No Failing

Some of my clients are facing new weight loss challenges and the dreaded plateau, but you can actually be on a successful weight loss track, and because you don’t KNOW what a successful track looks like, it may feel like you are failing.

Once you believe that you have screwed up, it is easy to say “screw it” and really screw up. I am good at that! If only you knew how well you were doing! While success does depend on your specific goals, starting point, body type and exercise routine, there are a few things that are consistent across the board. Here are some things to consider:

1. Weight loss does NOT come in the form of losing two pounds every week until you reach your goal, no matter how well you’ve stuck to your food and exercise plan.

When you gain weight, you don’t gain two pounds every single week in a measured fashion. You’re not going to lose it in a measured fashion no matter how well you stick to your plan. You might lose two pounds one week. You might even lose three pounds in a week. Then, you might lose one pound the next week.

Some weeks you might lose zero, and there are weeks you even gain. These weeks are the most frustrating, and we all have these kinds of weeks where we feel like we’re doing everything right and the scale doesn’t give us what we want.

Keep track of the weekly weigh-ins but take a look at the month and see the overall trend. You might have gained a 1/2 pound one of the weeks but take note if you lost 4 pounds overall for the month. If the month is trending downwards, you are in the right place.

2. Nobody is perfect 100% of the time.

Just because you went out drinking and ate all the bread, stuffed yourself with fried food and had two desserts, and then woke up and had eggs Benedict the next day does not mean you have failed.

Everyone does this.

We all make a commitment and we all slip up. I ate an entire chocolate cake the other day. You fell. So what? Learn what will work for you to get back on track. You can fall and still be on a successful weight loss track by simply making the decision to get back there.

Real life weight loss is like a marathon, some miles are effortless, some are excruciating and the only way you really fail is if you quit.

PRE and POST … EAT!

When it comes to nourishing your body before and after a workout, many people think about three big meals a day. However, one of the best things that you can do for your body is to provide it with more immediate nutrition. Try timing your workout so that it is in between meals with a nutrient and protein-packed snack to bookend it on either side. There is a key 90 minute period in which you want to work out; eating a meal 90 minutes before you exercise, a quick energy and “fuel” meal right before your workout, again right after your workout, and another meal 90 minutes later.

Remember, the point of your pre-workout meal or snack is to provide your body with the materials it needs to fuel your workout. Any time you are increasing strength and building up your body, you need to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to carry it through the workout– otherwise, your body will consume reserve resources in the body, which are much harder to replace.

The point of eating after your workout is to provide your muscles with the materials that they need to build themselves back up. When you do any kind of weight training, your muscles actually break themselves down in the form of small tears in the muscle fibers and then rebuild themselves even stronger in the hours and days that follow your workout. In order to successfully rebuild themselves, your muscles must replenish their resources. Providing your body with the raw materials it needs to rebuild and refuel itself is the entire point of your post-nutrition meals.

Drinking smoothies is one of the best ways to quickly get easily absorbable nutrients into your body after a workout.  Time is truly of the essence when refueling your body post-workout– and using a smoothie, which is liquid and therefore more easily broken down, is a great way to go.  If I have somewhere to go right after the gym, I will pre-make my smoothie and carry it with me to the gym in a thermos or insulated coffee mug to keep it cold and fresh.
Green Power Smoothie:
1 cup liquid- water, juice, or soy/rice milk
1 scoop protein powder
1 serving greens product (Greens+ is a highly recommended option)
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup frozen blueberries

Almond Butter Fruit Smoothie:
1 cup liquid- water, juice, or soy/rice milk
1 scoop protein powder
2 tablespoons almond butter
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup strawberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries

By using frozen banana, you eliminate the need for ice, and by freezing the blueberries you increase their antioxidant power. Whey or hemp proteins are especially easy for the body to digest, so look for a protein powder based on that criteria. You can use any kind of fruit in your smoothie, so choose your favorites and drink up!

So….how is YOUR New Year’s Resolution going?

 Well, it is 15 days into 2010.  How is your resolution going?  My resolution has nothing to do with weight loss or fitness, but when I have a disappointing day, it is just as bad as blowing your diet.

My New Year’s resolution is to be a better mom by being more patient, listening better, being present, and not yelling as much.  Well, 15 days into the new year, I blew it.  I feel like I “fell off the wagon”. 

At this point I have two choices.  I can expend a lot of energy reliving my morning as the wicked witch of the west, feeling guilty, and beating myself up.  The big problem with this choice is that I am spending a lot of energy on something that I absolutely cannot change.  I cannot change what has already happened.

My next choice is to spend my energy thinking about how I should have handled the situation, and how I will do better now and next time. Much more productive and beneficial to my kids.

It is an obvious choice, but also a difficult one.  I think that human nature leads us to choose option one, and it takes some serious effort to really choose option two.

If you have “fallen off the wagon”, whatever your resolution, please choose option two.

Instead of feeling disappointed about where you are, think optimistically about your potential to do better and where you are going.

I hope that those of you who are reading my menu are getting a feel for healthy eating habits.  Every day I try to eat the right amount of calories at the right times, but as you can see, it doesn’t always work out that way.  I have been making notes on the menu about what I should have done better or different, and I hope that you can learn from some of my “mistakes” each day.  I also hope that you can approach your own menu in a more mindful way.

The Big 5

**Know thyself. One of the problems people have with losing weight is that they
set unrealistic goals. Consider your own tendencies. Think about your strengths
and weaknesses and cater to them. Don’t set yourself up with a plan that will
prove to be unworkable. What will very likely happen in that scenario is that
the whole thing will seem overwhelming, and you’ll ditch the idea of fitness in
its entirety and head for the fridge. Set reasonable goals for yourself. Start
small. Think big, but start small.

** Exercise! Exercise! If you haven’t already developed the habit, this is the
last thing you want to hear, but in your heart of hearts you know you must do
some type of exercise. Some of us would rather do anything else than sweat in
front of strangers. In keeping with the above tip, then—don’t. If you’re not
going to go to the gym, don’t bother buying the membership. Instead, get some
exercise routines from the internet or buy yourself a mini-contraption to help
you burn those extra calories. I recently bought a DVD, and I love it. Just
don’t expect results immediately, and don’t overwork yourself too soon. Whether
you’re jogging, doing leg lifts, or using a treadmill, start with 100 calories
per day and slowly increase your quota.

** Small, frequent meals are great. When you eat, your metabolism raises, but it
doesn’t necessarily raise just enough to digest the amount of food you’ve eaten.
Because of this, it’s almost as if you’re tricking your own body. If you eat six
half-meals a day instead of three whole ones, you’ll actually burn more
calories, simply from the act of eating and digesting. This only works with
half-meals, remember. Sometimes I forget.

** Nutrition Facts! Always, always check out what you’re eating. Even if you
don’t have a strict diet plan in mind, being aware of what you’re putting in
your body on a regular basis is the first step. Also, be mindful of the fact
that most of those numbers represent a 2000-calorie diet, but most people need
to stay somewhere between 1200 and 1700 calories a day to actually lose weight.
Check my links for websites that can give you a good estimate based on your
height, age, current weight and other specifics.

** Fiber is important. High fiber content in foods makes you feel more full,
because it expands within your stomach. As a result, you’ll eat less, and foods
will pass through the rest of your system more quickly, which is just healthier
in general. Also, and this is the best part, it keeps your lower stomach feeling
flatter.

Fat Burning Foods

(I was thinking that there are probably quite a few people out there who couldn’t care less about what I eat and do each day.  I still want to keep writing about health and fitness on my home page but also keep up the information on my own diet and exercise.  I have added two new pages so that I can post my menu and my exercise each day for anyone who is interested.  I will keep the home page for posting general information. )

3 Fat Burning Foods to Help you Lose Fat

Did you know that there are certain foods that will make it seem like you are on a fat burning diet even though you aren’t even trying?  Here is a list of 3 foods you should always be trying to add to your daily nutritional plan in order to either burn fat or maintain a healthy weight.  Omega 3’s Omega 3’s aren’t necessarily a food but the foods they are found in can help you lose fat faster. If you are trying to put together a good fat burning diet then you must add omega 3’s. They are critical to overall health but will also assist in healthy fat loss and metabolic functions. Salmon and other cold water fish are rich in omega 3’s.  As you know, I am not a fan of fish so I buy a bag of milled flax seed from the grocery store and add that to all sorts of things like yogurt and oatmeal. I even add it to my chili to give it an omega 3 kick. You can find eggs now enriched with omega 3’s as well. The chickens are actually fed a special diet of flax seed which enables them to lay healthy fat burning eggs. Fiber You might not have thought that fiber was a fat burning food. Let me explain how adding fiber to your meals can turn your menu into a fat burning diet. Foods high in fiber slow down the digestion of your meals. The gastric emptying rate is greatly affected with high fiber foods. What this means is that all the energy you just took in from eating is slowly released into your blood stream. The slow release of energy allows you to get some of your energy from the food you just ate and some from your own fat stores. When you constantly eat quick digesting foods like simple sugars they go into your bloodstream so fast that you have quick energy and then a crash. This then slows down your metabolism to compensate. To keep your metabolism on fire turn your meals into a fat burning diet with high fiber foods. Vegetables like broccoli, spinach, peppers, green beans, and asparagus are a great addition to your meals. You should always include some type of fibrous vegetable with all of your afternoon and evening meals to slow down the gastric emptying rate so that your body is constantly burning fat and drawing from your stored energy. Green Tea My mother and law has been talking about Green tea for years. This is one of Mother Nature’s biggest secrets. Green tea should be added to your fat burning diet for a multitude of reasons. It is loaded with antioxidants which help prevent cancer and destroy free radicals in your body. Not only is it an excellent antioxidant but it has also been shown to increase the metabolic rate. Drinking a cup of green tea everyday can be a healthy way to speed up your metabolism while getting a strong boost of antioxidants. Not everyone is a fan of the taste though so you can pick up green tea capsules on most any online health food store

I ordered a fruit plate… So What!

The decision to give in to or resist and impulse usually comes down to a split second.  Taking charge in that moment requires perseverance and practice.

Especially this time of year, well meaning friends and relatives often encourage us to overeat as food becomes a demonstration of affection.  We don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings by not having another helping or even one helping of a special dish that has been offered.  “Just say no”, doesn’t always seem appropriate in these situations.  However, you can take a few bites and genuinely comment on the effort that went into making the dish.

Another problem this time of year, and this is a big one for me all year long, is peer pressure… or the perception of it.  We don’t want to draw attention to our healthy eating habits, especially as most of those around us are pigging out with the mentality that they will diet in January.  We don’t want to have to explain ourselves, so often we will make choices that we know are inconsistent with our goals.

However, our health and fitness goals must take priority over the reactions and feelings of others.  This takes practice and perseverance.  Just last weekend I went to a nice lunch with several women.  I wasn’t able to access an online menu, so I had no idea what I was going to order.  When I looked at the menu, there were several salads that looked healthy and a fruit plate with cottage cheese that sounded perfect.  I really wanted the fruit plate, and that is when I started to over analyze my choice.

Many of the women at the table were overweight, so I felt like they may be irritated that I, who am fit and thin, would order a fruit plate.  Then I would hear the comments about how I need to eat more, maybe a donut or pie or something. So, my first thought was that I should order a regular salad with chicken, because that would be better for appearances sake.  No one would take much notice of a chicken salad, and it would still be a fairly healthy choice.  Thank goodness everyone took awhile to make their decisions, because I struggled with this decision forever.  Finally, I had to remember that I was the one eating the food, enjoying the food, and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought.  The reason I am fit and trim is because I order fruit plates every once and awhile!!!  So… I ordered the fruit plate.  One of the women at the table said “I knew you were going to order that” in an irritated voice.  Oh well, I still enjoyed my fruit.

Don’t let peer pressure or hurt feelings drive your decisions. Make your health and fitness goals a priority by making the right decision in that split second.  Practice and perseverance!

3 Bites

Parties can trigger overeating, so here are a few tips to help you get through the party:

Camp out at the fruit bowl.
Almost every party has a fruit table or a vegetable table. If you like to have something in your hands during the party, keep a glass of Perrier in one hand and chunks of fruit in your other hand at all time. If you “binge” on fruit all night, you’ll be getting some much needed nutrients

If you’re going to drink alcohol, stick with the non-creamy, non-fruity drinks.
Not only does the cream and fruity mixes have a lot of calories, they are loaded with sugar almost certain to give you a much worse hangover. Stick with white wine or the “clear” choices.

Follow the 3 bite rule for dessert.
When the dessert comes out, have three bites and throw your napkin across the plate as soon as bite number three happens; you can take three bites of the most decadent dessert and still lose weight. You’ll find that after the 3 bites you do not even taste it anymore, and the first 3 bites are really the most satisfying. Then, get up and go dance or chat with someone you haven’t seen in a while. Make it about the people and not the food. Drink a large glass of water when you get home. You’ll feel better in the morning.

The food usually isn’t that good.
Most party planners know that the food really isn’t that good. It’s hard to make large quantities of fabulous food so very few places do. Before you partake in the tray favorites of “fried goat cheese” or “stuffed mushrooms” keep in mind that it’s just filler food and it’s usually drenched in butter just to make it taste passable.

Your GO TO dish

The parties have started.  Some of us will have a holiday party every weekend from now until the end of the year. 

I am going to try and include a holiday eating tip in every post from now until January.

Most parties these days are potluck, so this is good news (and bad news which I will discuss in my next post) for those of us who are trying to maintain some sense of health and fitness during the month of December. 

When I go to a party or get-together, I bring both a healthy dish such as a big fruit salad as well as something indulgent, like cookies or cake. Most people are happy to see a healthy option, and at least you know  there will be something healthy among the overwhelming choices of decadent dishes.  Your healthy dish is your “go to” dish.  Eat it first and eat as much as you want  to fill up, while also helping yourself to a small serving of the more sugary, fatty foods.  As always, make your calories count by choosing only the foods that you are really going to enjoy. Think before you load up your plate.