If all else fails and you feel you can’t succeed with your weight loss or health goals on your own, then maybe it’s time to find a personal trainer and/or nutritionist. At some point we have to decide that our health comes above everything and if we need help, we should get it. You have to ask yourself what your specific needs and goals are; what do you want in a trainer and how much can you afford. So what next? After we have decided to get a trainer, we must figure out what we need to achieve our health goals. Is it nutritional advice, exercise routine based on our goals, our abilities, …
In my last article, I spoke about making our resolution successful this year by finally realizing we can’t do it on our own — we need help. We are finally going to join that gym. But there are so many gyms out there, which one is going to fit all our needs? Let’s make a list and do some homework. The most important question is what can we afford? We need to figure out what will fit into our budgets. But we also have to see what the gyms offer us for our money. We might find that few dollars more will get us a lot more in the long run. Sometimes if we are torn between this decision, it helps …
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! One down, one to go! Since things have slowed down, we should take time to reflect on what we want to see happen in the New Year. Are we repeating the same resolutions as in past years of losing weight, exercising and getting healthy determined to get it right this time? We need to really figure out what went wrong in the previous years that we haven’t been able move on to a new New Years Resolution. We also need to figure out how we approached it in the past and what we need to change this time to finally be successful this year. Did we try to do it …
We are now full force into our holiday season and coming to the end of another year (already!). So we are now rushing around with our holiday shopping, trying to figure out what to get our loved ones for Christmas and Hanakkah. We are also starting to realize it’s almost 2012 — the beginning of a new year, time to think of our New Year’s Resolutions. We all know the number one resolution is losing weight and getting healthy. So why can’t we combine both our holiday wishes by giving the gift of health for the holidays? This is something we all want for ourselves and loved ones, so why not try …
I was asked by one of our readers if I had any good ideas for healthy holiday eating or ways to make our favorite dishes healthier during the holiday season. I would like to expand on my response. Whether you’re eating at home or eating elsewhere, we can follow some simple rules for healthier eating during the holidays. 1. Eat a salad with oil and vinegar an hour before dinner. You won’t feel that hungry by dinner time and will eat less if you listen to your stomach. Also, a full glass of water before a meal will help. 2. Use smaller size plates to eat on. The plate will look fuller and you’…
Okay, we’ve been lucky. I train people at Cedar Creek Park and we’ve been able to continue up until this last week. I did squeak out Thursday, even though it was foggy, it was warm with no breeze. But Friday came and now we’re back to the cold bitter weather. The wind and cold kill outdoor exercise. So now what do we do? The holidays approaching and that means food, food, and more food. How can we maintain and not gain? No more walks in the park, so we have to take it indoors. Now if we belong to a gym, no problem. But what do we do if we don’t have a gym membership? We need to find a space …
Let’s talk about some special populations of people who have much in common and most likely have the same feelings and apprehensions when taking the first step towards moving, a first attempt at some kind of exercise. I’m talking about the couch potato who has never worked out a day in their life and who believe that just going to work or working around the house is enough exercise. Also, there are people who have become obese and find it difficult to even move around and we have people who suffer from arthritis or fibromyalgia and find it very painful to move. Movement is important for all …
Now we need to switch gears and discuss what we can do or not do if we become injured or develop a sickness or disease. Do we stop working out altogether or do we come up with alternatives or modifications to our exercise routines? First off, depending on what our restrictions are – whether it be a sprained ankle, a shoulder injury, cancer or heart disease – we need to discuss these with our doctors. Of course, in the fitness world, if it’s not a major injury we recommend the RICE theory – rest, ice, compression and elevation. Some injuries might require more rest, but now doctors are …
Throughout my articles, I’ve mentioned life getting in the way, sometimes preventing us from staying focused on our fitness goals. When life does throw curve balls, we can sometimes feel our lives spinning out of control and we fall off the wagon and lose our sense of self. We put our needs on the back burner because our priorities have shifted. This is a part of life that we need to deal with and adapt to. But somehow, we get distracted by the changes in our routine and, all of a sudden, it’s a month or two and we’ve lost sight of our fitness goals. What happened? How do we handle these …
Happy Labor Day weekend! How did the summer go by so fast? This is the last of our big barbecue party weekends and we’re seeing the crazy whirlwind pace of summer coming to an end. This means kids back in school and possibly getting back to a semi-normal schedule. So we’re getting back to work, getting the kids to school and to afterschool activities, making dinner while helping out with homework. Still a hectic pace, but at least there are set times and schedules week-to-week, which makes it a little easier to plan out our weekly routines. The chaos of summer over and less parties means …
They say variety is the spice of life. I agree, especially when it comes to our weight loss journey. As far as food is concerned, we pretty much know what we can eat or not eat, but if we plan ahead, we can think of some interesting ways to make different meals so we’re not eating the same things day to day. With whatever diet we choose to do, staying on it can get monotonous. And let’s face it – some diets are bland and boring. But we do have options now. We have diet centers that offer nutritious recipes and there are hundreds of recipe books on the market or we can even use the Internet …
Like everything in life, whether it’s school, sports or relationships, there are rules that need to be followed in order to have successful results in these areas. The same is true with a weight loss program. There are several key rules that need to be followed to insure your success. The most important rule is consistency in your diet and your exercise program. And this is probably the hardest thing to do considering life does get in the way. Our bodies need to have a steady routine in order to function well (like a well-oiled machine). We can’t expect our bodies to respond well to wild …
We’ve been on this weight loss journey for a while now. I’ve given you some realistic approaches to making healthier food choices. We’ve allowed for life getting in the way and have come up with ideas on how to deal with all the different situations we face. Whether it’s holidays, special occasions, summer barbecues, or just eating out, we’ve been given some healthy alternatives to help keep us on track. As far as exercising, my videos have shown simple, effective ideas on how to work out in everyday situations, especially if we’re not ready to join a gym yet. No excuses. So have any of us …
Looking to stay outside on a beautiful day but still want to get a workout? Are the kids getting on your nerves in the house? Take them down to the park and gear yourself up for a workout. There are so many ways that you can get a full body workout while at a park. Check out this video for some easy to do exercises.
Now that school is out, the kids are home and we are going to be very busy keeping them busy and happy. No time to plan a meal? You instead go out to eat. It’s also the time of year when families go on vacations, so how do we plan our meals when we are eating out most of the time? It’s very hard to figure out the calories we are ordering, although some of the restaurants list them. Even then, I think it’s not that accurate because no portions are exactly the same. So what do we do? Again, we use common sense. If it’s just a night out, we could make it our cheat night if we haven’t had one yet…
It is so important to keep motivated – to keep moving. We can start out at home with the simple exercises I’ve shown you. As time goes on and we need more, we can switch things up. We could workout outdoors, (my next video) or possibly join a gym as we become more confident and more committed to continuing our fitness journey. Tip of the week: Try to get the others in your family involved in working out with you in the house. Make a competition out of it – like who can do more squats or lunges. Make it fun. When you enjoy what you’re doing, you will stick with it. Have the others make …
Happy Memorial Day to all as we face one of the first major challenges of our fitness journey: Three days of barbeques, parties and picnics surrounded by lots of food, drinks and deserts. Everyone else is indulging, why not us? How do we deal with all the extra temptations in front of us? Do we have the willpower to stay strong and make good choices all weekend long? Hopefully we do, but probably not. Being realistic, we probably will give in to at least some of the temptations. So what do we do? Knowing ahead of time that we will be tested, we need to dig down deep inside ourselves and pull …
Hopefully, we’ve all started our weight loss journey and are keeping up with our food journals and goals. We should have a good idea of what we need to do nutritionally, and now the next step is to begin a simple exercise program that will work for us. So if you don’t belong to a gym or are intimidated by the thought of joining one in the beginning, we can start an exercise program at home with little or no equipment. The video gives a few ideas on how to get started with at home. If you don’t have a staircase at home the exercises can be done on the floor or even outside in your yard. You …
Holidays are finished and spring has finally sprung. It’s time to shed all those layers of clothes and shed those extra pounds. We should have started our food journals by now, so even if we only have a few days written down, we can still try to figure out our eating habits. If you haven’t started one, the time is now. For those of us who have started, we need to begin to analyzing what makes us tick when it comes to food. Aside from our three basic meals a day, when else are we eating and why? This is usually where we get into trouble. Once we have a little better understanding of our …
This column is dedicated to the art of dieting – what works and what doesn’t work. What doesn’t work are those 10-day or two week craze diets where you deprive yourself of the much-needed nutrients that keep you going. Yes, you might lose weight quickly, but the weight will come back when you go back to normal eating. Success is not just losing weight, it is maintaining the weight loss. What will work is designing a program that will work for each of us individually since we all have different bodies, metabolisms, lifestyles and different goals. Once we decide that we want to start this …
