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Motivation
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Interesting information last week, wasn't it? It certainly created lots of discussion at the studio. All good stuff. So if weight loss is your goal, what are the lessons and how do we put it all together?
Nutrition
1. Eat more protein- active women need a lot of it
2. Eat more often - the standard three square meals doesn't apply to you
3. Eat leafy greens and whole grains - fiber
4. Don't cut out fat from your diet - think quality fats
5. Drink water
Workouts
1. Aerobic workouts
This is the workout that burns fat for fuel. Stay in your target heart rate zone. Find aerobic workouts that keep you from getting bored. Find a walking partner or go to Zumba with a friend. Sign up for a 10K walk or half marathon and then train for it. The key to this is getting the most time in zone as possible. An hour a day is your ultimate goal.
2. Intervals
This is the workout that boosts your metabolism. Due to something called EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), it burns lot of calories for many hours after you work out. This is speed work, spinning, hills (Highbanks), HIIT (high intensity interval training class). The key to intervals is heart rate. Get your heart rate into your anaerobic zone for short intervals, then recover in your fat burning zone (aerobic) and repeat. Twice a week is plenty for this type of workout.
3. Strength training
This workout builds muscle strength and endurance, improves balance and posture, boosts metabolism, and sculpts and tones the body. This is weight lifting (Group Strength, personal training), Pilates, Body Pump type classes. What is important is the workload placed upon the muscles by alternating reps, sets, weight, etc. and working all the major muscle groups safely. Two to three times a week is ideal for strength training.
Circuit class combines strength training with aerobic exercise to keep the heart rate in your zone while lifting. It is a hybrid workout.
Many clients are consistent with their strength training but haven't gotten the aerobic (fat burning) workouts down yet. I understand a big reason for that is personal training. You get your strength training done by appointment, and so it gets on your schedule and gets done. The cardio tends to get pushed out of the way as things get busy, stressful, exhausting, or overwhelming. We all struggle in our own way with motivation, accountability, and consistency. Especially with the workouts we do on our own.
Many clients are doing lots of workouts, but either in the wrong heart rate zone for their goals, or are sabotaging their training with poor food choices. Hopefully last week's newsletter shed some more light on heart rate monitoring and the key role it plays in fat loss. For those of you who went to Baseline and got your assessment done, I am excited to see your progress now that you have the numbers to create a plan.
For those of you working so hard but not getting anywhere because of food, I challenge you this week to do things differently. Create an environment in which it is possible to be successful. Get rid of the junk in your house. Edible food-like substances like chips, crackers, cakes, cookies, etc. may be marketed as food, but they are not food. They are lacking nutritional value and they wreak havoc on your body. Get organized. Get inspired. Cook healthy meals. Make healthy choices.
The changes to your body aren't immediate. Weight loss takes time. Keep going anyway. Decide to never give up. Be as honest as you can with yourself. What's keeping you stuck? What are you eating? When? In response to what feeling, emotion, trigger. The only way out is through. In other words- if there are things you aren't dealing with, you will probably stay stuck until you deal with them. You have to be willing to look under every rock for clues.
I believe each and every one of you is capable of taking the next step. Now get moving. | 
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