Welcome to the first step to getting in the best shape of your life. Finally, you can get the right program and have the right person to push you and encourage you along the way. You will be motivated to keep going and ......you will succeed in reaching your goal.

Make the Right Choices

Everyone needs a coach no matter what your goal is. When you choose me as your coach, I will be with you every step of the way. You will be sure to get the most out of your workouts. Face it, we should be held accountable for making the right choices so that we can learn to live fit and healthy.

Even if you already participate in some type of fitness exercise, you can still benefit from having your own fitness coach. I start by assessing your current fitness level and your goals. In the next step, we make necessary changes that will jump-start you to the next level. Your fitness program design will maximize your workouts and give you the best results possible.

Get Motivatied

Working as your coach, I will be right beside you pushing you along and showing you how to get it done. You will be motivated to get up and get going. If you need a wakeup call or someone to assist you when shopping for healthy meal items, I can help. Each Debra Baker coaching program includes utilizing many motivational strategies, such as, nutritional guidance, fitness assessments, instruction on proper exercise technique, correct breathing technique, flexibility and the necessary stretching exercises.

Make a Change

Do not delay. Today is the time to start making a change. Contact me for your personalized fitness coach. I'm currently serving clients in Windsor Mill, Randallstown, west Baltimore County and surrounding areas. 

Raymond Day is clearly focused on training for his return to competitive bodybuilding. I stopped by the gym in Windsor Mill, where he trains, to see Ray in action. Ray starts each session with a cardio blast to warm up muscles and get the heart pumping. As a personal trainer and bodybuilder, he knows how to pace his workout to reach the maximum fat burning zone and rev up the metabolism. After twenty minutes on the elliptical, Ray moves on to his upper body workout.

         Bicep Blast                                 

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If you’re 50 or over and still in the battle trying to lose those last 10 to 20 pounds, then try using a calculator. This is not a gimmick; in fact, this method has been tested and really does produce results. It does, however, require just a little more work than simply reducing your number of daily calories.

If you’ve done the research, then you know that our metabolism starts to slow down at age forty and continues the decline at an average of five percent per decade. Therefore, by age 50 there is a 10% reduction in the way our body converts food into energy; which results in more excess body fat. So to successfully lose weight and decrease body fat, we need to rev up our metabolism while monitoring our food intake.

Target Fat Loss 

To target fat loss, the first step is to have a trained professional prepare a fitness analysis on you. This would include recording your weight and body measurements, measuring your percentage of body fat and flexibility, testing upper and lower body strength, an aerobic capacity and endurance test using a stationery bike and treadmill, a blood pressure/heart rate check and calculation of your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

Measure BMR


Your BMR is the rate at which the body expends energy for daily activities and should be measured while resting. Your actual metabolic rate is estimated by adding the number of calories expended from activities you engage in throughout the day to your BMR. Everyone expends a different amount of energy every day depending on physical activity and the composition of foods we intake. However, the BMR remains constant.

The trained fitness professional will apply your calculations to determine your daily caloric requirement. Once it’s determined how many calories your body uses in a normal day, in order to maintain your consistent weight, you can increase your normal activity via exercise in order to burn more calories than required.

Avoid Injury

You should begin with an exercise routine that will provide you with the most benefits in the least amount of time. If you’ve been mostly sedentary for a few years you won’t be geared up to spending hours exercising. So to avoid injury, get a physical and consult with your physician. Hire a personal trainer to work with you one on one. If you can’t afford the price of personal training, you can sign up for supervised training at your local YMCA or fitness center. Many have certified trainers on staff to work with you for an additional fee.

A thorough weight loss program should include both aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Aerobic cardiovascular movements may be performed outside from jogging or cycling continuously for 30 to 45 minutes. A treadmill or stationery bike will give you a similar workout on days when you prefer to stay inside. Remember, when undertaking any fat loss program, consistency is a factor. No more excuses. If you want results you have to work at it.

Key to Fat Loss 

The key to fat loss is performing these exercises at the right capacity which will put you in the best fat-burning zone. In other words, you should be exercising at 55% to 70% of your maximum heart rate reserve. Your fitness trainer will periodically check your heart rate to insure that you are staying within the fat burning zone and will adjust your workout accordingly.

Build Muscles

Anaerobic exercises are used to build muscles and strength. In addition to a healthy cardiovascular program, muscle building is a powerful way to boost metabolism. Why? because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat. So if you have more muscle in your body, burning more calories is the result. A fitness program designed to lose fat and boost metabolism should always include strength training. Muscle building plays a supportive role to cardiovascular exercise.

Avoid Sabotage 

Lastly, don’t sabotage your progress by eating foods that contain large doses of saturated fat. Read the labels and maintain portion control by eating five to six small meals throughout the day. Drink at least eight glasses of water daily to replenish the water your body will expel during exercise. Water also helps you feel full. Instead of grabbing the junk food, try drinking a cold bottle of refreshing water. Your personal fitness trainer can help you stay on track by designing a nutritional meal plan that’s right for you. He or she will consider your likes and dislikes, your lifestyle and your schedule in choosing your menu. When hiring a trainer, always consider choosing one that’s certified to educate and train you in performance of safe and appropriate exercises that effectively lead to optimal health.  

Debra Baker CFT    

                         PROTEIN AND DIETING

Increasing your protein intake can help build muscle faster even when consuming fewer calories. When your goal is to get leaner, calories matter, but there are also other  factors to consider. Reducing body fat to low levels causes a struggle inside the body. Metabolism, the calorie-burning engine slows down. The harder and longer you diet, the more your metabolism adapts and decelerates.

Anabolic Status

Anabolism, the building of muscle tissue, demands calories. To stay in an anabolic state, the body needs energy and lots of it. Much of our energy comes from energy reserves, otherwise known as body fat. The problem with cutting calories is that eating less nearly always compromises anabolic status. When calories go down, it's hard to keep muscle.

Protein, however can serve as a savior. Generally protein needs rise at the start of a diet and continue to rise every week during the diet. Chronic lower-calorie dieting creates a condition where the body becomes more efficient at burning protein. Muscles need protein!

Consume More Protein

One way to sidestep the burning of muscle is to consume more protein from egg whites, chicken, turkey, fish and lean meat, as well as low-fat dairy and protein powders, starting three to four weeks into a diet plan. The added protein blocks the breakdown of muscle tissue. Instead of burning muscle, the body burns the extra protein. In essence, you preserve muscle, maintain an anabolic state and keep your metabolism heading in the right direction.

Keep in mind that adding extra protein to a diet will increase the total calories you consume, but you should be happily experiencing a continual loss of bodyfat.