5 Steps to a New You in the New Year!

Ready to get healthy and fit as your New Year’s Resolution? Awesome, here’s your 5 step plan.

COMMIT.  Write down your goal (whatever it is: lose weight, get fit, be more active). 

Put it on your mirror. If you’re like me, then put it in the app that you see every morning that’s like looking in the mirror!

For me, it's my FitBit app. 

CHANGE

You didn’t get to where you are by accident. You won’t achieve long term health goals by doing the same things. CHANGE YOUR MIND. Get new information that will help you achieve your goals.

EAT WELL

Eat real, whole foods. The SAD (Standard American Diet) is a pile of falsehoods, big food influences and politics. If you were born after 1950, you don’t remember a time when this nation ate the way it should. 

Ignore the food pyramid or MyPlate – eat real, organic veggies and grass fed beef or free range chicken. Don’t be afraid of fat, you need it to burn calories, absorb and process vitamins and for good brain function (especially cholesterol!)

PARTNER

Find someone you can partner with to be accountable for your commitments – and also as someone to encourage you and work with you towards that goal!

GET MOVING

Don’t wait, get moving. You can start just by getting 10-15 minutes of walking/movement a day. 

Work your way up to 30 minutes in five minute increments. That’s your baseline. Don’t anticipate weight loss (likely you won’t lose any) but look for some cardiovascular endurance and general strengthening. Hit some stairs along that route too. After that, come back here and you’ll find available programs that will help you meet your fitness goals.

YOU CAN DO IT.  You were designed for greatness. Engage.

Yours,

Phillip

Want help? Contact me @NoGuiltFitness (http://twitter.com/noguiltfitness) or on Facebook http://facebook.com/noguiltfitness

Seven Strategies to Get Your Steps

Are you a FitBit, WiThings, Misfit, Garmin or other tracker user? Need to get your steps but the weather (cold, snow, rain) has you hemmed in? Here are some tips for getting your 10,000 steps for the day in.

1. Hit the steps! Whether at home or at the office, sneaking in 10-15 minutes for some step work will get your step count up.
   Bonus: Going up steps burns 3x the calories as walking on a flat surface.
2. In addition to a step session - include more steps as part of your daily routine - SKIP the elevator!
3. When you're going to the water cooler, take the long way. I've got a break area right near my desk, I'll take a 1-2 minute walk around the floor to get to the water cooler 15 feet from my desk.
4. Walk the floor plan. Even if you're stuck at home, take some laps around the floor plan of your house. If you've got steps (as I do - though I miss my old house where I had three floors instead of only two) that's even better!
5. Walk the parking garage. Sure, you can always take the steps up to your car (that you parked on the top floor) but if you want even more steps in a sheltered environment, walk the garage as if you were a vehicle. That'll get your motor revving! 
6. Got a treadmill at work or home? Hit the treads baby. Sure, it's as boring as watching paint dry, but if you need something to keep you occupied, then load a great podcast or audiobook!
7. Run in place. it doesn't take much time to rack up 1k steps just running in place. (I prefer this to a treadmill actually). So, pop on something you like (or not - maybe just a good metronome to keep you on pace) and go for it!

There you go, seven strategies to get your steps when you're locked inside or seeking shelter.

BONUS!

OK, now for the bonus for everyone that's read this far.  Want to get steps and really crank up your metabolism too? Do body weight exercises instead of just steps!

Here's a variety for you:

• Squats
• Lunges
• Side Lunges
• Step-ups
• Push-ups (yup, your tracker will count the up and down movements)
• Side to Side ski-jumps
• Jumping jacks
• Mummy kicks
• Heisman's (or the ones I like better 1-2-3 Heisman's)

I'm a Girl, I don't want big muscles!

The good news is ladies, that unless you want big muscles and specifically train for big muscles, you won't get them!

So lets start at the beginning of the conversation.

Me (to female): Lift weights.

Female: I don't want big muscles.

Me: It's not a problem, unless you specifically train to gain muscle mass, girls don't get big muscles.

Female: Why not?

Me: Well, lots of reasons, many of them the same reasons why guys can lift weights and not all look like The Rock. The biggest reason is that girls are just different than boys.  Specifically, guys have more testosterone than women, and they also by default have more naturally available upper body strength.  It's not that you can't get big, but most women (unless they're body builders) just end up stronger with nicely toned figures.

Female: Well, I'm not worried about being strong, I just want to be healthy.

Me: That's great! If you want to be healthy, you want to be strong. Especially because as women age (like everyone) they loose bone mass. For women that problem is more serious because of menopause. The best way to prevent getting that bent over old lady look is to lift heavy (builds bone mass) and make sure you do some good postural exercise.

Female: That's great, but I'm not really that worried about menopause or old age just yet.

Me: That's OK. Need to tote around that computer bag? How about that huge Coach bag you're holding.  Have kids? Need to hold them? Strong arms are a plus! 

Female: OK, I can see that, but really, why should I do all the squats you've mentioned before?

Me: Well, besides strength in your legs being key to maintaining your independence while you're older (think - "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!" ) those squats are going to get you some nice glutes. Additionally, if you want to burn serious calories, you want to hit the biggest muscles in your body  - so there's good short term benefit too :D

Female: OK, you've convinced me.

Me: Wow. I really wish it was that easy in real life. But I'm glad you get the idea. Hope I've allayed any fears you might have had. Now go hit the weights!

Can I Tell You a Secret? (Slightly Embarrassing Photo Inside)

Hey, can I tell you a secret?  Well, maybe not SO much a secret, especially if you saw the videos from the past weekend.

I'm a little chunky right now.

Really.  Look.

As you can see, I have some love handles working and I've got a bit of a tummy.

Can I tell you something else? I can't really figure out why, though that's not completely true, so let me explain.

I can't figure out exactly why I put on about 8 lbs. A couple of months ago, I had just finished a pretty comprehensive (and strict) protocol, I was down right near my goal weight - then I got burned out and sick and gained a few pounds.  Then, even though I was eating well and exercising, I still continued to gain weight.

I was a bit flummoxed to be honest.  I even stepped up my workout schedule. Looked into balancing my hormones more with my food choices. I even wasted some money on garcinia cambosia. No luck, I gained weight.

I changed my eating protocols a couple of times too. Feast/Intermittent fasting protocols. 4 hour body protocol. Paleo. Nope, still gaining weight.

Then I realized something. I gained weight this same time last year too. And the year before that. And the year before that. For some reason, it seems in this October/November time frame, I always gain weight.  No idea why. I just gain weight.

Now, I've also done a bit more research and it seems that I have other allergy related stuff going on in this time frame as well. My body is completely out of sync from the way I usually function. More rest required, less energy to expend.

So why am I telling you this? Why am I pointing out my chubby pictures? I mean, I'm supposed to be a fitness professional, right? I'm supposed to be lean at 8% body fat and ready to pose for those fitness magazine pictures right?  But I'm not. 

And sometimes, neither will you.  Sometimes you'll be doing everything right, but for whatever reason (stress, hormones, allergies, lack of sleep, whatever) YOU will seem to be doing everything right, but not see the results. You'll be wondering "HEY! I'm doing all these killer workouts, thousands of burpees - whatever - and I'm not a fitness model!" It happens.

Here's what to do. Keep doing the right things. Keep getting up and working out. Keep eating well. Right at the moment you may feel frustrated, but when the switch does flip, when all of a sudden your body starts working along its normal baseline, you're going to be happy. You'll be thrilled that you've constrained the worst of it AND your body will be better prepared to CRUSH the next phase.

So, what's my motive for pointing out the chubby pictures? Just this: Don't give up. Don't ever give up. Don't quit. Even whey you're frustrated, even when it's not working the way you want to - DON'T STOP. And when you're tempted to, then come here and look at those pictures and this post.

I'm not going to stop - I've got too many reasons to keep going, to many things I still have planned to do. I'm not going to quit, because if I quit I'll never accomplish what I've set out to accomplish. Keep working with me.

Keep pushing. Keep striving. Keep doing. You will succeed.

Maybe you're saying "oh no! it's too late for me!" NO it's not. It's never too late. Get back on the horse and start riding boys and girls.

You are the little engine that could. "I think I can. I think I can. I KNOW I can."

You can do it. I'll be right here with you.

Crush it,
Phillip