Don't Let Food Become Your Fitness Enemy This Holiday Season

It’s almost too impossible to resist. When we attend or host a holiday gathering, it’s REALLY hard to avoid placing “just a taste” of everything on your plate —  just to be polite. Thing is, that tiny taste of 10 different dishes can fill up an entire plate anyway. 

So how do we control maintaining our weight or even staying on an eating regimen designed to lose weight over the holidays? It’s not that I want you to insult your hosts or not even taste your own food. It’s that mantra of “be moderate in all things.” Another way of saying it is “portion control.” 

As we told you last year at this time, there are a few hacks for you to try. First, don’t load up your plate to begin with. When you do, you tend to eat it all. Instead, graze. Take a few repeated trips to the buffet, taking only a few tidbits at a time. Evidence suggests that the sizes of plates, spoons, and glasses can unconsciously influence how much food you eat. Large plates make food appear smaller, leading to unconscious overeating.

Did you know that studies show that people using a large bowl ate 77% more pasta than those using a medium-sized bowl, and the same thing happened with ice cream? How aware were they of the difference? Not much, it seems. So swap your usual plate, bowl or serving spoon for smaller ones to reduce the helping of food you take.

Another tip we told you last year: smaller plates can also be used as a portion guide. Once you determine your “rations,” consider using half a plate for veggies or salad, and a quarter of the plate for high-quality protein, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, etc. Another quarter can go for complex carbs (grains or starchy vegetables), and add only half a teaspoon for high-fat stuff -- cheese, oils, butter. This is, of course, a rough guide. Everyone has different dietary needs depending on activity levels, whether they are on a fat-loss regimen, or simply hope not to blow it over the holidays.

Filling up on vegetables and salad is key here and can aid you in avoiding overeating calorie-dense foods. If you’re a female, figure on a palm-sized portion for high protein food, a fist size for salads and veggies, a cupped hand portion for high-carb delights, and a thumb-sized dollop of butter, oils, nuts, and high-fat food items.

As for eating out, you know you’ll be tested. Healthline says restaurant serving sizes are, on average up to a whopping EIGHT times larger than the average at-home dinner. Try asking for a half portion or a children’s dish. If that is not possible, request a box right then and there (when they are serving your meal) and place whatever constitutes one or two more meals inside it for leftovers. Sharing meals is a great idea too. 

Water is another hack to help you through the food-dense holidays.  Drinking a glass of water up to a half hour before a meal aids in portion control, making you feel less hungry. It can also help you distinguish between hunger and thirst. Studies show that middle-aged and older adults who drank 17 ounces of water before each meal resulted in a 44% greater decline in weight over 12 weeks, most likely due to reduced food intake. 

I wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. It has been our pleasure helping you get or stay fit in 2022.  May the coming year bring you even more success on your fitness journey!

Hugs,

Tiara
 

Fitbody’s yearly Transformation Challenge encourages permanently healthy habits

Each year we go for the gusto around here in our little fitness studio. What once was called our LBD (little black dress) challenge has now morphed into a Transformation Challenge. We use many of the same directives, but we calculate the results a bit differently each time.

This year’s challenge began the first week of April and ended three weeks later since, as with all habits, it takes at least 21 days for new ones to become second nature. Fifteen challengers — all regular clients — participated, and all fifteen of them were eager to begin completely changing their exercise and eating regimens. Three teams of five participants, almost half of whom had been in previous challenges. That just meant competition was even keener. They were to stick to a keto-type diet, with healthy fats and lots of protein thrown in, not to exceed the macro-driven plan for each day.  They came in for their regular strength-training workouts, but were also tasked with taking 10,000 or more steps per day and completing a cardio portion on their own time. Once they did any of these assignments, they were also asked to announce their progress on our Facebook page.

The first week is always the hardest. And in this case, participants were actually leery of the amount of fat they were instructed to eat. But look at it this way: eating healthy fats is essential for the metabolism. So it ended up as a week of basic detoxing and for many, it resulted in fatigue. 

During Week 2, participants felt less bloated, more driven, and had more energy. While they began to notice differences in how their clothes fit, it was really all about correcting their eating course post-holidays and creating new habits. They noticed a big difference in their cravings — most notably with sugar. 

Says one participant: “This was my 2nd challenge at Fitbody with Tiara.  What I learned during this challenge, however, was to be consistent and persistent — never missing a workout, tracking my food, and counting my daily steps was a huge accomplishment for me. After one of the most challenging years last year for me, learning to stay consistent even though difficult times is what really makes you strong and gives you the power to accomplish your goals.This challenge was a perfect reset — just in time for summer!! And it was so much fun!”

Jennifer, another challenger added, “The challenge is an excellent way to jump start a clean eating and exercise regime. I realized that I personally thrive on competition. If you tell me to do 10,000 steps a day I will hit it and then some. Tiara structures the challenge in such a way that requires planning and preparing meals, scheduling workouts and team building activities and adding some personal meditation and reflection. All of this is designed to improve physical and mental health and to change how you approach healthy eating. I look forward to the challenge every year and truly love Tiara and all of her clientele - my Fitbody family!” 

Each week, we tabulated results based on how often each team did check-ins on social media, took photos of the number of steps they took each day and each week, whether they accomplished their cardio challenge both in and out of the workout studio, and how often they posted photos of their meals, all of it using a point system. The results? 

Team 3 won!  And to celebrate, we held a celebratory brunch at Sienna Restaurant in Roseville, on Sunday, April 24th, where participants were awarded tote bags, resistance bands, and protein bars. Gift cards went to the all-around winner and her initial participation fee was refunded. 

The Perils of Holiday Overeating and How to Avoid Them

Holiday hovering. Isn’t that what we all do when all those special foods appear at parties, at relatives’ homes and at buffet tables? How do we control maintaining our weight or even staying on an eating regimen designed to lose weight? Two words: portion control. 

If you take pride in trying to get or stay fit over the holidays, we have some hacks for you to try, the first of which is to avoid putting more food in front of you than you see yourself eating. Why? People tend to eat almost all of what they put in front of them.  Evidence suggests that sizes of plates, spoons and glasses can unconsciously influence how much food you eat. Large plates make food appear smaller, and that can lead to overeating.

As we mentioned last holiday season, we saw one study where people using a large bowl ate 77% more pasta than those using a medium-sized bowl, and the same thing happened with ice cream. Were they even conscious of the difference? Nope. So swap your usual plate, bowl or serving spoon for smaller ones to reduce the helping of food and prevent overeating.

Smaller plates can also be used as a portion guide. Once you determine your “rations,” consider using half a plate for veggies or salad, a quarter of the place for high-quality protein, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, etc. Another quarter can go for complex carbs (grains or starchy vegetables), and add only half a teaspoon for high fat stuff -- cheese, oils, butter. This is, of course, a rough guide. Everyone has different dietary needs depending on activity levels, whether they are on a fat loss regimen, or simply hope not to blow it over the holidays.

Of course, filling up on vegetables and salad, which are naturally low in calories but high in fiber and other nutrients, may help you avoid overeating calorie-dense foods. Need a guide? Women can figure on a palm-sized for high protein food, a fist size for salads and veggies, a cupped hand portion for high carb delights, and a thumb-sized dollop of butter, oils, nuts and high fat food items.

Eating out?  Healthline says restaurant serving sizes are, on average, about 2.5 times larger than standard serving sizes — and up to a whopping EIGHT times larger. So ask for a half portion or a children’s dish. If that is not possible, ask for a box when they serve your meal and place whatever constitutes one or two more meals inside it for leftovers. Sharing meals is a great idea too. 

Water is also a great hack to avoid overeating. Try drinking a glass of water up to a half hour before a meal to aid in portion control. It will make you feel less hungry and will help you distinguish between hunger and thirst. Studies have shown that middle-aged and older adults who drank 17 ounces of water before each meal resulted in a 44% greater decline in weight over 12 weeks, most likely due to reduced food intake. Lastly, whatever you do, don’t eat directly from a food container. It encourages overeating and there will be less awareness of appropriate portion sizes.

We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. It has been our pleasure helping you get or stay fit, and we’ll see you back here soon!

Tiara and Yolanda

Getting fit requires a ‘big picture’ approach

Here at Fitbody Fitness, we are finding that people did one of two things during the pandemic: they took the opportunity to work out and make positive changes. Or they simply abandoned the idea of exercise for a while.

If you were one of the ones who began working out like crazy — swinging and pressing hunks of metal at home or at the gym — you may have noticed the changes to your body. In fact, doing this may have you making some comparisons to what your body looked like when you started this regimen. Perhaps you began thinking your traps aren’t big enough, your core isn’t toned enough, or your arms need more definition.

According to a recent NPR article, it turns out a lot of people were feeling similarly. "There was a greater anxiety about body image during the lockdown," says Ornella Corazza, professor of addictive behavior at the University of Hertfordshire. They talked to experts for tips on how to keep comfortable with your body, even as it changes, and here are a few of their findings. 

NPR’s Andrew Limbong and Audrey Ngueyn stress that instead of focusing on aesthetic changes, consider how exercising can improve your quality of life. “Study after study shows exercise is good for your physical health, as well as your mental health,” they said. “Exercise can help lower your risk of heart disease. Aerobic exercises have been proven to reduce anxiety and depression.

Reebok’s Maillard Howell (who also owns a fitness studio) says when he works with clients, he doesn't promise them they'll be "the most ripped person on the beach" or that they'll get strong enough to qualify for the CrossFit games. Instead, he tells them, "you're going to be able to play with your kids without getting out of breath." The process of "getting into shape" isn't just a physical journey but a mental and emotional one as well.

It’s important to remember that we not only have a body, but we are our body. And our bodies are not machines. Don’t sideline getting in touch with feelings, with sensation ... asking yourself how you feel. Corazza says that seeing fitness as purely a means to get more attractive can lead people to compulsive exercise, disordered eating, depression, and performance-enhancing drugs. “It's normal to shift your behavior as you're working towards or training for a fitness goal, but the key question is who is in control? Are you in control of your life, or [are] certain behavioral things controlling you?"

Limbong and Ngyuen offer some questions to consider:

• Are your exercise habits compulsive, or do you have control over them?

• If you aren't able to exercise, do you feel symptoms of withdrawal?

• Do exercise plans take precedence over plans with friends and family?

• Does your exercise regimen impact your eating behavior or sleeping patterns?

“Comparison is the thief of joy," says one expert. Don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to others on Instagram, constantly comparing your body to other bodies populating your feed. Remember that we're all built differently and our lives are all surrounded by different criteria, whether or not you have kids at home. There are a slew of variables.

Of course, exercise is not defined by a single act. Whether it’s lifting weights, doing circuits, practicing yoga or participating in spin classes, find a fitness facility that resonates with you. In addition to what we offer, gyms often offer free trials to see what other forms of exercise can do for you. Each has a different vibe, so if one is not the right fit for you, head over to the next one.

Some of our clients aren’t that keen on doing exercise outside of our sessions, and that’s okay too. Some do more recreational activities, like hiking, rock climbing, swimming laps, or play on a recreational soccer team. For long-term benefits, consistency is key.

If you need help identifying a goal, work with us to figure out what you can do to improve your health. We welcome input from your doctor, such as being apprised of your resting heart rate or blood pressure. Then once you've set your goal, figure out when you want to accomplish it and work backward from there. It’s the small steps that can make the larger task feel more achievable while offering the key to staying motivated.

Aside from your planned days of rest, you may just not be up to full-blown exercise. On those days, keeping going in the direction of your long-term goal, but ease up a bit. Walk instead of run. Swim fewer laps. Cut your time on the elliptical. Just stretch. No matter what you do, it will have an effect. 

~ Tiara and Yolanda, Fitbody Fitness

Your body needs water, water and MORE water!

You can buy all the cute workout clothes, be committed to working out each week, and picture your body and health once you achieve your goals. But if you don’t keep your body hydrated, it won’t function at its best. 

Without sufficient fluids, your body temperature and heart rate can rise because your body can’t properly regulate heat, you may feel more fatigue, “brain fade” can occur, and your body’s functions can slow down, including gastric emptying, making your stomach uncomfortable. On top of all that, dehydration can affect your performance in sports or exercise. 

The beautiful thing? There is a solution. Make fluid replacement a priority when you’re physically active. Drinking enough fluids will help to maintain your concentration and performance, increase your endurance, and prevent excessive fluctuations in heart rate and body temperature. It’s all about sufficient hydration.

Hydration depends on a range of factors, such as climatic conditions, your health, your clothing, your exercise intensity and duration. So, there is no one formula for everyone. Some people sweat more heavily than others. Some have medical conditions that require different levels of hydration due to medications that act as diuretics. And some of us have high concentrations of sodium in our sweat or a body size that requires more hydration than those smaller than us. And then there is the environment and activities.

Thirst is not always a good indicator of your body’s need for fluids.  A good test of dehydration is to study the color of your urine. Pale and clear it means you’re well hydrated. Dark or murky, and you need more fluids. So you think you’re superior because you rarely sweat? Don’t. Another sign of dehydration is a lack of sweat during vigorous activity, when you expect to sweat. No sweating is a sign that you’re both dehydrated and probably suffering fro heat exhaustion.

Signs of dehydration include mood changes, slow reaction times, dry nasal passages, weakness, dry or cracked lips, confusion, and muscle cramps. Increasing hydration can help combat all of these. It’s not possible to train your body to handle dehydration, so don’t delay fluid replacement to ‘get used to dehydration’. When you need water, you need it.

You need to drink fluid during exercise to replace the fluids you lose when you sweat. You’ll avoid heat stress, maintain normal body function, and maintain performance levels. If you’re sweating, you need to be drinking fluids — period.

Water is the best, before, during and after exercise. It is chock-full of benefits. It’s natural, free, and readily available. While sports drinks can contain electrolytes and carbohydrates, which have concentrations that allow the body to refuel during exercise, they often can be high in sugar, so consume them only if necessary. And remember that fruit and vegetables contain a high proportion of water, so a fruit snack (such as oranges) can help your fluid replacement. What to avoid? Soft drinks and fruit juices, as they are usually high in carbohydrates and low in sodium. And avoid caffeine, which can act as a diuretic.

Here is a photo from our recent trip/trek, where Yolanda and I paced ourselves (and hydrated OFTEN) to make it to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls! See you at your workout!

Little Black Dress Challenge 2021

There is never a better reason for me to blog than when the LBD Challenge has taken place! The impetus behind the Little Black Dress Challenge is to improve participants’ fitness motivation, productivity, and well-being. 

In this year's challenge, the participants divided into groups working harder than in previous challenges. My goal was to facilitate group connections and achieve better group outcomes, hence individual results. I started the LBD challenge three years ago with this concept in mind, and the response has been amazing.  This year LBD challenge was resumed by popular demand with a new twist; I put them in groups. 

Small groups allow for individual focus and a hands-on approach, an essential component of my practice. I've learned that diet and exercise work together to achieve fitness goals. While I provide the blueprint, the client is responsible for the outcome. The work continues outside the gym, moving more, doing those 10,000 steps, tracking food intake, and avoiding too many snacks.  

In the past, Jennifer fretted over her (in)ability to lose weight, although she seemed to be doing all the right things. During this latest challenge, she had to do more cardio, accomplishing 10,000 steps a day. Those pounds melted off and as a result, she won LBD challenge. Congratulations, Jen! So proud of you!

As you can see by the photos, the mood at the dinner was celebratory. Everyone was a winner, since engaging in the process ended up being more important than the outcome.  Along with positive physical changes, it was obvious the results included an overflow of positive energy, connections and camaraderie! 

Managing YOUR size by managing food portion sizes over the holidays

It’s enough that this pandemic has so many of us staying in so much over the past year. No doubt there has been a lot of weight gain and a slowing of activity, but it has all certainly been a wake-up call after seeing what months and months of take-out food can do to you. If you take pride in trying to get or stay fit over the holidays, fear not. We have some tricks for you. The first thing you need to understand, however, is that people tend to eat almost all of what they put in front of them. The answer? Portion control.



Evidence suggests that sizes of plates, spoons and glasses can unconsciously influence how much food someone eats. Using large plates can make food appear smaller, and that can lead to overeating. Interestingly enough, in one study, people using a large bowl ate 77% more pasta than those using a medium-sized bowl. Same thing happened with ice cream. When asked if they were even conscious of the difference, most who ate more due to large dishes were completely unaware of the change in portion size. So swap your usual plate, bowl or serving spoon for smaller ones to reduce the helping of food and prevent overeating.

You can also use your (smaller) plate as a portion guide. Once you determine macronutrients (yes, they’re rations) for yourself, consider using half a plate for veggies or salad, a quarter of the place for high-quality protein, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, etc. Another quarter can go for complex carbs (grains or starchy vegetables), and add only half a teaspoon for high fat stuff -- cheese, oils, butter. This is, of course, a rough guide. Everyone has different dietary needs depending on activity levels,whether they are on a fat loss regimen, or simply hope not to blow it over the holidays.

Filling up on vegetables and salad, which are naturally low in calories but high in fiber and other nutrients, may help you avoid overeating calorie-dense foods. If you’d rather use your hands to gauge portion control, for women figure a palm-sized for high protein food, a fist size for salads and veggies, a cupped hand portion for high carb delights, and a thumb-sized dollop of butter, oils, nuts and high fat food items.

Eating out? Don’t let restaurants place plates in front of you meant for a family of 4. Eating establishments are notorious for serving overly- large portions. Healthline says restaurant serving sizes are, on average, about 2.5 times larger than standard serving sizes — and up to a whopping eight times larger. So ask for a half portion or a children’s dish. If that is not possible, ask for a box when they serve your meal and place whatever constitutes one or two more meals inside it for leftovers. Sharing meals is a great idea too. 

Another big tip? Try drinking a glass of water up to a half hour before a meal to aid in portion control. It will make you feel less hungry and will help you distinguish between hunger and thirst. Studies have shown that middle-aged and older adults who drank 17 ounces of water before each meal resulted in a 44% greater decline in weight over 12 weeks, most likely due to reduced food intake. Lastly, whatever you do, don’t eat directly from a food container. It encourages overeating and there will be less awareness of appropriate portion sizes.

We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons, and hope that despite not being able to enjoy it as fully in the traditional sense, you will someday look back on this particular one, helping you to appreciate when those family gatherings will come again. It has been our pleasure helping you get or stay fit, and if you’ve been gone for a while, we hope to see you back here soon! Let’s look forward to a much, much better 2021.

~ Tiara and Yolanda

What a Year!! Fitbody Fitness Re-opens With Caution and Care

Here at Fitbody Fitness, we think you’ll agree that it has been a long 2020 and these are very strange times. 

While fitness is a huge part of getting and staying healthy (and health is our main concern), we were not immune to the effects of the shutdown, not unlike other businesses at the time. We saw a drop in clientele as everyone hunkered down after hearing news of the pandemic, wondering about having enough income to simply stay in businesses. Because of our professional certifications working with special populations such as individuals battling cancer and brain injuries, however, we were allowed to remain open under the “essential business” clause. 

Now that we have re-opened, we’ve made some changes, going above and beyond observing guidelines required of us. We ensure everyone who works out at our studio observes distancing rules and found it prudent to hire a special janitorial service to scour the studio with disinfectant more deeply and frequently than in the past and stay vigilant by wiping down mats, weights, ropes and machines after each class or client leaves. In this way, you can feel safe when you enter, work out, and after you leave our little fitness haven. This is in addition to adding sanitation stations and interviewing our members, questioning them about their health as well as who they have been in contact with before entering the studio. 

We feel blessed that many of our clients are already diligent about safety, staying at home if they feel even a hint of illness. As a tight knit community, we are always watching out for one another. We have also taken on more private sessions as well as smaller group sessions limited to 4 or fewer. In this way we can focus on boutique style training, enabling us to be less affected by the closures.

Whether you are a longstanding client or fairly new to us, we want you to know that we appreciate you and will do our very best to keep you safe and help you get and stay fit. Here’s to a 2021 that will see this scourge come to an end and bring sunlight to the beginning of a decade that threw us all for a loop!

~Tiara and Yolanda

It's That Time of Year Again. Here Comes the Food....

I don’t have to tell you we are entering the danger zone, do I? The moment Halloween is over we are immersed in that time of year called “the holidays” — a term that injects fear into any personal trainer who felt as if she were making really good progress with her clients.

I wrote this a few years ago, and it always bears a repost, especially since I have so many newer clients who may have never read it before:

Mission Impossible: Nipping Those Holiday Eating Habits in the Bud…

If you thought I’d be ragging on you closer to the holidays or even after them about keeping up with your fitness and food regimens, you’d be wrong. The time is NOW. 

Why? Because now is the time I want you to pay attention. Yes. I am trying to save you from yourself. 

It will be a HUGE temptation over the next few months to “let go.” I’m not talking about the occasional cookie, that tiny tub of salted caramel gelato every few weeks, or some lousy butter on your popcorn. I am talking about a steady holiday weight gain that can creep up on you like a thief in the night — robbing you of a good chunk of your fitness progress. 

There are about 14 weeks between now and the end of the year. If you gained only one pound per week (which can happen if you skip workouts, eat out more often, or “over-sample” those delicacies that make up those holiday traditions you know and love), you may well be back at that familiar square one — trying to shed all those pounds you worked your a—- off trying to get rid of this past year.

While I can’t control your decisions during the next few months, I will offer you this thought: 

It will take anywhere from 3-6 days at a minimum to get rid of that extra pound that appeared suddenly one frosty (naked) morning on your scale. 

I’m not trying to rob you of good times. Honest. I just want you to get real about all this so that you don’t do what everyone else does EVERY YEAR around this time — gain weight just to try to take it all off again in January. The fitness industry LOVES Januarys — believe me. Every gym in the country will be packed to the brim with holiday eaters, as if they learned nothing from the year before — because they didn’t.

So what can you do? Here’s the plan:

1. For every day you skip a workout, add another one to your week. That means if you text me saying you can’t make it to the workout studio at your appointed time on a Monday, you vow to get to the gym, run, or walk briskly on another day of the week (not limited to weekdays) for at least 45 minutes. If you've really gone overboard with the food, tack another one on to that.

2. For every empty-calorie (verboten) alcoholic drink you consume, every piece of pie, every scoop of ice cream, or every dollop of buttered, gravy’d mashed potato you eat, you restrict your next TWO days’ calories to no more than 900-1200, depending on what you see appearing on the scale after your revelry.

3. Watch food portions like a hawk. I know you don’t want to insult your relatives or friends by begging off the elaborate dishes they may have prepared. But you CAN cut your portions to a heaping tablespoon instead of a palm-sized-or-larger portion of 12 different foods on your plate.

This mission — should you decide to accept it — will determine a number of healthy or unhealthy realities over the next fews months, but worry not --  I am here for you — as your taskmaster or your confessor (take your choice). You just can't say I didn't warn you. 

FitBody Fitness 2.0: Giving an old place new life

You just know when it’s time. A few years ago I knew with certainty that I was going to open my own fitness studio. I was over the moon to open it. Fast forward a few years and I also knew it was time to look for a larger space to accommodate my clients.

When I came across what was to become my new location at 5420 Douglas Blvd in Granite Bay, it was serendipitous.  The owner of the building just happened to be there and was open to the idea of housing my business in the corner location. The negotiation process took only a day, so I knew this was meant to be. The owners had other potential prospects and needed to know my decision within 24 hours. I was ready. 

But that doesn’t mean everyone else in my life was sold on this place. This former smoke shop looked pretty awful. It had green walls, a workshop area, some paneling with worn carpeting throughout. ”Are you sure you can do something with this?” was the general reaction I got. People were trying not to insult me while knowing I thought of it as a diamond in the rough. It had great bones. Like a potential client who comes to me to sculpt her body, I was ready to transform this place.

The plan? I knew I did not want the treadmills facing a wall as in my old location. I wanted an area for functional fitness, to do sled runs and a place to throw fitness balls against a wall. It was all about enhancing the training experience for my clients. And my clients were key in this transformation. Why? For one, I was blessed to have one of my clients refer a contractor named Kenny to me to help me meet my opening deadline. We had exactly 5 weeks to renovate 2.000 square feet of flooring, knock a wall down, paint baseboards, install galvanized metal to accent walls and completely gut and remodel a bathroom that look as if it belonged in a gas station.

 I was the “gofer” for Kenny, making dozens of trips to Ace Hardware and Home Depot, where sales personnel got to know me on a first name basis. I would buy what I thought Kenny requested and would not always come back with the right item. Back I went, returning it for the correct item. Anyone who knows me knows I despise hardware stores. Frequenting them did not make me like them any more. But I loved the feeling that I was saving him time by doing this.

How about all those affirmations all over the walls of my new space? Have you seen them? Here are a few:

• “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

• “Wake up with determination. Go to bed with satisfaction.”

• “Be your own kind of beautiful.”

• “If it doesn’t challenge you it won’t change you”

They were all given to me by my clients — quotes from memes that had inspired them from our private Facebook page. We finished off the little office area, added a coffee bar, a fridge, a microwave, and — voila! I now have a space where my clients can all be doing many of the same exercise sets at the same time; I also have a new home away from home. My clients are happy, my family finally understood my vision was real, and I am one thrilled fitness trainer. 

Welcome to  my world… and to catch some glimpses of what went on, see the photos below:

Fitbody’s 2019 ‘Little Black Dress’ Challenge Achieved Remarkable Results

2019 marks the third year Fitbody Fitness has started off the new year with a fitness/eating regimen challenge. The 6-week challenge incorporates a combination of exercise and healthy eating to achieve consistent results with better fitness and lower body fat levels. 

First, a brief description of this program, which we call the “LBD” (little black dress) challenge: In the 42 days, participants are assigned customized workouts based on their needs as well as their abilities. They must be able to complete three workouts per week at the Fitbody Fitness studio and commit to at least two more days of activity on their own, such as running, rowing, hiking, etc.  One of the major components of the program, however, is FOOD. We have participants on a diet regimen that includes real but healthy components with lots of protein thrown in. We cover so much nutrition that it’s impossible not to find something that works. As for accountability, I hold my LBD challengers to a higher standard than they usually hold for themselves, since the entire focus is on getting results.

 At the beginning of the challenge,  each participant recorded their goals. We supplemented our efforts with daily affirmations and positive self-talk. My hope is that these new habits are put into place to enable the participants to embrace a healthier lifestyle — not temporary goals met simply to fit into a wedding dress or to look good for  an upcoming vacation. It’s all about feeling good while discovering the  benefits of clean eating and exercise that can contribute to a healthier life style.  

It’s hard to know what truly motivates people when they embark on a challenge like this, so each time I try to change things up. Incentives along the way kept everyone motivated and interested. This year I increased the number of participants from 12 to 16, and I think I’ve finally hit the perfect number. We also held a dinner when the challenge ended so everyone could talk about their achievements, bond, and celebrate. The most rewarding outcome for me was to hear some of my clients tell me how good they felt and how their stomachs felt better, their energy increased and their depression had lifted. The group lost a total of 119 lbs. and 110 inches.

In retrospect, a few participants focused more on the on the numbers than the positive changes in lifestyle, self discipline, and healthy choices. Hopefully, however, what they learned will begin to sink in and make a lifestyle difference, since the real gains are changes are in eliminating self-defeating habits.  The result? The LBD challengers experienced amazing transformations inside and out. Even my mom thought so (last photo).

Baby steps are the rule (and not the exception to it) with fitness

Ours is a society of instant gratification in so many ways. When it comes to fitness, however, you simply can’t come to a workout once or twice a week and expect to see rapid, big changes taking place in a month or two. It’s just not how the body responds. 

If it took you 10 years to add those 20 extra pounds, I’m not saying it will take another ten to lose them. I am simply saying that fitness and weight loss depend on all kinds of factors and on small but significant changes that have nothing to do with the time I spend with you.

Body transformation requires developing healthy habits to replace unhealthy habits. You may feel overwhelmed with all the suggestions I make to improve your health and achieve a leaner body, but it truly is a matter of divide and conquer.

I am often asked why some of my clients get great results and others, even if they gain firmer arms or legs, don’t really look like they’ve been showing up at the workout studio. And I tell them the difference is what they do when I’m not around. It’s sessions on the treadmill or runs down the bike paths 2-3 times a week, what types of food they permit themselves to indulge in, and even giving up that nightly glass of wine.

Small changes made over time can add up to impressive results, but consistency is the key.  Here are some starters for you to think about:

• Limit alcohol (even if it’s slowly dropping the number of drinks you have per week)
• Forget sugary drinks (even the zero-calorie ones) and replace them with water.
• Commit to at least two visits to my studio per week and schedule it as if it’s an important work meeting.
• Shift carb sources from processed to natural ones and fatty meats to lean ones.
• Add more vegetables and fruits to your diet.
• Supplement your strength training sessions with at least two cardio workouts per week. Start with 20 minute walk-runs and work yourself up to 40.
• There are reasons I ask you to do the exercises I assign you. If you balk at them, make sure it’s for a darned good reason, because it’s the ones you don’t want to do that your body probably need the most. Honestly — I am not your enemy.