Healthy Performance is a program designed to help individuals become healthier, have more energy, feel better about themselves and help them reach their optimal weight.  All of this is accomplished with a fool proof plan that has been utilized since 1980 under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Bridget Chufo, who studied obesity and weight loss, long before they became dominant words in the media.

Science dictates that if one reduces their caloric intake and increases their metabolic rate via more movement or exercise, weight loss will result.  Excess fat is what one should lose, but some “bad diets” actually cause one to lose muscle and organ tissue, which will weaken the body.

Some people state that they cannot lose weight because they have a genetic predisposition to obesity, a slow metabolic rate, or certain medical conditions that prevent them from doing so.  The metabolism does slow down by 3-8% with every decade of age.  Some medications such as steroids slow down the weight loss process.  Certain medical conditions make it more challenging to lose weight, as well.  We will go back to the basics for 99.99999999% of weight loss of the general population.  If one reduces their caloric intake and increases their metabolic rate via movement, one can and will absolutely lose the weight and improve their health, energy level and most medical conditions.

Dr. Bridget Chufo believes that simplicity is the key to success in losing weight and improving health.  “Little changes make big differences” is the mantra of Healthy Performance.  The four parts of the Healthy Performance program are easy to follow.  Simply eliminating all negative thinking about one’s past failures or inabilities to lose the weight and believing that this is a goal that absolutely can be accomplished.  Allow no excuses to invade the thought process and sabotage your success.  Anything that doesn’t help you reach your goal is an obstacle and needs to be dismissed from the mind as soon as it enters.  A positive attitude will be a major influence on one’s success, since ninety percent of losing weight is from the neck up and the other ten percent is from the neck down.  Don’t over think! Begin now!  Delay no longer; have you not procrastinated long enough?  Where have you gotten with that kind of attitude?  Had you started the many times you thought about losing weight, would you not be happy and to your goal by now?  Well, today is the day.  It is the day of a new beginning.  For every ending, there is a beginning; and for every beginning, there is an ending.  It is indeed the time for an ending and most importantly, the time for a beginning!  You can and will do this, once and for all.  One step at a time and the steps begin now.

Healthy Performance is a four-part, comprehensive program focused on well-being and achieving and maintaining an ideal weight.  The four components consists of:

1.      Creative and practical nutritional guidelines

2.      Dietary supplements in the form of capsules, tablets, gels, and powders

3.      Personal one-on-one strategic counseling via telephone, in-house, or electronic mail

4.      Exercise and movement instructions which includes both aerobic and strength-training, which you will accomplish at home or a local gym.  Healthy Performance services clients out of seven offices located in the greater Pittsburgh area.  Because of modern tecnology, persons from all fifty states comprise the Healthy Performance clientele with successful results.

1. Nutrition Guidelines
      a. Daily eating plans which will be tailored to your individual needs and situations

b. Overall nutrition information

·         How to read a food label appropriately

·         Knowing the difference between “low” and “no” food additives

·         Working with your metabolism

c. Effective strategies for eating

·         At home

·         At work

·         At restaurants

·         At picnics

·         At parties

·         On airplanes, trains, and automobiles

·         While traveling

d. Plateau Breakers

·         Specific eating plans and supplements to jump kick the metabolism

2. Dietary Supplements – when the goal is to achieve an optimal weight, certain blends of ingredients help specifically for making weight loss easier to attain.

The definition of a dietary supplement is as follows: “A product intended to supplement the diets that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake.”  [The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), 1994]

Dietary Supplements are designed to:

·         Suppress the appetite so that one is not hungry

·         Decrease cravings for sweets, fats, salts, starches, alcohol, and crunchy foods.  Alleviate the emotional desire to eat/drink

·         Make one feel full faster and thus able to stop eating/drinking in a much timelier way

·         Make it possible for the metabolism to function in the most effective and efficient way possible which will lead to greater weight loss more quickly

·         Maximize weight loss, well-being, and overall health

Increase protein intake in the form of shakes, bars, cereals, and snacks

Dietary supplements are not drugs or over-the-counter medications; however, they are regulated.  Dietary supplements are treated as a category of food, and are therefore, regulated in a manner similar to conventional foods. (DSHEA, 1994).

3. One-on-one personal counseling

a. Research has documented that one has a 30% greater success rate when there is a supportive partner and a plan.  These are major components of Healthy Performance.

b. Our staff includes Registered Nurses, Ph.D.’s, pharmacists, dieticians, nutritionists, and other motivated individuals whose goals are to help one attain their goals through planning, educating, counseling and helping one to be accountable and therefore successful.

c. Being accountable to oneself and a counselor will lead to more successful weight loss and a healthier way of being.

d. Each client will speak to a counselor a minimum of once a week.  During this time, each client will report their weekly weight, review their food diary, discuss successes and obstacles and plan for continued success.

e. Supplements and food plans will be recommended that will not only benefit weight loss, but also will improve some health conditions including back ailments, fibromyalgia, cardio-vascular disease, stress conditions, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, the common cold and flu and many, many more.

4. Movement/Exercise

a. Movement/exercise is strongly encouraged, whether it is vigorous or simply moving in a chair in front of the television.  The key is to move more, move differently, and move consistently.

b. Types of movement/exercise that are encouraged:

·         Use of the StrengthMate available from Healthy Performance

·         Walking

·         Stair climbing

·         Hiking

·         Running

·         Biking (real or stationary)

·         Rowing machine

·         Step aerobics

·         Water aerobics (great for those who have difficulty walking)

·         Aerobics (low or high impact aerobics)

·         Dancing

·         Cross-country skiing/cross-country skiing machines

·         Ice skating

·         Roller skating/roller blading/in-line skating

·         Jump rope

·         Rebounding/mini trampoline

·         Pilates

c. Counselors will recommend different types of movement/exercise.  Finding a type of movement that fits one’s lifestyle will increase one’s adherence and success.

d. Interval training will be promoted on the Healthy Performance program.  This means that one will alternate bursts of high-intensity exercise (“work”) with low-intensity exercise (“recovery”).  The goal is to really push oneself during the “work” portion of each interval and then ease up briefly to let the body “recover” and bring the heart rate back down to prepare for the next round of high-intensity.

1.      Interval training is a time-efficient, fat-busting workout and can be done at any age and with any medical condition.

2.      Rule of thumb for interval training is:

·         Speed up and speed down

·         Add and lower resistance

·         Change the terrain (i.e., go up and down hills or steps)

3.      The metabolism remains revved up for hours after interval training and burns many more calories than is realized.  Moving/exercising builds muscle.  Muscle burns six times the calories that fat burns, which means that fat will be eliminated much faster and one will be healthier.

Healthy Performance helps clients’ age gracefully by utilizing vitamins, minerals and micronutrients, plus a comprehensive eating program for general overall health and for safe weight loss.  It’s a known and visible fact that excess weight adds not only years to one’s appearance but also to one’s health.  An inadequate amount of vitamins and minerals also can lead to premature aging.  [An added benefit Healthy Performance has added to its program is an analysis of hair, urine and blood to test for toxic levels of vitamins and minerals as well as an under abundance.]  It is known that exposure to some of the toxic elements, such as those in industry, pollution, other environmental factors and stress are able to be decreased.  Healthy Performance does indeed have the answers to becoming healthier and aging gracefully.