Fitting in Your Fitness During the Holidays

Every Saturday morning I wake up early and I go to the gym at 8 AM. People always ask why I chose to do this on a day that I could sleep in a little and be a little lazy. There are a few reasons why I do this. It's nice to get an hour to myself before the hustle and bustle of the weekend activities begin. Also, I know that it will put me in a great mood and mindset for the rest of the day. So when I'm offered a piece of cake at a birthday party later that day, I remember the hard work I put in at the gym and usually decline.

Why not take this philosophy and apply it to the holiday season as well.  You know you have holiday parties and family gatherings to attend.  You know that not all the food at these gatherings will be the best options for you (check out my holiday eating guide for tips on eating right through the holiday season).

How can you make sure you are in the right frame of mind to face the challenges ahead? It's simple. Wake up early, enjoy a good workout, and set yourself up for success.

If you can go to the gym, great.  If not, try to get a good workout in at home. If you are traveling and don't have access to any equipment, try the workout below. Whenever I need to work out and don't have access to any equipment, I do a circuit. This workout consists of 4 rounds of 4 timed exercises. You can vary the exercises based on your ability and what equipment to which you may have access. (Links to instructional videos for all these exercises are available at the bottom of this post.)

First make sure to get in a good warm up:
1. 3 sets of 10 jumping jacks and 10 seal jacks
2. 3 sets of 10 glute bridges
3. 3 sets of 5 fire hydrants on each leg

Circuit:
 Perform each exercise for 20 seconds, completing as many reps as possible being mindful of your form, then rest for 20 seconds between exercises. After completing all four exercises, rest for 1-2 minutes between rounds. Complete 4 rounds. You can download a free interval timer app for your phone or iPad.

1. Push ups
If you can't do regular push ups, do them on an incline. You can start by using a kitchen counter.  If that is too easy, then use a sturdy chair pushed up against a wall. The lower the incline the harder it will be. In time you should be able to lower the incline.
2. Squats
Regular body weight squats are good. If you want to challenge yourself more you can add a weight if you have one.
3. Sit ups
Here you can substitute any abdominal exercise (bicycle crunches, sit ups, thigh slide sit ups, toe touches), or vary the exercise with each round.
4. Mountain climbers

Another variation would include alternating between sprinting and walking instead of the body weight exercises listed above. Sprint for 20 seconds and then walk for 20 seconds. Do this 8 times, rest for 1-2 minutes, and then repeat 3-4 times.

Instructional videos clips:

Warm up exercises:
Jumping jacks
Seal jacks
Glute bridges 
Fire hydrants

Circuit exercise:
Push ups modifications
Squat 
Knee grab sit ups
Thigh slide sit ups
Mountain climbers 

Why “weight”? - Strategies for eating right during the holiday season

The holiday season is upon us and you may be thinking, “There is no point in starting my diet now.  I'll just enjoy the holiday season and join a gym and start my diet in the New Year.”  So you will go to your holiday parties and family gatherings and eat everything in sight and after the holidays you will have that much more weight to lose. I say why wait? Start today.

Here are some strategies for eating right during the holiday season.

1. Eat well during the day
If you are going to a holiday party in the late afternoon or evening, it is tempting to not eat during the day in order to “save up” you calories for the party. This is NOT a great idea. This usually backfires, as you will be so hungry when you get to the party that you will eat more than you usually would. So make sure to eat during that day, focus on high protein low calorie foods like grilled chicken and roasted vegetables.

2. Eat before you go
One way to curb your appetite is to eat a small meal about 45 minutes before you go to your holiday party. By the time you get there you will start to feel full and that will help you not overeat.

3. Have a plan
It's the holiday season. There is going to be dessert. Not only that, you may have looked forward to one of Aunt Susan's special Christmas desserts all year. Have a plan for dessert. Decide to eat just one dessert and have a piece about half the size you may usually have. This way you will have a small reward to look forward to.

4. Host the party
This is the best way to control your diet during the holiday season.  If you host the event you are in control of what food is served. This will allow you to make sure that there is always a healthy option available. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't serve some of the family favorites that may be outside of your dietary limits. At least this way you will know it's there and be mentally prepared to substitute a healthier dish instead.

5. Bring a healthy option
You can't host every party, and you may not want to either.  If you are going to someone else’s house for a holiday meal make sure you bring a healthy option. This way you will know that there is at least one thing that you will be able to eat.

6. Don't drink your calories
Alcoholic and fruity drinks have a ton of useless calories.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a cocktail or two as well, but try to limit it to one or two drinks and remember to drink plenty of water as well. Also remember that if you will be attending multiple events during the holidays, those drinks will add up!

7. Get a good workout in
Don't skip the gym. Or if you have to skip the gym, don't skip at least a smaller workout at home. Wake up and get a good workout in. That will put you in a good mindset when you get to your holiday party. If you workout and eat well during the day, you are more likely to eat right at the party as well.

Whether you are hosting or attending a holiday party, try at least one of these this holiday season.

In general, try to
skip the dips,
spice it up instead of fatten it up,
eat main dishes instead of apps and side dishes,
and know your portion sizes.

If you start today, you will be well on your way by the time the New Year starts.

My Story (Part 3)- The Recipe for Success

My Story (Part 3)- The Recipe for Success

When you decide to start exercising for the first time, how do you know what to try? Do you run, take a Zumba class, try crossfit, try a sport, buy P90X, lift weights? The choices are endless and it's overwhelming to someone who has not really embraced exercise before.

I found Training for Warriors (TFW) by chance. What started with a friend saying, “Go check it out, they will give you a free week”, turned out to be the best decision I ever made. TFW was not the kind of place I would have gone to on my own. It didn't look anything like the gyms I had been to before. There weren't any treadmills, ellipticals, or stationary bikes. Just a mat and a lot of dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells (I had never even seen one of these before).

I was so out of shape that I couldn't even finish my first workout at TFW, which consisted of a mix of short sprints and body weight exercises. However, the coaches were very patient and attentive, teaching me the different movements that I was not used to performing and modifying the exercises that I was not yet strong enough to do. They quickly made this place that seemed intimidating feel comfortable.

The first time I did a strength session I was really scared. I had never used a barbell before and I had never even heard of deadlifting. Again, the coaches explained the benefits of weight training and broke down the movement for me so that it was approachable. Now, I love weight training and have been amazed by the progress my fellow warriors and I have seen over time. It’s not easy to get to the gym all the time, but I somehow make it work in the crazy life of a working mom.

Of course, with this new activity came a change in my diet. I moved some of my meals around and increased my calories and protein and complex carbs. I read tons of nutrition articles and spoke to my coaches to make sure my diet was balanced. But throughout all the changes, one thing remained constant. I still didn't eat any crap!

My results have been amazing. Since I started the TFW program just over a year and a half ago, I have dropped 3 additional sizes and have encouraged many of my friends to live a healthier lifestyle either by eating better or exercising or both.

The Recipe for Success

So why did this program work for me and why is it that two people can start the same exercise routine and one is successful and the other is not? What makes it work for some and not for others?

I think the answer is two-fold. Commitment and Support.

Commitment

First, you need to commit to the routine. That includes your diet and exercise program. If you are making a decision to try to get fit and be healthy, then you need to make sure you are eating well all the time and develop a fitness routine that you will stick to. These are two very difficult things. In my case I got my diet under control before I started the exercise routine and then modified my diet along the way. That worked for me but I have watched others conquer both simultaneously.

Secondly, commit to yourself. The decision to be fit and healthy is a very personal one. Yes, you may choose this decision for different reasons, maybe a health scare or just being unhappy with the way you look or feel. But for whatever reason you start down this road, you must first commit to yourself that this is important to you. We all live busy lives. We have jobs and families that require our attention, but you are important too. Make a decision to put yourself first for an hour a day a few times a week. When you are ready to make that commitment to yourself, then you will be ready to take this leap of faith too.

Support

After you commit, you are going to need help. Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a lot of support to be successful in living a healthy lifestyle if this is not what you had been previously doing. You will have to change the way you eat and that could be hard if your friends or significant other aren’t willing to support your decision. You will have to find time to train and that may require you to take some time away from your family while you make time for yourself. But even with that help, you will have days where you are frustrated and just need someone to talk to who can understand. I have found that in my TFW familia and I hope that you can find some support in reading this blog.

Now, just over 2 years after I started this journey and a year and a half after I became a member at TFW, I'm a different person. I went from someone who never exercised, to a person who looks forward to training not only for the exercise but also for the mental clarity that I achieve during my sessions. I was physically weak and now I’ve become strong and I continue to get stronger mentally and physically every day. Physically, a weight that I used to struggle to lift is now my warmup. The mental toughness that I have developed as a result of my training has helped me be mentally tough in other aspects of my life. The will power I have developed as a result of sticking to my diet has helped me remain mentally strong in other situations as well.

It's your turn.

Now that you know the recipe for success, it's time for you to get going. If you are afraid to change too much too quickly, then start with one thing at a time, but don't wait, because a year from now you will wish that you started today. 

My Story (Part 2)

My Story (Part 2)

Are you the person who signs up for a gym membership only to go back a year later to renew the membership even though you had only been to the gym maybe 3 times that year? That was me and after a while I just stopped wasting my money and stopped paying for the gym.

After 7 months of cutting calories alone, my weight loss hit a wall. I was not thrilled with the caloric deficit that the My Fitness Pal app had me on because I was HUNGRY and not seeing loses anymore. I knew I needed to add exercise into the mix but I had not idea how.

A local charity was having a 5k race that I had participated in before. While I have seen the elite runners at the front of the start line and their names on the winners list, I had only ever walked in this race. I was never a runner. I never ran even a mile straight before, but I wanted to run at least the first mile of the race and I wanted to finish in under 40 minutes. Having set these goals, I downloaded the “Couch to 5K” app on my phone that promised to have me running a 5K within 8 weeks. I only had 5 weeks until the race but I was determined to do the best I could with the time I had. The app made the task approachable from the point of view of a non-runner.

I started running four times a week in preparation. When race day came I was able to run the first 2 miles without stopping to walk and then ran the last quarter mile as well. I also finished in 34 minutes.

It felt great to have worked hard to accomplish my goals and in addition, the weight started coming off again slowly. I continued to run four times per week. The problem was, I was really hungry on days that I ran. I was still tracking my caloric intake on My Fitness Pal and realized that I needed to up the caloric intake on those days. I noticed that even though I was eating more, I was still losing weight.

After 3 months, I decided that I needed more than just running. The weight was coming off but my body looked the same. I had lost about 20 lbs and only dropped 1 size. I needed to hit the gym and do more than run on the treadmill but I didn't know what to do. I started looking at local gyms and personal trainers when I found a unique gym called Training for Warriors (TFW) Long Island. I went in for my free week trial and I was hooked.

From the first day that I met with the coaches/owners at TFW Long Island, I knew that this was the right place for me. The TFW system aims to help people burn fat, build muscle, and feel good and these were my goals. The gym had just opened and there were not many clients yet but I took the leap of faith and trusted the coaches. Now, a year and a half later, I'm a different person in how I look, how I eat, and how I train.

Tune into part 3 of my story to hear about my continuing journey at TFW and how it helped shape my diet.

My Story (Part 1)

My Story (Part 1)

Are you the person who always has dessert, who eats the entire bag of chips (not just a handful), who snacks on chocolate, who always has a bagel or a doughnut when they are out in the office? Are you the mom who is so tired after work that you just eat the pasta or Mac and cheese or chicken nuggets that is left over from the kids dinner?

I was that person and I'm sure there are many of you out there that can relate to this..

When my clothes stopped fitting me in September 2012, I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app on my phone and began counting my calories to figure out what I was doing wrong. I realized that while I usually ate pretty healthy food when I had time to prepare meals, eating all that crap caused me to gain back much of the weight that I lost after my youngest son was born three years earlier. I knew I had to do something. 

So why is it called the “No more crap” diet?

It's called that because that was the approach I took. I just stopped eating "crap".

Let's face it, there are tons of diet books out there but if you just stopped eating "crap", you would lose some weight. 

I started by cutting calories. I wasn't exercising, I was just cutting out all the excess from my daily diet. I didn't eat dessert, I didn't eat bread often, and I definitely didn't eat the kids leftovers. I ate a lot of broccoli and a lot of salad.  It was hard because it required a lot of prep work in the kitchen and a lot of will power, but I was determined. It worked, I lost about 15 lbs but after a while the pounds stopped coming off as easily. 

There are really two parts to my story. The first is about diet and the second is about exercise. Both of these things were not part of my vocabulary before September 2012. However, in April 2013, about 7 months after I started dieting, I began to embrace exercise in addition to changing my diet.  It was at that point that I really changed everything I ever thought I knew about dieting. I still didn't eat the crap but I had to put much more thought into what I did eat and when. Everything I have done and learned for the past two years was very new to me. It was a very steep learning curve but one that I have fully embraced.

Exercise has become a major part of my life and my introduction into it requires a post of its own. So stay tuned for part 2 (it will be ready in a few days).

On this blog I hope to share with you what I've learned and what I have and continue to struggle with and hope that maybe you will share your stories with me as well.

Diets and Thanksgiving

It's seems somewhat strange that I decided to start my blog about the No More Crap Diet on a holiday like Thanksgiving. Let's face it, this holiday is all about giving thanks for all that we have while we sit around on the couch, watch football, and eat.  It is a nightmare for  someone who is trying to watch what they eat and limit the amount of calories that they are taking in.

This year I really thought about what my plan was for thanksgiving before I got to my moms house for dinner.

1. I got up early and went to the gym. Truth is, I would have done this anyway but it put me in a good mood and the right frame of mind for the rest of the day. I left feeling good and refreshed but more importantly it reminded me (as it always does) that I have worked very hard over the last 2 years and helps give me the will power I need to get through some big temptations.

2.  I ate a good breakfast and lunch. While many people think they should "save up calories" for the big meal, this is probably the worst thing that you could do. It makes you even hungrier when you finally get there that you eat uncontrollably. Eat good meals throughout the day that include protein. This will help you not overeat during dinner.

3. I also thought about dinner itself. I went there knowing that I would allow myself a couple servings stuffing but that I would limit my side dish consumption and focus on the bird. Turkey is a great source of protein. The fact that this holiday is centered around the turkey is great for someone watching what they eat.  Try to limit your portions of those sides.

4. And then there is the dessert. I made a deal with myself. I love pecan pie. I knew my mom would have it. I didn't deny myself my favorite pie. I thought about this ahead of time and decided that I would have a small piece of pecan pie for dessert and no other dessert.

Probably the most important thing to remember is that thanksgiving is only one day. If you have been eating well and you slip on Thanksgiving, then let it go. Don't let it turn into a slippery slope. Tomorrow is a new day and there are many more days after that. Don't let what happen on one day change your plan for the rest of time.

Remember that Thanksgiving is a time for us to be thankful. I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my wonderful family and for the numerous people who have supported me over the last two years. But when it comes to getting fit and being healthy I need to thank my husband for helping me avoid Italian restaurants (pasta is my weakness) and the coaches and members at TFW Long Island for their unwavering support and friendship.

The No More Crap Diet

Two years ago I decided it was time to lose weight. I was the heaviest I had ever been aside from being pregnant and I just wasn't happy with myself, mentally and physically. The only things in my closet that fit were maternity clothes and my youngest was already 3 years old.

I'm a real person. I'm a mom to two young boys and I work full time. I wanted to lose weight, get fit and feel better, but was I really willing to do what it takes to  be successful?

At that point I changed my diet. I was very strict about what I ate but I was not following a particular diet. I started losing weight and when people asked me what diet I was following I said, "I just don't eat any crap".  That is how the "No More Crap Diet" was born.

This blog is about how I changed my life completely. It's about not eating crappy food, not making crappy excuses, and not doing things that make me feel crappy.