July Race: Sticking with the Goal

Most of you know that my 2008 goal was to participate in a race every month. July has proven to be very difficult to keep up with that commitment. I signed up for the "Run to the Sun" race a couple Sunday mornings ago. However, I was sick with "stomach issues" for 2 weeks during July. Boy did it slow me down-I hate having to slow down! Instead of going to another race, my husband and son decided to create a make-shift race for me to participate in. We called it the Froehlich Fun Run. Basically we just strolled around the neighborhood, took a picture and called it a race! No matter how much I plan, improvising and accepting change is a very big part of the plan despite my scheduling efforts.

Intensity Changes Everything

It's easy to wonder into weight gain, but impossible to wonder out of losing it. Intensity can increase or decrease weight loss rates. It's all about decisions and how you look at them, here's a perspective:

1. Do I want to add another helping to my plate or forgo the extra calories in order to lose weight quicker?

2. Do I want to drink the extra calories in the form of pop, wine, Starbucks, or sweet tea? Or would I rather drink water instead and save the calories for food.

3. Do I want to eat food for comfort and pleasure? Or nourishment which is ultimately what our bodies need in order to function at it's best capacity.

4. Am I "all in" with this weight loss and living healthy concept? Or would I rather just kinda work at it when it's most convenient and easy for me?

5. Do I really see myself at my ideal weight and doing the things I want to do or do I just think it's a neat idea if it, by chance, happens?


I know these could be a little harsh but they are questions that we should constantly ask ourselves as we push through the obstacles of losing weight and living healthy. After all, since 67% of Americans are overweight being healthy would be the minority.

I Disagree

Many of my clients use weight watchers as the nutritional aspect of helping them lose weight-this is not what I disagree with. Many of my gals have told me that they've heard to fluctuate caloric intake on a day-to-day basis. I guess the idea is to keep your body guessing as to how many calories it will get and because it's different each day your body has to adjust. Unfortunately I don't agree with this statement one bit. I actually think it could be just an excuse to eat what you want on certain days. It reminds me a little tiny bit of yo-yo dieting. Starve yourself one week and the next week eat everything in sight because of deprivation. Starvation typically leads to weight GAIN. This happens because starvation slows down your metabolism!

On a side note, I'm eating a Luna Carmel Nut Brownie right now for my afternoon snack. It's mostly organic with no gluten or high fructose corn syrup but more importantly, yummy!

Be Intentional

I firmly believe that if you really want to do something you have to plan for it. Otherwise it never happens. Here's two things I do to stay on track:

1. Make regular workout appointments. Typically I schedule 4 times/week to exercise. This is something that's the same time each week.

2. Make a monthly meal plan. This is something I've just implemented due to going out to eat for dinner too much thus going over budget (both monetary and caloric). I have a word document that has the whole month of August planned out for dinners. I printed it out and now it's hanging on the side of my fridge. Typically I follow the advice of Dr. Oz and eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch. This makes eating a no-brainer and something my body always expects. So my calendar only has dinner plans. Literally this took about 5 minutes to do. Try it!

A couple of "Little Things"

The other weekend my husband and I went to see the movie, Wanted. We're nuts for fast-paced, action thrillers so, naturally we really enjoyed the flick. The best part of the movie is this song. In my opinion, it's a great one for the ipod during workouts.

The Little Things


On another note, the other day I took the REAL AGE TEST from Dr. Oz. I am 8 years younger than my actual age. Even with my sweet tooth!! He has a couple of really good "eye openers" that I would encourage you to check out.

The RealAge Test

RealAge Nutrition Health Assessment

Client of the Month: Mary

The July "Client of the Month," is Mary. I truly love Mary. I've been working with her for some time now and think she's just an all-around great gal.
And here's why I think this:

1. She's really made her lifestyle one of the picture of health. She incorporates this aspect into daily living.
2. Mary's always on the go (she's retired and does lots of fun traveling around the world) however, she doesn't ever make that an excuse not to exercise. She'll find a 5K race or take some workouts with her to exercise on her own.
3. I say very often that I learn just as much from my clients as they might learn from me, well this is really true with Mary. She's always on the lookout for different books or articles on various health topics and always shares with me and the group what she's learned. For that I will always be grateful.
4. She's so welcoming and encouraging to everyone in the group. It's so refreshing to have her smiling face at class as she's so kind to everyone she meets.
5. This is so cheesy of me to say but I love that Mary has favorite exercises. She loves the pike-to-plank exercise we do on the ball and always gets excited when I tell the group that's what we're going to do next.
6. Mary is always so happy to do any new funky exercise I ask of her. Actually she's normally very excited to try.
7. One of my favorite moments: when Mary attempted and conquered a somersault.
8. Another favorite moment: the broomstick trick. Mary, you might have to bring this back to the group and show off your skills. It's very impressive.
9. I love Mary's desire to be healthy and learn all she can about implementing health and fitness into her daily routine.
10. Yes, Mary is a real person who's positive outlook on life and cheery personality attracts many to follow in her footsteps.

WAY TO GO MARY!

Temptation: The big "D"

I am tempted all the time. Chocolate, need I say more? The other night I was seriously craving a long john doughnut from a bad bad store I call QT. It was 10:30pm and I was dying. I LOVE doughnuts. Note: the only reason I mention this is because even though I am a personal trainer, I am also human.

QT is just minutes away from my house, I could just hop in my car and in less than 5 minutes be tasting a delicioso treat. NO, NO, NO. This is bad. For many reasons:
1. It's way too late to have something like that right before bed. I will wake up with a stomach ache that's not worth the 5 seconds of joy I get from gobbling it down.
2. Healthy people that do unhealthy things become unhealthy.
3. I needs sleep, go to sleep and dream about the silly doughnut.
4. I don't need the high fructose corn syrup, gluten, sugar, and all those carbs. No one does for that matter!

The dramatic conclusion? I stopped obsessing about it and went to sleep. Of course, a good ending to this story-that's why I'm sharing. A victory and guess what, the next morning it didn't even sound good to eat...I wanted my protein shake. Done!

I think the hardest part is getting over the mind-set that I have to have it and have it now. Once I get that out of my head then I can celebrate that I just conquered a small hill. I know I will have a lifetime of doughnut battles but my goal is one-by-one, small victories that will lead to winning the war.

6 Steps to Successful Weight Loss FOREVER

There are many recommendations I would make when meeting with a person to lose weight but here's my top 5. Follow these steps and I know you will be pounds lighter at some point!

1. Set a Realistic Goal. Don't get all crazy like all the infomercials. "I lost 10 pounds in a week!" But in tiny letters at the bottom of the screen reads, "results not typical." This also means, you probably won't lose 10 pounds in one week unless you stop eating completely. Don't listen to all the hype. There is no such thing as a magical weight loss pill or diet or workout program (if there was we'd all know about it because that person would be RICH!) Instead focus on setting small (maybe really easy, attainable) goals for yourself. This way you can avoid feeling disappointed, but rather, excited that you met your goal.

2. Write down everything you eat!!! I can't say this enough and now research supports it, click here to read. You lose TWICE as much weight when you write it all down versus guesstimating. This way you know exactly what you are putting into your body. I highly recommend using a free service like www.calorie-count.com.

3. Surround yourself with someone that will support you. This could be a personal trainer (wink, wink) or a group of people that want you to win. I've found that my ladies that come to the small group training for women class create a great support system for themselves. A close friend, spouse, mother, or father will also do wonders. Someone that will always be able to offer words of encouragement during times of struggle and someone that will be your biggest cheerleader when you get it right. 'Cause both times will happen-unfortunately!

4. Have a secure grasp on the meaning and understanding of diligence. I found some good definitions:
a) The quality of being determined to do or achieve something; firmness of purpose; "his determination showed in his every movement"; "he is a man of purpose"
b)Earnest and persistent application to an undertaking; steady effort; assiduity.
It's going to take much perseverance and diligence to get to where you want to go. Understand this, accept and embrace it. Things will make more sense after this.

5. Create a change collage. Change is hard. It's something that's always constant in life but nonetheless its more difficult for some than others. I have a handful of "change lines" I like to remember often. It keeps me going when I get sad of what I've left behind.
a) not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will one embrace change ~Dave Ramsey
b) If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit
c) All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France
d) When you are through changing, you are through. ~Bruce Barton
e) We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. ~Lynn Hall
f) Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends some thing. ~Paul Valery

6. Think Long Term!It's so easy to set short term goals of weight loss. It's something that we've all done before or are doing again. However, have you ever thought about changing your mindset from present to long-term future? Looking at 10 years down the road and envisioning your life in a decade or two? What will your quality of life be like? What will you enjoying doing in your spare time? Don't do the short-term fix always but make the long-term decision that will impact you in a positive way. Such as the saying, "a moment on my lips, a lifetime on my hips." Get where I'm going with this?!

Pop Quiz

These are just a few questions I pulled out of the book You on a Diet by Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz. How much do you know? (Answers Below)



1. What is the most reason diets fail?

a. They’re designed so that they’re impossible to stick to long-term.

b. They’re so complicated that you need a math degree to follow them.

c. They are only so many carrot sticks and celery stalks a person can take.

d. Mozarella sticks. Mmmm!



2. Which of the following strategies is most recommended for people trying to lose weight?

a. Weighing yourself once a week.

b. Eating two or three small meals a day.

c. Eating nuts every day.

d. Ex-Lax smoothies for everyone!



3. Which choice is most recommended to cut your appetite?

a. Whole-grain foods.

b. Whole aisles of fruit.

c. Whole lot of diet soda.

d. Whole boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.



4. Of the following choices, which is least dangerous to a long-term waist management strategy?

a. A 1,000 calorie-a-day diet.

b. Higher than usual colonics to remove all fat.

c. Training for a marathon.

d. Playing video games.



5. Calorie for calorie, what fills you up for the longest amount of time?

a. Fat

b. Fiber

c. Fructose

d. French Fries



6. At least how much must you walk daily for optimum waist control?

a. 30 minutes

b. Two hours

c. Any time you can spare.

d. Any, as long as it’s not traveling to and from the fridge.



7. Of the following items, what contributes most to weight gain?

a. Periods of low levels of willpower.

b. Short periods of high-intensity stress.

c. Long periods of low-intensity stress.

d. Periods of high-intensity dessert trays.



8. What is the worst side effect of losing weight?

a. Increased risk of chocolate withdrawal.

b. Increased risk of muscular and joint aches.

c. Increased risk of yo-yo dieting.

d. Increased risk of astronomical tailor bill.



Answers:

1. a. Most diets don’t reprogram you to think and eat automatically, so that eventually you’ll go off the diet just as surely as you went on it.

2. c. Eating a handful of nuts has been shown to help you stay full, while skipping meals can be detrimental because your body will go into a fat-storing starvation mode when it doesn’t have enough calories.

3. a. Whole-grain foods are loaded with filling fiber.

4. d. Playing video games works because it keeps your hands busy, so you can’t eat. (Training for a marathon is actually destructive to your body because of the risk to your joints, and for most people 1,000 calories is dangerously low daily caloric intake. Do we really need to explain colonics?)

5. b. Fiber fills you up. A cup of oatmeal in the morning has been shown to prevent you from afternoon gorging.

6. a. Walk at least 30 minutes – at once or in intervals – every day.

7. c. Chronic stress makes your body store more fat.

8. c. Yo-yo dieting not only has physiological effects, because you end up gaining more weight after you’ve lost it, but it also has psychological effects.

My Eats

Many people often ask me what I suggest as far as eating goes. I have lots of favorites but here's a couple of items I currently indulge:

1. I most always start my day off with a protein shake. My favorite is an Herbalife formula 1 meal replacement shake in french vanilla. I mix it with 8 ounces of OJ for a scrumptious start to the day. However any meal replacement will do just fine. The key here is find something that you really enjoy the taste of. I look forward to my shake every morning (have for about 7 years).

2. Amy's is my new Favorite brand! I've been living off her burritos for lunch. I add some fat free sour cream (25 calories) and salsa (10 calories) to make it extra zesty! She also carries an AMAZING Organic Cream of Tomato Soup (it's also gluten free:). In Liberty, Target is the only place I've found that carries this brand. The best part of Amy's is that she's really affordable. The burritos are only $1.70 at Target while the soup is a little more (but very worth the splurge) at $3.

3. Organic Banana's and Grapes. This may sound crazy but they taste like I remember growing up! I don't think I can ever go back to regular produce after tasting the freshness that comes with organic. The extra investment is totally worth it.

4. This isn't a food, just a tip. I always make lunch my biggest meal. I find that I'm always very super-hungry at this time. It helps give me a boost throughout the afternoon and doesn't leave me starving after dinner. Also a mid-morning snack is a must. Work hard to not deprive yourself of calories throughout the day so you don't have to make up for it at night.

I know it's a short list but it's something! I've been a little "under the weather" this week so I'm just proud to get this up!!

Lynette the Trainer

My mother-in-law, Lynette, is a trainer in South Carolina. Last week she had the opportunity to train a contestant, Amy, from the biggest loser show. The show is being taped as I write this post so we won't see her until the fall. Amy and her husband were selected as contestants for the show about 7 weeks ago. Amy got booted off two weeks ago and therefore began training with Lynette.

Amy's husband is still on the show and has lost around 76 pounds so far (in just 7 weeks?!). She just got invited back to the show and is leaving tomorrow. She works out every day and tries to burn 4000 calories a day and eats only 1000 calories. Not healthy from a personal trainer’s standpoint and very unrealistic to continue on a long-term basis.

This would be one reason why I dislike the show; it shows everyone a very unhealthy way to lose weight by using extreme measures. So instead of losing 1-2 pounds per week, they are losing 10-20 pounds giving viewers at home a feeling that losing that much weight per week is something that should be attained. I understand its hollywood and dramatic results increase ratings but starvation and vigorous exercise for a short peroid of time are only going to cause frustration and set-back. Depriving your body of nutrients makes in crave them ten-fold.




Amy is in the red shirt. Lynette is in black to the left of her.

Health & Money

Money and fitness go hand in hand. Check it out!

1. Poor people that do rich people things become rich.
2. Unhealthy people that do healthy things become healthy.

3. Saving $85 a month doesn't seem like much but after a year it adds up to over $1000. A good amount of spending cash!
4. Losing 5 pounds a month doesn't seem like much but after a year it adds up to 60 pounds gone! A handful of dress sizes different.

5. Money is all about daily choices and self control.
6. Health is all about daily choices and self control.

7. It's hard work and dedication but you can get out of debt.
8. It's hard work and dedication but you can lose weight.

9. It's all about changing spending habits and sticking with it.
10. It's all about changing food and exercise habits and sticking with it.

Overcoming Obstacles

I've tried to write this post a handful of times. For some reason I just can't spit out into words what's going through my brain. There's so many different angles I could take this. The "hump" seems more complicated to me than ever. Nevertheless, here's a handful of theories:

1. (From a post I never published last week)

I've been meditating on "the hump" this week. I wanted to make sure I put enough thought and research into this topic as it's a big one. There are many ideas and approaches to this that entered my brain this week. Although there were lots of keepers, there is one logic that I feel sums it all up.

We only have one chance, one life; make it a good one.

I came to this conclusion earlier in the week. My husband and I were having one of our usual "budget meetings", but this one was far from usual. Instead of discussing monthly goals we visited about our vision for the next 5-25 years. I know there are so many variables and things that could change dramatically during that time, like our income (either up or down). Nonetheless, we set some goals for retirement, kids college funds, future house, car, boat, etc... Then it hit me, we only have ONE chance at this. If we mess it up now, there's not another opportunity because we have just this one life. We're only going to be 30 years old one time. We're only going to have the year 2008 one time. July 6th, 2008 only happens once. Deep, I know. As I was sharing this insight with my husband, he called me Mandy Freud...Funny.

So I wanted to attempt to make this correlate with fitness. I only have one body. If I decide to eat extra calories for the decade of my 30's and omit exercising regularly, chances are when I hit 40 my body will start to show the effects. My knees and hips may decide to fail as well. When I am 80 my body might tell me it's done walking. Who knows? My quality of life later on will more than likely be affected for the worse. Or if I take care of my body now, the 60 year old version of me will look back and thank the 25 year old version of me because of the decisions and choices I'm making now.

I want my "one chance" to be one of no regret as one of the worst feelings (in my opinion) is the taste of regret.

2. The mini steps to get out of a hump.

a. Re-focus.
b. Remember what brought you to the place of wanting to change your life.
c. Revise micro goals into something realistic. Many times we over-estimate ourselves (I do this all the time) and set unattainable goals. The only constant in life is change. Situations change thus micro goals need changed along with life.
d. Find someone or something that inspires you to keep going. I think this is very useful as certain people or situations motivate me such as (as cheesy as this may sound) watching American Gladiators. The show is all about overcoming obstacles and reaching for a goal. Something else that really inspires me is being around healthy people. People that eat right and exercise. I see how they "have it together" and strive for that same situation for my own life.
e. Get to know someone. I find I do this a lot. I try to find people that I can relate to that I want to strive to be like. Maybe I like their character, a personality characteristic, or the way they handle tough situations. I study them (although they never know this) and work to figure them out. I ask them questions to further my investigation which helps me understand how to improve myself more.
e. Check out Gretchen's list of keeping New Year's Resolutions

From Jillian

I really like Jillian Michaels. Yeah she's a celebrity trainer and does quite a few things on her show that would NEVER work in reality. However, we're on the same page for the most part of fitness issues and weight-loss theories. She sends out a newsletter that I get in my "junk email account" most everyday. Here's what she had to say on Monday of this week, I thought it was good so I wanted to share as my "ode to the hump" lots of us are working through.





You Choose, You Win
There's no such thing as mindless weight loss. You can't sleep off the pounds or take a miracle pill that burns fat. Losing weight is about making the right choices, every single day, in a variety of different situations. Here's how one of my online teammates took control:

"I have had such a great weekend that I want to share it with you. I have been to three social events (eating events) since Thursday. I have purposely stayed away from them whenever possible until I felt more in control. I wanted to be able to go and enjoy myself without the anxiety of feeling deprived. It's like I had an Aha! moment and tried a new tactic for me. I made a plan ahead of time. I decided to go, have a good time and not deprive myself.
I decided ahead of time that Saturday would be a high calorie day so in the morning I did a cardio workout that burned 400 calories and that's how much I upped my calories for the day. Then I decided I could have anything I wanted but, I only had a certain amount of calories to spend.

I had a bridal shower for brunch and my son's birthday dinner. At the shower, I decided I would pick out the three things that I thought I would enjoy the most, of course paying close attention to portion to stay within my budget. I probably scanned the buffet for a full 10 minutes to make sure I got the best bang for my buck (LOL) and I drank water because I didn't want to waste valuable calories.

After eating I got up and started walking around taking pictures...it was a big shower and I only knew the bride, her sister, and her mother. Taking pictures gave me a chance to meet people and kept my focus away from the food.

For dinner, we decided on Mexican food and margaritas. Yum, my favorite! Again, I chose to drink water, not wanting to waste any calories. After hearing Jillian say that one margarita has about 800 calories I passed. Not worth it. I had a very satisfying dinner.

When I weighed myself this morning I was down another 1/2 pound. I CAN LIVE THIS WAY! Success tastes so much better than anything I could eat. This afternoon I went through my closet and pulled out anything that was too big. Now they are in a bag at the basement door, waiting pick-up by the Kidney Fund. I don't need them anymore because I will NEVER be that size again." – ngidding