Sure your serious about your weight loss goals! You ate a salad with dinner and you had an apple for dessert...but what about that bag of chips and those bon bons you ate as soon as you got home from work? Oh yeah, you forgot about those!
If you're not holding yourself accountable it's very easy to slide off the weight loss wagon. Here are 3 ways that you can hold yourself accountable. I suggest doing at least 1, but ideally all 3 of these things if you are serious about your weight loss goals:
1) Keep a food journal. This means that you write down everything you eat. It doesn't have to be fancy, just keep an 8x5 notepad in your pocket or in your pocketbook. You'll be amazed how well you eat when you know that you'll have to write it down.
2) Get a weight-loss coach. Someone who can support you, hold you accountable, and give you advice on how you can change your eating habits and lifestyle to better achieve your goals. How do I know so much about weight loss coaches?...Because I am one! haha!
3) Get a weight-loss buddy. A weight loss buddy is someone who has similar weight loss goals, or someone who is very supportive of your goals. This should be someone who you can trust, who is never going to grow tired of you talking about your weight loss challenges, because believe me....there will be challenges!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
How to Handle Thanksgiving
If you're like most of us, there's one day a year when you eat more food than the average grizzly bear eats in a week...and that day is Thanksgiving!
It's a real conflict of interests...you want to eat all the food that everyone's worked so hard to prepare, but you still want to be able to fit in your car for the ride home. So what do you do?
Here are some tips I have for people who want to survive Thanksgiving without throwing their weight loss goals out the window:
1) Don't arrive starving. I'm not saying you should eat a huge breakfast, but eat something so you don't lose your cool when you see all that food in front of you.
2) Take a look at all the food, put all of your favorite things on one, perfect plate...eat it slow, and enjoy it!
3) When it comes to dessert, go with a small portion.
4) Have a "buddy"...someone else who has a weight loss goal, who you will "report back to" on Friday. It's best if that buddy is eating dinner with you, but even if their not, having a buddy will do wonders.
5) Don't snack on junk food. Next to every bowl of chips there's usually a fruit or vegetable platter.
At the end of the day, that's all it is...one day! Try to do your best, but even if you fall off the wagon, you can always jump back on that wagon Friday. Just make sure you don't turn a 1 day binge into a 2 day, or even a 2 month binge!
It's a real conflict of interests...you want to eat all the food that everyone's worked so hard to prepare, but you still want to be able to fit in your car for the ride home. So what do you do?
Here are some tips I have for people who want to survive Thanksgiving without throwing their weight loss goals out the window:
1) Don't arrive starving. I'm not saying you should eat a huge breakfast, but eat something so you don't lose your cool when you see all that food in front of you.
2) Take a look at all the food, put all of your favorite things on one, perfect plate...eat it slow, and enjoy it!
3) When it comes to dessert, go with a small portion.
4) Have a "buddy"...someone else who has a weight loss goal, who you will "report back to" on Friday. It's best if that buddy is eating dinner with you, but even if their not, having a buddy will do wonders.
5) Don't snack on junk food. Next to every bowl of chips there's usually a fruit or vegetable platter.
At the end of the day, that's all it is...one day! Try to do your best, but even if you fall off the wagon, you can always jump back on that wagon Friday. Just make sure you don't turn a 1 day binge into a 2 day, or even a 2 month binge!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tip of the Week -- Give Yourself a Fitness Challenge
Let's face it, exercising can be monotonous! You need to mix it up. You need to give yourself something to shoot for. This doesn't mean you have to train for a marathon, or a tri-athalon, but you should train for something...no matter how ridiculous it seems!
Let me give you an example of a group of gentlemen with who have recently worked towards a particular fitness goal. Two months ago I asked a group of guys I was training if they wanted to take on the "Secret Sevice Kettleball Challenge."
Basically, the challenge is how many times you can pick a 24 kg kettleball up from between your legs and press it over your head in 10 minutes. My guys weren't about to lift a 24 kg kettleball anywhere for 10 minutes...but they could lift a 15 pound dumbell! So we did the challenge with 15 pound dumbells. In 10 minutes, scores ranged from 140 to 170. Not bad for our first try!
Then I designed a training program in order to strengthen our core, legs, and shoulders; all the muscles that were most active in the kettleball press. It was amazing! For 6 weeks these guys were exercising harder than they ever had before! Guys that would usually run out of gas after a half and hour were putting in very intense hour long workouts like they were nothing!
After our 6 weeks of training we did the test again. This time scores ranged from 210 to 240! What an improvement! Not only did the guys feel great, they were in great shape, and they couldn't wait for the next challenge!
See...you're fitness challenges don't have to be extreme, but you should have one...no matter what it is! At the very least it'll give you a reason to go to the gym...but who knows?...it might actually end up being fun!
This is exactly why people like the "Ultimate Grind" so much! It gives people a challenge, something to shoot for, and a reason to get excited about going to the gym!
Let me give you an example of a group of gentlemen with who have recently worked towards a particular fitness goal. Two months ago I asked a group of guys I was training if they wanted to take on the "Secret Sevice Kettleball Challenge."
Basically, the challenge is how many times you can pick a 24 kg kettleball up from between your legs and press it over your head in 10 minutes. My guys weren't about to lift a 24 kg kettleball anywhere for 10 minutes...but they could lift a 15 pound dumbell! So we did the challenge with 15 pound dumbells. In 10 minutes, scores ranged from 140 to 170. Not bad for our first try!
Then I designed a training program in order to strengthen our core, legs, and shoulders; all the muscles that were most active in the kettleball press. It was amazing! For 6 weeks these guys were exercising harder than they ever had before! Guys that would usually run out of gas after a half and hour were putting in very intense hour long workouts like they were nothing!
After our 6 weeks of training we did the test again. This time scores ranged from 210 to 240! What an improvement! Not only did the guys feel great, they were in great shape, and they couldn't wait for the next challenge!
See...you're fitness challenges don't have to be extreme, but you should have one...no matter what it is! At the very least it'll give you a reason to go to the gym...but who knows?...it might actually end up being fun!
This is exactly why people like the "Ultimate Grind" so much! It gives people a challenge, something to shoot for, and a reason to get excited about going to the gym!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Question of the Week -- What should I eat for breakfast?
Breakfast...the most important, yet least appreciated meal of the day.
It makes sense....who has time to prepare breakfast anyway? If you're anything like me, you don't want to wake up any earlier than you absolutely have to! Unfortunately, the foods people typically eat for breakfast; donuts, muffins, juice, danishes, bagels and cream cheese, and many of those breakfast cereals may be quick and easy, but they will cause your body to store fat like crazy!
Since many of you seemed to like my post on my "top 3 snack bars" I figured I'd give you my "top 3 breakfasts", so here they are:
1) A vegetable omelete.
I like to follow my typical "1 protein and 2 vegetable" plan if it's at all possible, even for breakfast. An omlete loaded with any combination of broccoli, tomatoes, spinach asparagus, peppers, onions, etc., does just that. If you've got the time, cook yourself up an omlete!
2) Plain yogurt with fruit and flax seeds.
I know what you're thinking...."Plain yogurt..Gross!" Trust me, it's not. Not if you mix it with fruit. Throw any combination or rasberries, oranges, bananas, pinapples, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, etc. and you won't even notice that the yogurt is unsweetend. And next time you eat sweetend yogurt....with all it's extra sugar...spiking your bloods sugar levels, causing you to experience that mid-morining crash, while storing all those extra calories as fat, you'll think "What's the point of all this sugar." Not only that, the flax seeds will give your yogurt a nutty taste, while adding a lot of quality fiber and omega-3s!
3) A high fiber, high protien, low sugar cereal with skim milk or soy milk.
Not all cereal is bad, but many are. One breakfast cereal that is outstanding is Kashi's "Go Lean" High Protien and High Fiber Cereal. If you're short on time, like me, this might be your best bet!
It makes sense....who has time to prepare breakfast anyway? If you're anything like me, you don't want to wake up any earlier than you absolutely have to! Unfortunately, the foods people typically eat for breakfast; donuts, muffins, juice, danishes, bagels and cream cheese, and many of those breakfast cereals may be quick and easy, but they will cause your body to store fat like crazy!
Since many of you seemed to like my post on my "top 3 snack bars" I figured I'd give you my "top 3 breakfasts", so here they are:
1) A vegetable omelete.
I like to follow my typical "1 protein and 2 vegetable" plan if it's at all possible, even for breakfast. An omlete loaded with any combination of broccoli, tomatoes, spinach asparagus, peppers, onions, etc., does just that. If you've got the time, cook yourself up an omlete!
2) Plain yogurt with fruit and flax seeds.
I know what you're thinking...."Plain yogurt..Gross!" Trust me, it's not. Not if you mix it with fruit. Throw any combination or rasberries, oranges, bananas, pinapples, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, etc. and you won't even notice that the yogurt is unsweetend. And next time you eat sweetend yogurt....with all it's extra sugar...spiking your bloods sugar levels, causing you to experience that mid-morining crash, while storing all those extra calories as fat, you'll think "What's the point of all this sugar." Not only that, the flax seeds will give your yogurt a nutty taste, while adding a lot of quality fiber and omega-3s!
3) A high fiber, high protien, low sugar cereal with skim milk or soy milk.
Not all cereal is bad, but many are. One breakfast cereal that is outstanding is Kashi's "Go Lean" High Protien and High Fiber Cereal. If you're short on time, like me, this might be your best bet!
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