Losing the Vegas Weight

I’m coming clean. My name is Corinne and I gained 7 pounds while in Vegas (waits for gasps in the audience to die down). Why have I waited this long to tell everyone of my surge in weight? Because I didn’t want to let you down.

I’m Fired Up!

Yesterday I was sent an interesting article about replacing junk foods in school with more nutritious foods. Amen! I can’t believe in this day and age it takes a panel of experts to decide that junk food is not good for children. Even though that sounds like enough fodder for a whole article on how stupid our nation is becoming about nutrition, that isn’t the point of my upcoming rant.

Keeping It Personal and Real

When I started Phit-N-Phat Personal Training I never dreamed it would be so successful so fast. I actually have reached a point in the business where I am CHOOSING to start a waiting list and stop accepting new clients. My goal is to give personal service and I have reached a point where much more business will take away from that.

You see, in this business you lose more clients than you get typically. It’s hard to keep people exercising and motivated. Obviously I’ve stumbled upon a magic formula because I can’t run my girls off with a stick. Each month I throw newer and harder routines at them and they just say, “Yes Ma’am” and hit the gym. Now, I also talk with most of them on a daily basis in email and private message board, speak to them on the phone when they feel down or have a question, and most of us have become good friends. I guess all that combined has led to a fun and growing little business.

So, if you have been thinking of signing up you will find a link that will allow you to email me. I’ll be happy to put you on the waiting list for the next available slot. In the meantime, you can buy the Cardio Book for 9.95 and give that rotation a try. This a good flavor of what my workouts are like. When an opening occurs, I will credit you the $9.95 towards your first month’s fee of personal training.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me and I look forward to us possibly working together in the future!

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Today’s Workout: Back and Shoulders

Superset One: 3 sets
Lat Raises
Plate Raises
Arnold Presses

Superset Two: 3 sets
Bentover Rows
Deadlifts
Supermans

Superset Three: 3 sets
Lat Pulldowns
Seated Cable Pulls
Single DB Row with Twist

Cardio: 25 min. of HIIT on Elliptical. 5 was warm up so 20 min. of the actual HIIT

Daily Food Journal:

B – Oatmeal with Splenda, raisins, and 6 almonds
S – SBD Bar 140 cal
L – Salad with egg and turkey breast, lite dressing and an apple
S – SF/FF Latte from Starbucks with banana
D – Grilled Chicken with brown rice and green beans
S – Fruit Cup

Five Ways to Change Your Program

Do you do the same workout day after day? Has your fat loss stalled or are you not seeing the results you want? You need a change and you need it fast.

Your body is smart. It looks for every avenue it can to adapt to how you are eating and exercising to conserve fat. The body forgets we are not cavemen fearing a huge famine. The body’s main goal is to keep you alive, so it works double time trying to outsmart your fancy weight loss programs and exercise habits.

How do you fool your body? There are many ways to keep things off balance. Here are a few tricks and tips you can incorporate to keep your body burning fat:

1. Vary your cardio workouts. If you do the same cardio routines each week (classes, videos, machines) change them out often. For example: you take three spin classes and run twice a week, drop one spin class and add in kickboxing or the stairmaster. Each week try a new class or a different machine. The goal is to avoid repeating your cardio too often.

2. Vary the intensity of your workouts. If you are slugging out one hour of running or elliptical five times a week it’s time to add in interval training. Drop two of those long sessions for 30-40 minutes of high powered intervals. I have loads of good workouts like this in my Cardio Book (see bottom of page).

3. Change your daily calories. Often I advise my clients to switch up their eating patterns. If you are eating the same calories every day, spike a high day where you eat at a maintenance level of calories for one or two days a week.

4. Change the foods you eat. Too many times we get in a rut of eating the same foods day after day. Try to have a different menu you follow each week of the month.  For example: if you eat brown rice with your chicken every night, the next week have a sweet potato instead of the rice. The following week eat turkey instead of chicken. Look for one thing you can interchange on your typical menu and switch it out often.

5. Change your food ratios. Most people start with a diet of 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% fat. Sometimes you need to change this up for a week or two. You can do heavier carb weeks, heavier fat weeks, etc. Change up the numbers each time your fat loss stalls.

Use this to help keep your body off balance and burning up the fat.

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Daily Workout: 1:30 hour trail walk…training for 3-day walk/no weights today (I am going to a three day weight training schedule until I get a handle on all this walking!)

Daily Food Journal:

B – Fiber One, wheat germ, 1/2 banana  and skim milk
S – SBD bar immediately after walk
L – Fruit cup, turkey breast slices, and TLC WW crackers (15)
S – Popcorn with raisins and almonds
D – Chicken Breast with brown rice and green beans
S – Sherbet with fruit

Guess Who’s Back…Once Again

Welcome home to me! It’s so good to be back and getting into the routine. I did not workout yesterday. Our flight was delayed in Vegas so we did not get in until 3:00 a.m. Rather than slugging through a half-*** workout I chose to rest, work, play with my son, and go to the grocery. This was in prepartion for a week of super eating designed to clean my system of those carbs, drinks, and junk that I consumed while on vacation. It feels good to be back on plan.

I guess that is one of the best lessons I have learned since becoming a lifetime weight loss story…how to enjoy food when on vacation and go back to a healthy lifestyle upon returning home. You know, french fries and hamburgers are fun and ice cream and fried fish is delicious. I had all of that in moderation while on vacation. What was liberating about the experience was knowing that I had a plan to come home to that would put me right back on my schedule of healthy living. It made eating less stressful and less guilty-feeling.

How I planned my return:

1. I made a grocery list and went to the store first thing. This gave me ZERO excuses to eat poorly at home. My home is my sanctuary and that is where I keep total control over the foods I eat.

2. I made a workout plan for the week. I know how many workouts and what type of workouts I need to have a great week.

3. I am drinking lots of water all week. When I am on vacation I either slack in the water department or bloat from the travel. I know my body weight will be up from those two things alone so I plan a lot of water drinking.

4. Weigh in expecting a GAIN. I know that I didn’t gain a lot of fat on vacation but I might have gained a little fat and a lot of water. I always give myself a full week of recovery eating, exercise, and rehydration before I take the scale seriously.

That’s it! This is how I have been able to travel about every six weeks and maintain my weight loss of over 100 pounds for the past two years.

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Daily Workout: Chest and Arms – I have decided to combo this day from now on. Since doing the push up challenges and heavy chest days I have noticed my implants moving around on me. I am now going a little lighter with the chest work to keep them in their place.

Superset One: 3 sets
DB Flyes
DB Pullovers
Plate Presses
Russian Twists

Superset Two: 3 sets
Hammer with twist
Dips
Decline Sit Ups

Superset Three: 3 sets
Rope Curls
Straightbar Pressdowns
Leg In and Outs

Four:
2×10 Push ups

Daily Cardio: 30 min. treadmill walk…Steady Pyramid from my Cardio Book for sale on www.freewebs.com/loggies_mom

Daily Food Journal:

B – 1/2 cup of oatmeal with Splenda and SF Jelly
Post-workout snack – EAS Shake
Lunch – Veggie Noodles with turkey marinara sauce
S – Cantaloupe
S - 1 1/2 cups of popcorn with raisins and almonds
D – Boiled chicken with 1/2 sweet potato and green beans  
S – Fage Yogurt with Splenda and Cinnamon

Leg Workout

Today I’m just posting my leg workout from yesterday. I’m pretty much staying on my plan this week except I didn’t factor in alcohol. You would think someone in Vegas would plan on that. We rarely ever drink here, but this trip we have had business events each night that turn into a party on Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars.  I’ve been giving all the rap video girls a good run for their money this week.

Legs:

Superset One: 3 sets
Walking Squats
Walking lunges with bicep curls
Pop Squats

Superset Two: 3 sets
Leg Extensions
DB Wide Leg Squats
Alternating Lunges with Lat Raise

Superset Three: 3 sets
Hamstring curls
Deadlifts Straight Legged
Calf Pops toes Straight

Superset Four: 3 sets
One Legged Squats
Calf Pops toes Out

Cardio: 30 minutes for Around the World from my Cardio Directory, booty shaking for a little over an hour, and too much walking through this casino running errands!

Daily Food Journal:

B-SBD Bar and water
S-Apple
L-Huge veggie, chicken, egg salad
S-Beef Jerky
D-Appetizers (Shrimp Cocktail, cheese, veggies, etc.)
S – Drink! Too many of them!
S – at 2:00 a.m. Cheeseburger and fries with pecan pie!

See, even trainers let loose and get wild on the road. My wins for the day were eating healthy when it didn’t matter and then having the good stuff when it did. The rest of the weekend will be playing poker and getting back to cleaner eating. Lots of water is on the agenda along with walking to our casinos. There will be no more formal exercise until I get back to Nashville on Monday.

I will also be back to posting on Monday. I’m planning on spending the next few days with my husband. I’ll wrap up next week on the success of my trip and we’ll talk about getting back into routine. The final phase of making a vacation successful.

How Do I Exercise and Travel?

I have two differing ideas on fitness and travel that I use with my clients:

1. If you are hardcore with your exercise…you know, in the gym an hour or so a day six days a week, strength training like there is no tomorrow, and all about eating the right foods to shape your body, then I say lay off formal training and structured eating while on vacation. This is your time to give your body a total break from the routine. You rest those weary muscles, you shake up the foods you normally eat, and you come back stronger, rested, and ready to go to the next level.

2. If you are exercising for fat loss, newer to the whole healthy lifestyle, and likely to go crazy on vacation then you should continue your routine as close as possible. This helps keep you focused on the lifestyle you are developing. For you, exercising and eating right isn’t auto-pilot mode. Maintaining some structure in your travels will help you stay on track when the vacation is over.

The difference between these two people is very simple. The first person will jump right back into the gym and the grocery store when they get home. A week of not working out and eating less than clean foods will drive them nuts. That person has the healthy habits. The second person, as we discussed, needs the structure because they haven’t yet developed the healthy habits.

So, you are the person who needs to maintain the intensity. How do you do that? There are several strategies to try:

1. The easiest is to use a hotel gym. At minimum you should allow for a 30 minute cardio workout every other day you are on vacation. This workout should be at about 80% of your max HR. You want to really push these workouts so that you make the best use of your time. Also, shoot for one full body strength workout. Either use the gym or use the modified program from my Cardio Book (which you can purchse for more workouts).

2. You don’t have access to a gym. Do you have a laptop or a portable DVD player for your kids? This is when your exercise videos come in handy. I often bring Turbo Jam and do it in the hotel room. It’s quick, structured, easy, and keeps you on track.

3. No gym, no DVD player, no problem. How about walking? Walk out the front door of the hotel and go. The staff should be able to give you a safe route you can follow. You can even stick to your block and just repeat it until 30 minutes is over with. I would add in jog intervals. Set your watch and every even minute you will run for thirty seconds. Walk until the next even minute starts. Just run fast enough to elevate your heart rate. That’s a simple intveral training session.

4. No gym, no DVD player, the hotel is in a dumpy part of town, we still got options. Most hotels have nice long hallways and stairwells. Here is a routine you can do to get in a great workout that combines strength and cardio. You could do it every other day and be done!

1 pass is equal to the length of a hallway

1 Pass – Running Sprint (walk back to starting point)
1 Pass – Walking Lunge (walk back to starting point)
1 Pass – Running Sprint (walk back to starting point)
1 Pass – Walking Squat left (walk back to starting point)
1 Pass – Walking Squat right (walk back to starting point)
1 Pass – Running Sprint (walk back to starting point)

—60 SECOND BREAK: DRINK WATER AND MOVE TO STAIRWELL— 

1 Pass – Walk one flight of stairs and back down

20 Dips on the stairs

1 Pass – Walk one flight of stairs and back down

20 Incline Push ups on stairs with arms wider than shoulders

1 Pass – Walk one fight of stairs and back down

20 Incline Push ups on stairs with arms at shoulder width

1 Pass – Walk one flight of stairs and back down

20 Incline Push ups on stairs with hands in triangle shape

20 Dips

— 60 SECOND BREAK: DRINK WATER—

Repeat the above routine two to three times for a full body workout!

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Today’s Workout: Casual walking only. Yesterday I not only ran, but I walked an additional couple of miles, drank WAY TOO MUCH and therefore shook my butt like I was in a rap video for a long, long time. Let’s just say I finally got to see all those pop squats pay off! I’m dehydrated and not going to push myself more than some casual walking today. I’ll be doing legs and cardio tomorrow.

Daily Food Journal: Other than the five mixed drinks I had last night , food choice was great at the dinner. It was a buffet so I was able to make good decisions that fit into my plans. I had a couple of bites of dessert, but mainly just enjoyed the salads, meats, and veggies.

B – South Beach Diet Bar 140 and 2 tbsp of peanut butter
S – Four Wasa Crackers (tummy troubles)
L – Grilled chicken salad
D – Split Fish and Chips with Chris (these are my treat and they are delicious) and a fruit cup
S -Sugarfree Gelato at midnight while playing poker

Making Good Dining Out Choices While On Vacation

One excuse I don’t accept from my clients, myself, or my husband is this…

“But there was nothing on the menu I could eat, so I just had blah, blah, blah…”

What a load of CRAP! If there is a will there is a way to getting something healthy, or in the very least, modifying something to a healthier state that you can feel empowered about eating. When on vacation it is VERY critical you understand how to save calories, make substitutions, and get what you need to stay healthy.

• Salads - These can be your friend or foe. Ask for your dressing on the side and dip your fork into the dressing even if it is Fat Free or Light. Look for salads with grilled chicken, turkey, avocado, and eggs for healthy sources of protein and fats. Avoid the following items:
  • Cheese
  • Bacon
  • Croutons
  • Candied Nuts (Nuts are good but not sugar coated nuts)
  • Full Fat Dressings
  • Crunchy Asian Anything
• Grilled Protein – Ask for your meat grilled. If the sandwich or dish you are ordering comes with fried chicken, for example, request to have it grilled dry. Dry means they will cook it without added oil or butter. Most restaurants grill their meats in oil and/or butter to enhance the flavor so be sure to get it DRY.
• Baked Potatoes instead of fries. Use ketchup on your baked potato instead of butter and sour cream. It will taste like french fries!
• Leave off rice and sub for a veggie or sub for a bed a green lettuce with lite dressing. Most restaurant rices are not only white rice, but they are cooked in butter and oil to enhance the flavor.
• Order a grilled cheese sandwich. Most of the time a grilled cheese sandwich is on smaller bread which saves calories, has zero dressings, and can be grilled on whole wheat toast without butter. To enhance the flavor, add tomato and lettuce to the sandwich.
• Leave off all dressings like mayo, sour creams, cheese sauces, cream sauces, buttered breads and buns, etc. Anything that looks white and creamy shouldn’t be eaten.
• Eat 1/2 a bun when you order a sandwich. Today’s buns are so huge that they often are 500-600 calories by themselves.
• Skip that bread basket. Don’t let them bring it to the table. If they do, it’s time to go potty and wash your hands. Maybe your dinner partners will have finished it by the time you get back.
• Order a sirloin. The cheaper beef is the less fat it will have. A sirloin is a great choice and should be ordered dry.
• Skip sugary drinks. Cokes, sweet teas, juices, and such are just a bunch of empty calories. Drink water with your meals.
• Substitute marinara for cream sauces on your favorite pasta dishes.
• Try to order off a breakfast menu. Egg White Omelettes filled with veggies is an excellent choice for a meal. It’s super tasty, full of protein and veggies, and saves a ton of calories. It can be eaten any time of the day.
• Stick to fruits for dessert. Find restaurants and coffee shops that have a fruit cup you can have as your dessert.

When you do decide to order a meal you PLAN to enjoy be sure to make it special. Skip all the things that don’t matter to you: breads, fatty salads, etc. Enjoy the main parts and try sharing with someone. My favorite trick to having a big, fattening meal is to order what I want but my husband and I share it. We then order a dessert later in the evening and share it. Doing that makes the meal stretch out further, gives me the feeling that I am having several “cheats”, and allows us both to enjoy good food in a reasonable amount.

I promise if you follow these tips you will go home proud of your decisions. We rarely remember the bread baskets and appetizer nibbles we skip, BUT WE ALWAYS REMEMBER the times we stuffed ourselves foolishly.

Daily Workout: Cardio only today. I ran/walked five miles on the strip this morning. I did the stairs at all crosswalks two at a time running to work the quads a little extra. I’m very satisfied at how well my hip held up through the running. I was able to run 40 minutes and I walked the rest of the distance.

Daily Food Journal:

B – Shredded Wheat with skim milk, scram eggs, fruit, 2 slices of bacon
S – SBD 140 cal bar
S – 1 serving of Beef Jerky
L - Big Salad with veggies and chicken only
S – Latte
D – Drinks and a formal dinner. I’ll skip the bread and dessert tonight in exchange for some drinks. I’ll skip the starch veggies, too. I hope we have steak or something like that.

I’ll also do an extra two miles of walking to Sephora to get my make up done for tonight. I also hope to have pics for my website when I get back home.

On the Road Again…Getting Your Game Plan Together

It’s another trip to Vegas. This week I’ll talk about travelling and staying healthy. Don’t let a vacation or a trip away from home take your eye off the prize. It’s not hard to stay healthy if you are focused and have a game plan.

Today’s topic: Getting Your Game Plan Together

1. Don’t fall into the stinking thinking traps! Avoid saying to yourself, “I hope I don’t gain this trip,” or “this trip is going to be so tough for me to eat right.” You think like this and you’ll be eating hot dogs and nachos before you know it.

Try talking to yourself in the ways you want to behave. Say things like, “How can I make this vacation a way to maintain my healthy lifestyle,” or “I love eating healthy foods and exercising and I will find ways to do it during my vacation.”

2. Research your trip. Is there a hotel with gym access? Are there walking trails nearby? Will you have access to a microwave or fridge? Where is the closest grocery store? The hotel staff should be able to help you with this information. Many travellers these days are health conscious and hotels are catering to their needs. If your hotel doesn’t do these things…find one the DOES!

3. Pack some food for emergencies or quick meals. Have protein bars with you for snacks. Not having food with you is NEVER an excuse. Every person carries a purse or bag these days so load it up with your supplies. Bring a high fiber cereal for breakfast to have in your room. Load up with apples, bananas, cans of tuna, healthy wraps, and canned soup before you leave or when you get to your destination. All of these can be eaten without a microwave or fridge, can be packed in your suitcase, and are excellent quick meals for the meals you want to eat healthy and low calorie.

4. Plan your meals like you would at home. Have your weekly plan with what you will eat each meal and follow it. Allow in your schedule for a couple of fun meals. Just remember that vacations are for you to enjoy. Eating out is fun, BUT every meal isn’t a celebration! Pick and choose the meals that will make you feel good about your choices and eat sensibly at meals that will only leave you feeling guilty.

Having a game plan that you are ready to execute is the first step to having a successful vacation. When you make good choices, you are in control. When you are in control of yourself, you feel good about yourself.

Daily Workout: Upper Body – This week I am focused on alternating upper and lower body workouts on the days I will pay to use the gym. Otherwise I am walking for my Breast Cancer training or having a day of rest.

Upper Body:

Superset One: 3 sets
Flat Bench Chest Press
Alternating Flies
Roman Twists with weight

Superset Two: 3 sets
Bentover Rows
Arnold Presses
Plate Front Raises

Superset Three: 3 sets
Deadlifts
Single DB Rows with Twist
Leg lifts and outs

Superset Four: 3 sets
Alternating curls with twist at top
OH Presses
Dips

Cardio for today is walking the strip. No formal cardio planned.

Daily Food Journal:

B – Cheerios and Corn Flakes with skim milk, 1/2 container of FF yogurt, melon and berries
S – banana and beef jerky
L – Huge salad without dressing or cheese. You make your own so loaded it with veggies, some turkey, and an egg
S – SBD 140 cal bar
D – ??? This is my daily fun meal!
S – Gelato (SugarFree)

Personal Goals

It is important for each of us to have goals in our weightloss journey. A deadline looming, a shiny carrot dangling in front of us…both make the journey fun and rewarding.

My goals have always been fitness related rather than weight related. I can’t say why. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t athletic as an obese child. Too often I was picked last for a team because everyone knew my weight would just get in the way of them winning. I am positive that my sport-specific goals are driven by an inner-child wanting to be accepted on the team.

Since I wrapped up my running in December with the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon, I’ve been focused on my personal training business and making sure my clients are achieving all of their goals. It is rewarding, but I recently was asked by one of them what my current fitness goals are. It took me back. For the first time in a long time I couldn’t answer the question.

Do I really need an event or is working out enough for me? I need the events…something to reach for that stretches me to yet another level I dared never dream of as a child. Training for events is what fires me up on a personal level to go further and further. That’s what makes me tick and that’s what keeps me slim.

So, ladies and gentleman, here are my goals:

1. I have entered the 3-day Breast Cancer Walk in the Twin Cities the weekend of August 24. This is the biggest event I have trained for to date. We’re talking 20 miles of walking a day for three days. It will be tough, fun, hard, exciting, tiring, and motivating. If this doesn’t challenge my body…nothing will.

2. I’m going heavy! You read it right. For the first time in my life I’m going to put on some weight, THE RIGHT WAY. Current weight is 133-135. Goal is to add in five pounds over the next four to five months. I want to add in muscle and build out the shoulders and legs. 

My shoulders are my pride and joy. They are sexy and I would love to put another inch on them. My legs are a mess. Loose skin from years of sodas, weight gain/loss, junk food, and gaining too much weight while pregnant has took a bad toll. My goal is to blow these puppies up. I don’t care if I wear a size 10 when it’s over. Right now I am a six/four who is ashamed to wear shorts. If I have gams of steel at a size 10 you better believe I’ll be sporting some size 10 shorts!!! Amazing how I’ve gone from letting the scale dictate who I am, to going by size of my clothes, to now going my mirror image. Wow! If this isn’t a major milestone for a former obese kid- NOTHING IS!

There you have it. My big goals for the next four to five months. I can do it and I will do it. Luckily for you I’ll be writing the story the entire way.

Daily Workout: Friday

Trainer (Bill) and I met Friday to do Back. I let him drive the workout for the hour. He did great! I don’t remember everything we did as it was sort of a blur. We supersetted like I do except the workouts were one back exercise super and triple setted with partnered medicine ball ab work. I loved it. I think we did 4 sets of lat pulldowns, rows, rear delts, and then all the ab stuff in between. Good workout. No cardio for Friday.

Today is my DOR. I’m walking six miles at 6:30 a.m. and then getting ready for a flight to Vegas at 11:30 a.m. It will be a long day as we have a dinner to attend that evening, too. I’ll be in Vegas all week, but I’ll keep some posts coming through about my adventures.

Today’s Food:

B – Oatmeal with SF Jelly, 1 tbsp peanut butter, egg whites, and 1/2 bowl of cantaloupe
S – 2 cups light popcorn and 2 strips of beef jerky (organic)
L – IHOP: Egg white omelet with spinach and mushrooms, Harvest Grain and Nut Pancakes with SF syrup
S – Watermelon and 2 strips of beef jerky (organic)
D – Grilled chicken in EVOO, Lettuce with croutons instead of dressing and a little parm cheese, 1 pc of bread, grilled veggies, cantaloupe
S - Sherbet