BY JASON JOHNSON Q: I seem to collect excess body fat under my arms? What is the best way to get rid of that excess fat? A: You can't spot reduce any area on the human body. It just doesn't work. Everyone has certain stubborn areas on their body where fat seems to accumulate. For women this can be under the arm, thighs or buttocks. For men-it's usually the stomach. Be patient. Clean up your diet, start exercising. As your overall body fat levels decrease, the unwanted fat will come off those stubborn areas. Q: How much water should I be drinking per day? A: As a general rule, aim for 1/2 of your bodyweight in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, aim for 75 oz of water per day. Keep it simple with water intake. I would recommend getting a water bottle with the oz markings on the bottle. Most are standard 32 oz bottles. This is the easiest and one of the healthiest things you can do for you body. By staying fully hydrated, you can elevate your metabolism by 3%. Still not sure if you're drinking enough water? You should have 2-3 "clear" urine trips to the ...

BY JASON JOHNSON This tip works wonders - a book was written about it- and so many people have lost weight with just this simple tip. Drink a glass of water and eat an apple BEFORE every meal. (And by meals, we are only talking about Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.) In the study, everything else in their diets remained the same, but the test subjects added 1 apple and a glass of water before breakfast, 1 apple and a glass of water before lunch, and 1 apple and a glass of water before dinner. The results? The test subjects all lost weight! The nutritional qualities of fruits such as apples combine to make them an ideal "elixir" for weight loss. Being low in calories, the fiber helps by providing bulk-and making you feel full, decreasing your appetite and the desire to eat other (higher calorie) foods. Another benefit of eating apples is their high water content. The water- along with the fiber- further aids in making you feel full. Yet, because apples are low in sodium, they will not create excess water weight for you to carry ...

BY JASON JOHNSON QUICK FIX: This can easily be corrected if we just take the time to do it. Starting today, set your watch or Microsoft Outlook alarm calendar to go off every 30-40 minutes. This is your cue to get up from your chair and spend a few minutes in an upright position throughout the day. Do you ever notice how great you feel after getting up and taking a short walk or performing a quick stretch? Think about literally sitting through a 2 hour meeting.  And think about how great you felt when the meeting finally ended and you were able to stand up and walk around. What about those long family road trips when you just couldn't wait to get out of the car and stretch your legs? That’s what we are after here, but let's do it much more often during the day. Here are a few suggestions: Walk around, go to the kitchen, walk down to your co-worker's office instead of calling/e-mailing. conduct your next meeting standing up stand up during your next phone call (as a bonus, this will also ...

By Jason Johnson In the words of Ludacris….STAND UP! We sit way too much during the day. I am sitting as I type this, and I bet you are sitting while reading this as well. Sitting is a huge part of life and we really cannot get around that.  However, a lot of physical problems come from individuals sitting too much throughout the day. Think about it: we get up in the morning and are upright for a very short amount of time. You wake up, hop in the shower (upright), make your coffee and breakfast (you are eating breakfast every day right?-upright), then we sit down to eat. We walk to the car (upright), then hop in our car and sit on the commute to work or school. We get to our destination and we sit again for the majority of the day. At the end of the day we come home, we are tired and we sit again until bed.  “So what's wrong with this? This sounds like my typical day" you are saying. That is too much sitting.  Sitting puts the human body in an unwanted position called flexion. The muscles at the front of the hip will eventually shorten, and your glute ...

BY JASON JOHNSON 2009 is right around the corner. One of the most common New Years Resolutions for many people is---> "This year, I'm going to lose weight!" What does the average person do next? You are so motivated and pumped up to lose weight, you dive head first into the pool! You start a strict exercise program, and completely change your diet. Starting January 5th (the busiest day of the year at gyms nationwide, statistically, by the way) you tell yourself, "starting today-I'm going to the gym 6 times a week." You pack your own lunch every day with healthier food options. You immediately cut out all sodas, alcohol, fried foods and sugar from your diet. The vending machine (aka junk machine) at work that you so frequently visited no longer exists to you. You walk right past it. The intern brought donuts for everyone in the office on Monday, there is cake for Jane's birthday on Tuesday, Happy Hour after work for Bill's last day on Wednesday, on Thursday a co-worker brings in homemade fudge and insists "you have to try this", and on Friday there is another Happy Hour after work for your boss' birthday. But ...

I'd like to welcome another guest blogger to the Dallas South Family posting on the subject of health and fitness. Please welcome Jason Johnson who this week is going to tell us about the 4 Top Metabolism Boosters.  By Jason Johnson, CPT  We have all heard the term “metabolism.” You may have an envious friend who claims to have a fast metabolism, and seems to be able to eat whatever he or she wants. You might have a friend with a slow metabolism, who really has to watch everything he or she eats. But what is metabolism? Put simply- within the the human body, it’s the process of converting calories from food into fuel. A little known fact is that the human body is always burning calories-when you’re eating, sleeping, walking, typing on a computer, working out, or just sitting on the couch-your body is burning calories. Our goal in fitness should be to have our body burn as many calories as possible during these activities. Here are 4 ways you can do this: 1) Eat 5 times per day Your metabolism is your body’s furnace. If you go too long without fuel, the fire dies down, meaning your body is burning fewer calories throughout ...