Limiting your dream

As I've started coaching clients and talking with potential clients, a common theme has come out. People are afraid to dream big. They don't believe that they can really get the health and body that they want. Within a couple of days of starting this program, I knew that I would get the body that I had wanted all of my life. I was always kind of chunky (except for those couple years after my growth spurt of 4 inches before the weight finally caught up to me - even then I was more of a skinny fat). Back in 2008, I had lost about 30 lbs to get down to about 2 lbs heavier than I am right now. That didn't last long because I went right back to what I was doing before and slowly creeped back up to my finishing weight in high school, 155 lbs. I was very comfortable at this weight, but still didn't exactly have an ideal body that I wanted.

As I got older and the metabolism slowed (especially after 30!), it became very apparent that eating and drinking whatever and whenever I wanted was only going to pack on the lbs. I topped out in the high 170s. At 5'9, that is about 12 or so lbs into the overweight area. I was over being fat and saw my cousin, aunt and uncle losing 70-100+ lbs each and maintaining it. Clearly what I was doing wasn't working. I thought I had been eating right and staying healthy by doing the whole foods/Paleo thing. For those of you that insist on sticking with whole foods, but aren't losing the weight, just remember that after doing this program, you can't go right back to whole foods. You'll just learn how to pick them and what portion sizes to stick with.

When I gained about 18 lbs last year, I realized that I needed that kick to get my nutrition right. That's when I called up my cousin, who is now my health coach, and told her I was ready to try it out. When asked for my goal weight, I said 140 lbs. It's really not so much about the number, but how I want my body to look. As I got closer to that number, I knew that it wouldn't get me to my ideal body. Obviously, I still want to be in a healthy range for my height and not look anorexic. As of my last weigh-in, I'm at 144 lbs and still see I have a good amount of stomach and thigh fat I want to get rid of. And it would be really nice to not have the double chin I have had all my life - even after the growth spurt. That's my dream. And I know for sure I will get there. So, I'm going to keep going.

I found this on Pinterest and wanted to share:

You are free to dream big and get the body and health that you want. Don't ever settle because you think you can't get there or you're just comfortable. I assure you that if you work hard, you will get there.

So, what's YOUR dream? And what are you going to do to get there?

To cheat or not to cheat?

That is the question a lot of the time, isn't it?

Since I've been doing Take Shape For Life, I have been asked countless times how I avoid alcohol, candy, pizza and all the other yummy, but not on plan, foods out there.

For me, the answer is easy. This means more to me.

If given a choice between losing weight and getting the body I have always wanted to have or indulging in the alcohol or goodies nearby, I'm going to choose my body. I'm going to choose this program. I'm going to get what I want first.

Am I giving up alcohol, pizza, burgers, ribs, and cake forever? Absolutely not. But while I am in the weight loss phase of my journey, those things are not a priority to me. Losing weight is. I look forward to the day I can have a slice of pizza again or a pint of beer. But that's not going to happen until I hit my goal - and even then, I won't be overindulging. Once I am in my maintenance phase, everything will be in moderation. No longer will I pig out at a potluck or drink a bottle of wine in one evening. That was my life before and when I get the body I want, I fully plan on keeping it.

Several diets will have cheat days built in. Besides giving people an excuse to binge one day a week, this program has a very specific reason why cheating is not built into the program. On the 5 and 1 plan, the meals are nutritionally sound and also low glycemic. You have steadied your blood sugar, turned off the insulin and gone into fat burning mode rather than fat storage mode. To get into fat burning mode generally takes about 4 days. When you cheat, the spike in blood sugar can turn the insulin back on and knock you out of fat burning mode. You've now gone backwards and have to waste 4 days getting back to it. During that time, you have a good chance of being very hungry, tired and also having headaches. All this for a cheat meal or drink?

When I started on this plan, I was actually quite worried about not being able to drink my wine or have an occasional cheat. Was I really going to be able to do this? How do I go without my (sometimes daily) glass or wine? What about my favorite ribs or fondue? Once I started going and was seeing results quickly, I was surprised how easy it was to not even be tempted by my favorite foods and drinks. Unless there is a pizza right in my face, I really have no desire to have a slice and frankly, rarely even think about it. That right there is commitment, folks. Commitment to prioritize my life and not look back.

So what do you want more? A healthy body and healthy life or that slice of pizza and bottle of wine over there? You choose.

Eating 6 Meals Per Day - The 5 & 1 Plan

I'm sure you've heard by now that eating 6 small meals per day is a healthy way to live. There have surely been some criticisms if you don't actually keep them small. If you would eat a 700 calorie breakfast, lunch and dinner and then add in three 100-200 calorie snacks, you would be consuming a fairly large amount of calories during the day.

However, if you truly eat small meals rather than 3 medium size and 3 small, you could still get the appropriate number of calories per day without feeling hungry. Hunger can happen when you go a long time without a meal. When you skip meals or wait 6-8 hours in between meals, you can end up binging because of hunger. How many of us have had those days where we hardly ate anything for breakfast or lunch then ended up with a 3,000+ calorie meal for dinner cause we were "starving"? I'm pretty sure we have all been there at some point. And some people do that on a regular basis. 

Guess what? Your body burns calories throughout the day to run your organs and get you moving. It needs fuel throughout the day to keep that process going smoothly. Eating 6 small meals a day can keep you from getting hungry and binging and it will also keep your metabolism kicking. If the body is digesting food every 2-3 hours, it is working a lot more frequently and burning more calories. 

Many of you looking at this blog may be wondering what Take Shape For Life's 5 & 1 plan is all about. This plan consists of eating 5 balanced, healthy meal replacements and 1 "lean and green" meal consisting of lean protein and vegetables. Each of the meal replacements has been designed to have the right protein/carb balance and also be interechangable. Want cereal or oatmeal for lunch? That's OK! How about having a delicious brownie or cookie for breakfast. Yes, that's perfectly fine too! The lean and green meals are designed to be low calorie, low carb and low glycemic. All the meals on this blog are within the lean and green meal guidelines and are delicious. I have tried each one and can definitely recommend all of them. 

Are you still not sure about this eating 6 meals a day thing? What about the ease of doing this or how it all works? Here is a nifty chart that I found that explains a typical day on the 5 & 1 plan:

That doesn't look too hard, does it? Take Shape for Life has made this program about as easy as it could possibly be. If you think you'll forget to eat, after a few days of doing this, your body will most likely let you know that it's hungry and time. If it is still not letting you know, sometimes it's easy to just set an alarm on your phone. 

The meals are also so easy to make or you can get the "on-the-go" meals such as the bars, pretzels or shakes. I have found a nice balance between having the on-the-go, hearty meals and soft bakes. Have I mentioned that the soft bake brownies are amazing? Yum! It really depends on what your typical day is like. Do you have access to a microwave or would on-the-go meals be easier while you're at work? The good news is that you only have to cook for yourself a maximum of one time per day. If you're like me, I make meals with 2-3 days of leftovers, so I only end up having to cook around 3 times per week.

If you have any questions about the meals or would like to take a look at the selection, feel free to contact me at dreambelievecommit@gmail.com or you can go to my website at www.dreambelievecommit.tsfl.com and look under the SHOP tab the "Shop Now". On the left side, you can look under "Weight-Loss Meals". There is a great selection of many different types of foods. Like Brownies. 

No Gym Membership? You can still exercise!

You don't need a gym membership to be able to exercise. There are so many ways to get a workout in without spending money or feeling like you have to kill yourself each day.

If the weather isn't very good outside (as is the case a good chunk of the year in Oregon), there are plenty of ways to still get exercise inside. Here are a few ideas:

1) Walk around the living room at a brisk pace.

2) Jog in place while watching tv or listening to music.

3) Pop an exercise video into the DVD player (I recommend T25. It's only 25 minutes per day!).

4) Turn on the music and DANCE! Nobody is watching. Have at it!

5) Watch a free exercise video online. Popsugar has really fun workout videos that range from   5 to 30 minutes. You can find the different videos at http://www.popsugar.com/Fitness-Video. My favorite video is the Victoria's Secret 10 minute circuit. The 10 minutes flies by and it's fun too. Check it out at http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Victoria-Secret-Model-Full-Body-Workout-21416942

5) Set a time or number of reps and do bodyweight exercises such as squats, pushups, crunches, lunges, and planks.


If you want to get outside, there are some great options for that as well:

1) Go for a walk or run (with or without the dog). I love walking or jogging with my dog to the nearby dog park. It's great exercise for the both of us.

2) Take that bike out of the shed and go for a ride. It doesn't have to be really long. Just get on and enjoy the scenery as you ride. Each time you go, try and push yourself to ride a bit further or faster than last time.

3) Go for a hike. In Oregon, there are fantastic places to hike. You don't need to be a mountaineer to go hiking. Try a good trail in the forest.

4) Head to the beach for a day. If the roads or trails around your home are getting boring, why not walk around the beach? The sand will make walking a bit more difficult and burn more calories than walking on a sidewalk.

5) Go swimming or kayaking in the lake. You can always reward yourself afterwards with a nice, light picnic.

6) In the winter, you can go skiing or snowboarding. If you haven't been before, let me tell you it is definitely a workout and will burn a ton of calories while you're having fun blasting down the mountain.

Of course, there are many other options that I didn't list. These are just a few. There is no excuse to not exercise just because you can't afford a gym membership. Just find things that you enjoy doing that get you moving and burn calories. If you so something everyday, you'll not only make it a habit soon enough, but you'll feel great and be a lot healthier with the regular exercise.

Activity Trackers

Do you have an activity tracker (i.e. Fuelband, Fitbit, UP, etc)?

If you don't have one and want some easy motivation for keeping track of your healthy habits, GET ONE!

I recently purchased a Jawbone UP24. While my friends have the Nike Fuelband or FitBit, I decided on the Jawbone for 2 reasons. One, it is much cheaper than the other two popular bands (I got mine on Groupon for $62 and they are also on Amazon for between $48 for the UP and $79 for the UP24). The Fuelband and FitBit run for $100 and up. The second reason for getting the Jawbone was because it syncs to my Strava app. If you aren't familiar with Strava, it is a fitness tracker app for cycling, walking and running. I enjoy cycling and want to make sure that activity is tracked accurately. Some cyclists wrap the other bands around their shoe. Some just manually enter the activity and how hard they perceived they went. Neither is a perfect option. When the app syncs to Strava, it can tell my distance and speed. Using the calculation for my weight, it should be able to get a fairly accurate account of how many calories I've burned. (*Note: as I'm a fair weather rider and I live in Oregon, I have not yet been on my bike in the 2 weeks I've had the UP24).

A quick run down of an activity tracker's abilities. The primary things it tracks is activity, food and sleep. You have to manually enter your food, but it has many choices to pick from, including foods from restaurants. For activity and sleep, it tracks automatically. However, you can put in a workout so the app knows you were doing more than walking and updates your calories burned. What I like about having this app is that I can look at my calories burned vs how much I have eaten and see the difference. As I am in the weight loss phase, I am shooting for a significant deficit.

The thing about the activity trackers is that you can really become obsessed with hitting your goals for the day. I had a busy morning today with few steps and only tend to average about 3,000 steps at work, so I know that I'll be doing some activity when I get home to get to that magic 10,000 steps. If I can't get outside, I walk around the living room, jog in place or do an exercise video. Those bump up the steps pretty well and I feel great at the end of the day having achieved a small, but significant goal.

Sometimes you just need motivation to get up and do activity. Sometimes you just need a reality check to see that you really don't move as much as you think you do. When I bought this, my reason was the latter, but as I started using it, I found that it really gives me that motivation to just MOVE.

Low Glycemic Foods

What are low glycemic foods and why are they used in the TSFL program?

The Glycemic Index (GI) was created as a way to determine the level of carbohydrates in foods and the impact they have on blood sugar. When we eat high glycemic foods (i.e. russet potatoes, white bread, pretzels, graham crackers, etc), insulin gets turned on and stimulates an enzyme that then turns on the fat storage system. In contrast, when we eat low glycemic foods, insulin doesn't need to come in and the food doesn't get stored as fat, rather gets used as an energy source.

When we eat a lot of high glycemic foods, what happens throughout the day is our blood sugar is constantly being spiked and then drops very low again. This can happen several times a day, all the while insulin levels are staying high, which is keeping the fat storage system turned on.

What are the benefits of eating a low-glycemic diet?

   - Maintains metabolism during weight loss
   - Maintains cardiovascular health
   - Prevents diseases (like Type II diabetes and heart disease)
   - Increased energy (no crashes from huge drops in blood sugar after a spike)
   - Improved mood

Take Shape for Life promotes a low-glycemic diet during weight loss and afterwards as you maintain your weight. This proven program helps you lose weight and keep it off for good. During the weight loss phase, the 5-and-1 plan, you will be eating low-glycemic meal replacements and then a healthy lean and green meal made of low glycemic lean proteins and vegetables. As you move into maintenance, you can add in more foods, but are encouraged to still eat mostly low glycemic foods to keep your blood sugar steady throughout the day. The difference with this program is that you don't just lose the weight and get forgotten or let go of everything you did during the weight loss phase. You have your full support of the health coach and will have built habits that can continue as you maintain your weight.

In my first 2 weeks on the 5-and-1 plan, I lost 14 lbs and 5 inches overall. I can't even begin to describe to you how amazing I feel. For the first time in my adult life, I don't feel like I need caffeine and am not having any cravings whatsoever. I went into this program thinking I would be starving and not have any energy since I wasn't getting my lattes for evening shifts at work. I was completely wrong. With 6 meals a day, I'm eating so regularly that I rarely even get hungry. I'm also not getting those crashes after a meal. Keeping your blood sugar steady makes an immediate difference that you can feel.

Do you want more information about Take Shape for Life's low-glycemic diet? Email me at dream.believe.commit@gmail.com.

Dancing for exercise

You don't need to have a gym membership to be able to exercise. You can go for a walk or jog in place for a few minutes. You can go for a bike ride on a sunny day or take your dog to the park.

Or you can DANCE!

You don't have to be a good dancer to get the benefits from it. Just walk into your living room or bedroom, turn up the music and move! Not only is it a fun way to get exercise, but you can also burn a lot of calories. Not much makes me feel better than dancing. I love music and rocking to it is just about the best thing ever.

Haven't danced by yourself? Try it! Once you let go of any fears or insecurities you might have, I guarantee you'll fee great when you're finished.

Not a "veggie person"?

At some point, you will probably wonder why most of these recipes will be made from spaghetti squash or cauliflower. This is because I have never really liked veggies. If I would look at the approved non-starchy vegetable list, the only ones I would have found that I eat on a regular basis is lettuce and cucumbers. That's it. I'd had spaghetti squash before, but only with a good sauce. I consider myself a meat and potatoes girl. And apparently potatoes don't really count when you say you eat vegetables. Dang!

When I started Take Shape for Life, I knew that I needed to take another look at that list. My health coach had told me that there were some great cauliflower recipes that didn't taste like cauliflower. I figured it was worth a try, even though I considered the smell and taste of cauliflower absolutely disgusting.

However, if I didn't try some other things, I would be having salad on a daily basis. I've tried diets before that consisted of eating salad every single day (because I didn't like anything else on the approved list). Can you imagine eating the same food every single day? Needless to say, I got bored easily and wasn't very successful with those diets. I knew that I had to get some variety with my veggies, but still enjoy what I was eating.

I have found some fantastic recipes with cauliflower and spaghetti squash and absolutely love the food. I still get the salad in there every once in a while. I figure it's a perfect side dish for my grilled meat or chicken. But at least I can still get my pizza, Mexican and Italian food with the other two veggies and still enjoy what I'm eating every day.

At my 2 week weigh in (14 lbs lost!), my health coach was shocked that the "veggie hater" had done so well on the program. I not only had success with the weight loss, but have enjoyed discovering new foods and new recipes. To say that my meals are pretty awesome on a daily basis would be an understatement. My coworkers and friends keep asking me what I'm eating because it looks delicious.

Do you still think that you can't do this program if you hate veggies? I promise that you will find some recipes that minimize or eliminate the taste of at least some of the approved vegetables. If you still aren't sure, try some recipes out before committing. If one of the pickiest eaters on the planet can do find veggies to eat and like them (ME!), you can too!

Habits of Health

What are habits of health?

Those are habits that you can develop in your everyday life to promote optimal health. So many people don't sleep well, have a lot of stress, don't exercise or move enough and don't hydrate well enough. It's so easy to get busy during the day and forget to drink water or stand up from your desk. When you are busy, you can get stressed easily, which leads to lack of sleep and tiredness the next day.

When will it ever end?

What can you do about it?

You can make small commitments everyday.

Commit to:

-  Drink at least 64 oz of water each day.
-  Stand up and walk around at least once an hour.
-  Give yourself 10 minutes each day of closing your eyes and breathing.
-  Drink one less pop (soda) per day
-  Smile at a stranger...or 10!
-  Hug your loved one everyday
-  Take the stairs instead of the elevator
-  Try to reach 10,000 steps each day

Those don't sound so bad, right? Well, maybe the 10,000 steps sounds like a lot. But once you make that commitment to yourself, you can make it happen. I've had days where I'm only at 2,000 steps by the time I reach work at 2 pm. Do you know what I do when I get home? Walk around my home and march/jog in place. You can do anything if you commit to it.

What happens when you commit to these small tasks? Research shows that it takes 21 days for something to become a habit. How much better could you feel if, every day, you walked , smiled at someone, stayed hydrated, drank less drinks with empty calories and gave yourself time to just breathe?

I can tell you from personal experience that you can feel pretty great. I was one of those people who drank pop all day (and very little plain water), sat on the couch as soon as I got home until it was time for bed and needed a ton of caffeine to make it through an evening shift at work. With Take Shape for Life, I started to change those habits into healthier ones and today I feel amazing! With an exception for an occasional cup of green tea, I haven't had any caffeine for weeks. And what shocks me if that I don't even feel like I need it. I drive by Starbucks without a craving. My skin is also improving from all the water I've been drinking. And my stress level is so far down that hardly anything really bothers me these days.

Are you ready to try it? Why not pick 3 of those things on the list and commit to do them today!