The other day a prospective client walked into my office to sit down and talk about her struggles getting in shape. She is a bright girl with a very bubbly personality, except talking about getting rid of her “chunky thighs” as she called them was a sore subject. “Sara”, let’s just call her, is by [...]

Compression sportswear, usually made from spandex and worn by athletes, have clear benefits as far as protecting your body. Not only do they cling to your body, making sure your skin is protected from the harsh elements, they are reported to keep your muscles in optimal shape for performance. They also make a great addition [...]

Before I show you the what foods to eat to lose weight let me show you something interesting. The average calories per day that an average, active adult male requires is around 2500 – roughly. Most of us eat at least 3 meals per day, often more by the time we include snacking. Just one [...]

In my opinion the Powertec WB-UB Utility Bench is a worthy investment for you home gym. It has been designed to be used stand alone or incorporated with other Powertec equipment and I like that the company also sells optional attachments, so you can do more than just barbell or dumbbell work. The Powertec Utility [...]

Is it possible that your life expectancy could be estimated according to the amount of wear and tear on your walking shoes? It may seem unlikely, but new research printed in The Journal of the American Medical Association says that this is entirely possible. The first issue of the Journal released for 2011 revealed details [...]

This is a guest post by Kal Gunay. Hey again, hope you’re doing great! An issue a lot of people have when trying to lose weight is a “slow metabolism”. The thing is, these people think they’re stuck with a sluggish metabolism and that they just have to deal with it for the rest of [...]

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Starting a new workout program is almost always exciting – or at least it should be! Before you get too crazy though, remember that it’s important to do a few things first. Knowing these things before you start will allow you to “see” what you’ve accomplished along the way which will help you stay motivated.

Get your doctor’s okay. This is especially true if you’re a complete beginner. You need to be sure you’re aware of any underlying health conditions and even if you know you have any complications to begin with, your doctor should know what kind of physical activity you are planning to participate in. (I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear about it!)

Weigh yourself. Out of all six of the things on this list, I’m willing to be that most people do weigh themselves before starting. When weighing yourself, do so first thing in the morning. While starting weight IS important to be able to compare to when you’ve finished a program, there are a few more things you should be keeping track of.

Take measurements. Measurements are SO important because you’ll be able to see inches lost even if you haven’t lost that many pounds. When you’re burning fat and building muscle, it’s going to be difficult at times to see much difference in the numbers on the scale (depending on your current physique) but you WILL notice inches lost. You’ll see it in the mirror and you’ll feel the changes in the way your clothes fit. I just use one of those measuring tapes for sewing.

Be sure to measure the following:

• Waist (at belly button level)
• Hips (widest part – may have to turn sideways to see where that is)

Take before photos.  I know what you’re thinking… but taking “before” photos is SO important. Just think of these as your “goodbye photos”. They’re for your eyes only and they will serve two purposes: The first is that you’ll see what you looked like before you started so you can see the differences after 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc. The second is that at anytime you get discouraged along the way, you can take out your “before” photos and tell yourself that you don’t wanna look like that anymore – or ever again! Great motivation.

Record body fat percentage. If you haven’t checked your body fat percentage before, you definitely should. You can estimate this online using various calculators but you’ll never know for sure without actually physically measuring it for yourself. You’ll get the most accurate reading if you measure body fat in 2-3 different ways, but we’ll keep things simple here. To track your body fat percentage you simply need to choose one method and use it throughout the duration of your program.

Three examples:

• Body fat calipers (very inexpensive, even included with some workout DVD programs)
• Body fat scale such as the EatSmart Digital Precision Body Fat Scale (this is what I use)
• Fat loss monitor

Keep a food diary. Keeping a food diary or food journal is crucial if you’re trying to lose weight. A food journal allows you to visualize what you’re putting into your mouth. This makes it easy to analyze how you’re eating and where you could make some improvements. When tracking, log every single calorie that touches your lips. It’s very easy to make calorie counting mistakes but just remember that each one counts! It’s a good idea to track water consumption too. I usually try to aim for 64 ounces each day. You can keep a food diary using a notebook or online for free using MyFitnessPal.

*NOTE: Once you’ve started your program, I recommend tracking your progress every 30 days along with way. Thirty days is a sufficient amount of time to be able to see changes in your body. If you want you can weigh yourself more frequently but I’d suggest no more than once per week. Also, if you do choose to weigh yourself weekly, be sure to weigh-in on the same day of the week (like Wednesdays).

*ANOTHER NOTE: When taking measurements, body fat and checking weight, I’d suggest doing so at the same time of day each time. I tend to like mid-afternoon for taking measurements and checking body fat percentage and first thing in the morning for weigh-ins.

*Repeat steps 2-5 every 30 days.

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When I say Christmas hangover, I’m not even talking about just alcohol. I’m talking about all the Christmas “stuff” in general. For example: holidays dinners, gift wrapping, gift unwrapping, lame comments, traffic, loud voices, dogs rubbing their back on the Christmas tree – toppling it and a cat who has managed to knock off every single ornament with the exception of about 6. Oh and did I mention lame-ass drivers? I swear I’ve never seen so many rude drivers in a span of 4 days as I did this past weekend. Even in my stepson’s elementary school parking lot. On his last day of school last week before Christmas vacation, drivers were cutting off other drivers to get out of the parking lot. Really?

Look, Santa was at the school too and THAT didn’t even help:

I haven’t had such a busy Christmas weekend in quite some time. Having 4 kids and several blended families makes for a whole lot of Christmases in a short period of time. (We had FIVE of them.) The kids love it though! It’s probably true that there are still a Christmas celebration or two to be had before all is said and done but the bulk of it is o-v-e-r. Thank goodness. My energy tank needs to refill itself!

With that said, I just wanted to list a few tips to make it easier to get back on track after the hectic holidays.

Get plenty of rest.

On any given day, I generally wake up around 6am – even on the weekends. It’s my internal alarm clock that wakes me at nearly the same time every day. I also stay up between 9 and 10pm. Now with the holidays, I stayed up later, got up earlier and had extremely busy days which for me brings feelings of complete exhaustion. Last night I slept from about 8pm to 9am this morning. Apparently my body needed some sleep!

Sleep is important because it’s during that time that your body rests and rebuilds itself to help you feel refreshed and energized for the day. Allow yourself some extra sleep time after the holidays. You’ll feel refreshed and ready to tackle anything.

Begin (or continue) clean eating habits.

Christmas feasts are filled with lots of goodness but it’s important to get back on track as soon as you can. Begin your day with a nutritious breakfast and it’ll help you eat better throughout the day. Protein at breakfast time keeps you fuller longer and you’ll be less likely to crave “bad” carbs later on. I like to think of protein as something that keeps my appetite balanced. Including it at each meal is a must.

You are under NO obligation to eat all the leftovers.

Don’t get caught up in eating all of the leftovers your in-laws, cousins, aunts, grandmas and friends sent you home with.

Forgive yourself.

If you overate (like I did yesterday), suck it up and move on. Tomorrow is another day and you can start FRESH. Don’t be too hard on yourself for enjoying a yummy holiday meal. Life goes on and what you did yesterday doesn’t HAVE to affect you in a negative way, as long as you keep moving forward and make healthy choices.

Workout!

If you slipped up on workouts this past weekend, again, don’t be too hard on yourself. Schedule a workout for yourself as soon as possible and stick to it. You’ll feel better physically and mentally and you’ll burn calories too. If you’re up for a challenge? Add an extra 10 minutes to your cardio session or a few extra reps in your strength training workout.

The holidays can definitely make it pretty easy to slip up on our diet and exercise routines. The best thing you can do is vow to make healthier food choices and schedule your workouts in as soon as possible!

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Content in this feed is copyright Melinda F and may not be republished without written permission. This means you’re welcome to forward the e-mail to a friend or colleague but it’s not okay to add the RSS feed automatically as content on another blog or website.

*Disclaimer: My husband came up with the title for this post and it made me laugh so I had to use it! I asked him for an idea for a title and he spit this out like a reflex as soon as I asked. He’s a pretty quiet guy but when stuff does come out of his mouth it surprises ya.

Christmas is coming – just about 20 days before it makes it’s arrival again. Feels like I just got done making Christmas cookies! (and that was a year ago!) If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a fitness lover or just looking for some ideas yourself, here are a few things I’ve come across throughout the year that I think are useful at the very least, but some are pretty unique too.

Fit Gear

iPod Nano. You can find the colorful, newly designed iPod Nanos at Amazon.com for less than $120 right now and that includes free shipping. They’re available in several different colors including pink, green, orange, graphite and blue. Every fitness enthusiast has a playlist, this is the perfect tool to use during any type of workout weather it’s at the gym, in your home or outdoors. They also have the iPod Shuffles for less than $50!

Resistance Bands. Resistance bands are a great fitness tool because they make it easy to workout anywhere. Also, you can substitute resistance bands for exercises that typically require cables. I don’t have cables so I use resistance bands to modify moves like cable flyes, delt flyes, various crossover moves and more. Bodylastics.com has some great packages (starting at just $29.95, single bands for as low as $11.95) and the bands are of great quality – you can even use them to assist with pull-ups. Also available at Amazon where you can get free shipping.

Heart Rate Monitor (Polar). Heart rate monitors are another useful fitness tool because they allow you to keep your heart rate in check. This type of monitor allows you to realize when you’re working in your own personal target heart rate zone. It also helps you realize when you’re outside of your zone – whether it be too low or too high. This Polar FT7 model is getting great reviews and prices start at $76 at Amazon.com. Polar is an excellent brand but there are various models and even other brands that are cheaper in price.

Camo Lifting Gloves. These gloves have genuine swarovski crystals on them! These are on my Christmas list! They have a bunch of other colors including pink, blue, purple, green, orange, animal prints and more. The lifting gloves I have now are ripped all over the place. Plus they’re kind of bulky. These gloves seem like they’d be a bit easier to work with for lifting purposes. I like the pink ones here too. ($24.99) *Use coupon code “MFHERS” to save 5% on purchases made through 12/31/11. FemmeFitaleFitness.com

Jump Rope. Jump ropes are a very inexpensive way to get a bit of cardiovascular exercise. You can use them for warming up or circuit training and you can jump rope pretty much anywhere. You can get fancy weighted ones or even ones like you used to use in elementary school. I personally have one of each! My “elementary days” jump rope is exactly like the one pictured but it’s yellow and white and I’m pretty sure it was only like $5 at either Walmart or Amazon? The only problem I have with jump roping? My dogs always go after it and get slapped on their backs! And then I stop. ($5.00)

Home Workout DVDs. I’m a home workout fan (my basement is my gym) and I have learned to appreciate fitness DVDs in addition to the free weights I also like to use. Just off the top of my head I know that I own Turbo Jam, Step 360, APY60 Yoga, P90X and 30 Day Shred and these are just a sample of what’s available for home use! Jillian Michaels has a new DVD coming out this week titled, “Jillian Michaels Extreme Shed & Shred“. I like home workouts because you can push yourself to the limit (without others watching), no fighting for equipment or long waits and you don’t need any major equipment. ($12.99)

Words to Sweat By (gym towel). I love these. It seems like such a simple concept but I wouldn’t have ever thought to do it! This isn’t your ordinary gym towel. Words to Sweat By has an entire line of gym towels with cute sayings on them to help motivate and inspire you during your workouts.

My favorites: “There will be no jiggle in my wiggle” and also “C is for crunches, not cookies.”

You might even think it’s too cute to wipe your sparkly sweat on, but hopefully not! Words to Sweat By also has tank tops, t-shirts, keychains and more. ($9.95)

Customized Yoga Mat. YogaMatic.com offers yoga mats that can be completely customized with your own photo! This would make a great gift item for somebody else or a nice little splurge for yourself if you’re a true yoga fan. I think I first saw these on Oprah when Jennifer Aniston brought one to The Oprah Show that had a photo of Oprah’s dogs on it. It was so cute!! I wouldn’t want my big ‘ol face on one of these but pet photos or photos of your children would be a pretty neat idea. Although, I’m not sure how I’d feel about sitting on them?  ($85.00)

Fit Reads

The 4-Hour Body (Tim Feriss). I haven’t personally read this book but it’s getting excellent reviews. I have read his previous title “The 4-Hour Work Week” and this guy knows his stuff. In this book he talks about methods of putting on muscle, “subtracting fat”, improving your sex life, running farther, jumping higher….it seems like it’s geared more towards men – at least according to reviews.

Push (Chalene Johnson). The girls on your list (or maybe yourself!) may prefer Chalene Johnson’s brand new book, “PUSH”. I have pre-ordered this one and can’t wait to get it! In “PUSH”, she talks about how to transform your body, your diet and your life in 30 days. She’s one of the most positive, upbeat people you will ever come to know. Take a peek at her Facebook or Twitter page and you’ll see what I mean.

Fit Accessories

Skull Candy WTF Beanie. I loooove these hats! The purple/gray is my favorite but there are over 50 DIFFERENT colors and styles available. I like these hats because they’re reversible and because they appear to be big enough for my head. I have such a hard time finding hats that fit but this one looks like it’ll do the trick. ($19.99) SkullCandy.com

Skull Candy Chops Buds. Here’s another great gift idea from Skull Candy, ear buds. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time with the ear buds that originally came with my iPod Nano. The one for my right ear constantly falls out. These ear buds are perfect because they curl around your ear to help them stay in place. Whether you’re running or lifting you won’t have to worry about them falling out of your ears. This particular set is available in six different color combinations. ($19.99) SkullCandy.com

Gift Cards

Still not sure what to get because it seems like the fitness enthusiast you know has everything? Consider a gift card. That way they can choose. Some great fitness-related places to get gift cards from include Bodybuilding.com, Sports Authority, 24-Hour Fitness and Walmart.com.

If you really wanna make somebody laugh, consider this handy piece of “workout equipment”.

*All photos are copyright their original owners.

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Content in this feed is copyright Melinda F and may not be republished without written permission. This means you’re welcome to forward the e-mail to a friend or colleague but it’s not okay to add the RSS feed automatically as content on another blog or website.