As January approaches, lots of people make New Year resolutions. This list of promises help keep them focused and motivated throughout the coming year. Some of the most common resolutions (and toughest!) are those promises related to exercise, fitness, diet, losing weight and health. Yet, these personal health challenges should be at the top of your list. Improving one’s health has incredible impact on our entire lifestyle—mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual.

These personal promises can be hard to keep, so here are some tips and tricks to help you maintain your New Year’s resolutions, lose weight and feel better about yourself:

1. Personal Accountability. Despite their cajoling and teasing remarks, your true friends and family will always be there to support you, no matter what. Inform them of your intent, and ask them to continuously keep you on schedule, especially when times get rough and discouraging. Do away with naysayers and those who doubt your intentions, while learning to accept inspiration and discipline from those who really care.
2. Be inspired. One of the fastest ways people give up on something is to fall into a routine or repetitious mindset. Avoid doing the same thing over and over and find something interesting or inspiring about your new health routine. If running is a part of your regime, then enjoy the scenery, listen to your favorite music, or join others. If food choices become mundane, look for alternatives to your current menu that won’t burden your budget.
3. Keep track of your progress. No matter where you go, there you are. This makes it very difficult to see the subtle changes in your own body.  Don’t forget to document your developments. Take monthly pictures and notes of your gradual climb to the ideal physical and mental form to keep yourself aware of your personal progress. Show them to your loved ones, who will likely notice it much sooner than you. Consider buying a high-end scale that measures body fat, visceral fat, skeletal muscle mass and body mass index.
4. Reward yourself. As you begin to see results, make sure to enjoy your accomplishments. Take a break, get a manicure, have some fun with your friends and family. If your indulgences are manageable and within reason, then you won’t have to worry about being lethargic or gaining back all that you’ve lost.
5. If it’s not working, find another way. It if feels like it’s not working out fast enough for you, find an alternative and see if that works. Keep searching for ways to improve yourself. Once you’ve found that exercise regimen that’s perfect for you, keep at it!
6. Keep moving forward. Somewhere along the way, you will want to stop or give up. Don’t let it conquer you! Talk to your accountability partner, and get encouraged.  Even if you fail and slip back into your old ways, it’s not too late.  Don’t give up. Start again and keep moving forward.  Set backs are normal.  If you plan for them, then they won’t conquer you.
7. Hire a Personal Trainer. Personal trainers are just that—personal. You own private coach will keep you going during the lulls of motivation. If finances are an issues, hire a personal trainer once a week or even once a month.  Or, find a fitness bootcamp that meets once or twice a week. Paying for personal training provides an added level of accountability.

May this coming year be a year of success and victories for your health and fitness!

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If you’re ready to kick off the New Year with a personal trainer to help you establish and keep some realistic fitness goals, please contact me today.  I provide in-home personal training service for women in Colleyville, Southlake, Grapevine, Bedford, Euless, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Arlington and Irving.

If you recently started a fitness program, you are most likely wondering when you can realistically expect to see results. While some diet programs and celebrity workout routines promise weight loss in a matter of weeks or even days, don’t be easily fooled. Getting in shape and staying healthy will require dedication, motivation and time, and there is no short-cut you can take.

Many doctors and fitness specialists agree that it takes about 12 weeks before you can begin to notice an apparent change in your body, depending on the amount of time and variety of workout you do.  This period will allow you to measure the effectiveness of your new lifestyle, and determine if your fitness program really works for you.  During this time, you may follow these three easy steps to maximize your workout for optimum weight loss:

1. Maintain a healthy diet

Your food choices can directly impact the outcome of all your hard work.  Stay away from popular diets that are often calorie restrictive.  This will not bring you long-term results, and might even cause weight gain in the future.  Go for healthy options such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and drink plenty of water to keep your body hydrated.

2. Plan a workout that includes both cardiovascular and weight-lifting routines

Jogging or cycling, for example, create a greater caloric deficit than anaerobic exercises (stop and start activities like tennis and basketball) because your body is in constant motion during the entire workout.  Lifting weights also increases muscle mass which increases the metabolic rate and causes greater caloric burn while at rest.

3. Keep an accurate record of your results

Track changes in your weight and measurements, as well as your workout sessions and food intake.  Not only will your logs and journals help you monitor your progress, they are also excellent motivators.

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If you’re interested in starting a personal training program, please contact me today.  I provide in-home personal training service for women in Colleyville, Southlake, Grapevine, Bedford, Euless, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Arlington and Irving.

Accountability and consistency–both crucial elements of success–are two of our biggest challenges. And this translates even in fitness. Although you generally enjoy your workout routine, there will be days when you won’t feel like getting up early in the morning to exercise; it’s human nature. On days like these, it’s good to turn to a source of motivation and accountability to keep you going.

Here’s how:

Secret #1: Commit to a fitness program and find an accountability partner. Once you’ve identified the workout routine that best fits you, write it down and give a copy to your accountability partner. This person doesn’t necessarily have to exercise with you, but he or she has to know when you plan to exercise, ask you if you did, and monitor your progress.

Secret #2: Get a training partner. If you struggle to get out of bed to exercise, consider hiring a personal trainer. Having someone to get in shape with you is fun, and can be a great motivator. If this is not possible, encourage a friend to commit to a workout plan with you or, if you have kids, involve them in your program. Line up different training partners, including your dogs, so you have options when you are ready to exercise.

Secret #3: Track your progress. Keep a written record of your exercise plan, and plot them on your calendar. Treat your workout schedule as if they were important meetings. When you miss a training session, make a written record of your reasons. At the end of the week, review your performance and plan next week’s course of action. Make sure you communicate your performance and plans—including all your excuses—to your accountability partner.

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Contact me if you would like to hire a certified, personal trainer. I provide in-home personal training services in Grapevine, Bedford, Hurst, Euless, Arlington, Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville, Westlake and Trophy Club.

To exercise efficiently and effectively, you must avoid injury during your workouts.  Too many people push themselves through the pain thinking they are doing their body good, but it’s not true. The  adage, “No pain, no gain” is just not accurate.

Here’s a great article from Ironman Athlete and Doctor of Physical Therapy, Wendy Benwell:

During the last few miles of the marathon at the 2010 Ironman New Zealand, I was experiencing several thoughts and emotions.

I was most enthusiastic about my body feeling strong, without muscle or joint pain. Seven months of training had finally paid off. My main goal for every Ironman triathlon has been to finish before the cut-off time feeling somewhat strong.

I am fortunate, being a doctor of physical therapy and certified as a USA Triathlon coach, that I am able to design a training program for myself which will help to prevent injuries, but also help me to finish a race feeling strong. I feel that my background has helped me avoid getting injured. We all need to learn how to listen to our bodies and understand what our body is telling us.

As a former collegiate volleyball player I had to deal with several injuries secondary to the increased demands of the sport, especially practice time. The most severe injury was a fractured lumbar spine. I endured years of physical therapy to overcome the pain and resumed playing volleyball at a high level.

It was very difficult to listen to my own body at that time. I was unaware of the consequences of playing through the pain and I felt I would be letting my team down if I could not play due to injury. I felt I owed it to my team, my school and my coach to play regardless of the pain level or the consequences to my body.

Throughout my educational training as a physical therapist I came to understand the importance of listening to one’s own symptoms during a sport. The effects of playing through pain can be detrimental. I know of many athletes who train endlessly for a marathon or a triathlon only to be sidelined by an injury.

If athletes listen to their own symptoms during their training, they will have a greater chance of recovering and rehabilitating before the race date.

Symptoms During Your Workout

Listening to your body is imperative when training for a running race or a triathlon. Symptoms that you might feel during training could either indicate joint stiffness, muscular tightness, muscle soreness or pain from a previous injury. Stiffness, soreness and tightness are normal symptoms encountered during training, especially in a warm-up.

These symptoms should subside after approximately 10 minutes of an easy warm-up. However, sharp pain or severe tightness that persists during the workout could indicate a serious injury.

If you experience severe tightness or pain which persists during the workout, decrease the intensity, decrease the distance and stretch mid-run. If your symptoms subside, return to your normal workout the next day and listen to your body during the warm-up and workout.

However, if the symptoms continue, rest from running for approximately 48 hours. Ice the area of concern for 15 minutes every two hours and assess the symptoms. If you feel symptoms at rest, the injured area is still inflamed and the athlete should continue to rest or perform pain-free cross training. If the symptoms persist at rest and last longer than two to four days, the athlete should seek professional advice from a qualified physician or physical therapist.

Listen or Else!

If the athlete continues with a high-intensity workout while experiencing severe symptoms, the injury can progress and become increasingly worse. For example, I had a patient who was a runner and was consistently increasing her mileage in preparation for a marathon. She experienced calf tightness during training which became worse as she continued to increase her mileage.

Instead of listening to her symptoms and decreasing her mileage, decreasing the intensity of her workout or resting, she continued to run. She continued to experience severe calf tightness, which slowly turned into pain and tightness at rest.

What could have been a mild to moderate calf strain turned into a massive Achilles tendon rupture during one of her training days. The rehabilitation lasted approximately six to eight months and included complete rest from running.

The Road to Recovery

When recovering from a mild to moderate injury, the athlete should be very cautious during their training. The focus should be pain-free training with a slow increase in mileage and intensity. If the athlete is a runner, pain-free cross training such as swimming or cycling will help to maintain endurance and strength without compromising the running injury.

If the athlete is a triathlete, continue to focus on pain-free training. If cycling was the cause of the injury, decrease the number of cycling days and add more running and/or swimming. This will help to maintain a high level of fitness without compromising their endurance.

During training days, focus on slower, longer distances rather than high-intensity training days such as intervals or hill repeats. If the athlete is pain-free with slower, longer distances, add in tempo work gradually. Tempo work will help to increase speed without a high demand on the healing tissues.

Once tempo work is pain-free, slowly add in interval work and easy hill repeats. Gradually return to your training program while listening to your body. Listening to your body during this time of rehabilitation is crucial for proper healing.

Hauling yourself out of bed in the morning and committing to a morning exercise routine can be difficult—especially if you’re not a “morning person”. But here’s something you should know—there are many benefits to sweating off those extra pounds in the early hours.  Here are five reasons why morning exercises may be great for you:

1. Early bird exercising increases your body’s metabolism. Doing cardio or strength training in the morning jump starts your metabolism, and the effects last throughout the day.  This means you will be burning unwanted fat even when you’re sitting at a desk!
2. It is easy to defer evening exercises. After a long, stressful day at work, it’s tempting to skip your fitness training routines, and relax in front of the TV instead.  People who make it a habit to exercise in the morning find it easier to maintain and keep their workout plans.
3. You are training your body to be more active and energetic. When you get into the custom of regularly exercising in the morning, your body will start to anticipate this.  After a week or two, your body will start producing endorphins right before you wake up.  A natural boost of endorphins in the morning will make you less groggy and more alert. It’s far better for you than that extra cup of coffee.  Tough it out for a few weeks, and you will surely see great results!
4. It’s good for your brain. Exercising in the morning will make you mentally sharp during the day.  All those wonderful chemicals that exercise releases into your bloodstream help your brain function better, keeping you more focused and alert, and a step closer to a possible promotion.
5. You can expect to sleep soundly. Exercising at night before going to bed disrupts your natural body cycles.  All the benefits mentioned above will occur, but they won’t happen until later in the day.  What you don’t want to do is lie awake until 3 in the morning, because you’re too wired up from doing cardio.  Switching from night exercises to morning workout routines will help prepare your body to rest at the end of the day, and you can expect a relaxing sleep.

Contact me if you need help in creating a morning workout plan that will help turn your life around.  In-Home, Personal Training Programs are available Colleyville, Southlake, Grapevine, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Texas area.

I just read a great article on high protein diets and how effective they really are. Check it out:

http://www.hfpn.com/shop/article.aspx?atid=571

Excerpts from the article:

The solution is a diet with the appropriate amount of energy, high in fibrous or starchy carbs, and exercise. In fact, a study of type II diabetics, people with insulin resistance and normal weight people found that three weeks of a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, and exercise significantly lowered insulin levels.

Interesting statistics from a large weight loss study:

Of the 438 initial enrollees of the National Weight Control Registry (having lost an average of 66.0 lbs. for over five years), none were successful by following a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. In fact, the common denominator for success dietarily was a low-fat diet with a macronutrient profile of approximately 20 percent protein, 25 percent fat, and 55 percent carbohydrate.

Read the article for more information. I hope you learned more about diet and what’s right for you.

If you’re interested in getting setup on a weight loss focused, personal training program in the Grapevine, Colleyville or Southlake, Texas area, please contact me.