sleep Medicine Reviews, meditative movements like yoga and tai chi before bed proved to improve sleep quality, and also enhance the overall well-being of an individual’s physical and mental health. As a matter of fact, yoga has turned out to be highly beneficial for those who struggle to fall asleep at night due to either sore muscles, or a restless mind.

In a survey by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, over half of the people who engaged in yoga before bed said it helped them get more restful sleep. However, you don’t need to be a die-hard yogi to reap the benefits of yoga. There are several gentle yoga poses almost anybody can do that help contribute to a better night’s sleep by relieving tension in muscles and promoting the practice of meditation. As you hold certain positions, you’re forced to focus on your body and your breathing which helps relieve stress, and teaches you to be more mindful of your thoughts. It’s not easy to dwell on your stressful day at work while you’re concentrating on holding your form. After your light yoga session, you should feel calmer, more relaxed, and ready to hop into bed.

On a personal note, incorporating yoga into my bedtime routine has helped relieve the pressure in my joints and hips after sitting at my desk for close to eight hours per day. Previously, as a person who spends a lot of time sleeping on their side, I’d wake up feeling tight and sore the following morning after 7+ hours of non-stop pressure against my hip, even if I slept on a plush mattress.

Here are a few simple, but effective stretches you can do in the comfort of your own home to help you improve sleep quality.

1.) Butterfly Pose

This is a great pose to do before bed because it’s a meditative movement. It allows you to gently stretch your inner thighs and lower back, while you focus on your breathing and enter a state of relaxation.

Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, then bring the soles of your feet together. Without bending your spine, pull your feet in towards your body and deepen the stretch. Rest in this pose for as long as you see fit.

2.) Child’s Pose

This is another less demanding, meditative pose that engages your muscles and your mind. Child’s pose relieves tension in your back, neck, and shoulders, and it’s a good stretch to resort back to in between other stretches. Especially if you start getting more advanced with your movements.

For this stretch, you’ll want to sit with your knees on the floor hip-distance apart and lean back so your behind is resting on your heels. Lower your head to the ground so your forehead is touching the ground, and reach your hands straight out in front of you with your palms facing down. Hold this position for five minutes.

3.) Seated Side Stretch

This is another simple sitting pose that’ll make your body and muscles ultra-relaxed before bed. The seated side stretch will target your obliques while you also work on strengthening your core and lengthening your spine.

Sit on the ground starting with your right leg extended outward, and the other one crisscrossed. Using your left arm, reach it over your head toward your extended leg while you remain seated. You should be feeling the stretch on the left side of your body. Keep your left arm lifted above your ear, and rest your other arm resting on the floor. Hold for 10 breaths, and switch sides.

4.) Bridge

We aren’t talking about the fully extended bridge you’ve probably seen professional gymnasts do, we’re talking about the before-bed bridge. This one is easier to accomplish, but you still get a good stretch in your glutes, core muscles, hamstrings, and adductors.

Lay on the ground facing the ceiling with your feet flat on the floor, and bend your knees. Keep your arms at your sides with your palms facing up. Incorporate your abs and press into your heels, bringing your hips and back off the ground. Hold the position for 10 slow inhales.

5.) Low Lunge

This is an ideal pose for those of you who work at an office where you spend the majority of your day sitting down because it’ll loosen the tension in your hips and make them feel less tight. Aside from your hip flexors, you’ll also be targeting your hamstrings, glutes and your groin area. Also, keep your chest open while you lunge to help relieve back pain and pressure in your shoulders.

Start on all fours, and step up with your right leg, placing it on the outside your right hand. Next, bring your left knee back so it’s behind your toes on your right foot. Keep your hands on the floor for balance, or lift them up towards the ceiling. Hold for 10 slow inhales, and switch legs.

6.) Corpse Pose

Yes, laying flat on the ground is actually considered a yoga pose. You won’t be stretching out any muscles during the corpse pose, but you’ll certainly be relaxing the mind. Save this position for the end of your stretching routine, because you’ll likely find yourself asleep by the end of it.

Crawl into bed and lay on your back with your legs spread out in front of you about hip distance apart. Your arms should remain at your side, with your palms facing up towards the ceiling. Close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Hold this position for about five minutes, or until you slowly drift off to sleep.

McKenzie Dillon is a blogger and sleep enthusiast for The Slumber Yard, a review site that focuses on bedding products. When she’s not sleeping, McKenzie likes attending music festivals, reading fiction novels and practicing yoga.

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