Working on Willpower

I have a weakness for food. I love food; fruits, veggies, sweets, salty, you name it, I like it. I sabotage my own efforts, because I have no willpower to abstain. For the most part I have dealt with this by not having certain in foods in my house. We don't stock chips , cookies or ice cream; if i want it, I have to go get it. But then the problem comes in with my husband. He tends to buy things in quantity, like chocolate. So my new goal is to stop making excuses and stick to my guns and develop the willpower to say no. After all, do I want the chocolate, or do I want to get rid of these last 15 baby pounds? I know its going to be hard, but I know I only have myself to blame for both my successes and failures I cannot blame anyone else. What is your weakness? How have you learned to cope with it?

Habits

It's so easy to fall into habit. Not eating breakfast, grabbing a burger at lunch, or sitting on the couch after dinner. It's just as easy to fall into good habits. Grabbing oatmeal or whole what toast with peanut butter, packing your lunch each previous night to ensure its healthy, and even making taking a walk after dinner your new family ritual. Just as bad habits form, so too, can good habits be established.
I have been working out no less than 3 days, but more like 4-5 a week since my baby was 2 weeks old. I have had so much energy and feel so much better than when I don't work out. That being said, I have not worked out in two days, and I can say for certain, workout is on today!
Don't tell me you don't have time, don't tell me you don't know how, don't say you can't, stop the excuses and just do it! Start today and get on the road to making that good habit stick!

Eat Breakfast!

I have always been an athlete. Throughout elementary school and high school I played a variety of team sports. I always took school very serious. I am decently intelligent, school came easy to me. I made sure I was rested and between needing food for brain fuel and needing food for sport fuel, I have always been a breakfast eater. Now, apparently this is uncommon. Huffington Post says that 10% of the American population does not eat breakfast. Its no wonder we have such an issue with overweight and obese people.
Breakfast is not only what jumpstarts your metabolism after a (hopefully) long and restful night, it also jump starts the brain. It is even more important that children are eating their breakfast! WebMD reports that children that skip breakfast are more often absent or late from school. Get those kids up and make sure they are eating. Some nice whole grain cereal with so low fat milk and orange juice is the perfect way to send your children off to school alert and ready to learn!
And adults, it is proven that skipping breakfast can cause weight gain and damper weightloss efforts. On the surface, it may appear that skipping a meal would mean less calories, (which it does) and in the end, would mean less weight gained or more weight lost (which it does not). You're body runs on fuel, it needs rest and then needs to be recharged. Even a busy mom has time, grab a breakfast shake or banana and low sugar granola bar. Skipping breakfast tends to lead people to bad snacks and endless grazing. You might save 300 calories at breakfast, but find your hand in the candy dish several times before lunch. It's simple really, if you want to maintain or lose weight, EAT BREAKFAST!

Fitness and a 'Healthy Glow'

I'm from Pennsylvania and I am about as pale as they come. I don't tan, I burn even wearing SPF 50. When my husband and I got married, I thought I would try to get a nice tan. I started going to the tanning bed and lying  in there for about 5 minutes at a time. My husband asked me what I was doing. I told him I wanted to look nice for the wedding. He told me, he loved my pasty skin.... Now that is about as sweet as my dear hubby gets, but it was enough for me to stop, seemed like a waste of money and an even more waste of time. Well, that was about seven years ago, right around the time I first got certified as a personal trainer.
After we married, we were stationed in Warner Robins, GA and I was hired at a Gold's Gym. Not only did we both get free gym memberships, we received unlimited tanning. Now, as much as I didn't want to tan, my husband is Mexican and people just don't get much darker than he is already, so, needless to say, we never once tanned. But working at the desk, day in and day out, I would see the same people, workout then head to the tanning bed. A coworker of mine included.
She was so pretty, tiny little thing, very fit, with pretty brown hair. I was about 23 and she was about 34. However, she looked so much older, all the tanning had lead to premature aging on her face, it was sad to see. Another customer, who had been apparently tanning for years, was so dried out, her legs looked like leather. All I could think was, if that they were not worried about skin cancer, did they at least not see the way it was making them look?
I'm 30 years old with two kids. My 6 month old wakes up about 530 am each morning, I am often over tired. However, I still get many compliments that I do not look even 30 (not that 30 is old). I contribute my youthful face (and you should see my older sister) to exercise, lots of water, not smoking and most of all, wearing sunscreen! If how you look is not enough for you to reconsider baking yourself in the sun or a nice man made torture chamber, how about your health?
It baffles me that fitness and tanning seem to be interlinked. A vast majority of health clubs offer tanning, many time, unlimited, with no additional cost. Its seems utterly ludicrous. The idea of being healthy and then willingly upping your chances of skin cancer, makes me wonder, 'why bother?' Why go through the trouble of staying fit, just to risk cancer? With so many risks already inherently ingrained into our modern lifestyle, why would you add to it? I have two theories, 1) Ignorance, people just don't know about the risks and many believe indoor tanning is safer than sun bathing or 2) People just think it won't happen to them. I think #2 may be more likely, considering that the majority of people using tanning beds are women under 35; the young have been known to believe in certain youthful invincibility. WebMD states that 85% of wrinkles are caused from sun damage (or indoor tanning) Sun damage leads to a number of cancers including basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and even cataracts. WedMD
Maybe we need to read up. Here are some facts about tanning :
Skincancer.org
Healthology

Just remember, that healthy glow now, will be a nice uneven skin tone, with red blotches and possible cancer in future.
According to aad.org

• By 2015, it is estimated that 1 in 50 Americans will develop melanoma in their lifetime
• About 75 percent of skin cancer deaths are from melanoma
• In 2010, new research found that daily sunscreen use cut the incidence of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, in half
•  Exposure to tanning beds increases the risk of melanoma, especially in women aged 45 years or younger.¹⁵
  • In females 15-29 years old, the torso/trunk is the most common location for developing melanoma, which may be due to high-risk tanning behaviors

There is a simple solution, wear sunscreen and cover up!  Stay healthy and live a happy, productive life :) Don't make the lifestyle change to exercise and eat healthy, just to slowly roast yourself like a Thanksgiving Day Turkey.  Be healthy and well rounded in all aspects of life and remember, what you do today, will have repercussions tomorrow. Newton told us long ago, "For every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction."

Live Outside your Comfort Zone

I have been living in Europe for most of my adult life. When I was 19 I joined the Air Force and lived in Italy for three years, then spent three years in GA and now four years in Germany. There is much to say about living in another country, but my focus is on the unknown.
As a military family, you are expected to move from place to place every few years. We all know this coming into it. However, moving overseas has its own unique set of issues. 1.) moving thousands of miles away from family. Whether your from the East coast, Southern Cali or Alaska, it doesn't much matter anymore, you are thousands of miles away from your family and that can be very hard, especially for the very young and those leaving home for the first time. 2.) The Language barrier. I took about 5 years of Spanish from high school to college, meaning that living in Italy was not too bad, however, the German language is a completely different cat and besides learning the basics, I know very little of the language; this can make living here difficult.
I see and hear of many individuals here that will not shop on the economy, will not go to restaurants that they don't know for certain speak English and for the most part relinquish themselves to a life of "base." They live on base, shop on base (the produce and meat are awful) and all activities are confined to base. What is most disheartening, is many of these people will often tout their hatred for living here and spend their entire tour waiting for it to end.
Why am  I writing about this on a blog about fitness? There is more to a healthy, fit life than just exercising and fitting into your skinny jeans. Fitness builds confidence and not just the kind that lets you strap on that amazing new halter top, the kind that transfers into everyday life. The kind that allows you to say, well I am just going to try and see what happens. Whether it mean pointing to a German menu and hoping you don't end up with a plate of Schwein liver or ordering a meat at the deli counter and hoping its actually chicken, fitness will help you build the confidence you need to succeed in anything you try.
This does not just pertain to living overseas, its just the example that made my mind flow. Fitness will grant you the confidence to try for that raise, open that business, or go back to school. Fitness is about living a general healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally. It's not about counting calories and exercising till you drop, its about feeling well....not good...but well. Overall wellness is the key to success and fitness is a great way to get the ball rolling :) Happy Sunday.

Red Meat

Working out is not usually a problem for me. Not to say I am perfect, I have my times when I don't work out when I should and even go through slumps of several months. However, I am athlete by heart and am usually doing something even if its not strictly gym time. I love softball and I love racquetball. That being said, my weakness if food, like a good majority of the American population.
I all but gave up pasta, I only eat carbs before lunch, and then they are "good" carbs, but my downfall; Red meat.
That oh-so-delicious cheeseburger, infused with spiciness and loaded with cheese, lettuce and tomato; just the thought gets my mouth watering! I am not talking fast-food burgers, since they are not really beef, they don't really tempt me. So my new goal is to eradicate red meat in my diet. This is going to be tricky.
I realized all of this animal fat is leaking its way slowly into my diet. For lunch I had a whole wheat pita, with a scrambled egg and chorizo. Then burgers at dinner, even with lean meat, it placed me well over my goal for fat for the day. I don't eat it everyday, but sometimes it is so easy to whip up lunch and dinner with ground beef. My 5 year old likes meat, but is very choosy. There is also a lack of really good meat here. The German groceries have great butchers, but I am reluctant, because I can't always tell what type of meat I am buying and there are no nutrition labels.
On that note, anyone have any really good burger alternatives? I made one recipe from chick peas and it was so bland, plus chick peas, though loaded with great nutrients, are high in carbs, so if I eat them at night, it interrupts my delicate sleep cycle. I am open to suggestions.
What is your one ultimate weakness? How do you try to work with it?

What's Your Excuse?

I'm a trainer, I have been since 2005, I am also a mother of two.  The number one thing that blocks people from accomplishing their goals is excuses! "I have kids." 'I don't have time" "I have to cook dinner" "The dishes need done." The first step to this is to admit you're making excuses.  Stop looking for reasons to not work out or not eat healthy, and just do it! Schedule it in, I workout at home when my infant naps. What time is that?? Only she knows, be flexible and persistent! You have to think of exercise like an appointment, a fixed entity that cannot be missed.
On that same level, one missed workout or one "bad" meal will not kill you or your efforts, so don't give up! Just because you ate a donut on the run for breakfast one morning, does not mean you should give up for the day and eat whatever you want.
I have a slight annoyance with mom's always using their children as an excuse. Take them with you, incorporate them into the activity, wait till Dad is home or the kids are in bed. Think of it this way, will you be more miserable when you're overweight, slow, and sluggish or when your laundry sits for one more extra day??? Stop make excuses! Your beautiful children should be the motivation to your healthy lifestyle, not the obstacle to achieving it!