The New You gym has started a movement that focuses on guiding fellow El Pasoans through their fitness journeys by providing a special nutrition plan menu at local restaurants.

“We were motivated by seeing all the lives that have been changed for the better through personal training,” said Elizabeth Martinez, owner of New You gym. “When you help others not only lose weight, but to live a healthier lifestyle and
gain confidence.”

Local restaurant owners have reached out to the owners of New You in order to help attract a new crowd of more health-conscious people. They have spoken with the owners of these restaurants in order to help create a menu with items they already have from their meals without adding or removing any items in their menus. These healthy suggestions are made so that people don’t have to give up too much when creating a healthier option—they can quickly pick one from a menu.

These restaurants include, Barrigas, which features a healthy choice of different Mexican dishes such as tortilla soup with chicharones instead of tortillas or tacos in lettuce wraps instead of tortillas. While Carnitas Queretaro offers different menu options that are healthy including the protein omelet for breakfast, which is made of egg whites and steak.

Little Shack features seafood favorites including ceviche, fish lettuce wraps and more. Corralitos allows customers to create their own plate. Customers can choose from five different protein options, three carb options and four different veggie options to create their own healthy plate.

Koi Japanese Fusion restaurant offers the New You riceless sushi rolls, which are made with fresh salmon, crab and cucumbers instead of rice.

Martinez said the restaurants are receiving positive feedback about the menu items.

“A lot of people have been complimenting them and appreciating them—that they have that service for them,” Martinez said.

Since it has created great publicity for the restaurants, other restaurants have started contacting Martinez and her husband to create menus
for them.

New You also offers nutrition counseling, body measurements, monthly consultations about where each member is standing fitness wise, one-on-one training sessions, along with complimentary water, towels for every guest and a smoothie bar.

Currently working on a project with the city called Move a Million El Paso, the owners, along with their staff, will start encouraging El Pasoans to start getting physically active, whether it is indoors or outdoors. They will also create an App called “My Fitness,” where each person may log in so that their miles can be calculated. Along with the movement, there will also be pop-up boot camps around town, hosted by New You trainers in the downtown area.

Martinez said the results of clients through before and after pictures are displayed up on their walls and this helps motivate the members to push themselves for better results.

“You don’t need a gym membership to be active. If we get El Paso more active, we can create a community of healthy living and prevent diseases, obesity, diabetes and more,”
Martinez said.

Some people believe by working out daily and not watching what they eat will not affect their results, however many people have seen the difference in the bodies once a healthy nutrition is switched over on their menus, according to Martinez. New You guarantees results by providing meal preparations. Every week, the menu changes and every meal is personally approved by the gym owners to make sure it is the best healthy option
for members.

Personal trainer, Kimberly Rayner, senior business marketing major, said proper nutrition is important for someone who wants to gain results while they are training.

“We tell our clients there’s no reason to eat bad, you have all the resources here,” Rayner said.

If a member is unsure of what they are supposed to eat, New You hosts monthly free nutrition seminars that are open to the public. The have these seminars as part of their Live Fit EP movement. These seminars are designed to educate the community on how to eat, shop and live a
healthy lifestyle.

Martinez also shares her healthy choices through The City (El Paso magazine). She writes a monthly article to provide free advice, food recipes and home exercises for the public. She also shares this information through her blog on her gym’s website.

“We feel extremely blessed to have had such a great success and we pray that we continue to grow and move in the community to help out everyone in some way or another,”
Martinez said.

To learn more about healthy tips, recipes workouts and more you may follow New You’s social media outlets on Facebook–New You Fitness, Instagram @Shizzie_Fitness or @LiveFitEp, and their websites at www.newyougym.com, LiveFitEp.com, and Trainwithgirls.com.

Kimberly Valle may be reached at [email protected].