Trainer Confidential » Weight Loss

Channeling Your Inner Cheerleader

Nicole — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:18:58 +0000

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that motivation is the make-or-break factor in a client’s success (or lack thereof). I’m not talking about those initial goals or even making the commitment. Most of us can get there on our own. And for the most part, we all know what to do to achieve our goals. Granted, you might not know why you need to eat more fiber or more vegetables, or why it’s important to strength train as well as run. But you still know you need to do it. And so you set goals for yourself and what you want to accomplish with your body, and you go about achieving them.

Nope, I’m talking about that moment – it could be two weeks into your new fitness plan or two months but either way, it will happen. That moment when you make the choice to stray from your plan and give into temptation. What exactly do I mean? How about those five seconds after your alarm goes off and you decide to press snooze or shut it off rather than get your butt out of bed for a morning run. Or on your way home from work after a long day when you know a workout will help alleviate some of that stress but you still drive past the gym exit anyway. And inevitably that downfall leads to another, then another… and pretty soon you’re off the wagon entirely.

Yes, my friends, we’ve all been there and it won’t be the last time. It’s the nature of the beast, I suppose – some days it’s simply easier to give into those urges, sleep in late, or eat half of the brownies you just baked. The real challenge is motivating yourself beyond it. Don’t let that one slip up affect the rest of your day, your week, or your entire goal. Don’t let those excuses take over in that crucial moment! You know the ones I mean… all the excuses for hitting that snooze button or eating that cake. The irrational, over-the-top reasons your brain has invented to keep you from doing what you’ve set out to do. That logic you listen to even though you know it makes no sense and you will regret it later. So how do you ignore it?

Finding the inner strength to shake off those excuses and just do what it is you’ve set your mind to do isn’t easy – but it is the difference between your current self and the “you” you’ve set out to become by setting those goals in the first place. You set those goals with a purpose in mind, some initial motivation that got you off the couch and into the gym. What was it? An event, a frustration, an outfit, a new diagnosis, a desire to be healthier?

Whatever motivated you to set those goals and demand more of yourself, grab hold of it. Write it down and visualize yourself achieving your goal. As simple as this exercise is, it is an extemely powerful method of motivating yourself. It’s one thing to have a personal trainer to push you through those last few reps or to call you when you start blowing off appointments. But it’s another thing entirely when you tap into that inner desire to be better, stronger, and healthier than you currently are. Motivation like that is unstoppable!

Of course, the right workout plan and a healthy diet are important. But if you’re having trouble reaching your goals, it’s time to haul out that inner cheerleader of yours and put those excuses to shame. Find out what really motivated you in the beginning and tap into that source. Visualize your success and know that one slip-up doesn’t matter. You can still reach those goals as long as you don’t let negative thoughts cause a downhill spiral of excuses. You can do it! Rah, rah, rah!!

4 Ways A Food Journal Can Shed Pounds

Nicole — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:00:18 +0000

The extra time commitment and tedious nature of food journaling are a deal breaker for many. Yet the benefits of taking the time to really pay attention to your food choices far outweigh the time involved. Not only will you learn more about the foods you commonly eat and their nutritional content, you are more likely to stay on track and be successful with your weight loss goals.

Continue reading for four big ways a food journal can help you shed pounds, as well as information on what to record. I’ve also included tips on how to get set up immediately, so get started journaling your way to a slimmer body today!

1. Education

Tracking your food intake forces you to pay closer attention to the foods you eat, when you eat them, and how you prepare them. If you are calculating portion sizes and counting calories, you must look up each food and record its statistics (however scary they may be!). You’re also more likely to look at the nutrition facts for the food item and weigh the cost v. benefit of eating it… and thus having to record it. Reading nutrition labels helps you discover what nutrients you over- or under-consume, and which you should avoid completely. Just be careful not to believe every claim you read on the packaging… unfortunately these “health benefits” are often inflated to help sell the product. Stick to reading the ingredient list and nutrition facts and you’ll get all the information you need to stay healthy.

2. Accountability

Recording your meals for others to see (or just for yourself!) can actually help you consume fewer calories. Being held accountable to your weight loss endeavor (or whatever goal you’re aiming for) gives you less leeway to slip up or backtrack. Giving yourself a deadline can do the same thing. Either way, you are eliminating the chance for excuses and setting yourself up for “punishment” if you don’t follow through (having to show your slip-ups to someone else, missing a deadline, etc).

Accountability also means you’re more likely to rethink the impulse chocolate bar purchases at the grocery store – there’s no hiding from a food journal! Not only does this practice make you think twice about the food you eat, it demands you take a greater responsibility for your eating habits. So think before you chew!

3. Analysis

Keeping a food journal is the best way to recognize trends in your eating habits – both for better and for worse. You can choose to analyze why a certain food combination helped you lose a few pounds, while others made you raid the fridge at midnight. Or observe what you might have done differently the week you lost three pounds, so that you can repeat those practices with similar results. Examining your food habits allows you to pinpoint exactly what you’re doing right and where you need improvement, which ultimately brings you closer to your weight loss goals!

4. Mathematics

My clients are always amazed how one pound of fat can equal a shocking 3,500 calories. Based on this, a weight loss of one pound per week means a deficit of 3,500 calories ( basically cutting about 500 calories/day). The math is really quite simple; weight loss never is. Counting your calories is the best way to keep track of how much food you are actually consuming in a day. Food journals make calorie counting easy – half the information is already there! Just look up your food item and portion size in a caloric database and record in your journal.

One of the trickier parts of weight loss (from a nutrition standpoint) is the way “little” food items can wreck havoc on your eating plan. Things like butter on toast, oil on a salad, mayonnaise on a sandwich, sugar in coffee, or a glass of wine with dinner can add a disproportionately large number of calories to your day. When you record everything you eat (and I mean everything), you are able to see first-hand just how much the sugar in your coffee will cost you.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Journaling

What to Record:

It’s important that you be as specific as possible in your journal – list portion sizes and exact quantities when you can, even brand names if available. And don’t forget about beverages! Drinks are often forgotten when I ask clients about nutrition. Recording them in a food journal makes their caloric significance glaringly obvious.

Recording when you eat is equally significant. I’ve had clients who simply weren’t aware of how uneven their eating schedule was – consuming nothing until well into the afternoon, then binging on everything once they started eating. This is not a healthy eating practice. You should try to fit in food throughout your day, regardless of how busy your schedule is.

And lastly, it’s important to make note of how you feel after eating. Are you stuffed or still hungry? Do you feel tired or energized? Do you have a headache? Are you hungry 30 minutes after the meal? Your answers to these questions will help you identify which food choices work for you and which do not. If you feel tired or lethargic after eating, you either ate too much or consumed too many carbohydrates. If you’re hungry again only 30 minutes later, you didn’t choose foods that would sustain you. Adding protein to your meal will keep you satisfied longer.

What to Record In:

The nice thing about a journal is that you can record it on anything – a piece of scrap paper, a tiny notebook in your purse, an application on your phone or typed on your computer. You don’t need to spend money to start one! If you want something a little more organized or if you’d like access to a nutritional database, you can also record your food log online. There are, I’m sure, thousands of great websites that offer this feature. I’ve listed a few of the more popular sites below with their links:

Diet Tracking Websites:

Daily Burn

The Daily Plate

Spark People

My Calorie Counter

My Fitness Pal

Fit Day

However you decide to record it all, your food journal will bring you one step closer to your health goals with its reliability, (sometimes brutal) honesty, and accountability. Bon appétit!

How To Build A Strong, Confident Body

Nicole — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:41:35 +0000

Q: I feel like I could lose a few pounds, but once I do everyone thinks I look sick. What do you suggest I do to tone, rather than lose more weight? Also should I drink protein shakes and muscle building formulas?

A: Firstly, I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize that you are the one who needs to be happy with your shape, your body, and your health. It’s very easy to get swept up in what everyone else thinks of you because, let’s face it, everyone has an opinion. Unfortunately, even our close friends and family can sometimes have strong opinions of what we should or should not look like, how many pounds we should lose or gain, and how we should manage our lives.

As a strong woman, you need to own your body and identify what feels healthy for you. If you are comfortable at your current fitness level and size, then just work on toning up and maintaining your weight. If, on the other hand, you think you would be healthier (emphasis on healthy not skinny) minus a few pounds, then your focus should be on toning and weight loss.

To help you identify which of these options you should choose, I would suggest first calculating your body fat percentage. You can do this on your own, at home, with very little equipment or expense. Click here for my article on how to calculate this for yourself and what the numbers mean. If your body fat percentage places you in the average or above average categories for you age and gender, then your weight is at a healthy number and you shouldn’t worry about dropping more pounds. If your percentage falls below average, then you’ll need to focus on increasing your ratio of muscle to body fat.

Strength Training to Reduce Body Fat

Strength training is the best way to re-shape your body, so taking the time to commit to a regular muscle toning routine is the second step. I recommend 3 days per week (2 days per week if you’ve never done any strength training before) in the beginning – you can always add more later if you want. Over the next week, I’ll be posting three different total-body strength training/toning routines, based on various fitness levels. These would make a great starting point for you. To determine which fitness level you should choose, try some of my at-home fitness tests. Your scores will point you towards the most appropriate toning routine.

Losing Body Fat, Not Muscle

Weight loss is always about calories in versus calories out – basic mathematics. When you exercise you expend calories (whether the exercise is cardio or strength-focused). Thus if you’re simply looking to tone your muscles and maintain your weight, you must remember to eat enough to balance out all your exercise.

If you follow this plan, you won’t need to worry about consuming “muscle building” formulas (which will likely cause weight gain as they are high in calories). Instead, focus on the types of foods you eat – choose whole grains but get the majority of your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables; choose lean meats rather than fatty red meat or dairy products; and limit your intake of excess sugar and saturated and trans fat (especially abundant in processed, packaged food and at restaurants).

The way you put together your meals makes a difference too. Try to consume protein every time you eat carbohydrates – this slows digestion and the release of sugar into the bloodstream. It also keeps you fuller for longer so you won’t be diving for sweets mid-afternoon or late at night!

In the end, focus your energy on how you feel, not on what other people are saying. It’s your body and your health, so make that your priority. Whether that means losing or gaining a few pounds (and the body fat guide can help you figure that out), just focus on supporting your own choices for a healthy lifestyle. Once you do that, you may be surprised to find others adopting your behavior!

25 Festive Ways to Burn 150 Calories

Nicole — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:50:33 +0000

It’s easy to get lost in the bustle of the season, and with so many things to do, our workouts are often the first to get forgotten. But don’t worry – I’ve come up with 25 innovative (and festive!) ways to burn 150 calories during your regular holiday activities.

So start working on that to-do list and let the calories take care of themselves!

Trick-or-Treating with your kids 30 min
Carving pumpkins 60 min
Lifting large bags of Halloween candy 60 min
Jumping around like a kid on candy 20 min
Brushing your teeth after too much sugar 55 min

Grocery shopping for Thanksgiving Dinner 40 min
Playing touch football with your kids 15 min
Running a Thanksgiving Day road race 10 min
Collecting canned goods for the local shelter 25 min
Cleaning house for your in-laws 40 min

De-stressing with some yoga poses 30 min
Raking the lawn before your neighbors say something 30 min
Dance practice with your kids for their Holiday Pageant 20 min
Mall walking and holiday shopping 30 min
Climbing stairs at the mall (instead of the escalator) 15 min

Wrapping presents 60 min
Stacking firewood for roasting chestnuts 25 min
Ballroom dancing at a holiday party 30 min
Taking your kids sledding on a snow day 20 min
Having to shovel out your driveway first 23 min

Christmas caroling 40 min
Baking Christmas cookies 60 min
Washing dishes after the big meal 60 min
Kissing under mistletoe 130 min
Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”… again 125 min

Each calculation is based on a 150-lb individual and is an approximation. If you weigh less than 150 lbs, you will burn less than 150 calories in the time allotted above. If you weigh more than 150 lbs, you will burn over 150 calories.

The following sites were used to determine calorie calculations:

Calorie Control Council and NutriStrategy

Can Coffee Help You Lose Weight?

Nicole — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:01:56 +0000

Q: Is it true that drinking caffeinated beverages can help me lose weight?

A: The relationship between caffeine and weight management has been the subject of research studies for over 20 years, based on caffeine’s well-known stimulant properties. We know, for example, that coffee can wake us up when we’re feeling sleepy. It’s also rapidly absorbed and distributed throughout the body. Because of this, caffeine increases the efficiency of many over-the-counter pain relievers and cold medicines. Given these facts… can we expect caffeine to increase the number of calories we burn when we drink it?

Thus far, the only positive effect associated with caffeine consumption has been its effect on stored fatty acids. When large amounts of caffeine are consumed in 30 minutes (approximately 5-6 cups of strong coffee in 30 minutes… not exactly a pleasant experience), caffeine has a tendency to release fatty acids from storage in your body, allowing them to be used for energy. However, this discovery relates only to the endurance athletes who would benefit from this additional energy source. In terms of what caffeine can do for the rest of us, it looks like we may have to continue logging those hours at the gym – caffeinated beverages have not been proven to help with weight loss.

Furthermore, caffeine has a number of known side effects that should actually discourage people from consuming it at all. Caffeine is a natural diuretic (which anyone who drinks coffee can vouch for). This alone isn’t cause for concern, however if you drink a great deal of caffeinated beverages before you exercise strenuously then you put yourself at risk for dehydration. In the summer, even less caffeine will put you at risk. And according to the National Institutes of Health, excessive intake of caffeine has been known to cause an elevated heart rate, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, anxiety, depression, tremors, and difficulty sleeping. In more extreme cases, caffeine consumption has been linked with fibrocystic breast disease, heart and blood vessel disease, birth defects, reduced reproductive function, and cardiac arrhythmias.

In the end, you’re actually better off without caffeine at all. (Personally, I cut out caffeine only recently and have already seen a huge improvement in my overall energy levels. Plus I have fewer headaches!) Caffeine is not a magic weight loss cure, as much as we wish it worked that way. The truth is, only a calorie deficit can cause weight loss – ideally through a combination of eating less and exercising more.