It is time to RESET!!!!

I have been playing with that last 10 pounds for the past 2 years.  Up 8, down 7, depending on the program, my focus on nutrition, 3 day Shakeology jumpstarts, crazy schedules... I am fit, I am healthy, regardless of that 10 pounds I am in a good place so I haven't had the drive to get it off and keep it off.  BUT, I would love to never have to worry about the love handles when I pull on my jeans.  I would love to not worry about any lumps and bumps when I pull out my summer wardrobe!
I work out 5-6 times per week, I love to work out and I love to work out hard!  Exercise is not my problem and definitely not my nemesis.  What is?  My nutrition!  I eat fairly well.  I love vegetables, I don't enjoy fast food, I avoid deep fried... I DO have portion control issues and I do have a few vices.  I love cereal, ice cream, chocolate and wine!  None of these are really bad but they are all things that are preventing me from finding my abs.
It is not just about finding my abs and losing a few pounds though.  I have days where I don't have the energy I feel I should, allergies slow me down seasonally, I often get a gassy belly in the evenings, and some days I am exceptionally moody (I blame it on bad behavior days with the kids but I suspect I can't blame it all on them)!!!

my plan?  Start the Ultimate Reset this Monday!
Beachbody has recently released a 21 day detox.  It's a no-starvation, multifaceted, life-changing, cutting-edge, "this-is-the-real-deal", inner-body tune-up!
It does more than simply cleanse the body.  It does help your body eliminate waste, gently and naturally, but it also helps to maximize the energy production within your cells, improve your body's ability to process fuel from nutrients and micronutrients, and assist every process in your body in running more smoothly.
So if you've been feeling run down and worn out, or noticed a decline in your performance in any aspect of your life, it may simply be that you're out of tune (and in the hurry-up, high-stress, eat-on-the-run world, most of us are).  If that sounds like you, the Beachbody Ultimate Reset will help deliver the total tune-up your body has been craving.
Take a look at the following video to learn more about the Reset and follow my journey as I share the ups and downs of the process.  I hear there are a few rough days as you deal with cutting foods you enjoy, tiredness as your body works through the process and sore muscles despite reduced workouts!  The benefits though have been dramatic.  From jumping out of bed with renewed energy each morning, reduced cholesterol and lost weight, lack of cravings, new love for healthy foods and feeling dramatically better-physically, mentally and emotionally!
www.GetFitWithNicola.com

Tai Cheng

Tai Cheng is the newest program to join the Beachbody family.

So many workouts leave us sore and tired before they help us become stronger and more agile.  Finally, we have a program with gentle and thoughtful movements that can help open your joints, reduce painful knots in your muscles, and promote balance and flexibility, so your health can actually improve as you age.  These therapeutic postures can help increase lung capacity, improve muscle strength, and encourage your blood to circulate more regularly through areas where it may have been sluggish, removing toxins and helping to boost your immune system.

Tai Cheng is a 12-week total-body fitness program developed by martial arts master trainer Dr. Mark Cheng, designed for immediate and long-term benefits from learning the graceful movements of Tai Chi.

Tai Chi is a martial art practiced primarily for its healthy and physical conditioning benefits rather than for combat.  Many health experts today agree there's an association between the daily practice of Tai Chi and improvements in health, both physical and mental.

Every day, the Tai Cheng program takes you through a gentle, energizing warm-up and the practice of Tai Chi moves.  Each move helps you strengthen areas of weakness, tone muscles and burn calories, while also helping you increase flexibility, improve balance and reduce stiffness.

Elite athletes find that Tai Cheng helps improve athletic performance in fundamental ways.  If you're overweight, Tai Cheng can help you shed pounds safely as your entire body becomes stronger and more agile.  Whatever your fitness level, daily practice of Tai Cheng can results in greater awareness and help improve your strength, energy and stability.

What makes Tai Cheng Unique?

Tai Cheng is not just a Tai Chi instructional video.  It's a fusion of the traditional Chinese martial art with modern functional movement training.  Tai Cheng's mingling of exercise for both body and mind can help you change your health in a profound way.

Neural Reboot - the warm-up you'll do every day - helps wake up your body, prepare your mid for Tai Cheng practice, and give you a platform of stability, strength and safety.  You'll learn a workout that promotes balance and flexibility, helping you feel more energy and less pain.  All this helps you develop greater physical control and body awareness.

Tai Cheng helps take the "parking brakes" off your dormant muscles and allows the overworked ones to relax.  Through this practice, you'll learn to move with less strain, access your full range of motion, and help condition your body to function as it should.

Also increase your nutrition with Shakeology, and keep your eyes out for the Beachbody Ultimate Reset!

Yoga and Cancer

If you have been diagnosed with cancer such as mesothelioma, you are probably experiencing a wide range of emotions. Treatment for cancer can lead to depression and fatigue due to the drugs that are involved with the healing process. Yoga is an exercise that has been proven to help cancer patients live better lives while they are undergoing treatment and recovery. Consider these reasons why yoga might be the perfect exercise solution for you.

Yoga can improve your sleep while you are going through treatment. This is due in part to the activity that doing yoga regularly provides, which automatically makes you feel more tired. Yoga also offers mind and body benefits that lead to a deeper ability to let go of stress and relax. Many times cancer patients do not sleep well because they are worried about their disease. Doing yoga allows you the ability to free your mind when you want to.

Doing yoga during your treatment can also help decrease fatigue. This might have something to do with sleeping better, but it also relates to the meditative benefits of yoga that have been proven time and time again. Yoga forces people to slow down and be more mindful, which can be an extremely refreshing experience. Being more focused in your everyday life can help you feel less tired overall.

Another benefit of yoga during cancer treatment is an improved quality of life. This makes sense because you are sleeping better and experiencing less fatigue during your awake hours. Having more energy is a good way to feel better overall. As your energy levels improve you can spend more time doing things that you enjoy, such as spending time with family or going out of your house for various purposes. This is a huge difference between staying home all of the time and feeling depressed.

Yoga can also help reduce some forms of pain that are present during cancer treatment. Stretching and deep breathing cause natural endorphins to circulate within the body. Endorphins are the body’s natural pain relievers, and yoga helps bring them forth. Any type of exercise will do this, but it applies to yoga as well.

An interesting effect that yoga has on cancer patients is a more positive body image. The practice of yoga is all about compassion and acceptance. Once a person has been practicing this for some time, he or she will be able to apply the principles to his or herself. If you feel ugly because you have lost hair or weight, yoga can help you conquer those feelings so that you realize that you are worth much more than that. This improved self image makes you feel and act more confidently in your own skin. 

Article courtesy of David Haas. For more related articles you can view his blog 

at: http://haasblaag.blogspot.com/

Exercise? Your friend or your nemesis?

When you think Exercise, what comes to mind and how does it make you feel?  Answers to this probably fall into these 4 categories... although most in the first category probably aren't even reading my blog ;) :

1. Exercise?  I don't like to sweat and I really don't like to bend my body in funny ways.
2. Exercise is a necessary evil and I force myself to go to the workout 2-3 times each week which is pure torture.
3. Exercise is ok.  It is important for my health and to help me fit into my clothes and I enjoy some work outs.  If something else more important comes up though, I will skip my workout!
4. Exercise is part of my existence!  I love how it makes me feel, I love how it makes me look, I love the sweat/ muscle burn/ crazy body contortions/ runner's high... I feel amazing after a great workout!

So, where are you?  Exercise of course doesn't have to involve a trip to the gym or pressing play on a DVD, but structure in your exercise can help you achieve more well rounded results and with some planning or training can help you reach your fitness goals.

Resistance training is important to build muscle to help burn more calories even while you are resting on the couch.  It can also help prevent osteoporosis!

Yoga and flexibility training can help you stay limber (or get limber), prevent muscle and body aches and to be able to focus and help your body and mind stay more relaxed.

Cardio, preferably interval training, can help your cardiovascular system, plus it burns calories.

Bottom line... you need to exercise to keep your body and your health in optimum condition.
Best bet... find something you enjoy doing and make it a workout... within reason ;)
I love music and to dance so TurboFire (aka Cardio kickboxing) is a favorite workout for me.  I also like a little muscle definition so adding in some weights has been key to me.  Right now I am enjoying P90X2 but am looking forward to the great music and fun workouts in Les Mills PUMP!
Insanity gave me some amazing results with the very intense cardio.
ChaLEAN Extreme works wonders for the whole body and I enjoy Chalene's energy.
10 Minute Trainer is phenomenal, allowing you to fit an intense workout in 10 minutes or stack them together for 30 minutes!

Whatever you choose, make the commitment and get the job done.  You don't need to spend 2 hours in the gym per visit to see results, you need to push hard and be efficient.  and don't forget about your nutrition!  Veggies and fruits are your friends, as is lean protein!  All of the Beachbody workouts come with great tools to help you understand what your body needs for food!

Join me, lets get you fit and healthy!  Www.GetFitWithNicola.com  sign on for the free membership and lets connect!

Tropical VEGAN Shakeology!

Upon hearing that the newest flavor of Shakeology was to be Tropical Strawberry, I was very excited!  Upon hearing it was Vegan, I didn't realize there should be any concern!
Vegan shakes are not known to be very tasty, nor to have a great texture.  This is due to the protein source!!!  Protein shakes are usually whey or soy based... neither being Vegan, but both blend very smoothly.
Beachbody played with many options in searching for the best vegan protein source but settled on sprouted fermented brown rice!!!  Nice!!!  I was able to sample Tropical Shakeology last June and LOVED it!  Amazing flavor, rich, creamy and perfect!  Alas, when my Tropical Shakeology arrived last week I ripped open the bag, added a scoop to my regular measuring cup with ice, water, almond milk and a few frozen strawberries, mixed it until just blended and ... wasn't too impressed :(  It was chalky and a bit gritty... uh oh, what to do?

I did a little digging and learned a few tips... Blend longer!  Allows the protein to soften a little maybe?  Add some acid such as orange, cranberry or pineapple in juice or whole form!  Don't add so much ice!  It tastes better as a thick drink or light shake as opposed to being eaten with a spoon!  Two other suggestions move the shake away from the Vegan format but adding Greek yogurt and/ or adding fat free, sugar free jello pudding powder... sure they work, but not what I was after!

Next shake experience... DELECTABLE! 

My favorite recipe is 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/4 cup frozen pineapple, 1/4 cup frozen strawberries, 1 scoop Tropical Shakeology, 1/2 cup water, ice to taste... blend for 2 minutes.  Let it sit for a few minutes, blend again for 1 minute... then drink.  Today I had to drink some straight out of the blender as I couldn't wait to get it in a cup!  Yep, loving it!!!

Taste the Tropics: New Tropical Strawberry Shakeology

To wine or not to wine?

Improving one's diet towards better health can be done in so many ways, a lot depends on what your starting point is, and why you want to change.  Do you want to lose a couple of pounds to look and feel better?  Do you want to lost 50+ pounds to avoid going on medications?  Do you want to improve your health and prevent medical issues rather than needing to fix them in a few years?  Do you have serious health problems that you want to make better?
Regardless of the change you need to make, you need a solid WHY so you have something to help motivate you and keep you pushing forward.

I meet people who want to lose weight but are not willing to make many changes in their lifestyle... like drinking wine!  I like wine so I am willing to help try and work it in, it just needs to be taken into consideration when you think about how important your WHY is!  If you only have a few pounds to lose and you are willing to cut calories elsewhere and add some vigorous exercise into your daily schedule, then maybe some of that wine can continue.  If the wine is the reason you have reached the need to improve your health then maybe it does need to go.  If you are battling serious health issues and need to drop weight quickly and long term then your lifestyle is definitely going to need to change or you will end up right back in the same place down the road.

Baby step #1: Get moving.  Don't run out and buy P90X and try to commit to a 60 minute workout 6 days/ week... chances are you won't get it done.  Start walking, play tennis, ride your bike, buy 10 minute trainer... start with 10 minute workouts and then stack them together to make a longer workout.

Baby step #2: Clean out your fridge and pantry.  Remove the whites (bread, rice, etc) and replace them with whole wheat versions.  Add lots of fruits and veggies.  Choose lean proteins.  Cut out the processed foods.  Don't drink too many of your calories in the form of coffee creamer, juice and alcohol.  Moderation!!!!  Add Shakeology - a whole food, very nutritious meal replacement shake.  I drink it every day for good health.

Baby step #3: Stick with it!  Remember, you are taking baby steps here so chances are you are not going to see dramatic changes on the scale... but you WILL see changes if you stick with 2 steps.  Slowly but surely pounds will drop, your clothes will fit better, your energy will increase and then we can add more intense workouts!!!

Lets start the ball rolling in the right direction!!!  Are you looking for some great motivation?  Let's do this together.  I need 4 more people to join my fitness challenge on Monday February 6th... enough time to order a challenge pack or pull out some programs you have any get rolling ahead.

Join me!  www.GetFitWithNicola.com

Are all calories equal?

How do you lose weight?  You consume less calories than you use! Simple really ;-)

A few twists can make it harder or easier though.

First off, it is not recommended to eat less than 1200 calories a day (unless you are doing a specific short lasting cleanse- but that is debatable as well).  Most people would lose weight if they only consumed 1200 calories a day... The problem that arises here is if you have very low muscle tone and a low metabolic rate and your body doesn't even need 1200 calories for basic functioning, you may still gain weight eating the smallest amount recommend!!! 

Solution... add exercise and weight training.  By weight training I don't mean rush out to the gym, load up the barbells and start lifting, it can be as simple as working on a few pushups... these can be on your toes, on your knees or even against the wall.  Dips on chairs.  Grab some cans out of the pantry and curl them, lift them over your head then out to the side.  There are many simple tools you can use to start and slowly work on building muscle... starting often requires baby steps if you have never set out to do serious exercise before.

If you are exercising regularly then you need to add calories to get you through your workouts.  If you don't consume enough calories your body can actually hold on to any extra weight if you put it into "starvation mode".  Check out the Beachbody website to calculate your nutritional needs here.  You can sign up for the FREE membership option to check things out.

Another important detail is those calories you put in your body.  Is a calorie a calorie?  There is much debate about this.  Weight Watcher's lists include McDonalds foods, there are many processed foods that are labeled as "light" in the grocery store aisles... you body has a lot of requirements to make it function optimally and if all of your calories come from processed foods you may still continue with losing weight but you will not be focusing on good health at the same time.
Does this really matter?
Does feeling good matter to you?  You probably want to lose weight to fit in your clothes better, to be healthier and to feel better about yourself.  Is the number on the scale most important?  It shouldn't be.  Feeling great and long term health should be key!  Yes, losing weight will help you feel better than you did, but when combined with good nutrition you will feel even better and it will become second nature and will be a long term lifestyle change instead of a quick fix.
An option many people peruse is a meal replacement drink.  If it can fill you up and keep you from eating a potentially unhealthy meal it will help you keep your calories down.  If it has great nutrition at the same time you win by leaps and bounds!  Here is a comparison chart on some of the leading meal replacement drinks and how their nutrition stacks up (yes, it is put out by Shakeology so you get some info on the extra ingredients too):

I am in it for the long haul.  I love to exercise, I love fruits and veggies, I can throw together a healthy meal with ease, but I cannot get all of the nutrition I need on a daily basis from just the foods I buy at the grocery store to include in a typical meal.  I could buy more supplements, but not all supplements are created equal either.  Shakeology is whole foods, fully bioavailable, not made for long shelf life so it isn't cooked and preserved.  In addition to my regular food I drink a Shakeology shake daily, I take a calcium supplement and an omega-3 supplement.  I also throw in some extra vitamin C when viruses hit our home!  I don't know if this is for you but I can tell you that people have lost weight, decreased their cholesterol and blood pressure, improved their digestion and are just plain feeling better after adding Shakeology to their day!  Take a look at Carl Daikeler's blog here for some great stories of others.
Let me know how I can help you reach your goals by email or head to my site at www.GetFitWithNicola.com