5 Steps To Building Habits

ONE OF THE UNFORTUNATE FACTS OF LIFE IS IT IS MUCH EASIER TO CREATE AND STICK TO A BAD HABIT THAN IT IS TO CREATE AND STICK TO A GOOD ONE. THE WHYS OF THIS GO BACK TO THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN NATURE. SUFFICE TO SAY THAT WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING HEALTHY HABITS, IT PAYS TO FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE.

While it’s difficult to try to change old bad habits, it is far more effective to focus on creating new good ones. Doing so actually creates healthier pathways in your brain and makes you more creative.

Creating habits helps alleviate decision-making fatigue by decreasing the number of decisions we have to make. Do things regularly and you won’t have to fret about whether you will or you won’t.  One less decision to stress you out. Bonus: Improving your life.

While conventional wisdom says creating a new habit takes 21-28 days, the UK Health Behavior Research Center’s study that showed it took 66 days on average to form a new habit. Habits are hard to create and harder still to maintain.

SO WHAT ARE SOME EFFECTIVE WAYS TO FOSTER HEALTHY HABITS THAT YOU CAN IMPLEMENT IN THE NEXT 66 DAYS? 

1. BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR GOAL.

Know exactly what you want. Commit to it.  Make it specific. Write it down. Make it public. Type it in italics to show importance.

2. STRIVE FOR CONSISTENCY OVER PERFORMANCE.

It matters more how often you do something than how well you do it. So keep doing it.

A great tool to help you get into a routine is to record your progress. It will keep you honest about doing it and keep you focused on your goal.  In the process, most people discover that tracking progress can be a lot of fun.

3. MAINTAIN POSITIVITY.

This is easier said than done but there are some basics that will help:

~ Get support. Whether it’s a workout buddy, a coach, or just someone who can talk you out of a funk, you need people like this for encouragement and especially when the going gets tough.  And it will. It doesn’t have to be an individual either. Some people like support groups or prefer to join a team.
~ Use “but” when you start to think negative thoughts or want to give up.  Be aware when your mind is engaging in self-defeating chatter, and find ways to detach from it.
~ Don’t worry if you slide a little. Everyone does. Just acknowledge the trigger that threw you off then get back on the proverbial horse. You have a destination.

4. RECOMMIT…RECOMMIT…RECOMMIT…

Finding ways to bring your focus back to your goal will help you to keep that positive mindset and stick to your routine. Why not:

~ Put up post-its or signs in key places.
~ Send yourself email reminders.
~ Set your written goal as your desktop background.
~ Recommit each Monday.  That way you have 52 chances a year to get remotivated if you get off track or your resolve falters. You can even check out Healthy Monday, a non-profit national public health campaign that encourages people to use Monday as the day for all things healthy.

5. REWARD YOURSELF IN A WAY THAT WORKS FOR YOU.

Although it’s debatable whether external incentives and rewards actually help motivate people to take on healthier habits, the intrinsic rewards do the trick.

When long-term exercisers (who had been working out for an average of 13 years) were asked what motivated them to keep up their workouts, the primary reasons had to do with feeling good- the reward was the health benefit they reaped.

Even if you are offering yourself an external or extrinsic reward when you reach a milestone, it may just be the intrinsic rewards that will keep you going.

You can use your tracking method to record where you are in the process and how far you’ve come.  You can track the benefits gained and the pain avoided in addition to the actual quantifiable increases in performance.  Make sure to take note because this knowledge of your success is a reward in and of itself.

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The Secret to Belly Fat Loss

Just an FYI… Everyone has some belly fat, even people who have flat abs. It is when we have too much belly fat that it has an effect on our health. When this is the case, it is time to say enough! It is time for Belly Fat Loss!

There are different kinds of fat. Some fat is right under your skin, and other fat is deeper inside, around your heart, lungs, liver, and other organs. The deeper fat is called “visceral” fat. This fat may be the bigger problem, even for thin people.

There are four key factors you need to take into consideration in Belly Fat Loss: exercise; diet; sleep; and stress management. If any of these four are out of balance you will gain weight. When your weight gets excessive, your body starts to store your fat in unusual places and deep around your Visceral Organs.

How much belly fat do you have?

The most precise way to measure it, is to have a CT scan or MRI. This obviously will cost a ton of money so most people opt for a much simpler, low-cost method for monitoring belly fat. The tools most commonly used are measuring tape, body fat calipers, or body fat measurement machines. A measuring tape is the simplest do-it-yourself method. Body fat calipers and body fat weight machine with feet and handle sensors are somewhat more accurate. If using a machine make sure that you use a machine that has both hand and foot sensors for the most accurate results.

Let’s start with the least expensive method, a tape. This way you can get started on that Belly Fat Loss, and then look to do another measurement method later. Simply take a measuring tape, wrap it around your waist at your belly button, and check your girth. Do it while you’re standing up, and make sure the tape measure is level all the way around. Your waist size should be less than 35 inches if you’re a woman and less than 40 inches if you’re a man. If this is not the case you know things need to change.

The best things you can do for Belly Fat loss:

• Exercise: In combination with the other factors, vigorous exercise creates great belly fat loss, including visceral fat. Participating in 30 minutes of vigorous exercise at least six days a week will raise your heart rate and burn fat. Vigorous exercise includes running, plyometric and agility training, hiking up steep inclines, and other types of fast moving exercise and training. Of course you can always use Beachbody programs like P90X3, 21 Day Fix, Insanity Max30, and others that provide 30 minutes of vigorous training, which you can do in the comfort of your own home. Another great thing about Beachbody programs is that you can take them to the gym or outdoors by streaming those programs with the Beachbody On-Demand. If you can only do moderate exercise, then you need 45-60 minutes, 6 days per week.

Just remember that once you get your fitness levels up, it is important to hit the vigorous exercises so you can torch visceral fat. Moderate exercise can include jogging, stair climbing at a moderate pace, and fast walking. You can also use Programs like PiYo, P90, TurboJam, or TurboFire to start seeing results while doing moderate exercise. Plus these programs are always changing your workouts and how they are scheduled, which also helps with fat burn.

• Nutrition: There is no magic diet for belly fat loss. Diets alone typically results in more muscle and water weight loss than fat loss. If you want your belly fat gone, you need to have proper nutrition. When you have balanced nutrition that encompasses clean whole foods, portion control, and proper caloric intake for your activity levels, the belly fat is usually the first to go, though this can vary with genetics. Most people struggle with balance since the media and society has skewed the view on what balanced real nutrition looks like. The best program to teach you all that is needed for proper nutrition is the Portion Fix Nutrition plan. This plan is the easiest to implement and use. You can get it on its own, or it comes with the 21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme, or Insanity Max30 Workout programs. 

Other aspects of nutrition that are key to belly fat loss are fiber and supplementation with a total nutrition supplement. 50% of Americans are nutrient and fiber deficient. It is nearly impossible with today’s food supply to get the fiber and total nutrients that we need on a daily basis. It also has been shown that people who have low nutrient and fiber levels have a tendency to store more visceral fat. If you are eating a clean nutrition plan with the proper servings of fruits and vegetables, plus supplementing with a total nutrition shake like Shakeology, you will be well on your way to having proper fiber and nutrient levels. Your body will thank you, and you will see belly fat loss.

• Sleep : Getting the right amount of sleep is incredibly important for belly fat loss. Studies have shown that people who got 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night gained less visceral fat over 5 years versus those who got 5 or fewer hours of sleep per night. The same study showed those who slept longer than 8 hours, gained more belly fat. Sleep is your time to recover which is why you need the rest, but too much causes your body to be more sedentary. Again it’s all about balance.

• Stress: Everyone has stress. How you handle your stress is what really matters. If you don’t handle stress well, or you have too much stress, you will struggle with belly fat loss. The best way to combat stress is through exercise. Proper sleep also helps combat stress. Other things you can do to help combat stress are relaxing with friends and family, meditating, and counseling if stress levels become too much to handle. How you react to stressful situations can cause additional stress. So work on finding the balance in how you react to stress and how you cope with stress. Knowing your options for combating stress will also help create a healthier lifestyle and aid in making good choices.

Belly Fat Loss is possible and can be achieved with ease if you take the right steps. It won’t be immediate. Your Belly Fat Loss will happen if you stay consistent and remember that you didn’t put your belly fat on overnight, so it will take time to shed that weight. Now that you know what to do, start by setting goals, and begin your journey...and don't forget to reach out to me for help if you need it!

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Music May Help Your Exercise Results

Music May Help Your Exercise Results because it has a very powerful effect on the brain. Studies have found that certain songs can stimulate memory and emotions. The studies have also found that both  reactions may also be directly linked to the lyrics.

If music can make you feel certain emotions, is it possible that Music May Help Your Exercise Results? Absolutely! 

A study done at Fairleigh Dickinson University followed a group of moderately obese women for six months. Half could choose their music when working out, and half could not listen to music. The women that listened to music lost an average of 16 pounds, and were much more likely to adhere to their workouts. The women who could not listen to music lost an average of 8 pounds, and were only 68% (as compared to 98%) adherent to their exercise routine. Though the numbers aren’t dramatic, the results are still significant.

From this study you can say Music May Help Your Exercise Results. We also may say that music is effective at distracting the participants from the negative elements of exercise, such as muscle fatigue, heavy breathing, and sweating. Music also helps the time go by. Since music is typically associated as pleasurable, listening to music when you exercise may stimulate the brain onto pleasurable thoughts.

Another study, published in the Scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports, studied a small group of male cyclists and found that the degree of effort they exerted correlated with the speed of the music to which they listened. You may have noticed this when you are taking a spin class, or biking and running outside.

The correct Music May Help Your Exercise Results by setting the pace, and making you push yourself a little harder without even noticing.

Since Music May Help Your Exercise Results, here are some music suggestions when doing cardio, lifting weights, or practicing yoga.

CARDIO EXERCISE

Brunel University professor Dr. Coastas Karageoghis discovered that when runners listened to music they liked, their performance increased up to 15%.

What type of Music May Help Your Exercise Results when doing cardio? 

Cyclers could start with songs with 100–120 beats per minute (bpm). Runners could start with songs 150–170 bpm depending on your pace. Dial the tempo up or down to find what works best for you. That is why CIZE It Up is such a great program. You are exercising and don’t even really think about it because of the music and the moves. Your brain is engaged and you are moving and grooving.

WEIGHT LIFTING

When weight lifting you want music that’s more intense and invigorating. Another key factor in your choice is to choose music with lyrics that get you and keep you pumped up. A study from York St. John University found that when listening to music with uplifting lyrics, participants were able to hold a 2.4-lb. weight out in front of them for 10% longer. P90X and other weight training programs often have music that is set to 128 bpm. This type of music will keep you in a rhythm for lifting.  You also don’t want music that is too fast either. This could cause you to move too quickly, and the distraction could cause injury.

STRETCHING, BALANCE WORK, AND YOGA

Cool downs or programs like yoga call for slower music. This more moderate rate allows the heart rate to sync with the body for proper stretching. When you are trying to relax, you want to decrease the amount of beats in the music below 120 bpm. When doing meditative type yoga or stretching, you want to bring it down even more and use songs that are between 60–90 bpm.

No matter what songs, genres, decade, or source of music you select, just remember Music May Help Your Exercise Results if you choose well. So find your favorite songs that fit each style of exercise and bring on better results

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Meal Prep for The Master’s Hammer and Chisel: Week 1 Plan B (1,500-1,799 calorie bracket)

Starting on January 4th, thousands of people will start The Master’s Hammer and Chisel together, and will support each other through the 60-day challenge on The Master’s Challenge Facebook group. And, as part of that group, you'll get exclusive tips from The Master’s Hammer and Chisel celebrity trainers Sagi Kalev and Autumn Calabrese! Don’t miss out! Click here to join the group.

While it’s crucial to give it your all during the workouts, it’s equally important to eat right if you want to lose fat and tone up or build muscle. Creating a weekly meal plan and prepping all your food for the week at once is a smart way to make sure you eat right every day. And it will save you a lot of time.

The team over at BeachBody created an awesome meal plan that happens to follow the calorie bracket that I'll be eating in, so I'm going to give it a go with a few small tweaks to suit my particular diet and needs. (You can see the original post here)

There are a few things in the meal plan that I don't eat (like eggs and dairy), and I wanted to add in Shakeology and the supplements that I take daily since a couple of them count as a part of the containers so it's important for me to add them in to my plan.

Namely, the fish oil I take counts as a daily teaspoon as does the coconut oil (or sometimes this raw coconut) that I like to put in my coffee in the morning, the brazil nuts I eat count as a part of a blue container (I eat 4/day for their selenium content), and I like to add in the Collagen Peptides to my Shakeology to boost the protein and help keep my hair, skin, and nails looking fab. I also substitute in the Vega Sport Protein for the red portion of the parfait instead of the yogurt found in the meal plan (again, I can't eat dairy). I also subbed in oats for the quinoa because I LOVE doing overnight oats because it's so easy.

The other recipes come from the nutrition guide that's a part of the program, so all the recipes can be found in there. I can't reproduce the recipes here...sorry! It's against copy write laws so if you want them you'll just have to buy the program :) 

According to the calculations I'd technically fall in the Plan A or 1,200-1,499 calorie bracket, but I've tried that bracket before when I did the 21 Day Fix and it is not enough food for me...or most people really. If you're doing the workouts daily you NEED to fuel your body properly. Doing the lowest bracket for three weeks is ok to see some results fast, but your body will quickly feel like it's in starvation mode and you'll stop seeing results and likely feel like crap.

The next bracket up leaves me feeling full all of the time (some days I can't finish all the food!!) and its the right amount of food to still see results. It's also the amount of calories I try to stick to the rest of my life, so doing it during a program is a great way to teach yourself how to properly portion your meals for everyday life.

If you want to loose fat (and you will, trust me!) then it's ok to do that plan for a little while, but listen to your body, do it for no more than three weeks, and go up a bracket when you need to. It might be a good idea to try going lower at the end of the program for a few weeks to shed the last few pounds if needed instead of starting out in the lowest bracket and running the risk of feeling hungry and tired.

Now on to the plan!

This is what my week will look like:

(You can click the photo or CLICK HERE to get a PDF version you can download)

I will use the portion containers that come with the program to measure out all of the foods in advance when I do my meal prep on Sunday.

Here's a shopping list to make life easy on you:

(You can click on the photo or CLICK HERE to get a PDF version to download)

P.S. I realized too late that I mis-spelled 'dry' before the quinoa in the shopping list...sorry!

A trick I use to save money is to buy frozen berries and frozen spinach for the smoothies, not only is it cheaper, but it saves room in your fridge, stuff is less likely to go bad, and you don't need to add ice to your smoothie to make it cold.

I hope this makes your life a bit easier if you're already doing the challenge, and if you're not hopefully this will inspire you to give it a try! 

As soon as you buy the program you get access to the workouts and program guide online so you don't have to wait for it to show up in the mail, you can get started right away.

Warning though, I've started the workouts already and they aren't for beginners, so you may want to go with the 21 Day Fix if you're just getting back in to exercise, this meal plan can be used for that program as well.

If you need to go up in calories from this plan, simply add more of each of the designated foods to each meal (and don't forget to buy more food at the store too!)

If you have any questions or want some support around making healthy lifestyle changes then make me your coach and then please get in touch so we can talk about your goals!

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Yoga Poses to Detox Your Body

Life gets crazy sometimes, and it can wear on us. If you notice that you are feeling tired and weighed down by stress, a lack of motivation for exercise, and are making poor food choices, it is time to think about giving your mind and body a reboot. This reboot doesn’t always have to come from a nutritional detox. It can come from a physical detox too.

What do we mean by physical detox? You can detox through yoga. Yoga Poses to Detox Your Body will leave you feeling cleaner on the inside and more energetic on the outside.

Try these Yoga Poses to Detox Your Body and see and feel the benefits for yourself.

Chair Pose

This is one of the Yoga Poses to Detox Your Body that most people can do with very little practice. Bring your feet either hip-width apart or together (depending on your comfort level). Bend your knees as if you are sitting on a chair. Make sure your knees are aligned with the center of your feet. Bring your hands together at the heart center and bring one elbow to the opposite knee, pressing your palms firmly together. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and open your chest wide.

Detox Benefits for Your Body: Improves the health of the spine and vertebrae, and also stimulates the liver, spleen, and digestive system to improve the elimination process.

Eagle Pose

For the Eagle Pose stand with your feet together and arms by your side. Draw your left foot upward, bending the knee as you lift it. Wrap the left foot around your right leg as you rest the back of your left thigh on the right thigh. Cross your arms at the elbows, left over right. Join the palms of your hands together keeping the fingers pointed upward. Inhale and hold the posture for the duration of the inhaled breath. Be sure to hold then release, and repeat on the other side.

Detox Benefits for Your Body: Besides that, it stretches the ankles and calves, thighs, hips, shoulders, and upper back, it creates deeper circulation which may help flush out the blood and lymph system.

Sage Twist Pose

Start by sitting on the floor with both legs straight in front of you. Bend your left leg towards your chest. Rotate your torso toward your left knee. Wrap your right arm around the left knee, positioning the knee in the crook of the right elbow. After holding the pose for 30-45 seconds, switch to the other side and repeat.

Detox Benefits for Your Body: Helps stimulate digestion and remove the impurities of the body. Also stimulates the kidney and liver for more blood flow to the organs.

Forearm Wheel

This move is a reclined position on your back. You then slowly press up, gently placing the crown of your head on the mat. Come onto your forearms one at a time both forearms on the mat. Slowly press up into a backbend, opening through your shoulders.

Detox Benefits for Your Body: Chest-opening exercises are wonderful to release stagnation and congestion in the body. This also can help activate your metabolism.

Eagle Headstand Pose

Begin this pose by kneeling on the floor. Lace your fingers together and set the forearms on the floor, elbows at shoulder width. Roll the upper arms slightly outward, but press the inner wrists firmly into the floor. Set the crown of your head on the floor. Inhale and lift your knees off the floor. Carefully walk your feet closer to your elbows, keep your heels elevated. Actively lift through the top of the thighs, forming an inverted “V.” Firm the shoulder blades against your back and lift them toward the tailbone so the front torso stays as long as possible. Exhale and lift your feet away from the floor. Take both feet up at the same time, even if it means bending your knees and hopping lightly off the floor. Place the right thigh over the left and either stay there in a half bind or wrap the foot around the calf in a full bind. Press the thighs into one another.

Detox Benefits for Your Body: Headstands typically improve cardiovascular functioning by reducing strain on the heart. This can help people suffering from a depressed immune system and allergies. It can also increase digestive fire and body heat, which can increase the function of the endocrine glands, especially the pineal and pituitary glands.

Shoulder Stand Pose

Begin by lying on the floor. Draw your legs back over the head, coming into a plow pose. Bring your hands to either side of the spine and slowly bend both of your knees and press your feet up into the air. Draw the belly toward the spine. Concentrate on your feet, and lower to plow on your way down and return to your first position.

Detox Benefits for Your Body: Inverted poses help drain accumulated lymph fluid from the legs and upper body. This pose helps the body be oxygenated and cleansed.

Some of the moves we mentioned are for beginners and some are advanced. We always recommend that you do some formal practice of these moves with a program so you obtain the greatest benefit while decreasing your chance for injury. Some great programs to look at are Tai Cheng and PiYo, as well as the yoga day offered in 21 Day Fix, P90X, P90X2, and P90X3. These programs offer the opportunity to learn and enjoy yoga, while allowing you to obtain the benefits from physical detox.

If you want to add a nutrition detox during your physical Detox, it is recommended to do the Ultimate Reset. This program is a comprehensive nutritional detox that detoxes your body down to the cellular level. Another option is to do a Three Day Kickstart to reset your system over a weekend.

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Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind

Okay, the holidays are about over. It is time to leave the high-calorie holiday world behind. Here are Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind and get back on track to fat loss and a healthy body.

These Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind will help you get on the fast-track to results, but in a way you can use for the entire year as you implement all your health and fitness strategies to a healthier lifestyle.

Plan, Shop, and Prepare a Meal Plan

Plan, shop, and prepare is a MUST. I don’t just mean planning what you are going to eat for dinner. I mean planning what you are going to eat for every meal for the next 2 weeks.

Your schedule might go like this:

• Pre-exercise – Energize
• Breakfast – 2-3 eggs, 1 apple, Green Tea or coffee (if you do a post workout recovery drink use half an apple and only two eggs)
• Snack – 1 oz raw almonds, 1 pear, Green Tea or Shakeology
• Lunch – Grilled chicken, fish, or black beans with a spinach salad, onions, peppers, etc., a banana or bowl of cherries, 2 cups unsweetened iced tea with lemon
• Snack – Raw vegetables and hummus
• Dinner – Protein, vegetables and fruit… Steak, chicken or fish, a sweet potato, your favorite vegetables, and a bowl of your favorite fruit for dessert.

Once per week you can have a slightly larger meal of your favorite foods – whatever you want. Just remember there is NO binging or eating into a food coma.

Sticking to this for 14 days could cause weight loss of 5-11 pounds in 14 days.

Use High Intensity Workouts

You really have everything you need to get started. Most programs don’t need any equipment, or they need something as easy as a resistance band. Check out INSANITY Max30 for workouts that are only 30 minutes. Yes, done in 30 minutes.

Let nothing stand in the way of your workouts except real emergencies! Switching to High Intensity Workouts will burn more fat than the usual walking,  jogging, or elliptical sessions.

Be sure to check out On-Demand Fitness for the best workouts available for at home use.

Write Your Way to Fat Loss

Writing and journaling about what you are doing is good for the mind, body, and soul.

You must also carve out 15 minutes to write out two outcome goals and three process goals for the next 2 weeks. Write down EXACTLY what you want to accomplish for the outcome goals (i.e. lose 6 pounds), and then three process goals (action steps) so you can achieve your outcome goal (i.e. drink Shakeology each day, do all 21 Day Fix Workouts per the Calendar, and drink 10 cups of water each day).

Next write a letter to yourself how you will do these action goals every day or else. Each day before you start in your journal write the action goals for that day (i.e. drink my Shakeology, do 21 Day Fix Dirty 30, Drink 10 glasses of water). At the end of the day, journal how your day went, how the exercise and nutrition went, and whether you completed your goals.

Recruit an Accountability Partner

Research has shown that recording your nutrition in a food journal, and having someone review and or do it with you increases your chances of reaching your goals. A third study found that even having an accountability coach online increased your chances of success by 70%. This is why I'm dedicated to being your coach because I can help you reach your goals, and you can participate in a Challenge Groups to work with a group and get results faster.

Journal Check-In and Cheat Meal

When you have made it seven days and can truly go into your journal and say I accomplished seven days with success. You can have a cheat meal (meal, not day). Be honest. If you truly didn’t do what you needed to do, then be honest.

This cheat meal doesn’t mean gorging. It simply means having a normal meal of your favorite foods to give you a mental break from your plan. When the meal is over, don’t go back for seconds. Get right back on track.

Mental Performance Review

Since you will be reviewing your journal you may want to take a weekly Mental Performance Review. Write down all obstacles that are still in your way of success, and then develop two solutions that can help you overcome each of them. Get some help from your accountability partner, coach, or challenge group. The more you and your group shares solutions, the more weight loss you will all accomplish.  

Using these Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind should be used on a two-week basis. Once you have completed two weeks’ review and start the process again. In the first two weeks if you use a coach, sound nutrition plan, and a high quality workout program, I bet you will lose 5-10 pounds of fat, have a good start on developing healthy habits that you could stick to for life.

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Day 6 Macro plan update

DAY 6 THOUGHTS

Yesterday was a tough day.

I felt like I didn't sleep well again and had a really hard time motivating to workout. My quads were really sore and it made doing leg lifts really tough, so I coped out a bit and did some Brazil Butt Lift exercises instead. Overall my workout was very sub-par. I also could not motivate to do my workout fasted, so I had my morning shake first and then exercised, which helped...I think I was just feeling really run down.

My eating was spot on otherwise though! I like using the MyFitnessPal app a lot, though I'd prefer if I just got my shit together and did a big meal prep day and got everything laid out for the week...such is the life on an entrepreneur! No days off to do such things :)

But despite that I'm still finding myself staying within the guideline because I know how important the nutrition part is.

Eating all the carbs and reducing the fat is still messing with me mentally a bit, I can tell I'm craving more fat but I'm not sure if it's just mental.

I am loving how much vegetables this is making me eat...I always eat veggies at every meal but now that I'm including more dense sources of them to help reach my carbs it is more than I would be eating otherwise.

I didn't enjoy eating the 4oz of smoked salmon all that much, I normally LOVE smoked salmon but somehow that one day it felt like WAY too much salt for me so I may sub that one out for some other things.

This morning I'm having my coffee black for the first time since starting...I'm supposed to drink it this way but I didn't want to give up my coconut milk (which I started to measure on day 1 and have been using 1tsp. in each 12oz I have...which turns out is the perfect amount). Yesterday I got some coffee from a coffee shop and had it black and it tasted WAY better than what I make at home so I think I need to clean my coffee pot and get some better coffee.

I'm going skiing on Monday and I'm a bit nervous about how I'm going to bring all the food I need for the day but it will be a good test!!

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Secrets of Very Fit People

Many people who want to get into shape are often looking for the Secrets of Very Fit People. The funny thing is… There are no real Secrets of Very Fit People, it’s just that very fit people make their health a priority and commit to significant, consistent actions to take care of their health.

So even though they are not secrets per se, understanding the secrets of very fit people and following what they do will help you to get in and stay in shape and achieve the results you desire.

Use these tips as a daily reminder to keep focused on your health.

1. Keep a water bottle with you at all times! Water should always be your drink of choice. The minimum of water daily requirement is 96 ounces (eight glasses) or more, depending on body size, the climate you live in, and how much physical activity you have each day. Remember you can add lemon, lime, cucumber, or a few berries to your water for flavor.

2. Look at exercise as a pleasure! The ability to exercise is a privilege, and should not be looked at as a burden or chore. Regular exercise will produce many positives effects in your life. Focus on the positive. Get excited about your next workout!

3. Eat balanced meals with proper portions! Excess calories will turn into excess weight. No matter what the latest fad diet says, extra or even too few calories equals extra weight!

4. Create and focus on short-term goals! Our first goal should be to focus on simply completing your daily exercise programs. From there you can establish further goals.

5. Keep a daily log of what you are eating! Whether on paper or electronically on your computer, tablet or smartphone, tracking what you eat is a must. Write it down or key or tap it in every time you put anything in your mouth. A handful of chips, or the crust of your kid’s sandwich, it all counts

6. Enjoy an occasional (once a week or every two weeks) “unhealthy” treat!  This should never become an unhealthy week or “I’m on vacation so I will just eat whatever”.

7. Have a partner or friend to exercise with! Accountability is important to staying on track. You can even create a real or virtual group if you want.

8. Invest in the right tools! Have good shoes and quality workout clothes. The more comfortable you are working out the better off you will be.

9. Make a goal of exercising 6 days a week. If your workout program is just 5 days a week, get a walk in on the other days.

10. Have an exercise schedule! Don’t leave it to chance or waiting to “find” the time. Have a schedule to know which workouts should be done on each day, and having a specified time will help keep you on track.

11. Move beyond the focus of weight loss! Measure success by the way your clothes fit and your energy level, not the number on a scale.

12. Get adequate sleep! 7-9 hours is important for muscle recovery.

13. Limit alcohol, caffeine, and sugar. All of these have negative effects on the body and its processes.

14. Supplement! Supplement your nutrition with a complete nutrition shake and other supplements to keep your body working hard through every workout.

As I said before these are not really secrets, but they are musts! Very fit people make all these things and more a part of their daily life. If you are not sure where to start, reach out to me so I can help you pick the right fitness program, nutrition plan (one that is simple, balanced, and teach proper portion sizes) and nutritional supplements that will help you get the results you want.

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3 Signs Your Workout Program is Working

We know that when we exercise we perform everyday tasks better, our health is improved, and we feel better. So the question is, how do you know if your workout program is working for you? What are the Signs Your Workout Program is Working? 

That is actually a funny subject. The Signs Your Workout Program is Working are actually opposite of our intended goals. The signs are soreness, feeling slow or even sluggish, and feeling hungry.  While these signs may seem like negatives, we actually want these signs. These are clear Signs Your Workout Program is Working.

So the key is to embrace programs that are designed to push you just enough to make you sore, sluggish,  sluggish, and hungry. Programs lacking this threesome don’t provide you an incentive to get in top shape. When you push your body above its normal output, even it is it barely there, and you keep it there over time, you will yield improvements. 

SORENESS

Soreness is the first Sign Your Workout Program is Working. Soreness is the easiest symptom to understand. Most of us have been sore one time or another. Soreness happens when we do something physically that our bodies are not accustomed to doing. It can happen from doing yard work, to a pickup game of basketball, or spending hours at a theme park walking around. When you push your body beyond what you do in normal day-to-day activity, you can get sore. 

Muscle soreness comes from the breakdown of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Our bodies have both slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers. Slow-twitch fibers have a low recruitment factor. This means they get fired up during low outputs. Fast-twitch fibers have a high recruitment factor. This meaning it takes something more intense to get them going. An example would be when you pick up your water bottle to take a drink, this requires the use of the slow-twitch fibers. When you jump up out of your chair and run to the front door you involve fast-twitch fibers. 

Fast-twitch fibers are repaired more slowly than slow-twitch fibers (i.e you don’t get tired from lifting your bottle of water, but you would get tired if you had to sprint to the door all the time). 

Hypertrophy means muscle growth. Muscle growth is part of a well rounded and varied training program. The greatest change in the body involves body fat loss and muscular gains. The quickest way to lose body fat is to gain more muscle. To create hypertrophy, you need to overload your muscle fibers progressively to keep breaking them down. As you become healthier this threshold will change. When you utilize progressive weight or resistance programs, you will get sore. Programs that switch between muscle groups cause muscle confusion and avoid plateaus, so you keep making progress. The best way to get this is to follow a program that is designed to change things up and keep you progressing forward, programs like those created by Beachbody.

SLOW AND SLUGGISH

The second Sign Your Workout Program is Working is when you feel slow and sluggish. This is the hardest condition to conceptualize but the easiest to explain. Remember that hypertrophy means your muscles are growing. When your body is growing it has to adapt to the growth.

Just because a muscle is large does not mean it is strong. It takes training to create those gains in size and in strength. The best gains are realized from a combination of low repetitions, high repetitions, eccentric and isometric movements, as well as agility, cardio and plyometric movements. These all teach the muscles to operate at a higher efficiency. 

When you use programs that mix the various exercise types, your muscles are learning and growing, which means you will experience times when you feel slow or sluggish. Typically you will experience slowness and sluggishness most in the first four weeks of the program,  the training phase. If you don’t feel these symptoms during this time, you are not pushing yourself hard enough and need to ramp up your training. This should be the same when you start a new program, or repeat a program. On the other hand, if the feelings of slowness or sluggishness persist beyond four weeks, you may be overdoing it and risk overtraining.  You must work to find a balance.

HUNGRY

Hunger is final Sign that Your Workout is Working. Do you typically feel hungrier when starting a new program? Well, in some cases the reason can be somewhat obvious. If you are trying to lose weight and start a nutrition plan that is portion controlled and contains foods your body isn’t necessarily use to, it takes time to adapt, especially if you leaned toward a lot of high fat and sugary foods. The body will make you feel hungry as you are weaning yourself off these foods because it is craving them. No different than a drug addict wanting more drugs, the body for a time will crave the types of food you used to feed it. 

You may also feel hungry even when your body has passed the cravings stage. This happens because the body needs nutrients to properly repair and grow. It is very difficult to provide through normal nutrition everything your body needs when you are under the type of duress a good progressive workout program creates. You can try, but you are not going to be able to feed your body what it needs through food without overeating. With overeating, you wouldn’t be able to put those calories to use, and some may get stored as fat.

The answer to the greater nutritional needs when you are working your body hard is supplements. When your body needs to be fed the appropriate nutrients, supplements should be your best friend. High quality supplements have very few calories and a lot of very well balanced nutrients, plus some supplements have targeted nutrients, which means they’re designed for nutrient efficiency.  The best solution is to utilize a nutrient dense total nutrition shake like Shakeology, and high quality performance nutritionals like the Beachbody Performance Nutrition Line. When you want above average results, you need above average supplements.

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Are you obsessed with food?

Today I want to talk to those of you who have been struggling with food and weight for longer than you care to admit…

I know some of you worry you’ll never get “there” with food and weight — the place where you’ll finally feel comfortable in your skin, and free of all the “food noise.”

Maybe you always “do well” for a while until something manages to throw you off course…and into a jar of peanut butter at 3 o’clock in the morning.

Maybe you know you’re eating emotionally, but just can’t seem to stop…

Maybe body shame triggers you into the same old restrictive patterns that always seem to backfire (and usually backfire into a bag of M&M’s…)

I know it can feel like a lot — and it can be downright crazy-making!

At some point, the diet-binge cycle and constant food noise, becomes so intrusive, that the only thing we want more than weight loss, is getting our sanity back.

That’s why I’m so grateful for coaches like Isabel Foxen Duke, founder of Stop Fighting Food — the ultimate resource on “ending the crazy” around food and one of the most unique and talented emotional eating coaches I know.

Isabel’s running a free video training series this month that I’m SUPER pumped about. This training shares some of her most critical insights on emotional eating, binge-eating, diet-binge cycling, and “generally feeling crazy around food.”

Isabel won’t only address your emotional eating patterns — she’ll help you end all the crazy-making food and body thoughts that instigate those patterns to begin with. Ya know, so food stops tempting, taunting and tantalizing you…and starts just being food.

Knowing Isabel’s work myself, I can attest that this chick knows what she’s talking about and produces serious results in the emotional eating world — if these are issues you struggle with, I highly recommend that you take a look and sign up for this free video training series.

What's it all about?

The Stop Fighting Food Free Video Training Series will teach you the skills you need to “stop feeling crazy around food.” For most women (and men as well!), this means ending the diet-binge cycle, addressing their emotional eating patterns, and putting a stop to the obsessive thought patterns that are so often triggered by compulsive dieting and food restriction.

This program addresses the thinking that underlies compulsive eating and obsession with food.


The Stop Fighting Food Free Video Training Series is a three-part video series covering the principles of Isabel's work:

VIDEO 1

(Available September 15th) discusses why emotional eating and binge-eating are not issues of willpower, but are reactions to diet-mentality and specific beliefs and thought patterns we hold about food. (i.e. why using willpower to try to control yourself around food often backfires).

VIDEO 2

(Available September 20th) discusses the two primary reasons people eat outside of physical need — specifically eating we do to soothe our feelings (emotional eating) and eating we do in reaction to restriction or shame (binge-eating).

VIDEO 3

(Available September 24th) discusses the importance of healing our body image in healing our relationship with food, and why body image woes are so often the root of compulsive food behaviors.


If any of the information that will be shared in these free videos sounds like something you (or someone you know) could benefit from, then be sure to sign up to get access to them.

Who is this program for?

This program is for those who feel depleted and frustrated by countless weight loss attempts; and generally feel trapped in the diet-binge-cycle-from-hell. Most of them identify as “emotional eaters” and feel out of control in their behaviors around food — like every emotional whim might send them straight into a jar of Nutella. They often believe there’s something “wrong with them” that they can’t eat like “normal people.” Thoughts of food, dieting, and weight consume much of their lives, and they struggle tremendously with poor body image.

What problems will these videos address?

“Feeling crazy around food” i.e. obsessive thinking about food, dieting, “health,” etc. on a regular basis

Emotional Eating i.e. compulsive feelings around food, feeling out of control around food, using food as a coping mechanism, etc..

Binge-eating i.e. periods of eating large quantities of food, generally after a period of “being good”with food, or restricting food in some capacity.

Poor body image or low self-esteem related to body size and/or food behaviors.

Who is this program NOT for?

This program does NOT provide treatment for people who are clinically eating disordered (i.e. at physical risk to themselves). If you feel you may fall in to this category, you can absolutely sign up for the free videos, but we strongly recommend you also seek medical attention from a licensed therapist and/or physician.

This is NOT a weight loss program. The goal is to help people achieve a healthful and sane emotional relationship with food first and foremost.

Does any of the above sound like you? If it does then sign up for the free video series and get started on working towards a better relationship with food.

If it doesn't, then great!! This may not be the thing for you, but perhaps you know someone who you think could benefit, and if that's the case, be sure to send this email on to them.

Your mindset around food is crucial to your health.

I see this issue a lot with clients that I work with on weight loss issues, sometimes it comes down to a matter of how you think about food and your body image.

And while I'm very well trained in the nutrition side of things, the what to eat, why to eat it, how it affects your health and well being, addressing the emotional side of things get's a bit trickier, so I refer to other experts, like Isabel.

By now you've probably gotten a good sense of what this program is all about, so if you even have the slightest feeling that this information in these videos could be of some benefit for you, then sign up for them, they are free after all.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, which means that if you click on them and then make a purchase, I receive a small commission from the company at no extra cost to you. Using my links helps to support me and my business so that I can continue to offer you the support you need on your path to health and wellness, so thank you.

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