Success Stories

I wanted to add a new feature to this blog...success stories. There are many paths to weight loss and tricks and tips that work for different people. It's great when we can share and learn from each other. Send me your before and after pictures (only pictures you are authorized to print...no professional photos please) and a short description in your own words of what you did that worked for you. Tell your story and I'll highlight you on the blog. Send submissions to me at admin@flippingthescales.com Ideally I'd like to print a new profile each month if I get any responses. Look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Laura

How Do You Know What To eat After A Workout? by, Barbara Christensen

Thank you Barbara Christensen of Eat Fresh In The City for contributing this article. Reprinted with permission.











                                 How Do You Know What To Eat After A Workout?


I love Greek yogurt and Skyr. In fact I’m eating some right now. Why? These contain up to 50% more protein than regular yogurt. Protein builds muscle and it so important because of it’s amino acids. Amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of protein. Proteins are vital to basic cellular and body functions, including cellular regeneration and repair, tissue maintenance and regulation, hormone and enzyme production, fluid balance, and the provision of energy. And protein is essential for every cell in your body. But the yogurt alone doesn’t do it.

I’ve learned from my years of health research that the consumption of 100-200 grams of carbs within the first 2 hours after your workout is so important for building your glycogen stores up for continued training. If you wait longer that two hours, results drop a whopping 50%. This is because carb consumption stimulates insulin production. This aids in muscle glycogen production. By combining your carbs with your proteins you are getting double the muscle glycogen production. So what does that mean? Muscle glycogen recovery is the process through which the muscles of the body are replenished with carbohydrate sources that have been depleted through the energy expended in exercise. Muscle glycogen depletion also places significant stress on the overall function of the immune system. So it’s important for many reasons to make sure eat the right foods after exercising.

My favorite – is yogurt and fruit, a piece of sprouted toast and nut butter. Yum. No better way to start your day.

Shape Ups Shoes

I bought some sketchers shape ups tennis shoes a few months ago and have worn them here and there around town. But I thought I would use this Italy trip as an excuse to really try them out. I wore them yeterday while we walked for miles and miles around Rome and I am pleased to report that I think their claims are actually true. My legs might have been sore anyway from so much walking, but these really did work my muscles. The idea is that they keep you slightly off balance so your muscles make constant adjustments as you walk. They were very comfortable. My feet never hurt even though we walked so far. But I could feel my muscles protesting as the day wore on. This is a good thing. So I would definitely recommend Sketchers Shape Ups. An easy way to work your legs while doing what you would have been doing anyway.

Dieting, the dreaded word By, Lizbeth Opiola

Thank you to my friend Lizbeth for contributing this post:

DIETING, the dreaded word

I hate the word diet!  I really do.  I think I hate it for many reasons.  First and foremost, it is such a negative thought for most people.  Many people associate diet with starvation. It really should not be that way.  Really, truly it is not.  Also, diets are successful for such short periods of time.  Many people go on fad diets, lose weight, obtain their goal, then just go back to their old eating habits once they are done.  So you gain a few more pounds and you don’t feel successful.  Or they go on these crazy restrictive diets and then see that delicious cookie on day 3 and end up eating 5 and feel like failures.  So I do detest the word diet.

I do realize several people MUST go on a diet by doctor’s orders.  There are true medical reasons to go on a diet.  I agree a diet by a medical professional is necessary for those individuals.  But usually the doctor goes over or works with an individual and is monitoring it.  They also have team of specialist who help them.  But ultimately it is a habit change the doctors are aiming towards.

So I prefer the term “LIFESTYLE CHANGE. ”  Ultimately that is what it should be.  Your eating habits should change over time to rid yourself of the junk and chose to eat the healthy alternatives.  Well let’s get real.  Very few of us do this.  But with the mindset of a lifestyle change, eating healthy should and must be a part of that.  So how do you accomplish this goal?  First, I think you need to start small.  Don’t change everything all at once.  Changing all at once is a sure fire way to fail. This is what restrictive and fad diets do.  Change things slowly and over time.  Decide what changes you want to make and break them into steps.  Do one new step a week.  Slowly over time it will adjust your old habits to new habits.  Also give yourself permission to occasionally fail.  There are times that you will and do need to fail.  No one is perfect.  No one eats healthy all of the time.  No one never ever eats a cookie.  Successful dieters will tell you that they gave themselves permission to eat that cookie—on occasion.  It was not a daily, hourly, or even weekly accomplishment.  It was once and while.  If during the Super bowl party you want potato chips, you allowed yourself to have a few (one small bowl), then moved onto fruits and vegetables, you were successful.  But if you watch the March Madness and for a month you had a bag of potato chips every night of the games, you were not successful.  

So in your plan to gain a change of lifestyle, think of the steps you need to do.  They should include:  exercise, sleep, healthy eating.  In each category, write down what steps need to accomplish.  Break them down into smaller steps.  Then establish a plan to accomplish these steps.  If you are unsure, talk to a medical professional—doctor, nutritionist, psychologist, etc.  They may be able to assist you.  But don’t give up hope.  Really, you can accomplish this change.  

Lizbeth Opiola I love to talk, discuss, research and actively seek healthy eating and nutrition.  By no means am I an expert, but I hope to be one day.  I have been active my entire life, worked in the fitness industry for many years and was constantly asked about health, weight loss and nutrition.  I first became interested as an athlete, but continued my love (it is one topic I can talk hours and hours on, sports being the other).  I read a lot of books on the topic, enrolled in a Nutrition Certificate Program at University of Utah and try to practice what I preach.  The information I provide is from my years of studying the topic and trying to get others interested in what they eat.  I believe it is a lot easier than what you think it is.  A healthy diet is attainable by all. You just have to start somewhere.

Follow Me On Facebook

Please Come Follow Me on Facebook!!!

www.facebook.com/makessensemomx9

This is a page I will be using for all three of my blogs, my website and other ventures as well. Would love to see you there!

Workouts On Vacation

I'm leaving tomorrow for a week long vacation. I'm very excited, but changes in normal routines can be rough on weight loss plans if you aren't careful. It's very easy to slip out of the habits you have been carefully building. So how can we keep on track while on vacation?

- First of all there is a time and a place for everything. And strictly dieting is not always practical when away. Or satisfying. I am going to be in Italy this week...a country known for its delicious food. If I eat only salads I will miss out on a big piece of the full Italian experience. It's not like I go there every day right? So I'm going to EAT!  And I'm going to enjoy it. A LOT! Bring on the pasta and gelato. I don't however want to put on ten pounds in one week, so my strategy is going to be portion control. To go ahead and eat the foods I want to, but just not go totally crazy and eat four platefuls or anything. Eating reasonable quantities is best for our body systems in every case. Even on vacation.

- Our normal workout routines may not be possible either if we do not have access to our usual equipment. But how about packing a pair of running shoes? They don't take up much space in your bag and you can run just about anywhere. Push ups and sits ups can also be done no matter where you are. It's better to so something than nothing at all. Be flexible. Check the websites of various hotels you are considering. Many have gyms that you can use which is wonderful.  I am staying with a friend, but our plan is to do enough walking to balance out our eating. If you are out and moving all day long sightseeing, you can burn an incredible amount of calories. So bring comfortable shoes and skip the taxies. Get out and walk. See the sights. Interact with the people. It's a far more interesting vacation than staying cooped up in cars and hotel rooms anyway.

- Many fitness gurus may disagree with me on this, but I also think it's ok now and then to just take time off and have fun. If you travel frequently this may be a little different for you, but if it just an occasional vacation then don't miss out on the full enjoyment of it by being anal retentive about your workouts or diet. The important thing is to try to keep up the habits you've formed rather than worry too much over the details. So go for a ten minute walk if nothing else. Just to continue to keep fitness in your mind so when you return you won't have any trouble sliding back into your precious workout plan. Giving your body and mind the chance to take a little break can be beneficial at times actually. Unless we then extend the vacation for 4 more months after we return. :-) Commit to yourself than as soon as you get back there will be no more slacking. And keep that promise to yourself.

Vacations are meant to be fun. So enjoy! Keep your body and mind active and watch your portions, but have a good time. I'm definitely planning to!

MakesSense.com

Announcing my new "baby"... well actually the new website I've been working on the past couple of months. It's an online magazine dedicated to sensible living, with sub pages on various topics - fashion, home, relationships, health, finances and travel. It is still a work in progress as you will see, but I have more articles coming soon and it will continue to grow and evolve over time. The tag line I chose for the site is my personal motto for living :

"Dare To Dream, Plan To Play, Live To Learn!!!"

Come check it out. Hope you enjoy it.

www.MakesSense.com

How fast should I be losing weight?

     One of the first questions everyone wants answered when they begin a weight loss program is, "How Long will it take?" This is a complicated question. So much depends on how committed you are and if you are incorporating both diet and exercise. Body type can play a role, as can age and many other factors. But it's important to remember the basic principle that the weight did not come onto your body overnight. And it will not come off in an instant either. Nor should it for optimum health and long term maintenance. Patience is very key to effective weight loss. The generally accepted rule of thumb is that it is best to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. Sometimes you'll find you lose a little bit more. Particularly in the beginning when you may be losing water weight. Or if you are very heavy you can often lose more rapidly early on. Sometimes you will lose less. If you are doing muscle building exercises for instance your scale losses may slow, because the muscle you are building weighs more than the fat you are losing. So even though you may be shedding inches from your waistline, the scale may show the same reading. Do not despair. How your clothes fit is a better indication of progress than the scale any day!

      As a typical target though, plan on losing 1 to 2 pounds a week. So that means if you have 50 pounds to lose it should take about 25 weeks to lose it. Gasp!!! Over six months??? Well...yes. That would be  a healthy rate of weight loss. If you are losing far more rapidly than that, you are probably doing things in the extreme and are setting yourself up to regain the weight later on. If you reset your metabolism with severe diets or exhaust yourselves with crazy workout schedules that you cannot possibly maintain over time, then the weight will indeed come off faster but then come right back on again when you resume normal living. Hence the term "yo-yo" dieting. So while it may be frustrating to have the weight loss take place slowly over time this is far healthier. Better to do it right and change your habits to ones that you can live with long term, even if it takes a little bit longer to reach your goals. Losing weight too rapidly can actually be dangerous to your body in many ways which is kind of counterproductive don't you agree? The following is a good article I found that discusses some of the risks of over rapid weight loss:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/4707-dangers-rapid-weight-loss/

     Just remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Endurance and consistency are more important than speed in the long run. Hang in there. It may seem to be happening slowly, but it's happening nonetheless.  Keep at it!

Spring Cleaning Workout?

We're coming up on the first full weekend in Spring and for many that means the dreaded Spring cleaning. But turn that frown into a smile my friends, because it turns out you are burning major calories while doing ordinary household chores. I found a couple great charts that show how many:

An article in The Cincinnati  Enquirer by, Shauna Scott Rhone

and a reply to a reader's question from Answers.com

So while dusting and vacuuming and turning the house around we can be slimming our waistlines too. Double duty!

How To Treat Sore Muscles

Ok so I loved the hike, but have some pretty sore leg muscles today. What to do? I did some research and these seem to be the generally accepted suggestions of how to treat sore muscles:

-Keep moving. The soreness is in part due to the build up of lactic acid in the muscle. Movement increases blood flow which helps clear out the acid. So do gentle stretches and either walking or half strength moves while recovering. Unless you are suffering from a muscle tear or injury, then continuing to move is wise to avoid further stiffening up of the muscle.

- Take anti-inflammatory medicines such as ibuprofen to reduce swelling in the muscle. And to lessen the pain.

- Alternating ice baths for the swelling with hot showers to increase blood flow.

- Gentle massage can help work out the kinks.


Take heart. The soreness usually only lasts a couple of days. And it proves you really did something right? My calves will be stronger for the effort! And ready to hike again on Saturday.

Hiking For Exercise

I had the opportunity to go hiking in the Shenandoah National Park yesterday with my husband and two daughters. We chose the White Oak  and Cedar Run Canyons for their beautiful streams and waterfalls. The loop we took was about 8 miles overall and I would say a medium difficulty level. I am currently training to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim in May and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in July, so I need to get those muscles moving. And you discover muscles you didn't even know you had when you hike let me tell you. Based on how sore I am this morning, I now know how far I have to go to be ready for these upcoming challenges. We're going again next Saturday and then once more when I return from Italy. The only way to build those muscles is to use them!! In between the hikes I'm going to need to run and do squats and take the stairs! Wish me luck.

I truly believe that hiking is one of the best forms of exercise available. It works those big muscles in your legs like nothing else can. You get outside in the fresh air and sunshine and enjoy the beautiful views that only nature can provide. And if you hike with someone else you have long hours to talk and bond with them. If you go it alone you have ample time to think and ponder your life. If you use trekking poles you can get a bit of an upper body workout as well. Hiking is definitely one of the best ways to build muscle strength and cardio health simultaneously. While having fun too. A great website for hikes in Virginia and West Virginia is Hiking Upward. Today is the first day of Spring...perfect time to get outside for a hike. You can burn between 550 and 600 calories an hour on hills so Enjoy!

Pogo Stick Workout Plan

It was a gorgeous day yesterday so the kids and I were out playing in the cul-de- sac. They were all jumping on our pogo sticks so I thought I would give it a try too. It looked fun and not that hard. HA! Well that was a humbling experience. It took my awhile to be able to keep my balance, but once I got going it was super fun. But let me tell you it was quite a workout. I was exhausted after just a couple of minutes. I googled it and learned that pogo stick jumping burns about 600 calories an hour. If I can get over the idea that my neighbors might be laughing at me, I think this would be a great alternative form of exercise on occasion. And it's fun to be doing something that involves the kids too. If you haven't pogoed in awhile you should give it a whirl. Burn calories while playing with the family. What could be better?

Think Green

Happy St. patrick's day! Are you all wearing green today?

Going green is also important when thinking in terms of your diet. Green veggies promote colon and heart health and also are great for women who are pregnant, because they contain a lot of folic acid which helps prevent birth defects. In addition they can be an excellent source of calcium, which is especially important for those who are lactose intolerant. Leafy greens are packed with antioxidants, minerals, folate and flavonoids. A tip to keep in mind when choosing greens for your salad is that the darker they are in color the more nutrient rich they tend to be.

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations to my blog contest winner Jenny Smith!!! Jenny has won $45 dollars in free merchandise from CSNstores.com  -- Big thanks to CSNstores for sponsoring this contest.

Apple Pear

Have you ever heard of an apple-pear? I hadn't before, but I saw these in the produce section when I went to grocery store yesterday and they looked interesting. They are not cheap. I think I paid about  $1.50 for each of them so they would have to be only an occasional treat. But my goodness they are delicious!!! Practically like dessert. They taste mostly like a pear to me but the fruit is softer like the apple. The skin looks a little weird but tastes just fine. I only bought three so we sliced them up and shared them here, but they were a hit with my kids too! I'm definitely going to buy them again. When trying to get in our daily allotment of fruits and vegetables it helps sometimes to have a little extra variety to choose from. I recommend you give the apple pear a try!!!

Cleanse and contest reminder

I am starting the Shakeology Three day cleanse today. It's mid afternoon and so far so good. If it goes well and I like it I will tell you more about it when it's over, but for now wish me luck ok?


Also a reminder that it's not too late to enter my contest for $45 of free merchandise from CSNstores. Just go to any of my blogs and then email the title of a post you read to admin@makessense.com. One title per blog per day. The drawing is tomorrow morning. Good luck!

Triggers

Why do you eat? To provide your body with the necessary nutrients and calories to sustain life and have optimal energy levels right?

Um...ok now let's get real. We may eat for those reasons some of the time. But what about the other 90% of our munching? When we eat things that we know are unhealthy and in copious quantities. Even past the point of being full sometimes. Or items that we have vowed not to eat, but still find ourselves binging on even though we feel guilty later.  Why do we promise ourselves to change our diets every January 1st, but by February we have gone right back to our old ways?

It's important for us to begin to recognize our "triggers". The reasons that we chow down seemingly beyond our control. Or differently than our brains know that we should be. Some of mine over time have been:

1) Skipping meals and becoming over hungry, so by the time I do eat I am ready to scarf everything in sight. I then end up overeating on items that provide immediate quick relief. These are rarely the best choices.

2) Fatigue or Boredom. Sometimes I hit the pantry just for something to do. Or to break up the monotony of my current activity...like if I've been on the computer for too long perhaps.

3) Depression. Eating can provide emotional comfort at times. I truly believe that chocolate is a natural form of therapy.

4) To follow the crowd. Everyone around me is eating so I feel I'm missing out if I don't join in.

5) Habit and tradition. We ALWAYS eat candy and popcorn at a movie don't we? We usually have a bedtime snack.

6) Sugar addiction. Food can have powerful effects on our physical and emotional systems similar to drug addictions. It can take time and great willpower to overcome these drives. Sometimes even counseling is in order if the situation is severe.

7) Availability. We haven't made the right choices while at the grocery store so when we go to find a snack there are no healthy options available.

8) Holidays or social events. Food is everywhere and we feel jipped to miss out on the items we enjoy.

9) Eating while distracted. If you start eating chips while watching TV (or writing a blog post) it is easy to stop paying attention to how much you are eating until you have finished the whole bag. Even though you only meant to eat a handful.


It's important to identify your own personal triggers so you can take steps in advance to avoid or deflect them.  Get out of a piece of paper right now and write down all the triggers you can think of. Then try to come up with at least two ways that you can tackle each one before it strikes. Some examples would be making more health conscious shopping lists and being sure to always eat breakfast.

Mary Kay -- Contest reminder

I have just signed up to be an independent beauty consultant for Mary Kay. No pressure, but if you are interested you can order from my site 24/7 from anywhere. Feel free to contact me with questions.

www.marykay.com/laurafaulkner



Also a reminder to enter my contest. Just email me at   admin@makessense.com  with the title of a post you read from one of my blogs today for a chance to win a $45 coupon to CSNStores.com  No minimum purchase. Can be used on anything you like from their site.  I don't have many entries yet so I'd love to have more participants. You can enter one blog title per day per person for up to three chances to win per day. I'll be drawing the winner randomly from a hat on Wednesday morning at 10 am. Good luck!!!!

Guilty Pleasures

I am going to be writing this week a bit about food. But I want to pause first and talk about our guilty pleasures. The treats that we truly crave and enjoy. The ones we hide from the children (oh come on...you know you do it too!) The snacks that we lose self control over. The goodies that once we start eating we just can't stop. Is it just me? Here are some of my personal weaknesses:

- Ice cream sundaes (I scarfed the delightful confection pictured above in order to take the pic for this post. I was willing to sacrifice and throw myself at the ice cream for the good of the blog) :-)

- Snickers and Reeses

- Oreos dipped in milk

- Cherry pie, cookies...baked goods generally

- Tortilla chips and fritoes

- Pretty much anything made with chocolate!!!

- Buttery crackers and popcorn

- McDonald's regular hamburgers (yes I know they they are supposed to be for the kids! But I love them)

- Pizza

- Corn nuts (best snack for road trips!)

- Did I mention chocolate?


My daughter just asked me, "How come all of the good foods are bad for you?" I often lament that myself.  So why do we eat them when we know they spell disaster for our health and waistline? I'll talk more about triggers next time, but generally I think the obvious answer is that they taste good. So we find a lot of physical pleasure in consuming them. Emotional comfort too if we are honest. And bad habits (dare I say addictions?) can control us as well. Why would I list these items just to taunt you and make you hungry you ask? Because you cannot run...you cannot hide...snacks and sweets surround us every day. Everywhere we go there are commercials for fattening foods. We can't go to the grocery store without being assaulted with unhealthy choices. Our families still want to enjoy them even though we are watching what we eat, so they are often lurking in the pantry when weak moments strike. We have to face these cravings head on. Figure out what tempts us most so we can be sure to avoid purchasing those items (remember to never shop hungry either or you'll buy them on impulse).  Set up systems for ourselves to tackle the addictive tendencies. Sometimes counseling can even be helpful. I think if we try to go cold turkey on everything that we love to eat we end up feeling deprived and crabby. It builds up until we snap and go on a major binge and then feel guilty about it. Far better I think to plan ahead to eat them occasionally. Use these treats as a reward for your efforts on a limited basis. If you know that if you are really good for the remainder of the week that you have given yourself permission to indulge on Saturday in some decadent yummy thing, it can help you to be strong in the meantime. I realize that in an ideal world it is best to refrain from unhealthy foods at all times. And over time as you retrain your habits and start to feel the benefits of improved fitness in your body and life, you will find that you dream about the twinkies less and less. It will happen naturally over time. But if you were that strong currently you wouldn't be trying to lose weight right? So we have to begin from where we are today. Line upon line begin to change our habits and slowly wean ourselves off of the doughnuts. I shared mine, so now tell me...what are your food temptations?

Rewarding Your Family

Let's face it. If mama's on a weight loss program, than the rest of the family is too. There aren't as many yummy snacks in the house. Many of their favorite dinner dishes are nixed because they are high in fat. When they want to watch TV they have to wait while you finish up your DVD workout. The process can make other family members downright cranky at times, so it's really important to take steps to get them on your team. Talking to kids about why losing weight is so important to you is helpful, but only goes so far. They just don't have the ability to understand at their age. They think you are fine just as you are and don't see what the big deal is. And they really want their snacks back after all. So I tried really hard not to force my diet on anyone else. To make normal meals that they enjoyed, and just adjust my portion sizes accordingly. This is not easy. But my children would have been in total mutiny if fed nothing but broccoli and rice cakes. The other thing I did is institute a reward plan for them too. At every ten pound weight goal we had a family party. We celebrated with cake and a movie that went along with the theme of weight loss in some way. (We watched "Shallow Hal", "Supersize Me", "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "Big"... don't remember the others but we had fun picking out the titles.)   I know it seems counterproductive to have cake to celebrate weight loss, but hey...you do what you need to do right? It made them happy to have the parties and ended the fussing completely. They would often ask me, "Mom...how many more pounds to the next party?" They would be the ones to tell me to get out and run so they could have cake sooner. And they cheered for me every step of the way, because there was something in it for them too. You can reward your family in whatever ways you think they would most enjoy...going out to dinner or bowling. Whatever your family enjoys. But do try to acknowledge the impact your journey is having on them and give them regular "thank you's" along the way for their patience and support. Doing so will come back to you in spades, as they become personally invested in what your are doing and give enthusiastic high fives for each success. This can't all be hard work after all. Have some fun too! You've earned it and so have they!

Announcing My First Contest!!!

I'm so excited to announce my very first Contest!! I'm hoping to increase traffic to my sites. So to enter all you have to do is visit any of my three blogs this week and then email me the title of a post you read to - admin@makessense.com. If you go to all three blogs and send me a title from each, that will be three chances to win! One chance per day per email address per blog. Just send a new email each separate day that you visit with post titles from whichever of my blogs you read that day. So up to three chances per day! It would great while you are there if you would post a comment and sign up to be a follower too, but that's not required to enter.

Drawing to be held on Wednesday March 16th at 10 AM. The winner will receive a coupon code worth $45 of free merchandise from CSNstores.com   No minimum purchase. You are free to spend it on anything you like from their site. The winner will be notified by email!

** I am sorry, but this company does not ship internationally, so this contest is only open to my readers in the United States and Canada.

My Blogs:

www.thankfulforthisday.com

www.flippingthescales.com

www.makessense.com

Twitter

I'd like to invite you all to follow me on Twitter. I just signed up and am excited to get busy tweeting real soon. You can find me as   "MakesSenseMom"   which will be the user name I use to cover all three of my blogs and my website. So I'll be updating for all of them on the same twitter account. If you sign up as my follower, I'll return the favor and follow you too!!! Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much for your support.

--Laura

Get moving!

The undeniable truth of weight loss is that you have to burn more calories than you take in. There are many ways to accomplish this, some healthier than others, but there is no way around that basic principle. And every little bit does indeed help. We'll talk more about different diets and workout programs later, but today I want to talk about changing your overall mindset and incorporating exercise into every day living. Because it doesn't really help to restrict our diets if we go on binges in between. And working out hard for a half hour three days a week doesn't solve everything if we remain totally sedentary the rest of the time. Most of us don't have time to focus on our health every single second. We have lives to live right? But there are simple and easy changes we can make that fit seamlessly into our daily living. And lots of little things can add up to a lot of extra calories burned. Here are a few ideas that can be easily incorporated starting immediately:

1) Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Stair climbing is one of the very best ways to build those large muscles in your legs. You'll be burning calories and toning up without having to hit the gym.

2) Park in the back of the parking lot. There's always empty spots back there, and it forces you to take a few extra steps every place you go. It makes a bigger difference than you might think.

3) Save on gas by walking or riding your bike to work, school or the store whenever you can.

4) Put up wooden swing sets in the backyard that have bars for pull ups and leg lifts etc. Then you can be getting workouts in while having fun with the kids. They will love to have you out there with them, and hardly realize you aren't just playing together!

5) Fidget. When standing in line or sitting in a waiting room just move your body a little. Focus on maintaining good posture.  Flex your calves. Do kegal exercises. Shift from foot to foot. Any small movements done repetitively add up to calories burned.

6) Volunteer to help coach your child's sport's team. If you are going to be there anyway, you may as well be out on the field moving around rather than sitting on the sidelines.

7) Make your date night active rather than passive. Choose hiking over seeing a movie for example. You'll see some beautiful scenery and have a chance to talk.

8) Shop til you drop. As convenient as online shopping can be, a good long walk around the mall can really work your legs.


Be creative as you go about your day. Try to find as many little ways as you can to work fitness into your normal routines. Challenge yourself. Buy a stepometer and set a goal for yourself. Increase it each day just by adding a few more steps to your usual activities. All it takes is changing your mindset from conserving your energy to looking for ways to get moving!

Personal Rewards

Once you have set your ultimate goals I strongly recommend that you then break them down into smaller chunks. While it is critical of course to know your ultimate destination, it can be rather daunting on a daily basis to focus on that if it is quite far distant. I knew at the start that I had about 80 pounds to lose. This weight did not come on over night so it was clear that it would not come off immediately either. It would take a long time to reach that final goal. I floundered around a lot for the first year and lost about 15 pounds, but my focus was always on the end goal. So even though I was having some success, I still felt constantly overwhelmed by the scope of what I had left to do. It kept me in a continual state of feeling like I was failing when focused on how far I had to go. Always thinking about how fat I still was instead of how much thinner I was getting. So in the next year, when I hit my total rock bottom place, I knew I had to do things differently than I had been doing them in the past. I understood that in order to remain motivated I needed to feel successful and proud of myself along the way instead of only at the end of the race. So I did two things that made a huge difference for me. I broke my weight loss goal down into 5 pound segments and attached a reward to each small victory. I was at about 205 at the time so I wrote on a piece of paper 200, 195, 190, 185 etc. down to 140 which was my finish line weight goal. And then next to each number I wrote down a reward for myself that I would earn when I got to that weight. I used things like pedicures and new clothes mostly, with a couple of big things mixed in that I wanted to do for my appearance...like having my spider veins treated. But you can reward yourself in whatever ways would be most motivational for your personally. I'd definitely suggest though that you be sure to make your rewards JUST for you. And linked to your improved appearance and/or energy level in some way so it is directly tied to the hard work you are doing. Now I know some will say "but I can't afford to give myself rewards"...well...than choose things that have low to no cost like a date to a free local concert or a pair of used jeans from a consignment store. Be creative and you can think of things that will make you smile.  When contemplating losing 25 or 40 or 100 pounds it's easy to tell yourself "I can't" - but a 5 pound loss feels far more doable. And it's so much more fun to push to achieve that smaller goal knowing that there is something waiting for you as a prize when you reach it. Your focus begins to shift to how many successes you are having and that provides the extra little boost you will need on days when you just don't feel like getting up to work out. You'll think...yeah I know it's hard but I only have two more pounds to lose before I get to have that massage I've been wanting so bad. I can do this!!! And you will! In the second year of my weight loss I lost the remaining 65 pounds and had so much more self confidence and enjoyment in the process. These principles were significant factors in that. So chop those goals down into more manageable pieces and have some fun deciding which rewards you're going to be earning soon!

Reading Material For Read Across America Day!

In honor of Read Across America Day I thought I would share with you a few books I like about fitness and health. I hope you also find them informative and inspirational:



This is a new book out by Tony Horton...the man who brought you P90X. I have not read this one yet, but I intend to as soon as my copy arrives. Having gone through the P90X program personally, I have great respect for Tony. His enthusiasm and example helped me so much along the way. He's a few years older than I am, but is in better shape than most men half his age!!! And he has such an upbeat friendly personality that it made those difficult early morning workouts far more fun. I can't wait to read the book and hear what all he has to say.




This is a great overall program that covers both fitness and nutritional tips. My favorite part of this program is the "free day". Bill Phillips' message becomes like a voice inside your head helping you press forward when times get tough. Very motivating!





All I can say about this book is WOW! I read it straight through. Laughed and cried. Dean Karnazes pushes the limits of the human body to extreme levels and shows you the possibilities. I figure that if he can do THAT then surely I can get up and run a couple miles right? This is a great book even for non fitness enthusiasts, encouraging all of us to reach for our dreams and expand our potential.




Joyce's workout is easy to follow and really tones you up. It's not easy necessarily , but when you see the pictures of how amazing she looks in her 50's you figure what the heck? It's worth the pain. The exercises are illustrated clearly and the plan laid out in a well organized way. Great book for those looking for a simple at home weight lifting program.