If you're like most people, your day is filled with work, household chores, errands, taking care of kids, grandkids, or aging parents and trying to squeeze in a little "me time".  Part of that me time, is mostly likely fitting in a workout. And not just any workout, you want one that's effective, time efficient & that you can do right at home. I mean, who has time to drive to the gym? You're a busy woman! Even if you do, you've been running around all day, and don't want to take up any more of your time in the car.
 

​We all know that if you want to lose weight you need to burn off more calories than you take in. Well that’s a very simplified way of looking at it, but in general this is what needs to happen in order to burn body fat.
 
What complicates matters is that we all digest foods a little differently and how many calories we burn through out the day is also very individual. 

​With all the activity trackers out there, I think it’s safe to say that most people know it’s important to get your steps in each and every day. The surgeon general recommends you strive for 10,000 steps per day to maintain a healthy fitness level. That equals about five miles a day. This is also approximately the equivalent to 30 minutes of physical activity. 

I work with a lot of men and women trying to teach them how to shift their mindset from being on a diet to learning how to create a lifestyle that supports their goals. One of the biggest struggles they have is learning how to eat out at a restaurant without “blowing” their diet.  It's much easier to just eat at home, since you know exactly what is going into your food.  When eating out, you have no idea just how much fat, sodium, or other hidden calories could be hidden in your meal.

​Lately there has been a lot of research into the ill effects being sedentary has on our bodies.   During the day most of us are tied to a desk and remain there for long stretches of time.   We commute to and from work in our cars, and return home only to sit in front of the TV.   

​The average heart beats approximately 100,000 times per day.  That’s nearly 3.5 billion times in the course of a lifetime.   The heart is only about the size of a fist and weighs between 7 and 15 ounces, yet it pumps up to 2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body per day.  This is how our organs and other tissues receive oxygen and nutrients needed to stay healthy.  Most of us don’t ever give this a second thought, but that’s a lot of work for one muscle and a huge responsibility with very little rest!  So why not take some time to take care of the most important muscle in your body

​We really are what we eat.  Feed yourself a diet compromised of processed foods, drink diet sodas and coffee all day, and believe me you will get depressed.  Of course there are many other reasons for depression and you should seek medical advice if you are suffering from this debilitating disease.  You can, however, help your body and your mind by feeding it the right foods.  More and more studies are coming out that support our abilities to alleviate, if not cure, anxiety, depression, insomnia and a host of other disorders through nutrition. 

​No matter how good our intentions are we all come up against roadblocks on our weight loss journey.  Trying to bust through those roadblocks can be extremely difficult, especially when they are built up through our own negative thoughts.

​How many times have you set out determined to lose weight and get back in shape but nothing seems to happen.  Maybe you’ve vowed to eat better and go to the gym but when it comes right down to it, life gets in the way; you ended up working late, you too tired to cook dinner after working a long day, you already get up early enough you can’t possibly wake up any earlier, or well you get the idea.   Although these reasons are legitimate, they are still excuses.  Everyone is busy, no one wants to cook at the end of the day and let’s face it’s pretty easy to put off what we don’t want to do. The problem is, not only will these excuses keep you from reaching your goal, next year you’ll very likely weigh a little more, be a little bit more out of shape and possibly have some aches and pains as well as low energy to go along with that.
 

The gyms are now filled with men and women who have vowed that this year they are going to get fit, lose weight, tone up, slim down and reduce their body fat. Whatever your goal is, in order to succeed, you need to have a plan.   And by a plan I don’t mean workout 3 times a week and try to eat better.  
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A lot of people believe you need to change what you do every work out so you surprise your muscles; this is what I call chaos training.  Whether you go to the gym or workout at home, your workouts need structure and a specific goal. Let’s talk progressive overload and periodization.