In Her Own Words...

On an early pre-summer morning, a middle-aged woman awoke at 5:40 a.m. and sleepily dressed in her running gear, aware that her tee shirt that said “No Apologies” written across the front was donned with purpose. She proceeded to the kitchen to prepare her pre-run snack of flax toast, peanut butter and a banana. Drinking water, eating and checking her email was only the prologue to what promised to be a challenging morning.

Heading out the front door, tripping over the water sprinkler and almost being stung by a bee did not faze her, for she had but one goal in mind – conquer the ridge route. iPod on her waist (but not turned on yet), water bottle in hand, she slowly jogged East, facing the sunrise. Turning out of her neighborhood and starting up the path of doom, she had no doubts she would NOT be apologizing to anyone for failing. The trail lay ahead; a slow, steep climb. Breathing slowly, she stepped on a stink beetle (not intentionally) and increased her pace. Shortly, “the tree” was now in her line of vision, about ¼ of a mile ahead. She approached it with trepidation; thinking quickly on her feet “I cannot stop at the tree, I must forge ahead and finish this damn trail or I will be mad at myself all day.” The tree was suddenly behind her and she found herself at the summit, looking down at the little people in her neighborhood who were just stumbling down their driveways to get their newspapers, eat their fattening breakfasts and sit in a car on the freeway for an hour.

On she went, up three more hills to the finish line. But wait, this was not the end! Another four miles would be extremely cool, so she turned on her iPod and trotted down the street, thinking “I really have to go to the bathroom.” Luckily, only 2 miles away was the YMCA so off she went, with only one goal in mind – hit the head before a very embarrassing situation occurred. Sprinting to the Y with ease, business taken care of, she remembered there was one more big hill to conquer before she could easily jog it out on her way home. Throwing caution to the wind, she ran up the hill passing walkers left and right and dodging idiots with baby strollers and uncontrolled dogs. She made it to her driveway, tripped again over the same sprinkler head and entered her home.

For this middle-aged gal, the day started nicely. Dripping with sweat, she sat at her computer and emailed her trainer, for the wrath of the trainer if she failed would be more than she could handle. The Bosu would be lurking at every training session, and that would be too much for her to handle.

The End.

Packing a Healthy School Lunch

Preventing childhood obesity is a concern of many parents as the workweek gets longer, children are eating more fast food than ever and they are becoming less active and spending more time in front of the computer than outside being physically active. These familiar scenarios play out in millions of homes across the country and are having a negative and direct result on our children’s health. Statistics show that between 16-19% of our youth between the ages of 6 and 19 years old are overweight. These numbers are directly related to more serious adult conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and other complications that can be life threatening as they age.

Prevention begins at home. By modeling good eating habits, providing nutritious options and monitoring how much your child is eating you can play an important role in shaping their future and ensuring a healthy adulthood. Below are some tips that you can begin today.

1. Provide an opportunity for your child to plan their weekly lunch menu with you. Children show more interest in a project if they play an active role. Make a menu, shop for the items and provide them with the tools to pick from each food group to make healthy choices. You can pre-pick certain foods and divide them into lists. For example, each column includes items from the list of sandwiches/wraps, vegetables, fruits, healthy snacks, beverages etc. Then they can pick one item from each list and make up a balanced meal.

2. Choose healthy foods. For breads choose whole grain or whole-wheat choices. Alternate between bread, tortillas and pita bread. Provide low-fat condiments such as mustard, low-fat mayonnaise, BBQ sauce and low calorie dressings. Choose fresh fruit and vegetables versus canned alternatives that are full of sugar and salts. Provide lean low sodium lunchmeats, tuna or fresh chicken for quick salads. If you include snack items choose pretzels, baked chips, carrots/celery, baked pita chips, whole grain crackers and low-fat cheese. These should replace cookies, cakes and high calorie processed foods. Yogurt, hummus and peanut butter are filled with nutrition and provide alternatives for other high calorie options with little nutritional value. It is always a good idea to make your own snack items so you know exactly what is going into each bite. Your children might even enjoy making a healthy choice to include in their lunch and share with their friends!

3. If you choose juice, make sure it is 100% juice. Some of them can contain only 10% juice and the rest of it is sugar. Low-fat milk and water are some of the best choices for children.

4. Make lunch fun! They can decorate their lunch bag with stickers, draw on their lunch containers with permanent markers and have a special cup they use decorated with a special theme or fictional character.

By making the experience fun and including your children in the process they will learn how to make healthy choices and know that when they are not with you they can choose the right foods that are going to provide them with the proper nutrition they need as they grow. Providing a healthy eating plan for your child is one of the best things you can do for them and you’ll be surprised how much the whole family will benefit!

Losing Weight or Long Term Success?

The fitness industry is a multi-million dollar money maker and we are the heaviest we have ever been. I sit every day with this conflict and consider the consequences that have led us here. Clients come to me that have been on every weight loss plan and diet and still fight with the ups and downs of weight loss. They lose weight only to gain it back over and over again. Sometimes even twice as much as they lost. They come with a list of reasons why the diet didn't work, why losing weight is difficult and a plan that will be the one that works for them this time.

The truth of the matter is that you must ask yourself this question. Do you just want to lose weight or do you want to make a permanent lifestyle change? Losing weight is easy. You take in less calories than you body burns. That is the easy part. The difficult part is keeping it off. Here lies the difference in these two options. The missing link is behavior modification.

In order for any lifestyle change to be permanent, you must modify your current behavior that is repeating the same results. In order to do that you must start with being honest with yourself and your behavior.

What are your goals?
What are you willing to change to achieve your goals?
What are the obstacles you will need to overcome in order to move forward?
What are you willing to give up?
What are you gaining?

These are all questions you need to ask yourself when making a true lifestyle change. You must stop following a "cookie cutter" program that is not designed for you. You will benefit from a program that takes into account your strengths and your weaknesses. You will begin to become stronger and the habits and behaviors that kept you from keeping your goals alive will be replaced by ones that encourage you to move forward.

In order for any plan to work, you must modify your behavior, your beliefs and your goals. It has to be something you want more than what you are doing right now. Just ask yourself...is this a moment in time or a lifetime I am seeking?