Vacation Eating… You Can Control It!

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It was a holiday this weekend, many of us, including myself went out of town. Here’s the tough part, maintaining healthy eating while you’re away.

It starts with getting on the plane and having wine, and eating nuts and pretzels and biscuits. You get to the hotel and instead of getting up the next morning to exercise you decide to go to breakfast instead.  You might choose to eat scrambled eggs, toast with butter and bacon. Then you head to lay in the sun, eating again things you normally wouldn’t eat and having that afternoon cocktail, then go back to the room and take a nap. Later it’s out to dinner where not only will you drink alcohol like you have never seen it before, but you will make food choices like you have never seen food before.

When people go away on holiday their worlds seem to fall apart and they start making all sorts of choices they wouldn’t normally make.  Especially with food, and when you come back you feel worse.

So the cycle starts and isn’t it hard enough that you have been away, relaxed, and now you have to go back to work? Why would you want to come back feeling heavy and unhappy and with the extra pressure of losing the vacation weight.

So what you need to do is make the decision not to let your eating suffer while you are traveling.  Before your flight have a nice healthy lunch so that you aren’t tempted to eat the junk on the plane once you board and you won’t be starving and tempted to splurge. Then I want you to sleep in the next day, get up and go out and go for a run, then enjoy the day at the beach or wherever you are but have a nice healthy salad for lunch or something healthy that you enjoy eating.  It won’t be easy especially when your choices are only pretzels and hot dogs but truthfully the one thing I saw in the Brownings Fitness Challenge was that when we cut out all the carbs we may still put on weight because it’s the fatty foods that make you fat know matter how you cut it.

You are on holiday so enjoy yourself, get a massage, sleep late, and go out late.  But the bottom line is that you can’t skip breakfast, eat all bad meals, eat late, drink a lot, and have absolutely no exercise. All in all you have to figure out your priorities and see what you really want. So plan ahead, take foods with you like snacks on the plane, eat before you get on, and don’t go for hours without eating. Have fun, enjoy yourself, but know that rewards do not have to actually come from things that are unhealthy, self-destructive and that make you feel bad about yourself!

Pushing Through the Tough Moments

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This month’s Brownings Fitness challenge was another tough one for me. It involved giving up all bread. Now, for me having a toasted English muffin or whole wheat bread with olive oil and salt at every one of my meals is one of my biggest pleasures. So to suddenly be deprived of this pleasure gives me an understanding of what my clients go through when they begin a nutrition program with me. Especially when I am asking them to give up things they love, however temporary the time period may be.

I realize there has to be a way that we can get through certain obstacles in our lives. It involves changing your way of thinking. You have to be aware of it and be conscious of it. I see that without having the carbohydrates I am craving more sugars, more alcohol, and more fat because like in everything else when you stop something abruptly and completely, you always want it even more. So we have to try and find ways to find pleasure in other foods and things that might actually be better for us any way.  Things such as eating brown rice and sweet potatoes.  But even though they all have carbohydrates I still don’t have the same feeling about them as I do about my bread.

What is the solution?  I try and think of it like a step by step program.  First you need to recognize what you’ve been doing and why, and then move on to the next step which is managing it. And try not to be too hard on yourself. Beating yourself up or being angry for not getting what you want isn’t going to change the situation.

Next, and very important, is taking pride in doing this challenge and being successful at it.  Knowing that this is a choice you’re making, and if you really really wanted you could stop any time, makes sticking it out and getting through it all the better in the end! If you can stick with it and pull through it you are going to be so proud of yourself. This doesn’t just have to be in exercise but can be in any area of your life.  Take the challenge, realize this is your choice, and go out there and give it your best shot and make it work for you.

Listening To Your Body and Over Training

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I’m a big believer in training hard, pushing yourself, and motivating yourself. When you don’t want to do it I tell my trainers that is why your clients come to you. What they really want to do is go have a cup of coffee and it is up to the trainer to push them and equally important for you to push yourself.  There are days though when you have to take a step back and say it’s ok today if I take a time out because I don’t have time to get a workout in and all signs are pointing towards you having a rest day.

Here is a scenario that many people face: The alarm clock wakes you up, you don’t get up naturally, your schedule is booked back to back, you have to figure out where am I going to go and train, and all of those processes are absolutely exhausting. You think about how badly you ate the night before and that you really need to go and exercise and this is when you take a step back and take a look at your week realistically and say maybe I have been training hard. This was the case I had this week. I was ready to push myself with two hard runs with my meniscus tear back to back and was going crazy with eating a lot of sugar. I realized I was eating all of the sugar because my body was tired and over trained. I thought maybe if I take a time out today I might not only eat better tonight but tomorrow I will have more energy to come out and put in a hard work out. If you take the time out today not only will your body eat better it will eat better the next day but you will have energy to do a proper hard workout as opposed to just another day of junk training.

I often see people in the summer go to the gym and they sit there and pedal on the bike and I watch them in my own environment not really working, not doing interval work, and not getting their heart rate up. Their legs and muscles are absolutely exhausted. So on days like that it’s time to get a massage, get a stretch, maybe do some yoga, or say to yourself that you are going to have a complete rest day and will get up extra early tomorrow morning, eat healthy, and get out there and do a proper workout.

So instead of doing endless amounts of junk training, look at yourself and say I have to go out there and really push it. The other thing that I see is people at the gym absolutely exhausted, they are tired, so instead of dragging them through 58 minutes of a half hearted workout I take them out and push them really hard. I then tell them it would be better if they did a hard 25 minutes that’s effective as opposed to an hour where they are really not doing anything. This applies to those of you that go to the gym on your own and do your cardio. You need to take time and say I only have 30 minutes and work really hard as opposed to going for an hour and a half and burning the same amount of calories. You have then exhausted your body by doing a whole bunch of junk training. So either take a rest day or work out really hard to justify it!

New Years Challenge

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It’s 2012, a new year and the time we all set crazy resolutions that most people never end up sticking with. In fact if we make it through the first week we consider that pretty good. With this in mind I decided to make a little goal for all of us to start the year.  We started on January 3rd, so that gave us the 1st and 2nd to enjoy ourselves, and only 15 days to stick to the plan. I‘m a firm believer that if you can do something for 15 days that you will see amazing results. Of course it’s not a coincidence that we started on January the 3rd and finished on the 18th, since the 19th is my birthday! I started my birthday with the two things that I made us give up, sugar and alcohol!

We did the same challenge last year and all got great results.  The rules were no sugar, no candy, two fruits a day, but no bananas, pineapples, grapes, cherries, melon…all of those are too high in sugar. No dried fruit and nothing that you would consider a treat like a muffin, a cake, desserts, scones, biscuits, and then of course, no alcohol at all.

This year started and I had eaten a lot of candy while I was in South Africa over the holidays. I didn’t drink that much while I was there, so I was overcompensating with the sugar, and I think I put on four pounds! I decided that was it, I was going cold turkey!

You might think that this would be easy for me, but trust me, it’s not, because I LOVE sugar! The first year I did it, every day I would walk in and say I can’t do this! I was dying for a pack of Starbursts.  It really made me realize how much of my diet is actually sugar! When I was starving and saw those things I tried to persuade myself that they didn’t count.

With these thoughts of candy and tequila running through my mind I had to decide how I was going to get through these two weeks. Was I going to give in to the struggle? Let my emotions get the better of me after a long day and have that Brownings Skinny that I really want? No way! I was going to view it the way I try to view everything. That it is good for me, and it is meant to be. If I over think it, worry about it, and let the sugar cravings take over my mind, of course it’s going to be hard. I had to remind myself of all the positive reasons why I was doing it, and remember that every time I craved something and didn’t give in, I was proving to myself how strong I really am!

So how did we do?

I was amazed in the first two days I lost 3 lbs which is really scary because it made me realize how much sugar I must have been consuming. I noticed how weak I was and how little energy I had in my legs when I tried to run. I had to start to supplement my diet with more bread. That kind of carbohydrate allowed me to keep my weight up gave me energy when I needed to go on a long run.

It was interesting for some people who did our challenge and they found that they don’t really lose that much weight. This probably means that their diet isn’t made up of too much sugar and alcohol, which is why they don’t see drastic changes when they cut it out. Their diets and probably have a higher fat content. Basically, we can all eat a 1000 calories a day, but if you are eating 1000 calorie of fat, or 1000 calories of protein and doing lots of cardio, you’re probably not going to lose as much weight as the girl who eats 1000 calories of sugar because when your using your energy, the sugar is going to be the first thing your body uses up.

Everyone did a great job this year, and I’m so proud of you all for sticking it out. Of course though, it was a challenge, so someone had to win.

Lowest body fat went to myself with 9.6%.

Highest percentage of body fat lost over all went to Brownings massage therapist Katherine who lost 2.6% of her body fat.

And then there was most weight lost in pounds, and the highest percentage of weight loss, both of which went to our client Stefan S, who lost an amazing 15 pounds and 6.7% of his weight!

You are all amazing and you inspire me every day!

Our next challenge starts tomorrow! February 1st through 13th. Email appointments@browningsfitness.com or call 1/866-500 1909 us for details!

Learning Your Limits

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I’ve just returned from holiday in Miami, which is one of my favorite places to go, especially at this time of year, when Manhattan is getting a little blustery and I find myself missing the warmth. Miami is a great place  to exercise, to meet new people, and just relax in the sunshine. For those of us who are healthy, happy, fulfilled, and want a get-away that’s built around exercise and good clean fun, Miami is definitely the place.  Miami, however, is also a place where you are surrounded with thousands of fabulous high end stores, fantastic restaurants, rich food, and flowing cocktails, and parties, parties, parties that go on all night like. When you’re in an environment like this, it can be very easy to slide into a spiral of over indulgence and negative behaviors without even giving it a second thought!

This is why I stress to all my clients that it’s  important to have an incentive to get up in the morning and the will power to continue to pursue your life goals, even when you’re on vacation. Whether it’s a morning run, or a 5k race, or just being grateful for the opportunity to take a December swim in the warm morning sunshine in such a beautiful place, you need to find a reason to get up and out. When you have the incentive to get up in the morning, it makes it easier to find the will power you need to limit your indulgence at night.

I know how easy it is, after a night of partying, to just stay in bed and sleep the day away until the hangover recedes, and then get up and start the whole cycle over again at happy hour, especially when you’re on vacation. This is why I always make it a point to get myself up and out, no matter how tired I might be feeling. Knowing that I will be getting up in the morning no matter what, makes it much easier to have the will power to stop drinking, to make that switch over to water, and leave the party early enough to get enough rest. If you know your limits, you can enjoy the parties, but know when it's time to call it a night, so you can  wake up feeling rested and refreshed and grateful  for the beauty that surrounds you everywhere in magical Miami.

Having Your Cake Without Eating it Too

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It was a short, busy week with everyone putting in extra hours at Browning’s Fitness to make room for all of that Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie on Thursday. Now, not that I begrudge anybody some indulgence calories around the holidays, but as I imagined everybody slipping into the inevitable Thanksgiving calorie coma on the couch after dinner, I began to wonder why we always reward ourselves with behaviors that ultimately make us feel worse, instead of reach out for “treats” that make us feel better.

One of the truths I’ve discovered about keeping an ideal body shape for life, is that it’s important to find ways to treat myself, or celebrate life, or comfort myself after a busy week, that are good for me. Rewards don’t have to come in the form of a big slice of chocolate cake, or a bag of potato chips, or that third  glass of wine. You can also treat  yourself to a good night’s sleep, or a sunset run in the park.  Being good to yourself, treating yourself with love and gentle care, is the best reward of all.

So the next time that you’re reaching for that double slice of of chocolate cake after a job well done, ask yourself, am I really being good to myself by eating this?  And how am I going to feel once I eat it?  Will I really feel better, or will I feel worse?  Am I really rewarding myself with chocolate cake, or am I, in fact, punishing myself? Then have your cake, without eating it too by reaching out for a treat that will make you feel better about yourself in the morning.

Positively Pink!

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I’ve never been a fan of pink.  Pink always seemed too girly somehow, too demure for a woman who was training for triathlons. I much prefer a bold spectrum.  I live in a black and white world because I really don’t have time for mixing and matching shades. So imagine my surprise when this week, quite unexpectedly, pink entered my life in a very big way, and I have to think that maybe this is a sign that a new chapter is beginning in my life.

Here’s how it happened.  It all began with my divorce, which became official and final this week. I took myself down to the notary and signed the papers, and when I returned to my apartment, there were a hundred pink roses waiting for me from a good friend.  I was very touched, but thought hmm, that’s strange, because my friend had never sent me pink roses before.  White roses, yes, red roses, definitely, but pink?  Then, I noticed the candles on my bedside table that I’d asked my assistant to buy for me f.  They too, were a distinct shade of blush pink.  What was going on?

I was about to text my assistant and ask her what in the world she was thinking buying me pink, but instead, I ordered a glass of rose, took the candles into the bathroom, ran a  bath with a little oil, lit the candles, and put the flowers on the floor by the tub where I could see them.   I climbed into my hot bath and took a sip of my pink wine.  The room was filled with a rosy, gentle glow. As I sunk into the tub I realized that maybe I had been under estimating the power of pink in my life. Because this pink moment was fantastic.  Exactly what I needed after such a black and white day.

The next morning I got up early and re-entered my black and white world.  I went for a run, and then had a wonderful swim before starting my work day. But something was different. I was more relaxed, more full of energy and no less powerful, but calmer somehow. It was the pink that was working it’s magic on me. I had made some room in my black and white world to be gentle to myself, and it really made a difference.  Pink wasn’t too girly or shy or wimpy after all.  Pink was about positivity, and peace of mind, thoughtful friends, and new beginnings. Pink meant taking the time I needed during a difficult period of transition to be kind to myself, and rejuvenate my body and soul in a bubble bath, before getting up and running the next marathon that life would surely bring along soon enough.

The Most Exciting Marathon in the World

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The New York Marathon is one of my favorite marathons. The setting is gorgeous, and it’s so exhilarating to be in the heart of Manhattan, surrounded by 30,000 runners from all over the world, running through the autumn streets of Manhattan. It’s just fantastic!  Indescribable. Yet, while the scale of the event adds thrill and excitement, and makes the New York Marathon one of the most fun filled events I’ve ever participated in, it also makes the New York marathon one of the most difficult.

When I ran my first New York Marathon 12 years ago, it took me ten minutes just to get to the starting line and 12 minutes to run my first mile.  In a crowd that large, you’re not free to just get out there and run. You have to shuffle, push, pull, and sometimes creep your way through the other runners. It’s a challenge to do everything, including get to the water stations and the restrooms.  Unless you’re way up front in the lower digits, there’s nowhere to go.

So you really need to remember that races like this are not about winning, or about how quickly you run, but about the amazing and memorable experience you are having by just being part of something so massive and profound.  Racing is about your training, and about showing up and being part of a moment. It’s about finishing something that you set out to do, no matter how long it takes you to cross the finish line.

Congratulations to my client Tom, who began training for his first marathon two months ago at the age of 48, and my client Samara, a cancer survivor, who both achieved a new personal peak in this  year’s New York Marathon.  You are both champions.

Lights, Camera, Action!

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Tomorrow I’m filming a pilot for a new reality show.  I know, I know! Lots of people have been telling me don’t do a reality show, but this is a reality show with a difference. This project is about helping women to start their lives over after divorce, and I guess I know a thing or two about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, being grateful for the good things in your life and going out there and making a fresh start. So I think I can really contribute some important insight on this subject which so many women experience, and so few of us talk about.

Keeping a marriage together isn’t easy.  Being in a marriage isn’t easy either. But if I have learned one thing about marriage and divorce, it’s that it’s not about blame. I have trained enough men facing the same situation to know that there are two sides to every situation. So I’m hoping to help my fellow cast to take responsibility for themselves, to embrace their decision, whatever it is, and do what they need to do to get their personal Ferrari back in perfect running order, and get out there a make a new life for themselves.  It isn’t easy, but it’s worth every minute. I’ll let you all know how the shooting goes tomorrow!

Beauty is More than Skin Deep

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Last weekend, I was at the Mondrian in Los Angeles.  There were all kinds of young and beautiful people around me and it felt different than the last time I was there because now, of course,  I’m a single woman. And of course, like a lot of women going through a divorce, I haven’t always been doing the right things for myself, because I’ve been a little bit distracted, since it’s a difficult time of transition. I haven’t been watching what I eat carefully enough, or getting my proper training in, and I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should.  Before long, this starts to show on your body. So I could have let all the youth and beauty around me really get me down.  After all how was I going to compete with all of those gorgeous twenty-somethingers?

Instead of doubting myself, I decided to change my attitude, and remember what it was that got me where I am today. So instead of moping, I woke up early in the morning, had a proper breakfast, took myself off to Equinox, took a look at all the young and beautiful people working out,  and got right to work giving my Ferrari a good service. I felt great after my work out, so good in fact, that I went to the pool on my own. Next thing I knew lots of people, including a few handsome young men, were coming up to talk to me, telling me that I had incredible energy, and I wound up having a wonderful, fun afternoon and made some new friends in the process!

I certainly wasn’t the youngest, most beautiful woman by the pool, but it isn’t about that.  It’s about my confidence level, my energy, my enthusiasm, my smile, my inner glow. We all have everything we need to attract new people, and a new life that is in line with our own unique gifts.  It just takes getting up, dusting yourself off, and making the effort. It’s this force of will, this energy that really gets you through the hard parts of life. So let’s all be grateful for who and what we are, and remember, no matter how you’re feeling today, tomorrow is another day, and brings the opportunity to pull it together, do the right things for yourself, and be the best that you can be.