Kaia Fit Trainer: Six weeks is just the beginning

Over the past six weeks, the 160 Carson City women enrolled in the Kaia Fit Bikini Boot Camp lost a total of 390 pounds.

They shed 230 inches from their bodies.

"You guys are changing Carson City," owner Nikki Warren told participants at the end of camp last week. "You're changing your kids' lives. Every day, we all fight together to be a little better."

Although she commends the success of all the women who participated, she also has a warning.

The six-week mark, she said, does not mark the end of the fitness quest. It's the beginning.

"So many people right now are enthralled with boot camps," she said. "They think, 'I'm going to work out really hard, then I'll go back to my old ways.'

"But it can't be that way. It has to be a lifetime thing."

Throughout the past six weeks, the Nevada Appeal has encouraged residents to join in a commitment to fitness.

Warren said this has been a good way to get started, but people need to look at long-term changes to become healthy.

"Exercising should be as much a part of our daily routine as brushing our teeth," she said.

Diet, she said, is key to weight loss.

She warned against fad diets, suggesting instead eating more fruits and vegetables while eliminating processed sugar.

She said people often need a shift in the way they approach food.

"Nobody wants to starve," she said. "You don't want to spend your whole life hungry. Food is fuel. You need the right kind of fuel to build muscle, which burns fat.

"You don't have enough time in the day to work out enough to absorb a bad diet."

She said that at age 40, she is in better shape than she was at 20. She encouraged people to make note of their mile time and other fitness factors to try to improve each year.

"Every year, make it a goal that instead of aging up, age down," she said. "With a great diet and exercising every day comes confidence and clear-mindedness."