At Blackhawk Fitness the official drink is water. Tea and coffee may be consumed in moderation. Drink roughly 1 oz of water per pound of bodyweight. Do not drink pops (carbonated soft drinks). Drink water before meals as a means to help prevent over eating. 

Sleep a minimum of seven hours each evening. It is best to sleep between seven and nine hours each evening. Remember that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight!

Consume a minimum of four servings of fruit and four servings of vegetables each day. The following fruits and vegetables require more energy from your body (in the form of calories) to burn and are better for you to eat.

• Fruits: Apples, Apricots, Blueberries, Cherries, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Raspberries, Strawberries.
• Vegetables: Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Celery, Lettuce.

Important sources of protein for your body are fatty fish, poultry, eggs, and finally red meats. Try to limit pork and red meat to once or twice weekly.

If you MUST, approved snacks from the vending machine are nuts, yogurt, cottage cheese, vegetables, fruits. Stay away from processed flours, carbohydrates, and sugars. NO chocolate bars, potato or corn chips, sugary snacks PERIOD. "FAT FREE" does NOT mean "Good for you"!

Shop around the outside aisle of the store. Foods along the inner isles are more processed and less nutritious. Processed foods also contain dangerous Trans fatty acids. These food are difficult to breakdown and can quickly accumulate.

One pound of weight is 3500 calories. If you eat or drink just 500 calories over your specified caloric intake on a daily basis, you'll gain a pound each week! It would take over three miles of running to burn off 500 calories (or the equivalent of 3 cans of cola).

START A JOURNAL OF SUCCESS. Type up an entry each day. Write down your experience, feelings and most importantly your successes. This is a good place to state your goals and objectives. Review your detailed goals each day. Motivation is the key to success!