Drew DeVry
Drew DeVry, Owner and Head Trainer of Freedom Fitness Gym and Certified Nutritionist, has been building fitness programs and nutrition programs to help thousands of individuals get results, lose weight, put on lean muscle, and live healthier, more vitale...
Men
The Top 5 Fitness Myths You Need To Know 1. The less you eat and the more you move (low calories eaten versus high calories burned) will make you lose weight. First of all let’s start with squashing the myth that if you starve yourself it’ll make you skinny. If you don’t eat then your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism all but shuts down to help save energy because you’re not eating anything. Also, it won’t matter...
Women
The Top 6 Fitness Myths You Need To Know 1. You Have To Workout Like a Crazy Person To Lose Weight. Consistency is the key. You don’t have to put in your best workout everyday of your life in order to achieve results. You need to consistently: show up to the gym go for a run take the stairs don’t take “months” off don’t even take “weeks” off If you want to create a new you then you’ve got to get into your head that the new you...
Transform From “Before” And “After”
Posted by on Sep 2, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments
Now look into their eyes in the “after” picture – see the sweet satisfaction? They now live in the body that they decided they could accept. What an amazing feeling that is.
Why are you still living life in your “before” body?
Sure, you have obstacles that get in your way – your schedule, your job, your kids, the weather, your knee injury from college…but ultimately you have the body that you accept.
I’m going to repeat that so it will really sink in.
You have the body that you accept.
Transform from “Before” to “After”
You may not realize it, but you already posses everything you need to transform your body, and it all starts with taking responsibility for the body that you have today.
You are in your current shape because, until this moment, you’ve been OK with it.
Oh I know you aren’t thrilled with it, and you even talk about losing weight and getting fit – but you haven’t changed what you’ll accept.
Here’s how to transform your body in 3 steps:
Step One: Feel Disturbed
It has been said that emotion creates motion. This is essential when it comes to personal transformation. Just like those folks in the “before” pictures, to transform your body you must first decide that you can’t live another day in the body you currently have.
Get your emotions stirred up. Make a list of all the reasons that you’re ready to lose weight and get fit. Get disturbed.
Step Two: Decide What You Want
Without clarity you’ll never get where you want to go. Now that you’re disturbed with the body you have, decide what the body you can accept looks like.
Think in concrete and specific terms. Just like the captions under ‘before” and “after” pictures – “Shannon lost 50 lbs,” “Matt lost 8 inches from his waist,” “Catherine went from a size 20 to a size 4.”
Get a clear picture in your mind of what you’ll look like in your “after” picture and decide what the caption will read.
Step Three: Take Action
The time spent between your inspiration (now) and taking action determines whether you will succeed or fail. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck between inspiration and action – there is always something that you can do immediately.
Take action by emailing or calling me now to set up a fitness consultation.
I am here to take you from your “before” picture to your “after” picture. What will your “after” caption read?
5 Diet Tweaks for Flat Abs
Posted by on Aug 15, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments
Exercise alone will not get you a toned stomach – diet is a huge part of the equation.
Below I have compiled 5 very easy tweaks to your eating habits that will dramatically flatten your abs.
Diet Tweak #1: Don’t eat after 6pm
This is such a simple and effective way to lose fat. Late night eating is the most damaging to your waistline, so cut it out completely.
- Brush your teeth immediately following dinner. Once your teeth are brushed, you’ve put a period to the end of your consumption for the day.
- Change your evening routine. If you’ve always ended your day watching your favorite shows with your hand in the snack bowl, then now is the time to change things up. Find activities that don’t revolve around food and stick with those.
- Make it a habit. The first few weeks will be the hardest, but soon your new no-food-after-6pm routine will feel normal.
Diet Tweak #2: Cut back on carbs
Notice I didn’t say to cut out all carbs, but rather to cut back on carbs. These diet tweaks are meant as lifestyle changes that you stick with long term. Cutting back on carbs is a realistic and very effective way to lose weight.
- Always choose whole grain bread and pasta over white. Whole grains are less likely to be stored as fat than processed grains.
- Eat half of the carbs you normally do. Eat your sandwich open-faced and reduce the size of your pasta serving.
- Avoid carb-filled snacks between meals. Instead of crackers or chips, have fresh fruit and veggies.
Diet Tweak #3: Eat more fiber
Most people simply do not get enough fiber in their diets. Fiber is essential when it comes to getting lean since it is low calorie while filling you up.
- Instead of seeing salad just as a side item, make salads into meals. Add protein to a large pile of greens for a guiltless meal. *Try the recipe for Grilled Salmon and Peach Salad below.
- Make veggies a part of every meal. The benefits of eating more vegetables are too numerous to list, just know that your body will become healthier and leaner with each fibrous bite.
- Fruits are a delicious source of fiber. Incorporate fresh, seasonal fruits into your daily diet.
Diet Tweak #4: Drink tons of water
Drinking plenty of water is another extremely simple way to promote weight loss. Chronic dehydration leads to false hunger signals and unnecessary calorie consumption.
- Drink a large glass of water before each meal. This will prevent overeating.
- Choose water instead of sugar-filled sodas and juices. Sugar-filled drinks are a huge weight-gain trap.
- Carry a water bottle with you throughout your day. Keep water in the car and at your desk for constant hydration.
Diet Tweak #5: Enjoy natural sweets
Traditional sugar-filled sweets will quickly add up around your waistline. Instead of going for sugary sweets, enjoy natural sweets.
- Fruit is nature’s candy. Reach for sweet, seasonal fruit for dessert.
- Avoid foods that contain white sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Consider these items ‘anti-flat-abs’.
- Use wholesome sweeteners such as pure maple syrup, brown rice syrup or dates in your recipes instead of white sugar. Eliminate white sugar from your kitchen.
Eating right, coupled with challenging exercise, is the formula for a toned, lean body – so guarantee your results by teaming up with me.
Together we will come up with a fitness plan that is uniquely yours, one that fits your lifestyle and brings you promptly to your goals.
Get to the Bottom of Your Weight Gain
Why are the numbers on your scale climbing?
That is a valid and often frustrating question. And the answer isn’t always sweet and simple.
“Any change in your life circumstances can produce changes in eating and exercise, which leads to weight gain,” stated Edward Abramson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, author of Emotional Eating.
So why has your weight increased? And, more importantly, what can you do about it?
1. Life’s Fat Traps
A little addressed fact about weight gain is that everyone gains weight for different reasons. So often we hear about one-size-fits-all weight loss solutions that take little or no consideration of how the extra weight piled up in the first place. To experience true weight loss it is important to understand why you gained it in the first place.
Think back to the time in your life when your weight was just right. Were you in your teens? Your twenties? Or maybe your thirties? Picture yourself as you were at your ideal weight. Now when did things change? Was it a gradual addition of pounds that accumulated over a span of multiple years? Or did you gain it all at once? Check out the following weight gain triggers and determine which one is responsible for your plight.
College: The college years are some of the easiest for gaining weight. In fact, a recent study by Cornell University found that on average, college freshman gain about 0.5 pounds a week – almost 11 times more than the average weight gain among 17-and 18-year olds and almost 20 times more than the average weight gain among American adults.
Marriage: There’s nothing like holy matrimony to encourage a barrage of calories to overtake your diet. Late night comfort snacks are always more enjoyable when you have someone to share them with—and who better than the person who pledged to stick by your side through sickness or health?
Pregnancy: Talk about a great time to gain weight! And we’re not just talking about women here—most men admit that they gained ‘sympathy’ pounds right along with their wife. Hormonal changes along with strong encouragement from everyone you know to indulge in anything their heart desires leave most pregnant women with a feeling of entitlement when it comes to food.
Career: Though you may not realize it, your career choice plays a major hand in your weight. Those who go from an active lifestyle to spending 8 hours a day behind a desk and another 2 hours commuting almost universally gain weight. Conversely, people who spend their 8 hours in constant motion find weight loss a natural byproduct of the job.
2. New Habits
Close your eyes and go back to the fat trap that triggered your weight gain. What changed in your lifestyle? To help sort things out, I’ve broken things down into two specific behavioral categories.
Eating Habits: Did your eating pattern change at this time in your life? If your weight gain occurred in college then maybe you went from eating 3 square meals to an all-you-can-eat buffet style cafeteria. Or if marriage was your weight gain trigger, then maybe you went from eating small meals to fattening comfort food. Pregnancy brings on the perfect environment for a change in eating habits. You go from eating normally, to eating ‘for two’, to munching on your baby’s snacks right along with him! Your job can also dictate your eating schedule. Long hours and early meetings may cause you to grab a donut or chips from the vending machine.
Activity Level: The second category that leads to weight gain is your activity level. Simply put, what kind of exercise were you doing before your life changing event and how does it compare to your current exercise regime? Chances are good that you were doing more exercise before your weight gain began—which means that you are doing less exercise today! Go ahead, think back to the exercises or physical activities that you used to do and compare them to your schedule today.
3. Your Transformation
You’ve figured out which fat trap in your life led to weight gain, and then narrowed down the exact behaviors that changed as a result, so this naturally leads us to a solution.
It’s time to make a change.
Call or email today to get started on a fitness program that will make you immune to all of life’s fat traps.
Once you start working with me, those numbers on your scale will quickly change direction.
Read More13 Reasons To Exercise
Let’s face it, some days you just don’t feel like exercising. You get too busy, too stressed and quite simply too tired. Here’s a list of 13 of the top reasons to exercise. Pull out this list and read it when you’re having one of those days.
1. To Prevent Disease Exercise has been proven to reduce the risk of just about every single health problem known to man, from stroke to heart disease to cancer and osteoporosis. Exercise is also a great defense against type 2 diabetes, which is one of the most widely growing diseases of our time.
2. To Look Great Exercise firms your body, improves posture and even makes your skin glow. Looking your best is a wonderful result of regular exercise.
3. To Lose Weight and Keep It Off Exercise burns fat and prevents future fat storage. If you want to have a thinner, healthier body, exercise is the answer.
4. To Have More Energy Anyone who exercises regularly will tell you that they are more energetic, less easily irritated and are more peaceful.
5. To Sleep Better Exercise boosts energy levels, but also wears you out. It makes you feel more vibrant during the day and sleep better at night.
6. To Age Slower Exercise is one of the most effective ways to fight aging. When you age your body loses muscle and bone, while the loss of both are drastically reduced with regular exercise. Exercise also helps reduce inflammation.
7. To Relieve Back Pain In most cases, the best thing that you can do for back pain is to move and strengthen those muscles. Consult your physician or physical therapist for guidance.
8. To Ease Depression Exercise has been proven to reduce depression – sometimes even as effectively as medication. Just chalk this up as yet another amazing benefit to exercise.
9. To Reduce Aches and Pains By strengthening muscles around your damaged joints you’re able to use exercise to reduce joint pain and overall aches. Always consult your physician before starting an exercise program, especially if you have chronic joint pain.
10. To Stay Mentally Sharp Exercise has been shown to improve memory and other cognitive functions, and seems to have a protective effect against dementia. A Harvard University researcher called exercise “Miracle-Gro for the brain.”
11. To Enjoy Your Lifestyle Whatever it is that you love in life – your kids, travel, sports, fashion – it is all more enjoyable when experienced in a fit and healthy body. Exercise so that you are able to enjoy all the great things in life.
12. To Reduce Sick Days People who exercise regularly are 50% less likely to call in sick to work. A regular exercise program reduces colds and upper respiratory infections.
13. To Boost Confidence Being fit, feeling healthy and having energy are all building blocks to having great confidence. There is no better confidence booster than sticking with a regular exercise program.
Regular exercise gives you so many amazing benefits, as you’ve seen from the above list. Call or email me today to get started on the exercise program that will change your life forever.
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