Monday, August 16, 2010 | View Comments
You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Get a Great Body
How many times have you given up on your diet or fitness routine because you weren’t good enough, didn’t do it all right or couldn’t exactly follow or complete what you had to do? My guess is more than once. The average person has given up close to a dozen times on their eating and exercise goals, and those experiences affect their self-confidence and an ability to succeed in the future.
continue reading»
Monday, August 2, 2010 | View Comments
It can be so easy to get into a routine where you start to eat a bit better and get in some aerobic activity, but that is as far as it goes. You are doing enough to get a bit healthier, but not enough to really change your body or your attitude. And while a small change for the better is a success; it will likely lead to disappointment. When that happens, it won’t be long before you go back to old unhealthy habits.
To help the group participants avoid settling into a lifestyle that is less than what they had hoped for, I asked them to consider what it is they want to improve and how they want to stretch themselves further. Because they set their own goals and I don’t force them to do any particular activity, what they decide to do is up to them.
continue reading»
Monday, July 19, 2010 | View Comments
As Sharon, one of the contestants, said so perfectly, “Small successful changes lead to lasting big results”. And this is just what the members of the groups are finding out. They started off the contest making very small changes with how they ate and in starting to be more active. I encouraged them to make weekly goals they had 100% confidence they could reach (even if that meant scaling back or baby steps). And I told them to increase their goals by no more than 5-10% at a time. That way, they could stretch themselves a bit, but not too much that they wouldn’t be successful.
continue reading»
Monday, July 5, 2010 | View Comments
We live in a city and surrounding community that makes it easier to have a healthy lifestyle than in other parts of the country.
We have lots of places and options to be active, from walking the new rail trails or trekking through Maudsley, biking along the coast, kayaking in the river, swimming at the local indoor pools, playing tennis or climbing at Metro Rock (which I just tried for the first time and enjoyed).
continue reading»
Monday, June 21, 2010 | View Comments
This week I wanted to show the people in the New You healthy lifestyle groups how they could make healthy meals really quickly, even on a busy night, and love the results.
continue reading»
Sunday, June 6, 2010 | View Comments
Healthy Lifestyle Changes Aren’t Easy
It is easier to make a change than it is to maintain it. That’s why so many people can do a diet or a fitness program for a while and then find themselves derailed and back to their old unhealthy and inactive habits.
Here are 4 Ways to Make Healthy [...]
continue reading»
Monday, May 17, 2010 | View Comments
There are many different ways to keep yourself motivated to make healthier choices and stick with exercise intentions. To find out what is working for those in the New You Groups, I asked them to share what was keeping them motivated each week.
continue reading»
Sunday, May 2, 2010 | View Comments
Healthy Lifestyle Contest Update: When you focus on successes, you stop focusing on what you didn’t do, should have done or your perceived failures. Instead you see what did go well, what worked best for you and that you can succeed. This is critical to being able to stay on track.
continue reading»
Saturday, April 17, 2010 | View Comments
Cooking Demo from Local in Home Cooking
This week the groups got the chance to spend part of an evening with Katie Habib, owner of in home cooking (personal chef, interactive dinner parties, cooking lessons and party prep) right here in Newburyport at her home. Our interest was vegetables and easy, quick ways to prepare them. [...]
continue reading»
Thursday, April 8, 2010 | View Comments
You will be shown how to make healthy choices that are satisfying, address mindset challenges, overcome sabotaging obstacles and stay motivated to reach your goals for the long-term. Do as the contestants are doing and discover an easier way to achieve healthy eating, healthy fitness and healthy weight loss, so you too can become a success story.
continue reading»
Thursday, April 1, 2010 | View Comments
This week the topic was on subconscious eating and how to address those times when food seems to have all the power and you just can’t stop yourself from losing control. While everyone is feeling more in control with food choices and portions, they are still prone to over indulging and eating when they aren’t hungry from subconscious triggers. By knowing more about them and how to deal with them, they will be better prepared and more easily avoid getting triggered to eat out of control.
continue reading»
Thursday, March 25, 2010 | View Comments
After two months of doing this program, the harder issue for most people in the groups is doing more exercise, yet they are all making incredible progress and feel they have improved their fitness since starting. What is interesting is that almost everyone feels they have a good handle on portion control, are easily choosing healthier foods and planning balanced meals and snacks. And I would agree looking at their weekly journals…
continue reading»
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 | View Comments
This week the groups were on there own, as I dealt with a case of vertigo and found myself unable to easily move about or focus my eyesight, which is now starting to improve.
continue reading»
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | View Comments
This week, I asked everyone to share a significant change in the way they were eating since starting the New You program, and to pick an area they had listed in their contest application as a major problem they wanted to solve. It was amazing to hear just how much had changed, and how easy it had been to make the changes.
continue reading»
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 | View Comments
Several people were so motivated by their initial successes, they got extremely ambitious and exercised for much longer periods of time, exercised every day, or both. When I saw that, I encouraged each one of them to be careful and to scale back considerably. While this is not the advice you would expect from a fitness expert (or personal trainer as I am), it is good advice. Here’s why.
continue reading»
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | View Comments
This week, the main topic for our group sessions was balanced eating and how to easily make healthy meals and snacks without it being complicated or restricted. These days it isn’t easy to make healthy food choices, and one of the problems is the confusion about what is and is not healthy to eat.
continue reading»
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 | View Comments
This week, our sessions started a bit differently. I asked everyone to share what it was that allowed them to succeed at reaching all or part of their fitness goals. As it turned out, all but those who had illnesses or other situations outside of their control, met their goals and most exceeded them.
continue reading»
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | View Comments
If you focus on the food, you get caught in the good/bad judgment and don’t focus on what drives food behaviors. Last week everyone started using a discovery food journal, where they kept track of where they were on the hunger scale when they started and stopped eating and any thoughts or feelings associated with each meal or snack.
continue reading»
Thursday, February 4, 2010 | View Comments
To kick off our sessions this week, I asked everyone to share what it was like to get in touch with their fullness the past week and to share in what way they had success in reaching their other goal. In addition to the goal of tracking fullness, each person had set a second goal for themselves in another area of health or fitness improvement.
continue reading»
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 | View Comments
This week, four groups began the two-year journey together that will change their lifestyles. I received nearly 100 applications for participation in the contest, and of those I narrowed the applicants down to 40 and then talked with each of them at length last week.
continue reading»
