You only have a certain amount of time to exercise, right? Don’t you want to burn as many calories as you can? Don’t you want to strengthen your heart and lungs, and get more fit?
Then you’re going to have to make your exercise count!
I see people sitting on bikes reading magazines and strolling on treadmills like they’re taking a walk in the park. There’s no sweat on their brow, no heavy breathing. They’re not red in the face from exertion. In fact, they look pretty comfy.
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Chicken breast is a lean protein choice great for your diet. But if you’re like me, you probably get tired of plain baked chicken day after day.
Fortunately, you can dress chicken up with lots of flavor and few calories. Here are some of my favorite recipes to turn plain chicken into tasty chicken.
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Did you hear about the new “bottomless” lunch menu at a popular chain restaurant? Certain selections on the lunch menu are all you can eat. You can get refills as many times as you want.
Try a bowl of their chili – for 460 calories, 30 grams of fat, and 1870 milligrams of sodium. Let’s get a refill!
Then there’s another restaurant chain where you can get unlimited soup and salad. What’s wrong with soup and salad? It’s low cal, right? WRONG! One serving of salad with dressing has 350 calories, 26 grams of fat, and 1930 milligrams of sodium. One bowl of Minestrone soup has 100 calories and 1 gram of fat (not bad), but 1020 milligrams of sodium.
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How many times during the day do you eat when you’re not hungry?
If you stop and check the status of your stomach before you reach for food, you may find you’re often eating for reasons other than hunger.
During these times, you probably experience strong cravings for salty snacks, sweets, or fatty foods. (It’s doubtful that you’ll crave a salad with tuna.)
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Today was definitely an I-don’t-feel-like-exercising day. I was tired and had a headache, and dreary rain was falling outside. When my timer went off for me to get up off the couch and get ready for the gym, I groaned.
I turned the timer off, but seriously considered resetting it and crashing back on the couch. However, if I did that I wouldn’t have been able to get in my full workout. I knew I’d be disappointed with myself and my calorie burn. So I dragged on my exercise clothes and herded my kids out the door.
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We all have times when we crave a little “bad” food. Sometimes we can shrug it off; other times it’s like trying to hold down a monster.
It may be better to give in a little and curb your craving. This can ward off an all-out binge. Here are some little food “sins” you can indulge in from time to time to help you feel satisfied and not deprived.
Ice Cream
Skinny Cow ice cream treats
Weight Watchers desserts
Frozen yogurt (fat free)
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When you’re working on weight loss, there’s nothing worse than feeling gnawing hunger pangs all day. You may be able to hang in there for a little while, but at some point you’ll cave in and binge like there’s no tomorrow.
If you’re eating healthy, whole foods about every three hours, you shouldn’t feel hungry (except when it’s time to eat). However, some people do experience higher levels of hunger than others.
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It’s really frustrating to get on the scale and see the number up instead of down when you know you had a really good week. You wonder, “Why is my weight up when I did so well?”
If you know you did great with your diet and you exercised consistently, then there is something else going on. There can be several reasons for this.
- Too much sodium. If you had a meal the day before with sauce or seasoning, it could have been loaded with salt. This causes your body to retain water and it takes a day or two before that goes away.
- Carbs or sugar. Things like potatoes, pasta, popcorn, sweets, etc., all cause you to retain water and weigh more. This is especially noticeable if you eat carbs or sugar the night before you weigh in.
- Bowel backup. How much waste product you have packed in your bowels can make a big difference on the scale. Make sure you are having regular bowel movements.
- Water logged. Water weighs a lot and if you drink before you weigh it’ll show, especially if you weigh later in the day and you’ve been drinking water all day. Of course, drinking water helps flush fluid out of your body, but drinking it too close to weigh-in will affect your number.
- PMS. It’s normal for a woman’s cycle to cause weight fluctuations throughout the month. Know where you are in your cycle so you won’t feel discouraged if your weight is up while PMSing.
- Plateau. Sometimes the body just takes a little time to adjust. You may hit a week or two when your weight holds steady. Just keep on course and your body will adjust.
- Diet denial. Often, when our weight isn’t coming down as we’d like, we didn’t do as well on our diet as we thought. We may have had four good days, but blew three days. No matter how good we did on our good days, those bad days will cancel them out!
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Who doesn’t love spaghetti! If you don’t love slurping the noodles, you’ve got to love the meatballs…and the cheese. Talk about comfort food. Mmmmm.
It’s a good thing you can replace the white noodles, sugar-laden sauce, and high-fat meatballs with healthier options. And still get that great spaghetti and meatball taste.
First, pick whole grain pasta (my family loves 100% whole wheat Rotini). Check the label to make sure it is actually made from whole grain, not just wheat. Check the fiber content too.
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Do you know the nutrition information for a kid’s Happy Meal?
Well, McDonald’s website doesn’t list it, but we can look at each piece of the meal: small fries – 230 calories, 11 grams fat, 160 milligrams of sodium; 4 piece chicken McNuggets – 190 calories, 12 grams fat, 400 milligrams of sodium; chocolate milk – 170 calories, 3 grams fat, 150 milligrams of sodium. That’s a grand total of 590 calories, 26 grams fat, and 710 milligrams of sodium.
As moms and dads we have the most influence with our kids when it comes to eating habits. What foods we eat in front of them, share with them, feed them (and give to them when they beg) is establishing their eating behavior.
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So we’re halfway through the month of January – fifteen days into the New Year. Where are you at with your weight loss resolutions? Are you going strong or have your good intentions fallen by the wayside?
If you’re going strong, good for you! You made a good plan and are sticking with it.
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Everyone has a particular trouble spot they hate – wide hips, a shelf butt, a flabby belly. And they ask me, “What exercises can I do to get rid of this?”
Well, let me tell you the bad news first.
There is no such thing as spot training. You can do 500 abdominal crunches everyday and still have a flabby belly. Why? Because there’s still fat on top of those muscles.
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Tonight I had a little scare. One of my clients started feeling badly toward the end of her workout. She felt weak and light headed. She sat down and dropped her head. She began to sweat and turned pale.
I started asking her questions to rule out a cardiac event. She told me she hadn’t eaten anything since lunchtime, which was six hours past. And then she’d only eaten a salad with chicken.
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We often get in trouble with our food when we eat mindlessly. We grab a little handful or this or that, nibbling without thinking. Over the day these “little” calories really add up.
To keep ourselves on the straight and narrow, it’s good to set times for when we will eat. Then we eat only at these set times and eat nothing in between. Not only does this keep us from snacking mindlessly all day, but it keeps us disciplined in our eating behavior.
For example:
7:00 Breakfast– egg and oatmeal, coffee
10:00 Snack – yogurt, apple
12:30 Lunch – grilled chicken, salad, whole grain breadstick
3:00 Snack – PB, rice cake, banana
6:00 Dinner – salmon, baked asparagus
8:30 Snack – protein bar, milk
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As I sit here typing, my back, shoulders, and arms are hurting! If I move my legs around, they’ll groan in protest. I haven’t had a workout that killed me like this in a long time. (I just want to go to bed!!)
I totally switched up my workout and did a bunch of new moves that use a lot of ballistic and full body movements. I rested as little as possible to keep the heart pounding. Yowzer. I’m feeling it.
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People mistakenly think that since I’ve lost weight it’s not hard for me anymore. They’re surprised that I still journal my food, weigh in daily, and exercise daily. Why? Because it’s a daily fight to keep the weight off.
Recently I came across an article that confirmed this. (It was also somewhat discouraging.) The article said: [More]
Gaining weight back is a terribly disappointing setback. Ten pounds is uncomfortable, but 50 pounds or more is nearly debilitating. It makes the person feel like she’s out of control going in the wrong direction. She wants to put on the brakes, but seems unable to do so. She’s embarrassed and distressed.
Finally, she hits a breaking point. She is ready to begin again.
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One client recently related to me, “I’m killing myself with food.” It was meant in a joking matter concerning weight, but how true she was.
Sometimes we focus too much on how weight makes us look. We have to wear big sizes, we have a hard time fitting into small seats, and our thighs rub together when we walk. Our relationships suffer, our job performance suffers, and our energy’s in the tank because we’re so big.
But beyond how uncomfortable it feels to be overweight, being overweight is deadly.
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Are you as nuts about nuts as I am? I love almonds, peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, and walnuts. The crunch is so very satisfying. They make a fabulous snack or topping for a salad.
However, a one-ounce serving of nuts contains about 200 calories and 13 to 20 grams of fat.
Many dieters assume nuts to be off limits, but that is a wrong assumption. Eating nuts in moderation can actually help with weight loss. The fat, protein and fiber in nuts give feelings of fullness and satiety. Eating nuts may help ward off overeating and feelings of deprivation.
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I don’t know about you, but I picked up a few pounds over the Christmas break. No, I couldn’t be satisfied with getting presents. I had to eat all that good food too!
Now it’s back on the wagon. It’s hard starting out because I have sugar cravings for a least a week until all that junk clears my system. I know, thankfully, that the cravings will subside and I’ll feel stable again. But until then, it’s hard work!
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