Pitch Your Old Stuff

By: Susan Howard

A client of mine lost about ten pounds last year and is holding strong to her new fighting weight.  “I am done,” she exclaimed.  “I am tired of gaining and losing the same ten pounds.  This time is the last.”  There was something very definitive about how she pronounced the end of the games she plays with her weight.  She is tossing away that habit.  Gone.

Another client who is now down a full clothes size was going through her closet realizing a bunch of stuff doesn’t fit -it’s too baggy.  “Give it away,” I tell her.  “I know,” she laments.  “But what if I gain it back, then I’ll have nothing to wear?” Exactly. First of all, the old stuff is probably out of style, and either way it fits the old you -not the one you are becoming.  Also, if you are frugal like I am and hate to spend money, then it could serve as an extra incentive to keep the pounds off.

Allow yourself to change, make changes, and then step into the new version of who you’ve become.

Creating new habits takes effort, making little decisions each day that culminate into a larger metamorphosis.  Only by exorcising your old self can you clear a space for the new you to be born.  Can I get a Hallelujah?

Let’s stay open and also take charge of 2013.  It is all inside you to have -whatever year you decide.  Make a choice and stick to it, be unwavering, be fierce.  You got this.  Now go get a garbage bag and throw out your old stuff or, even better, donate it.

A question to you the reader: have you been successful at losing weight and keeping it off?  If you have, let me know what worked in your transformation by commenting below.

 

Peace out.

Feeding Your Tot Tater Tots

By Susan Howard

Over half our country is considered overweight or obese.   We keep hearing these statistics about how fat Americans are, but how can we as parents do anything about the next generation of potential weeble wobbles?  Here are a few tactics to keep your little ones from turning into bigger ones.

Lead by example; make healthy food choices a part of your day to day regimen.

Put out a colorful bowl of fresh fruit that is visible to your family.

Let your children see you be physically active.  Be it swimming, running, weightlifting, hiking –whichever you pick, make it consistent.

My daughter sees me lace up my shoes and she asks, “Are you going for a run, Mom?”   At four and a half she is already asking if she can try and run with me.  They want to do what you do.  You are their mentor.

Be active with your children.  Coach their soccer team, practice playing catch in the backyard, or let your kid ride their bike while you run.

Create fitness traditions.   Sunday afternoon family bike ride, Thanksgiving morning 5k, Parent and me yoga, after dinner basketball hoops. Many of my clients get in an extra workout with their children by running with them at soccer practice, doing baseball drills, hitting tennis balls back and forth, you name it.  Nothing gives me more joy than to see parents passing the torch of wellness on.

Never eat out of a container.  Make yourself a plate with a portion on it!

(Confession: I mess this one up sometimes.)

Wait as long as humanly possible to introduce soda, or better yet don’t introduce it at all.  Even with the huge cash flow in soda companies I have never read anything good about it.  One would think they could find SOMETHING.  They can afford to hire scientist to try test after test.  Likely there is nothing to uncover except rotten teeth and obese kids.

Throw in some protein for most meals.  If you have a kid who likes eggs, that’s a great way for them to start their day.  Peanut butter and a cut-up apple is an easy treat, cheese sticks or yogurt.  You could try pieces of chicken with a mound of shredded cheese.

Offer veggies as often as possible, make it with something they like, put a thin pad of butter on top or sprinkled cheese.  Use spices as well; many kids (not all) like flavor.

If one parent is obese in your family, your child has a 40% chance of being obese. If both parents are obese, your child has an 80% chance of being obese.

Let’s tip the scale in the right direction.  We can inspire ourselves and our little ones.  They are watching you, believe me.

Bye Bye Super Size

By: Susan Howard

I love my wife, so when she asks her health obsessed trainer (that’s me) to pick her up a Mc Flurry from McDonald’s, I comply.  She is breastfeeding twins after all and who am I to deny her? She keeps it together, it’s the least I could do.

Newsflash: apparently there is a Rolo Mc Flurry that has been added to the fast food giant’s list of high caloric items.  I drive through and order my Rolo Mc Flurry and before I pull away am asked by the voice on the intercom, “Would you like the snack size?”  “What, uh yeah I want that.”  Just then in that exact moment I saw a small flickering light at the end of our country’s obesity epidemic.

Snack size means small, a reasonable portion, a snack, a treat.  If you recall in the 2003 documentary Super Size Me, the staff had been trained to try and up sell items costing merely a quarter more for two times the amount.  Now, in 2012 I was asked if I wanted a SMALL at McDonald’s.

Yes, yes I do.

Upon further inspection of the menu there is a list of items under 300 calories.  Yes I am still at the Mc Donald’s drive through window.  On that list includes the egg mc muffin which I have long told clients is a win, if you can bypass the belly busting hash browns.

Was it Paula Deans Diabetic scare?  Michelle Obama’s awesome arms?  Did someone in corporate just start to feel bad for helping to make our children super sized with a Sponge Bob toy, chicken nuggets, a wink, and a smile?  Maybe they just felt so ultimately dumb being singled out as promoters of obesity.  Even with the charitable work Ronald Mc Donald House has done, it’s definitely overshadowed by the Big-Mac-eating-coke-a-cola-drinking-XXL-children of our generation.

I try and keep an open mind and while I am not saying Mc Donald’s is the new Whole Foods, any flag waving in the breeze of wellness makes me smile.  You deserve a break today.

Yoga For Tight Guys

This is Move One in a series of moves that I will be showing you so you can do cool yoga poses even if you are tight.

Downward Dog

Come onto your hands and feet putting yourself in a V position, butt to the sky on a decline with your feet low, hands high (you could also put your hands on a stair).  Lengthen your legs and offer your chest through your arms towards your thighs.  Take your feet wide apart if you are super tight.  To work your back, bend your knees and straighten your spine.

Meanie Trainer Makes a Retraction

By: Susan Howard

I fear I was a bit negative in my last blog, telling you, the reader, that if you want to eat a nacho you’d better go climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to burn off all that extra calorie intake.  I feel bad, truly I do, for making food the enemy and asking you to have boundless will power.  And for basically being a meanie.

So this time I thought I would give you some positive tactics to stave off weight gain while still having a life.

1. Start your day with eggs.  Protein at the beginning of the day helps to keep your glycogen levels even throughout the day, so you are less likely to crave sugary treats.  Hardboiled egg whites are best, 17 calories each, but whichever way you like is good with me.
2. Order a starter salad at meals.  Studies show people that order salad are 20 percent less likely to overeat during the meal.  Also this can help you not eat the entire breadbasket, since you know a salad is coming.
3. Pace.  Fidgeting, toe tapping, and standing are all calorie burners.  Want to stay trim?  Drink too many espressos and jitter away.
4. Play.  Go in your backyard or to the park and play with your little ones or your big ones: Frisbee, catch, tag.  “You’re it.” “No, you are.”
5. If you’re hungry, drink water first; you may be thirsty.  People tend to be dehydrated, plus your skin will glow.
6. Clear your house of nutrient-void junk you don’t want to eat.  You can take yourself or your kids out for a special treat, but gallons of ice cream need not reside in your freezer.
7. Use garlic, fresh herbs, shallots, ginger, whatever spices you like to tempt yourself to eat green vegetables.  Once they turn bright green stop the cooking so they are nice and fresh, don’t let them get all brown and mushy.
8. Take walks.  Create a walking or bike riding habit.
9. If you take in too many calories one day, so what.  Just try and get back on track.  Go to Whole Foods and spend too much cash on a bunch of healthy options for the next day.

10. Give thanks.  Appreciate your body for what it is. Show off the parts you love and make peace with the squishy parts -it’s all you.

 

Workout: Push ups (try to do 6 sets of 10)

10 Incline (hands on stairs, feet on ground)

Rest for 30 seconds

10 Flat (hands and feet on ground)

Rest for 30 seconds

10 Decline (feet on stairs, hands on ground)

Rest for 1 minute

Repeat 2 more times for a total of 6 sets.

Clean

By: Susan Howard

Hello, I am an LA based trainer and I talk about all things healthy.  I took a blogcation, but am happy to be back writing for the site.

I am starting my first official 3-day cleanse.  I picked Fresh Pressed Juicery because they deliver to your house daily, making me feel at least that the juices are SUPER fresh.  I picked 3 days, because it was the shortest amount of time.  The nice thing is, if I am still hungry after drinking my six juices a day, then I am allowed to cheat by boiling broccoli and cauliflower and then drinking the water as a broth.  Thanks Fresh Pressed, you are really spoiling me.  I can drink that or my own urine.

I am on my 48^th hour of no caffeine, and standing strong.  Even still, I have already messed up my pre cleanse routine by drinking a Mojito.  I thought about getting a soda water with a splash of cran.  I even pictured myself ordering that at the swank beachside hotel bar my family and I went to on Saturday, but then the word Mojito came out.

Why?

What am I so attached to? I expect in the coming days I will learn just that.  The real reason I wanted to try this cleanse was to figure out what I am not willing to let go of and why.  Is food more emotional than physical?  What do I expect from it?  What does it really give me?

I love to eat.  Goodbye food.  I will miss you.  Come back soon.

Susan