Posts Tagged ‘success’

My 4:00 am Wake Up Call

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

This morning I woke up at 4:00 am. Seems like every few months, I get insomnia. I fall asleep quickly but then wake up after a couple of hours.

After lying in bed for thirty minutes I decided to turn on the TV.

I was hoping to find something boring and doze back off to sleep. With blurry eyes I flipped through the channels. I thought my remote was stuck because it looked like the same show was on every station. It was nothing but infomercials. Three stations had weight loss gadgets, one station was some gadget to change your life in the kitchen and one station was showing something to change your life in the bedroom. At 4:00 am, the only change I want going on in my bedroom is some sleep!!

I decided to see what kind of crap was being sold at 4:00 am and what kind of ridiculous promises were being made.

First channel surfing stop was a product known as the Contour. This gadget is a belt that when worn around the midsection sends electrical currents to tighten and tone while you get to sit around and watch TV. I watched as they showed the user doing traditional sit ups. On cue, he made the squishy, contorted facial expression of a man in pain. He said the sit up hurt his back….poor baby, poor incredibly ripped, lean hunk of gorgeousnesses.

Enter the expert!

The expert showed a thermoscan of gorgeous male model’s muscles while doing sit ups and then while wearing the “amazing” Contour belt. Of course the Thermoscan lit up when that hunk of a man put on the belt.

Even in my sleep deprived state, I knew that this was a load of crap.

If you watch closely enough and take you eyes off of that hot body long enough, you will see a quick flash of print at the bottom of the screen, the same print that is on the bottom of the TV screen of all these stupid gadgets and that is that results are not typical….blah, blah, blah. Does anyone even read that or they already on the phone ordering, not one but 2? God forbid you ever get just one item from an infomercial. We all know that if you act now, they will send you another one for FREE!!

Ok, in case you missed the print at the bottom of the screen, here it is.

Regular users of the Contour device can generally expect modest strengthening and toning of abdominal muscles. Results are not typical. He lost weight on a reduced calorie diet and an exercise program.

Please do me a favor and read the above paragraph again, this time out loud.

This was just one station. The others were showing a Brazilion Butt Lift program and The Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis. Same crap, different delivery.

After flipping back and forth between several of these programs, I finally found and settled on an I Love Lucy marathon. Those were the good old days!

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Insanity; Doing the Same Thing and Expecting Different Results

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Obviously I thought this blog would write itself since it was dated December 12th and I am just actually getting to it.

I meant to get this done before the New Year but I guess January 3rd will have to do.

There is a huge amount of commercials on TV guaranteeing fast results with little to no work. Most of these products are worthless and some are downright absurd.

Let’s start with the Shake Weight. Have you seen the commercials? I seriously thought they were Saturday Night Live spoofs. The One featuring the guy is really funny..and obscene. I hope that actor made a lot of money for that. The Shake Weight promises toned arms in just minutes a day. I guess millions of people bought into the hype because whoever invented that made a ton of money. Just because it sold millions, does that mean it works? No!! The weight loss industry was around 40 billion dollars richer from the money that was spent. I just think how many people we could feed if we quit looking for a quick fix and just did the work required to lose weight.

Let’s take a closer look at this product shall we? First of all, they are paid actors. Do you really think the actors in those commercials look like they do from using a Shake Weight? Fitness models are paid to look like they do. They work out and diet for a living so that when a product comes calling, they are ready.

Secondly, I imagine that most of the people who buy these products are overweight or have higher than average body fat. Even if the Shake Weight did tone your arms, you wouldn’t see anything until you drop your body fat percentage into the lean category.

Getting your body fat low enough to show off toned arms takes some serious consistent changes in the diet along with regular exercise that includes weight training. There is no gadget that is going to get you there..unless that gadget happens to include a plastic surgeon. Even then, there is only so much they can do.

Next blog I will talk about another ridiculous product I saw last night. It’s a t-shirt for men that promises a 6 inch loss around the stomach. I bet the call centers were busy last night.

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Your Health is In Your Own Hands, what are you going to do about it?

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

I’ve heard so many people complain about the shape they are in. Lots of excuses and futile attempts at dieting and exercise.

Most of the ones who complain have been jumping from fad diet to fad diet for years thinking that this time, this diet is going to work. These are the ones who have been overweight most of their lives and yet are holding on to old behaviors and excuses.

It is mind boggling to me the amount of people who have treatable diseases like Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, knee and back pain due to lack of exercise and poor diet.

Yet they ignore the recommendations of their doctors and instead go on medications.

I’ve heard sad stories of obese patients being admitted to hospitals for obesity related diseases that can’t be treated because of extreme weight. Some lifesaving medications or measures will not work on the extreme obese patients.

This can change! We have control over our destiny. We make the choices to continue to live or to continue to die or worse, continue to live a life of quiet desperation.

I’ve had thousand of clients, many who have seen dramatic changes in their lives and many who leave exactly the way they came in.

Here is the difference

Successful client makes gradual changes to their current diet by eliminating the foods that are are unhealthy and have no nutritional value. They exchange soft drinks and sweet tea for water.

Unsuccessful client tries to eliminate everything from their diet, cutting calories too low and skipping meals and then going on extreme binges.

Successful client understands and accepts the fact that healthy weight loss will be anywhere from 1-2 pounds a week and that losing weight and getting in shape is a process that can take weeks to a year depending on the amount of weight they need to lose.

Unsuccessful client is looking for a quick fix hoping to drop 20 pounds in a couple of weeks, hence the jumping from diet to diet, program to program.

Successful client keeps a food journal so that they learn about their eating habits and see where they might need to make changes and more importantly see how many calories they are eating.

Unsuccessful client does not keep a food journal and makes excuses why jotting down the food they eat is too hard. They guess at the calories and are convinced that they are not eating that much.

Successful client eliminates processed food from their diet and instead begins to eat fresh fruit and vegetables and lean sources of protein.

Unsuccessful client continues to eat fast food, processed foods and non nutritious food because they don’t have time to eat healthy.

Successful client make time to exercise at least 5 times a week. Even though they are busy and have kids. They will carve out at least 15-20 minutes out of their day to exercise. They make themselves, their health and fitness a priority.

Unsuccessful client makes excuses and does not make their health and fitness a priority.

Successful client make healthy choices when eating out, eats smaller portions and brings home leftovers or shares large entrees.

Unsuccessful client eats out frequently, makes poor choices, chooses high fat food and alcohol.

Successful client accepts setbacks and yet continues to live a healthier lifestyle, getting back on track immediately.

Unsuccessful client will tell themselves that the program or diet is not working and will move on to the next fad and diet.

Successful client will challenge themselves in their workouts, making goals and striving to improve.

Unsuccessful client will do just enough to get by, skip workouts and make excuses.

Successful client will do effective full body workouts, lift weights that are challenging and push themselves out of their comfort zone.

Unsuccessful client will have a house full of exercise gadgets including ab rockers, ab circles, ab-o-sizer, shake weights, and a treadmill being used as a clothes hanger.

Successful client will be consistent over time knowing that losing weight and getting fit is a lifestyle change. They will choose an eating plan and exercise that can be done for life.

Unsuccessful client will get frustrated and give up after a week or two of not seeing changes. They will “diet” and eat healthy maybe a few times a week and then eat poorly the rest of the week. They convince themselves that they are in fact eating healthy and that this diet, this exercise, this program is not working. Again, they move on to the next quick fix, not realizing that wherever they go, there they are.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve trained thousands of clients, I’ve seen success and I’ve listened to tons of excuses but more importantly, I’ve been there myself.

Losing weight and getting in shape is a lifestyle change, not a quick fix. If you can do the right things even 80% of the time, you will be well on your way to a fitter, healthier life. You will lose the weight in the safest possible time, you will be stronger, have more energy. You will be a better spouse a better parent a better employee.

Spending time doing the right thing will actually free up more quality time so that you can enjoy the life you’ve been given.

It’s up to you. Take inventory of where you are and where you want to be. Make goals that are doable and write them down. Put them somewhere you can see them through out the day.

Start keeping an exercise and food journal. Write down your excuses and then write the steps you ARE going to take when you start making excuses.

Accept the fact that this is not a quick fix but a lifestyle change.

Laurel

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Step Away From the Scale!

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

I don’t know about any other fitness business in town, but we have been getting a lot of calls from people ready to start a fitness program. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled with the prospect of new clients, but I also want to make sure that you aren’t setting yourself up for failure.

You see, this happens with the start of every new year. People are so anxious to get a fresh start on being healthy, getting fit and losing weight. They try to do everything at once. Join a gym (or boot camp), start a super strict diet, or worse, join one of those unhealthy ultra-low calorie diet centers.

Your intentions are great, it’s just that most people set themselves up for failure by trying to change everything all at once.

What happens with most people is that they start off strong, work out 5 days a week, change their diet and then give up in a few weeks when they see they haven’t lost huge numbers on the scale like they see on The Biggest Loser.

They begin to think all their hard work is futile. They become discouraged and eventually workouts become less of a priority. With the decrease in workouts, the healthy eating isn’t as important. “What’s the point, I’m not losing weight, I might as well eat”. I’ve heard this a million times. Heck, I’ve said this myself and I know better.

The number one problem is that too many people are focused on the “almighty scale”. If the scale isn’t showing progress, they think, that THEY are not making progress. Their self worth, self esteem and happiness boil down to the number they see in the morning.

Let me assure you that the scale and the numbers on the scale are just that; numbers! Those numbers represent your entire body. The scale has no idea if your weight is fat, water, bones, hair or internal organs. It’s just a number.

If you want to measure your progress, then the best thing you can do is to get your body fat tested, check how your clothes fit, use a tape measure or even take weekly pictures.

I can’t tell you how many times I hear women complain that they are working out so hard and the scale isn’t moving. I ask them if their clothes fit different and most of the time they will tell me that their clothes are getting lose. So why are you still focused on the scale?

I’ve trained 1,000s of people over the last 10 years and I’ve done 1,000s of body fat testing. I’ve trained people who lost tons of inches and body fat, lost several sizes in their clothes and the scale either didn’t move at all, or it only moved slightly.

I like to give people an example of my younger days when I was struggling with an eating disorder.

In my early 20s, I weighed just under 100 lbs. I wasn’t working out; just starving myself. I wore a size 9 jean.

In my 30s I started working out, lifting super heavy weights and competing in bodybuilding competitions. In the weeks leading up to one of my contests, I weighed 124 lbs, but I wore a size 0.

Had I judged my progress on the scale alone, I would have been very discouraged and probably given up. Thank God, I knew better.

Do yourself a favor this year. Work out, eat healthy and stay off the scale. Instead of judging your progress by a little machine that doesn’t know any better, judge your progress by how you look and feel in your clothes and how you feel.

Don’t give up! Some people take longer than others to see changes. Trust me, if you are changing your life, then changes are happening inside of your body. It may just take longer to see those changes on the outside.

Have a healthy week!

Laurel

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Our Biggest Losers

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Eleven weeks ago 41 of our boot campers stepped on the scale for our Biggest Loser weigh in. We did a 10 weeks contest, ending right before spring break. We divided into 3 teams with Mike, Bean and I being team leaders. We had prizes for the winning team as well as the overall male and female winners. Everyone paid $5.00 which was split between the winning team.

We encouraged food journals and had special workouts on the weekends to help with everyone’s success. I can’t speak for the other teams, but I only had a few that turned in food journals. Not surprising, these were the people that lost the most weight.

During our weigh in last week, I asked each and everyone who had lost a significant amount of weight in the 10 weeks, what their “secret” was. Well, here it is.

They wrote down what they ate and added more exercise to their week!

Even people that eat “healthy” found that they were overeating once they started writing down what they ate. People who were undereating also found that writing down their food intake helped get them on track.

Those who come to boot camp two or three times a week found that adding another day or two of some type of cardio was just what they needed to get the scale moving again.

Normally I would tell you to stay off of the scale, but since we were doing a contest with a lot of people, we needed a simple measuring tool.

I too found that when I was writing down what I ate, which is pretty simple, I started dropping fat. I started slacking off during the last two weeks of the contest, only keeping a food journal once every few days, and my weight loss stopped.

Once you can get into the habit of writing down your food intake, seeing what normal servings are, finding out which foods should be eaten in moderation and which foods are not worth eating because of the high amount of calories, then you may find you can stop keeping a journal.

There are several great food journals out there. I like www.calorieking.com. Some of my clients prefer www.sparkpeople.com. There is also www.fitday.com.

So, our little contest proved again what I have preached all along. In order to lose weight (fat) you need to eat right and exercise. You won’t know if you are eating right until you write it down and keep track of what it is you are eating.

Exercise should be done at least 5 days a week.

Before you fork out money on another diet program or weight loss supplements, try my free and simple solution to fat loss; a food journal and hard exercise at least 5 days a week.

Congratulations to MY team for winning our Biggest Loser contest. Congratulations to John T and Lisa C for having the most weight loss. Congratulations to everyone who stuck out the 10 weeks and saw some great results.

We will do this again.

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