Dorinda Lambert, the manager of Anytime Fitness in the Inland Port Center, visited the Bainbridge Kiwanis Club on July 9 to talk about striving for a healthy lifestyle.

Lambert has a master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Delaware. She also teaches health and physical education at Bainbridge College.

Anytime Fitness is a unique exercise club because it stays open 24 hours a day, Lambert explained. Members are given a special key card that allows them inside the club, which is staffed most of the day and evening. Once inside, members can use the strength training and cardiovascular equipment for their workouts.

Lambert offered Kiwanians a few tips that anyone can use to help them lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. She said being overweight or obese can cause a number of health problems, including heart disease, reduced breathing capacity and adult onset diabetes. The primary way to lose weight is to look at and modify one’s diet, she said.

“The only way a person can lose weight is to burn more calories than they take in,” Lambert said.

People who want to lose weight should look at how the number of calories and sugar content that are in individual servings of what they drink and eat. Sugar-laden soft drinks, fried food and fatty or greasy food are all things to watch out for and avoid, Lambert said.

The other way to lose weight and stay healthy is to exercise on a regular basis. Lambert recommends that people engage in activities that raise their heart rate for 30 minutes at a time, three times a week. Walking, jogging and maintaining one’s yard or garden are all good ways to exercise, she said.

It’s also important for parents and caretakers to set good examples for children so that they will seek out healthy foods and activity, Lambert said. Encouraging children to participate in recreation, sports or physically active hobbies is a good way to help them stay healthy, she said.