Five Things

Today I thought I would share a random assortment of information and tips with you, just things I think everyone should know:

1. Crunches - You would have to do about 250,000 crunches to lose 1 pound of fat. You will never have ab definition by relying on crunches. The key to abs surrounds is your diet. You need to eat clean – for more info on this check out Tosca Reno’s books if you haven’t already.
2. Fitness Models - Also related to those coveted abs (particularly for women) 99.9% of fitness models on magazine covers diets down before a shoot.That fabulous body does not look like that 365 days a year. Although, I am no fitness model, I will use myself as an example here. I intentionally gained about 8 pounds after my fitness show earlier this month. Why? It wouldn’t be healthy for me to maintain a body fat percentage that low AND I was water depleted the day of the competition. I was down about 3-4 pounds of water weight! I am learning to be happy without the level of muscle definition I had a few weeks ago and recognize that magazines are not a reflection of reality (which I can forget sometimes).
3. Lifting weights – if you are female, under no circumstances will you look like a body builder if you lift weights. You do not have the testosterone required to build bulky muscle. Muscle on women only makes them ‘tighter’ and ‘leaner’. Also, as a bonus, resting muscle burns more calories than resting fat which means you get to eat more. I don’t know about you but I would like to be able to eat extra food every day. I like food. I eat six meals a day and I love it!
4. The scale – The scale can be evil. Do not rely on your weight to tell you what you look like. Have you ever walked up to someone on the street and said “Excuse me, what do you weigh?”. A number means very little, especially if you have a significant amount of muscle. For instance I know a woman who is almost 4 inches shorter than I am and weighs the same as I do (140 pounds – yep I just revealed my weight – shock and big gasp haha). Guess who looks “better”? She does - She has a lot of lean muscle and a lower body fat percentage. Instead of relying on the scale, take before and after pictures, measurements, body fat percentage, the fit of your clothes, and most importantly how you feel as an indication of your progress.
5. Planning and Preparation - These are the keys to almost all success in life, and particularly in terms of health and fitness. If you want to succeed you need to plan your meals and your workouts. Prepare healthy food on the weekends so you have something nutritious to grab when things are going crazy. I like to throw a bunch of chicken breasts on the foreman grill so I can chop and add them to any meal. Get your workout clothes out the night before so all you can do when you roll out of bed is put them on. My running shoes are literally beside my bed when I go to sleep at night. My morning routine looks like this: Get up; make coffee and grab a quinoa pancake from the freezer; drink coffee and eat pancake; work out. Make exercising a non-negotiable habit and healthy food all that is easy to grab in your house.

Ok, I think that sums up my little rant of the day. Big hugs and support to everyone keeping it healthy through the holiday season.