Spring has sprung and the world is blooming again! Are you blooming?

Or are you waiting...Until it feels right…until it’s easy…? Well consider this your permission slip to finally make yourself a priority, especially when it comes to your health!

We're kicking off the season with the month-long series, "Year of YOU." Throughout April, we'll be diving into all the different ways that we can each shift our mindsets- and our habits- to refocus on our most valuable resource- ourselves. The logical starting point? Recognizing and celebrating our individuality.

There is no one on Earth like you. You're individual, nutritionally. Your parents, your children, your siblings, your spouse...Sure, they may have similar nutritional needs, but since none of us are the same, it's impossible to take a 'one size fits all' approach to diets. Even Future You five years down the road...Even she will have her own unique dietary needs...and caloric burn.

If you're like many adults, you've been bombarded for years with messages like, '2000 calorie diets' and '1200 calories a day for weight loss.' But who are those messages for? A 200-lb. man or a 125-lb. woman? And how could they both possibly exist, let alone lose weight, on the same number of calories?! (Hint: They can't.)

So how do you determine your own INDIVIDUAL caloric intake needs to achieve your own UNIQUE goals? Traditionally, pen and paper equations have been used to calculate someone's resting energy expenditure (REE), which is essentially how much energy you burn naturally just by existing. It's then used to figure out how many calories you need to consume to maintain, gain or lose weight. The challenge with these methods of calculation is that while they can give us a good estimate, they aren't exact and they can have a wide margin of error, especially in overweight and obese individuals. 

Each of us has our own metabolic rate, which is how food (or fat) is converted into energy each day. When we consume more calories than we burn, those extra calories are stored as fat. When we consume fewer calories than we burn, our body resorts to converting stored fat into energy, resulting in weight loss. What if each of us was able to calculate our own EXACT caloric needs based on our own individual bodies? Enter the Resting Metabolic Test.

In less than 10 minutes, this simple, non-invasive test can analyze your breath to: 

• provide your precise number of calories needed
• pinpoint your caloric weight loss zone
• detect and diagnose hypo-metabolism
• aid in nutritional assessment for meeting your aesthetic and performance-based goals

Testing

So how does the testing work and what do you have to do prepare? Don't worry, we've got you covered. On the day of testing, you'll want to avoid eating four hours prior to the test, and avoid caffeine and exercise altogether. Since the test is most accurate when you're completely at rest, it's important that you find your most comfortable, relaxed position during the test itself. It's also important that you seal your lips completely around the mouthpiece so that the machine can measure ALL of your air. All you'll have to do is breathe normally and naturally for just 10 minutes, then the test will end and we'll print your results. It's really that easy!

Statistics show that few individuals actually succeed at long-term weight loss, and that's in large part because we often approach our nutritional goals from a place of guessing and estimating...hoping that we're using the right tools, crossing our fingers that the same strategies will work for us that worked for our friends or colleagues who have attempted to lose weight in the past.  But at NTNA, we know that there's a better way- an EASIER way- and we're so happy to bring you this incredible service. We know that the key to achieving any goal, whether aesthetic or performance-based, is by focusing completely on YOU, the individual. And there's no better time that Spring to help our clients take this next step in embracing their uniqueness. Let's get started.