We are so proud of two of our members, Steve and Julie.  They made the commitment to our 28 Day Fat Loss Formula last month and saw amazing results and have changed their habits to make it a lifestyle.  If you want to be inspired by their dedication and work read below! And, if you want results like them check out the 28 Day Fat Loss formula to get registered for the next group!

28 Day Fat Loss Journal- Steve

My name is Steve Galicia. I have been coming to boot camp here in the Eden Prairie MN. location for about 27 weeks now. I started the program at a little over 200lb. After the first 4 weeks of boot camp I was down to like 195 – 198lb range but maintained that weight. I heard about the 28 Day Fat Loss Program through the emails we get sent to us with tips and recipes. I have always struggled to stay under 200lb. but never did a diet of any kind. Tried to stay away from it because so many fat lose programs just take you so far out of what is normal, that I just find it highly impossible to live a lifestyle that consists of eating boxed meals or powdered meal replacements. Last month I finally mustered up the courage to try the 28 day fat loss program for myself.  I mean why not, I have a wedding in a couple of months! Let’s see how this goes!

My Fiancé and I both signed up for it and got things going. After reading the fine print and what the diet consisted of, I must admit I was a little nervous. And by a little nervous I meant A LOT nervous. Cutting off caffeine was huge for me. I have been drinking coffee every morning since as far back as I can remember, and going without it gave me headaches. But I had committed already and I was going to see it through.

Week 1 was torture for me. Caffeine withdrawals and the lack of sugar in my system were hitting me hard. (I forgot to mention that along with coffee every morning I also enjoyed a delicious pastry in the afternoon from our work cafeteria :o) )

For the first 3 to 4 days I just felt sluggish, slow, achy and in an incredibly bad mood. I emailed Altman fitness thinking something was wrong or perhaps they had secretly poisoned me, but it was just my body reacting to the lack of caffeine and sugar which it was accustomed to getting a daily dosage of. All this pain was rewarded with a surprise when I weighed myself that Sunday morning and noticed that in just the first week alone I lost 8lb. I stepped off the scale and went back on it like 3x before I believed what I was looking at.

Week 2 I felt like a new person. The withdrawals were gone, I felt more alive, and my workouts were going well. It was becoming easier to count the calories and prepare meals. It seemed easier for me at least to just go off of the meal plan provided by Altman.

I did notice that for this week my weight loss had halted. I lost 1lb (I did not feel completely bad since I moved that weekend and not having a kitchen while on a diet ….. can be incredibly stressful… So I ate out :o/  )

Week 3 I was a man on a mission. I made sure to stick to the meal plan. Worked out hard and could see the light at the end of the tunnel! I was 3 weeks in and needed one more week to go. The natural energy that was flowing through my body felt amazing and the man staring back at me in the mirror ….. Was pleasant to look at!! :o) I could start to notice the transformation and coworkers and friends were noticing too. Total weight loss on week 3 bumped right back up to a whooping 5lb

Week 4 THE FINAL WEEK! No carbs week. Day 1 of this week wasn’t that bad. I still felt strong I felt good, had a good work out. On Day 2 when my body noticed that I was not having any carbs I started to get a little slow again! Slightly tired, but felt good during the work outs still. The introduction of healthy fats, fruits and almonds was like heaven!

Muscled through the 4^th week and when I took those before and after pics! I couldn’t believe I was the same person. I didn’t even look this good when I was 18 and incredibly active.  I feel amazing and I finally have visible abs! I have wanted those for years!!  The biggest thing for me though is the knowledge I picked up about how to eat healthy. That is something that will stay with me forever! My biggest problem now is ……… I don’t have any work pants that fit me anymore! Everything is big on me. My jeans, my belts and my dress shirts I was swimming in. Total weight loss on week 4 4lb

I lost a total of 18.4lb in 28 days. Incredible!

Steve

I have been 2 weeks off the program now. Eating healthy balanced meals with an indulgence here and there but still maintaining the weight.
Currently trying to complete a personal goal of losing 20lb and I’m 1lb away from that.
Thank You Altman Fitness! You guys are great, the staff is amazing and the support really helped me out especially when the times got tough!  And a HUGE THANK YOU to my fiancé Julie Kreimeyer for cooking my meals and keeping me sane !!!

JULIE

The 28 Day Fat Loss Program was challenging and rewarding at the same time. I have never been on a diet in my whole life, so drastically changing the way that I ate was completely new and very difficult for me the first week or so. The things that were the most difficult for me was eating my full portions, getting used to the meals (no salt!) and most importantly….all of the cooking!!! But, I have to say that as the program slowly went by day after day, I found that I didn’t crave sweets anymore and I was losing weight faster than I ever had before. Looking in the mirror and seeing the changes in my body began to overcome the challenges that I had had the day before.

Many people say that the program is supposed to help you sleep better and give you more energy. I would say that while the program helped me sleep, it didn’t really give me an energy boost. I actually found myself more tired than before. However, one thing that did give me an energy boost was working out. Working out with the boot camp class in the mornings (no matter how  tired I was) left me feeling awake and ready for the day. If I skipped a day of working out, I felt sluggish and tired. I think that while the diet is really important in the program, the exercise was equally important for me. Working out got me through my bad moods, the tiredness, and ultimately was (is) a great stress reliever. I think that stress can ruin any diet plan if you don’t find a way to combat it. Working out helped and is helping me get through the stress associated with the fact that I am graduating college in about 2 weeks, have a wedding in less than 3 months, and am currently looking for a job!

The 28 day program actually changed my eating habits after the program was done. After finishing it, my fiancé and I pay more attention to the sodium content of food, we use way more vegetables in our cooking, and we eat out much less than we used to. The program helped me look at food differently and also that eating smaller meals throughout the day is much better for your metabolism than eating just 3 large meals. It has been about 3 weeks since I got done with the program and I have stabilized my weight at the weight I ended with that last day of the program. While I still plan to lose a little bit more weight before the big wedding day, the program gave me an awesome head start by having lost 11lbs in only 28 days!

                Just a quick little note, I would highly recommend Altman Fitness and the 28 Day program to anyone trying to lose weight. My fiancé Steve and I could not have lost all of this weight without them. All of the support from Kelly and Jay Altman and Jenny Flynn has kept us inspired to get more fit and healthy! Also, when I first started going to Altman, I was over 20lbs heavier than I am today. Altman has helped me reach my goals with their knowledge, awesome workouts, and 28 Day Fat Loss Program.

…where Tyler shares his philosophy on how to build abs that look as good as they perform.

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I received some questions about Tyler’s Warrior Warm Up about what it looked like and what you can learn by following the program for only 15 minutes 3 days a week. So he put together this short video that gives you an idea of what you can expect to learn. As you will see this warm up is like nothing you’ve ever seen!  It’s cool.  (When I first watched I thought to myself “I can’t do this stuff”  but after following Tyler’s step by step methods I now KNOW it’s possible)

Get The Warrior Warm Up Here.

I figured I’d also take a little time to give The Warrior Warm Up a review.

So, who is this program for? The Warrior Warm Up is for anyone who wants to move better, feel better and get better results in their workouts. It contains elements of yoga, gymnastics, advanced joint mobility and more. The best part is that it contains 5 different follow along routines for different levels of the program.

Who shouldn’t use this program? If you are capable of lifting your legs slowly off the ground into a perfect handstand, if you can fall into a gymnastic bridge and kickover and if you have the ability to do the splits all 3 ways, then this program is not for you.

For all the other non-mutants in the world the program is simply designed to teach you how to move better. Now why would you want to move better? That’s not the main goal of most people when it comes to working out, right?

Becoming more skilled at moving your body can help you to prevent or reduce the chance of getting injured, can improve your strength and flexibility and can dramatically increase your coordination.

Most people working out are usually thinking about weight loss. While The Warrior Warm Up isn’t about weight loss it can be added into any weight loss, cardio or strength training program. It’s called a warm up because it’s the easiest way to describe how it can be used.

The big key is that when you learn to move better you generally become healthier, more flexible and pain-free. And there are plenty of people that could use that.

The program lays out step-by-step progressions for you to use that only take 15 minutes to do. They’re great progressions and cover lots of ground, training the legs, back, arms and really everything. I’ve been following the system myself in the mornings in order to wake up my body.

It’s a short but effective routine you can use before your workouts, after your workouts, on off days or as a morning energizer.

With The Warrior Warm Up you get top quality information laid out for you in a step-by-step plan for a ridiculously good price.

If you’re looking to get more fit and lose fat while you move better, increase your performance during your workouts, increase your flexibility, reduce your chance of getting injured and feel better in only 15 minutes, then this is a great place to start.

Get Warrior Warm Up Here.

Have you ever wondered if the 28 Day Fat Loss Formula is right for you?  Have you just wished you could hear in real terms what to expect from someone who has done it? Well, if you are in our boot camps you can talk to almost any one of our members and they will tell you their story-and they will rave about what they learned and what their results were.  This past month we had one of our new instructors, Muna, go through the program. She wrote us a summary about her results and exerperience and I thought it was way to good NOT to share. Congrats to Muna for her amazing results and I hope this helps anyone out there who is looking to start, or stay motivated through or program.

“This is Muna, your instructor at the Triad location in Bloomington. I just finished the 28 day and wanted to share my experience with you. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous because once we went over the restrictions, I wasn’t sure what kind of options were going to be available for me to eat. However, I soon found that it was much easier than I expected it to be. Jay and Kelly have a detailed meal plan that you can choose to follow (which I did because it seemed easiest for my lifestyle – it was one less thing I had to worry about) with amazing recipes. My personal favorites were the breakfast tacos (which I didn’t only have for breakfast!) and the protein pancakes with blueberries. Both of those recipes I plan to continue eating even after the 28 day has finished.

The first three weeks went by extremely fast and the routine was so easy to follow that when I looked back on it, the days were flying by. Upon the switch up of the rules in the last week, I was excited but nervous, once again, about what I was going to eat. After the first day in the last week, it became apparent that there was no need to worry, because Jay and Kelly really thought this through and made a great plan that was very user friendly.

Unfortunately, on the last Wednesday, I got to work and realized that I had forgotten my lunch. Needless to say, I was a bit panicky. I hadn’t “cheated” up to that point, and I really didn’t want to start then! Luckily, I had eaten breakfast before I left for work, so I didn’t have to really worry about it until around 11 a.m. When it came down to it, I sorted through my options, which were scarce, and I decided to go to Jimmy Johns to get an un-wich (adding the avocado for my healthy fat). Since I wasn’t going home for dinner that night, I also stopped at the gas station and picked up some already boiled and peeled eggs for dinner as well as an apple for my mid-day snack (which I ate with peanut butter that was in the kitchen at my work). It all ended up working perfectly in the end, but it was definitely nerve-wracking in the morning!

 When I began the 28 day, I will admit that I wasn’t in it to lose weight, I was more curious about the program so that, when a boot-camper has questions about it, I can help. With that in mind, I was stunned when at the end of the four weeks on plan, I weighed myself and was down 10 pounds and 11 inches! I really didn’t expect that at all. After I took my measurements, I remembered that a while back I had bought a pair of jeans that were one size smaller than I wear as incentive to possibly fit into them one day. I dug them out and tried them on, and lo-and-behold they fit! I was so pumped! They may just become my new favorite pair of pants.

I felt pretty good 28 days ago, but now I feel great. My advice for everyone taking part in the 28 day is that if you have any questions or needs help pushing through these four weeks, talk to people who have done it or are doing it with you. I got some great inspiration from people who had done it previously as well as from those who were working on it at the same time I was. Use your resources, phone in on Monday evenings, eat healthy, lose fat, and most of all – have fun!

Muna

Summer has arrived and along with it the dreaded bathing suit season. Whether you can’t wait to bare it all on the beach, or if you’re still working toward a weight loss goal, exercise is the key to looking and feeling great in summer months. But why else should you exercise? Here are the top 7 reasons to exercise this summer: 

Reason #1: To Melt Fat Away

The most coveted side effect of exercise is, of course, fat burn. The combination of a challenging exercise routine and a balanced meal plan is the best known way to lose fat. Here’s what losing fat feels like:

• Your pants become loose
• People around you begin to say that you look great
• A glance at yourself in the mirror makes you smile
• Your energy levels soar
• You feel amazing

Reason #2: To Alleviate Pain

Regular exercise is a great way to alleviate chronic muscle and joint pain. Persistent back pain can be lessened by strengthening your core, and you’ll protect yourself against injury. It amazes people when the chronic pain that they’ve lived with for years begins to fade after starting a regular exercise program.

Reason #3: To Increase Lean Tissue

More muscle is good for many reasons. You see, muscle requires many more calories each day than fatty tissue. In fact, one pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories each day at rest – compared to a measly 9 calories per pound of fat. When you exercise your body composition will change to contain more lean tissue, thus resulting in extra calories burned while you sleep. What could be better than that?

Reason #4: To Stay Young

Tim D. Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College in London, led a study on the effects of exercise on aging. The results were astounding. They found that exercise appears to slow the shriveling of the protective tips on bundles of genes inside cells (called telomeres), which means a slowing of the aging process. “These data suggest that the act of exercising may actually protect the body against the aging process,” said Spector. Here’s the study in a nutshell:

• Telomeres cap the ends of chromosomes and every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter.
• Once a telomere gets too short, that cell can no longer divide.
• Aging occurs as more and more cells reach the end of their telomeres and die. This results in weakened muscles, skin wrinkles, loss of eyesight and hearing, organ failure and slowed metal functioning.
• The study analyzed the telomeres from the white bloods cells of twins over a 10-year period. Telomere length was used as a marker for the rate of biological aging.
• It was found that the length of telomeres was directly related to that twin’s activity level. “There was a gradient,” Spector said. “As the amount of exercise increased, the telomere length increased.”
• People who did 100 minutes of weekly exercise had telomeres that looked like those from someone about 5-6 years younger than those who did 16 minutes of exercise each week.
• People who did 3 hours of vigorous exercise each week had telomeres that looked like those from someone about 9 years younger.

Reason #5: To Prevent or Control Type 2 Diabetes

Regular exercise helps to stabilize blood sugar levels. This is something that people with type 2 diabetes, or at risk for type 2 diabete, gain substantial benefits from. Exercise improves the body’s use of insulin, and the related weight loss improves insulin sensitivity. Of course patients with type 2 diabetes need to get guidelines from their doctor before starting an exercise program.

Reason #6: To Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels

Exercise has shown to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels for these two reasons:

• Weak Heart Muscles pump little blood with lots of effort. By exercising you strengthen your heart muscles and train them to pump more blood with less effort. The stronger your heart is the less pressure will be exerted on your arteries.
• Exercise Increases HDL levels in some people – this means a decrease in your risk for heart disease. Other heart disease risk factors such as weight, diabetes and high blood pressure all show improvement with regular exercise.

Reason #7: To Feel Great

The first thing that clients tell me after starting an exercise program is how much better they feel. Most didn’t even realize how bad they felt. It is easy to get used to feeling sluggish, achy and unmotivated. Exercise boosts your energy levels and makes you feel amazing. The quickest, easiest way to guarantee that you’ll meet your fitness and weight loss goals is to work one-on-one with a qualified fitness professional. You’ll be held accountable with your workouts and you’ll be instructed properly and shown techniques and strategies that will expedite your results. Call or email us today to get started on a program that will take the guesswork out of fitness and to set your results on fire. What are you waiting for? Lace up your shoes and get moving!

Every month we have a new group of people that go through our 28 Day Fat Loss Formula. Now, anyone that sticks with the plan will learn a lot about nutrition, they will lose weight, and they will feel better. However, there are always a couple people each month that we watch absolutely CRUSH their goal and don’t let anything get in their way. These are inspiring stories and we asked one of our members to share her journey with you. Life isn’t always going to take you on an easy path, and getting what you really want can take some hard work sometimes. It’s at times like these that listening to yourself, your inner-most wants and desires, become so important.  And then you just need to make up your mind and take action! Below is Tammy’s account of her journey and her quest for that “Bikini Body”!

“Are you a good listener?  I think I am.  I listen to my kids, to my friends, to my boss and try to be attentive to their thoughts and needs.  “Can you help me with my homework”, or “I am not sure what I should do about a co-worker, what do you think”, and I would dispense advice and sage wisdom (from my own little world!) accordingly.  But when it came to listening to me with chatter like “It’s OK, one more cookie won’t hurt”, “You’re already thin, why do you need to lose weight”, ”What does it matter…” or “Are you happy?”  I suddenly turned deaf ending the dispensing of advice and wisdom.  And that’s a trap for a continuous stream of one sided conversations.  Those conversations are painful and never ending when there is no one to tell you differently.

I do not like being uncomfortable, and will skirt around the edges of it to avoid it at all costs.  Now I am 15 pounds heavier, not wanting to do anything but stuff myself with Angie’s Kettle Corn or whatever I could get my hands on to drown out that conversation.  My body is talking, and I am not listening.  Then my body did the ultimate throw down, it fought back and it fought hard.  For one year, I was so sick with gastro-intestinal issues that no one could figure out.  Not knowing when or where I would have an “episode”, I was scared to leave the house, go shopping, or go to work.  It took prepping for a colonoscopy, and having to start fasting for the test, that I noticed that I was starting to feel better.  Was I listening?  My body was talking again and this time I was all ears.

To make a long story short, having been cleared of any medical issue, my focus for healing turned towards food.  What I was eating was making me sick and I was ready to make the changes necessary to get on the right path.  I have discovered that I have food intolerances to:  Gluten (huge bad thing!! – nobody should eat anything with gluten), wheat, soy, dairy, shell fish, oats, peanuts (legumes) and a few others.  Thru a lot of trial and error, I have landed on a daily food plan that works for me, but it wasn’t easy and it’s not perfect.  I clung to bread, pasta, pizza, and beer because those were fun foods.  But anytime I faltered, I paid dearly.  I had to learn how to control the beast – my head that literally has a mind of its own.  I could justify anything, “It’s Ok, just this one time” or my personal favorite – “Who’s going to know?” and eat everything that was bad for me resulting in feeling horrible and feeling sorry for myself with a reply of “Who cares anyway?” –  a very dark place.  Finally I heard, “I do, stop”.  And I did.  That’s when something shifted.  You hear many people talk of digging deep and finding your focus.  I’ve done it before – giving birth to 2 girls without drugs, running my last marathon when I was so sick – but I thought those were once in a lifetime events.  But that’s not all it has to be, you can have that same drive and dedication to everyday activities.  It was time to apply that to my eating.  Discipline is very rewarding knowing that you can put your mind to anything once you have a goal.  And I needed a goal, something for my brain to wrestle with rather than the self-destructing path it had been on.  I decided that I wanted to wear a bikini before I turn 50 in a couple of years and was ready to commit to a program to get me there.  I wanted to learn more about what I can do fine tune my personal food plan, and I choose the 28 day fat loss program.  I learned, and I will never stop learning when it comes to my nutrition, was I also have an issue with the way my body processes sugar.  For as careful as I am, that was the missing link.  In those 28 days, I lost 13 pounds and almost 7 inches.  The results speak for themselves, and I thank Jay and Kelly for their support to make that accomplishment!

My body is where it’s supposed to be, I can hear the huge sigh of relief and my head is finally saying “Huh, so this is what it’s like?  What took you so long?”          “

Congrats to Tammy for making each day a new day to focus on her goal of living a strong, healthy life.  I must say she looks AMAZING in that bikini and we are so proud of her for all the hard work she puts in, day after day!

With the right mindset- you can do ANYTHING!