Fab Fit Squad

The first week of the new year is almost over. How are you doing with your resolutions? Are you still making them? If your resolution this year is to lose those last 10 pounds or to get into or back into shape I have a few tips that may help you get there this year.

1. You need a strategy — just hoping and praying isn’t a strategy. Think of your fitness plan as planning a trip. Would you just hop in the car and hope you end up a destination. No.. you would punch it into your GPS and follow the route. Getting back into shape and losing weight is the same thing! Your action for right now is to say — I am going to ________. I’m looking for an exact number, if its not exact you can’t measure how you are doing.  For example, by February 17 I will lose 10 pounds or I will run/walk 1 mile each day for the next 30 days.  So.. what’s your action item to get you toward your end goal?
2. Yes, write it down — you have you strategy, it’s not good enough to have it in your head, you need to write it down and put it someplace where you can see it each and every day! I recommend you tape it in multiple locations — your bathroom mirror, your nightstand, your refrigerator, your car’s sun visor, your cube at work. The more you see it the more you will be reminded of your goal and your actions will start to reflect where you want to go. Your action item — write your goal for the next 30 days and put it in multiple locations.
3. Don’t go hungry — when people start to diet the first thing I hear is I’m going to skip meals. Nothing makes me more crazy than when I hear that. Okay the other thing that makes me crazier is when I see people walking/running on a treadmill and holding on for dear life. Unless you came in using a walker or a cane there is no need to hold on. Pump your arms and use your core! Off my soap box, now back to meals. You must fuel your body every 2-3 hours.  You must keep blood sugar levels even, this is what signals the brain for food. The more even your blood sugars levels the less likely you are to go on a bender. Think about this.  How many times have you skipped lunch and then headed home after work and just ate everything sight or you planned on eating the right things and your hungry mind took over.  I know that never happens to you guys. =) If you are reading this and its been a few hours –EAT SOMETHING! Your action item — what snacks can you put in your desk drawer or in the car that you can eat?
4. Get support — You can’t do this alone! There will be times when you need a shoulder to lean on, a kick in the pants or just an ear when you need to vent. Ask someone to be your accountability partner. When you have this person you are less likely to fall off the wagon. I highly recommend you find that friend, co-worker or whomever that isn’t afraid to be hard on you.  Your action item — find and ask someone to be your support person?
5. Share your goals with the world — The more people who know what you are doing you are more likely to do it. No one wants to look like a fool. In this new world of social media — post your goal(s) on your Facebook wall, tweet about them on Twitter.  You’d be surprised how much support and encouragement you’ll get from others who maybe trying to reach the same goal or this is where you may find your accountability partner. Your action item –post your 30 day goal on your Facebook wall, tweet about or tell someone in person.  You can even leave your comments on my blog! I have no problem being that kick in the rump!
6. Pick one thing to change — Many of you feel you need to change EVERYTHING right away. I’m all for that BUT… if you aren’t that kind of person. Don’t do it!  I recommend you pick 1 habit this week and work on changing that. If you are addicted to diet soda — work on reducing the number that you have in a day or go cold turkey.  Action item — What is the one thing you will change this week?

With these 6 tips in hand do you feel like you have a nice blueprint to help you forward towards reaching your fitness goals this year? If you would some formalized help. I still have a few spots open for my F.R.E.E 30 day wellness coaching program. Just shoot me an email to learn more.  I really want to know how you are doing. Leave me your fitness goal in the comments below.

These past few weeks, we may have been eating more than we typically do during the rest of the year. Come January 1st, many of will list losing weight as your primary New Year’s Resolution. So what do you do? You head to the gym and hit the cardio machines, take a few group exercise classes and maybe lift a few weights. The question that remains is what are you eating? Jack Lalanne is the godfather of fitness and his famous quote is~ Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen, put them together and you’ve got a kingdom. Most people forget to think about the food.  Once you get your nutrition in alignment you will find that workouts come a little easier and you fit into those skinny jeans just a little faster.

Over the next 5 weeks I going to give a number of challenges to help you kick off the new year with a bang!

This week I challenge you to keep a food journal! This food journal doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I use Fitday to track my food. They have a free online version as well as a paid version. You can also just write it down on a piece of paper. Why do you need to write down what you eat? When you write down what you eat, you get an up close and personal view what you are putting into your body. This exercise will be very eye opening. Care to share your journal with me? I’ll do FREE 15 min nutrition review.

PS — Feel like you need a little more help and want to do a cleanse to detox the holidays? Let me know my client Kjerstan did and lost 7  pounds in one week! Shoot me an email for me details.

This year instead of making a resolution I’m make a themes for 2012. My first theme for 2012 is EXPRESSION!!! This year I will be stepping in front of the camera and doing more video blogs so that I can demonstrate exercises that you should incorporate into your fitness routines, show you some of my favorite recipes and I want go my readers a more of an one on one experience.  I’ve been writing this blog for almost 3 years and it’s time for me to get a little more personal.  The best thing about my theme is it has a THEME SONG!!! I know it’s old school, but it works!!! What are your theme’s for 2012?  Do you need some help setting those themes? The week after Christmas I’m having 15 min goal setting appointments. If you are interested, please shoot me an email.

So many people say the WANT to _______, you fill in the blank. Lose weight, build muscle, fit into their skinny jeans or the little black dress. And then you hit the wall of LACK! You know what I’m talking about, you can’t hit your goals, because you lack this, that and any other excuse you can drum. Below you will find 5 Lacks that you can turn around to make your weight loss/fitness goals a reality.

1. Motivation — you have a goal, but it doesn’t inspire you. It doesn’t cause you to take action.  Turn it around. What will inspire you to take action — is it telling someone? Is posting your goals all around the house? Is it taking your jeans up on your wall so you can see them each and every day? Whatever it is, needs to motivate you to take ACTION!!!
2. Accountability — you’ve set the goal, but you haven’t told anybody what it is, so if you don’t do it guess what it doesn’t matter because no one knows. Turn it around — TELL SOMEONE! You have no one to tell. Tell me — shoot me an email and I’ll hold you accountable. This accountability person is the person who holds your feet to fire and encourages when you get down or gives you the swift kick in the tush when you need it as well.
3. “Life” (you get busy) — these days are all “busy” running a million miles away, here is how you turn it around! Planning, planning and more planning.   Here’s how it works. Every week sit down and decide what you are going to do this week and put it in your calendar. I mean EVERYTHING — when will you prep your meals for the week, when will you workout.
4. Support — everyone around isn’t living a healthy lifestyle or will test your willpower. You can have just one can’t you? Well don’t let those crabs get you down. Turn it around by spending time with like minded folk. I know its hard to pull away from people, but its all about toward something versus remaining stagnat. To be successful at living a healthy life you need the support.
5. Results – you’ve gone down this path before and your results didn’t come as quickly as you would have hoped for. So.. you gave up, it wasn’t going to work any way, right. Wrong — most people give up right before they reach the tipping point the point at which change is about reach its boiling point.  I also want you to remember that change takes MASSIVE ACTION for MASSIVE RESULTS to be acheived. Are you ready to turn it around and take that MASSIVE ACTION.

I know that this is a total mind shift. You need to get your head moving from a place of what you lack into a place of what you don’t lack and how you can use those tools to push you toward your goals. One of the biggest ways I’ve been able to reach my goal is through the support of people, both online and offline. If you would like to brainstorm ways to turn aournd your fitness goals, shoot me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

PS — please join me for a pre-thanksgiving fast. I will be starting my 9 day cleanse on Tuesday, November 15 and breaking my fast on Thursday, November 24th Thanksgiving day. If you’d like to join me, please shoot me an email. My goal is to release 5 pounds from my body.

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.

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is arguably the one of the best basketball players in the world.  So you may ask yourself, what kind of problems could this guy have! Deciding who the pass the ball to, or just drive the ball to the basket himself.

If Michael Jordan had a challenge and stared them down, what are you doing about challenges.  Do you find a way around them, or do you just throw your hands up and decide that it wasn’t meant to be?

When of my favorite expressions I like to say whenever someone tells me they have a fitness challenge I say “It’s not like you’re climbing Mt. Everest in a bikini.” Most people laugh and really think their fitness challenge isn’t that huge.

Whenever I’m faced with a fitness challenge, here are a few things I do to help turn the mountain into a mole hill.

• Workout — this is my favorite, I come up with some of my best ideas this way.
• Talk it out with a friend — sometimes when you say it out loud your challenge(s) doesn’t seem that the bad.
• Break problems into smaller chunks — when you look at the problem as a whole it may seem like Mt. Everest, (sorry I have a thing about Everest) but then you sit down and break it down it, again it doesn’t seem that bad.

Tell me your fitness challenge. I’d love to help you solve it.

Today I was really struggling to come up with a great post, while I was procrastinating I went on Facebook and stumbled across this post from a good friend of mine.

Today your actions will help lay the groundwork for something that will get you noticed by the folks you admire most, act thoughtfully and take the high road. There’s a real change coming in your life, one that you’ve been hoping for, for a long time. It may be something you’ve been avoiding even speaking about because you fear it may never happen. Get ready, because you’re about to get what you wished for.

So I ask you what is it that you have secretly wished for?  If you stumbled across a magic lamp that said rub me and I’ll grant you one wish, what would it be?
Now imagine today is that lamp. What actions can you take TODAY that will lay the groundwork.

I know you’ve heard this before, but I have to say I truly believe and I’ve seen it time and time again when I write down my goals and get really clear about what I want, I ACHIEVE them. No, my goals don’t happen overnight, but the writing them down serves to purposes 1. It makes me get really clear about what I want 2. It makes me look at them and say what am I doing to achieve them. Call the 2nd one a nice swift kick in the tush!

What groundwork will you laydown today? How will you begin to march toward your goals?

For me — I’m starting a new fitness tips ebook — that is my new goal. I will start by writing down as many tips I can in 1 month

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

It happens to each and everyone of us, we set a goal and immediately focus on the end result. We then have 2 thoughts, YES we can do it or NO this will never happen. Focusing on the end result I admit can be a little overwhelming when you start thinking about ALL that needs to be done to achieve your goal. But here is how I want you to start thinking about your goal. It works for any fitness, weight loss or life goal. Think of your goal as a cross country road trip. Picture this, you want to drive from New York to Los Angeles. Would you even think of just getting in the car and driving without a plan and God forbid rest stops? No you’d pull out the map pull up an online map and plan your journey, you’d pick your rest stops, places of interest along the way and interject some fun and celebrations along the route.

Instead of focusing on the end, break your journey into 200 feet. Pull out your map:

• What will you need to do to get to the first 200 foot mark?
• What actions do you need to take?
• What resources will you need?
• Who’s support will need?

Sit down right now and get clear about what you really want and then figure out what you need to do, to get to the 1st 200 feet.

Leave me some comments below, I would love to hear your plans.

Enjoy the journey — need any assistance, please let me know I’m hear to help.

What are your thoughts around losing weight, getting into shape, staying healthy. Do you think that you can do it, have you tried in the past and it didn’t happen as quickly as you wanted it to and then you gave up? Were you successful and then went back to your old ways and put the weight back on?

Regardless of what happened to you there was a THOUGHT that you had and that THOUGHT made you be successful or told you to quit.

Now when you listened to the successful thought, did you visualize what you like when you reached that goal, could you smell taste, touch what success would feel like?  Or did you visualize failure and let those thoughts stop you dead in your tracks.

Give this  a try change the frequency and focus on the positive. See yourself as being successful, so clear you can touch it, you feel like you are dreaming and will need to pinch yourself.

Are you reading this and going what the heck is she talking about? What I’m talking about is visualization. You set a goal and really clearly define it and see  yourself as if you have reached that goal! Each day you’re taking baby towards reaching that goal and eventually your goal will be achieved.

This happens because we changed our thoughts around our goal.

Here is how I changed my thoughts — I am not a very good swimmer and my husband is always asking me to go kayaking with him, I typically say no or I’ll think about it and never do. This past weekend, he asked me and instead of  my typical response, I visualized that I could do, I saw through my fear of the water and did it. I visualized myself being successful versus being stranded and rescued by the Coast Guard.

How can you change your thoughts? I’d love to hear about that. Please leave me some comments below.

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…)