Fab Fit Squad

These 5 letters that crept into my brain this week. I am roughly 7 weeks away from my next fitness competition and DOUBT crept into my mind. Can I do this? Should I do this? What the hell? Is this my life? Imagine this all going through my head within 30 seconds. Here’s a little background. I have been competing since 2005. I started competing after I lost 30 pounds because I needed a goal. I lost the weight, but now what. What was my next fitness endeavor. My trainer at the time was a former bodybuilder and suggested I give fitness competitions a try.

Now I’m not a glamour girl by any stretch of the imagination and walking in a bikini with clear heels didn’t seem like my cup of tea, but in April 2005 I took the stage at the Fitness America, show in New Haven, CT and I’ve been competing ever since. I typically compete in 4-5 shows/year like a machine. I wind up every January and wind down each June and the process begins again. Except this time!  (more…)

For the few weeks, I have working on getting a little focus around what I want in my life. A few years ago I created a vision board and hung it on my wall and it really helped me gain some focus and clarity. So.. I decided to do it again.  On previous vision boards I put images on it of what I would like to achieve, places I’d like to go and quotes that will help keep me moving when feeling a little low. What I found to be really interesting is that it was hard to get started. It was hard for me to sit and a really think about what I wanted.  I thought about when I was a little kid and you asked me what I wanted for Christmas a laundry list of items would come out of my mouth. Now I was stuck. Why as it so hard? Was it because I was afraid to want things? Or was it that I had everything I needed. I’m lucky I have a husband who loves me, a roof over my head and money in the bank. What more could I want?  So then I said, yes I am lucky, but there is more that I want out of life and more that I can contribute.  So here is a my vision board. I showed mine, now show me yours, what do your dreams look like? Are you around to put them down because you are afraid you might achieve them?

This week, I had an opportunity to see Suzy Welch speak. She opened her speech by saying that she can’t do it all. I repeat she said she can’t do it all and she doesn’t even try. Instead she picks what’s important and moves on. What a freeing way to live.  So, if you can’t get to it, you don’t dwell on what you didn’t do? AMAZING. That statement felt like the glowing box in Pulp Fiction.  Since that day I’ve been really thinking about what she said and then yesterday I read a great post from Lululemon about what are you going to stop doing.  It stopped me in my tracks, because as women we are always trying to figure our how we can do more!! You know we have 24 hours in 1 day and how I am ongoing to do a million and one things to make everyone happy as well as achieving my own goals.

So now I thinking, I don’t have to it all, so what am I going to stop doing!!!

1. Stop being afraid. Yes, I know I me, afraid, but I am! I have been procrastinating on taking this test because I am afraid I will fail. Guess what if I fail I can take it again. So stop talking take ACTION!
2. Stop spending more than 30 minutes on Twitter and Facebook. I love you all, but I need to get focused on taking my test and growing my business
3. Stop purchasing things and not using them. Now this is going to be tough! I have purchased so many things that still have the tags on them or books that I haven’t even cracked the spine.
4. Stop wanting everything to be perfect. If I doing something just okay. That ’s fine. At least I’m taking steps.
5. Stop feeling like I always have to do something. Say what…It’s a rare day that I can just sit and relax, so take more time to sit and relax. I think about my grandmother, she is 88 years old and I don’t think I’ve seen her sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time. So I don’t want to look back in 48 years and say that I haven’t sat down!
6. Stop multitasking!! That’s right I’m a professional multitasker, if I’m not doing 5 things with my hair on fire I feel like I’m standing still. Moving forward I will set an old fashion kitchen timer and work on 1 thing at for 30 minutes before I move on to the next activity.

So tell me what are you going to stop doing?

When you view your health as nonnegotiable, your priorities naturally shift.

I have a number clients whom I work with who each and every session tell me that they are tried, or stressed out, skipping meals and basically paying attention to everyone but themselves.

You have to make yourself a priority.  If you don’t take care of yourself who is.  I know that this practice is easier said then done, but we must take baby steps to taking care of ourselves.

Here are 3 basic tips.

1. Establish a bed time – this is non-negotiable. You need 8 hours, so if you need to be up for 7am, then lights out 11pm.  This means you winding down by 10pm, I suggest being in bed or doing something relaxing such as reading, meditation, writing in your journal or spending quality time with your partner. Did you notice, there was nothing about TV, emails or web surfing?  This your shut down and unwind time.
2. Bring your lunch — when you bring your own lunch there is no excuse for saying you didn’t have time to run out, plus you are less likely to be tempted to ravage the vending machine or worse go without.
3. Exercise — I would love to see you work out 3 times/week, but I understand that may be a little difficult, but I recommend that you put it in your calendar, get up a little earlier and workout in the morning, schedule yourself a meeting and sneak out at lunch.

I hope that you are able to implement some of these tips.  I just want you to know that I can so relate to and let you that these are the steps that I took to reclaim my life.

I use to fly 100,000/year, the thought of leaving the office before 7pm didn’t occur to me, lunch consisted of M&Ms and Coke and dinner was all take out.  The people at Mary Chung’s really LOVED me and my husband. I used to have perpetual heartburn, migraines, acne and was in a constant state of tiredness.  I went to my doctor seeking a quick fix,  a prescription. Well, my doctor gave me a prescription, in the form of a book called “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff” Well I read and it really opened my eyes, I was only 25 and stress to the hilt and said I didn’t want to live my life like this.  Now I didn’t start implementing everything, I took baby steps and over time I had all 3 suggestions implemented.

Good luck to you, please let me know how you’ve implemented these tips or if you have any other suggestions.

Raise your hands if had to grocery shop. It’s okay do, but I have gotten it down to science and can get in out of the store in 30 minutes. Yep, 30 minutes. I can go faster at a Stop and Shop that has the self scanner, wear I scan and pack my groceries while I shop only stopping at the checkout to pay. HOLLA, that is the best invention for me.

So here is how I get in and out of the store with ease.

1. Shop the perimeter — I know you’ve heard this time time and time again, but its true the freshest foods and non-processed foods are placed on the perimeter of the store
2. Make list — I keep my list on the fridge, I put down items we run out of as well as items that we are running low on, plus there always staples that I keep stocked in my fridge, before I leave for the store I run thought the staple list and highlight the items that I need.
3. Go a full stomach — another one you’ve heard, but trust me, when you shop hungry. You fall pray to the tastings that they have the store, the candy aisle looks amazing, as well as the strategically placed sale junk items
4. Buy whole grains– Whole grains keep you satisfied longer.  Now don’t be fooled it manufacturers have started to put this information on the front of the box. It’s not the front of the box the really count, you MUST look at the ingredients on the back to truly understand what’s inside.
5. It’s okay to eat frozen food — in fact when you can’t get fresh veggies or fish, frozen makes a great alternative.
6. Add some color — mix up your produce choice by adding all colors of the rainbow, this will ensure that you are getting all your nutrients.
7. Save money by buying fresh vegetables in season – when possible shop a farmer’s markets and buy local when possible
8. Packaged prepared foods are okay, but again make sure you look at the ingredients, if you need a chemistry degree to understand what’s in it put it back on the shelf.
9. Choose real foods over processed foods, again check the back of the label you want to read the back of the label does it contain more than 5 ingredients and can you pronounce the ingredients.
10. Use coupons wisely, when you need to purchase 3 of something to save a few cents, ask yourself do you really need 3 or are you sucked into deal mode.

Have you ever started something when you had a million things on your plate and then you failed miserably?  Fess up.  I have.  This past fall I took on competing in the Fitness America show in Las Vegas, a 13 week wellness coaching course, launching a Fab Fit Squad and oh yeah, my 9-5 job! I didn’t position myself for success, I overwhelmed myself and just shut down.  Has that ever happened to you?  I watched this video recently and it just jump started me on all the goals that I have set for myself.  I hope you enjoy it.

I remember when I was in high school and Oprah walked out onto to her talk show in those black Calvin Klein size 10 jeans and boy did she feel like she arrived!  Now fast forward to 2008 and she is now over 200 pounds.  Has this ever happened to you?

You lose some weight and then start to eat everyhting you’ve been mising on your diet?

DIETS DON’T WORK!!!

Oprah has more money and can afford to a trainer everyday, a cook and an in home gym and she still struggles, do you want to know why?

It boils down to change and your commitment to making change, as we approach resolution season ask yourself 3 questions:

1. Why is it important to change
2. What barriers will you encounter
3. How will you over come those barriers

Let’s be honest life happens, but what are prepared to pick yourself up when life knocks you down?

Talk me, how did you answer those 3 questions.

Yes, they all say I’m naturally thin and I don’t have to do anything but chase around my little dog that fits in my purse.  But the latest Victoria Secret models to grace the runway admit that before the show, they watch what they eat and amp up the cardio.  So, models are human and that with a little diet and exercise you to can be a supermodel! Okay may its just in the privacy of your own home!  When I feeling down and need a little boost, I listen to RuPaul’s song supermodel and instantly I’m transformed into America’s Next Top Model.

What transforms you?  Do you have a power song, phrase or an outfit that makes you feel like a supermodel? Tell me, I would love to hear about it.

The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones.~William Somerset Maugham

How many times have you told yourself that starting Monday you were going to… start your new diet, go to the gym, get up an hour earlier to do, take a lunch at work, spend my time with my family, call a friend.  My guess is a million.  Now, how long did it last, if ever got started?? Did you make it 21 days?

Okay, so where did this 21-day concept come from?  Dr. Maxwell Maltz, wrote a book entitled  ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’  in the 1960’s after he observed that it took amputees about 21 days to stop feeling as though they still had their amputated limb(s).  Basically it takes our brain 21 days of consistent new stimuli to forge new pathways, so for any new behavior to become a habit we need to do it consistently for 21 days.

Can you do 1 thing consistently for 21 days?

I have 2 goals for the next 21 days.

1. consistently bring informative and actionable information in this blog
2. read for 1 hour each day

Now that I have written this down, and make it public, I got do it. So come brain help me make it stick!

I was watching Sunday Morning on CBS today and they suggesting that the ups and downs of the stock market can be compared to a herd mentality.  A herd mentality is a way to describe how people’s behaviors can influenced by their peers.

So what does this have to do with fitness? Well, how is your fitness influenced by what others are doing?  Has a friend ever called/emailed/text-ed you and asked what you were doing and when you said you were going to workout they mentioned that a group of people (the herd) where doing something else and asked you to come along?  What do you say? Do you stick to your plan or do you go along with the herd?

We may have evolved, but we still like to feel part of a group and fear of not belonging sometimes over takes our need to be our own person. Trust me I know how you feel!

I am a fitness competitor and typically compete in 5 shows/year. The season starts in April runs through June and then I start back up again in the Fall. So trust me there are plenty of times when I get the phone call, have to go to a party, wedding or other social event and I want to follow the herd and play hooky, but this is when you reach inside and is this playing hooky today going to help me reach the goals I have set?  Then ask yourself, how committed are you to reaching your goals?

Let me know do you follow the herd or do you stick to your goals?