Category: Personal Training

The Secrets To Permanent Weight Loss

Wondering how some people lose weight and keep it off for good? Then others seem to yo-yo their entire life? The key differences are simple success actions that you can learn to do.

Lose weight by biting off what you can chew!

Just getting started? Set realistic goals. Start with meal planning and eating home more often. For help, check out Meal Planning Helps You Lose Weight.

Once you have that down, move on to exercise. Start with 10-20 minutes of exercise per day. Success with one good habit will lead to more healthy behavior over time.

Put it on the calendar!

Schedule both exercise and meal planning on your calendar. Be sure to include enough time so you can get to bed at a decent hour. When you prepare for your healthy activities, it will be much easier to accomplish your goals. Treat these like any important appointment that you would not consider canceling.

Consistency is key!

I’ve been a personal trainer for 22 plus years. I’ve learned that weight loss success is accomplished the same as success in other areas of life. It doesn’t matter if it’s a goal relating to your business,  spiritual walk, parenting, or any other worthy goal you set out to achieve. 

As much as the media promotes them, fad diets are not the key to success. Did you know they have a 95 % failure rate? You wouldn’t trust some get rich quick scheme in business, so why should you when it comes to weight loss? 

Permanent weight loss is achieved by consistent daily actions that accumulate over time. That may sound a bit boring or way too simple, but it is one of the KEY secrets to success!

If you fall down, get back up! 

From time to time we all have circumstances come up that will cause us to skip exercise or binge. This is normal! We are human. The difference is how quickly you get back on track. 

Are you guilty of the “I’ve messed up so what’s the use” mistake? You’ve messed up by skipping exercise, so you eat more calories! This is like being up to your eyeballs in debt and saying, “oh what the heck, I might as well go get a $500 per month car payment.” Wrong! 

Instead, when you miss your exercise, make up for it by eating healthy low calorie meals. You may not meet your weight loss goal that week, but at least you won’t gain any back!

Believe you can!

Avoid self-sabotage. Believe in your ability to lose weight and keep it off for good.

Tell your body what you want, not what you don’t want. When you look in the mirror, use phrases like “I am losing weight,” or “I have a flat stomach.” In the beginning this can be tough. You tend to think you are lying. However, you are not. In my favorite success book, the Bible, it says “speak as if it is already.” This is called faith my friend! You are believing you can accomplish your goals!

Negative thoughts will enter your mind. That’s normal. You’re human! Just don’t let them leave your lips. Replace each negative thought with a positive statement. If that’s tough in the beginning, use one of my favorite personal quotes. If you don’t have anything nice to say about yourself, don’t say anything at all. You wouldn’t say something that mean to a friend, so why say it to yourself? 

Leave notes around the house as reminders to speak positively about yourself. This will help you build the mental muscles you will need to make success talk a habit. 

Health and fitness is a lifestyle, not a just a single action!

I’m able to maintain my weight and health because I have built a life around healthy activities. I look for opportunities to exercise, such as taking the stairs, working around the house, or walking my dogs. My husband and I gravitate toward outdoor activities for fun. We have one television in our home and it is in our guest room. We turn it on to watch major events, football, and movies. I have nothing against television! However often times our nation could be exercising instead of sitting in front of a screen.

Get creative and look for ways to incorporate activity into everyday life. Try spending family time doing something active like hiking or biking. A day at the beach or a picnic at the park is always more active than sitting in front of a television or playing a video game.

Are you guilty of the “I’ve messed up so what’s the use” mistake? Go ahead and tell us about it! Writing about it could help you avoid it in the future. 

Blessings!

Jennifer

 

The Truth About No Pain No Gain

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Today I’m tackling a great weight loss question someone asked me on Facebook. I usually answer questions on the spot if they can be answered in one to two sentences. But some inspire articles! Today I’m answering a question about pain versus gain and what is appropriate for weight loss.

Scott asked:

Let’s say you run a mile and it’s a real workout. It’s painful. Let’s say you keep at (it) so that running a mile becomes easy. To continue to lose weight, can you do that by simply continuing to run one mile? Or do you need to up the ante to two miles? In other words, is exercise only beneficial when it hurts? They say “No pain. No gain.” is that real?

Can you hit a weight loss plateau?

Let’s use Scott’s example. In the beginning, running the mile is more challenging for the body. There are two reasons- you weigh more and it’s something new. At first your body uses a lot more energy. Over time your body will become lighter and more efficient at running a mile, and will burn less calories. This is when people typically see a “plateau” in their weight loss efforts.

So, to answer Scott’s question — if further weight loss is desired, adding another mile would be beneficial for continued weight loss. It would continue to challenge the body’s endurance.

No exercise should ever be painful!

There’s a difference between pain and stepping out of your comfort zone. You should never feel pain when you exercise! Pain is your body telling you to stop what you are doing and find out what’s wrong. It’s not uncommon to feel a twinge from time to time while exercising. However, after two weeks of repetitive pain while exercising, go see your doctor.

You’ve definitely over-trained if you experience muscle soreness for more than two to three days, poor sleep, or prolonged fatigue (being super sluggish the next day). If any of this occurs, reduce the intensity or amount of time you perform the activity.

Feeling sick to your stomach is over training as well and means you need to back off the throttle. If you actually throw up and a trainer tells you that’s normal, I suggest you find a new trainer. For the average exerciser, pushing yourself to the point of puking is not only dangerous, it’s unnecessary!

Cross training is key!

Unless your goal is to be a marathon runner, adding more and more time to your exercise routine is probably unrealistic. The best way to keep the body “on it’s toes” is to cross train. Adding interval workouts two days — but no more than three days per week to your routine — will challenge the body without over training. The other days should be used for more “steady” or moderate workouts to allow recovery time. Too much over training can actually slow down your metabolism!

Burn more calories!

Change the activity to burn more calories — for example, run two days a week, then add a swim or  spin class. Cross training also prevents injury by avoiding too much repetitive motion from a single activity. Another great way to cross train is with lifestyle activity such as outdoor sports or chores that require physical exertion.

If walking is your thing, cross train by adding hills or stairs to your routine.

Slow and steady wins the race!

Any exercise routine that is safe for your body and performed consistently is beneficial. It helps build cardiovascular and muscular endurance as well as a steady weekly burn of calories. You are better off doing a twenty minute routine most days of the week than a one hour “hard core” workout sporadically.

As you get more fit, you will want to challenge your body in a safe and fun way! Remember, this is about maintaining your health and weight loss for life. Adjustments are normal.

Please let me know if you have a question about your routine, or a comment you would like to share. I love to hear from you!

Blessings to you and yours!

Jennifer

A Healthy Body Image Is Key to Permanent Weight Loss

 

Are you searching for some encouraging words on body image? I found a great quote by Oprah Winfrey.  It is such a powerful statement that I want to share it with you and discuss the importance of a healthy self image.

“Say bye-bye to feeling bad about your looks!”

 

“Say bye-bye to feeling bad about your looks.  Are you ready to stop colluding with a culture that makes so many of us feel physically inadequate? Say goodbye to your inner critic, and take this pledge to be kinder to yourself and others.

This is a call to arms. A call to be gentle, to be forgiving, to be generous with yourself. The next time you look into the mirror, try to let go of the story line that says you’re too fat or too sallow, too ashy or too old, your eyes are too small or your nose too big; just look into the mirror and see your face. When the criticism drops away, what you will see then is just you, without judgment, and that is the first step toward transforming your experience of the world.”

I agree wholeheartedly with Oprah that we have actually allowed the media to make us feel inadequate. We have succumbed to unhealthy diets — and sometimes painful exercise just to “fit in”.

I believe that you were uniquely designed. Some of us are thinner than others. I also believe it is perfectly normal to exercise and eat right so you look great in a bathing suit — or getting those “guns” to look good in a t-shirt. However, not everyone has the time or the desire to look like a model on the cover of a fitness magazine.

Interestingly enough, an unhealthy body image does not discriminate. This type of self-loathing can occur for any body size. When I was a size two, I was never satisfied with my looks. Now, I’m a size 6-8 with lots of curves and I love the way I look. Am I motivated by vanity? Sure I am.  However, I am no longer a slave to it. I exercise, eat healthy, and focus on living a balanced life.

A poor self-image sabotages your weight loss.

 

An unhealthy body image leads to yo-yo dieting, over training, and unhealthy eating patterns. These patterns can actually cause weight gain. Yo-yo dieting and over training can actually cause your metabolism to slow down. Being unhappy with your body can cause binge eating which will destroy your hard work. At this point, guilt can set in which may lead to depression and often times more binging.

What do you say to yourself when you look in the mirror? Years ago a fellow fitness coach used the phrase “watch your words, your body’s listening!” That forever stuck with me. When you speak negatively about yourself, your subconscious accepts the information as truth.

And, since the brain “fights to be right,” your subconscious will automatically want to carry out what you said about yourself. If you say “I have a big gut,” then your brain will agree. You will do what it takes to maintain that “big gut.” This is not just ooky-spooky hocus pocus. This has been proven by neurologists!

You can develop and maintain a healthy body image — here’s how:

 

1)  Discover what you want! Take time to write what you want your health and body to look like — not how the media says you should look. Research what it would take to accomplish these goals. Then decide if your goals are realistic and mirror the life you desire. Not everyone wants to be at the gym five days a week. 

Once you have a reasonable set of health and fitness goals, ignore the outside chatter. There will always be some new diet or pill, a well-meaning friend, and Lord knows the magazines waiting to tell you that your plan is not ambitious enough. Or, that their way is better. My favorite is the person posing and asking “don’t you want to look like me?”

Now, I’m not saying to be closed-minded on a better way of doing things. I’m saying you should always question if a health or fitness idea fits into your life and values.

2)  Speak Success! Tell your body what you want, not what you don’t want. When you look in the mirror, use phrases like “I am losing weight,” or “I have a flat stomach.”  In the beginning this can be tough. You tend to think “you are lying.” However, you are not. In my favorite success book, The Bible, it says “speak as if it is already.” This is called faith my friend! You are believing you can accomplish your goals!

Negative thoughts will enter your mind. That’s normal. You’re human! Just don’t let them leave your lips. Replace each negative thought with a positive statement. If that’s tough in the beginning, use one of my favorite personal quotes. If you don’t have anything nice to say about yourself, don’t say anything at all. You wouldn’t say something that mean to a friend, so why say it to yourself?

Leave notes around the house as reminders to speak positively about yourself. This will help you build the mental muscles you will need to make success talk a habit.

3)  Birds of a feather flock together! Pay attention to how your friends talk about their own bodies. Do they have a healthy self-image, or do they tend to put themselves or others down? Now I’m not suggesting you dump all your friends. Sometimes we need to examine if a relationship is healthy for us or not. If you notice friends putting themselves down, take the opportunity to respond with positive attributes you can point out about them. This practice will help you do the same for yourself. And, you will discover people just can’t seem to get enough of you!

A healthy self-image is critical to losing weight and maintaining it without having to be a slave to dieting. This is powerful my friend. Take it seriously!

Have a question or a tip on  overcoming body image issues?  Please comment below. I want to hear from you!

Blessings to you and yours!

Jennifer