It’s that time of year again.
It’s cold, rainy, stays dark for most of the day, and who doesn’t want a nice warm cup of happiness?
This has not slipped past the eyes of coffee shops everywhere so they have begun to peddle their holiday beverages. With names as enticing as peppermint, gingerbread, pumpkin pie, and eggnog, it’s no wonder that these drinks are top sellers.
I’m not getting on my soap box here. I’m just telling you something you already know:
Booze leads to bad decisions. And in this case, we’re talking about bad eating decisions.
The extra calories from the cocktails is one thing. But really it’s the extra calories you chew that start to add up.
One piece of cake turns to two…
A handful of chips turns into a a bag…
The dip sitting in front of you mysteriously vanishes…into your belly…
You get the picture. 😉
Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Just be conscious of what alcohol does to your decision making.
Stay focused,
Sarai
PS – One of my favorite snacks is Prograde Cravers. I always keep one on hand at parties so I can feel like I’m having a sweet treat too. It’s my duty as a proud Prograde Partner to share them with you 😉
The last two weeks I’ve been talking to you about avoiding the end of the year weight gain but let’s get serious for a moment. You’re going to eat a LOT of food this Thursday. You know it. I know it. And that’s ok. I’m sure you’ve been working out just a little bit harder to prepare for it, right? 😉 And I know you’re going to get a good workout in on Thursday before you chow down, right?
Now, besides that, I also want to remind you one thing you do NOT want to do on Thursday is skip meals so you can stuff yourself with one big one. That’s a no-no.
You still need to start your day right by boosting your metabolism with a solid breakfast. So to help you out with that I’ve got a gift for you from me and my buddies over at Prograde Nutrition. It’s a delicious Protein Pancakes recipe.
Thanks to the protein in the recipe your blood sugar won’t go crazy like it can just by eating a huge stack of pancakes with sugary syrup. Nope, this recipe will fill you up, nourish your body and give your metabolism just the boost it needs.
Be sure to let me know how you like it.
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 scoop Prograde Protein
3 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 c. skim milk
3 egg whites
1/4 c. oil
2 tbsp. wheat germ
2 tbsp. cornmeal
4 tbsp. bran
Heat skillet or griddle to 375 degrees. In large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix until large lumps disappear. Pour about 1/4 cup batter into hot skillet. Turn pancakes when edges look cooked and bubbles begin break on surface.
Repeat after me -"I will not gain more weight this holiday season." 
When you said that right now, how did it feel? Did you mean it but just don’t quite know how to make it happen?
Well I’m here today with 3 more quick tips to help you avoid the dreaded end of the year 15 pounds.
And trust me, I know these simple tips work, because the women in my fitness boot camp use them to stay lean and trim all year, including through the holidays.
The 3 I’m sharing with you today are very quick and very simple, in fact, just like the first four weight loss tips I gave you, you can start these right now.
1.) Drink, Drink, Drink Water!
Water competes for space in your stomach and truly helps decrease appetite. For every plate you eat, try to drink at least 1-2 glasses of water. After that second plate, when you have 1 full liter of water in your stomach, I bet you might just throw in the towel!
2.) Control your Portions
Try to eat only half of all the servings of unhealthy food that you choose. Half of the portions equal half the calories!
3.) Perform High-Intensity Activity Before and/or After a Big Meal or Holiday Feast
I know, I know. I promised diet strategies, but I simply cannot go without recommending some activity. Your body is most receptive to higher calorie and/or carbohydrate meals within 30 minutes before and within three hours following high-intensity activity. Ideally you would want to workout out before AND after a big meal, but if you can only do one, that will suffice. It is less important when you do it and more important that you do it. Your best options will be 20 minutes of circuit resistance training or cardio interval training. Even a 20-30 plus minute walk a few hours afterwards can serve as a bit of damage control.
I’ve got LOT’s more tips to help you out. I’ll make sure to post a few more over the next few days.
If you want non-stop access to me and all my little tips, tricks and turkey burning workouts, come check out my boot camp for women. You can do it free for a full week.
It seems that the whole world has become aware of the fact that the average person gains 10-15lbs during the typical holiday season; Halloween to New Years.
But having this knowledge and actually doing something to prevent the unsightly weight gain is a different story.
So what can you do to actually go into 2010 without having “lose weight” as your annual new years goal?
I actually have lots of tips that will help you beat the end of the year 15 and today I’m going to share 4 with you that you can apply to your life all the time, not just during the holiday season.
1.) Eat Leans Proteins and Fruits and Vegetables FIRST 
Just because it’s a holiday meal doesn’t mean you can’t eat any nutritious food. Make sure to load up on healthier food choices first and try to eat as much lean meat, fish, and fruits and veggies as possible at the start of each holiday event. This will leave less room for the unhealthier, higher calorie treats. At least this way you know your body is getting in some good nutrition and you are not putting yourself at excessive risk for sickness and/or other health concerns.
2.) Drink, Drink, Drink Water!
Water competes for space in your stomach and truly helps decrease appetite. For every plate you eat, try to drink at least 1-2 glasses of water. After that second plate, when you have 1 full liter of water in your stomach, I bet you might just throw in the towel!
3.) Control your Portions
Try to eat only half of all the servings of unhealthy food that you choose. Half of the portions equal half the calories!
4.) Use Lower Calorie/Carbohydrate Substitutes Whenever Possible
Instead of using sugar, opt for zero calorie alternatives like splenda or stevia. They can deliver a similar taste without all of the extra sugar and calories. Even try replacing yeast with protein powder when you bake. The extra protein and reduced carbohydrates will result in a slimmer you while still providing some great tasting treats! Your goal should be to find the minimal amount of calories that can provide the same great taste that makes the holiday treats enjoyable rather than simply overdoing it because you can!
Carbs, carbs, carbs. That’s what everyone seems to want to talk about. How do I avoid carbs?
Well, what you should be talking about instead is, "How do I get more lean Protein into my eating plan?"
Now THAT is the right question.
You see, Protein is where it’s at. Check out these two little known facts about protein:
uses more calories to digest protein than other nutrients. Pretty sneaky, huh? Good sources of Lean Protein come from foods such as:
Fish, eggs, poultry, lean beef…
But some people have trouble eating enough protein each day. Some people would like it to be more convenient for them.
If that’s the case with you then I have VERY good news. And it’s news I’ve been waiting to tell you for some time now.
My buddies over at Prograde Nutrition have finally released their pharmaceutical quality whey protein.
You see, not all Protein powders are created equal. Prograde Protein:
– Delivers unparalleled purity through low-temperature micro-filtering
– Is naturally sweetened with Stevia
– Contains 5.3 grams of branch chained amino acids per serving
– Mixes instantly with just a spoon
– Enhances absorption and digestion via lactase and Aminogen digestive enzymes
Look, I’ve been waiting patiently for Prograde Protein to come out. But as usual, Prograde just would NOT release this product until they could get it as close to perfect as possible.
The best part is they are putting it on sale this week to celebrate it’s launch. You can get it at 10% off this week ONLY. Just go to www.BootyCampNutrition.com and you’ll find all the details. Including the coupon code to use when you order to get the 10% off your order.
But you need to hurry. For one thing, the special price ends this Friday, November 13th at 11:59pm EST. The other thing is, well, I cannot begin to tell you how highly anticipated Prograde Protein has been. There’s a very good chance they’ll be out of stock well before Friday even gets here!
So get yours NOW.
Sarai D. Jones
Have you ever wondered how some people are able to maintain amazing bodies while you struggle with your weight?
They make it seem so easy to achieve and maintain results. What do they know that you don’t? When you boil it down, the answer is quite simple.
The missing link between you and your ideal body is good old motivation.
A healthy dose of motivation coupled with determination will get you almost anything in life. So how do you know if you’re genuinely motivated?
If your motivation levels are lacking, read the following four steps to turn on your motivation.
Step #1: Pinpoint Your Motivator.
Motivation stems from having a goal. What is your goal? Why do you want to get into great shape?
Once you uncover your personal motivator you’ll find that motivation flows quickly your way.
Take a minute to really uncover the reason that you want to lose the weight. Don’t say something vague, like that you want to “be thinner”, or “look more attractive”. Dig deeper-there is a very specific motivator in your life, you simply need to uncover it.
Here are some possible motivators…
Step #2: Make It Official
When you write something down it suddenly feels official, doesn’t it? Write down your motivator for getting into great shape, and post it where you will see it often – next to your alarm clock, on the bathroom mirror, or in your car.
Each time you see your written motivator take a moment to visualize yourself accomplishing your goal. Try to make the scene as clear in your mind as possible. This is a powerful tool for maintaining your focus and direction.
Step #3: Be Practical
It’s game plan time. You know what you want, and now you need to map out exactly how you’ll achieve it. It is important to be practical in your planning, rather than throwing out ideas that you know you won’t stick with.
With any weight loss goal it is important to
1)maintain a healthy low-calorie diet, and
2)participate in a consistent and challenging exercise program.
Plan a routine that will fit into your schedule and you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Also, choose an exercise program that you enjoy-don’t force yourself to jog every day if you hate jogging.
Step #4: Call for Backup.
Enlist the support of your friends, family, and co-workers. Tell everyone about your goal to lose weight and get fit. You’ll be surprised how supportive most people will be. By being open about your goals you will likely be an encouragement to others to make healthy changes in their own lives.
One concern that I often hear a lot from my clients in Booty Boot Camp is the fear of 
eating late.
I think it’s safe to say that we have all heard the advice to not eat after a certain time, say 7pm. Most of us have come to believe that if we do eat past that magical cut off time, our weight loss efforts are doomed to failure.
But this is simply not true as a cut and dry fact. There’s more to it than that.
One thing you must understand is that it is not necessarily just that you are eating late that’s the problem. What you eat AND if it fits into your overall calorie allotment for the day is what you really need to keep an eye on. If you graze all night, you will definitely be over your calories for the day, and your diet efforts could be shot.
Consider this; after a full day of healthy, portion controlled eating,
night time grazing is more about satisfying an urge to munch as opposed to true hunger. Wouldn’t you agree?
So what can you do?
First, you need to re-commit to yourself to the bigger picture; the process of making lifestyle changes, not just putting yourself on another diet. If night time munching is one of the reason that you’ve put on weight over the years, then it is obviously one of the things in your life that needs to change.
Does that mean you’ll never again sit down to a big bowl of buttered popcorn after dinner?
Of course not. You and I both know that to say we are cutting something we truly love out of our life forever is a recipe for failure.
This is about you getting control over your actions. You deciding when you will have a late night snack and
not just marching into the kitchen like some food crazed zombie.
Next, you need to get control -this can take on more than one form:
Change is not easy. Give yourself time to make the adjustment to more balanced eating. Strive to make small changes every day and over time you will get to your goals.
If you haven’t heard about it, KFC is featuring a brand new style of chicken. It’s the “healthier” alternative, the Kentucky Grilled Chicken.
Although this may be a better choice than the undoubtedly fatter fried alternative, it’s still nowhere near being an ideal food choice.
4.) Fly Machine
If your goal is to tear your pecs and destroy your rotator cuff, then I highly recommend that you add this 
exercise to your routine. I think the chest fly machine actually gets even more play than the bench press, which is considered to be the most popular exercise for guys.
The problem is not only the destruction of the major muscles of your body, but the elimination of the main stabilizing muscles surrounding your shoulders. So when you decide to pick up something overhead, like moving your plates from the dishwasher to the overhead cabinets, your muscles will be shaking and your arms will get tired faster than you can count to one-1. Men also tend to use all the weight in the weight stack, helping cause shoulder impingement and even biceps tendinitis.
21 Century Training Upgrade:For strong, stable shoulders focus on performing an equal amount of pushing and pulling exercises. In the beginning, I want you to perform more pulling exercises (pull-ups, rows, deadlifts) than pushing exercises because you’ve probably been neglecting your rear shoulders and upper/mid muscles. The best pushing exercise you can do is any push-up variation, as it not only safely trains the entire front side of your body, but also engages your upper back musculature in a way that the bench press does not. Furthermore, the push-up is much safer. Have you ever heard of someone dying from falling on their nose while performing a push-up?
5.) Elliptical Machine
Look-if you are really, really overweight and haven’t exercised in over a decade, then I think an elliptical has some use. Especially when you consider that walking and running inflicts up to three to seven times your body weight of force back into your body. So, if you weigh 100 pounds, every step you take when you walk sends 300 pounds of force back into your body. Think of squatting 300 pounds of weight on your back, that should give you a general idea of why when you first start your workout program you have a lot of knee or ankle aches.
So, it’s true that it is a low-impact alternative to running on a treadmill, but because you don’t move your legs as much on an elliptical as compared to the treadmill, you won’t burn as many calories, meaning you don’t burn your fat.
Also, it promotes hyper-extension of the knee. If you haven’t seen a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight, imagine being put into a knee bar, or in other words, bending your knee the opposite way it’s supposed to bend. Now, add the extra forces on your knee and PRESTO, you have multiple knee injuries.
Think about it-look at all the people who are using the elliptical and most of them have one thing in common, they are reading magazines and area still overweight. Even the ones that have been there since the gym opened. You know who I am talking about.
At the end of the day, you can read a magazine while on an elliptical.
But do you think reading on an elliptical will help you lose weight
when you’re not even breaking a sweat and you’re not even focused on
what you’re supposed to do?
Trust me, I have been there. I used to convince myself that the elliptical was for my clients with torn up knees. But then I decided one day that the best thing was for them to lose some weight. I prescribed some corrective stretching, used a foam roller, so the muscles around the knee could support itself much better, and worked on hip and ankle mobility to take pressure off of the knees so that they could get back to doing more strenuous activities pain-free.
I want to leave you with this question. How hard is it for you to do a report for work when you are watching TV, reading a magazine, and listening to music at the same time?
Hopefully you said a long time…maybe even NEVER. Now, don’t you read a magazine, or watch TV or listen to music, or even all of the above: and you expect this same recipe to help you lose weight?
21 Century Training Update:For optimal results during your cardio training, you must focus on intervals, when you have prepared your body enough. They burn 9 times more body fat than aerobics-meaning what you’re doing now on the treadmill (walking or jogging for 20 to 45 minutes). This will result in greater improvements in your conditioning than long, slow, boring cardio, and give you a lean, sleek, stream-lined body.
6.) The Sex Machine-Abductor/Adductor Combo 
Ah, the sex machine…this one just makes me smile. It certainly takes me back to the days where the meatheads would shamelessly gawk at this outrageously good-looking gal who did 1,000 reps on the adductor/abductor machine to fit into her "skinny jeans."
But, I can assure you, this machine had nothing to do with her nice body-rather it was a combination of genetics, a clean diet, and being a tri-sport athlete that did the trick.
You see, most women seem to think that this exercise can somehow, magically pinpoint their thighs to blast away the fat like a laser-guided missile.
I have heard many women ask,"What exercise can I do to get rid of this flab inside my leg?" But it all boils down to the same thing; get on a training program, and choose multi-joint, multi-muscle exercises, and you will blast the flab away like a torch melts steel.
Spot reduction is a myth. I know you know that, but you want to try to find the easy way. Although you can work your butt off by doing adductor/abductor machine thousands of times for thousands of reps, no amount of direct inner or other hip-thigh work will burn that ugly fat covering that sexy toned musculature every one wants to see, so let it go, baby. If there were an easy way, I’d let you know because I’d be the first one on it, trust me.
Again, start consuming lean proteins, healthy fats, and fruits and veggies every 2-4 hours while chugging water like a fish.
Then you need to get off this time-wasting machine and get real thigh-blasting, fat burning, total body workout!
21 Century Training Upgrade:The best exercise for your inner and outer hip/thigh will come from side plank variations, any and all single-leg exercises, and especially lateral lunges. Lateral lunges stretch and contract the sides of your thighs at the same time, giving you everything you need in one move.
7.)Leg Press Machine 
I know the simplest way to do things is normally the best, but when it comes to working out, the easiest way isn’t the best. So many people prefer the leg press. I mean, what’s wrong with it? You get to lay or sit on your butt, depending on the exact type of leg press machine being used, put a bunch of weight on it, and work your leg only half the way. Don’t forget it is an easy way to break your back.
So you want nice legs? Oh, and flat, sexy abs? No problem. Just squat! Sorry you can’t squat lying down, I know that would be easier, but then it wouldn’t be work, would it?
Squats don’t just work your legs, but require your whole body to work together. The problem is that since it works almost your entire body, you need to put in supreme effort and be ready to sweat. If you aren’t willing to work, then you’ll get crap results, not just from squats, but from any exercise, period.
The leg press, like I said, could easily break your back. You become hunched when the weight comes down. A hunched back can’t take weight like a straight back can. Don’t confuse straight as in straight up and down. Rather, in an extended, stretched position. With such a position your back can tolerate huge loads and support almost an infinite amount of weight. The hunched back, on the other hand, creates abnormal stress in certain parts of your back and can easily give you a bulging or herniated disk.
Too much weight + Poor form = Back Injury. So if you are really choosing the leg press over squatting, then you don’t know squat, pun intended.
21 Century Training UpgradeThe best and safest exercises for your lower body are a healthy combination of double-leg and single-leg exercises using free weights and body-weight-based exercises. Be sure to perform an equal amount of knee-dominant lower body exercises (e.g. squats and lunges) and hip-dominant lower body exercises (e.g. deadlifts and single-leg hip extensions) to make your knees, hips, and back bulletproof. In fact, most people are very knee-dominant and could benefit from starting with performing a greater number of hip-dominant movements to balance out their lower body musculature.
You’ll notice one common trend among all of these crap exercises: they all involve MACHINES!
Machines, like I said earlier, are meant for the average person, and no one fits into the average. Free weights, yes, the dumbbells, barbells, bands and cable machines are really meant for you. Yes, they take more effort, but effort means work, and work means losing weight.
So get off those silly contraptions and focus on whole-body movements using any of the tools for your body besides machines. Not only will you be a fat-burning monster, you’ll end up with a body that would impress even the Greek statues. Don’t forget-because you are working on whole-body movements, you won’t end up hunchbacked by the time you’re fifty and you will have a confident aura about you.
Remember, "Average is Not Enough"
Sarai Jones
P.S.
What other exercises do you see people doing in the gym that make you cringe? What other exercises to you absolutely hate? What exercises have gotten you (or your clients) hurt in the past? Please share your personal experiences by posting a comment to this blog post, thanks!