Fab Fit Squad

Over the past 3 years I have shared a nutrition, workout and motivational tips, but this past week I was speaking with some of the readers of my blog and they asked for me to share more about me.

So.. here it is. I’m not perfect I too struggle with this time of the year! Last week I attended a conference that was serving lunch. I started out the day with my oatmeal, egg whites and berries for breakfast I packed 2 snacks (AM and PM). They were serving lunch so I didn’t bring my lunch. Well.. let’s say that was a mistake while it was an EXCELLENT chopped salad, it lacked PROTEIN! 20 minutes after I ate I was STARVING!!!! We were in a part of the convention center where they didn’t have store to purchase water and my 1/2 gallon water bottle only made it to lunch.  Let’s say by the time I got home that night I was ready to eat my leg off!!! Because I didn’t eat enough all day I came home and started GRAZING until I finished preparing dinner. Lesson learned — bring more protein and carry more water. The next day I went back to the event and was much more prepared and didn’t come home to eat 1/2 of my kitchen cupboards.

As for workouts — the past few weeks I have been flat out finishing up some projects before the end of the year. Typically I like to workout 4-5 days/week. Let’s just say it’s been difficult! Just this past Monday I had a plan to hit the gym at 5:30am — I like to workout in the AM because I less likely to get interrupted or have the day get away from me. Unfortunately my body had a different plan. I woke up at 1:30 AM and didn’t fall back to sleep until 4am, let’s say when the alarm went off at 5:15am I wasn’t feeling it. I gave myself the out. That doesn’t make the whole week is ruined it means I missed ONE workout and I need to brainstorm to see if there were other ways to make it up. Before I got out of bed I went through my mental calendar and decided that I could make up this workout on Thursday because that is typically my rest day.

How do I stay motivated? I started competing in 2004 because I needed a goal! I lost 30 pounds and I was like now what! Competing gives me a goal to strive for. When I first started competing I did about 5 shows/year now I do 1. That’s really hard for me to stay on track and last year I went 14 months without competing! I packed on the weight for me. I had put on 12 pounds during that time. Why do you ask, because I didn’t have a motivating goal and for the most part sleepwalked through my workouts. NOT THIS YEAR!!! I vowed that would not happen taking off those 12 pounds SUCKED OUT LOUD. My next show is May 2012 and will stay within 5-7 pounds of my show weight.

What’s a good goal? I’m always asked what is a good goal. My response is typically what will motivate you  to get out of bed on a 3 degree snowy morning. That’s a motivating goal. Goals are very personal. Your goal could be something really simple such as fitting into your pants or training for a marathon. Finding your motivation is truly personal and if you want to do some brainstorming, shoot me an email.

I hope this gives you a little insight to me. I will be offering 15 min goal setting appointments the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Please send me an email with some days and times that will work for me.

What I mean by that is, are you one of those people who sit around and say “Someday I will __________.” “I’ll meet my fitness goals if________________.” If I only had__________, I’d be able to_______.”

Does that sound like you? Are you waiting for someday? I have a question for you, how long have you been waiting for someday to come? Do you think it will ever come? Guess what if you don’t TAKE ACTION!! Your someday will never come in.  You won’t achieve your goals or dreams by wishing and hoping. You’ll achieve them by setting goals.

The best goals are WRITTEN. You can’t just think them or say them. You need to write down your goals and put them someplace visible. A place that you see them EACH AND EVERYDAY.

I have dry erase boards that I stick to my office door. Every morning I walk in my office and I look at my board and review my goals.  I have 4 of these dry erase boards on my door. Here is how I’ve broken down my goals.

1. My goals for 2011
2. My goals for the next 3 months
3. My goals for the next 30 days
4. My weekly goals

Every day I look at them and decide what am I going to do today and is that going to push me toward one of my goals.  My challenge to you is take 30 minutes and sit down and write out what is it that you want to achieve by the end of 2011. You have 120 days, what can you achieve so that you have more to celebrate than the end of the year and the start of the new?

If you are looking for a challenge, I encourage you to try my skinny jeans challenge.

Leave me some comments below to let me know what you plan to achieve in your 120 days.

So here were are 6 months into 2011 and I’m revisiting what I’m doing for me this year. This is the longest that I have gone without a fitness goal.  I got to tell you I’m a feeling a little out of sorts.

This past week I sat down and got clear about what I want to accomplish between now and the end of 2011.

1. Finish the Falmouth Road Race

• I’d like to run this in under 1 hour
• I’d like to properly train for this race, the past few years I’ve done a half ass job training for it. (more…)

To get the future you want, you need to let go of the past. Review your baggage and see if those old beliefs you have been holding onto are holding you back.  Take time to reflect and then say those are old beliefs and I let them go.

1. Set a deadline – nothing springs you into action like a deadline.  I recommend picking 3 dates (short roughly 6 weeks, medium roughly 12 weeks and long roughly 24 weeks). This way you’ll have something to celebrate yet keep you motivated.
2. Review past behaviors – As I said earlier, look at your past, if what you were doing wasn’t getting you to where you want to be, then you need to stop doing them. What I mean is if you want to lose weight and you are not exercising and/or watching what you eat, guess what?  You are not going to see results.

Now is the time to take your dream and put it into action.  I am hosting a Shape Up For Summer teleconference call.  I will be discussing actions you can take to flatten your belly, tone your legs, tightened your tushy and what’s the best thing to eat on a hot summer night. To attend, just register here.

In the next 30 days what actions will you take to make your dreams come true?

For those of you who don’t play golf, a mulligan is a do over. You hit a bad shot and then you get to do it over again.  Well here we are coming off a long weekend filled with fun activities that may have included lots of food and alcohol.

You wake up today look in the mirror reflect on your weekend. You say to yourself,  I’m going to the gym and hit the weights the little harder, do a little more cardio or skip a meal or to to make up for all this past weekend’s bad behavior.

Do you think it will help?  Sorry to inform you, but no. I tell my clients that you need to live the 80/20 rule. Eat cleanly 80% of the time and have some treats 20% of the time.  If you go over that limit then there is no make-up.  You need to step up and take responsibility for your actions. If you eat you own it!

The lesson is before you eat or drink it. Think about it. Are your actions moving you toward your goals or away from you goals.

You just picked up the latest People, Us Weekly or Star magazine and on the cover is some movie star or singer showing off their rock hard abs.  You then look at your abs and vow today is the day that I will do 1000 crunches everyday until summer to have those abs.

Ladies you’re not alone! To get great abs, you must do more than crunches. You will need to:

• burn more calories than  you eat — 1 pound = 3500 calories, you will need to create a 500 calorie deficit everyday to lose 1 pound each week.
• work your large muscle groups — butt, quads, lats, and chest using resistance/strength training and cardio.Working your large muscles will help you burn fat, that maybe covering those gorgeous abs of yours.
• limit your sugary treats,  ladies we tend to store our sugary treats in our mid-section.
• consistency! To see results you must work consistency or your eating and exercise regimen.

I hope you found these tips helpful. If you have any others, I would love to hear them, just leave me some comments below.

The calendar may say its spring, but if you live in New England it certainly doesn’t feel like it. But like they say, if you don’t like the weather in New England just wait a minute and it will change. For the past few years, our weather has a way of skipping its way right through spring and into summer without much notice. So that’s why I think a 30 day challenge is EXACTLY what we all need to get us ready for summer. What does this mean? Typically when you think of making a lifestyle change, you list ALL the things that you need to do and then get overwhelmed or only make a few changes because you get overwhelmed or you quit because you are striving to be perfect. The Fab Fit Squad 30 day challenge is not about being perfect, it’s about making small changes so that you can stick with them over the long haul. Just like me on Facebook and each day I will post a tip of the day, to help you keep up the challenge. The challenge starts, Friday, April 1st. Are you ready?  Leave me some comments below about what you are hoping to change in the next 30 days.

It’s time that you and Mr./Ms. Scale broke up. You’re not going to call him anymore, you’re not going to stalk him on Facebook.  Your just not into him/her any more.

Let’s get real here!

How many of you weigh yourself every day? Multiple times? When you weigh yourself do the results make or break your day? Or do you avoiding weighing yourself because you don’t want to know. (more…)

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…)