3 days to the New Year

There are three days left until the start of 2013. It is time not only to start making New Years Resolutions, but also making a PLAN to carry out those New Years Resolutions.

Nothing happens without a plan.

You cannot just wake up on Tuesday morning, January 1, and just like that change all the bad habits that you have spent a life time engraining into yourself.

Most people's New Year's Resolutions drop by the wayside after about a week, because such a sudden change in attitude and behavior is hard to maintain.

Instead of a sudden change in behavior, make it a gradual change.

With a gradual change, you will never feel as if you have failed in your New Year's Resolution, because your resolutions are to start the processes to change, not to change overnight.

So, if you're reading this blog for the first time, your goal on January 1 should not be to stop eating chocolate cold turkey. Your goal should be to cut down on chocolate by eating only one candy bar a day if you typically eat two, cutting back to two cookies a day for dessert if you habitually have four, and so on.

In the same way, don't plan suddenly to bike 10 miles a day if you haven't been on a bike in ten years. And if you've never walked more than a couple of blocks at a time, don't make a resolution to walk or job 10 miles a day. No. You bike a mile, or you walk a mile, and you gradually build up to your goal to bike 10 miles a day sometime in the year.

Everything's a process. It's like writing a book. Writing 60,000 words in one day for a book is impossible. But if you write just 100 measly words a day, you'd have 30,000 words written in a year. If you write 200 words a day, you'd have a whole book done by the end of a year.

So get to work on those New Years Resolutions, and remember they are year-long resolutions. Which means you have a whole year to bring them to fruition, and you can if you work on them every day.

Merry Christmas

Well, I hope you're having a merry Christmas, enjoying family and friends - or a peaceful day at home all by yourself if that's your thing.

Eat, drink responsibly, and be merry.

Eat leftovers tomorrow.

Then, back on your weight-loss regime.

Here's an interesting article from Shape

Weihght gain? It's all about an individual's psychology.

http://www.shape.com/celebrities/5-reasons-kirstie-alley-cant-keep-weight?utm_source=nRelate&utm_medium=CPC

Posts resume this Wednesday

I'm a freelance writer and I am way behind on a job I have to do, so I won't be posting here until Wednesday..

Thanks for your patience!

Make sure you enjoy yoyur Christmas

Throughout November and December I always tell my clients, "Do not buy into the horror stories you'll be seeing - "You'll gain pounds if you eat too much during Thanksgiving."  "Beware those Christmas parties, you'll gain wait!"

And then - and it happens every year - from January 1 onward, you'll be bombarded with people telling you that you're too fat and that you can lose weight by doing this, this and that.

Do not let this constant bombardment affect you. It's hard, I know, but you've got to ignore it. You're going to lose weight at your own pace - and if you want to enjoy a large Christmas dinner you're damn well going to do it!

All you have to remember is that, if you do "over eat" you need simply go back to your old regimen afterwards. Maintain the eating process you've been following - DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF THE DAY AFTER IN PENANCE!!!! - and after a week or so you'll reach the caloric imbalance level again...and then you'll start losing weight again.

Obviously it would be best if you do not stuff yourself during Christmas...take a sliver of pie instead of a large wedge, take two or three pieces of chocolate instead of a handful, etc.... and just enjoy the time you spend with friends and family.

Are you ready for some football?

I'm sitting here typing on my computer - doing my various writing tasks. One of my many income streams is as a freelance writer, and as a freelance - my workweek never stops.

So I'm sitting here typing and watching TV, waiting for football - another 20 minutes to go. (One of a very few good things about living in Wyoming is my football starts at a reasonable hour.)

And  I'm wishing I could have a pepsi.

But during winter I restrict myself to two Pepsis a day, since my physical activity is cut down considerably during these cold months. Yes, I run up and down my stairs several times a day and work out 3 days a week, but I'm still not out and about biking as much as I do during the warm months, so I have no choice to cut down.

But I don't deny it's hard...and annoying! Damn age-related metabolism slow-down!

However, it is what it is.

You can actually purchase products to make your metabolism speed up - but these are not healthy and you shouldn't bother with them, any more than you should take 5-hour energy or other stuff of that nature. Tired in the middle of the day? Start getting a better night's sleep!

Yet more women getting on the weight training bandwagon

I've been telling my clients this for years - as my readers here know!

Why Women Don’t (But Should) Lift Weights
Despite study after study supporting the benefits of strength training, many women still opt for cardio over weights. Maybe they’re worried about “bulking up.” Women have seen a few too many beefy men grunting it out in the weight room and fear that if they pick up a dumbbell, they’ll suddenly start to resemble a linebacker, too.
This can happen, although it’s extremely rare, as we reveal in 6 Ways to Beat Your Bad Genes. But for most women, “this just isn’t possible,” says personal trainer and Prevention fitness expert Chris Freytag. “Ladies have too much estrogen in their hormonal makeup.”
So what is the secret to looking toned (think: Michelle Obama’s arms, which we have the secret to) but not tough? Strength training.
Here, nine reasons why women should strength train at least two or three times a week.

1. Your metabolism will soar.

As women age, they naturally lose muscle mass. This causes your metabolism to slow, which means you could start building a spare tire by the time you reach your 30s. “When you do weight-bearing exercises, you start revving up your metabolism—and it keeps burning for many hours after your workout,” says Wayne Westcott, PhD, director of fitness research at Quincy College and Prevention advisory board member. 

2. You’ll you burn fat.

Muscle tissue is more "active" than fat tissue, with each pound burning about 30 calories a day just to sustain itself. So even if you’re sitting on the couch or are stuck at your desk for eight hours a day, the extra muscle mass you develop will burn more calories, helping you finally get rid of that spare tire—and keep it off for good. (If you want to love your lower body more than you do, check out this fat-blasting do-anywhere workout from Freytag.)

3. Your body will get tighter.

While cardio is important and will help melt fat, weights sculpt your body, creating curves and definition right where you want it. They also help fight the effects of gravity, making you much less likely to have arm jiggle in your upper arms. (Scientists discovered the three best moved for perfect upper arms—check them out.)

4. You’ll fit into your skinny jeans.

“One pound of fat takes up much more space than one pound of muscle,” says CrossFit athlete and certified level-1 trainer Cheryl Brost, a 41-year-old mother of two. “So even though muscle weighs more, what do you want all over your body? Something that’s bulky, like body fat, or something that’s lean, and takes up less space, like muscle?”

5. You’ll reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Curbing age-related muscles loss isn’t just good for your looks; it can protect your heart and help ward off type 2 diabetes, too. "Muscle helps remove glucose and triglycerides from the bloodstream, which reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as hardening of the arteries," says Timothy Church, MD, PhD, a preventive medicine expert at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. For specific exercises that can reduce your diabetes risk, check out our Diabetes Exercise Solution.

6. Your blood pressure could drop.

"Strength training lowers blood pressure for ten to twelve hours after each session, which gives your heart a break," says William Haskell, PhD, professor emeritus of medicine at Stanford University. "How strength training does this is not completely understood, but it probably has subtle effects on everything from hormones to nervous system regulation."

7. You can do it anytime, anywhere.

You don’t need a lot of space or a lot of special equipment to get a great strength workout, says Westcott. Simply using your own bodyweight through the use of pushups, planks, chair dips, squats, and pull-ups is enough to tone and strengthen your entire body. Bonus: You can do it indoors, which means you don’t have to weather the cold, freezing temps of winter or the scorching heat of summer.

8. You’ll blast loads of calories.

Plyometric strength moves (think squat jumps and burpees) and kettlebell workouts skyrocket your heart rate, which boosts the calorie burn of regular strength training routines. These types of workouts give you cardio, strength, and sculpting all in one, which is a great timesaver, says Freytag.

9. It’s good for your bones.

Strength training is one of the 12 best ways to break-proof your bones. “Lifting weights can help counteract age-related bone loss,” says Ethel Siris, MD, director of the Toni Stabile Center for Osteoporosis at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. “Strengthening your muscles also improves balance and keeps you as strong as possible which lowers your chances of a fall-related fracture.

 

Can you deal with the stress?

The Christmas season should be a season of joy and giving - regardless of whether you're religious or an atheist, you can still celebrate the season of giving - but for many people it is a time of stress and depression.

For someone people it's because they're trying to lose weight and are confronted by so many advertisements for goodies...

For others it's because they can't get home to their families....

For others it's because they don't like their families and yet have to spend time with them...

For others its because they want to buy presents for their kids but can't afford to - .

And so on ...and so forth.

And when people are under stress...they eat.

So you need to make sure you practice your meditation and keep yourself centered....don't let the stress get you down. Realize that you are under stress (a lot of people don't realize that this season is so stressful, they feel edgy or grumpy and don't know why...) and deal with it...

Don't forget the stairs

As I've blogged many times in the past, I dislike winter. I don't like getting cold, and cold wind whistling past my ears gives me searing headaches.

So I get my exercise/aerobic exercise indoors.

I live on the ground floor of a two floor house, and there's a flight of about 10 steps up from my place to the main floor.

So I put some music on my laptop, and I run up and down those stairs for about 20 minutes.

Well...run is perhaps the wrong word. I vary bettween walking up them and trotting up them- - the main thing is to keep at it without stop fro 20  minutes to get the heart rate up.

But going up stairs really helps your leg muscles!

So if youve got a flight of stairs in your home or where you work, incorporate it into your exercise routine!

Athletes don't always know best

The myth has been that sports teaches sportsmanship, and that athletes treat their bodies like temples and never do anything to harm it.

That myth, unfortunately, was exploded long ago.

Bodybuilders not only do the legal supplements to help their muscles grow, but they also do illegal steroids, which take a toll on the heart (which is why Arnold Schwarzenegger had heart problems a while back), the temper (a couple of professional wrestlers have gone berserk and killed their spouse and then themselves) and then there's football players who are apparently taking everything from Adderal to Viagra to give themselves an edge on the playing field.

And they deserve every side-effect they get, the morons.

Too many kids, to segue to the point, are prescribed Adderal without it being needed. I always remember a Calvin cartoon. He got up and had 2 bowls of some sugary cereal, then hid the evidence so his mom wouldn't know. So when she got up she gave him another bowl of sugary cereal. Result - in school he couldn't sit still and was jumping around. One wonders if that's why most little kids- mostly boys - have problems sitting still in class. Not to mention the fact that girls mature earlier than boys so boys just don't normally have the capacity to sit still anyway, and add on to that the sugary cereal they have at home...

Although having said that...I don't think the government has the right to go into people's homes and say, "Don't feed your kid cereal. Here's a hundred dollars a month but you've got to buy oatmeal and this and that..." and on and on.

The "ideal" of the athlete is still one to strive for - someone who treats their body like a temple. By that I don't mean not eating any chocolate! - but not consuming alcohol or other drugs (marijuana, etc) that alter one's brain chemistry. The side-effects will come back to haunt you later in life.

How Terrible! How Awful! Derek Jeter has gained weight!

I could not believe this headline. It's from UPI, a reputable news agency.

Their motto? "Over 100 years of journalistic excellence."

This story?

3 paragraphs, telling us - oh horrors - that Derek Jeter, short stop for the Yankees, has gained weight!

That's it! That's the sole purpose of this article.

If Jeter were fit, it would be news, of course. Here's a world famous athlete who has put on a few pounds! Scandal!

But Jeter broke his ankle about a month ago, so is not mobile.

But apparently he is daring to eat as if he were mobile, so he's gaining weight.

And this is news???

http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2012/11/30/Report-Derek-Jeter-with-broken-left-ankle-has-gained-some-weight/UPI-55351354306990/?spt=mps&or=4

Let me clue you in, UPI reporter. Once Jeter's ankle is healed, he'll start jogging and lifting weights...and you know what - I bet that weight will come right off.

I suppose we can be happy that this story wasn't about Maria Sharapova or some WNBA star...so nice to see the news getting into a kerfluffle about a guy's weight for a change - but over all, really, this is just nonsense and a sickening trend.