Are you trying to lose weight? Which latest diet craze have you started? Whenever someone tells me they are trying to lose weight that is the first question I ask, "what crazy diet plan are you following"? Everybody does it the minute the words lose weight come out, you have to go on some plan. Why?
It is a known fact that all of those so called perfect diets you read about in your health and fitness magazines each month, are in fact, not perfect and are going to fail you.
If that is true then what is the answer? Simple, quit following the diets and start eating healthy. I often ask my clients about their diet and they tell me how healthy they are eating, and they just can't understand why the weight doesn't come off. For example, one of my clients tells me her 3 snacks during the day consist of those 100 calorie snack packs. My friends those things are cheats not snacks.
MSNBC has a really good article about how to lose weight without being on a diet. It will give you some great ideas on healthy ways to cheat. Have a great weekend.
Stay Motivated,
Karen
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The Bridge March is the 6th exercise in the bridge progression series. You defiantly do not want to attempt this exercise until you can do the other 5 exercises in the progression.
As you move through the exercise try not to let your hips drop, or let your hamstrings cramp up on you. Try to perform the march for 1 set of about 20 seconds and work your way up to a minute of marching. Good luck.
Stay Motivated,
Karen
Filed under Exercise Video Clips, Video Series by
The TFAH (Trust for America's Health) F as in Fat 2009 report states that obesity rates are on the rise for the third straight year in Maryland and no state in the US saw a decrease in rates. Unfortunately even the rates of our children are on the rise.
Dr. G.N. Chaldakov a researcher believes we are on the verge of creating a new species, homo obesus. He feels that the new species has distinctly different metabolic processes compared to homo sapiens, making it next to impossible to lose weight using the calories in vs. calories out method.
As the numbers continue to rise, so do the number of new products on the market that promote quick, fast and easy as 1, 2, 3 weight loss. I have to admit that I sometimes give them a second look, (I too would love to have a magic pill) but then my common sense kicks in.
There isn't any magic pill or magic piece of equipment or even a magic workout program on the market that will get you in shape and get rid of your gut. There are only 2 simple things needed persistence and hard work. There are some great programs on the market, I have even used some of them, but they are only as good as the person using them.
No matter what you buy or what you use they all require hard work, to get the results you are looking for. Let's all work together, quit looking for the quick fix and get to working on lowering our numbers for the year 2010. Who's with me?
Stay Motivated,
Karen
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To weigh yourself or not – that is the question. Depending on where you are in your weight loss efforts the scale can be your best friend or your biggest enemy. The scale is a useful tool if you are at the correct weight and you are trying to maintain your efforts.
On the other hand, if you are trying to lose weight, throw that scale away, because you are going to hate it. Let me give you a personal example. I am vain just like everyone else in the world. When I step on the scale I want to see certain numbers. Recently those numbers (and the waistline on my shorts) stated other wise. We have had a hectic spring, what with clients and baseball and soccer; eating has become a chore. When the average person gets busy they stop for fast food and eat on the run, when my husband and I get busy we just don't eat. (Just as unhealthy).
So anyways, we have begun the Carb Rotation eating plan to get our lives and our waistlines back on track.
Like the majority of you I check the scale most mornings. Many days that scale never budged. (Mind you I only have a few pounds to lose and they are the hardest). I had eaten perfect for about a week straight, I knew before I stepped on the scale I would be down by about 2-3 pounds. To my surprise I was up a pound, at that very moment I wanted to pick that scale up and throw it through the bathroom window.
I immediately went downstairs and measured my waist and took my body fat. Now, these numbers do not lie. I was down 2 inches around my waist and a percent down in my body fat.
When I was completely over my little fit of hysterics I went and told my husband how stupid I had been. I teach my clients everyday – the scale means nothing you are trying to lose body fat and inches.
The whole experience made me really sit down and take note, I am a professional and deal with this stuff everyday. Yet, I too wanted to throw my scale out the window.
Before you begin any weight loss efforts, please take it from me get an initial weight and then throw the scale in the closet and forget about it. Use your clothes and a belt loop as your gage. Forget the Scale!
Stay Motivated,
Karen
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The first goal I have for every new client who walks through my door is pain relief. I do multiple assessments to determine where the pain is coming from. Most people take the Band-aid approach, its bleeding stick a Band-aid on it. Did you by chance first ask, "why is it bleeding" and secondly did you stop the bleeding before you put the Band-aid on.
This is my favorite example and most resembles how doctors and surgeons treat their patients. You have a door in your house that at one time used to open and shut effortlessly and close all the way. For some reason now, the door will not close completely and seems to have become bigger in the top right corner. Now a surgeon is most likely going to treat the top right corner and shave off a piece of the door to make it smaller, so it will once again close. Under normal circumstances a door can not grow, so how did the door become bigger in the upper right hand corner?
To treat this door correctly you need to get to the root of the problem, don't just stick a Band-aid on it. The structure of the door is compromised, the hinges are failing. Treat the hinges not the door.
Our bodies are much like the door. You go to the doctor about your knee pain – and he only checks the knee. Your body is like a chain, everything is linked together. 9 times out of 10 that lingering knee pain is coming from somewhere else in the body, usually the hip. Low back pain usually comes from a combination of weak glutes and tight hip flexors, not necessarily the back.
The majority of the time pain relief is possible, but you need to find someone who treats the whole body not just the right hand corner of the door. A good place to start is the Functional Movement Screen website, they have a list of people that are specifically trained to treat the body as a whole.
Stay Motivated,
Karen
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