HCF - under new leadership

House Call Fitness and myself are pleased to announce that as of April 1st, 2010, Lynsay Ryan, is taking the helm. Lynsay Ryan has been employed with House Call Fitness, Inc. for the last 7 months. In that time she has established an outstanding rapport with the current client base and has brought in some of her own clientele.

This announcement comes as a result of my relocation to Boulder, Colorado. My husband and I have been talking for years about making the move but with me owning and operating House Call Fitness in Chicago I just couldn't see a way to make it work. Well, about 4 months ago things started to fall into place when Andrew's job OK'd him to work remotely. At that point, I began to seriously consider if I could leave the business behind that I had put so much of my heart and soul into for the last 4 years. With a lot of thought and prayer I came to the conclusion that this was the right choice for both myself and Andrew. Lynsay and I began talks about a business transfer and things really took off from that point. Everything has fallen into place and I feel very confident that Lynsay will be able to take care of my "baby"and bring House Call Fitness up to the next level.

I am even more excited to announce that I will be starting a new in-home personal training business in Boulder. This time around I am focusing solely on my passion for prenatal and postpartum fitness. I plan to continue blogging too. So, please check out and follow my new blog with Pea in the Pod Fitness. I hope to see you on my new blog.

The new site and blog:

www.PeainthePodFitness.com

www.peainthepodfitness.com/blog

Cheers to new entrepreneurial endeavors!

Lack of Sleep Leads to Fat Gain

I wanted to share this research article with you. I have found, from my own experience with clients, that adequate sleep is crucial to weight loss. There have been many times when the client seems to be doing everything right but the weight isn't coming off. This is when we begin to probe deeper. Often times I uncover that the client is sleep deprived. Read on.

The effects of sleep deprivation are slowly gaining attention amongst fitness and wellness professionals. Getting adequate sleep quantity and quality is not only essential to optimizing mental and physical recuperation, it may be essential to preventing obesity.

In a recent study published in the journal Sleep, researchers from Wake Forest University reported that getting less than 5 hours of sleep or more than 8 hours leads to increased intra-abdominal fat when compared to those who sleep for 6 or 7 hours.

More than 1,000 African- and Hispanic-Americans were interviewed to obtain information on sleep habits, nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle. They also participated in a CT scan, which was used to assess both visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat. Baseline measurements were then compared to a re-assessment at 5 years.

Participants who slept less than 5 hours a night experienced a 32% increase in deep abdominal fat over 5 years, while those with averaged more than 8 hours of sleep increased by 22%. Subcutaneous abdominal fat increased similarly.

After factoring in lifestyle factors such as total calorie intake, education levels, physical activity and smoking, sleep duration persisted as an independent risk factor for increased abdominal adiposity, especially in participants under 40.

Researchers offer broad speculation to explain the cause and effect relationship of sleep to fat gain. The primary explanations involved increased daytime fatigue, which limits energy to participate in physical activity. In addition, some believe in the potential for sleep deprivation to inhibit appetite-suppressing hormones, thus leading to overeating.

Although this study replicates previous finding on sleep and abdominal fat, it is the first to assess this factor in minority populations.

Hairston, K.G., et al (2010) Sleep Duration and Five-Year Abdominal Fat Accumulation in a Minority Cohort: The IRAS Family Study. Sleep. 33(03): 289-295.
Amy Norton. (2010) Sleep habits linked to fat gain in younger adults. Reuters Health. March 1^st.