…While fitness expert helps battle the bulge

Earlier in this newscast, the chefs at the Radisson shared tips on what to do with all that leftover food from the holidays. But if you woke up this morning and had to struggle into your clothes, there’s good chance your resolution for the New Year is to lose weight, which is why News Five’s Kendra Griffith teamed up with a local fitness expert to help you battle the bulge.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
After the fireworks fade, many Belizeans will determinedly decide to stick to their New Year’s resolutions this time around. Topping the list is usually…

Karen Rosito, Dietician/Nutritionist
“Lose weight, get in shape. The whole world is counting on that, that’s their resolution. I’m gonna get fitter, I’m gonna be fit for 2008.”

As a dietician and nutritionist for ten years, Karen Rosito knows that most people who attempt that goal will give up after only a couple months … which is why Rosito has some tips for those who have fitness as a goal.

Tip number 1: Make a plan.

Karen Rosito
“You don’t just jump into fitness, join a gym, go and do an hour of aerobics and the next day you can’t walk or the next week you are in pain. It’s discouraging. The best thing to do is to write your plans down, write your fitness/diet plans down and you start creeping.”

Tip number 2: Get a medical checkup.

Karen Rosito
“First you need to check if you are healthy. You get a check-up, what I call a mini check-up is about ten dollars for a blood test, but it’s about forty dollars here at Integral for a mini checkup, which includes check your heart and asking you general medical questions. And after you know you are fit and you are ready to go, you get an exercise plan.”

But to know where you are going, you need to know where you are … which this where this machine comes in.

Karen Rosito
“We have a special scale that weigh you and tell you how much body fat you have and how much you need to lose, how much muscle mass you have, how much water is in your body.”

Like many of you, I’ve indulged in the turkey dinner, ham, cake and rumpopo that makes Christmas in Belize Christmas. But according to Rosito, the local favourites can add up to a whopping ten thousand calories. So you can understand why I hesitated to step on the scale after Rosito entered my age, gender, and height.

Karen Rosito
“It works by passing electricity through your body. You noh wah feel it. For five-six we done know—I wanted you at twenty-two percent body. Your body today fat is thirty point four percent. You are also seven pounds over the—at five-six, you should be one thirty.”

Ouch! But by using the information on the printout, Rosito formats a customised eating and exercise plan for clients to achieve their optimal health.

Tip number 3 and 4: Break down your goal into smaller, more manageable targets and get help.

Karen Rosito
“For the first quarter, January through Easter, you say you are going to do this and you stick to your plans, you enlist the help of a friend or a family member and you say I am gonna reward you to help me, even if the reward means a new dress or something like that for them, but you motivate them to motivate you.”

Tip number 5: Find an activity that you like.

Karen Rosito
“Exercise should not be a chore. Pick something that you like to do. Supposed you like salsa, you like punta. Super G bring out wah punta piece weh mek everbody—put on Super G and do something. Put on Andy P, put on Kenny G. Do something, do what you like. You must like do something that is active. There is walking in the park, you can decide I wah walk mi kids. Twenty minutes a day is better than nothing.”

Tip number 6: Drink eight glasses of water everyday.

Tip number 7: Don’t diet, eat sensibly.

Karen Rosito
“I beg Belizeans, noh goh pan no rough diet for the new year. Oh, I want lose weight. Most want to lose weight for Easter and you know what end up happen? They miserable, they still noh wear the bathing suit or the bathing trunk they want because they are not pleased. They end up with all the muscle cramps and they noh get anywhere.”

Rosito’s fitness programme costs forty dollars a month or you can enter for free if you are a member of the Integral Healthcare Clinic and are referred by one of the doctors. Rosito is encouraging all Belizeans, myself included, to improve their health and get moving.

Karen Rosito
“You can do it, but it’s all in the mind. Let me just end by saying that.”

And that’s advice I’ll be sure to take next year. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

For more information on Rosito’s fitness programme, please visit the Integral Health Clinic at the Corner of Gibnut and Curassow streets or call 207-0844.