I’ve had a few people tell me I may be able to make them strong and healthy, but sexy? Yeah, sexy! You can’t let that muffin top define who you are. People don’t say, “Oh look! There’s Sue, my friend with the nasty muffin top!” No, the only person saying that is you saying that to yourself. So, stop it. Stop doing it NOW! I’m a firm believer in the power on intention, and all that negative focus will only bring you more negative things.  I love the following quote:

Focus

If you focus on resentment, you’ll create many more things to resent. When you focus on gratitude, you’ll bring many more things into your life for which to be thankful.

Focus on anger, and you’ll continue finding additional reasons to be angry. Focus on love, and the opportunities for experiencing love will greatly multiply.

Focus on life’s best possibilities, and you’ll move steadily in the direction of your dreams. Focus on the things you truly value, and they grow even more valuable.

Focus on what you are able to give, and you’ll greatly expand what you are able to have. Focus your energy, your attention, your interest and your passion on some particular thing, and you can make the impossible happen.

Where is your focus most consistently directed? That is where your life is most certainly headed.

By choosing your focus, you choose your lifestyle, the world around you, and your future. Focus on what is truly good and right and valuable for you, and you will be gloriously immersed in that goodness.

– Ralph Marston 

There comes a time in our lives when we must turn that focus back on ourselves. For me, it was my divorce that propelled me into action. I confess my motivation for getting fit was borne primarily from sheer vanity, and getting healthy was a side effect.  Now I can keep up with my 11 year old, help carry a freezer for a neighbor, bring in my own groceries and do pretty much anything I set my  mind to. That is power! And that is sexy, too!

We all have a different view of what is sexy. It’s all realtive to your personal thoughts, so when I tell you I can help you feel sexy again, I mean it. If sexy means muscles or a few curves, or if it means carrying a 50 lb. bag of dog food up the stairs with a smile on your face, then you can have it! My motto comes from trying encompass what a fit and healthy lifestyle will bring for all of us. That is essentially where your motivation will be found, so think about what you define as healthy, sexy and strong. What it means to you won’t be the same for me, and that is why it’s so very important for you to look inside instead of what’s all around you.

My beginning weight: 1*8 (Sorry - still enough vanity in me to not tell the planet what I weigh! LOL!)

Weight as of 1-5-10: 1*4.6

Loss: 3.4 lbs.

This is only a weight loss, mostly from carb bloat. It’s nothing to really get excited about except that I’m getting the bad stuff out of my system. Still a positive, but I’m realistic to know the hard part is still coming.

Yesterday I totally blew my plan by not getting in my workout AND by eating a vat of butter almond toffee left over from the holidays. My calorie intake was near 2100 when it was supposed to be around 1500.

What happened?

1. I woke up late. It was just too damn cold to get out of bed, plus I had been on a 5 day lazy vacation. I overestimated my zeal for getting a jump-start on my day.
2. I had not pre-packed my food for the day. I had my menu planned, but I didn’t get the food ready the night before. Since I was running late I just grabbed a bunch of stuff, threw it in my lunch bag and ran out the door. I got to the office and realized I had nothing for breakfast. Oh, I had chicken, salads, cukes and yogurt, but no oatmeal, eggs or whole grain toast.
3. Because I was late to work, I didn’t take my lunch hour that I usually spend in the gym. Honestly, I could have, but I used the excuse that it was just too dang cold to go outside. I can’t get too upset, because my office is cold too, and I knew I’d freeze my hoohoo’s off in the gym. So, take it for what it’s worth: an excuse or a smart decision. Either way, I moved that workout from Tuesday to Saturday in my calendar.
4. I didn’t have anything to satiate my sweet tooth. This is my number one disaster waiting to happen. It was cold, I was tired, so when I finally got home and into my warm comfy clothes, I just brought the can to sit with me like my best friend in front of the TV.  This all would have been avoided had I just thrown the rest out on Saturday.
5. One positive is I didn’t continuously graze or keep eating those awful carbs. I had one small slice of cheese pizza and some honeydew melon. I drank water – lots of it. I had to focus on my goal and think of how I hate how tight my clothes are now. I asked myself if that dinner roll would be worth the added calories and fat on my butt. I went and looked at my motivation picture, thought how beautiful she is, and went to bed.

So there you have it. Not all personal trainers have things so under control, perfect weight, perfect anything. Some of us are still human like you. I don’t know what your personal motivation is, but it is yours and you need to hold on to that when things get rough. The biggest thing is getting right back up and moving forward. It’s never too late, and you will only fail if you quit trying.

If you aren’t comfortable in a health club, remember that workouts can be done anywhere. Consider my on-line training as well the fact I can come to you! Remember – you just have to take the first step.

We are now a few days into the new year, and I hope everyone is already experiencing success. How are your goals coming along? Have you already had to make adjustments? Had a do-over yet? Just remember it doesnt matter how many times you fall down as long as you keep getting back up.

I already experienced a problem last night with my nutrition and ate some toffee a friend had given me. So, today I went to the grocery store to rectify my sweet tooth by buying some sugar-free chocolate pudding. YUM! I  have cooked some chicken, made my pudding and divided it into individual servings, and have everything ready for eating healthy. Tomorrow starts my excercise plan, and I’m looking forward to sweating it out in the gym.  Most everyone heads back to work tomorrow, so make sure if you are one of them that you have your weekly plan written down, and refer to it a couple of times a day. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

• I have been tracking my food , even the cheats. I use and highly recommend the Diet and Exercise Diary by Hinkler Books. (I have an extra one at home if anyone would like it.) It’s the most comprehensive journal I’ve ever found where you can track yearly, monthly and daily goals all in one place. You also can track your diet and nutrition in a more detailed format. I love this journal! Anyway, I notice that I still have my issue with late evening carb cravings and will need ot find a way to avoid it.
• I made it to the gym yesterday for a nice strength workout, and am sore today! I felt like a weak girly girl, but I know tha muscle has memory and it will be no time before I’m back to feeling stronger.
• I decided on 2 last big cheats: a yummy hamburger and fries and something from Bruster’s! I may eat fast food only several times a year, and even then I try to stay in bounds. This is my annual HUGE burger fest, so i like to make sure I get something good. To show you how important this meal is to me, a couple of years ago my son and I had been Christmas shopping and stopped to get my annual burger on the way home. I went to unlock my front door and dropped a bag with a glass candle in it. The candle shattered, and for some stupid reason I stuck my hand in the bag and sliced open my thumb wide open right above the inside joint. Not to gross you out, but there was some serious heavy bleeding! I was so determined to eat and enjoy my hamburger, though, that I wrapped my hand in a towel, and sat and savored my burger although it was blood red clear I really need to get to the emergency room ASAP, then drove a stick shift to get stitches AFTER I had eaten.
• I’m still thinking about my rewards system. I mostly use food as a reward, but I’m not sure I want to take that route this time. One year I promised myself a bikini from Victoria’s Secret and earned it!

Thanks for following along! I appreciate everyone’s support and hope that you find this helpful and inspirational.

Meltdown start date: January 2, 2010

Meltdown duration: 8 weeks

Meltdown end date: February 28, 2010

♥ Take stats: body fat, measurements, weight on Jan 2.

• Weight
• Body Fat
• WHR
• BMI
• Chest
• Waist
• Hips
• Thighs

 √ Determine my daily caloric intake.

• Maintenance kcal = 1853/day minus 371 kcal/day reduction = 1482 kcal per day for weight loss
• 2,597 kcal reduction/week = almost 1 pound loss per week

√  Plan my workout schedule and calories to be burned weekly/daily.

• Must burn approximately 530 kcal/workout 6 days a week = 3,180 kcal/week = 1 pound loss per week.

 ♥ Buy a new HR monitor with a chest strap.

 ♥ Plan my meals, cheats, and diet busting occasions, and cook my food weekly.

♥ Keep a daily food and exercise journal, stay faithful to it even listing cheats.

♥ Lose 13 pounds.

♥ Achieve 20% or less body fat.

Plan For This Week

√ Cook food.

√ Plan workouts.

• Plan meals.
• Take stats on Saturday morning.
• Order HR watch/strap.

I just want you to notice how I have made adjustments to my goals, and this is to be expected as you fine tune your own. I’ve recently found a nice little goal-setting blog,  Goal Setting Worksheet, that I feel gives me just enough to get my plans in order. The numbers I have for calories to eat and burn now may change by Saturday morning when I officially begin my meltdown, but at least I have a good idea of where I need to go.  Once the meltdown gets underway, then I will need to make adjusments along the way. Bookmark my blog to watch my progress, and if you would like to start your own meltdown please feel free to contact me at memre@fitnesssavant.com.

1. Take stats: body fat, measurements, weight.
2. Determine my daily caloric intake.
3. Plan my workout schedule and calories to be burned weekly/daily.
4. Buy a new HR monitor with a chest strap.
5. Cook my food weekly on Sundays.

Once I have my stats done I will know the precise amount of weight/fat I need to lose to set a goal date. I will post that when I have them. The official start date of my personal meltdown is January 2.

I have a friend who’s recently been trying to lose weight, who does an hour on the treadmill nearly everyday, but doesn’t eat nearly enough. I believe he has bought into all the wrong dieting advice, and truly believes that if he eats he will get fatter. WRONG. He’s keeping his weight because he doesn’t eat. (I can see your eyes rolling…) I don’t care who you are, but skipping meals is the absolute worst thing you can do to your body, especially if you are trying to lose fat. I’ll break this down scientifically so you can can see exactly what causes this.

• If you want to lose weight, you must build muscle.
• Muscles burn calories for energy. 
• More muscle increases metabolism which increases calories burned.
• Muscles require protein.
• During aerobic exercise, carbohydrates and fats are used first. Increased intensity will increase the amount of carbs used  while fat use is reduced. When the body runs out of carbs for fuel, it will then turn to protein for fuel causing muscle loss.
• Starvation mode sets in causing your body to store more fat.
• Less muscle results in a slower metabolism.
• Less muscle reduces your ability to burn calories.
• Excess calories are stored as fat.

Eat = More muscle = more calories burned = fewer calories stored as fat

OR

Skip meals = less muscle = less calories burned = more calories stored as fat

So, if you hop on that scale after a couple of weeks of a low-calorie diet combined with excessive aerobic activity to see you’ve lost scale weight, then that most likely means you’ve lost muscle which increases your chances to start gaining fat soon.  This sometimes results in that dreaded plateau. All if this can be very frustrating, but beyond that it is terrible for your fat loss efforts. You HAVE to eat to lose fat and keep it off.

You should have a good strength training and cardio regimen combined with  a balanced, healthy diet. I’ve noticed that many people have a hard time believing this, so will decide that more cardio and less food is the answer to all their problems when in fact it is only going to perpetuate the weight gain/loss cycle. When one makes the switch to the correct way, there may be a slight gain as your body gets used to the healthier way. This is usually attributed to a muscle gain, and this is NOT where you immediately quit upon seeing the scale go up. This is a great thing as your body is building the muscle that is going to help you drop the fat! This requires a long term commitment with adjustments being made along the way. This WILL work if you don’t give up. Your doubts are all in your mind because you’ve been conditioned to watch the scale for progress, and have spent many years doing the same thing over and over. Stop doing the insane dieting and switch to a healthier way of eating. Feed your muscle and lose the fat.

13 Ways to Fight Sugar Cravings.

Beat the Holiday Blues.