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Timely Tips to Help You Gobble Gobble with Less Guilt
While Thanksgiving is the latest it can possibly be in the calendar year, I still feel like it snuck up on me! The fact that Hanukkah starts on the same day (for the first time in something like 18,000 years!), we’re REALLY kicking off the 2013 holiday season with a bang. So, if you’re packing up or planning for your festivities, there’s no time like this Motivation Monday to get your mind focused on how to get through the holiday(s) without completely throwing your healthy habits out the window.
If you’re gearing up for a week filled – or maybe stuffed! – with food and drink (and a little football), here are some tips to help you avoid overdoing it.
- Don’t skimp on the workouts this week: Even if you can’t get out of the house on Thanksgiving Day, you can pop in an exercise DVD or bang out a Tabata or two wherever you have space to do push-ups or burpees. If you only have a short amount of time to escape the house, take a brisk power walk or abbreviated run. If your gym is open, get to a morning group exercise class or at least bang out some cardio and core work.
- Don’t skip breakfast before the Turkey Day feast: Be mindful of your meals early in the week. On Thursday, eat something sensible in the morning to fire up your metabolism and to avoid being ravenous when you arrive for the holiday feast. If you’re not scheduled to fight for the turkey leg until late afternoon or early evening, make sure to have a second small meal so you don’t go overboard later. One of my favorite sensible fillers is a non-fat plain Greek yogurt with a serving of almonds mixed in. The protein-rich snack keeps me satisfied for hours!
- Use a smaller plate (like a salad dish) for your Thanksgiving feast: If there’s salad or veggies, load up on those first, then take some turkey. Use the remaining space for the potatoes, stuffing and other starches. (There won’t be as much room left as you’d have on a regular dinner plate.)
- Savor the flavor: Eat slowly! If you do clean your plate, wait about 10 minutes before loading up on round two. This will help you decide if you’re really hungry. If you aren’t, you’ll feel good knowing you had one helping – before moving on to dessert, of course!
- Watch the alcohol intake: Turkey Day is a good time to follow the every-other-drink-is-alcohol plan. Enjoy a glass of wine, beer or cocktail then have a glass of water of diet soda before moving on to the next libation.
- Give away leftovers: Hosting the holiday feast? Don’t be shy about giving what’s left of the turkey and trimmings to your guests.
If you have any “secrets” that help you enjoy the holiday without waking up feeling guilty on Black Friday, I’d love to hear about them! The season ahead is definitely challenging when it comes to watching our waistlines, but the good news there are some tricks that can help you continue your journey to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Motivation Monday: Beach Edition
I can’t believe how quickly the 4th of July weekend fun flew by. Hopefully, you all got to enjoy a little downtime and beat the heat with family and friends.
I am happy to report I got some great workouts in not only inside the gloriously air-conditioned gym, but I also broke an extra sweat at my favorite place on the planet: the beach. So on this Motivation Monday, I offer a simple idea for the next time you spend some time on the sand to take a typical beach walk to the next level.
Walk at a brisk pace and then 10 minutes in, try a sprint Tabata. Any of you repeat readers will know the Tabata is my favorite four-minute express workout with a very simple formula:
*20 seconds of work
*10 seconds of rest
Total= 8 rounds
So, run at a high speed for 20 seconds, then slow down to a walk for 10 and pick it up again. I use my UltraTimer Tabata interval app to keep me in track.
When you’re done with that Tabata, you can go back to walking and then after a minute, why not try a squat, tricep dip or plank Tabata, too? Just remember, if you do more than one Tabata, be sure to rest for 60 seconds before moving on to the next exercise.
The bonus of my beach workout is that spending time listening to the crashing waves and feeling the sea breeze fill my lungs gives me time to clear my head and focus on my mental fitness, too. With the summer season in full swing, I hope you find lots of ways to mix up your routine and find new ways to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Here’s to the Unofficial Kick-Off of Summer 2013!
Happy Memorial Day!
Happy Memorial Day!
I hope you’ve been making the most of the holiday weekend. Today’s post will be a short and sweet one as I continue to enjoy a getaway to Pompano Beach, Florida with my parents, aunt and uncle. Here’s what I wish for everyone today:
1) Take some time to stop and remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us could continue to enjoy our way of life here in the USA.
2) Fit some fitness into your holiday fun. I’ll hit the elliptical, bang out a Tabata Derby and probably take a long walk on the beach today. (Click here if you need a few reminders on how to squeeze some exercise into your day.)
3) Whether you’re at the beach like me or just planning to be outdoors, don’t forget the sunscreen!
4) Regardless of whether you’re celebrating Memorial Day indoors or out, stay hydrated. If you do plan to drink anything with a kick, make sure to designate a driver to ensure everyone gets home safely after the Memorial Day fun.
5) Hitting a BBQ today? Don’t arrive hungry! Click here for some reminders on how to keep your healthy habits in check while you celebrate.
Wishing everyone a great holiday and here’s to the summer ahead and all the chances we’ll have to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
A Different Kind of Workout Wednesday
Of course, I packed some workout wear!
This particular Workout Wednesday marks a first for me. Depending on what time you read this, I’ll either be getting ready for or in the midst of flying to Amsterdam! As I write this post, I’m beyond excited to meet up with my lifelong buddy Ania and her pal Tiffany for what’s sure to be a fun-filled adventure!
While I’ll be skipping the workout today, I do plan on making use of our hotel’s fitness center during the trip. While I’m gone, if you need a shot of motivation, don’t hesitate to scroll down to the “Search This Site” box on the right side of this page. If you type in anything from abdominals to Zumba, hopefully you’ll find something helpful from one of my previous 200+ posts.
I leave you with links to some “oldies but goodies” that offer tips on key training concepts. I hope they’ll help as you continue your hard work on turning those New Year’s resolutions into routine behavior:
- Core Training
- One Area That Almost Always Needs a Good Stretch!
- Healthy Eating Tips
- One of My Go-To, No-Brainer Workout Routines
My next post will appear on Monday, January 28th. In the meantime, feel free to leave comments or email me with any questions or with any topics you’d like me to touch on in the weeks ahead. Wishing everyone a great week and I look forward to returning with even more energy to continue on this journey to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Some New Tunes for the New Year
Despite the abbreviated work week, it’s been a bit of a challenge getting back to the grind after taking some time off for the holidays. One thing that always helps me put a bit more spring in my steps during my morning walk to work and keep the energy up during my workouts is good music.
So, on this first Friday of 2013, I thought I’d offer some of my current favorite songs that keep me moving on the elliptical, banging out the burpees and making each rep count. Some of these tunes are old, some are new, but they always manage to keep me going!
My Cardio Kicks:
- “‘Right Now” (feat. David Guetta), Rihanna
- “Appreciate Me,” Amuka (feat. Sheila Brody)
- “Run” (feat. Alanah) Andy Duguid
- “Sweet Nothing” (feat. Florence Welch) Calvin Harris
- “Spectrum,” Florence + The Machine
- “Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2,1),” Flo Rida
- “Feel the Beat,” Darude
- “Who’s Got Your Love?” Nyasia
- “Theme to S’Express,” S’Express
- “The Sound of Goodbye,” Perpetuous Dreamer
Tabata/ Weights/ CrossFit-Style Motivators:
- “Hate It or Love It,” Game & 50 Cent
- “My Time” Fabolous & Jeremih
- “I Miss the Misery, ” Halestorm
- “Falls Apart,” Stabbing Westward
- “4 Minutes,” Madonna w/ Justin Timberlake
- ” Read the rest of this entry
Gearing Up for Turkey Time
I’m not sure how it happened, but here we are just a few days away from Thanksgiving 2012. Since many people have abbreviated work weeks and may also be busy prepping or packing up to travel for the holiday, I thought I’d offer an early dose of motivation on how to get through the traditionally gluttonous holiday.
I’ve always loved Thanksgiving. There are no gifts to buy and you can just enjoy quality time with family and friends. Of course, that quality time tends to be filled (or should I say stuffed?) with food, drink and football. Here are some tips to help you avoid overdoing it – at least when it comes to the food and drink:
- Get in some morning activity: Even if you can’t get out of the house, you can still pop in an exercise DVD or bang out a Tabata or two wherever you have space to do push-ups or burpees. If you only have a short amount of time to escape the house, take a brisk power walk or abbreviated run. If your gym is open, get to a morning group exercise class or at least bang out some cardio and core work.
- Don’t skip breakfast: Eat something sensible to get your metabolism moving and to avoid being ravenous when you dig into that holiday meal. If your Thanksgiving feast isn’t scheduled until late afternoon, make sure to follow breakfast with a small lunch or sensible snack so you don’t go overboard later. One of my favorite sensible fillers is a non-fat plain Greek yogurt with a serving of almonds mixed in. The protein-rich snack keeps me satisfied for hours!
- Use a smaller plate (like a salad dish) for your meal: If there’s salad or veggies, load up on those first, then take some turkey. Use the remaining space for the potatoes, stuffing and other starches. (There won’t be as much room left as you’d have on a regular dinner plate.)
- Savor the flavor: Eat slowly! If you do clean your plate, wait about 10 minutes before going back for round two. This will help you decide if you’re really hungry. If you aren’t, you’ll feel good knowing you had one helping – before moving on to dessert, of course!
- Watch the alcohol intake: This is a good day to follow the every-other-drink-is-alcohol plan. Enjoy a glass of wine, beer or cocktail then have a glass of water of diet soda before moving on to the next libation.
- Give away leftovers: Hosting the holiday feast? Don’t be shy about giving some of the uneaten turkey and trimmings to your guests.
If you have any “secrets” that help you enjoy the holiday without waking up feeling guilty on Black Friday, I’d love to hear about them! The holiday season is definitely challenging when it comes to watching our waistlines, but the good news there are some tricks that can help you continue your journey to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Exercising Hard – Or Hardly Exercising?
We made it to another Workout Wednesday!
As I’ve been working to re-charge my own fitness focus this week, I thought I’d take advantage of today to remind everyone of a simple way to gauge how much work you’re putting into that workout. It doesn’t involve calculations of target heart-rate zones. In fact, there’s no math involved at all. Instead, what helps many fitness lovers gauge the intensity of their workouts is known as the “talk test.”
Here’s what the scores look like:
- Low intensity: You can carry on a conversation comfortably with a workout buddy or sing along with your playlist – being off-key doesn’t matter!
- Moderate intensity: You can still talk, but you’re slightly out of breath and can’t carry on a conversation at a normal pace.
- High intensity: You can only say a few words at a time because you’re breathing rapidly.
As I’m sure you’ve already figured out, if you’re looking to lose weight, working out at a moderate to high intensity will provide the biggest benefits for your waistline and your overall health. In our time-crunched lives, however, there aren’t always enough days in the week to get in all the hour-long high-intensity sessions we want. That’s why I’ve become a big fan of Tabata training. Click here for a reminder on why the high-intensity training protocol became a fast favorite in my fitness routine.
I wrap this short and sweet post with the reason why it’s important to assess just how hard we’re pushing ourselves when we workout. You know how easy it can be to underestimate just how many calories you’re eating? It’s just as easy to overestimate how hard you’re exercising! If you don’t have a heart rate monitor, the talk test can be a good way to gauge if you’re really doing all you can to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Workout Wednesday: Sandy Edition
You Don’t Need a Lot of Space to Break a Sweat!
Well, this Halloween is one filled with more tricks than we’d like here in the Northeast. Let me start by saying thank you to all of you who sent emails, Facebook messages or tweets checking up on me here in New York following the storm that made history.
I’m happy to report I’m safe and sound in Manhattan. My parents who live on Long Island also made it through okay, although they’re facing an uncertain timetable for when they may get their power and phone lines restored. They lost several trees on their property, however, none damaged the house. My heart and prayers go out to those people who did lose loved ones or all of their possessions to this epic storm. We face a difficult period of rebuilding ahead, but I know as other Americans have done following other episodes of Mother Nature’s wrath, we will band together and get through this.
Things are slowly getting back to normal in my neighborhood. While my office remains closed in Midtown, stores and shops in the Upper West Side are opening for business again. Today will probably mark the first time I can hit the gym since the weekend. It will be nice to get back on the elliptical and rowing machines, but again, considering there are so many people who lost more than a few days at the gym, I will be counting my blessings twice today.
One thing I realized while I was cooped up in my cozy apartment watching the latest weather updates and live reports from the area, you truly don’t need a lot of space to burn some calories and break a sweat. Thanks to a yoga mat, two 15-pound free dumbbells, one resistance band and one foam roller, I was able to burn off some of my nervous energy along with a few of the calories I consumed from the red wine, mini dark chocolate – peanut butter cups and other storm essentials I stocked up on before Sandy arrived. Tabata Derbys became my workout of choice, usually while the TV was on tuned into the latest Sandy coverage.
Reminder on the Tabata formula: eight continuous intervals of 20 seconds of maximum intensity followed by 10 seconds of rest. You create a “Tabata Derby” by adding consecutive four-minute intervals and work your way up to a 20-minute total Tabata workout. Two important notes if you move ahead with building a derby:
- If you do more than one Tabata – you must rest for 60 seconds before moving on to the next exercise.
- While the idea is to push out as many reps as possible in the 20-second work period, you shouldn’t sacrifice good form. Better to do “perfect” push-ups on your knees with your stomach drawn-in and glutes squeezed nice and tight than risk injuring your lower back with sloppy reps.
My Tabata Derby broke down like this:
- Squats
- Push-ups
- Resistance band bicep curls
- Side planks
On Monday, I followed the 20-minute derby with a 45-minute Zumba workout following the program from my Zumba Fitness Exhilerate DVD collection.
Now that the storm has passed and we work on rebuilding our neighborhoods and lives, I end with a word of encouragement for those who will be dealing with the aftermath for many days ahead. Know that you are not alone in your struggle and know that you WILL get back to your plans to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Workout Wednesday: Back to the Basics
I said it on Monday, and I’ll say it again: what a difference a week makes!
I’m excited to tackle this Workout Wednesday with new energy. For me, getting back into my fitness routine has meant focusing on one of my lifelong addictions: cardio.
While I haven’t completely decided how today’s workout will break down, I do know there will be a combo of elliptical, recumbent bike and rowing machine training when I hit the gym after work. After my five-day hiatus, I started with a moderate 30 minutes and should have no problem hitting a full 60 minutes today. Adding a plank and push-up Tabata along with some SMR and stretching and no doubt I’ll sweat any work-related stress right out of my system. All of this will no doubt help me get back up to speed and ready to tackle another crazy Central Park workout.
So, today’s post is a reminder about the importance of cardiovascular exercise. In the simplest of terms, it’s crucial when it comes to reaching your goals of losing weight, reducing body fat or maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The benefits of cardio activity include its ability to decrease:
- Daily fatigue
- Anxiety and stress
- Coronary artery disease
- Hypertension
- Non-insulin dependent diabetes and
- Obesity
At the same time, cardio helps boost your:
- Sense of well-being
- Immune system
- Blood lipid profile and
- Overall physical performance at work and at play
While there are several levels to cardio training, for the purpose of this post, I’m going to focus on some guidelines for beginners and anyone who may be getting back into a fitness routine after a hiatus. (As usual, I base these guidelines using the what I studied through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.) Your cardio activity should focus on maintaining a zone one heart rate which is approximately 65% to 75% of your maximum heart rate. Here’s what that means for you:
- To calculate your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from the number 220.
- Multiply your max heart rate by .65.
- Multiply your max heart rate by .75.
To use myself as an example:
- 220-37 = 183
- 183 X 0.65 = 119
- 183 X 0.75 = 137
- Laura’s Zone One Heart Rate = 119 – 137
If you’re working within the parameters of zone one for cardio, it’s likely you are also in stage one of your overall exercise program. (NASM refers to this as the stabilization level.) If you’ve never worked out before, you may want to try to reach your zone one heart rate for a maximum five to ten minutes and then spend another 20 minutes simply walking at a good pace, climbing the stairs in your home or getting really dirty in the yard by cleaning up the garden. Your goal should be to eventually maintain your zone one heart rate for at least 30 minutes. This can take some time. A “newbie” may need two months or longer to meet this demand, but remember: there’s no finish line here. You’ve made a commitment to exercise and start taking better care of yourself, so while you don’t want to just dial it in, make the journey work for you.
I hope this brief session of cardio 101 will help get your heart pumping safely and effectively so you can have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
Time to Kick Some…
Back in Fighting Form
Photo by Leslie Hassler
What a difference a week makes!
At this time last Monday, my body was making an unsuccessful last stand to fight off one of the worst colds I’ve had in recent memory. Today, I’m back in fighting form and feel ready to take on whatever the week throws at me. Why the drastic turnaround? I’m convinced it’s mainly because I listened to my body and took a break. I have no doubt I’ll face the rest of the season in better health than had I fought through the virus by continuing to push myself at the gym.
In all seriousness, for any bona fide fitness lover like me, it’s beyond difficult to force yourself to take a more than one or two days off from the gym. The cold I came down with last week kept me out of action for five whole days. However, on this beautiful sunny Sunday, despite some lingering congestion, I knew my body was ready to break a sweat again. I kept my workout on the moderate end: 30 minutes on the elliptical; 10 minutes on the recumbent bike; a plank Tabata and some SMR and static stretching to round things out. At the end of the hour, I felt great. I was totally refreshed and ready to come home, fire up the computer and write for a while. I was also revved up to take on the work week ahead.
So on this Motivation Monday, I offer another reminder about how important it is to listen to your body. If it is telling you it needs a break, take one. The down time CAN do your body good. While I may not be ready to tackle one of my typical Central Park workouts for several more days, I know I’ll get there. So if you’re getting back in the game after an unexpected break, don’t sweat it. Take it one day at a time and remember, you can always regroup, rebuild and regain your strength and endurance. Sometimes being out of the game can re-ignite the fire and the focus to have fun, be fit and feel fabulous!
lauralovesfitness 