Improving your personal health may mean the need for weight loss. Get advice, program ideas and activities From Mountain Trek to make you a weight loss success story.

Posts

The Discomfort of too much “Comfort” Food

/in /by

Getting a Handle on Emotional Eating

During the holiday season, eating healthy can be hard when you are surrounded by temptation. The holidays can also be stressful and trigger psychological reasons to munch, even though we’re not hungry. Whether it’s due to loneliness, or to distract from an issue brewing in our life, it’s tempting to snack or over-eat to fill a void that isn’t in our stomach.

We equate a lot of emotion and nostalgia with food, from associations formed in childhood and clever advertising that equates eating with happiness. But we’re certainly not happy when we gain weight and become burdened by extra pounds, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, and Type 2 Diabetes.

Recognizing the triggers that compel you to snack is an empowering eye-opener.  Observe yourself to become aware of your eating habits, and with each mouthful, understand exactly why you are eating, and if you’re really hungry or not.

How to break your emotional eating habits

Eating in response to emotions or certain situations can be a habit well ingrained since childhood.

  • Commit to a daily log of everything you eat, and when. Include a column for writing the reason you’re eating at that time. Is it because you’re hungry or something else?
  • Recognize your eating patterns, and become aware of emotional issues that are “eating you” and trigger you to over-eat.
  • Consider therapies such as counseling, life coaching, or hypnotherapy to address unresolved emotional patterns, and meet with a Nutritionist to establish new food choices.
  • Catch your negative food choices (like reaching for the chips) and choose another action.  Distract your mind by replacing the snack with another activity. Fill up with water or a cup of tea, write in your journal, do something physical like a walk, stretch- you get the idea.  Set new habits in motion, which make you feel better about yourself and motivate you to keep at it!
  • Keep only healthy foods in your kitchen, and stop buying junky snack food.  If you find yourself craving something sweet in the evening, try chamomile tea with honey or natural sweetener, or a few dates instead of chocolate to reward yourself.
  • Relieve stress in other ways besides eating.  You know, that e-word (exercise!), meditation, or by doing something creative.
  • Incorporate new routines and activities in your life to reduce boredom, and decrease your “trigger” times. Instead of watching TV, talk to a friend, do housework or a project you’ve put off for too long.

Enjoy the holiday season, knowing your waistline doesn’t have to expand!

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Tabata Training: The 4 Minute Miracle

/in /by

woman sprinting training on a track

If you’re thinking you’re legs are about to fall off, and sucking wind like crazy, signs are you’re doing a Tabata workout correctly. You may be wondering why anyone would intentionally do that to themselves, but there is a reason that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a go-to workout. 

This Japanese exercise import is super effective and super hard! Tabata is the name of the Japanese researcher who discovered a way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It’s an excellent training program. It fits across all training disciplines, for athletes and beginners looking to increase their VO2max and lose fat quickly. To read the whole study, check out this article published by the National Center for Biotechnology.

How to do a HIIT Workout

It’s simple! After warming up, choose a maximum intensity exercise and perform it in the following manner:

  1. For 20 seconds, do as many reps as possible of your maximum intensity exercise. Or run/bike as hard as you can–with 110% output.
  2. Rest for 10 seconds.
  3. Repeat seven more times for a total of 4 minutes.
  4. Cool down and stretch.

Yes, it’s short, but you have to go ALL OUT to get the big benefits.

Getting Started with Tabata/HIIT

Choose the Right Exercise or Movement

Tabata can be done with any exercise, but the best exercise options are those that use a large number of muscles. Examples include bicycle sprints, squats, jumping rope, mountain climbers, push-ups, row machine, or running on a mini-tramp or treadmill. Start with the one you’re comfortable with.

Watch the Clock

Get a timer. Many apps are available for your iPhone, iPod or a gymboss works great.

Be Your Own Cheerleader

Get the right mental attitude; a positive mantra that will get you through it!

Increase your weight or intensity if you are able to complete each round without reaching MMF (momentary muscular failure). 

A ten-second break is a ten-second break! Ten seconds is not watching a video, talking to the cute girl on the bike, talking to a friend, then doing the next set. If you cheat, you’re only cheating yourself out of reaping the rewards of this intense workout.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Who Comes to Mountain Trek?

/in /by

Who Comes to Mountain Trek
Fitness Vacations aren’t just for people wanting to lose weight anymore.  At Mountain Trek, we  host people from all parts of the globe, ages and fitness levels, and occupation.  In fact, one of the most fulfilling components of the job is meeting such a variety of amazing people wanting to make healthy changes in their lives, and welcoming back Alumni year after year as an investment in their health.

There isn’t any one category to describe people who choose a boot camp style fitness retreat as a break, but there are plenty that do.  The Fitness Vacation trend is now the popular choice for anyone needing a healthy break from their un-healthy routine!  It appeals to a variety of folks who are adventure seekers, hiking enthusiasts, stressed out business people, and those needing a “boot camp” type of program to shed pounds quickly and safely.

Variety on the Trails

Mountain Trek hosts:

  • guests who have beaten cancer and are needing to regain their strength;
  • mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, and spouses celebrating their 20th anniversary;
  • young couples from the city eager to hike the pristine mountains of British Columbia and breathe clean air and drink pure water;
  • hiking enthusiasts from Europe looking for a change of terrain and less crowds;
  • parents needing a break;
  • people wanting to learn about nutrition, healthy eating, and a balanced lifestyle;
  • organ transplant recipients;
  • the occasional Hollywood executive;
  • stressed career professionals needing to recharge their batteries, get back in touch with nature, and shed 6-10 pounds;
  • people in their 60’s who are young at heart and invest in staying in shape and keeping strong;
  • everyone in between who needs to detoxify from environmental pollutants, chemical and pesticide-laden foods, and a diet filled with food sensitivities and insulin imbalances;
  • and those who are motivated to lose weight and kick-start healthy lifestyle habits.

With the adventurous hiking terrain in spectacular surroundings, people have a blast pushing themselves beyond the limits of their comfort zones.  Our guests go home feeling energized and 10 years younger, proud of their accomplishments and with a renewed commitment to their health!

How Long can Rapid Weight Loss be Sustained?

/in /by

woman exerciseAs people research their options of boot camp-style fitness programs, they often ask; “how long should I go for the most lasting impact?” And “How can I continue rapid weight loss after I’m back home?”

Besides taking a break and unplugging from their busy lives for some adventure and unparalleled hiking terrain, for many people, quick weight loss is their goal.  Along with the activities and lower calories to quickly shed pounds while here, we also educate our guests about healthy habits for the long term.  Learning about nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices will enable people to continue components of our program, in a sustainable, healthy way at home.

Maxing Your Stay at a Fitness Retreat

The ideal duration of our program is 2-week increments. We see maximum weight loss results with the 2-week “The Renewal” program, instead of doing the program continuously for 3 or 4 weeks.  Not only would 4 weeks of continual “boot camp” style activities produce wear and tear, but the body also has a natural response to the prolonged excursion that prevents rapid weight loss from continuing.

Metabolically, the body burns the most fat during the kick-start phase of weeks 1 and 2.  After 2 weeks of the Program, we have historically seen with guests that the rate of weight loss slows down to half after continuing into the 3rd and 4th weeks.  This is due to the body’s reaction to the continual physical rate of excursion, and its “plateau” response of hanging on to calories/fat as a “starvation” response.

Your Body’s Wise to Sustained Excursion

Our bodies are designed to adapt to conditions of feast or famine, athletic activity or sedentary lounging, and will retain calories when it recognizes the need.  Safely “shocking” the system with intense physical excursion and lower calorie intake results in rapid weight loss.  However, the body will ensure it doesn’t burn fat so easily if this continues, and will then hang on to calories for survival.

Benefits of Shorter and Longer Fitness Vacations

For guests that really need to unplug from their busy life, Mountain Trek certainly does accommodate 3 or 4-week stays, with the flexibility of “rest days”.  For some people, a longer break is the ideal combination of rapid weight loss at the outset, and thorough rejuvenating and detoxing.

But for those that are focused on rapid weight loss in less time, it is most effective to kick-start their fat-burning with coming for 1 or 2 weeks in our supportive environment, breaking old habits and learning new ones, and either carrying on components of the Program at home, (which they’ll learn) or coming back for a refresher.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Simple Formulas For The Best Waistline and Wellness

/in /by

Stress management lectures

Have you ever wondered why after consistent exercise and eating carefully, your body won’t let go of those unwanted, extra pounds of fat? To demonstrate, here’s a sneak-peek at the scientifically based principles we use in Mountain Trek’s much-celebrated Fitness and Weight Loss Program.

In short, there are simple but significant formulas for metabolic change that include: nutrition, fitness, stress management, and sleep health.

Our bodies have two metabolic phases

We have two metabolic states: anabolic or “growth”, and catabolic or “decay”.  And humans have been genetically wired to shift from growth to decay and back seasonally (like most animals), for our survival.

Undoubtedly, the lifestyle we chose to live in our urban, industrial world, is the root cause of our fat storage epidemic.

In the West, we are primarily sedentary in our lifestyle while having access to more calories year-round, than at any other time in human evolution. As a result, our hormones have adapted to this abundance and inertia by keeping us in a chronic state of deposit and decay; leading to:

  • fat storage
  • muscle loss
  • bone density depletion
  • chronic tissue inflammation
  • fatigue
  • chronic, systemic stress

Read Related Article: Strength Training: Burn Calories 24/7

strength training for weight loss

We have become stuck in a catabolic metabolism that prematurely ages and robs us of vitality. There is a way out of this cycle that shifts hormones back to an anabolic state, and the metabolism from “decay” to “growth”.

Mountain Trek guides clients back to their natural, hunter/gatherer body, using formulas that re-claim muscle and bone. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is naturally increased through potent strength training; unwanted and unneeded stored fat is burned away with correct cardio formulas; blood sugars and insulin levels are managed by adjusting essential nutritional patterns; cortisol is reduced and DHEA is elevated with stress management; sleep is improved by working with melatonin.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Fun & Fitness in a Winter Wonderland

/in /by

guy running on snowshoes

There are so many great reasons to join us at Mountain Trek this winter. As promised, our 7 day “Turkey Burner” will melt away the extra pounds acquired over the holidays while you hike through pristine, snow-capped peaks.

Every morning is a reset on the quiet, snow-covered mountains circling the lake below our lodge. It’s the quintessential mountain lodge experience.

The Turkey Burner provides all the fitness, weight loss, and de-stressing of our summer program as we explore the alpine on snowshoes. Snowshoeing burns more calories than regular hiking due to the resistance created by walking through snow. The high-tech gear that Mountain Trek provides to guests, allows for anyone of any ability to go anywhere.

3 bowls of soup

Hearty soups and stews on the trail every day are warming while also being calorie-controlled. As ever, the Mountain Trek kitchen cooks up the deeply nourishing and astounding meals for which they have become known. The natural hot springs next door are at their absolute best for soaking after a day of hiking and exercise. Steam billows up around you and snowflakes melt as the hit the water.Finish the day at our timber frame lodge around a crackling fire with hot tea, relaxing in the company of your companions.

If you’re looking for a way to greet the New Year and kick start your resolution for a healthier lifestyle, the Turkey Burner will get you there.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Exercise and Weight Loss

/in /by

The Times On-Line magazine recently published an article debating the benefits of exercise in regards to losing weight. While it doesn’t discredit the overall benefits of exercise to health (which we know are plenty), it highlights the necessity and importance of incorporating an overall lifestyle program for losing and maintaining weight not just relying on exercise for weight loss.

As you know, we at Mountain Trek are big fans of “lifestyle.” Check out our program page to learn about all elements of balanced health.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below: