Healthy Weight Loss Tips

Few people can lose weight alone. Even if they know what they should do, it’s hard to do it without someone alongside cheering them on.

If you’re feeling discouraged and frustrated with your weight loss progress (or lack of), try building a weight loss support system. This support could be the key ingredient to your success.

Here are 5 ways to get your weight loss support system in place: [More]

I had a conversation with someone at the gym about the health club business and personal training. He made an interesting comment: “I’m surprised more people don’t use trainers.”

“Well, it costs money,” I responded.

“Yeah, but so do doctors and medicine,” he said.

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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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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 of my clients started personal training with me about four months ago. Her first several weeks were miserable. High heart rate, puffing and hard breathing, very sore muscles – she had all the beginner’s woes. After a workout she was totally “dead” for the night and couldn’t even cook dinner. (She literally had to make crock pot dinners.)

You should see her now. It’s not that she doesn’t work as hard, but she’s had great improvements in her fitness. Her recovery time is so much faster. She can lift heavier weights, do squat jumps, inclines on the treadmill, and difficult ab sets. She can now do 20 reps on the abdominal bicycle exercise, which was impossible for her at the beginning.

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I love Thanksgiving. It’s so restful for me because we go to my mom’s house for dinner. I don’t have to mega clean my house or cook a huge meal. She wants to make everything herself and is only “allowing” me to bring a dessert.

I get to go into the gym in the morning and have a kick-butt workout. (The goal is to burn at least 800 calories.) Then I can put my feet up and catch some of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV before we leave.

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The day started off with the toilet overflowing into a great big mess on the bathroom floor. The plastic thingy that’s supposed to go back down after flushing so the tank can fill didn’t seal back down. The water kept running and running. Fortunately I heard it before I took the dogs for a walk or the whole house would’ve been flooded.

So I had a giant load of towels to wash besides the regular laundry. Then my boys decided fighting over their K’nex pieces before breakfast was a good way to get the day started. And my puppy ripped the stuffing out of his toy, and chewed up a pencil into shards all over the living room floor.

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Tonight was the first time I saw someone walking the track while reading a magazine. She was strolling slowly along, flipping through the pages, glancing up from time to time. She looked genuinely relaxed.

Then another person meandered along, cell phone to her ear, while she talked and laughed. She looked like she was having social time not workout time.

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This morning I woke up early and headed to the boardwalk for a run. The dark blue sky was streaked with pink over the steel-colored ocean. Cold wind whipped from the north. As I ran, the sky lightened and the sun suddenly rose in red glory. What beauty!

There’s nothing that soothes my soul and refreshes me like a couple of days at the beach. I was feeling tired and pressured from a busy schedule, lots of long runs in the last few months, and not enough time with my family. A weekend away was just what my family and I needed.

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How you think, you will feel. How you feel, you will do.

I’ve often noticed clients in negative thought patterns. They may say things like, “I’m so fat. I’m so out of shape. I hate this bulge. My hips are so big. I don’t know how you put up with me.”

Other times I’ll notice how they try not to look at themselves in the mirror. Or how they pull down their shirt constantly to cover their hips. Or how they always move out of other people’s way, apologizing, when they were using the space first.

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I remember when I first lost weight. There were days when I felt big. I called them “fat days.” My internal image, my emotions, my mindset – everything – felt like I did when I was 60 pounds heavier. Insecurity would sit on my shoulders like a sack of potatoes. I could hardly make myself go into the gym to workout. All the thin, shapely women around made me want to tuck my head in shame.

It didn’t matter that I was a size 6. Inside I was a size 18.

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The last thing I wanted to do this afternoon was run 8.5 miles. I knew the hilly route ahead of me, which wouldn’t have been so bad early in the morning while the temperature was cooler. But at 6:00 a.m. we were having thunder, lightening, and downpours. Not a good situation for an outdoor run.

I was on schedule to play piano at church, so I knew I’d have to run when I got home – if the storms had ended. They did, and the sun came out to make the air steamy, hot, and humid.

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One of my clients is putting careful thought into planning her exercise schedule. She wants to be sure it’s something she can stick with. In the past, she pushed herself to exercise an amount of time that was too difficult to meet with her very busy schedule. Unable to fulfill the expectations she’d placed on herself, she became discouraged. She began a downward spiral and eventually quit exercising all together.

Now she’s back and realizes that her healthy lifestyle changes need to be made in moderation. She’s determined that coming to the gym three times a week and exercising twice at home will work for her. It’s enough to help her reach her fitness goals, but it’s also a plan she feels she can stick with.

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Everyone knows the great benefits of exercise: heart health, muscle and bone strength, weight control, stress relief, anti-aging, and more! But even if you know the benefits, it can be hard to get into the exercise habit.

Here are 10 tips to help you make exercise a healthy habit in your life. [More]

We’re packing up for a week with my in-laws in Alabama. I’m trying to pack light, but with two kids, swim and exercise stuff, toys, food, etc., it looks like we’ll have a full car.

We’re planning to leave at five in the afternoon and drive through the night. It’s just easier if the boys sleep for half of the trip! My hubby and I will trade off on the driving and possibly stop for a few hours to rest.

In preparation, I’ve thought a lot about how I can stay on track. Here are the steps I’m taking to keep my vacation from being a diet disaster: [More]

My sons like to race each other. Inevitably, the younger one gets upset because the older one always wins. I remind him that though his legs are shorter now, some day he’ll grow up to be as fast as his older brother.

There are days at the gym when sometimes I am tempted to feel like my younger son. There are women working out who can run faster, do more pull ups, box jump higher, and squat jump farther than I can. There are others who burn more calories in the cycling class than I do (that just about makes smoke come out of my ears).

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I’ve been asked more than a few times, “How can I get my husband to lose weight?”

It often happens that the wife is the first one to take initiative toward making healthy lifestyle changes. She starts eating healthy foods and exercising, and wants the love of her life to join her. But her husband digs his heels into the ground – actually he digs into Little Debbie cakes, soda pop, double Whoppers, and Cheetos.

Not only is her husband resistant, but he’s bringing garbage into the house. He complains when she goes to the gym. He wants to go out to eat, out for ice cream, out to see a movie. Or he wants to sit on the couch and send her to the grocery store for his treats.

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