Category Archives: New Year’s Resolutions

Getting through Holiday Eating: 10 Survival Tips to Avoid Weight Gain

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Diet, Health and Wellness, New Year's Resolutions, Setting Goals

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week111Holiday eating. You know that time of annual time of year when you are around family, friends and co-workers and celebrate the festivities with food; lots of it.

It really starts with Halloween. All the extra candy you have from not enough ghoulish goblins and fairytale princesses appearing at your front door. All that sinful chocolate and sugary candy is too good to go to waste, right? So day after day, you work at emptying the candy bowl until it’s empty.

Next, just when all the candy is gone and you are feeling guilty for your overindulgence on sweet treats, it’s time for some turkey and trimmings, not to mention the endless choices of pies and desserts. Were stuffing, mash potatoes, corn bread and lots of leftovers mentioned? Then come Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. More celebrations and more food! An extra bite of cheese, another sip of alcohol, one more cookie…who is going to notice? Before you know it, your waistline to clothing is snug. Ugh!

While tasty and mindfully rewarding during the moment, eating mindlessly or emotionally for pure enjoyment or release during the holidays is neither wise nor healthy. It easily can play havoc on your body, put on extra inches on your waistline, and possibly throw your regular eating habits so far off that it’s tough climb to get back on track. Then, before you know it, it’s New Year’s Eve and one of your very first resolutions, as it is every year, is to lose the weight.

Let this holiday season be different. Resist overindulging and packing on the unnecessary and unwanted pounds. Here are 10 survival tips to make through the holidays.

  1. Awareness
    You’re reading this article so you are cognizant you may fall victim to holiday overeating and acknowledgement is a positive start. Realizing and admitting are the first steps in any prevention. Start planning and get prepared. The road is about to get bumpy!
  1. Discipline
    Your mind is powerful and deep down, you know you have what it takes to be in control. So, use it. When wanting to eat, use your hungry scale. On a scale of 1 to 10, how hungry are you? Is it mealtime? Are you actually hungry? Is your body actually thirsty? Use the determination and restraint powers you have from within and resist eating when you’re not and overindulgences.
  1. Diet
    You are what you eat. Maintain a healthy balanced diet with the proper food intake quantities and calorie count and avoid trigger foods, sugar, refined fructose, grains, and processed food. It may help to keep a food journal since recording your food intakes will make you more conscious and personal feeling of accountable. If you’re hungry in between meals, find a health 150-calorie snack to hold you over.
  1. Exercise
    With the onset of fall and winter comes the nature desire to want to stay in and hibernate. But don’t! Continuing your workouts is a must. The inclement weather and shorter days are all the more reason to keep exercising. Maintain regular strength training to fight off muscle loss and boost metabolism plus cardio for the calorie burn. If extra incentive is needed, add a new class or sport, such as aerobics and kickboxing or skiing and ice skating for a new fitness surge.
  1. Activities
    Less ideal weather should not equate to less activities. When at home, don’t get too comfortable on your couch. The last thing you want to do is fall into a rut of watching TV as your main activity with a big bowl of munchies in your lap. Instead, get moving and get involved. Stay active and keep busy to prevent snacking to sooth your boredom and winter blues.
  1. Parties
    Never EVER go to a party hungry or once you arrive you will head straight to the table of food and gorge on all the bite-size snacks with sneaky mounting calories. Instead, and before you feel guilty for overindulging, chow down on high-fiber fruits and vegetables to curb your appetite beforehand. Once you’re at the party, select from the healthiest selections, stop when your stomach feels full and put physical distance between yourself and the food.
  1. Alcohol
    It is the time for holiday cheer. But unfortunately, alcohol is just loaded with high calories, especially mixed cocktails. Without realizing it, you can easily drink as many calories that you consume in one meal, and perhaps more. Instead, it’s best to avoid alcohol and it’s empty calories all together. Or limit your drinks and sip a glass of water in between to help dilute calories.
  1. Sleep
    Get on a regular sleep pattern and aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. Not enough shuteye causes an imbalance with of the ghrelin and leptin hormones, which normally work in harmony in maintaining weight. Consistent less sleep causes an imbalance. Also, avoid caffeine in the afternoon and avoid eating 3 to 4 hours before bed for a solid good night’s rest.
  1. Friends
    Watching what NOT to eat can be hard when temptations are almost everywhere you turn. So, surround yourself with family and friends who encourage your goal of not gaining. The emotional and mental support from a friend or family member who is cheering you on just might be the added incentive you need to make it through the holiday season.
  1. Damage Control
    Overate? Not enough exercise or sleep? Don’t beat yourself over the slip and don’t continue on the path of construction. Just make up for it right away by cutting calories from you day, adding extra exercise, and getting to bed earlier for a couple nights.

Keep a commitment to yourself to nourish your body with only the healthiest foods available and without the unnecessary and unhealthy overindulgences. The more you succeed, the easier it will become. You have one body so keep this in front of mind so true and good to yourself!

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana

Finding a Gym That Is Right for You

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Cardio, Exercising, Fitness Classes, New Year's Resolutions, Setting Goals, Training, Weight Training

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week85To those of us who happen to be working out to what seems like all our lives, selecting a new gym to call home away from home is an easy matter. But for those who infrequently visit a gym or never have, the task of selecting the best gym to meet your needs and goals might be intimidating and overwhelming.

So where to start? Create a list of criteria of what gym will best fit your goals, interests, needs, and lifestyle. This will help the gym that is right for you stand out from the rest of the pack. Here is what you should consider.

Your Goals
Want to lose weight? Tone up? Reduce stress? Get fitter? Increase energy? Socialize? Train for an event? Whatever your reason or reasons may be, write them down and a realistic timeline with benchmarks and a final goal date. Or perhaps this is no end date as this is now a lifelong commitment.

Your Lifestyle
Determine if you are a morning or evening workout person and the distance in miles or drive time you are willing to attend a gym. Then which makes more practical sense to you, belonging to a gym that is close your house, office, or even the daycare center or your child’s school? Do their open hours fit your schedule? Is there a separate workout room for women only if desired? Do you prefer the lush of a high-end spa gym or are the basics found in a Y just fine with you? And just as important as the other factors, how much are you willing to pay for a membership? Decide all before venturing.

Your Interests
What style of working out interests you or will keep you interested and motivated plus yields the results you desire? Possibilities include: body combat, boot camp, cardio, cross-fit, kickboxing, Pilates, spinning, step aerobics, swimming, Tai Chi, team activities, water aerobics, weight training, yoga, Zumba, and others. You might have to try a few to determine.

Your Needs
When it comes to the available equipment, what is the number of pieces so that you do not have to wait or your wait is lessoned? This especially applies to the cardio equipment, including treadmills, Stairmaster, ellipticals, rowing machines, and stationary bikes but also to the circuit training equipment, free weights, and training accessories.

Next, which gym amenities are must have’s besides the basics of perhaps a clean locker room? Here are several to consider: aerobics room, basketball courts, dance studio, daycare center, dietitians, exercise classes, indoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, juice bar, masseuse, outdoor swimming pool, personal trainers, racquetball courts, restaurants, retail store, rock climbing wall, running track, sauna, snack bar, spinning room, tennis courts, and whirl pool.

Other considerations for selecting a gym is what is its reputation in the community and what credentials do the staff have? Are there any reciprocal agreements? What is the cost for a guest pass? How often is the equipment updated?

Finding a gym that is right for you can be as enjoyable as getting in the gym to workout. Plan ahead and you’ll be one step closer to achieving the results your desire.

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana

Owning Up to Having a Vice

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Health and Wellness, New Year's Resolutions, Setting Goals

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week83The other day when I stopped at a mini market food convenience store, there was an elderly woman in front of me in the checkout line. Small and frail looking, she was bundled up on this cold wintery day but unable to hide her wrinkling skin and long yellow fingernails. (I am a people watcher, so I am guilty of seeing such features in a person.)

When it became her turn, she gently asked the cashier for two packs of cigarettes to go along with her pack of gum. As a lifelong non-smoker, I became quickly curious as to how much one pack of cancer sticks costs so I spoke up and inquired. My mouth dropped open in my mind when the cashier quoted me the various prices.

Without making any eye contact, the elderly woman quickly said, “Well, I’m going to quit this year, but this is my only vice.”

The day was January 2.

“Not that I’m justifying it,” she continued. “Everybody has something and this is mine.”

I said nothing more as the woman who looked shamed grabbed her cigarettes and gum and left the store. By her defensive reaction, it was obvious she felt some guilt by smoking the life-threatening habit, padded by future self promises of quitting.

Two days later, I was in a lab waiting for blood work. One of the only two technicians grabbed his winter coat and said, literally, that he ‘needed to fulfill his bad habit.’ Out the door he went, very well knowing what he about to do wasn’t good for him.

Upon his return, I sat across from him as I checked in with my health insurance and script. I jokingly teased him by saying, “What happened to your New Year’s resolution to stop smoking?”

He chuckled and wittingly responded without hesitation and without any eye contact, “My mother did not raise a quitter.” Then added, “It’s my only vice.”

Vice. Only vice. Why do some people think they are justified to having one when it affects one’s health and well-being? Allowed? Entitled? It is interesting. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of vice is a “bad or immoral behavior or habit.” Hmm. That doesn’t look it should be permitted or accepted  to me. Perhaps vices are better classified as addictions?

In a flip about, I have a vice, err addiction, to working out and eating healthy. It is the plague I am guilty of carrying and trying to spread. Goodness knows many have called me on it. But it brings me inner peace and rewards my inner being. If most people do have some type of self-proclaimed vice, then why not a healthy one? How about, ‘My vice is running’ which releases those high-catching endorphins. What about, ‘My vice is reading,’ a mental escape to sharpen the brain, increase knowledge, and flourish the imagination. Or ‘My vice is traveling,’ as it relaxes, soothes, and re-energizes. All of these are good.

I believe there are bad, negative vices as there are good, positive vices. One is supported by weakness and dependency while the other by discipline and dedication.

Breaking and ending a physical addiction and a psychological habit can be difficult, but it is achievable. Here are five suggested steps to help you override.

  1. Background. Do some soul searching and understand why and when you partake in your vice. What made you start and why it’s time to stop? Identify your triggers and associations. Remove any temptations from your home, car, and work. Find positive replacements and surround yourself with positive influences.
  2. Goal. Set a quit date within the next two weeks and get mentally prepared for your next chapter.
  3. Strategy. Create a plan of action with benchmarks and achievable goals. A good strategy will address the short–term challenge of quitting smoking and the long–term challenge of preventing a relapse.
  4. Alliances. Let your friends and family in on your plan and ask them for their support and encouragement to break your negative habit. Look for a “quit buddy” who wants to stop the same habit as well. You can help each other get through the rough times. If you believe it will help your journey, talk to your physician. He or she can prescribe medication to help with withdrawal and suggest other alternatives.
  5. Journey. Document your daily journey of struggles and wins. This will also help zero in on additional vice patterns while tracking your highs and lows. When you have a craving, include the intensity on a scale of 1-10 and what you did to overcome, such as types of distractions, embarking on a new hobby, or reminding yourself why you quit.

Quitting a bad habit is no walk in the park, but it is one of the best things anyone can do – replacing it with a positive healthy one. Then the next time when someone asks about your (new) healthier habit, you can look them in the eye and proudly say with a smile of accomplishment, “It’s my vice.”

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana

Setting Your Fitness Goals

10 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by in New Year's Resolutions, Setting Goals

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Now that the New Year is rolling, you are probably are ready to get going, or already have, on your “new” fitness habits. Perhaps you are inspired and motivated to lose some weight, tone up, or increase your endurance level. Most likely you dove right in to your workouts, returning or joining a gym or exercising at home.

As a gym person, every year I am always amazed by the number of packed parked cars I see outside the gym come every January. This is accompanied by long waits to get on cardio machines and doubling up to use the gym equipment. As weeks and months pass, the cars and people start to lessen. By early spring, all has returned to normal at the gym, meaning it’s just us diehard regulars coming for a good sweaty workout. The gung-ho others have either lost interest, gave up, or just couldn’t find the time anymore.

Setting your fitness goals is a commitment – a promise to yourself, that for a certain length of time or for an indefinite period of time – you are pledging to change and improve your current fitness routine with the goal of improving yourself physically to some compactly. While this may seem oblivious, a very large percent of those who start working out eventually find their enthusiasm waning as their goals get further and further away and they have settled back in their own previous lifestyle and routines.

So when setting your goals, make sure your goals are reasonable and that you have a specific plan to reach them followed by a realistic plan to achieve them. Be certain they are reachable to avoid frustration and disappointment down the road which may cause you to give up. Remember, altering your lifestyle can be challenging in the beginning, but this will pass after a period of adjustment.

A few of my own fitness goals for 2011 are to increase my endurance, tone and conditioning by adding new fitness classes and hiring a trainer to help me change up my own personal workout routines; be more diligent with my healthy eating habits, which will include eating a green salad daily as one of my meals; get a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep, 5 days a week; and to train and compete in a half marathon in addition to other running races and three triathlons after recovering from an injury in 2010.

The following are a few simple steps to help you stay on track with your fitness goals. 1) First, decide what you want for yourself and set specific fitness goal(s). 2) Next, write down your goals and begin keeping a log to keep track of your progress. 3) After getting the go-ahead from your physician, develop a plan of action. Decide what steps are necessary to achieve your fitness goals. 4) Remember to include your daily diet and sleep into your new routine. What you eat is 80 percent of your success rate. The other 20 percent is how you change your lifestyle to incorporate your new physical activities. 5) Finally, set realistic target dates with benchmark dates along the way.

Remember to be patient. Know that you will have good and bad days, and some days in between, but regardless you need to keep plugging away. Ask yourself, ‘how long did it take to become in the physical condition I am?’ Don’t expect overnight results. Your fitness goals will be obtainable not only with patience and perseverance, but with self-discipline and follow-through.

So get started today, if you haven’t already. Treat yourself to a new pair of sneakers and check out your local gym. There’s no better time like the present. So get out there! Maybe we’ll even bump paths!

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana

Introduction – Welcome to Fit Past 40!

04 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by in Health and Wellness, New Year's Resolutions

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New Year’s is always a time of new resolutions. New beginnings. New opportunities. With the fresh year and bright hope, many of us vow to lose weight, start exercising, spend more time with family, get longstanding projects complete, and so forth.

For a couple years now, I have contemplated writing a column or blog to share my inside tips, thoughts, and suggestions on staying fit and living healthier. I have had this growing feeling as many people often come up to me and either ask me how I stay so trim or ask if I am a trainer. The surprise factor is when they also find out my age; they are typically stunned as they have thought I was many years younger than I actually am. So what’s my secret? How do I do it? “Please tell,” I’m asked. Well, now I will.

Each week, I will post a new blog. I already have numerous topics in mind: Cardio, Yoga, Pilates, Weight Training, Hydration, Vitamins, Super Foods, Meals, Snacking, Sleep, Skin care, and many more, and how all of these combine play a role in your overall wellness and fitness.

But first, let me tell you a little more about myself. I am the youngest of three, with the elder two being brothers. One is a pain management physician who specializes in interventional spine procedures and the other recently stepped down as a CEO to become a partner in an executive firm who coaches CEOs around the country as to how to optimize their biasness operations. Our mother was before her time in the sense that she was extremely interested in vitamins, foods and herbal supplements. Growing up, the right side of our refrigerator was always filled with countless bottles of vitamins and all sorts of supplements. She made very healthy meals, kept little or no sweets in the house, and made sure we took our daily vitamins. Dad loved eating right, having a glass of red wine with his dinner, and keeping very fit. He walked 5-10 miles every day as well as performed the old-fashion calisthenics, such as push-ups and sit-ups, as his workouts.

I grew up tagging behind my big brothers – climbing trees; running in flag football and flashlight tag; swinging bats and racquets; reaching for and throwing balls; riding bikes and skateboards; roller and ice skating. In my early years, I played any sport activity that was made available to me, including gymnastics, softball, track, tennis, badminton, table tennis, and riding horses. In school, I played field hockey, lacrosse, and, for a few years, played in five different basketball leagues. In college, I played lacrosse for Villanova University in the center position and additionally ran, swam, and worked out in the weight room to make me a stronger all around athlete and player.

My passion for fitness has continued ever since. Over the past 10 years or so, I have competed in fitness competitions, running events, bike tour rides, and triathlons. This is all supplemented to various aerobic classes and strength training, and not to mention still participating in other physical endeavors including tennis, racquetball, skiing, swimming, riding horses, and golf. Actually, I will participate in almost any sport activity that is made available to me as I still love to play.

Throughout my life, I have remained very fit and very healthy and look years younger than my actual age. In addition to the exercising, I have a healthy daily diet, get plenty of rest, take good care of my skin and hair, and aim for a balanced life with less stress. How I achieve and maintain all of this to keep me young-looking, healthy and fit will be forthcoming in my weekly blogs to come. So, I hope you return and bookmark this site. Tell your friends about the blog. I look forward to sharing with you my tricks and tidbits. And if you have something to share, please feel free to pass it along to all of us trying to live a healthier life.

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana