Can’t find your hidden calories? They are everywhere. That meatball sample at the supermarket (almost 100 calories), 10 french fries (40 calories), a handful of gummy bears from the office candy jar (80 calories), just a taste of birthday cake (50 calories) that sweet tea you are drinking (a TINY glass has over 100 calories) get the idea!! Keep your food diary, record everything and find all the hidden calories.

There is really almost no other way to know if you are overconsuming calories or not. At least to establish a benchmark and anytime you hit a plateau or gain weight.

There are so many sources of calories, such as beverages, gum, candy, portion size — it is really hard to know without it.

I have had several clients of mine lately who have lamented about how hard they are working and that they are not losing — only to find once we talked that their beverages were several hundred calories per day. It takes a lot of cardio to burn that off. WRITE IT DOWN! Track everything for a week — you will be surprised

AND I DO MEAN PART. Anyone who eats a high protein diet is not eating a balanced diet and this can affect many things in your life including your kidneys, heart, liver, reproduction, digestion, etc.

For example, removing grains in an effort to increase protein and reduce carbohydrates can make come up short on vitamins such as folic acid and thiamin. For women, these are crucial as both prevent birth defects and are necessary for a growing fetus.

A healthy body comes from BALANCE just like all things in nature. And weight loss and sustainable weight loss come from that too. Is protein a part of that – ABSOLUTELY!!! Good lean sources of protein such as lean meats, lentils and some protein shakes can make all the difference in ensuring you get all the protein you need. But be sure to focus on ALL the parts of your diet. A body that is fed on just protein is like a car with a great engine but bald tires, no windshield and a rusted body. It may go for a little while but it is not sustainable.

Well it could be the difference between being healthy and being injured. Especially as we age, people need to stretch in order to not only feel good but to prevent injury.

Tight hamstrings, painful IT bands, sore knees — often these are just failure to stretch. Sometimes that failure over a period of time will cause greater problems that require surgery so if you are not incorporating stretching into your routine, ask a professional Board Certified Personal Trainer to lay out a plan for you.

NASM researched all of the issues with the nutrition field and wanted to find a way for you, the consumer, to have nutrition information from trainers because personal trainers are in the field with you working on your body.

NASM worked with researchers from many universities including Penn State and University of California to find a way to utilize the program that is already available via the USDA.

The MY PLATE program that you have seen Michelle Obama going on about. It is not new, it is just renamed in order to make it simpler. It is still, however, complicated for many people to use on their own so using a Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist will ensure that you use the program correctly.

Having a certification also prevents the consumer from going to just ANYONE who has a diet. Ask your trainer their credentials before you accept any program from them. Are they certified? Where did this program come from? These are the same questions whether you are talking about your workout or your nutrition.