1,2,3 GO!
So, the New Year is upon us. The time has come to get back on track. Many of you, myself included, have indulged just a tad too much this summer. My tad weighs 6 pounds. How much is your tad?
Essentially it boils down to this. If you are unhappy with the way you look, you need to change something and possibly many things. The first thing you need to change, above all else, is your attitude. If you want to change the way you look, you have to really WANT to. You have to want it bad. The second thing you need to do is make a plan for your transformation. Third? You have to follow the plan. Once you start following your plan, the transformation will begin.
As an aside, if you are overeating and not exercising, you need a lifestyle change, not just a short term plan. Going on a "diet" or planning to "do this" for a month, 2 months, etc. may get you to your goal, but the minute you go back to your old habits, you will end up where you started. Speaking of starting.....
The plan goes like this: Write down your specific goals and how you will accomplish the goals. For example, these are my goals:
Ultimate goal
Lose at least a half a pound a week totaling 4-6 pounds by Halloween.
Daily Goals
1. Drink at least 64 ounces of water daily;
2. Eat a total of 1300 calories daily;
3. Eat 5 times a day;
4. Incorporate both protein and non-starchy carbs into every meal I eat;
5. Log workouts.
Weekly Goals
1. Do a minimum of 2 strength training workouts each week;
2. Do 3, 30 minute, high intensity cardio workouts each week;
3. Do 30 minutes of some activity (like walking) every day that I don’t do a strength or cardio workout;
4. Avoid alcohol Monday through Thursday;
5. Plan a cheat meal/day.
How do you accomplish these goals? Plan to accomplish them. Here’s an example of how I plan to accomplish my goals.
1. Fill a half gallon container with water each morning and make sure it is empty by bedtime;
(I recommend emptying it by 5pm so you aren’t up all night peeing!)
2. COUNT your calories;
I have trained hundreds of women and this is my lesson learned. If you want to lose weight/fat and you start to workout, but you don’t address your diet, you probably won’t lose. You may stop GAINING weight, but my experience has been that you won’t lose any dramatic amount. If you do both, it’s pretty much a guarantee you will lose up to 2 pounds a week. The fact of the matter is, you don’t need to work out, to lose weight. YES!!! I am a fitness trainer and I am stating that! (Read my future blogs when I address this unbelievable statement.) Back to calories - if you swear you "don't eat that much" yet you are not losing weight/fat, you need to diary what you are eating and drinking on a daily basis. Then you need to calculate the calories. I am willing to bet, you are eating way more than you think. Daunting? Try Fitday.com. Counting calories will be a breeze. And you don't have to do it forever. Just do it for a few days to start. This will give you the wake-up call I think you need. Continue to read my blogs for, amongst other things, a bigger explanation of how many calories you should eat to lose fat.
3. Plan your 5 “meals”;
Studies show that fit people eat the same foods throughout the week with the exception of dinner. Plan each meal and snack according to your calorie counts and the protein and carbs goal.
4. Schedule your workouts in your calendar;
Join a class. Get up earlier and workout before work and before the kids get up. Get a friend to workout with you. If you don’t schedule it, it’s not happening.
5. Write down your daily workouts;
I have a calendar hanging at the top of my stairs. I draw a big red heart on every date that I do a cardio workout and I make a notation on every date that I strength train or walk for 30 minutes or take a Yoga class or a bootcamp class. This way, every time I walk up those stairs, it is staring me in the face and I know exactly what needs to get done before the week is over. I have been doing this for 11 years! It keeps you honest.
6. Resist that glass of wine (or 2 or 3) after work;
Look forward to Friday’s glass or two. Did you know that a FOUR ounce glass of wine has about 150 calories? Come on - when was the last time you drank JUST a 4 ounce glass?
7. Plan to cheat!
Woman cannot live on clean food alone. WE NEED CHOCOLATE! At least, I do. It is so much easier to permanently change the way you eat if you don't feel deprived. So build a cheat meal into your week so you have it to look forward to. Plan to go out to dinner on Sat. Have dessert. Drink some wine. Have a Mojito. Just eat lighter that day. Can't go all day without a sweet or a glass of wine? Build it into your calories for the day. That's the beauty of counting calories. I am purchasing a new book that came out called "Cheat to Lose". The premise is building the cheat into the day. I'll let you know what I think when I read it!
So, there you have it. Some great ideas for a fresh start to the New Year! See you in a few days.
Essentially it boils down to this. If you are unhappy with the way you look, you need to change something and possibly many things. The first thing you need to change, above all else, is your attitude. If you want to change the way you look, you have to really WANT to. You have to want it bad. The second thing you need to do is make a plan for your transformation. Third? You have to follow the plan. Once you start following your plan, the transformation will begin.
As an aside, if you are overeating and not exercising, you need a lifestyle change, not just a short term plan. Going on a "diet" or planning to "do this" for a month, 2 months, etc. may get you to your goal, but the minute you go back to your old habits, you will end up where you started. Speaking of starting.....
The plan goes like this: Write down your specific goals and how you will accomplish the goals. For example, these are my goals:
Ultimate goal
Lose at least a half a pound a week totaling 4-6 pounds by Halloween.
Daily Goals
1. Drink at least 64 ounces of water daily;
2. Eat a total of 1300 calories daily;
3. Eat 5 times a day;
4. Incorporate both protein and non-starchy carbs into every meal I eat;
5. Log workouts.
Weekly Goals
1. Do a minimum of 2 strength training workouts each week;
2. Do 3, 30 minute, high intensity cardio workouts each week;
3. Do 30 minutes of some activity (like walking) every day that I don’t do a strength or cardio workout;
4. Avoid alcohol Monday through Thursday;
5. Plan a cheat meal/day.
How do you accomplish these goals? Plan to accomplish them. Here’s an example of how I plan to accomplish my goals.
1. Fill a half gallon container with water each morning and make sure it is empty by bedtime;
(I recommend emptying it by 5pm so you aren’t up all night peeing!)
2. COUNT your calories;
I have trained hundreds of women and this is my lesson learned. If you want to lose weight/fat and you start to workout, but you don’t address your diet, you probably won’t lose. You may stop GAINING weight, but my experience has been that you won’t lose any dramatic amount. If you do both, it’s pretty much a guarantee you will lose up to 2 pounds a week. The fact of the matter is, you don’t need to work out, to lose weight. YES!!! I am a fitness trainer and I am stating that! (Read my future blogs when I address this unbelievable statement.) Back to calories - if you swear you "don't eat that much" yet you are not losing weight/fat, you need to diary what you are eating and drinking on a daily basis. Then you need to calculate the calories. I am willing to bet, you are eating way more than you think. Daunting? Try Fitday.com. Counting calories will be a breeze. And you don't have to do it forever. Just do it for a few days to start. This will give you the wake-up call I think you need. Continue to read my blogs for, amongst other things, a bigger explanation of how many calories you should eat to lose fat.
3. Plan your 5 “meals”;
Studies show that fit people eat the same foods throughout the week with the exception of dinner. Plan each meal and snack according to your calorie counts and the protein and carbs goal.
4. Schedule your workouts in your calendar;
Join a class. Get up earlier and workout before work and before the kids get up. Get a friend to workout with you. If you don’t schedule it, it’s not happening.
5. Write down your daily workouts;
I have a calendar hanging at the top of my stairs. I draw a big red heart on every date that I do a cardio workout and I make a notation on every date that I strength train or walk for 30 minutes or take a Yoga class or a bootcamp class. This way, every time I walk up those stairs, it is staring me in the face and I know exactly what needs to get done before the week is over. I have been doing this for 11 years! It keeps you honest.
6. Resist that glass of wine (or 2 or 3) after work;
Look forward to Friday’s glass or two. Did you know that a FOUR ounce glass of wine has about 150 calories? Come on - when was the last time you drank JUST a 4 ounce glass?
7. Plan to cheat!
Woman cannot live on clean food alone. WE NEED CHOCOLATE! At least, I do. It is so much easier to permanently change the way you eat if you don't feel deprived. So build a cheat meal into your week so you have it to look forward to. Plan to go out to dinner on Sat. Have dessert. Drink some wine. Have a Mojito. Just eat lighter that day. Can't go all day without a sweet or a glass of wine? Build it into your calories for the day. That's the beauty of counting calories. I am purchasing a new book that came out called "Cheat to Lose". The premise is building the cheat into the day. I'll let you know what I think when I read it!
So, there you have it. Some great ideas for a fresh start to the New Year! See you in a few days.
posted by Joey at
12:13 PM
3 Comments
