I don’t know about you but its COLD where I live!

Many of my “go to” healthy foods end up having no appeal to me in the winter.
I haven’t been able to pop open a Greek yogurt or want an ice-cold protein shake since Fall really set in. I’m always cold so adding in something cold to eat or drink is not what I want.

With a cruise coming up in January, right after the holiday feasting season!, I had to figure out a way to keep my diet on the up & up so here’s an idea to keep your protein shakes working for you even when snow starts to hit the ground.

Winter Protein Shake:

Heat a mug of water in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Put a serving of protein powder and a packet of Diet Hot Chocolate in your Protein Shaker.

Add the hot water to the powder.

Stir it up to get all the powder of the bottom of your Shaker.

Close it up and shake until completely mixed.

You’ll end up with a nice warm protein shake that is disguised as a warm cup of hot chocolate.

What I use:

25 calorie hot chocolate mix

Vanilla Protein Shake Mix by Arbonne (Chocolate would probably be even better!).

Want it creamier?

Heat up some Almond Milk instead of water.

You can find Almond Milk for as little as 90, 60 or even 40 calories.

Remember, this is a snack so keep the calories in check.

So happy to have my shakes back for the winter. Happy Holidays

Have a fun Thanksgiving?

Enjoy all the foods you get once a year and extra drinking with family and friends. I had a great weekend and thought I rebounded pretty well from the Thanksgiving Day feast but then the weekend went on with family in town and get-togthers with friends and I think the food and drinks finally did me in!

Luckily a boot camp workout, couple of Turbo Kick classes and a run or two helped along the way but I am still feeling it form the overindulgence!

Now what to do??

Time to get back on track and do a little extra to maintain this season.

Here is my usual game plan after a big holiday:

*Plan out my week of meals.

*Get to the grocery store so I am ready.

*Add in a little Body Cleanse to help my body out.

*Up the exercise.

Here’s a sample of a week to help you get back on track:

Breakfasts are always the same for me; plain oatmeal with chia seeds.

Snacks will consist of protein shakes and fruit.

Lunch on the menu this week is a California Hummus Sandwich (from the WCBC 4-week meal plan):

Whole grain bread (I use light bread, 40 calories)

Hummus

Baby Spinach leaves

Cucumber or tomato slices

Avocado slices.

Spread a little hummus on the bread; add the rest to make a sandwich.

Dinners: Fish & veggies

Bratwurst Bake: Turkey Brat baked with red onion, apple and butternut squash and caraway seeds.

Baked Chicken and sweet potato

Soup

Pesto, arugula & chicken pizza (WCBC meal plan).

With a healthy menu in place I’m going to add in 7 days of Arbonne’s essential 7-Day Body Cleanse.
This is a concentrated drink I’ll mix with water to help my body get rid of all the stuff I crammed it with this weekend. It will eliminate toxins, support antioxidant activity, liver and GI health as it cleanses.
I’ll also have a detox tea in the evening.

Not every cleanse or detox means you have to go all liquid. I certainly can’t do one of those detoxes for very long. It’s good to get the diet back on track and add in something to support the system, a little extra help.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and you’re all ready to get back on track and healthy today!

Happy Holidays

I’ve heard about all kinds of ways to exercise or things to eat that will make you burn more calories; eating something cold, eating something spicy, wearing extra layers to sweat more, wearing fewer layers to burn more…

I had a conversation with another trainer yesterday about the idea of exercising in the cold and if your body would burn more calories. He was doing an experiment to see if it would work for him. He thinks it does and has lost a few pounds in a week by running in colder temps without adding extra layers of clothing.

Looked a few things up online and here is what I came up with. Yes, when you are cold your body can burn extra calories trying to keep warm. When you shiver your body is trying to generate extra energy to warm itself up. I read you can actually burn up to 400 calories per hour shivering!! That’s kind of crazy, must be a lot of shivering.

Here’s the catch; your body will burn more calories to increase its temps but once you start exercising (in the cold) and your body temp rises you won’t need to generate extra energy anymore to warm up so you won’t burn extra calories. It sounds like the extra calorie burn only happens during the warm-up phase; once you are warm your body burns normal again.

One of the articles did state that your body will actually burn more calories in hot weather while it works to cool itself.

So, either way, cold or hot, it seems there are benefits to burning some extra calories. If its cold be sure to wear a hat and gloves, cover your skin to stay safe but don’t over do it. Get the extra benefit of working harder to get warm.

Next time the weather is not perfect outside for your workout you can remember the added benefit instead of skipping it.

PUMPKINS!
It’s not fall without pumpkins! Carve them, eat them, bake their seeds and workout with them! Workouts are always a little more fun with a new prop. To keep it fun my boot camps have had a few exercises with pumpkins this fall. Think working with a little 4-5# pumpkin is easy…think again!

Besides mixing up your workout, mix up your diet. Try some of your favorite dishes by adding pumpkin. There are all kinds of recipes out there to try. Today I mixed it into my oatmeal.
Here is a “loose” recipe so play with it and see what tastes best to you.

Pumpkin Oatmeal:

Make oatmeal according to directions.

Mix in;

a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin (as much as you like)

packet of your favorite 0-calorie sweetener

Cinnamon or pumpkin spice

Put back in microwave for 10-20 seconds to warm the pumpkin you mixed in.

Now how about a Skinny Pumpkin Latte with that! Yum, sounds like a nice weekend breakfast.

Enjoy the fun all fall with its beautiful colors and of course Halloween!

Motivation comes in many forms. Why do you work, why do you clean, why do you sign up to be on a committee, why do you exercise???

I believe you have to be very honest in why you are doing anything you do. Is it to get ahead in the world, to one-up your neighbor, to be a better parent?? It’s hard to stick with anything if you cannot be true to yourself about why you are doing it.

I honestly have never sat down with someone in the Fitness Biz and heard them say, “I’m tracking my cholesterol and my goal is to drop it 10 points.” Or, “My bone density test came back low so my goal is to do more resistance training and see if I can improve it over the next six months.” Trainers, just like majority of my clients, have a goal to look good…bottom line.

So, why do you exercise or want to start exercising? Maybe for better health, maybe because heart disease runs in your family or maybe to fit into an old pair of jeans. Whatever it is OWN IT! You have to really want something and be honest about why to reach that goal and get it.

I’ll focus on exercise (obviously). It is not easy to stay or get into shape. It takes planning, commitment and hard work on a daily basis.

I believe it can be one of the hardest things to stick with and get the results you want. Not because you can’t, because it takes consistency and honesty to get there. Too many people stop before they even start to see a change.

If you are in this place right now of wanting to be fit or change your diet and you keep “failing” it’s time to be real with yourself. Be honest and figure out why you want it. It can’t be because your neighbor works out or you’re “supposed to” workout. There has to be an end result that you want badly and will commit to get it.

Here’s your starting tips: 1. Figure out why you want to change and DON’T FORGET IT! 2. PLAN! Not for a day or a week but plan out a month of times you can exercise, meals you can prepare and grocery lists. 3. You CANNOT let excuses get in your way. There’s a ton of them and I hear them all.

If you can stick to something for a month and really stick to it, you will start to feel the change and that will become even more motivating than any picture on your refrigerator or any pair of jeans in your closet. Once you feel lean, energized, healthy you will want that feeling forever and you will know you can do it!

Our bodies are funny little machines. If you’ve had 2 good days you cannot celebrate with a meal at your favorite Mexican place. Even a good week can be wrecked by that and then back to square one, disappointment and frustration. Once you FEEL the difference you will learn your time line for you body.

For me, I have to be perfectly on my workouts and diets for at least 7-10 days and then one morning I’ll wake up and WHAM! There are the results. From there on it becomes way easier to turn down pizza for dinner or at least eat 1 slice compared to 3!!

Get motivated, get to the point where you feel the WHAM and you will get it 

I know my last post was about drinking water but I feel the need to discuss this is a little more detail after my 9am boot camp today. The weather has taken a drastic change here in Chicago, going from 50’s-60’s and rain to 80’s and humid overnight and the effects of this change combined with how quickly it happened is showing up in the boot camp workouts.

We are not used to pushing through this kind of heat and humidity yet and probably not getting the water in that we did last summer since we are coming off a cold winter and people tend to not think about it.

Let’s start thinking of all the ways water is good for us and the best defense against dehydration and fatigue is to always have our water bottle with us and make it a habit to choose water for our main drink through out the day.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind the next time you don’t think you need to amp up your water intake or want to grab some pop:

1. Water is a natural way for the body to cleanse itself of toxins. Toxins from other things we eat, drink, inhale or put on our skin that get in to our body. A steady flow of water helps to flush the toxins out.

2. Digestion and metabolism; everything our body does, it needs water to do. Don’t forget over half our body weight is made of water so it must be pretty important. Drinking will help the food you eat to digest properly and move through your body.

3. Get rid of the mid-afternoon sluggish feeling with some re-hydration. If you are feeling tired don’t automatically assume you need a nap or more food. If you have been getting decent sleep and you have been eating normally through your day that tired feeling can be caused by dehydration so be sure to add a big glass of water to your lunch and afternoon snack. It can really give you some energy back!

4. Water also helps to regulate the body temperature. My campers were getting HOT when the sun decided to peak out at 9am and the cool lake breeze turned muggy. It’s a good idea to even bring an extra bottle of water to a hot workout so you can drink as much as you need instead of trying to conserve the 1 bottle you brought.

5. Don’t forget water is a little messenger carrying oxygen and nutrients to ALL of your cells. This includes joints and muscles that need some help recovering after a workout. Water can help your body heal and become stronger for the next workout.

I want to see a lot of full water bottles during our warmer months at boot camp. Please remember to drink all day long so you are ready for your morning workout, not just drinking during, it may be too late.

I noticed a few women at my gym “exercising” on the recumbent bikes and I wanted to yank them off. Why? …Because they are wasting their time. As I warmed up on the upright stationary bike next to them I peeked at their screen, one woman was on level 1 and another on level 3, both reading books. Maybe the gym is like their coffee shop where they come to enjoy a good book but I think most people come to change their health or their bodies.

Gave them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they are warming up. Nope. I did my warm up at a level 9…and that’s not bragging because it’s not hard, it’s a warm up. Don’t get me wrong, I know some people have limitations or they are just starting but these women weren’t. So, will they hit whatever their goal is or in a few months will they get frustrated and blame the workout “I workout everyday but I just don’t get results!” Well, I would have to tell them you come to the gym everyday but you haven’t worked out one time.

There is non-stop access to information on health, fitness and nutrition. Many times it’s too much information, an overload that confuses people. Instead of trying to follow the weekly trend or latest diet or the new infomercial special just keep it basic. When you workout make sure you are breaking a sweat, you are breathing heavy and it’s a little uncomfortable….now do that for an hour 6 days per week. Stay away from sugar, fried food and bad fat and you are on your way to a cleaner diet.

Here’s a quick interval workout with some plyometrics mixed in to get the heart rate up. Compare it to what you are doing now. Are your trips to the gym just as tough or are you strolling through the park when you are at the gym. If it’s too much for you at least ditch the recumbent bike and book and speed walk on the treadmill up hill at a 5% incline. It will get you started on the right path.

Warm Up: march in place, arm circles, body weight squats, 20 jumping jacks.

Do the following 2-4x through:

10-20 Push Ups

10-20 Burpees (from plank, jump feet in and jump up reaching hands above you)

20 Squats

10-20 Squat Jumps

20 (10 each side) Plank with Leg Raises (holding plank lift leg using glute and keeping leg straight)

20 Superman crunches (lying on stomach, raise arms and legs to a superman then releas back to mat)

10-20 Push Ups

20 Reverse Lunge

20 Lunge Jumps

Stretch

Want a booty lift? Here’s a video sharing some of my favorite glute tightening moves. Add these into your workout a couple times a week to improve your “rear” view in your favorite jeans or get ready to hit North Ave. Beach in a few short months!