Calorie Debate
The question of the day! Are calories:
A)
OR B)
I thought we needed a little humor this week. Enjoy!
Sugar: The Bitter Truth
There are so many things that I want to post in relation to the sugar challenge that I have going right now. BUT I think this is THE most important thing to share. I know most of us don’t have much extra time with our busy schedules but please, PLEASE, PLEASE spend at least 15 minutes to begin to watch this lecture on YouTube. I implore you. I beg you. I BEG you. I urge you. Don’t make me get the thesaurus out!!! Just please take time to watch this lecture given by Dr. Lustig, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. He goes into detail about sugar and why it is a true poison for us.
Take the time to watch it. Educate yourself on how sugars are metabolized in the body. The more you learn about how your body treats the food you consume, the better armed you will be to make a healthy lifestyle change.
The YouTube video has 2,817,640 views. Can’t be that bad, right?
Let me know what you think of it! I actually plan to watch it at least 3 more times. I know. I’m nuts.
It’s a Short But Not So Sweet Sugar Challenge!
It’s time to attack that greedy little sugar monster hiding within us. You know the one. The one that pokes its head in while we are trying our best to eat healthy and lose a bit of body fat. That darn little monster knows when we are weak. During hormonal fluctuations for us ladies, times of stress, boredom, when we are hungry, and even when we are tired. That doesn’t even complete the list. That little monster seems to be sitting on our shoulder 24/7 for some of us.
It’s time to send that little monster packing. Are you ready?
Did Someone Say Sugar?
Can you guess what this post is about? You got it! Sugar and all it’s yumminess. It must be yummy to be consumed in such a large quantity, right? So yummy, in fact, that it is one of the hardest habits for my clients to break. Can it really be that bad of a habit? Absolutely. Let’s take a gander at this nifty little infographic I found on Pinterest.
Sink your teeth into this info for a day or two because my Not So Sweet challenge is coming up on Monday. Enjoy it while you can!
Look what’s cooking in July!
Yummy veggie enchiladas! Original photo and recipe on perrysplate.com (see recipe below)
One of the biggest things I tell my clients is that healthy food doesn’t have to be boring and bland. I find a lot of trainers tend to feed their clients an endless supply of grilled chicken breasts and steamed broccoli. Nothing screams tasty like that 3 times a day, huh?
So how do you know what qualifies as healthy? The basic thing that I do is look at the ingredient list. The best thing is to find ingredients that are whole food… or darn near close. How it comes off a tree or out of the ground is best. Whole fruits and veggies. Unsaturated fats like olive oil and avocado. Lean meats like chicken breasts and tilapia. Even fattier fish, like salmon, are an excellent choice because the fats are unsaturated and rich in Omega-3′s.
Give It All You Got!
We are rolling into our 3rd 30 day challenge. Have you been following along for the other challenges? If so, it’s time to take a look back. Where can you use some improvement? Have you been consistent? What is the one area that is giving you the most problems? What can you do to change that?
List a few small goals for the month. Something you can achieve without much added stress. The point of this is to make a gradual lifestyle change that you can maintain. Crazy overnight changes are what cause most of us to give up. Up your cardio by 15 minutes a few sessions each week. Try to get in a bit more water each day. Give up that soda and try some flavored teas. My current favorite is the Tazo brand Passion tea.
30 Day Challenge Part 2
It’s time for the second part of the challenge. How did you do the last 30 days? It’s time to look at what you accomplished last month and where you fell down. Set some new goals, find some new recipes, and let’s get this challenge started! How many points are you going to rack up the next 30 days?
The rules are the same. There are separate categories for food, water, cardio, and resistance training. I’ve added a category for stretching to try and convince my clients that it really IS important.
30 Day Challenge
It’s that time of year. The weather is getting warmer… or as hot as the face of the sun if you live here in sunny Arizona. It’s time to start wearing less clothing and suddenly we see those extra pounds of insulation that crept onto our bodies over the winter.
New Year’s Eve has come and gone and those resolutions have been put on the back burner. Let’s dig out those fitness and health goals and get started on a 30 day challenge to get you feeling better about baring some skin.
Sample Workout Schedule
When a client comes to me they have specific goals they want to accomplish. Most want to lose the most amount of body fat in the least amount of time while gaining lean mass to add solid curves. I’m not about quick fixes or easy plans. A fit body comes from hard work and consistency. Period. The end.
There are no quick fixes or magic pills. You cannot spot reduce by doing abs until the cows come home or the popular inner and outer thigh machine. What I preach is working the muscles of your body at least once per week to build muscle while doing cardio to provide that extra calorie burn to reduce body fat levels. All of this while eating a clean meal plan that provides the correct amount of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and fat) to sustain bodily functions, muscle repair, and your physical activity level. The added cardio will assist in the calorie burn to reduce your body fat stores.
