There are many bootcamp Spokane programs out there that pull you out of your day-to-day life to teach you how to lose weight. While these programs do work while you are there, once you are thrust back into the real world, keeping the weight off might not be so easy. Here are some tips to keeping the weight off!

Obstacle #1 You crank the AC

Go green! Here’s how it can save (the shape of) your own rear, too: In a study published in Physiology & Behavior, researchers found that exposure to temperatures above the “thermoneutral zone”-the artificial climate we create with clothes, heating, or air conditioning-decreases our appetite and food intake. “At a slightly uncomfortable 81 degrees, the women in the study experienced a 20 percent decrease in appetite and ate 10 percent less than at 72 degrees,” says lead author Margriet S. Westerterp-Plantenga, Ph.D., a professor of food-intake regulation in the department of human biology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Detour

Instead of cranking the air conditioner every time you feel a little warm, learn to endure slightly steamier conditions. Hitting the “off” button is well worth a little discomfort if it helps you lose the saddlebags.

Obstacle #2 Always a go-getter, you work out at 6 a.m.

Why not? Morning workouts are great-if you go to bed at 10 p.m. In a recent study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, women who slept 7 or more hours a night were less likely to put on weight than women who didn’t. Those who slept only 6 hours a night were 12 percent more likely to gain substantial weight-33 pounds on average over the course of 16 years! (Women who slept a measly 5 hours had a 32 percent chance of gaining 30 or more pounds.) Other studies have linked lack of sleep to a higher BMI and have found that it negatively affects levels of the appetite-regulating hormones ghrelin and leptin.

Detour

Don’t sacrifice your snooze time-not even for an extra-long run. And quality matters more than quantity, so taking a siesta later won’t help. “In a 20-minute power nap you don’t get into the deep-sleep stage,” says Donna Taliaferro, Ph.D., associate professor of nursing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who conducts research on sleep and circadian rhythms. “You need to go through the cycles of sleep over a few hours to get the restorative rest that allows your body to work properly.” Bottom line: You’re better off sleeping through your workout every other day than stumbling to a sunrise Pilates class on too few z’s.

Obstacle #3 You’re a teetotaler (or a sot!)

So what? Alcohol may not be the diet kryptonite you thought it was. Recent research showed that those who have a single drink a couple times a week have a lower risk of becoming obese than either teetotalers or heavy drinkers. Those who consume more than four drinks daily, on the other hand, boost their odds of obesity by 46 percent.

Detour

Go ahead and have a drink; just avoid belly-busters like a 245-calorie pina colada. Instead, raise a glass of heart-smart merlot (123 calories per 5 ounces), Bud Light (110 calories per 12 ounces), champagne (88 calories per 4 ounces), or sake (39 calories per ounce). Or mix a 100-calorie cocktail, like vodka and diet tonic or tequila and club soda. “Just make sure you drink it with some healthy food, such as raw veggies with low-fat dip or whole-wheat pita and hummus,” advises Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Eating slows the rise of alcohol in your blood — and cuts the odds you’ll drunk-order the deep-fried mozzarella sticks.

Even with all of these great ideas, many people can’t find success on their own. Zach Hunt with Physzque Personal Fitness can help you get in the best shape of your life! Continued in PART 2.

Everyone likes to have a good time, especially on a Friday night after a long, hard week. We all need to find time to relax, and going to a Spokane bar is an easy way to burn off steam, but do you know what those yummy, sweet drinks are doing to your brain, organs, and waist line? Bars in Spokane are helping you get fatter.

The ingredient that gives you that relaxed, uninhibited feeling is ethanol, which comes from fermented grains. From the moment you swallow, it is treated differently than anything else you ingest. It soaks through your stomach lining faster than other foods and drinks, and goes right to your liver. Your liver can only handle so much alcohol, so what is left over makes a bee line right for your brain. How quickly you feel “buzzed” may depend on how much or how little food you have in your stomach as well.

Spokane Bars: How does your body react to alcohol?

Alcohol first affects the brain’s frontal lobes, the reasoning centers, sedating the inhibitory nerves. The more you drink the more of your brain cells you kill. Higher levels of alcohol then affect the centers of speech, vision, motor control and eventually consciousness. But it affects the rest of your body, too. In your stomach, it causes gastritis (inflammation) and can lead to stomach ulcers. Excessive drinking can lead to cirrhosis of the liver (irreversible scarring of the liver).

Depending upon body size, it can take one to two hours to metabolize one drink. A 12-ounce beer; 4 ounces of wine and 1.5 ounces of hard liquor each contain about .5 ounce of alcohol, approximately the amount your body is capable of processing in one hour. More than that, and you move out of the “buzzed” feeling and into “drunk.”

Spokane Bars: Caloric Content.

Alcohol is a highly concentrated source of calories containing 7 calories per gram (compared to 4 cals/g for protein and carbohydrates and 9 cal/g for fat). These calories are utilized by the body mainly for heat production and are not converted to glycogen, the main fuel for muscle activity. And when you add it to sweet, sugary, and creamy drinks, the calorie content shoots through the roof. And in general, most people tend to eat mindlessly while drinking, so you really have no idea how many calories you are consuming.

If you are going to go to bars in Spokane, limit your alcohol intake, and alternate those adult beverages with soft drinks, preferably water to help offset the dehydration that is cause by alcohol. And pay attention to what you eat!