Week 7 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

Hi everyone! Forgive me, I just realized that I forgot to post this week's challenge. Just remember you can always go to my YouTube Channel and get the weekly post, too. I'm also posting them to the Cinderella Pact thread on the P90X ® Programs Message Boards at Team Beachbody. Ok, now to catch up. This week's challenge is going to take some thinking outside of the box, but it is an important and sometimes overlooked aspect to ones personal growth, as well as our health and fitness. This week we are going to be working on our "spiritual" health. I'm not going to suggest that you devote yourself to any particular religious power. I believe our beliefs are of personal choice. I'm just asking that you at least consider and explore the following concept.

Spirituality is the part of the equation that gives our lives meaning and purpose. It is the most basic of the senses that a person develops with themselves and their inner thoughts. It is the relationship between oneself and their state of mind.

We all live in a world that is filled with "to-do" list and just the hussle and bussle of having to get things done. There will always be one more phone call to make, one more errand to run, one more email to get out and so on. Life is like that...it's a neverending array of things to do, people to see and places to go. But somewhere in the midst of all the organized chaos, and in some cases not so organized, we have to have time to "recharge."

So what I am going to ask you to do is simply set aside 10 minutes everyday to do just that. More if you need it, but 10 minutes at minimum. Find a location, whether it be your car, your bedroom, your living room, the garden...wherever you can feel most serene.This 10 minutes is for total calm...no cell phone, no iPod, no radio...just you and your thoughts.

At first it might feel a little awkward, especially if you have never done this sort of exercise. But keep with it, your creating a new way to channel your energy. And just like everything else we have learned on this journey, change is sometimes difficult.

During this 10 minutes I want you to think about yourself and what it is that you can do to become a better person. What is it that will allow you to be the best possible person you can become?

Some people will use this exercise for prayer or meditation. Calling on a higher power to feel more connected. Or perhaps reading scripture and putting it into perspective with their daily lives.

Others may use this as a time to reflect or journal about their own lives. Sometimes reading previous entries gives us new perspective in our own journey. It can be empowering to see where we have come from and how we have grown.

Others may use this as a time to practice gratitude. It's funny how much we take for granted. Our homes, our food, our jobs...sometimes just the act of being 'thankful' is freeing in itself and allows us to see we are not as bad off as we sometimes believe ourselves to be.

And others may simple use this time to find peace with their thoughts - freeing and clearing the mind. Such as with yoga. Creating inner piece can be a very spiritual release.

Spirituality can help you develop a better sense of self and purpose. It is very important to your emotional wellbeing and mental wellbeing. We all want purpose in our lives. To know that what we do matters and that we aren't just living for the mere existence of living. Though it is a very personal exploration, in the end it provides a sense of connectedness with others as well.

If you are working to become a better person it tends to overflow in the life you create around you and other people. While you are developing your sense of purpose, most likely you will also be creating positive thoughts that will bring you inner happiness. A calm within the storm...truly winning not just at your weight loss of fitness success, but winning at life.

So 10 minutes each day to work on your spiritual health is this week's challenge!

Hope you are all getting better with our challenges and are developing some really good lifelong habits to carry you forward!

Keep Bringing It!

Week 6 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

This week's Challenge is going to be Balancing the Fat!

It is important to understand that you do need fat in your diet. But the real question is how much? The recommended daily allowance based on a 2,000 calorie diet, suggest 30% of those calories come from fat. So if you take 2000 and multiply it by .30 we will see that 600 of those daily calories need to come from fat. Seems like a lot, right? Here is the real misleading thing about fat. When it comes to calories - protein, carbohydrates and fat are not all created equally. As a matter of fact, by comparison in weight we can see the difference.

• 1 gram of protein = approximately 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbohydrates = approximately 4 calories
• 1 gram of fat = approximately 9 calories

That's why you should exercise caution when eating fat...those calories can really add up with very little eaten. So be extra careful about eating those foods high in fat because you may be getting more than you bargained for.

Also it's good to remember all fat isn't created equally either.

Saturated fat (bad fat) are those fats that you would normally find in animal products and processed foods like meat, eggs, dairy products, cookies, donuts, chips, etc. At room temperature, the fat in these items will turn to a solid state. These are referred to the "bad fats" that are proven to raise your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol).

Unsaturated fat (good fat) are those fats you will find in foods like fish, nuts, avocados and olives. At room temperature the fat in these items will remain liquid. These are referred to as the "heart-healthy fats" that actually have the ability to lower your LDL cholesterol and increase your HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol).

While an over excess of saturated fats can have unhealthy consequences, it is important to know that you still need a balance of both saturated and unsaturated fats in order for the body to function at optimum performance levels. Saturated fats help regulate fluidity of cellular membranes. If they are not available, the membranes will become too fluid prompting the body to produce more cholesterol in order to stiffen the membranes, which inadvertently can actually increase cholesterol levels.

Unsaturated fats are used to promote cardiovascular health. That is why these are promoted as "heart-healthy fats". These fats can actually lower your blood pressure if used in place of the saturated fats. There a two types of unsaturated fats:

Monounsaturated fats: olive oil, canola oil
Polyunsaturated fats: fish, safflower, sunflower, corn and soybeans

The most nutritional worst of fats is the "hydrogentated fat". You definitely need to watch those food labels for this guy. This is where unsaturated fats are pressed with hydrogen. It allows the unsaturated fat to be stored at a solid state. This is how they take vegetable oil and turn it into margarine. Basically it was a way for manufacturers to produce goods that were cheaper and had a longer shelf life. But the bad news is these fats are processed by the body like saturated fats and can actually raise your cholesterol levels. So consumers pay a much higher price in the long run. My advice...avoid foods that say "hydrogentated" or "partially hydrogentated."

The right balance of fat in our diets is necessary to promote energy, healthy cells, brain power, absorption of vitamins, making of hormones, healthier skin and to provide cushion and protection for our vital organs.

It isn't that we need a low-fat diet as much as we need a "balance-fat diet". About 10% of the 30% of recommended daily allowances of fat needs to come from saturated fat and the other 20% need to come from unsaturated fats.

So for a quick recap:

Unsaturated Fat - Heart Healthy Fat

20% of your daily caloric intake needs to come from foods such as:

• Flax seed
• Fish (cold water like tuna and salmon)
• Seeds or Nuts
• Canola oil
• Olive oil
• All Natural Peanut Butter
• Hummus (made with Tahini Sauce)
• Wheat germ

Saturated Fats - Membrane Builders

10 % of your daily caloric intake needs to come from foods such as:

• Yogurt
• 1%-2% Milk
• Eggs
• Lean Meats (sirloin, chicken, turkey)
• Cocoa Butter

Hydrogentated Fats - Frankenstein of Fats

Eliminate these fats for a healthier YOU! Time to say "buh-bye" to foods like:

• Cookies
• French Fries
• Shortening
• Doughnuts
• Potato chips
• Candy bars
• Margarine

So basically, if you are doing a 1400 calorie a day nutrition plan, approximately 420 calories need to come from fat (140 calories saturated and 280 calories unsaturated). This breaks down to about 46.67 grams a day (15.56 grams saturated and 31.11 grams unsaturated). Time to read those labels! Good luck with Week 6!

Let's get ready to BRING IT!!!

Week 5 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

We've already made it 4 weeks into our 12 Steps to Fitness Challenge. I hope you guys are enjoying the mini-challenges and developing healthy habits because of it. This week I have finally recovered enough from the back injury and minor setback with the stomach flu to get back on track with Insanity ® . I'm happy to report I have 1 week under my belt and pushing forward with week 2. So far I have nothing but high hopes of great results waiting at the end of the next 60 days.

I do have to admit, when I got to the Pure Cardio DVD, I was not quite prepared for the non-stop heart-pounding sweatfest I was getting into. Just getting through the warm-up had me reaching for my towel. But when my much anticipated break didn't come...I found myself chanting, "dig deeper." It is really amazing what our bodies are capable of when we push the limits. I actually saw 183 on my heart rate monitor. That, for me, is a personal record. By the end of the DVD I jokingly fell to the floor. Definitely fun...but most certainly challenging.

So now we just need to revisit the weeks passed in our challenge:

Week #1 Drink 64 oz. of water daily.

Week #2 Get at least 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night.

Week #3 Ingest at least 25 grams of fiber a day.

Week #4 Take a good quality daily multivitamin.

This week our Challenge is going to be getting the recommended daily allowance of fruits and vegetables. Since this would vary a lot depending on age, sex, level of activity and caloric needs - I just decided we would go with the standard 2 & 5.

Week #5 Getting the RDA of Fruits and Vegetables.

2 servings of Fruit

5 servings of Vegetables

Your fruit and vegetables can be fresh, frozen, canned or dried. Just be careful to read the label and watch that you are getting as close to whole foods as possible. Keep a close eye out for added sugars and sodium. If you do go with the canned fruits, try to stay with the ones packed in 100% pure juice and avoid those packed in syrup.

To get an idea of what a serving size might look like:

1 Cup Serving is approximately equal to 1 small apple, 1 large orange, 1 ear of corn or a large sweet potato.
1/2 Cup Serving is approximately equal to about 16 grapes, 5 broccoli florets or 6 baby carrots.

For those of you still struggling with the fiber challenge, this will probably help with that greatly as most fruits and vegetables are very nutrient dense and contain fiber.

I did make a recommendation for those of you who struggle with the concept of eating so many fruits and vegetables to perhaps consider using the Shakeology ® as a meal replacement. Shakeology ® is packed with over 70 healthy ingredients. As a matter of fact it is now being called the Ultra Premium Health Drink because it is loaded with goodness. So if you would like to include a Shakeology ® a day as part of this week's challenge, I will allow for it to count as 1 serving of fruit + 2 servings of vegetables.

I still want you to get use to eating those fruits and vegetables, but something as good as Shakeology ® definitely stands to merit on its own. So our challenge will be:

Photo credit: © Sophieso | Dreamstime.com

With Shakeology ®

1 serving of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables per day

Without Shakeology ®

2 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables per day

Remember these challenges are designed to help benefit your fitness and nutrition regimen. I'm simply trying to make you aware of the things we can do in our lives to help develop those healthy lifelong habits to keep us bringing those results long after the 60 or 90 days of our program have ended.

I definitely would love to hear your comments. So please feel free to give me any comments you might want to share.

KEEP BRINGING IT!

Week 4 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

Photo credit: © Philip Ruder | Dreamstime.com

Did you realize that most of us don't even come close to the recommended daily allowances of the vitamins and minerals we need? Even those of us that are carefully following our nutrition guides with our programs or that are trying to eat a very clean and healthy diet may fall short of the requirements. So this week our challenge is going to simply consist of finding a good daily multivitamin. For some of you, this may already be a good habit in progress and will just be a reminder of the benefits good habits bring to your fitness. But some of you may just be beginning your journey and this could prove a very important tip to helping you live a healthier lifestyle.

Of course, it is also very important to take in as many of the daily required nutrients by eating a very clean diet with the proper recommendations from the food groups. Making certain your daily intake consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats and lean proteins is a very effective way of getting you well on your way. But even doing all of this, we may fall short of our daily requirements. So a daily multivitamin is just the right preventative. And you know what that say about prevention...an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Taking a good daily multivitamin will help ensure:

• You get the daily recommended allowance of nutrients.
• You have a consistent nutrient intake.
• You give your body the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.
• It may lower the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.
• It reduces the possibility of infection and many illnesses.

Multivitamins are the single most supplement you can take to enhance your daily fitness regimen. But remember not all multivitamins are alike. Be careful to read the label and buy from a trusted manufacturer. Sometimes the ones you pick up in the local grocery store may seem like a real bargain, but may lack in quality. Not saying all inexpensive vitamins are bad...just reminding you that we live in the day and age where quite frankly, "you get what you pay for."

For a complete list of the daily recommended allowances I would suggest you visit the USDA Food and Nutrition Information Center. The allowances will very depending on variables such as age and sex. There are great guides and tables available to help you make the right choice for you.

One of the things to help me get my daily dose of the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals is a Shakeology ® a day! One Chocolate Shakeology ® gives me 100% or more of my RDA of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, and Manganese. It also provides me with at least half of what I need in Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Folic Acid, Calcium, Pantothenic Acid, and Chromium. Not to mention all the other nutrients it is packed with to help me feel energized and stay on track with my fitness.

So by eating a healthy balanced diet and having a Shakeology ® a day, I'm pretty confident I get my daily allowances. But I do take a daily multivitamin just for good measure. It is just one of the simplest and most important things I do for myself.

That puts us well on our way to developing some pretty important steps we can take daily to ensure we are getting the best from our daily fitness and nutrition regimens.

• Step #1 - Drink at least 64 oz. of water daily.
• Step #2 - Get at least 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
• Step #3 - Ingest at least 25 grams per day of fiber.
• Step #4 - Take a good quality multivitamin each day.

Good habits for lifelong success!

Let's Do This!

Week 3 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

The average American consumes approximately 10-15 grams of fiber a day. This falls really short of the recommended daily allowance.

Women 50 years old or less - 25 grams per day

Men 50 years old or less - 38 grams per day

Women over the age of 50 - 21 grams per day

Men over the age of 50 - 30 grams per day

So what's the big deal about fiber? Actually quite a lot when it comes to your health and weight loss goals. Studies have shown people that consume between 35 to 45 grams of fiber a day are more likely to feel less hunger and therefore actually lose more weight than those that consume less fiber. Fiber takes longer for the body to digest, which results in you feeling full for longer periods of time.

But it's not just good at helping you shed those unwanted pounds, it also packs some nice health benefits.

Fiber fights against colon cancer.

Fiber decreases your risk for diabetes.

Fiber lowers cholesterol and triglycerides. 

This is only a select few of the benefits and definitely makes this a challenge worthy step for our 12 Steps to Fitness Challenge. So this week we will be adding the challenge of consuming at least 25 grams of fiber per day. For those of you who haven't already been consuming much fiber, slowly increasing your fiber each day and gradually working your way up to the recommended daily allowance will probably help you avoid any discomfort such as gas and bloating. You might perhaps try increasing your fiber by adding in 1 or more servings fruits and vegetables each day.

Of course, don't forget to drink plenty of water. Water will aid with the digestive process and keep everything flowing regularly!

You can also get 3 grams of dietary fiber per serving of Shakeology ®! I mix mine with unsweetened almond milk, which gives me an additional 1 gram of added fiber...if I also throw in a chopped banana I can even get another 4 grams of fiber! WOW! That gives me almost a third of my daily recommend allowance in one terrific tasting shake!

Ok, so let's get out there and keep the challenge going!

Step #1 - Drink at least 64 oz. of water per day.

Step #2 - Get at least 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

Step #3 - Ingest a minimum of 25 grams of fiber per day.



Let's BRING IT!

Week 2 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

So how is everyone doing on their water intake? Are you making your minimum 64 oz. a day? If you are..YAY YOU! If not, that's ok because you will have plenty of time for practice as we continue our challenge. You see, you are still responsible to continue getting in your daily allowance of water. How this challenge works is each week you will pick up an additional step to add to the previous step from the challenge the week before. Remember this is all about building healthy habits to keep you moving forward with your fitness program.

Week #1 - Getting at least 8 (8 oz.) glasses of water daily or 64 oz. of water.

Week #2 - Getting in at least 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night

Contrary to what some people believe, your muscles are actually built during the rest recovery phase you get each night as you sleep. When we workout and are doing those strenuous workouts we are actually making small micro-tears in the muscle fiber. As we sleep at night our body goes to work to repair those tears by building new muscle fibers. Now you can see just how important that REST & RECOVERY SLEEP really is. The average adult needs at least 7-9 hours of sleep in order for this cycle to complete itself.

So this week we are going to be sure we are:

1.) Getting in at least 64 oz. of pure water (adding a little citrus if necessary)

2.) Getting in at least 7-9 hours of sleep each night

Here are a few helpful hints to assist you in ensuring you get the necessary rest you need.

1. Try to finish your dinner meal at least 2-3 hours before going to bed. If you get hungry before bedtime, a small protein snack is good...but a large meal can actually cause restless sleep as your digestive system works. So keep it simple - Shakeology ® made with water, small glass of chocolate milk, 1/2 apple with all natural peanut butter, celery with peanut butter, etc.
2. If you do your workouts in the evening, try to complete them at least 2-3 hours before bedtime to allow adequate cooldown time before you go to sleep. As you workout, you are actually elevating your body temperature. This too can cause restless sleep.
3. NO caffeine at least 4 hours before bedtime. As we get ready for sleep the brain produces Melatonin, which is necessary for restful sleep. Caffeine can delay this by up to 10 hours.
4. When preparing for bed, try to allow at least 30 minutes to an hour of wind down time. Reading or gentle stretching will help provide relaxation to prep the body for resting.
5. Try to establish a routine bedtime. Going to sleep at the same time each night will allow the body to prepare itself for rest time more easily with your internal clock.

Also this is a tip that I learned awhile back. If there is something that is troubling you (i.e. argument with someone, concern about a busy meeting the next day, etc.) try jotting it down on a piece of paper and leaving it where you will see it the next morning. Tell yourself you will get on that "first thing in the morning." This is allowing your subconscious to register it like an appointment. You are resolved you will do it tomorrow and now you can rest without worry. It actually does work.

Now get ready to BRING IT!!!
Starting MONDAY you will track WATER and SLEEP!!!

WE CAN DO THIS! SWEET DREAMS EVERYONE!

Week 1 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

Every week we are going to be working towards developing lifestyle habits that will keep our programs rocking the results long after our 90-Days is completed. Many of you have started your New Year with resolutions to lose weight or get healthy in 2011. So we are going to take that one step further by focusing each week on simple tips that will ensure we reach our goals and develop the habits we need to sustain them!

I'm so excited about the New Year! As a matter of fact, I'm looking at 2011 as being the Year of Success! Whatever your heart desires, this is going to be your YEAR!!! Nothing but positive energy from this point forward. I'm hoping that you all have set your goals and developed the action plans to make them happen. I know I have a list of goals and they are posted right in front of me. I plan to look at them daily and make sure I am doing at least one thing each day that brings me closer to my goal.

Now let's see how this is going to work in here. One of the things I would like for us to do is start tracking our accountability. So how are we going to do that? Really simple: each day I want you to make it a point to just jot down the date, what you've eaten that day, your workout and how many 8 oz. glasses of water you drank. You can do this by logging your accountability into a spiral notebook or fitness journal, by using many of the internet tracking options available to you (one of my favorites is http://www.myfitnesspal.com) or you can stop by the Cinderella Pact thread and post a real quick accountability post. To post your accountability to the Cinderella Pact, you will need to have a Team Beachbody account. Just click here to sign up for a FREE account. Your FREE account will also allow you access to the virtual WOWY Super Gym, where you can log in your workouts and have an opportunity for daily cash drawings and prizes.

We will be using the following example to track accountability:

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Sunday - January 2

Breakfast: Chocolate shakeology with 1/2 banana and 8 oz. water
Snack: Apple wedges with 1 tbsp all natural peanut butter
Lunch: Romaine lettuce salad with chickpeas, red onions, tomato wedges, celery and raspberry vinaigrette dressing
Snack: Gluten-free rice cake with 1 tbsp all natural peanut butter
Dinner: Homemade tomato basil soup with gluten-free cornmeal muffin

Water intake: 64 oz. (that would be the minimum I want to see)

Workout: Insanity Plyometrics Cardio Circuit

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You are of course free to track your calories, carbs, protein, fat, fiber, etc. But the above is just the basics. It lets me know you are serious about staying on track with your diet and exercise and helps us stay on top of our nutrition and exercise. Even if you get off and have a "cheat meal" that is ok. I'm not holding you to any specific standards. If you purchased a Team Beachbody program, you should have nutrition guides that came with your programs and I trust you will be following them. If you haven't purchased a program, be sure to check out the various programs Team Beachbody has to offer by clicking the previous link. I would be more than happen to assist you in finding the program to work towards your fitness goals. Just go to my site and click the CONTACT ME BUTTON and tell me how I might assist you.  I'm hoping to merely build some accountability  for those of you looking for ways to get your fitness back on track and stay on track. The best way to stay on top of your program is by holding yourself accountable.

Our challenge this week is very simple...TO DRINK A MINIMUM OF 64 OZ OF WATER A DAY. That is the recommended 8 (8 oz.) glasses of water required for optimum health benefits. Water is a crucial part of your health and well-being. Water can increase your metabolism by as much as 3%!

Here are just some of the benefits you can enjoy just by adding H20 to your daily health & fitness regimen:

• A natural appetite supressant - try drinking at least 15 minutes prior to eating.

• Increase in metabolism - without enough water the body can't metabolize fat properly.

• Increase in energy - water generates electrical and magnetic energy in every body cell, providing a natural power boost.

• Less water retention - to get rid of water retention you must drink more!

• Helps reduce blood pressure - hydration is essential to help prevent clogging of arteries an the heart and brain.

• Eases joint pain - water is what our body uses to lubricate the joints.

• Releases toxic waste products - water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells.

• Improves skin - When the skin is properly hydrated, it looks plump and more radiant.

It just makes sense that the most important part of getting fit and healthy should be our very first challenge. So we are going to get started in the right direction. For some of you, this will be a breeze. But then for some of you it will be a learning process. I totally understand. I, too, used to hate water. Probably because at one time I was such a Diet Dr. Pepper fanatic! I was consuming as much as a six pack a day and very little water.

One of the things that helped me was I invested in a 32 oz. tumbler. I simple fill it with ice water and keep it at my workstation during the week. I make a conscious effort to drink at least 2 tumblers full each day and most often 3! Another thing that helped me was drinking through a straw. Funny as it sounds, I tend to drink more when I use a straw. I also make it a point to drink water with my meals and when I workout. So it is nothing for me to drink 128 oz of water or more each day!

We will start logging our accountability tomorrow! If you miss a day, no worries. Just try to catch up as soon as possible. Looking forward to making this a YEAR OF SUCCESS!!! So let's get ready to BRING IT!!



Let's GET FIT & HEALTHY

12 Steps to Fitness

The countdown has begun! We are only a few short days away from 2011. How will you be starting your New Year? Have you made your list of resolutions? I can tell you for sure getting fit and healthy are leading my list. Now that I have the holidays and temptation behind me, I'm ready to start off my New Year with a "can do" attitude!

This weekend I posted a video blog introducing "12 Steps to Fitness." Basically what I am going to do is a weekly series introducing a new challenge each Sunday for us to follow during the coming week. This will be a 12 week series and a step by step approach to help us get Fit and Healthy in 2011. For those of you already on track with your nutrition and fitness regimen, it will be more of a refresher course. But for those who are just starting out and ready to give up your bad habits and trade them in for healthier ones, this will be more of a habit building process to help you make better choices in the upcoming year. Sometimes it is those little changes that lead to huge success.

I know it can be overwhelming once you decide to lose weight or try to change unhealthy habits for good ones. So instead of having to concentrate on all the right things at one time, we are going to master each step one at a time! So you might think of it as climbing a mountain, one rock at a time. Now that doesn't mean you can start off your new fitness regimen with a half-hearted attitude. I still expect you to follow your nutrition and fitness guides that come with your programs. It just means we are going to pay particular attention to key steps each week that will keep your program rocking passed the 90 days! I want to help you be successful by sharing with you some basic steps to keep you on track and focused.

If you haven't already chosen a fitness program, Team Beachbody has a huge assortment of some really good programs for all levels of fitness. If your not quite sure what type of program you might want to try, be sure to check out our comparison chart. This will give you a great overall look at each program and help you align your program with the fitness goals you have in mind. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about the various programs. Simply go to my website and click on the "Contact Me" button and together we'll find a program that's right for you. Even if you aren't sure what you would like to do just yet, I still want you to follow along. The tips and steps I will be sharing with you, will help you breakdown the barriers that are keeping you from reaching your fitness goals. Besides, we are all more likely to achieve our goals when we have someone keeping us accountable. So let's do this together and become each others success partner! I can even coach you for FREE!

As a special bonus, this Friday, December 31, 2010, I am going to post a special video blog on Goal Planning. To help get the most out of the video, I would like you to do a simple brainstorming exercise beforehand. Sometime this week take out a pen, blank sheet of paper and a timer. Find an area in your home or office where you will be completely uninterrupted. Set your timer for 20 minutes. During that 20 minutes I want for you to write down as many things as you can think of that you would like to accomplish during 2011. Go ahead and dream big! Let your heart lead the pen on the paper. Think along the lines of your career, health, fitness, nutrition, relationships, finances, recreation, education, etc. Whatever your heart desires. At the end of the 20 minutes, put your list away. We are going to use this list for a goal planning exercise.  So be sure to bring your list and check out my YouTube channel for details.

Instead of writing down a bunch of resolutions, let's take it one step further and turn them in to goals with an action plan! I want to make 2011 my best year ever! Hope you will join me.

Get Ready to BRING IT!

Your New Year in Fitness

This is that time of the year when we all look back and reflect on the year that has passed. It is when we look at where we were and how far we've come. Some of you are going to feel pretty amazing about the changes you made in your life and some of you might just be ready to put the whole year behind you. Whatever you are feeling, just know that in a few short days we have a brand new horizon dawning...ah the New Year! I'm such a fan of New Year! It is that one wonderful day we all wake up eager to turn the page to a new chapter in our lives...filled with hope, goals and glorious "resolutions."

Wikipedia defines a New Year's Resolution as, "a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous." I think that is a pretty fair assessment of what a lot of us will be thinking of when we set out to define our own resolutions for the coming year. So have you given much thought to what you would like the next 365 days to look like?

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing it is a pretty safe bet a lot of you will probably lead off your list with losing weight or getting into better shape. Holidays usually bring on lots of wonderful gatherings of friends, family and FOOD. Hard as we try, the majority of us are going to be tempted and will probably overindulge. We will feel incredibly guilty for the lapse in our fitness schedules and wish we were better keepers of our time. One excuse will lead to yet a little more procrastination and then BAM! You wake up on New Year's Eve and think, "what are we going to do about this?" Sound familiar?

The good news, you are not alone. It happens to many of us - even those of us that pride ourselves all year long at being the most meticulous planners of our day. Seems like you hit the holiday season and instead of having a 24 hour day to manage, you are faced with trying to fit another 8 hours of activities into that already crammed day planner. So we make choices...some good, some bad and try to balance it all.

For those of you that have mastered the art of the ever so popular "to-do list" Chalene Johnson so fondly reminds us of with her twitter tweets, I admire you and try very hard to emulate your success. They do undoubtedly make your day more productive. However, this time of the year I find my "to-do list" looking a little more like Santa's "naughty and nice" list. You know, kind of like "it would be NICE to do this," and in pops NAUGHTY and my hour workout turns into a Christmas shopping excursion instead. Or my carefully packed lunch is ditched for a not so nutritious cheat meal for the opportunity to catch up with an old friend at a nearby restaurant. Hey, I'm just being real here...I know I'm not alone on this one. The majority of my year, I would make Chalene proud - but this is just a crazy time for me!

To my rescue, comes New Year! Yes, I definitely like "do-overs"! My opportunity to put my world back in kilter and restore hope for my redemption. I plan to be kicking it off, of course, working on my own set of lifestyle changes. The difference this coming year will be my overall expectancy isn't going to be so much focused on weight loss as it will be on just being healthy. Of course, this will include the steps necessary to continue my weight loss journey - just it will be more the byproduct of working on a series of small steps to get me there. Um, and we will be making list! LOL!

Don't worry, I plan very much to share this with you and hopefully a few of you will join me in this journey. Starting January 1st I will be kicking off what I am calling a "12 Steps to Fitness" program. This will include a series of 12 weeks of small lifestyle changes that will hopefully make our New Year more successful as we work on our health and fitness. I will be posting more details in the upcoming days leading up to our kickoff.

So if you are interested in joining me, I definitely welcome your company. There will be fun, accountability  and hopefully a little sharing of motivation and inspiration. There are going to be no special requirements other than you simply show up each day and journal your progress. You will be totally in charge of your fitness and nutrition regimen, whether it be one of the many outstanding Team Beachbody programs offered or something else your heart desires. I will just be here to make suggestions and hopefully become your success partner. All I care is that you make the effort to make the changes necessary to help you live a healthier more productive life! Because that my friends, will ultimately help me achieve my number one resolution and commitment to Team Beachbody as an Independent Team Beachbody Coach: to help others achieve their fitness and nutritional goals so that they might lead healthier more productive lives.

Everybody wins when we work as a team!