This Sunday millions will be watching the “Big Game”. Even if you’re not an actual football fan the game day festivities are a lot of fun, but they can also wreak havoc on your diet.
One of the best things you can do to stay on track is take some healthy delicious eats with you to the party you’re going to or to lay out a few healthy options to munch on if you’re the host.
Here are some recipes to get you started, and trust me, no one will know it’s diet food.
So you’re resting enough and you don’t have a care in the world 🙂 but you’re still not losing weight. (see the last blog post to get up to speed if you missed it)
If I was a betting woman (I don’t gamble, that’s throwing away perfectly good shopping money) I’d say it’s because of one of two other things-your nutrition or your workouts.
Let’s talk about your nutrition today.
Nutrition is off in some way (eating too much, not enough, too much sugar, not a balanced ratio of macro nutrients)
I don’t believe in being a total calorie hard nose ‘cause frankly counting calories can be a drag. But you do need to be aware of how many- ish calories you need to take in and how many-ish you actually are taking in. For instance if you know that you need to be in the 1800-2,000 range and that on average you take in about 1,925. As long as you hit somewhere in that range daily there’s no need to know your number to an exact T…….except for if the scale is no longer budging. The it’s time to get down to the facts and figure out EXACTLY what you are doing.
Last week we talked a little about hitting that wall where nothing you do seems to make the scale budge in the direction you want it to. I listed some of the most common reasons why you may have hit this thing called a plateau, and how to identify if you actually have in fact hit a true plateau. If you need to come up to speed you can read that here: Are You Stuck At Your Weight?
Ok, so now that you know what and why, let’s get to the ‘what to do about it’ part:
First, you need to look at that list and determine which one(s) apply to you. Today let’s talk about external factors in a plateau. That means things that you can’t always seemingly control (notice the word seemingly).
One of the biggest frustrations I hear from you all through email or when you come in for your body diagnostic at my studio is that you feel like your weight loss progress has just come to a screeching halt. Just last week I had at least 3 women come in and tell me how all on their own they had lost 25lbs, 30lbs, one woman had even lost 50lbs. But each and every one of them could not seem to get one more pound to budge. Can you relate?
This is called a plateau and it’s the #1 reason that women fail at weight loss once they get past all the initial danger spots. Women who have gone for weeks, even months faithfully getting their workouts in, saying no to diet temptations and have thrilled at seeing it all pay off, suddenly stop doing it all and soon enough they find the weight creeping back on one sneaky pound at a time.
Can you relate?
Well I’m going to tell you exactly what a plateau is, why you’ve hit it, and what you can do about it.
This is gonna help you avoid a LOT of frustration. I’m also going to tell you how to avoid a plateau if you haven’t hit one yet.
It seems a lot of you are looking for a new way to make salads fresh and interesting again. Well here are 3 delicious salad recipes that are balanced in protein, carbs and healthy fat. This is the RIGHT way to make a salad a meal and to give your body what it needs to build lean sexy muscle and burn fat.
They are all actually really easy to put together [Read more…]
Here it is the 3rd Monday of the new year already. Let’s take a minute to talk about your fitness goals for the new year, have you taken one step forward and two steps back, or two steps forward and one step back? (I’ll give you a sec to read that again…..)
Hopefully you said the latter cause that would mean that despite hitting a few roadblocks you are on your way to fulfilling your new fitness goals and can actually feel that you’re beginning to make a difference.
Even if you’ve only managed to stick to your new eating plan for 2 weeks then you had a “bad week”, or if you’ve already missed a week of workouts, get right back on track and take some steps forward. As you string success after success together you’ll find that you take more like 3 steps forward, one back. Then 5 steps forward, one back. You’re not going to get to the point where you never have a slip up because we are imperfect humans and it happens to the best of us. But continue to strive to do your best and before you know it, success will become a habit that you are eager to stick to again and again.
Here are some of my favorite quotes on the subject of perseverance:
Have you seen it yet?
As of January 1st all restaurants are required to post the caloric content of all their menu items right on the main menu boards. No more hiding them in a pamphlet that you had to ask for and that they never seemed to have. No more telling you to go online to see nutrition data. Now it’s right there, right in your face. And this includes everyone guilty pleasure –Starbucks.
I was in line there the other day and there was a long line as usual. The girl in front of me was dutifully studying the new data while we waited, when it was her turn do you know what she ordered after waiting in line for well over 5 minutes? WATER! She said after seeing all those calories “I can’t bring myself to order anything. I’ll just take this bottled water”. I guarantee you, that’s a girl who is going to stay in her skinny jeans.
And while I believe in the 90/10 rule of eating clean and “cheating” most of us enjoy having coffee everyday (or almost everyday), so today I have a recipe for you that is a healthy recipe alternative for a normally sinful vice many of us have these days… gourmet coffee drinks!
Q: True or False: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day? (cue jeopardy music)
A: Sometimes……
That’s right on certain days it is in fact the most important meal of the day, on others it’s the second most important.
What takes its place of importance 3-4 times a week?
It’s here-just look at the seasonal shelves in your favorite store. Retailers refer to this time as the holiday season, but I like to be more accurate:
Weight Gain season starts now and runs straight through New Year’s.
The next month and a half will bring ample opportunity for you to indulge, to enjoy and to expand your waistline. Of course the choice is yours.
Why do I bring this up now and not mid way through December? Quite frankly now is the time for you to plan for the weeks ahead. Once the whirlwind of activities and obligations begins, you’ll be too caught up to put a plan into action.
So in this moment of clarity, this calm before the storm, let’s outline a plan that will save you from unwanted holiday pounds.
I’ve highlighted two simple steps that could make the difference from squeezing into your little black dress to slipping into it easily.
I hope you enjoyed my article yesterday on the best way to keep dieting simple. It really isn’t as complicated as we tend to make it. In fact my husband swears by his “Chicken and Rice” diet. When he really wants to get lean and “get on it” he eats, [Read more…]