Did I hear you say you don't like to work out at home?

The most common response I get when I tell people about some of the programs I workout with on my DVD player at home is, "I prefer to go to the gym" or "I don't like workout videos".  Fair enough.  I actually prefer going to a Turbo Kick class (or teaching it for that matter) than doing a TurboFire video as I like to get out of my house and visit with people while I am there!  I also love PUMP class, enjoy a good Bosu workout and have a crazy enjoyment of climbing Jacob's ladder!  I like the gym too! 
But I also have a busy life and kids!  These things often get in the way of the classes I might want to attend at the gym.  Between my volunteering, working, cleaning, shopping, sick days...there are a lot of conflicts that come up!  I never say, "my kids have been home sick for four days so I haven't been able to get a workout in!" as I will have had many options with the great programs I have sitting in my living room!  I also like to mix up my workouts!  Sometimes I want to focus on a particular body part or muscle groups or I want a quick 20 minute workout but with guidance.  I can choose a weight training video for my body part or throw in Insanity Fast and Furious for my 20 minute workout or a TurboFire Hiit 20 workout!
Trying to find a program that works for you?  Watch the video clip below to see what looks best, or let me know what you type of activities you enjoy and I can help you find the best program!  All Beachbody programs include nutrition guides as well to help you get on the right track for your best health! Plus, if you order through a coach (me) you will receive a bonus program that you wouldn't get if you ordered via the infomercials!
What are you waiting for?  Let's go work out :)

Healthy Guidelines for a Healthier You!

Diet?  You don't need to follow a specific diet, but you might want to get ideas from a healthy cookbook or "diet book" to help you with your meal plans.  Check out cook books by Tosca Reno and Clean Eating, Bring It by Tony Horton, Body for Life, Southbeach, books by Jillian Michaels, and the nutrition planning tools in the Beachbody website.

Here are some guidelines to follow:

1) Eat within 1 hour of waking!

Your best bet would be within 30 min of waking.  It has been proven that your metabolism will fire up faster and you will burn fat rather than muscle if you eat ASAP.  If you find that you can’t stomach food first thing in the morning, try having a protein shake (like Shakeology) or eggs.

2) Eat no less than 20g of protein at each meal.

Most nutrition labels will give you this information.  If necessary, add a 1/2 protein shake with water (or protein powder) to your meals.  Most of them mix well in anything (soup, cereal, etc)

3) Drink no more than 16 oz of caffeine daily (coffee, tea, diet soft drinks)

It is time to tame the addiction!  If you need the caffeine that much you might want to find a way to get a little more sleep, make sure you are getting your multivitamins and consider a natural energy source like Shakeology.  More than anything, too much caffeine can hinder weight loss.  Herbal teas are fine.

4) If you are closely watching your calories and making great food choices, you need to "cheat" or break some of the rules for two meals per week! Or have a "cheat day".

Sounds crazy????  There is a method behind this that is twofold.  First, when watching food intake many people still count calories and restrict them, often too far which, over time, will slow weight loss.  By having one day that is a free-for-all, your body will never get “set” on a certain number of calories or “plateau” with your nutrition plan.  Second, you won’t feel deprived.  If you know that you have to be strict for 6 days but you can have ANY of those foods you crave on day 7, you are much less likely to give in on day 4 (with only 2 days left to go).  NOTHING is forbidden (or should be) but please have a little bit of self control.

5) Increase your veggie intake.

Vegetables are full of water, fiber and nutrients.  They take up a lot of room on your plate and help you feel full but are low in calories.  Try celery and carrot sticks for a snack, steamed spinach with sesame seeds for a side dish, or large tossed salad-just beware of the dressing!

6) Avoid all sugars and artificial sweeteners (other than stevia) except on “cheat” meal/day.

We all know that all sugars can cause weight gain but even artificial sweeteners can trick your body into believing they are real.  Even agave nectar and honey can wreck havoc if eaten too often.  Get your carbs from vegetables, fruits and then grains and you’ll find your sweet tooth disappears.  For those times when you HAVE to have something sweet, go for fruit (berries are your best choice!)

7) No more than two 1-cup servings of whole grains daily.

Regardless of your nutrition plan, be sure you are eating WHOLE grains (look for 100%) and fewer than you usually have.  Two servings is plenty to keep you fueled and ready to go.  If you are an elite athlete or working our excessively you may need more, but follow guidelines laid our with your workouts.

8) No eating within 1 hr of bedtime.

If you’re really desperate for something, try herbal tea.  Mint works well as mint has the effect of subduing the appetite.  Another to try would be vanilla.

9) Drink 50% of your body weight in water daily!

Water is vitally important for our bodies and if you are increasing your exercise you will need even more.  A well hydrated body will also flush out lactic acid faster which will leave you less sore!

10) Do 3 resistance workouts and 3 cardio workouts per week (20 min minimum each)

There are numerous workouts I could recommend (just email me if you need help with this) but as long as you are doing 6 20-min workouts each week, you’re good.  These can also be done back to back on 3 days (cardio and resistance on the same day). 

Try following these guidelines and let me know how they work for you.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns or if you notice no improvement in your  health and weight loss within the first few weeks!  Good luck!!!

Win Money for Losing Weight!!!

Do you have some weight to lose? Are you looking for some incentive other than just looking and feeling better? Well I have two contests that you could actually do at the same time!!!
Option #1: Locally in Bakersfield the "Bakersfield Loser Contest" is getting ready to start at Body Xchange Fitness Clubs around town. www.bxfitness.com or you can find them on Facebook and a chance to win up to $20,000 cash! Last year's second place finisher (by a mere few pounds), Anthony, used P90X at home to get his amazing results!
Option #2: From anywhere, Beachbody has the "Million Dollar Body Game". All you do is use a Beachbody program and lose weight, get fit and feel great...enter your before and after photos and you can win lots of money! This year they have different categories for different programs so the cardio folks aren't up against the P90X folks, plus there are age and sex categories! Check out this video link and give it a go! What have you got to lose...oh right, some weight!

The Bakersfield Loser has been crowned!!!

Just over 3 months ago, over 300 people started a weight loss journey in Bakersfield, California. They committed to weekly weigh ins, they committed to eating well and exercising regularly, they committed to change their lives. Did they all follow through for the 3 month journey, no, but over 50% of them did, so statistically, that is pretty impressive! They did though lose over 7200 pounds (over 23 pounds per person on average), the top five lost between 28 and 33.4% of their body weight...by working hard, staying committed and following through.
Congratulations to the official crowned champion "David Bonilla"---80 pounds in 3 months and looking great!
I hope and pray they are able to stick with it for the long haul now! The big losers have obviously been making some major sacrifices to accomplish this so are going to need to adjust their fitness and eating to suit their lifestyles a bit more appropriately! A difficult adjustment as some people are either 100% or nothing. You can stay at 100% when you workout, just cut back to a hour a day! When you are eating, stick with healthy whole grains, lean meats, fruits and veggies and it is hard to go too wrong....except if you ignore portion control :)
Some of the participants have made great headway but still have some goals to reach in terms of weight loss. So do you stick with the hard core regimen you have been following? If it works for you, why not? Do it until you are where you want to be, you will get there faster. OR you could slow it down a little, as you need to take the time to enjoy your world if you want to keep up the energy and momentum! The road to weight loss is a tough journey, but these people have proven it can be done! Congratulations and good luck on your continued lifestyle of healthy choices!!! Check out www.bxfitness.com

Insanity is Insane!

Sometimes, but not very often, you see people have to collapse onto the floor after they have given their all in a workout, or a particular set of their workout!!!!!  That is Insanity, every day!  I am LOVING the lingering ache in my abs, without a crunch involved, that I feel for the rest of the day!  I am refueling with P90X results and recovery formula.I take it right after my workout and I really haven't had and sore body parts...the need for further stretching is apparent, but I am doing quite well.  I am Exhausted this afternoon though!  An early bedtime is in store, that's for sure!
It could have something to do with Wednesday including Cardio recovery from Insanity, teaching Turbo Kick AND the Bakersfield Loser class at the gym!  It was all fun though!  I am loving my Wednesday evenings with a regular group of women coming out! and the "Loser" class is awesome.  I am pushing them harder each week and they are taking it like a group of pros!  I LOVE their determination!
I am SOOOOOOO looking forward to the next butt kicking program that is due out in the next few months, Turbo Fire!  It is Chalene Johnson's version of Insanity but based on the Turbo Jam/Kick idea!  How can there be anything wrong with that!  I will let you know when they have any details come out on that!!!
Time to feed the family, rest my body and hit the hay early.  A fun weekend ahead with the husband and the kids!  I can't wait!

Work it hard!

It is amazing that a mere 20 minutes of hard exercise 6 days a week can help you reach your physical peak in 60 days!  No added weights, no equipment...just plain hard work! This is what I am learning while doing Insanity.
I think this shows that people typically don't work to their potential when they exercise!  A walk on the treadmill, a short run, a few weights...sure that is OK on a rest day!  Or if you are just trying to add a touch of fitness to your world!  A great way to judge how hard you are working is not the number on the treadmill, not the number on the weight, not the number on the scale, but the number, on a scale of one to ten, that you feel you are exerting energy- your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE).  One being sitting on the couch, 10 being very high heart rate, can't catch your breath...over the top exertion.  In the same activity one person's RPE may be 5 while another's is 8.  It is very dependent on your fitness level, your endurance, your health!  So don't look at how hard the person next to you is working and think that will work for you...think about what you are doing and how you feel and if you can push yourself that little bit harder.  If you get exhausted you can stop and take a little break...you will recover and carry on...if you don't push yourself to a point you need a break, maybe you didn't push yourself far enough!
Slow and easy can definitely get you results, there is no doubt about that, but for most people time is an issue!  I don't have time to spend an hour and a half exercising 5 days a week! So my choice is to work as hard as I can for the time I have allotted in my calendar for that day!  Planning ahead to meet your goals!  
Sometimes it is at different times each day as I have a specific class I would like to attend or a friend I would like to work out with!  That goes in the calendar!  Right now I have dedicated myself to a program which is approximately 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week.  I will also have Turbo Kick and my Bakersfield Loser class on Wednesday night!  For me, that is a lot!!! But you just need to find what works for you "right now" to reach whatever goals you have set for yourselves!  Then you adjust again when you need to. 
If you would like any personalized encouragement, please contact me through my beachbody site or would like to ask questions on my message board, I would be more than happy to help you figure out what will work best for you!

Why are you need seeing changes on that scale?

There are so many factors that come into play with that number on the scale! But it is such an important number to us when you are trying to lose weight....ESPECIALLY when you are in a weight loss competition like the Bakersfield Loser!  In the grand scheme of things, your measurements are more important!  How your clothes are fitting, how you are feeling...but those things aren't going to win you money ;) 
They key things are exercise---are you working hard enough, are you working long enough, are you burning enough calories?  AND nutrition---are you eating within your target calorie range, are your calories comprised of the right foods.  Lets break those down a little bit!
Exercise-fat burns calories while you do nothing.  Soooo, build muscle to lose fat!  The same weight of muscle takes up less room than the same weight of fat---so this will make your clothes fit better while your weight stays the same!  So you got here by lifting more and heavier weight...perfect, but if you still have a lot of weight to lose, you are going to have to start burning some of that fat OFF, not just trading it in for muscle.  The extra muscle will help with increased calorie burn, but to speed up the process add CARDIO!  Get that heart rate up for longer periods of time!  Walk fast on an incline on the treadmill, cruise on the elliptical (if they are all full, try one of the express gyms or come off peak hours), try the Jacob's ladder!!!  An hour of cardio a day may be what you need to get that fat burning off....but real cardio, a brisk pace not a Sunday stroll...there is money at stake here people :)  You need to push yourselves to progress!
Nutrition- some say that nutrition can have much more influence on weight loss than exercise!  So you can work yourself into the ground but if you leave the gym and hit McDonalds on the way home what have you really accomplished?  Every item that enters your body makes a difference!  Pay attention to every bite you take, every crumb that passes your lips!  Make those calories count, work to find healthy foods that you enjoy, find recipes to make them palatable, as these are the foods you are going to want to eat for the rest of your lives.  You may be in high restriction mode while you are trying to lose weight at a high rate, but you need to be careful it doesn't lead to bingeing!  and then you need to adjust your diet so it makes you happy.  Life isn't fun if you can never eat what you want.  A slice or two of pizza on occasion shouldn't be a sin, a piece of chocolate cake shouldn't be eaten hidden under the table...moderation is the key, portion control, and a healthy balance.  I recently wrote a blog about some healthy food choices, there will be more to come!  There are so many resources on the internet for nutrition, diet, food choices.  Take the time for you, look, learn and find out how you can help yourself be healthier today, tomorrow and for the rest of your lives!

Avoiding temptations!

Why did I just eat that cookie?  Initial thinking...well, I didn't eat a cupcake at the kid's birthday party, and it is JUST a cookie!  Problem...it is a cookie and I have set a goal, and that cookie does not help me reach my goal!  Next time I will take a healthy snack along with me to a kid's party.  I know there won't be many (if any) healthy options for me, so to prevent me from being tempted by that giant tub of popcorn and those bright pink cupcakes, I will have an apple...and some water.
We need to set our goals and stick to them.  Choose a time frame, stick to it, take a break if you need it, but if you have a destination in mind...like a weight goal or a pant size, you need to go hard and not let little temptations pull you down.  Inevitably there will be wrenches thrown in your plans, sometimes you will waver, but don't let that stop you.  Workout for an extra 30 minutes tomorrow maybe!  That will help.  But keep on going!

It is weigh in day for the Bakersfield Loser contest.  The goal is to be in the top 85% for % weight lost!  If you didn't make that, you may be out of the running for the big money, but you are not out of the running for the biggest prize of all...a healthier and happier you!  So keep it up, work hard, and just say no to the cookie ;)
Nicola

The Bakersfield Loser has begun!!!

This is the first week of the Bakersfield Loser contest at Body Xchange in Bakersfield, CA and it is such an amazing thing to see 300 people come out and make the commitment to change their lives for the better!
Last night I taught a group exercise class to over 75 people...we didn't have enough equipment so we marched, we lunged and squatted, we did some pushups and planks...it is amazing what you can accomplish with no equipment. My favorite part was that most participants seemed genuinely happy to be there, to come out and try something new. Group exercise won't be for all of them, but it is a nice venue to learn some basic exercises, to feel the energy of the group...and maybe to scope out the competition for who might be the stiffest competition on the scales!
My biggest advice to start would be to find some support and use it! Like this message board! Some family to help, a workout buddy, a friend...but be careful...encourage each other, but don't let their excuses take you down too! Not everyone is ready at the same time, so if you are ready, work hard and write down your plan for both exercise and fitness, don't stop because your workout buddy is busy though...that could be your downfall!
Do not eat something because you earned it. Once you are past the contest a treat occasionally is OK, but don't sabotage yourself because of a sweet tooth! Focus on the goal...even if you don't expect to win (miracles do happen though), use this time frame as a chance to focus on what you want for you and your body!
Work hard, have fun and drink lots of water
Don't forget group exercise classes at the NW sports club on Monday mornings at 9:30am and Wednesday evenings at 7pm. Plus trainers on Friday evenings and Saturdays! And take advantage of those seminars they are offering on Saturdays!!!!
Let me know how you are doing and what your plans are for succeeding!
Nicola