Does this sound like you? It’s Sunday night, you have all fresh fruits and vegetables in the house, you are determined to cook all week and not eat out, the alarm is set for 5:30 a.m., and you are determined to workout six times this week for one hour every day. Sounds like an excellent plan, doesn’t it? After all, last week you didn’t go for so much as a walk, you ate out for lunch with your friends everyday, three times your family had pizza because you were too tired to cook, and you had a kids birthday party on Saturday. Forget all that because you are suddenly not that person any more. No matter what this week is going to be the start of a new life…or is it?
What I have learned from my clients and time spent coaching people through lifestyle changes is that it doesn’t happen overnight. Your lifestyle is years of habits that need to be reprogrammed. Rarely are people successful modifying every apsect of how they live without first learning what are their pitfalls, how to make the right changes that work for them, and how to deal with curve balls thrown into their schedule.
Let’s look at a few things I work with my clients on:
1. Start a food journal of what you eat as it stands this week. Don’t worry about making the food substitutions. Just get into the habit of recording what you eat on a daily basis. After a week of food history, you can go through your days and find spots where you can make healthier substitutions to what you already do.
2. Begin a workout schedule that is less than what you want to eventually do. What I mean is that if you want to work out six times a week, right now exercise four times a week. If you have an hour a day to workout, begin with 30-40 minutes a day. Do this successfully for three weeks before you bump up your time.
Why do I say this? Most people burn out on over aggressive workout plans in about three weeks. That gives your body enough time to start feeling the energy depletion and the food fueling issues if you aren’t eating to support the activity. Blend one TOM rearing it’s ugly head, the unrealistic expectation that you haven’t lost ten pounds, and you have a recipe on how to quit exercising.
3. Each time you have an occassion to eat poorly, don’t think of it as a failure. Get out your journal, say to yourself, “This is a good learning experience. What will I do next time to make better choices?” Example: If your co-workers and you go out everyday for lunch, simply saying you are just going to tell them no is not a plan. A plan is to have a healthy prepared lunch with you, one day a week you will go out with them to a restaurant you know you can order something healthy, and a good reply to give them when they come by your office laughing and giggling on their way out the door.
I hope these tips help you think about starting a lifestyle of fitness and healthful eating.
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So, I workout last night with Chris to do legs. We changed the routine from what I posted yesterday because we needed a cardio and weight fusion. Our son stayed up late and we went to the gym after the in-laws put him to bed. I put Chris through a routine I’ve been toying with for the elliptical that is interval style but full of lower body work. I have one in the Cardio Book, but this is one I am experimenting with as an addition that has more plyometric work in it. Here’s his comment to me:
“If I didn’t love you so much, YOU WOULD BE DEAD.”
LOL. You have to know my husband. He’s the boss at work. He’s mister confident. He’s not one to be told what to do except by me. 
I think it’s hilarious that he is going through these crazy workouts. People staring at me in the gym when I’m doing hopping on and off machines is old hat. Last night he noticed people staring at us and I thought it was cute. Oh…to be a newbie again.
Modified Leg Routine
Set One: 3 sets
Leg Extension to slight burn
Set Two: 3 sets
Hamstring Curls to slight burn
Set Three: 3 sets
Leg Press to slight burn (this was our warm up of the major leg muscles)
30 Min. Elliptical Routine for Jello Like Legs! BTW…I have tons of these in various forms for upper and lower body in the Cardio Book. For beginners, do the off the machine exercise for as long as you can go and then finish out that minute back on the machine. Chris could do about 20 seconds or so of most exercises to give you a gauge of making this work for various fitness levels.
Min. 1-4 warm up pace gradually increasing speed and resistance.
Min. 5 hit your tempo pace
Min. 6 stationary Ali Twist
Min. 7 -8 tempo pace (recovery time and should get HR to a range of 75-85%)
Min. 9 Walking Squats
Min. 10-11 TP
Min. 12 Stationary Squats with or without weights
Min. 13-15 TP
Min. 16 Walking Lunges
Min. 17-19 TP
Min. 20 Quad Jumps (10-15 and then finish out minute with regular squats with now weight)
Min. 21-23 TP
Min. 24 Burpees with a hop (10-15 then finish out minute back on the machine)
Min. 25-27 TP
Min. 28 Squat Shuffle fast
Min. 29-30 Cool down
Daily Food Journal:
B – 4 egg whites with one hardboiled egg, 3/4 cup of Fiber One with 1/2 cup skim and 1 tbsp of raisins
S - 1 cup of milk with Atkins 150 calorie bar
S – 2 cups of popcorn (all that activity yesterday is making for a hungry day)
L – 4 oz. of chicken breast with 1/2 cup brown rice and green salad
S – Tofu smoothie
D – Tuna on lettuce with soy nuts and sweet potato
S – Fage yogurt with 1 tbsp of peanut butter and SF jelly
Today will be DOR and I’ll just take a leisurely walk with my friend who’s preggo. Maybe two miles at most. She has to stay close to a bathroom.
