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  • Surviving the Holidays

    surviving the holidaysThe holidays are here. And that means food, lots of food!

     

    If you’d like to stay on your healthy routine during the holidays or if you’re just looking for some strategies to help you feel less challenged this season, I’ve got 4 tips to help you survive the holidays.

     

     

     

    Everything in moderation (is the worst advice ever).

    You’ve heard this before. And I’ve got two reasons why it’s the worst advice ever: First, I can think of a lot of things that aren’t good in any amount (a recovering alcoholic can’t drink in moderation; anyone like me with Celiac disease can’t have a little gluten). And second, the concept of moderation works only for moderators, not abstainers.

    Are you a moderator or an abstainer? If you’ve ever kept a chocolate bar in the fridge and easily eaten only one square per night, if you sometimes push away a dessert after only a few bites because that’s all you needed to feel satisfied, or if you’ve said you feel deprived if you don’t have treats, congratulations­­—you’re a moderator! Practice appropriate moderation.

    If, on the other hand, a chocolate bar in your presence won’t make it long enough to see the inside of your refrigerator, if a few bites of dessert makes you want finish off the whole cake/pie/container of ice cream, and if you don’t have treats, you generally don’t miss them, congratulations—you’re an abstainer! Now please stop listening to people who preach moderation. It’s not for you. I assure you this not a moral failing or a character flaw on your part. The goal is not to grow up to be a good moderator. Instead, know yourself and choose the strategies that work for you.

     

    Out of Sight, out of mind.

    It’s not the two or three holiday meals that get us into trouble. It’s all the other eating that goes on over the last two months of the year. The solution is to set up your environment for success. If you don’t want to eat it, don’t keep it in the house. If you have to have treats (because another adult in your home chooses to eat them), store the treats somewhere you won’t immediately see them like on a high shelf in the pantry or in the back of the refrigerator. You will eat less if you don’t see it on the counter every time you walk by.

    For my fellow abstainers, my best advice is to let go of feelings of guilt over not indulging. It’s ok to throw away left-overs you didn’t want to take home or to donate or re-purpose treats from well-meaning friends and family. Just as you wouldn’t feel obligated to eat a food you’re allergic to, it’s ok to pass on foods that make you feel less than great (physically or emotionally). Keep in mind, the treat-giver’s Love Language may be Gifts. That means she shows love and receives joy from giving you the gift. All you have to do is receive the treats. You don’t have to eat them.

     

    No food is forbidden.

    In case you thought carbs were the enemy this time of year, let me remind you that vegetables are carbs. Ok so maybe it’s processed carbs and sugar that are the enemy. Then I ask you, do you really want a life without any cookies, cake, or ice cream ever? Logically you know treats ARE a part of a healthy lifestyle. But if you’re telling yourself that some foods are “forbidden” what happens when that food is everywhere? You just can’t help yourself, right?

    Try this instead: Set yourself up for success during the holidays by enjoying a treat (maybe once each week) all year long. This isn’t a reward that you have to earn for sticking to your workout schedule or eating salads for lunch. It’s a treat that’s as much a part of your healthy lifestyle as drinking water and hitting your daily step goal. As you create a healthy life that includes treat, the holidays will be a lot less challenging.

     

    Honor your decision, whatever it is.

    Over-indulging isn’t the worst thing you can do when it comes to holiday eating. The worst thing would be to over-indulge, feel guilt or shame, beat yourself up, then either console yourself with more comfort foods or do something really unhealthy like trying to “exercise off” the extra calories or skip meals the follow day to compensate.

    If you want to indulge, make a conscious decision to eat the cookies, to have the second slice of pie, or to eat the left-overs, honor your decision, ENJOY, and move on.

     

    Practicing healthy habits and a cultivating a healthy mindset around food all year long will make surviving the holidays a whole lot less challenging.

     

     

     

  • 6 Tips for Belly Fat

    belly fatBelly fat is not only terrible for our health, it’s also one of the things we dread seeing when we look in the mirror or see pictures of ourselves. Belly fat is one of the biggest complaints I hear from clients. Especially because it seems to creep up on us. You hit a certain and age and suddenly you’re dealing with this change in your body shape your younger-self never had. The good news is, there is something you can do about it! Here are my 6 best tips for belly fat and looking leaner in your midsection:

    1. Do Pilates at least once each week.

    And not because exercise has the ability to reduce fat (aka spot training). Do Pilates because having weak abdominals and poor posture make your belly stick out and look bigger. Pilates exercises train the deep transverse abdominal muscles that wrap all the way around your midsection like a girdle. This muscle naturally has an hourglass shape. So when you strengthen it, that’s what you’re going to see. Many Pilates exercises also focus on drawing the low belly in. This is the “scooping” cue you always hear. And while there is no such thing as “lower abs,” you will benefit from training your abs to draw in rather than pushing out during exercises.

    2. Drink 100oz of water and eat fermented foods daily.

    If you have poor digestion or constipation, that will lead to bloating. Your body needs water to process the foods you’re eating and eliminate waste. Eating high-fiber isn’t enough. If you’re increasing your fiber intake by eating more colorful vegetables and whole grains but not drinking enough water, that can actually cause constipation. To keep things moving, make sure your drinking 100oz of water every day. Eating fermented foods daily can improve gut health and reduce bloating.

    3. Manage Stress.

    Unrelenting stress is not good for your health or your waistline. Some of the stress hormones your body releases will directly cause more fat to be stored in the belly. This visceral fat is the most dangerous kind. If you can control, limit, or eliminate the external stressors in your life, make those changes. For everything else, have an active stress management practice (like meditation, yoga, and/or breath work) and change the way you think about stress. Read The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal to learn how to reframe the stressors you can’t avoid. Lastly, stop adding more stress to your system with high-intensity workouts like bootcamp, HIIT, circuits, and running. These workouts, especially for women over 40, will lead to more belly fat.

    4. Strength Train.

    Instead of all those high-stress bootcamp workouts, strength train 2-4 days per week. Think about this: you lose muscle with age. As your shoulders, legs, and glutes wither away, that will only make your belly look bigger in comparison. But if you instead build and preserve muscle in these areas, you’ll create a more youthful appearance and the illusion of a smaller belly.

    5. Eat more protein.

    I see too many women stuck in the false belief that they have to eat less. And when they apply belief to protein, that sets them up for failure. Protein is your best friend when you’re losing body fat. Studies have found that you can overeat and not gain fat, so long as you overeat protein. Part of the reason is that protein has the highest thermic effect of the three macro nutrients. That means your body burns the most calories during the digestion of protein compared to the digestion of fat and carbs. Eating a full serving of protein (20-40g) at each meal (3-5 times daily) stimulates muscle growth. Remember, you can eat up to 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight (or per pound of goal bodyweight if you have a lot of weight to lose). And when it comes protein, don’t get stuck in diet mentality. Eating less will not get you to your fat-loss goals faster.

    6. Don’t be afraid to gain lean muscle.

    Translation: Don’t be afraid to gain weight! I know you think you need the scale to go down in order to see your belly flatten, but it’s that false belief that has you stuck. Forget about the number on the scale and remember your goal: to look good and feel good. Strength training and increasing protein will help you create the body and the shape you want. Who cares what the scale reads if you look amazing?!

     

    This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

  • casino games ethereum

    grand rush casino free chipsFlashback 17 years ago: I was teaching Cardio Kickboxing and Cycling and strength training on the machines at the gym and I was always sore. I remember hobbling down the stairs leaving the gym one day. You know the way you do two or three days following a good leg day? Only I hobbled down those stairs after every workout. That day, I thought to myself, this isn’t comfortable and it’s not attractive. And a big part of the reason I was working out was because I wanted to look good. I knew I was missing something.

     

    The next day, I saw the Pilates instructor walking through the gym. She looked like she was floating. She had great posture and moved effortlessly. I decided Pilates was what I needed, and I started taking her classes. I got so much benefit from Pilates that I started teaching it two years later. Here’s why I love Pilates, why I continue to practice and teach it, and why you should do Pilates.

     

    1. You’ll Look Leaner

    If you have an anterior pelvic tilt (like I do), not only can that contribute to low back pain, but it can make your abdominals “stick out.” If you want to look leaner through your mid-section, Pilates is key because of all of the exercise where you’re “imprinting” your spine into the mat. Those exercises can help correct this imbalance making you look and feel better.

     

    2. You’ll Stay Active Daily

    Pilates is a low-intensity form of exercise you can do between higher-intensity workouts like strength training and cardiorespiratory training. Pilates can help you recover from these workouts. And by mixing in lower-intensity workouts like Pilates, you’re able to exercise daily without overtraining and burning out. Daily exercise is important to overall healthy, weight maintenance, and emotional well-being.

     

    3. You’ll Stay Mobile

    Even if you’re already stretching and working on your flexibility, that’s not the same as https://aliciacrosstraining.com/cash-n-casino-app-legit/. Mobility is active and flexibility is passive. Mobility requires flexibility PLUS strength and stability. For example, you may be able to pull your leg stretch into a stretch with the help of your hands or a strap, but can you actually keep your leg straight as you move through exercises for several repetitions? Mobility (unlike flexibility) is what you need to stay active, mobile, and injury-free in the movements you make all day long off the mat.

     

    4. You’ll Strengthen Your Core

    You know you need a strong core. The core is more than just your abdominal muscles. It’s everything from your shoulders to your hips. I like to say your core as two jobs: movement and stability (stability is also called anti-movement). And its most important job is stability or resisting movements. Sit ups and crunches alone aren’t effective because those train flexion, which is only one of the https://aliciacrosstraining.com/slot-machine-software-download/. And they don’t train stability or the 4 core anti-movements at all. Pilates is the Queen when it comes to teaching stability. The point of many of the exercises is to be able to do them without shifting or rocking through the hips or upper body and without any pooching or poking of the abdominals. This point is easy to miss. And anybody who says a Pilates class was “too easy” missed the point. The stability you learn in Pilates will transfer beautifully to heavy strength training exercises that demand a strong stable core and to the movements you make at home or in the yard.

     

    5. You’ll Improve Your Posture

    Thanks in part to technology, we’re all walking around with poor posture: forward head, slumped shoulders, and a rounded upper back. This causes pain in the neck, can lead to shoulder injuries, it restricts breathing, and let’s be honest, it’s not attractive. Remember that when Joseph Pilates brought his method (then called Contrology) to New York in the early 20th century, ballerinas loved it. Visualize the posture of a ballerina. No shoulders hiked up the ears. No dowagers hump in the upper back. And they make everything look so easy. In Pilates, there’s no grunting and no muscling through sloppy repetitions. You’ll be reminded often to breathe, pull your shoulders away from your ears, and lengthen your spine. And when you practice with good posture on the mat, you’ll have good posture all day long.

     

    6. It’s Good for Balance

    Balance and fall prevention are big goals for many of my clients. One of the worst things we’ve done for balance is spend all our time including our workouts in restrictive, overly padded shoes. If you’ve ever worn a cast on an arm or leg, you know the muscles atrophy. That’s basically what we’ve been doing to our feet. As a result of wearing shoes and not properly exercising the feet, you’re losing neuromuscular connection (either you can’t move your toes, or you literally can’t feel your feet anymore) and you’ve lost strength and mobility through the foot and ankle. This puts you at greater risk for falling. You need to strengthen your feet by working out barefoot. It’s not practical or safe to do cardiorespiratory training or to walk outside barefoot. You may be able to strength train bare foot if you’re working out at home, as I encourage all my online clients to do. But you definitely need barefoot training in your routine. Pilates is great training for your feet. You’re barefoot and there’s a lot of pointing and flexing, and even some standing and single leg standing exercises that specifically focus on balance.

     

    7. You’ll Alleviate Back Pain

    If you have back pain, Pilates is a must in your weekly routine. And this isn’t just the opinion of someone with back pain who’s been practicing for 17 years and teaching for 15, there are studies that support this. Pilates a very unique form of exercise because of everything already mentioned: you are training with proper alignment and good posture, it’s no-impact, it’s not too intense, you’re improving functional mobility and core stability, and there’s a big emphasis on breathing, awareness, and technique. Turns out, all things that are great for managing back pain.

     

    8. You Can Do Pilates Forever

    There’s a reason why women and men in their 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and beyond love Pilates. It’s a form of exercise you can do in every decade of life. You can modify and adapt exercises or progress and challenge yourself as needed depending on how your body is feeling day to day. There are so many different exercise variations and there is equipment (like https://aliciacrosstraining.com/online-gambling-casino/, the Pilates Ring, core ball, and bands) that you can use to make exercises easier, more difficult, or just new and different. And a good teacher keeps it fun and interesting and offers you the freedom to customize your practice. You can continue to benefit from Pilates for a lifetime.

     

    Now you know why you should do Pilates. So take off your shoes, grab a mat, and let’s do it!

     

    This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

     

  • 14 Food Ingredients to Avoid

    ingredients to avoidWant to lose weight but don’t want to count calories or log every bite of food? One strategy is to eliminate (or cut back on) ultra-processed foods. Here’s why:

    A study found that when people were allowed to eat as much as they wanted, those who ate highly-processed foods ate on average 500 more calories per day compared to the group eating whole foods. It’s easy to overeat highly-processed foods because they are very calorie-dense (and usually NOT from protein), they’re hyperpalatable (that blissful mix of fat, sugar, and salt), and they contain ingredients known to affect your gut lining and interfere with your body’s natural signals of fullness.

    Eating ultra-processed foods, including fast food, is a recipe for overeating, weight gain, metabolic issues, and chronic health conditions. While avoiding these foods can help you cut excess calories every day so you can reach your health and weight-loss goals.

    So how do you know which foods to avoid?

    Ultra-processed foods are described as foods with more than 7 ingredients or with ingredients you can’t find in your pantry.

    Here’s a list of 14 ingredients to avoid when deciding if a food is going in your cart or in your mouth:

    1. MSG (monosodium glutamate)

    2. Canola Oil

    3. Corn Oil

    4. Soybean Oil

    5. Dyes/Colors

    6. Soy Lecithin

    7. Artificial Sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, saccharin)

    8. Sodium Nitrates

    9. Hydrogenated Oils/Partially Hydrogenated Oils/Trans Fats

    10. Guar Gum

    11. Carrageenan

    12. Sodium Benzoate

    13. High Fructose Corn Syrup

    14. Added Sugar by any of these names:

    Dextrose, fructose, galactose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, beet sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, Florida crystals, coconut sugar, confectioner’s sugar, corn syrup solids, date sugar, dextrin, ethyl maltol, maltodextrin, raw sugar, turbinado sugar, agave, barley malt, molasses, brown rice syrup, caramel, carob sugar, evaporated can juice, fruit juice, honey, malt syrup, maple syrup, sorghum syrup, sorbitol, D-ribose, yellow sugar, golden sugar.

     

    While there may be debate about the safety of some of these ingredients, remember your intention: You are avoiding or limiting ultra-processed foods as an action step to decrease calorie intake to support your fat-loss goal. Foods with these ingredients are ultra-processed. The goal isn’t to eat 100% unprocessed foods or to obsess over every ingredient. All foods are processed to some degree. Olive oil, coffee, peanut butter, even chicken breasts and apples undergo some processing to get to the shelves for you to purchase. Simply use this list as a filter to know if a product is in alignment with your intention and your weight-loss goal. 

  • Lose Weight Without Counting Calories

    losing weight without counting caloriesWhile I do believe tracking and logging your nutrition is a worthwhile learning experience, I know not everyone will do it. And the good news is, that’s not the only way to reach your goals. If you some weight to lose and you’re already strength training, making a few behavioral changes around eating will lead to fat loss.

     

    Here are 10 changes you can make to lose weight without counting calories:

     

     

    1.Drink 100oz of water daily

    If you’re under-hydrated, you won’t feel good physically and your judgement will be compromised. That means you won’t make the best decisions when it comes to your nutrition.

     

    2. Avoid or limit ultra-processed foods (including fast food)

    A study found that when people were allowed to eat as much as they wanted, those who ate highly processed foods ate on average 500 more calories every day compared to the group eating whole foods. Ultra-processed foods (foods with more than 7 ingredients or with ingredients you can’t find in your pantry) are very calorie-dense (and usually NOT from protein), they are hyperpalatable (that blissful mix of fat, sugar, and salt), and they have ingredients known to affect the gut lining and disrupt your body’s natural signals of fullness.

     

    3. Eat a full serving of protein with every meal

    Protein has the highest thermic effect of the 3 macronutrients. That means you burn the most calories simply digesting protein compared to carbs and fat (protein about 30%, carbs 5-15%, and fat 0-3%). Protein is your best friend when your goal is fat loss. Ideally you’re eating 1g/lb of body weight (or goal weight if you have a lot of weight to lose). To hit that target, you’ll need a full serving of protein 3-5 times/day. A full serving is 20-40g. If you’re eating animal protein, aim for the lower end of the range. If plant-based, aim for the higher end. If you’re in your 20’s or 30’s, aim lower. If you’re 40+, scale up.

     

    4. Have colorful vegetables with every meal

    Fiber helps keep you fuller longer. Colorful vegetables provide the phytonutrients you need for optimal health. Weight is a symptom of health, not a cause. That means focus on getting healthy and weight-loss will follow. If you focus solely on weight-loss, you’ll compromise your health (and you won’t lose weight either).

    5. Your breakfast should resemble lunch or dinner, not dessert

    Think savory foods for breakfast. And don’t forget about that full serving of protein! Have eggs or plant-based (high-protein) burgers or tempeh. If you really can’t stomach that in the morning, have Greek yogurt or a protein smoothie.

     

    6. Have defined meals rather than grazing throughout the day

    If you’re grazing in an attempt to eat less, you’ll mostly likely end up undereating crucial protein and you’ll find yourself overeating at night because your body will be craving the nutrients its lacking. Also, your body needs times to go through the cycles of eating and digesting. Allow time between meals to digest rather than restarting the process by continually eating.

     

    7. Slow down

    Studies have found that people who eat slower have a healthier body weight. Try setting a timer for 20 minutes and take that entire time to finish a meal. Follow the rule that if food is your mouth, the fork isn’t in your hand.

     

    8. Keep a consistent meal schedule

    Your brain and many organs in your body have internal clocks. For optimal health, all these clocks need to be in sync with each other and with the external world, specifically day and night. Those clocks are affected by light and your activities, like sleeping, exercising, and eating. Eating on a consistent schedule every day (even weekends) helps regulate your circadian rhythm.  Studies have found that keeping meal timing consistent leads to greater thermic effect of food (burning more calories during digestion) and better glucose response. This means your metabolism is working as it should. And when your metabolism is healthy, you can lose weight and keep it off. Read more about meal timing here.

     

    9. Stop eating 2-3 hours before bed

    Continuing with the theme of circadian rhythm, humans are not nocturnal. We are meant to sleep at night and be active and eat during the day. Studies have found that, in the morning, food has a great thermic effect (you’re burning more calories during digestion) and you have greater insulin sensitivity (that means lower blood sugar levels). Eating larger meals earlier in the day leads to less body fat, lower triglycerides, lower blood glucose, and less hunger throughout the day. Many women’s health experts agree that the popular method of Intermittent Fasting (skipping breakfast and eating into the night) does not work for women. Women will get much better results starting the day with a high-protein, low sugar breakfast and then stopping eating at a reasonable time in the evening. If you’re following Ayurvedic guidelines, have your last meal at 7pm and be in bed by 10pm. If you have your science hat on, don’t eat past 7pm when melatonin starts to rise.

     

    10. Avoid or limit alcohol

    Pop quiz! How many calories does alcohol have per gram? Here are some hints: Fat has 9kcal/g and protein and carbs each have 4kcal/g. Alcohol has 7kcal/g. 7! And no nutrients to go with it. It’s all “empty calories.” Not to mention that alcohol affects your decision-making, lowers inhibition, leads to poor sleep, and is dehydrating. The indirect effect of alcohol is poor choices when it comes to your nutrition and exercise commitments.

     

    If this sounds like a lot, remember to start small. Pick one of these, the one you’re willing to do, and take one small step. When that has become as automatic as the habit of brushing your teeth, take it one step further or add another behavior. Keep repeating this process until you’ve reached your goal weight. And then keep doing it every day for the rest of your life. That doesn’t mean you have to perfect every day. But it does mean that you have to create lasting lifestyle changes in order to to have sustainable results.

  • Does Meal Timing Matter?

    When it comes to proper nutrition for weight loss, there are 3 things you can control: what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat. Maybe you’ve made some improvements to the first two. But what about meal timing? If you’ve ever thought that eating large meals late in the evening makes it harder for you to lose weight, you’re not wrong.

    If you’re following an Ayurvedic lifestyle for health, you know meal timing is part of your dinacharya (daily routine): maintaining consistent meal timing every day, eating your biggest meal at lunch time when digestion is strongest, having your lightest meal no later than 7pm, and asleep by 10pm. If you need some science to back this up, it’s called chrononutrition, eating according to your body’s 24-hour cycle or circadian rhythm.

    The main clock in your brain is highly influenced by light because your body craves syncronicity with day and night. It wants to eat and be active during the day and to sleep at night. And every system in your body is set up for this cycle. In fact, many organs in the body (like the gut, muscles, and even fat) have their own clock. When these various clocks are out of sync with each other and with the external environment, you get dysregulation and dis-ease. This is why shift-work is so detrimental to health.

    Here’s what the science tells us:

    You’ll burn more calories digesting food (TEF or thermic effect of food) in the morning versus in the evening. Insulin sensitivity is greater in the morning, and it decreases throughout the day. That means the same meal will cause higher blood glucose levels in the evening versus in the morning. Add to this that you produce more insulin in the morning compared to the evening and you can see that you’re meant to eat more in the earlier part of the day while tapering off in the evening.

    Many studies have found that eating your bigger meals earlier in the day leads to lower body fat percentage, faster metabolism, lower triglycerides, lower blood glucose levels, greater satiety, and less hunger throughout the day. Eating on a consistent meal schedule every day (even on weekends) is beneficial because it leads to higher TEF (burning more calories through digestion) and better glucose response.

    What about IF (Intermittent Fasting)?

    First, unless you’re sleep-eating, you’re fasting every night! That’s why the first meal of the day is called break-fast. Get it? Sorry, but you can never actually skip breakfast. The first meal you eat, breaks the fast, no matter what time of day you have it. While the popular method of IF may have you eating breakfast mid-day and continuing to eat later into the evening, that’s in direct opposition to your innate circadian rhythm.

    If you’ve been skipping breakfast and eating close to bedtime for while and your health and body weight aren’t improving, IF is not working for you. If you’re a woman over 40, this is no surprise. Many women’s health experts agree that IF isn’t effective for women. You will be much happier and healthier if you instead eat a high-protein, low-sugar breakfast not long after waking and stop eating at a reasonable time at night. If you need a catching name, this is called Time-Restricted Eating (TRE).

    With TRE, you have a specific number of hours for your eating window, and the rest is your fasting window (just like IF). If your current eating window is greater than 12 hours, that’s a good place to start. 12 hours after breakfast, be done eating. That gives your body 12 hours to digest and process.

    What’s the best time for your eating window?

    Based on what we know about circadian rhythm and chrononutrition, your 12-hour eating window should be no later than 8a to 8p. If you’re following an Ayurvedic lifestyle, aim for 7am to 7pm. If you’re eating window is already 12 hours and you’d like to shorten it, start by taking 30 minutes or 1 hour off the end. As always, the best plan is the one you can stick with every day for the rest of your life. And habit change happens one small step at a time.

    If you want to lose weight while improving your physical health and emotional well-being, be sure to address meal timing. Eating in alignment with your body’s natural rhythm will lead to better digestion, improved health, and a healthier body weight.

  • 9 Functional Exercises for More Energy and Less Pain

    Functional exercises are useful to the things you want to do. And unless you’re a pro athlete, you’re probably working out to get better at the activities of daily life. Think of all the movements you make all day long: carrying groceries, picking stuff up off the floor, getting boxes down from high shelves, standing on one foot to put your pants on, walking up the stairs, getting in and out of the car. These movements require balance, strength, and mobility. The best thing you can do is to include functional exercises in your routine to train these life skills.

    If you neglect to train these movements with deliberate and specific exercises, your muscles with become weak and tight and everything will feel harder than it should. You’ll end up tired, run-down, or even worse, injured. If you want to reduce your risk of injury while feeling more energized every day, do these 9 functional exercises:

    Functional Exercise #1: Dead Lift

    If you want to be able to pick up boxes and bags without hurting your back, dead lifts are must in your workout. You can do these with a barbell, dumbbells, or kettlebells.

    Functional Exercise #2: Overhead Press

    If you want to maintain the ability reach shelves, you’ve got to practice.

    Functional Exercise #3: Step Up

    This exercise is key for strong glutes and fall prevention. Strengthening your legs with steps up will make walking up stairs less taxing.

    Functional Exercise #4: Squat Jump

    While it may seem like jumping is not a movement you preform daily, you need to practice because the landing portion is what’s important. Your ability absorb impact with your muscles and not your joints is what will keep your ankles, knees, hips, and back heathy for decades.

    Functional Exercise #5: Standing Dumbbell Chop

    The ability to rotate is a functional movement you’ll lose with age…if you don’t practice. Activities like golf and tennis and everyday tasks like driving require rotation.

    https://youtu.be/nRbWbV9gzIA

    Functional Exercise #6: Box Squat

    If you don’t want to ask for assistance getting out of a chair (or off the toilet!), do not skip this one.

    Functional Exercise #7: 3-Point Row

    This exercise, like the deadlift, improves grip strength (comes in handy when you need to open a jar). It also strengthens underused back muscles and improves posture. Equally important, you’re working muscles attached to the spine, which increases bone density.

    Functional Exercise #8: Single-Leg RDL

    This is a great exercise for working on balance. As you get stronger exercising on one leg, daily tasks like getting dressed and putting on your shoes, will be less strenuous and less risky for you.

    Functional Exercise #9: All 4’s to Stand

    You already know a test of healthy aging is to be able to successfully get up off the floor without assistance. Practice this skill so you never lose it. You’ll be able to get up and down to garden, do housework, play with grandkids. And if you do happen to trip and fall, you won’t have to wait for help to get back up on your feet.

     

    You can see the carryover these 9 exercises have to your daily life. If you’re looking for a routine that will help you have less pain and more energy, this is the one for you! I’ve programed these 9 functional exercises into two workouts (less than an hour each). Follow along with the videos here and here for 2-4 days per week for 6 weeks.

  • What to Do When You Hit a Plateau

    If your progress has stalled despite working out and tracking your calories, you’ve hit a plateau. In order to break through the plateau and continue making progress, something needs to change in your nutrition and your exercise routine. This does NOT mean you need to eat less and burn more calories with more cardio.

    Here’s what you can do when you hit a plateau:

    Take a break.

    When was the last time you took a deload week (a week off from lifting weights)? If it’s been more than 12 weeks, it’s time. Stay active during this week (yoga, walking, hiking, swimming) while give your body and nervous system time to recover. This is a great week to get a massage or do anything else that is restorative and rejuvenating for you.

    If you’ve been extremely restrictive with food and calories, this is a great time to have that meal or dessert you thought was “off limits.” Give yourself a day off from logging your calories. And skip weighing yourself for the next couple days. Enjoy your meal!

     

    Increase daily calories/protein.

    If you’ve been cutting calories, you may have been mistakenly cutting your protein intake as well. If you’re not getting at least 1g of protein per lb of body weight daily, it’s time to increase. This will create an increase in calories. Focus on hitting your daily protein target while keeping everything else roughly the same and let the calories fall where they may.

     

    Add an extra day of strength training.

    If you’re strength training 2 days per week, increase to 3. If you’re training 3 days per week, increase to 4. If that means letting go of some cardio workouts, so be it. Strength training will do more for you than cardio always and especially when you hit a plateau.

     

    Change your rep range.

    If you’re used to training high reps (12-20) with low weight, switch to lower reps at higher weights (6-8). Just as with the higher reps, make sure the last 2-3 reps feel like a real struggle. Remember, the idea is not to just count to 8 and that’s the signal to stop. If you’re aiming for 8, at about rep 6, you should feel uncertain about your ability to do those last 2 reps. Commit to this new rep range in your sessions for at least 12 weeks. Be sure to record your workouts and your weights each session. This will allow you to start with the correct weights rather than guessing each session. And you’ll be able to see your progress as you’re able to lift heavier and heavier weights.

     

    Change your program OR stick to one.

    If you’ve been following the same program for more than 12 weeks and you’re not seeing progress or you’re bored with it, it’s time for a new program. If you haven’t been consistently following a program (exercises, reps, days per week), it’s time to pick one and stick it for 6-12 weeks. This will give your body time to adapt and change.

     

    If (when) you hit a plateau, rather than doubling down on what’s no longer working, make a change to your nutrition and exercise in order to break through.

  • 3 Muscle-Building Supplements

    muscle-building supplementsIf you have a fat-loss goal you know you also have a muscle-building goal. Don’t focus on losing weight because that will lead to unhealthy actions: cutting calories too low, doing excessive cardio, or falling for bogus scams like fat-burners, cleanses, or fasts. Instead, focus on building lean muscle. And that means strength training plus muscle-building supplements:

    Muscle-Building Supplement #1 Protein

    When it comes to building muscle, the number thing you need in your diet is protein. You can get all of your protein from whole food. But are you? If you’re not, you’ll benefit from adding a protein supplement to your daily nutrition routine, especially if you’re plant-based like me. If you have a sweet tooth, the added perk for you is that you can use protein powder to make a sweet treat that actually supports your fat-loss goal. My favorite protein is vanilla Sunwarrior. I make smoothies and a yummy protein mousse with plant-based yogurt.

    If you don’t like smoothies or you’re not interested in all the ingredients or sweeteners in vanilla protein powder, I highly recommend pea protein. It has a great flavor and texture and mixes well in soups, stews, sauces, dips, and more and has only one ingredient. You can make any meal high-protein by adding a scoop of pea protein.

    Bonus protein supplements you can add are Nutritional Yeast and PB2.

     

    Muscle-Building Supplement #2 EAA’s

    Amino Acids are the building blocks of protein. There are 20 different amino acids, 9 of which are essential (EAA). Essential means your body can’t make them and you have to get them through diet. Animal protein (including dairy and eggs) and soy are complete protein sources. If you’re getting the majority of your protein from plant-based sources, which are incomplete, you could benefit from adding an EAA supplement to fill in any missing gaps. I take mine pre-workout. The only time of the day you shouldn’t take EAA’s is before bed because it could disrupt sleep (because it affects tryptophan).

     

    Muscle-Building Supplement #3 Creatine

    Lastly, creatine has been a staple supplement for years in the world of strength training. It’s well-researched, safe, effetely, and inexpensive. Creatine is made from amino acids and you get it through animal protein sources. Some protein supplements may have added creatine as well. Creatine helps your cells produce ATP (energy) faster. This allows you to get a few more repetitions or lift a little more weight. The idea is that this little bit of extra work for weeks, months, and years of training will give you compounding benefits.

    Creatine will cause your muscle cells to hold extra water. Now, this isn’t the type of water retention that makes you feel bloated or makes your rings not fit. Extra water in your muscles (which are 70% water!) gives you that fullness to your shoulders, glutes, and all those places where you actually want to see your muscles.

    Additional benefits of creatine include improved memory and cognitive function in older adults, favorable effects in the progression of arthritis, and it may increase bone density.

    Look for creatine monohydrate. Take 3-5g/day. The loading phase is not necessary. Take it every day. Post-workout seems to be a little better. I add it to my post-workout smoothie. Since it’s causing extra water retention, you need to make sure your daily water intake is on-point. When I started taking creatine again, I increased my daily water intake to about a gallon per day.

    If you have kidney or liver issues, asthma, or a compromised immune system, skip it.

    As with all supplements, do you own research and talk to your doctor.

    Remember to prioritize muscle-building in your workouts and nutrition to get the results you want.

    This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

    Related Posts:

    Are You Making These 3 Weight-Loss Mistakes?

    The Truth About Protein Bars

    4 Reasons You Need a Post-Workout Meal for Fat-Loss

  • Are You Making These 3 Weight-Loss Mistakes?

    Are You Making These 3 Weight-Loss Mistakes?

    weight-loss mistakesIf you want to lose weight, these are the 3 biggest weight-loss mistakes I see and their solutions:

    Weight-Loss Mistake 1:

    Not eating enough protein. Too often, women especially think they need to eat less to lose weight. Then they apply this false belief to protein. That’s crazy! Protein is your best friend when losing weight. Here’s why:

    • Protein will keep you feeling fuller longer.
    • Protein has a high thermic effect. Your body burns 20-30% of the calories just digesting it (compared to 5-10% for carbs and 0-3% for fats). I’ll take that deal!
    • You need protein (in addition to strength training) to build muscle. It’s called muscle protein synthesis. Building muscle is crucial for maintaining your metabolism so you can lose fat and keep it off.
    The Solution:

    In pounds, what is your total body weight or your goal body weight (no less than 10% weight loss for 6 months)? That’s how many grams of protein you need daily. Now divide by 4 and that’s your protein target for each of your 4 daily meals.

    Pro-Tip: Eating sufficient protein won’t happen by accident. Even if you’re not tracking all calories, track protein for several weeks to ensure you’re hitting your targets. For maximum muscle building, you need 25-40g every 3 hours. If you’re eating plant-based protein and/or if you’re over 60, aim for the higher end of the range. Be consistent with protein 7 days/week. 

     

    Weight-Loss Mistake 2:

    Doing too much cardio. To the dismay of every personal trainer in the world, the myth that cardio is best for weight-loss just won’t die. Cardiorespiratory training benefits your heart and lungs (cardio=heart and respiratory=lungs). You get some bonus mood and cognitive effects that are always helpful, but this should NOT be your main strategy for weight-loss.

    The Solution:

    Each week, aim for one day of steady-state LISS (low intensity state state) at 65% max heart rate or MISS (medium intensity steady state) at 70-75% max heart rate. You could go for a brisk walk, take a Zumba class, or walk up hill on the treadmill. If you have time and energy, add a second day of higher intensity interval work. Get your heart rate up to 80-90% of max for a short burst followed by an equal or longer recovery interval.

    Pro-tip: If you’re not consistently getting at least 7,500 step daily and 8+ hours of sleep nightly, prioritize these before considering adding cardio to your fitness routine. NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) and sleep are crucial to general health and fat-loss.

     

    Weight-Loss Mistake 3:

    Not strength training to gain muscle. Too many women are still going for the “burn.” They’re doing circuits and bootcamp classes that they think are strength training because they’re using weights or incorporating strength movements like squats, lunges, and push ups. But any workout that focuses on being the right zone or burning the most calories, is NOT strength training. It’s cardio with weights. And those types of workouts are not ideal if weight-loss is your goal, especially if you’re a woman over 40. This is because they are incredibly stressful on the body. And unless your life is stress-free, your’re sleeping 9 uninterrupted hours per night, and your diet is a shinning example of healthy eating, you are setting yourself up for muscle loss, added belly fat, fatigue, and frustration. The opposite of want you want out of your fitness routine and life right now.

    The solution:

    If you have a weight-loss goal, you have a muscle-building goal. Train like it. Prioritize 3-4 days of strength training to build muscle. This is what will keep you burning calories all day long. And a new study recently found that strength training releases compounds from muscle to adipose that allows fat to be broken down for fuel. Which means even more fat-loss for you!

    Pro-tip: Strength training metrics are the amount of weight lifted, number of sets, number of reps, and rest time between sets (unless supersetting). Calorie burn and heart rate are never factors in strength training. Aim for 3 full-body sessions per week or 2 lower and 2 upper for a 4-day split. Stick with the same program for 6-12 weeks. Track your progress (weights lifted, body weight, body fat percentage, and progress photos). Be consistent and patient. 

     

    If you’ve been making any of these weight-loss mistakes, the good news is, when you implement the solutions you WILL get results.

     

    Struggling to hit your protein targets? Don’t know which strength training program is right for you? Schedule a free call here and let’s talk about it!

     

    Related Posts:

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