How to Stay Healthy Over Spring Break

March 21, 2019/in Blog, Nutritional Consultant, Spring Dieting

Spring break is here or just around the corner for individuals across the country. This may mean vacationing or simply enjoying some downtime in your hometown. During your break, you want to relax and enjoy yourself. Sometimes this can include some unhealthy behavior; especially for those looking to lose weight.

From extra calories to lazy days relaxing by the pool, spring break can make it increasingly more difficult to stick with your weight loss plan. If you are planning a vacation or a stay-cation, think ahead. There are ways to stay healthy during spring break. Read more

Dieting for Success Making it Happen

July 31, 2017/in Blog, Dieting Advice, Nutritional Consultant

Dieting is far too often approached from the mindset of impending failure. Too many people have tried and failed so many diets in their past that they try the next new diet with the absolute knowledge that they will fail in this attempt as well. Guess what? They will.

Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can or think you can’t you will always be right.” If you think you are going to fail at this diet you are dooming yourself to failure before you even deprive yourself of the first bite.

Think about that before you begin because only a true masochist could find pleasure in perpetuating this vicious cycle without ever stopping to wonder why none of the other diets have worked for you. Henry Ford also said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently”. In case you were wondering I would say his words are quite profound. Seriously though, if you do not examine the reasons for your failures you are certainly dooming yourself to repeat them and if you are already planning to fail why on earth would you even try?

You are the only person who can take control of your need to eat. You are the only one who can pay attention and notice when you are eating for emotional fulfillment and when you are eating from necessity. You and you alone can get yourself out of your chair and on your feet. You are the only one that can take the responsibility for the condition in which you find yourself. There are medical exceptions but even in these situations if you are trying diet after diet and failing over and over again then you must at some point in time realize that it is quite likely not the diets that aren’t working.

We must all be accountable for our successes and failures in life. It is no different when it comes to dieting. There are few better feelings in the world than for someone to notice and compliment your efforts. If you are very obese unfortunately, it may take a little more time for people to actually notice the weight you’ve lost. Too many men and women give up simply because no one noticed and that is an incredible shame. Give your dieting practices an opportunity to work before you decide they are a failure and you just might surprise yourself with a roaring success.

The truth is far too few people hold themselves accountable to their dieting and weight loss goals. This means that far too many people are giving up without really ever bothering to give it an effort. If you have an issue holding yourself accountable to your dieting plans, perhaps you would do well to diet with a partner. This helps you not only set goals but also to meet and exceed challenges along the way. A partner can also benefit from the partnership as he or she will be challenged and feel the need to perform better than if he or she were dieting alone.

You must hold yourself accountable to your stated dieting and weight loss goals in order to achieve any lasting results. If you have not had dieting success in the past, then perhaps it is time to bring some degree of accountability into the picture and make it happen.

Dieting with a Busy Schedule

July 21, 2017/in Blog, Dieting Advice, Nutritional Consultant

When it comes to dieting many of us find that the number one hindrance to our success is the lack of time to prepare the proper meals and snacks for our dietary needs. It is often much more convenient to throw one thing in the crock pot for the family or resort to the fast food last resort rather than preparing the healthy and nutritious meal that we should be eating.

There are things you can do however that will reduce the temptation to hit the drive thru and keep you on course with your dieting needs. The first of these is a process known as once a week cooking. With this method you cook enough meals to last you a week on one day.

This means that for every night of the week you have a diet friendly meal ready to go. If your entire family is dieting or eating healthier with you, this works for this situation as well. Dieting and incorporating healthier eating habits into the food for your entire family is a great way to set an example for your children will keeping you motivated and removing temptation.

With once a week cooking you freeze the food that won’t be immediately consumed and thaw it the morning you will be eating the food to cook when you arrive home after work or decide it is time for your evening meal. This is a process that works well no matter how many soccer games, dance practices, and band recitals you have on your calendar for the week. You can manage to stick to your diet while having a great meal for your family each and every night of the week.

You should also make sure to have a nice supply and cleaned and cut fruits, vegetables, and salad ingredients in your refrigerator in order to make these dishes readily accessible for quick lunches or snacks. Having these foods readily available will help you resist the temptation to snack on higher calorie prepackaged food while also helping to insure that you have a ready supply of fresh fruits and vegetables to help you get your 5 servings a day.

You should also keep some conveniently packaged yogurt on hand as a good quick and easy dairy product. Sugar free pudding cups are another decent snack for those who need something quick and easy to have on hand. Preparation and planning are essential to successfully meeting your weight loss goals. By preparing as much of the food as possible ahead of time you will never even miss the convenience of those high calorie pre packaged meals and snacks that so many of us survive on when not dieting.

Another time saver is to work your fitness opportunities into the course of your day. Rather than performing one lengthy workout each day, try to find methods of bringing a little fitness activity into the most mundane portions of your day (go stair climbing at lunch, park on the top level of the parking garage and walk down-then up when returning-the stairs), park far away from the door of the supermarket and see if your mall has a walking path that is clearly marked. You’ll be amazed at the hidden opportunities many of us have for exercising during our busy days. The trick is often in discovering the activities rather than the time.

When all is said and done, dieting doesn’t have to be as time consuming as you may think it is. There are all kinds of prepackaged plans for dieters however if that is the choice you feel is best for you. Whether you are going with Lean Cuisine meals, Weight Watchers frozen entrees, Jenny Craig, or the Slim Fast program there are all kinds of opportunities to work dieting and fitness into even the busiest of schedules. When planning your dieting practices be sure to consider the tips and advice mentioned above.

Why Do I Keep Messing Up My Diet?

July 11, 2017/in Blog, Motivation, Personal Training

Every year, on New Year’s Day, millions of people make a resolution to diet and lose weight and get in shape. In fact, surveys show that this is the number 1 resolution in the entire world.

It is also the fastest resolution to get broken. Many don’t get past the first week. Most don’t get past February.

Why?

One of the main reasons for this is that people have a few slip ups in their diet, end up feeling guilty and tell themselves that they just don’t have the discipline. They then tell themselves that it will never work and they give up on themselves.

This is truly a pity. It really is because you are all you have and if you give up on yourself, then who is going to help you? The road to personal fitness is your road and it’s yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but nobody can walk it for you.

Before even thinking that you don’t have what it takes, let’s examine the reasons why most people slip up when it comes to eating.

1. Unrealistic goals

This is without a doubt the main reason. Someone who has been eating pizza, junk food, sodas, doughnuts, etc. for years should NEVER ever suddenly decide to go on a diet of lean chicken breast and broccoli. It’s madness.

The change is too drastic. Yet, so many people do this. They have unrealistic expectations and think that their will power is extremely strong. In most cases, it isn’t.

Always start with small goals. If you drink a lot of sodas, try cutting that out for a week and drink water instead. Keep the rest of the diet the same. The following week, if you snack while watching TV, then stop snacking. If you can’t do that, then stop watching TV. The week after that you may reduce your portion sizes but keep the diet the same.

By doing this, your goals are incremental. If you ask too much of yourself initially, you will most probably fail. Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.

2. Letting one slip up make them give up

If you accidentally dropped your mobile phone on the floor, what would you do? You’d most probably pick it up, dust it off and check if it’s all okay and be more careful. Would you pick it up and keep smashing it on the floor just because you accidentally dropped it once?

No way! Yet, when it comes to the diet, many people throw the entire diet away just because they had a doughnut or a plate of pasta.

You know what? It’s human to slip up. Everybody does it. You just pick yourself up and try to be more compliant to the diet. You may have read that a good body is 30% exercise and 70% diet. The truth is that a good body is 100% commitment.

And… commitment is very difficult. That’s why obesity is an epidemic. It’s difficult to commit. If you’ve already started, don’t give up. Anytime you feel like it, remember why you started.

Success is not linear. You will take three steps forward, two back, five forward, maybe six back… whatever the case may be, only one rule holds true. You keep going. So you ate that glazed doughnut… well, that’s ok. You will run for 15 minutes and burn it off later. Don’t tell yourself, “Argh! I ate one doughnut. My diet is screwed. I better just eat the remaining 5 doughnuts in the box”. NO! YOU WON’T.

These are the 2 reasons most people mess up their diet. Unrealistic expectations and aiming for perfection. Expect yourself to slip up. It’s a given.

Now that you know that you should aim to set your goals in incremental levels and not be too hard on yourself, stop worrying about those times you mess up your diet and focus on getting it right as much as you can.

That’s the only way.

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