Think All You Want

So many people keep thinking about making changes. They think about eating healthier. Or think about making a better choice at a restaurant. Or, my favorite, many people think about getting healthy after the next vacation. But when it comes right down to it, you can think all you want but if you don't actually do it, then it doesn't matter! Thinking about it is definitely a good first step, but 95% of people stop right there. They keep thinking about what they should be doing or thinking about what could happen or thinking about if they did something. I am telling you right now you can think all you want but until you actually start doing you won't see any changes and you won't reach your goals.

So how do you go from thinking about it to actually doing it? There are lots of ways and I will give you some tools that I hope will help you get off the "thinking chair" and into the "doing lane".

1. Write out your goals. Take those goals and create immediate (in the next 1-2 weeks), short (1-3 months) and long term goals (6+ months). But don't stop there. Dig into each of those goals and make a plan. Plan out how you are going to get there. For example:

•  Immediate goals: start to make better food choices, workout more often
• Plan: get rid of all of the junk food in the house, clean out refrigerator, make a menu plan (sit down on Sunday afternoon for 2 hours to plan our meals for the week)
• Plan: schedule in 2 workouts a week into my calendar with a reminder. Treat it like the most important meeting in the world.

2.Write out a plan for all of your goals. Then don't just set this paper aside. Take a picture of it so you always have it in your phone. Fold it up and keep it with you, or set it by your bedside to review the minute you wake up and the minute you go to sleep.

3. Make a list. The most successful people will actually take these goals and plans and then make a list and set dates and deadlines. Make it more detailed to include daily tasks and cross them off. This fuels your drive for success! And when you cross things off, and check them off as done, you not only feel more successful but you are more likely to keep going!

Think about WHY. Another way to stop thinking about it and actually start doing it is to take your goals, and really think about what it is that you want and WHY you want it. So if your goals are to lose 20 pounds and eat better and workout more, WHY do you want to lose 20 pounds. WHY do you want to eat better? WHY do you want to workout more? If I want to lose 20 pounds because I have a trip coming up and I know that the only way I am going to do that is to eat better and workout more... that isn't going to work. Re-read that. You read it correctly. That "WHY" is going to back-fire and it isn't going to work. If you have ever set a goal that is superficial like that: for a reunion, or a wedding, or a trip, think about if that was good enough. Did you reach that goal? More importantly, did you keep it off? Probably not. That's because those superficial short-term WHY's don't work. They don't dig into why you really want these things. When I had 140 pounds to lose I didn't just think about doing it, I actually did it. I set goals and did it. To lose that last stubborn 15 pounds, I again thought about why I wanted to get rid of them. It wasn't just because I wanted to have a healthier body fat, and look better in my swimsuit. It was because I wanted to NEVER, EVER, EVER again feel down about myself and have such low self-esteem for not reaching my goals and for not liking my body. I wanted to always feel good about my body, my image and then portray that onto my children. I wanted to once and for all reach my goals, not give up and teach my children that being healthy is a lifestyle. I want to teach them these skills so they never feel the way I felt when I was heavy. My WHY is for my longevity of my life, my health and my kids' health. My WHY is so much bigger than the now and the next trip, it's about the rest of my life being healthy and happy and able to do whatever I want, to be as active as I want and to go on trips and not having it always revolve around my weight and food. That is a powerful WHY. And it is finding your WHY that will help you realize how to stop just thinking about it and actually do it.

Do you have the tools, the resources and the support to do this? If you answered no, then you need to get in touch with me. That is what I do. I help you figure out the best course of action to help you reach your goals. Whether that be through personal training, nutritional coaching or meal planning consultations. Don't do it on your own if you don't have to. It's easier with a network of support and someone encouraging you and being your ally. So stop just thinking about it and reach out to me to help you start doing.

Just knowing how to lose weight and eat healthy doesn't mean you are actually going to do it. What is it going to take to get you to stop thinking about it and actually do it? A person who knows how only has the knowledge, but the person who knows why will always be empowered to reach their goals and be successful for a lifetime.

P.S. Ask me about the AMAZING PROMO on my nutrition program going on this week only (ends 10/26)!

Laura Gifford
Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach
laura@fitnesswithlaura.com
763-248-6574 cell

Are you a short order cook?

Do you make yourself a different meal than you do the rest of the people in your house? If you are doing this then I urge you to apply at Denny's as a cook... because you are acting as a short order cook at home! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

When you make yourself a different meal than the rest of the family, and I am mainly referring to dinner time, then you are on a diet. You are not taking your goals to be healthy seriously, and you are not learning anything from what you are doing. You are going to go backwards when you decide to start eating with your family again. This is why women tend to lose weight and then gain it all back again. They diet, and eat something different than everyone at the dinner table, and then go right back to what they were doing. Well, what you were doing didn't work, so why would you go back to it? Insane right?

When you make yourself a different meal you are also teaching your kids about dieting. You are teaching them that it is okay for them to eat the fatty and unhealthy meal you made them (because why else wouldn't you be eating it if it was healthy, right?) You are teaching them that it is normal to diet and be unhealthy and you are teaching them this horrible cycle when they are young. Don't you want to stop the cycle and be a good example for your kids? Don't you want them to NEVER have to worry about dieting and NEVER have to struggle to lose weight? Well you can teach them this, but YOU ARE THE EXAMPLE. So it's time you start acting like the example and do something about it.

I am a mom of 4 and I do not feed my kids or my husband any different foods at the dinner table. Now I will admit I have a few exceptions to this rule, but the majority of the time we are all eating the same thing. This is what a healthy lifestyle is all about. It's not about me dieting and eating a salad every night while my family eats lasagna. Not only does that lead to them seeing that I am on a "diet" but it also makes me feel deprived and unsatisfied. That leads me to feeling like it all isn't worth it and I will give up. See the cycle? Why would you do that to yourself?

Sit everyone down that lives in your house and talk about how you are going to be making changes to benefit everyone's health. That you are going to make one meal, and everyone will eat that meal or they will be hungry. Do you have picky eaters? That is your fault. I am sorry, but it is. You provide the food and the nutrition in your house, your kids don't go to the grocery store or pay the grocery bill! So at some point you decided that when your child didn't want to try something that it was ok. You gave in. Picky eaters are created, they are not born that way. I have 2 kids that tried to be picky, but they just simply can choose to eat what is put in front of them or not. They have gone to bed hungry and angry, once. It only takes once for them to see you are serious and then they will eat the healthy meal and try more new foods. My kids hated salad, not sure why maybe because it just doesn't look fun to them! I finally put salad on their plates, and only salad, and a few HEALTHY dressing choices on the table. I told them to try each dressing by dipping their fork in the dressing then the salad and find one they like. I also told them they would not get the main meal until their entire salad was in their tummy. I ignored all the complaints and crying about being hungry. They have food in front of them! And I only mean about 6 bites worth to start. Now, after about the 4th time, my kids found that they actually like salad! And they quickly realized they wouldn't get the lemon chicken or the bbq pork chop until their salad was gone, and cold food isn't as tasty. I don't have to do this anymore, they get it all at once because they eat their salad too! I am not saying it is easy and this topic is getting into parenting, which is not what the focus is. But just remember, that you are the parent, you are the one teaching them right now how to be healthy, how to like a variety of foods, to try new things and to be proud of what they put in their body. That is your job! If it is your husband that is holding you back because he wants only meat and potatoes because that is what his mother made... too bad. Then he can go back and live with mommy! LOL! Does he want a healthy family, a wife that feels good about herself and feels sexier and healthier? I think the answer for any man would be yes, so he should support you in this as well. And the reverse is true for men out there that are the cooks in the family!

Make your meals simple. Pick your protein, like chicken, pork, steak, fish or whatever it is. Are you going to season it with fresh lemon or lime juice and fresh or dried seasonings? So many varieties to change the flavor! What vegetable are you going to have with it? Mashed cauliflower is awesome! Steamed veggies, roasted veggies, sauteed veggies. Again so many varieties and so many ways to prepare them. I almost always serve a salad too. Does this seem like a lot of vegetables and your kids don't like vegetables? When you make it different each night and constantly try a variety I bet their tastes will change. Did you know that it takes a person 5-7 times of being introduced to a food and trying it before they start to like it?

Can you never have something like lasagna or casseroles again? I am not saying that. Find healthier recipes for some of your favorites. Make a large salad and steamed veggies with every meal. Fill every one's plate with salad and veggies to fill it 3/4 full and then add the lasagna or casserole. Use the salad plates for dinner. They are big enough! Sometimes we use the salad plates for the main course and steamed veggies, then a small bowl for our side salad. No 2nds until salad and veggies are gone! That goes for you too! And another tip, don't put the serving plates on the table... leave the lasagna on the cook top away from the table. Better yet, put it away after you dish out healthy serving sizes. Box it up and put it away! You are less likely to overeat and get more if it's already in the fridge!

These types of behaviors not only keep you on task to reaching your goals and being healthier, but they teach your entire family the importance of eating healthy. What an invaluable lesson to start teaching your kids now! So stop making separate meals for yourself and find the power within you to take charge of your health and your family's health!

Yes, I am working on a cook book.... stay tuned! :)

What's your excuse now?

Although I hate typing this, here I go: summer is coming to an end faster than I want it to. For me, summer is easier to stay on track. So many fresh vegetables and fruits all over the place. Grilling our dinners of fish, chicken or vegetables. When it is cold outside I crave comfort food. And most comfort food is hard to make healthy! When it is cold I am less active because I don't like the cold, so I don't go out to jog or go down to the park or go on walks. I don't like winter and I am not looking forward to it. I find it interesting how many people tell me exactly the opposite, that it is easier for them to be healthy over the winter. They tell me that they have so much going on in the summer that they don't stay on track in the summer. They find it easier in the fall and winter. I think that is very interesting, and I am going to be honest, I find that as just another excuse.  Because those are the same people that decide that it is too hard during the holidays to stay on track. The same people that find another reason in the spring to not reach their goals. There is always an excuse. There is no other word for things that prevent you from reaching your goals: excuses.

People tell me all the time they want to eat healthier. They want to lose some weight. They want more energy. They want to look better in their clothes, or drop a few sizes to get new clothes. But they also want all of these things without having to make any changes or adjustments in their life! Think about it. If you are looking for the next diet or the next best thing to come along and just work for you, then you aren't serious about getting healthy. You have to really want it, and I don't mean WISH it, I mean you have to WANT it and be WILLING to do the work. It isn't magic. It isn't easy. But it can be done, with a little work and dedication, you too can reach your goals. There is a difference in wishing you were healthier and setting a goal to be healthier. Setting goals means you are developing a plan and putting that plan into action. Think about how you have reached other goals in your life, wishing it to happen doesn't work.

So what is stopping you now? Those of you that used summer as your excuse, that you were too busy, had too many events and so on. Well, you were really looking at wanting to be healthier as a diet. Diets fail, we all know that. To make a lifestyle change you have to be willing to make CHANGES and you have to be willing to make some sacrifices, you have to be willing to learn how to make healthier choices despite what is going on in your life and around you. Let me say that again. You have to be willing to learn how to make healthier choices despite what life throws your way. So if you wait to start a new program because you have a wedding coming up, or because you have a vacation coming up, then you are still looking at this decision to be healthier as a diet. And again, diets fail. There is always going to be something or some event or some activity in your life, always. So you have to learn how to have a healthy lifestyle around those things. You have to learn how to face them and still be healthy. That is the major difference between diets and lifestyle changes. I tried every diet on the planet and I always lost and gained. It was a horrible cycle. I thought something would eventually work for me, but it didn't. It wasn't until I realized the difference in deciding to change my lifestyle, to learn how to be healthy and still have a very fun and active life, that is when I succeeded.

How do you do that? You start making small changes. You pick something you are going to change this week or this month and focus on that. Maybe that means you start with a healthier breakfast and focus on that until it feels normal and habitual for you. That means it is now your lifestyle to have a healthy breakfast. And you write it down. Yes, you write down your goals, you write down how you are going to get there, and you make a plan. Maybe that is as simple as using a food journal to set goals and track them. But you have to write things down to make them goals, otherwise it is still just a wish. Then you change something else, like lunch. And so on. If you don't even know where to begin with that, then I encourage you to sit down with a nutrition coach. Changing your lifestyle and being healthy doesn't have to be hard, but it is work. It can be fun and rewarding at the same time too. But you have to be ready to commit and to not let excuses stop you. You have to be willing to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle. The rewards are so worth it. We are given such a short time on this planet, why don't you want to feel your best every single day? If you are ready to start feeling amazing but you don't know where to start, please reach out to me. I offer free 30-minute nutrition consultations over the phone to help you develop a plan to a healthier lifestyle. Email me to set up your free 30 minute call. laura@fitnesswithlaura.com

So what is your excuse now? I bet you don't have one. :)

I don't have time....

We can't make time. We can't find time. If we can't make it and we can't find it, how can we possibly have any at all? It goes fast when we don't want it to. It goes slowly when we want it to fly by. And we seem to never have any time when it comes to making priorities, especially when those priorities should involve our health.

I am guilty of it as well. I have caught myself saying the dreaded statement: I don't have time to ____. Insert anything you want in the blank. Whether it's "workout" or "prep my meals" or "eat healthy" or "make a meal plan" whatever the statement is, it is so common to say we don't have time for it. When that clearly isn't true. We do have time, we all have the same amount of time in a day, we just CHOOSE to use that time differently. I have four kids, I run a business, I am a wife, I take care of my house, I am a chauffeur for activities, I am one of the busiest people on the planet so I understand not having time. I understand why people use that phrase. But once you shift your thinking over to realizing that you do have the time and that you can make the choices as to how you use your time, you will live a much happier and healthier life.

So how do you do that? First you stop saying you don't have time and you start scheduling into your calendar these things that you don't do right now. Like working out, or meal planning, or prepping meals, or whatever it is you want to start doing but think you don't have time to do. For example, I started putting into my calendar - with a loud alarm reminder - to do a 30 minute workout 3 times a week. Now I am holding myself more accountable to doing it. I "found the time" because I put it on the calendar, now I just need to follow through when the reminder goes off. I also block off 2 hours every weekend to plan our meals for the week, plan the grocery list, and to prep the food. What I mean by that is I literally write out every meal on a spreadsheet that our family will eat. Sometimes I have to wake up early before everyone else to do this, but that is how I make the time! I create a list from that meal plan for our groceries. I quickly scan the kitchen, refrigerator and freezer and cross off things I already have that I don't need to buy (my kids like helping with this like it's a scavenger hunt!) Once I have my groceries (usually via Coborns Delivers or a quick trip to the store, because with a list it goes very fast) I gather up the kiddos and the hubby and we all wash and cut the fruit and vegetables and divide out the meat, etc. so that it is READY TO GRAB when we need it. I make time in our calendar to do this and I get everyone involved to help me. Sometimes they don't and sometimes I prefer to do it alone, but when I ask for help they know it isn't really a question and that if we all do it together it goes so much faster. I am getting everyone involved in my home in understanding the importance of doing this so that we are all healthier! How I wish I had learned this growing up, so I look at this as an invaluable lesson that I am giving my kids now.

If you are someone that finds yourself thinking that you don't have time for working out, or you don't have time to make healthy meals, think again. You have as much time as everyone else, you just need to choose to allocate your time to this, you need to make it a priority and schedule it into your week. You need to make the choice to stop making time be the excuse and do something about it. You will find that you will actually save time once you have things planned out like this. It is so much easier to spend those 2 hours once a week than it is to try and figure out meals every single day. The great thing is, since I have been doing these meal plans for awhile, now I have about 6 versions that I cycle back through and I spend even less time now!!!

Think about how you use your time. Will you starting making time for your health? It's funny that once we lose our health we seem to find time and will do anything to get our health back... so why not be proactive about it and not lose it in the first place? Find the time and you will find and keep your health!

Do I Ever Get Lasagna Again?

I truly believe that the reason most people give up on losing weight is because they feel deprived. They link they will never get to eat lasagna or a cheeseburger ever again. That feeling of deprivation, not allowing yourself to do something, not knowing how to balance it all is exactly why diets fail. What are the first three letters in diet? D-I-E... and if you have been on a diet you feel like you are going to die! So, I am here to tell you that you don't have to give up lasagna forever. You can have your cheeseburger or that chocolate chip cookie, but you can't have those things every day if you want to be healthy.

So how do you balance it to achieve your weight loss goals? First you need to really look at what you are eating right now. Are you eating every 3-4 hours? Do you really know how much food you are putting in your body at each meal? Most people overeat, drastically overeat. Being healthy, eating well and losing weight involves learning. It doesn't have to be rocket science learning, but you have to take the time to learn about what you are putting in your mouth if you want to be successful. You have to learn about how much food YOUR body needs to lose weight versus maintaining your weight. So how do you do that?

The best approach is to food journal. It is very simple and you can learn so much about your habits and how to figure out what foods keep you feeling satisfied longer than others. Your food journal should include the time you eat, the amount of the food - preferably in weight as it is more accurate, the food description, and the calories. There are great websites out there to help you learn the calories of the food. Most people that think they are eating 400 calories at dinner are usually eating closer to 600 because they are not accurately weighing and measuring their food! Write it all down, keep a running total and see where you are at for the day. The best food journals also include how you felt. At the end of the day write down if you felt satisfied, if you had cravings, if you felt tired. These are great tools to look back and see what foods may be causing these feelings.

Your food journal is also important because it can become your menu plan! Scan through your journal and pick out the days that you kept your calories in check and felt satisfied, and use those days to create your own little menu plan! Yes this takes a little bit of work each day, but if you write it down as you eat it, it only takes a few seconds. Do not wait until the end of the day to think back on what you ate, that will never be accurate and it means you didn't measure your food! Do it as you go and you will be so thankful you did!

So how to do you get to eat lasagna and cheeseburgers? Well, after you get a handle on how to eat the right portion sizes and within the correct calorie range for your body, you can start to incorporate healthier versions of lasagna or your other favorite foods into your menu plan once in awhile. I don't have lasagna every day, actually probably only once or twice a year! But I use whole wheat noodles, ground turkey and low fat cheese. It is delicious, but I also know that a small portion is 400 calories so I have a very large salad with it to help me feel full. I don't put the pan on the table, I leave it at the stove, dish up the plates and don't go back for seconds. For cheeseburgers I use 1/2 and 1/2 ground beef and ground turkey. This cuts the calories and the fat in half! Either go without the bun or use the light whole wheat buns that are less than 100 calories. Skip the french fries or make your own by slicing up sweet potatoes, rinse them, toss them in a small amount of egg whites and seasoning and bake at 425. The light coating of egg whites gets them nice and crispy without frying them. So you can have some indulgences, just try to make them a little healthier than you would have before!


Want to know how many calories you need? Google it as there are many great resources to help you calculate it based on your body. Want help with all of this? I offer fitness assessments at my home studio in St. Michael, MN for only $40 for an hour. Email me for more information!

So here is to eating healthy and having your lasagna too!

Eating for Weight Loss... then what?

Eating for weight loss is not the same as eating to maintain your weight. And you have to learn how to do both in order to be successful with your weight loss journey and to keep it off. The reason most diets fail is that they do not teach you what you need to do after the diet. I don't like the word diet, but lets face it, anytime to reduce your calorie intake, limit what you eat, reduce your portion sizes, you really are dieting. It's changing your mindset of how you look at the process that will either make you successful or not. Stop thinking of it as a diet and think of it as the beginning of your new journey to a healthier you!

When you embark on a weight loss journey you need to decide how you are going to approach it. Are you going to slowly change one thing at a time? Or are you going to dive in and make drastic changes? It completely depends on you, your personality, and your lifestyle as to which route you should take. I have many clients that choose to work on their breakfast eating habits first, then work on healthy snacks, then work on healthy lunch choices, etc. Slowly making each change over the course of a week or so and then adding something new to change. Some of my clients decide to just jump in to an all or nothing approach, and that works too, as long as they choose to learn along the way about what they are eating, what their body needs, how to boost their metabolism, and more. It is the learning part that makes someone successful in their weight loss journey. Those who decide that they really want to understand WHAT they should eat, HOW OFTEN, and WHY are the ones that keep it off forever.

Now that you have decided to lose weight, and you have either chosen to make small changes or to jump in head first, you will be reducing your caloric intake in order for the pounds to come off. Are you going to measure and weigh your foods so that you learn what your portion sizes should look like? Or are you going to rely on a weight loss system to do all the calculating for you? Again, either approach can work, it is what you decide will work best for you. You have to reduce your calories, increase your activity level and learn how to increase your metabolism to make your body a fat-burning machine to lose weight. And if you decide to rely on a program like shakes or pre-made meals, you still need to learn what to do after you reach your goal weight!

Now lets quickly talk about weight ... the pounds that are going to shed off of your body. I think it is important to realize that I am not just talking about the scale, I am talking about the fat on your body. The measurement of fat that you have on your body is a much more accurate measurement of your health than what the scale says. Get your body fat measured! You may be shocked at what your body fat measurement is and what a powerful piece of information it is to have for motivation! If you don't know where to go to get it measured, ask me, I can do it! :)

If you have 8-10 pounds to lose, you can typically lose it within a month, with dedication. So plan out your weight loss based on 8-10 pounds a month. It is easier to calculate using pounds than body fat percentage. Embark on your journey to eat whole foods, not packaged, reduce your intake of packaged, refined and low nutrient foods, and think simple. Think of fish and vegetables, chicken and salad, stir fry, pork chops and pea pods, etc. There are so many varieties of vegetables and fruits out there to never get bored creating new combinations of roasted or stir-fried vegetables! Think of foods that grew in the ground, were living, and have few ingredients. The simpler the food the better it is for you!

Time has flown by and you have lost the weight, so now what? Well, most people fail in their journey to keep their weight off because they go back to what they were doing before... which obviously didn't work in the first place so why would you do that again?!?! NO, you don't do that. You keep doing what you were doing during your weight loss mode of eating healthy and wholesome foods, but now you get to eat more of them. Instead of 6 ounces of chicken, have 8 ounces and more vegetables. Have some fruit for dessert. Have a larger snack during the day. But not too much more!!! Or you may choose to not work out as often as you were during your weight loss mode. You need to find the balance where you can add in more foods without starting to gain weight back. It is a process, but if you take the time to learn what your body really needs, it is well worth the investment of that time. Using a journal is a great way to keep track of what works for your body too! To look back at a week of journaling and see your notes that you felt full and lost 2 pounds that week, well do that week again if you still have weight to loose. If you look back over a week of journaling and notice that you gained 2 pounds that week, review what you did differently that week and learn from it!

Also keep in mind that it takes 90 days to make something a habit. So a new pattern of eating, making healthy food choices, eating frequently, and all of the stuff you start doing the first 30 days you have to keep up for at least 90 days for your mind and your body to create a habit of it. You will also find that after 90 days (usually only 30 days for most people, but 90 days for sure) you will discover that you no longer crave sugar and simple carbohydrates. Your cravings will be gone, your energy level will be increased and you will feel better than you have ever in your life. Why wouldn't you want to spend 30-90 days doing that?

If you want more information on wellness consultations, body fat measurement and how to create your own 30 day program please let me know! laura@fitnesswithlaura.com

My next entry will be about what eating healthy and having balance in your life means, as you are probably thinking: Does this mean I never get lasagna again? Does this mean I don't get chocolate again? I will answer that next!

My advice, take it or leave it.

Who am I that I should dare to give advice to you? I am simply fighting the same battle that most women fight with their weight, food choices and their self esteem. I am not perfect, I never will be, nor do I strive to be. But I do have experience, first hand, with losing huge amounts of weight and then gaining some of it back. I also understand the frustrations of fluctuating in weight and falling off and getting back on the wagon over and over again. So I get it, I really do.

The advice I feel like offering to you today isn't just about weight loss it is more about what the difference is between dieting and a lifestyle. I used to diet all the time, they call it yo-yo dieting. I would lose weight and then gain some back, then lose again, gain some back again, and it was this constant battle. Now I still do this, it's somewhat normal, but the amount that I gain back is so much less and I am learning to balance it out. That is the advice I want to give you, how to make it a lifestyle so that you can reach your goals and STAY THERE.

Losing weight it by far the hardest part. No doubt about it. And only those people who really truly commit to it, have a support system, learn about how to do it properly AND learn how to maintain it will succeed. That last part is the most important part. LEARN HOW TO MAINTAIN your weight loss, maintain your new weight. How do you do that? I hope to teach you through my strategy and experience.

As you are losing weight, whether that be through a program of some kind or through your own decision to eat smaller portions, healthier foods, and add in some exercise, you are undoubtedly consuming less calories than you are used to consuming. At some point people typically go back to what they were doing before and expect their scale to stay at their lower weight, and that will never happen. Your body weighs less now and it needs less food to maintain and sustain that new weight. If you did things the right way and added lean mass to your body (muscle) then you get to eat a little more because your body will burn more calories at rest with more lean mass on it. Yipppeee!!! But the trick is learning to go from that reduced caloric intake you were on while losing weight to figuring out how to eat to maintain your weight, without having to continually go back on a "diet".... this is exactly why diets fail!

I have learned that I am someone who will never be able to eat 3-5 meals a day and maintain my weight... I am just not that person. Now stick with me and let me explain! I still eat 3-5 times a day, just not MEALS. I know that I cannot make good choices that many times a day, I know that my portions get out of control and I am not good at it. That is just a reality of who I am. So I rely on nutrient rich meal replacements to get me through the day with the right amount of calories. To maintain my weight there are many days that I will eat breakfast (egg white omelet usually) but when I don't have time I grab a shake or a meal replacement bar and I know the exact calories and that it is loaded with the correct balance of nutrients my body needs. Let me show you the difference with an example:
                  Weight Loss Daily Intake:                                 Weight Maintenance Daily Intake:
Breakfast    Shake (240 cal)                                                omelet or Shake (~240 cal)
Snack         100 cal whole food snack                                 fiber bar (~120 cal)
Lunch         Shake or Meal Replacement Bar  (240 cal)    salad and Shake (~400 cal)
Snack         100 cal whole food snack                                 fiber bar or other bar (~120 cal)
Dinner         chicken, veggies (300-400 cal)                      chicken, veggies (~300 - 400 cal)
Snack         100 cal whole food snack                                 apple or banana (~100 cal)
Total Cal:    1080-1180 calories                                         1280-1380

To maintain my weight I know that I have to eat around 1280-1380 calories, that is based on my age, my weight and my activity level. But I also fluctuate those calories throughout the week. I will typically eat like shown on the right 5 days a week and eat like the left (weight loss intake) about twice a week. Why? This allows me to add in a few glasses of wine or beer and still stay within my calories to maintain my weight! If I know we will be going out to dinner one night during the week, and we are going somewhere that I know I am going to eat a high amount of calories, I will eat like shown on the left 4 times a week and then like the right 3 times a week to allow me more eating out calories! It is about finding the balance that works for your body! I know this works for me and for most of my clients.

So what products do I use for my shakes and bars? This has been a battle! I have searched for over a decade for shakes, bars and snacks that have the best ingredients available without artificial sweeteners, without GMOs, without toxins - pesticides and antibiotics used on the food sources, without preservatives and all those other ingredients that are scientifically tied to cancer and other illnesses. I have researched so many products out there, and I have been frustrated. I also wanted things that taste good, crazy right?!? Then in November my path crossed with a distributor of Isagenix and I couldn't believe I had finally found it. Isagenix created shakes, bars, and snack foods that are filled with super foods, NO SOY, 99% lactose free and low in sugar. I could go on and on, but those of you that want more info, just get in touch with me and I would be happy to point you in the direction and give you the guidance to explore that further.

Just remember that losing weight is always the hardest part, but you can do it! Keep in mind that at the end of that road is also going to a new journey, a journey of learning the balance for your body to stay at that weight. Don't give up on it, YOU CAN DO IT. Anything can be done with the right frame of mind, the right coaching, the right support and the right attitude! Get in touch with me if you need some of that.