Healthy Weight Loss Tips

It’s not uncommon for new clients of mine to feel nauseous or light headed during their first workout. (I hate when it happens.) Sometimes it’s because they were trying to push themselves too hard, but often it’s because they didn’t prepare properly.

There are three essential things that help get anyone successfully through a workout, especially a newbie: [More]

Sometimes it’s easier to work with new clients than with ones I’ve had for a long time. Why?

Enthusiasm.

When people first start working with me, they are anxious to see results. They want to lose weight, get stronger, develop some muscle, increase their endurance, etc. They are so eager to exercise. They try hard and the push themselves. They follow everything I say. They are enthusiastic and motivated.

As time passes and clients experience results, they become comfortable. They lose weight, become fitter, and increase their strength. With this comfort level, I often see mediocrity creep in. They don’t push themselves as hard as when they first began. The intensity of their workout drops. I have to prod them along and try to be their motivation – because their internal motivation isn’t high anymore.

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One of the members at the gym where I work said to me, “I don’t know what to do. My fitness level isn’t increasing.”

I noticed that he took long breaks between exercises and spent a lot of time socializing with friends. “Try keeping your heart rate up,” I told him. “Work a little faster, with a little less talking,” I smiled.

It’s easy to get into an exercising rut. We get too “casual” with our workouts. We’ve lose focus and intensity.

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Exercise is an awesome, positive way to burn off emotions.

Some of my best workouts have been when I was running high on emotions – bad or good. There is restless energy when your emotions are up. This energy needs to be spent – in a healthy way.

When we don’t have a good way to vent, we often end up trying to relieve our emotions through other means. This could result in overeating, treating others unkindly, or restless sleep.

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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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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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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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Last night after a full day of homeschooling and several hours of personal training, I finally got time to exercise. Getting on the treadmill at 8:00 p.m. was not what I wanted to do either. I wanted to go home for dinner!

My energy was in the basement and I felt a little nauseous. I started at a jog to warm up then took the speed up to run. Over the next 45 minutes I stopped a few times to get a sip of water and let my stomach calm down. It was not my best workout for sure, but I got it done and hit my calorie goal.

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If you’re like me, the amount of time you have to exercise varies from day to day. One day I may get in 75 minutes, the next day 45, another day 60, and if I’m really lucky, two days of 100 minutes. I have to roll with my schedule.

Your schedule probably fluctuates daily too. The important thing is to not skip exercise even if it has to be squeezed in. On the days you do have more time, fit in that intense exercise session.

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Do you feel like your schedule is spiraling out of control? Work meetings, kid’s activities, laundry piling up, etc.

In hectic times like this, it’s tempting to give up your weight loss efforts. Everyone needs you! You can hardly tear yourself away from your responsibilities. And if you do, you feel guilty for it.

But no matter what is going on in your life, you must hang onto your weight loss efforts. (Even if all you can do is hang on by your toenails.)

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When it comes to working out, fatigue is your friend. You want to work your muscles hard so they tire out. You are burning calories, getting stronger, and increasing your endurance.

In other words, the harder you work, the more you can work hard. The more calories you burn. The more fit you become.

I often see people sitting on the exercise bike reading a magazine while pedaling. They look very comfy. There’s no sweat, no elevated breathing, no flushed cheeks. Hmm, that seems more like checking out than working out.

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Today was rough. I was tired, the kids were tired, and we had tons of stuff to do and a crazy schedule to follow. The kids were at each other fussing and fighting. Honestly, I was too tired to deal with their behavior consistently. It was not a good day.

I found that I wanted to eat. I wanted to calm my nerves. I wanted to escape!

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What woman doesn’t want firmer thighs, hips and butt? We want to fit well in our jeans and look good in our pant suit.

Unfortunately, a lot of women store extra fat in this area. Of course, if you have extra weight, you’ll have to work on losing it. But you can also workout to tone and tighten those trouble spots.

Here are three exercises to get you started toning your hips, glutes and thighs!

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Today was one of those crazy days with obligations and activities back to back. It was school, groceries, more school, and then off to work. There was no down time – period.

The only time I figured I could squeeze in my exercise was the half hour after work and before I took my boys to their evening activity. But work ran late and I ended up with barely 20 minutes to pump out some upper body sets as fast as I could go.

I was not happy with the workout and knew I needed to burn more calories. So, once my kids were tucked in, I got out my step and dumbbells and set up in the living room…finally at 8:30.

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I know, it’s a strange title, but I’ll explain shortly. So just hang in there with me.

Sometimes I get flack for being so committed to exercise. There are some people who don’t understand why I run or workout. They think I should skip it for other priorities. Sure, in some cases exercise has to be dropped for the day (like the day after I spent all night in the ER with my mom).

But I would say the people who don’t understand my commitment to exercise aren’t exercisers themselves. They look at exercise as uncomfortable, unpleasant and a waste of time. Or maybe not a waste of time, but not worth the time.

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This is a fun workout that targets cardio, hamstrings, glutes and quads. It is done on the treadmill so you can do it anytime regardless of the weather! It only takes 20 minutes, but it’s a high intensity workout. It’s great for when you have a short time to exercise, or want to follow your cardio with a leg weight workout.

Begin by setting the treadmill on a 5% incline and walk at a brisk pace for five minutes. On the sixth minute, slow the speed to 2.5 and do walking lunges. Take big steps and lunge deeply. Then follow this progression for the following minutes:

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Today was a hectic day schooling the kids, shopping for groceries, and going in to work to train a client. I also had to take my boys to their evening activity, feed them dinner, walk the dogs, etc. It turned out to be a crazy day.

In between everything, I was able to squeeze in a one-hour workout. I wanted to burn the maximum amount of calories I could in that time while hitting cardio, legs, and abs.

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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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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]

Back in my mom’s day, pregnancy was treated almost as a sickness. Expectant moms were supposed to take it easy and were restricted from many activities. Once the baby was born, they were told to stay in bed for two weeks. Yuck.

Even ten years ago, it was unclear whether or not it was healthy to exercise during pregnancy. There were a lot of conflicting opinions. Doctor’s might have encouraged walking, but little else.

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It’s hard to believe how quickly this week has flown by. Yesterday I went for another 8-mile run on Chief Ladiga Trail. What a great run. Then I took my boys to the pool for the afternoon. In the evening I dragged my whole family back to the trail for a walk. It was a gorgeous evening to be outside.

Today I took cycling again – Jamie’s a great instructor. Had to laugh at her accent. “Now we’re going to go up a big hee-ill.” I hit the legs too, braving the free weights and leg press where it seems only the men venture. Good workout though.

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The goal of every workout is to challenge our bodies so they can become stronger. Of course, also very high on the priority list is calorie burn. We’re all trying to lose or maintain our weight, so burning as many calories as we can during our workouts is supreme.

Usually, cardio workouts (swimming, cycling, jogging) burn more calories than weight training. But weight training absolutely cannot be skipped because of its great effect on lean muscle growth and metabolic rate.

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It’s a lot of fun to work with new clients who are super motivated to lose weight. For one, when you’re training them, they push themselves to work as hard as they can. The sweat is flying. They’re puffing and red-faced. And even though the workout is tough, they want more.

Give them a couple months and see which ones are still working out as hard. Chances are, you’ll find at least half of them have fallen off the wagon.

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