I often get asked: “is doing physical activity enough or do I need a structured fitness program to get in shape?”

My answer is different for each person who asks, I have to tailor my answers because fitness is not a one size fits all situation. For many people simply increasing their physical activity will be enough to meet their health goals and expectations, however for others I may recommend a detailed fitness plan.

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We’re thrilled that Samantha Clayton, fitness expert and former competitive sprinter is going to be sharing her advice each week on this blog.

To help us understand more about her background, we took the time to ask her a few questions while she was visiting Herbalife Headquarters in Los Angeles.

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Welcome Samantha, we’re all very keen to learn more about fitness.  We know that an active, healthy lifestyle is important to you, but what motivates you each day?

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Maybe you’ve had this happen to you – after working out a little harder than usual, you find yourself thinking, “I just burned up an awful lot of calories – think I’ll have a cheeseburger.” It’s called “calorie compensation”. Often after exercising, we end up overeating – convinced that we’ve burned up a lot more calories than we actually have. But overeating – adjusting our “calories in” – isn’t the only way we compensate. Sometimes we adjust our “calories out” – and after a spell of activity, we overcompensate by simply becoming a lot less active for the rest of the day.

It’s been suggested that we might each be born with our own “activitystat” – a biological mechanism that keeps our daily energy expenditure fairly constant. The idea is that any time we engage in some fairly vigorous activity, the internal activity thermostat will lead us to “make up for it” – by increasing our level of inactivity.

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