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I personally like to “map out goals” vs. “make resolutions”. The difference is that by mapping out goals, I will review them quarterly to see if I’m on track. There is also an internal difference and I’m not just focused on one thing (like losing weight or getting in shape). My “goal mapping” includes other areas of my life. My map helps me to figure out where I’m heading in my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual lives. 

I find that the beginning of the year is a perfect time to do this, mainly because I have this “fresh-start-I-can-accomplish-anything” feeling. And I want to take full advantage of it before I get overwhelmed and possibly lose my confidence (or worse yet, my mind).

However, I have started “goal plans” at other times of the year, like September. Usually when I was just fed up with how things were going and in desperate need of a “life overhaul”. The “when” doesn’t matter as much as the “inspiration” to get things turned around.

My friend at The Fit Shack wrote an excellent post about the effectiveness of our New Year’s Resolution to lose weight being directly effected by our “inspiration” behind it. It’s definitely worth reading and will help you to put a firm foundation under your weight loss plan (whether it starts January 1st or October 18th).

I’m off to put the finishing touches on my 2009 Goals since I’m still in the “turning-over-a-new-leaf, I-can-do-ANYTHING mode” 

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment about your Resolution/Goals.

C’mon, you know you’re thinking about it. Okay, so maybe you’re not thinking about what you can do to keep your resolution but I bet you’re thinking that it’s okay if you eat one more ______ (fill in the blank) because after January 1st you are going to ROCK your resolution to lose weight. 

Well, I think it’s helpful if we start putting our New Year’s Resolution to lose weight at the forefront of our thought process. That way we might slow down a bit when we reach for that one more ______. If there’s less weight for us to lose, our resolution will be easier to keep. 

Need some motivation to start thinking about your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight or get in shape? Just hit “play” on the above video.

Then leave a comment about your thoughts for YOUR New Year’s Resolution. 

I received an email the other day from my friend Jeff Anderson (aka The Muscle Nerd). I thoroughly enjoyed it because it was composed of the perfect blend of humorous sarcasm and TRUTH. Those two things blended together always touch me in a way that nothing else can. I LOVE IT!

Anytime we learn something while we are laughing about it at the same time, it helps what we’ve learned to stick in our brain.

(Gee, Jeff, I hope no one in your family reads my blog! If they do, be sure to send me another email telling me about the next family get together. )

Begin Hilarious Email from Jeff:

Ok, this was the plan, Lori…18 hour drive from Chicago to upstate NY on Wednesday of this week…Thanksgiving holiday with my parents, sisters, etc. on Thursday…out on Friday.

Short, sweet, and no time to dig deep into dysfunctional family arguments.

Then my grandmother passed away last week, forcing us to move our trip up to come out for the funeral. Thinking this was my “out” for the holiday (c’mon Lori…you can’t expect me to travel 18 hours each way TWICE in 2 weeks, right?), I was in for a surprise…

…snow squalls between Chicago and NY…ALL DAMN WEEK!

What should have been 3 days in and out is now turning out to be 11 DAYS…stranded in HELL!

You see, my parents live in a tiny little town in the mountains that forces you to live like a bit character on “Little House On The Prarie”…nothing but a Wal-Mart, a few pizza joints, and a liquor store.

I remember someone once saying that as adults, we should never stay in the same house as our parents for longer than 3 days. I now understand WHY and I’ve begun checking on the waiting period for a handgun permit in New York state.

Part of the problem?  The inherent challenge of staying in shape over these 11 days amidst all the stress and trying to scrape together a healthy diet.

There’s not a single gym or health food store within driving distance and my parents’ pantry is filled with what amounts to a bazillion boxes of refined carbohydrates and bottles of high-fructose corn syrup!

But I think I’ve turned the corner and for those of you who may find yourself in similar circumstances over the holidays, I offer you my own personal…

…”How To Stay In Shape (And Out Of Prison) Over The Holidays” plan!

I’ve broken my own “Survival Plan” up into a MORNING and an EVENING set of strategies.

TRAIN!  Simple as that!

Training in the morning jacks up your metabolism the rest of the day because your muscles are using body fat to fuel your recovery efforts.

I went down into my parents’ private junk yard (aka “the basement”) and found a water pipe I can use as a pull up bar to hit my back, shoulders and arms depending upon whether I have my hands facing in or away from me, followed by some hanging knee raises for abs.

Putting my feet up on the stairs for some elevated pushups, I can also hit my chest the “old fashioned” way!

For legs, I stand at the bottom of the stairs, facing away from them and stick one foot behind me on one of the steps.  Slowly dropping my body down, I can do some brutal one-legged stationary lunges to hit both my hams and quads pretty hard.

After a good “muscle” workout, the crap my parents have in their cupboards is actually what my muscles are craving so they can use the sugar rush to replenish muscle glycogen and aid in new muscle growth.  A sizable protein shake (using some generic tub of whey I found at the local Wal-Mart) goes great with the white flour pancakes my mom has made for my son each morning!

I’ve been knocking out this morning training program each day in just about 20-30 minutes of an intense gut-buster so it actually gives me a great window of opportunity where the sludge they call ”food” in these parts doesn’t have that negative effect it would have if I weren’t taxing my body along the way.

(BONUS POINTS: Your family sees you training and they either think YOU think you’re “better than them” or they’re inspired to do something about their own depressing bodies.  Either way…YOU WIN!)

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In the EVENING…
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I try to limit my carb intake from about 5pm on to avoid fat storage at night while I sleep.

However, after a full day of putting up with “lessons on how to raise my son” and guilt trips, I’m usually jones’n for a coconut custard pie and a shovel to help numb the pain by 7pm.

===> Solution #1:  “Smart Desserts”!

1 cup of low fat cottage cheese with a scoop of my chocolate whey protein powder mixed in and you’d swear you were eating chocolate cheesecake! 

Mmmmm…muscle building goodness!

===> Solution #2:  Red wine!

I normally have 1 glass of red wine each night with dinner, but hey…this is a “special occasion” so I’m making an exception and making it 2 GLASSES while I’m stuck here!

My parents are looking at me and wondering if I need a 12 step program, but I tell them that the antioxidants in the wine are good for me and suggest they drink also.  (I figure if we ALL had 2 glasses of wine, we’d get along MUCH better!)

But seriously Lori…wine does reduce stress, contains antioxidants, and is a vasodilator so it helps with blood flow in transporting nutrients to your muscles.

Probably most importantly, it helps to reduce cortisol levels in your body.

I’ve dedicated a whole section in my Combat The Fat Program to the harmful effects of cortisol and how to keep it from slapping mounds of fat onto your body. It’s one of the main culprits you have to deal with when trying to lose weight and you absolutely MUST get this hormone under control to maximize your fat burning.

Anyway, I hope my own survival plan will help many of YOU cope with the stress and fitness challenges that await you this holiday season.

But if I don’t make it and you see my face plastered on a “Most Wanted” poster at your local post office, think about how valuable these tips were for you and look the other way should you see my white mini-van taking the back roads to Mexico, ok?

Thanks for helping a brother muscle nerd out, Lori!

Your “Champion For The Average Joe & Jane”

The “Muscle Nerd”
Jeff Anderson

Here’s a gift idea that is just about on everyone’s gift list, especially those interested in losing weight and eating right.

A personal chef for a week. (from Bistro M.D.)

Let’s face it eating right and losing weight takes work. It’s work to plan, shop and cook all that nutritiously balanced food. And that’s assuming we already know what we should be eating and how much of it.

Imagine how much it would mean to someone to get the gift of nutritiously balanced meals designed by a doctor, cooked by a chef and delivered to their door by Fed Ex. Not only is this a gift of health but it is also a gift of time saved (all that cooking, shopping, planning). After all, everyone has to eat!

It’s surprisingly affordable. Especially if you consider what you would be paying for food for the week, anyway! 

I want to be like Oprah. If she can lose weight and eat right with the help of a personal chef, I can too. Therefore, this is officially on my wish list. If this gift is on your wish list, too and you would like to email a big hint to someone - click on the “ShareThis” link at the bottom of this post and hit the “Send Email” button. Excuse me while I email this post to my husband. wink, wink

It’s that time of year again. Are you wondering what you could possibly get that special someone on your list with an interest in fitness?

One of my favorites is Bodylastics Resistance Bands and here is why:

• Under $50
• Adjusts to any fitness level (from beginner to Terrell Owens-Super Strong Man System)
• Builds Muscle (Strength Training)
• It is quiet (your house mates and neighbors will appreciate that)
• Space saving (You don’t need a spare room)
• Travel with it (Workout in your hotel room or at the beach)
• Comes with membership to video training (kinda like your own personal trainer

I just love workout videos that only take a few minutes and use something as common as a stability ball! It seems like lately all the time I have to get in some exercise is a few minutes here and there. I need to start making good use of my few minutes. I think this workout video will help.

WeightView.com is a really cool site that will help you lose weight quickly. How much weight do you want to lose? With the click of your mouse you can lose 20 pounds or more in a flash. What am I talking about? 

Okay, so you know it is not quite that easy, if it were the world would be filled with only thin, beautiful people. However, with this virtual weight loss tool you could download a photo of yourself and this site will show you what you would look like minus some extra pounds. 

Other than just plain fascinating, you can use this as a weight loss motivation tool. Take the picture of yourself 20 or 50 pounds lighter and tape it to your refrigerator to remind yourself to make good food choices. Tape it to your calendar to remind yourself why you should keep your workout appointments. Put it wherever you need to in order to get that image burned in your brain. This will help you to keep your thoughts on what it is you “do” want instead of the agony of what you have to go through to get it. Check out WeightView and see what you look like when you make good food choices and exercise as you should. 

You can get in a great workout at home with a set of dumbbells and the knowledge of a few dumbbell exercises. If you already know some dumbbell exercises, it is easy to fit them into what you are already doing. For example, put them next to the TV and lift them while you watch TV or during the commercials. Or you could put them next to your computer and do sets in between reading email. 

If you could use some tips on dumbbell exercises or prefer to get your dumbbell workout done all at once, go grab your dumbbells and hit the “play” button on the above video. In 20 minutes you will be able to say that you got in your full body workout for the day. 

You might remember the Presidents Physical Fitness Challenge when you were in school. You know, the one where they test you on various fitness exercises and make you feel like everyone in the entire class is in better shape than you. Okay, so that last part was totally from my perspective. But that’s how I felt!

Well now, I’m reclaiming my youth. I’ve joined the Presidents Physical Fitness Challenge (for adults). No, I’m not seeing how many sit-ups I can pump out compared to the out-of-shape lady down the block. In fact, the beauty of this is that there is no comparison to others at all. I just log my daily exercise activities online and I accumulate points. I can earn certificates and even medals, once I get enough points. Of course, since this isn’t a school sponsored event I have to actually purchase the medal - but they don’t cost much and this is the closest I think I’ll ever come to a bronze, silver or gold medal. So, it’s worth it for me. 

The Presidents Physical Fitness Challenge helps me to focus on being consistent in my exercise routine. On days when I need all the extra motivation I can get, it helps me to know that I am adding points to my total which is bringing me closer to that first medal. I imagine once I get the bronze medal, my motivation will increase even more to get the silver. (I’m having visions now, of myself standing on an Olympic-like podium with an overweight, balding official in a suit, draping that medal around my neck)

The great part is that every bit counts in the Presidents Physical Fitness Challenge. Stretching, gardening, household tasks, darts and home repair are on their list of activities that I can earn points for. Too bad they didn’t test me for these when I was younger because I’m pretty sure I could have blown away all those other 7th graders with my awesome home repair skills. Come join me, even if you have no home repair skills - there must be something on this list of activities that you enjoy. 

Are you wondering if it will cost more to eat healthy and lose weight? There are all kinds of excuses we tell ourselves in order to put off eating right or losing weight. One of the excuses I hear is that good food costs more. Well, now you’ll have to find a different excuse because this short video from my friend Scott Tousignant is about to give you a reality check.