Can I Have That Pumpkin Spice Latte or What?

I’m a realist.   I know that you should probably avoid sugary coffees, teas and chocolates if you’re trying to be lean and fit into those skinny jeans, BUT, come on, it’s gonna happen, at some point you’re going to run into the mall during a pouring rain this winter and run smack dab into the “corner coffee shop” and be tempted to have one of their limited time seasonal drinks.

Now if you’re really serious about reaching your skinny jeans (skinny arms or whatever your “problem spot “is) goal then you need to think ahead and have a plan. One of my clients asked for my help in making a plan. Check out our email exchange below and take some tips away from it:

Initial email:

“Hi Sarai,

I am being very tempted with coffee drinks as they all came out now that the holiday season is starting. I have not bought any and fear I will start drinking them. Knowing how many calories are in them helps. I’d prefer not to exercise more to work it off. BUT as the holidays near and I am out it is difficult. Any ideas? During holidays from SB I tend to drink pumpkin spiced latte, white mocha, hot chocolate or apple cider”.

Alecia

[Read more…]

Healthy Cinnamon Apple Pancakes

1-1/2 c. gluten-free pancake mix
•    1 egg
•    1/4 scoop Prograde Vanilla Protein Powder
•    1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
•    3/4 c. almond milk (rice, skim, lactose-free, soy will work as well)
•    1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

[Read more…]

3 More Reasons People Fail

Yesterday I shared 5 reasons that people fail in any goal  and specifically weight loss.
I originally planned on listing  just the 5 reasons I gave you yesterday but there are three more that I think are probably the most important so I couldn’t leave them out and let you miss out on the “aha” moment I’m positive you’ll have after reading them.

[Read more…]

The Top 5 Reasons People Fail

Recently I was at a business mastermind in Las Vegas and we got into a discussion about why people fail. The discussion was geared toward business and we ended up with a list of 10 reasons people fail. As we were creating the list, it really struck me how many of the reasons applied to all areas of our life, even weight loss and fitness.

Here are the top 5 from our list that I believe apply to fitness: [Read more…]

EXACTLY what you should be eating for breakfast (3 recipes)

Breakfast is often called the most important meal of the day and rightly so. But not all breakfasts are created equal. Most will simply set you up to struggle through the rest of your day only to binge on something later.

So what IS the perfect breakfast?

Let me tell you, your typical cereal bar and low-fat yogurt doesn’t cut it.

I’ve broken down the perfect breakfast and even give you 3 step-by-step recipes, all right here.

[Read more…]

Using Visual Motivators

So this may sound weird to you but if you come to my house and into my office the first thing you will almost always notice is a bikini clad girl on my two computer monitors (the two above have been recent pin-ups). My husband objects that people are going to walk in and think it’s him with the pin-up girls and that I should take them down (since his “protest” last a whopping 5 seconds, I don’t think he really minds).

I don’t compare myself to these girls or beat myself up about not looking like them. I use these bikini girls as a form of visual motivation. A way to spark me to get my butt in gear and get a workout in if I’ve become glued to my work or to go drink a glass of water or eat my next meal so that I stay on track with my eating plan.

You’ll probably agree that we are all usually super pumped about a new weight loss/fitness plan during the first 5-10 days. [Read more…]

What’s In Your Kitchen Right Now?

If I were to come to your house, knock on your door and go through EVERY nook and cranny of your kitchen what would I be able to tell about you?

Would I clearly see a person dedicated to their goal of getting leaner?

Would I see someone who thinks they are on track but may be mislead by all the tricky packaging of the food manufacturers?

Or would I perhaps see a person who says they really want to get lean, but are hanging on to some diet sabotaging foods? [Read more…]

Check Out These Results!

So some of you may remember back in May I had this crazy idea to take a group of women and lead them by the hand, step by step through 6 weeks of an intense, focused weight loss program. There was a major nutrition overhaul where I took matters into my own hands and actually made their food for them, they were held to the highest levels of accountability when it came to their workouts. I was in constant communication with them each and every day. I pretty much took over every aspect of their lives to make sure they walked away with new tools and a new body.

I never did tell you how that turned out huh?

Well for starters, I took on 14 women, but it was so intense [Read more…]

Can You Eat Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Me and about 15 of my most awesome fitness boot camp clients ran a

half-marathon through the Santa Cruz Mountains this past Sunday.  We ran

uphill BOTH ways, had to keep our footing over some pretty treacherous cliffs,

ran through creeks, practically crawled under trees, jumped over logs and,

unfortunately, a couple of ladies got stung by hornets before the last 2 miles

were re-routed.  It sounds like a horror story but it was actually an incredible

experience.  I already can’t wait to do it again next year.

But as we were “carbing up” on Saturday night (yeah, yeah, that’s what that

was all about I swear!) and I was piling my plate high with food in preparation

for the event Sunday.  I got to thinking about how easy it is to develop a

distorted view of how much of everything we should be eating and what we

actually are eating, even healthy stuff.

I have this quiz that I give to new members of my Boot Camp program about

portions.  I think it might be eye opening for you to take it and see how well

your eyeball “scale” is calibrated.

I posted it below.  It’s a fun, quick quiz.  Take it and see where you stand on

your portion knowledge. [Read more…]

All-Natural Diet Soda

 

One of the easiest things you can do to begin losing weight with virtually no effort is to cut out high sugar and high calorie sodas and drinks.
Did you know that if you drink just two cans of soda a day now, and you cut that out of your diet, you would lose about 32 pounds in a year? That’s 32 pounds gone without changing anything else!
Now if the idea of giving up your soda all together is too tough how about replacing just one of those sodas with my all natural diet soda. I made a really quick video to show you my “diet soda” that I drink several times a week. It’s really refreshing and there are hundreds of flavor possibilities.
Check out my diet soda here

All Natural Diet Soda

 

Add a strength training workout 3 times a week and a daily metabolism boosting breakfast to this small step and you could shed about 8lbs in just 6 weeks. That’s pretty darn easy.