Fab Fit Squad

Summer’s coming, we can no longer hide behind our sweaters, for the past few weeks you’ve been receiving catalogs and emails with bathing suits on the cover.  Each time you look at the cover you shutter thinking I’m  not ready!
Each morning you get out of the shower and glance at yourself in the mirror and think is this the year I dust off my bikini?  Maybe if I close my eyes and click my heels together 3 times, I’ll look like a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model. Sorry, ladies, I tried this and it doesn’t work, when you finally open your eyes, you’re still you.  To get a bikini body, it takes time.  The good news is if you start now, you will be well on your way to a great body by the time beach season arrives.  Here are some tips that will help get and keep a bikini body. (more…)

We are just 4 weeks from spring, thank goodness, it’s been a long hard winter. That also means that summer will be fast approaching.  It’s 17 weeks away, but hey who’s counting. (more…)

1. Find a buddy — don’t go it alone, find someone who shares the same goals and team up. By teaming up you SHARE in the accountability, you’ll have someone to check in with and help keep you on track when you’re feeling low.  Need a buddy? Let me know and I can help.
2. Clean out your cupboards — temptation lurks everywhere! Take your time and go through your cupboards and remove all tempting foods.  You’ll replace the junk with fruits, veggies, lean protein and dairy. Need a grocery list? Shoot me an email and I’ll send you one to get started.
3. Find rewards outside of food — typically when we have a bad or good day, we eat or drink. Instead of reaching for food or drink try doing something else.  Feeling stressed, try a nice chair massage or go for a walk. Signed a new client call a friend and share the good news or step out of your office and give a big scream and a jump. Like those old Toyota commercials. Am I dating myself?
4. Set realistic goals — losing a large amount of weight in a short amount of time ain’t gonna happen.  (ie. losing 10 pounds in a week) Average weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week, base your goals with this in mind and give yourself a fighting chance.  Don’t set yourself up for failure.
5. Track what you eat — we have a way of either grossly over and/under estimating what we eat. When you write down EVERYTHING we put in our mouths it has  a positive  effect on our eating.  It shines the light on exactly what we are eating. The best FREE site to track your eating is Fitday. Studies show that when you track your food you lose more weight than those who do not.
6. Have the right attitude – begin with the end in mind! Weight loss is 80% mental and 20% physical.  When you are having a bad day, instead on what you are giving up, focus on why you started this and what you want you want to get out of this.  When you can visualize your goal, you are more likely to obtain it.  If your goal doesn’t provide enough motivation think about changing it.

Yes, it’s that time of year. In just 30 days, we’ll start thinking about New Years Resolutions. Did you know that 71% of all resolutions makers fail make their resolutions?.  Here are the top 6 reasons why we fail to stick with our New Years Resolutions.

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Did you know that the average American will consume 3,000 calories and 229 grams of fat on Thanksgiving Day? That can really derail your nutrition and workout plan. Here are the Top 5 Reasons to workout rather than doing typical Thanksgiving activities. (more…)

I have had the pleasure of getting my hair done at Simply Erinn for as long as I can remember. She not only is a great hairdresser, she is a great person!  Every time I go into the salon we always talk about hair, men and workouts. On Monday, November 29th at 7pm I will be hosting a FREE Body Fat Loss Secrets at her salon.

We’ll be discussing the best ways to burn body fat and busting nutritional myths. If you are ready to feel great and look fabulous the time is NOW!

If you put one crab in a bucket without a top it will escape, but if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, they will not escape, they will claw away at each other so that not one crab can escape.

Are you surrounded by crabs, you know those people who know matter what new thing you try in life, they always have something usually negative to say about it?  The key to anything that you do, is to surround yourself with people who will support you and help you build on your strengths and not tear you down when you are trying to spread your wings and grow.

Have a story about a crab in your life? I would love to hear it.

You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That’s what makes you a winner. Venus Williams — tennis star

I have had a breast cancer scare in October 0f 2008.  Two months prior was the happiest time of my life, I had just got in engaged! Then my routine monthly breast exam, I discovered a lump.
I remember sitting down my fiance — now husband — and telling him of my discovery. To help make me laugh, he said you certainly know how to put the vow in sickness and health to the test. He went through the entire process with me holding my hand and telling everything was going to be okay.

Thankfully my lump turned out to me a calcium deposit, and I have a scar on my left breast as a reminder that I should continue to do regular self breast exams, because what if it wasn’t calcium deposit.  Below are 8 ways to help prevent breast cancer

1. Maintain a healthy weight — if you been looking to lose a little weight maybe this is the motivation you need to get started.
2. Exercise — get moving at least 30-40 minutes/day
3. Eat your Omegas 3/6/9 — this include nuts, seeds and oily fish.
4. Get a mammogram — I know it may be uncomfortable and maybe hard to fit into your schedule, but it could save your life.
5. Regular self exams — doing this could save your breast and your life.
6. Know your family history — if anyone in your family has had breast cancer, be sure to inform your doctor you maybe genetically predisposed to breast cancer. Once I discovered my lump within the 5 years both my mother and sister discovered calcium deposits. Again better safe than sorry.
7. Limit alcohol intake — its been found that alcohol may increase the toxins in body that contribute to breast and other cancers. Plus its hard to maintain a healthy weight if you are drinking all of your calories.
8. Eat fruits and veggies — they contain antioxidant vitamins and nutrients

I teach a number of group fitness classes that require 2 sets of weight. (1) heavy for your lower body and (1) lighter weight for your upper body. It never ceases to amaze me how many women under estimate their strength or better yet think that lifting heavy will cause them to BULK UP so they grab 3 pound dumbbells. Seriously ladies if I were to take your backpacks, laptop bags or purses and put it on a scale it would weigh more than 3 pounds.  In fact the average women’s purse weighs about the same as a sack of sugar. PS> Sugar comes in 5 pound sacks.

So the next time you reach for the 3 pound weight think about this: If you don’t have a regular strength training program in your 20s, you will lose appx 5 pounds of muscle every decade! That means that by the time you are 70 you will bearly be able to lift a sack of groceries, a gallon of milk or even your grandkids.

So come ladies reach for the big weights the benefits of strength training are amazing, sides would having Madonna arms really be that bad? PS … She didn’t get them from just doing yoga.

I have worked in the Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood for a number of years and have always wanted to go to the Copley Square Farmers Market, but for some reason I never had the time.  Looking back it makes me laugh because the market is open Tuesdays and Fridays 11-6 so why couldn’t I sneak over and check out what they have to offer. Well I FINALLY made it over to the market and it was awesome. I picked up the best corn on the cob, the juiciest tomatoes and the best blueberries. I could go on and on and on.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve picked up some of the best and freshest produce I have gotten in years. The farmer’s market runs until November and according all the warm weather that we have been experiencing in New England has produced bumper crops this year.

The farmers market has had such an influence on me that I’m considering joining a CSA farm, community supported association. That means that each week during the main growing season and bi-weekly during the winter month I would receive local produce or meats.  Gotta go, it’s Friday and I want to make sure I get the best selection and a parking spot.