Healthy 716- Connecting the 716 to Healthier Living

  Picture this: You finally get home after a long day and your stomach is growling. So you tell yourself, “Time for a healthy, home-cooked meal!" But then you raid your fridge, cabinets, and pantry, and… Not a healthy option in sight. If this sounds familiar, you are NOT alone. And it doesn’t just happen with home-cooked meals. Without careful attention, other healthy habits can quickly fall off your radar, too. Like when your schedule gets a little out of control and you let a few workouts slide…  Or you end up staying up too late one night and spend the rest of the week trying to catch up on your sleep. We unintentionally create so many unnecessary obstacles that block us from reaching our goals! 👉 Good news: I’ve got a simple formula that will help you stop that from happening…  So you can take control of your environment — and get those results you’re working toward. All you have to do is come up with a “one-two action pla...

  A lot of us nowadays are doing something that doesn’t do us (or the world!) any favors. We play small. By that I mean, we hold ourselves back — and don’t go after the things we really want. In other words, we settle. When we do this, not only are we depriving ourselves — but we’re also depriving the world of our gifts and our potential!  Well, let’s make 2024 the year that stops! It’s time to THINK BIGGER. It’s time to step out of your comfort zone and go after the things that you truly want. And I’ve got some great news: it is absolutely possible to go after big goals in a way that’s HEALTHY, STRATEGIC, and (yes!) FUN.  Let me walk you through the process…  FIRST: Mark your goal You probably already have an idea or two in the back of your head of something you want to accomplish this year (or even over the next couple of years). And if you don’t, take some time to think about what would give your life more meaning, mo...

 What if you woke up tomorrow and decided to give the day your VERY BEST? And by that I mean, you intentionally decide to give everything you do 100% of your attention, focus, and effort. And then you BRING IT. This isn’t something you can do EVERY day — because you’d burn out — but once in a while? It’s AMAZING. Here’s why: It helps you see what 100% of your effort looks and feels like It helps you pinpoint your priorities and what truly needs your full attention vs. what doesn’t It keeps you focused and in the moment  It helps you push the needle forward on what you’re capable of — no slacking allowed And it doesn’t have to be for an entire day! Even spending just an hour or two in “100%” mode a few times a week can yield HUGE results.  It can also help you level up because you’ll be able to easily recognize when you’re not operating at your absolute best. Another thing I love: you get to decide what your 100% looks lik...

With holiday parties and gatherings quickly approaching, most of us are now thinking about looking our best while dressed in our finest. Too bad that losing body fat is a slow and steady process, rather than an instantaneous fix. However…I do have an extremely effective 2-step method for losing belly fat faster than ever, and I’d like to share it with you today so that you can utilize it to look and feel your best this holiday season. Look Your Best for the Holidays.  This deadly, fat-incinerating method fights fat simultaneously on two separate fronts for maximum effectiveness: your sugar intake and your high intensity workouts. First:  This step requires zero extra effort on your part! In fact all you have to do is NOT do something that you’re currently doing! You stop consuming refined sugar, in all its forms. This means no sodas, no desserts, no packaged snacks, no candy, no mocha lattes, NO SUGAR AT ALL! When you stop to evaluate your diet, it may be shocking to find out ...

  As the countdown to the New Year begins, many of us find ourselves reflecting on the past and contemplating the future. It’s the perfect time to set goals and make resolutions, especially when it comes to our health and fitness. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of setting healthy New Year’s resolutions and provide you with some practical tips to ensure your journey towards fitness success. Define Your Goals: The first step towards achieving fitness success is to define your goals. Are you looking to lose weight, gain muscle, improve flexibility, or enhance overall well-being? Be specific and set achievable targets that align with your personal preferences and abilities. Create a Realistic Plan: Once you have established your fitness goals, it’s essential to create a realistic plan that fits into your lifestyle. Set aside dedicated time for exercise and choose activities that you enjoy. Whether it’s hitting the gym, joining a yoga class, or going for a daily walk,...

  It’s normal to exercise less this time of year. Most will blame this on all of the holiday activities that they have to take care of. The parties, the shopping, the baking, the wrapping… ( For a detailed action plan on how to Survive the holidays AND still lose weight.. read THIS ) While it’s true that there’s a lot to do, that’s not really why you aren’t working out. You’ve been just as busy in the past and you managed to keep your workouts consistent. So what is it? Why did you skip your workout? It’s because of stress. The stress is real this time of year. Obligations and expectations are coming at you from every angle, and somehow you are supposed to juggle it all with a smile on your face. It’s a setup for mismanaged stress to wreak havoc on your healthy routine. Mismanaged stress leads to overeating, overdrinking, headaches, weight gain, anxiety, fatigue and trouble sleeping. All of this overwhelm makes the idea of heading to the gym fo...

  Getting fit and healthy can be a challenge for several complex reasons that go deeper than simply calories-in versus calories-out. What you associate with “pain” and “pleasure” may be blocking your fitness success. You’re avoiding the WRONG pain. We are programmed to avoid pain and to seek out pleasure. Unfortunately, this can block your fitness success if you view healthy diet and exercise as pain to be avoided. (Read Did You Forget as a reminder!) Do you cringe at the thought of exercise? Does the idea of eating healthy make you feel deprived? If so then you are associating exercise and diet with pain, and this is setting you up to fail over and over. The simple way to fix this is to focus on the negative impact that your current weight has on your health, self-esteem and lifestyle. Remind yourself that the pain of being out of shape is much greater than the pain of losing weight. Once you decide that the biggest pain to be avoided is the pain of being...

 The holidays have arrived with all the high-calorie food and drinks of the season. It’s really no wonder why most of us gain weight during the next five weeks. Sweet temptations are everywhere. Holiday cookies, gingerbread houses, pumpkin pies, and more. Even healthy foods like sweet potatoes and green beans are somehow transformed into high-calorie dishes that will make you want to do nothing but fall asleep. And don’t forget the drinks. Eggnog and alcoholic beverages are loaded with calories. Want to fight these holiday pounds? #1) Remember the Reason for the Season Sure, the holidays bring indulgent foods and drinks, but friends, gatherings, and family traditions aren’t only about food. Before a party remind yourself what the holiday season is all about—friends, family, giving, and religious traditions. Then stay focused on the reason for the season rather than the plate full of hors d'oeuvres in front of you. Also, stay focused on your fat loss goals. ...

  …about your fitness goals? Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean your fitness goals no longer matter. If you lose sight of your fat loss goals entirely this month, you’ll have a seriously rude awakening come January 1. I have a better idea for you…let’s keep you focused on your fitness goals while making room for some fun this holiday season. This means that you’ll need to learn how to indulge with control. While that may sound like an oxymoron, it IS possible to let loose and enjoy without throwing away the results you’ve worked so hard for. Here’s how to stay fit this holiday season: Holiday Fitness Tip #1: It’s All About Moderation  Don’t try to deprive yourself of all the foods you love. This is unrealistic. Instead, be smart about what you choose to eat. Enjoy your very favorite flavors of the season but in moderation. Trim calories where you can by only eating those rich foods that you really enjoy. Also, be sure to limit the number of alcoho...

  You know those moments when you feel like you’re up against a challenge SO big, it seems like there’s no way out?  Maybe you feel like you have a lot of weight to lose, or maybe you’re up against a health concern that seems “impossible” to fix.  The next time you encounter a goal that feels overwhelming, here’s a story taken straight from the Green Berets — a U.S. Army’s Special Forces unit known for its resilience and tenacity. Back during the Vietnam War, Army 1st Lt. James “Nick” Rowe spent more than 5 years as a prisoner of war… During that time, he was trapped in a 3’x4’x6’ (0.91 m × 1.22 m × 1.83 m) bamboo cage, and consistently beaten, tortured, fed garbage, and worse. When he eventually escaped, Rowe (who went on to become a colonel) credited his focus on small victories — looking for any way to gain a slight edge — with helping him survive.  For him, the small victories were things like tricking his captors, finding an extra bite o...

  There are two distinctly different approaches to losing the fat and getting into amazing shape. One of these approaches works. (Every. Single. Time.) And the other approach fails. (Every. Single. Time.) I call these the Fitness Short Game and the Fitness Long Game. Let’s find out which game you’re playing… Fitness Short Game:  Those who choose to play short are looking for the quick fix. They are looking for the program that will give them dramatic fat loss results in the shortest amount of time. They want results, they want it NOW, and they don’t play to stick with it. This is the instant gratification crowd. Fitness Long Game:  Those who choose to play long are focusing on making lifestyle changes to sustain for the long haul. They are working on steadily adapting healthier habits and putting in the time and effort to maintain these improvements. They are patient and focused on their end goal, knowing full well that gratification will be delayed, and resu...

  Have you ever tried to quit a habit?  Depending on how long it has been a habit, it can be quite a challenge! I’ve got a powerful tip for you today that can help. Example: Let’s say you want to stop nighttime snacking. The next time you find yourself doing it, STOP (at least momentarily). Then, ask yourself without any judgment involved: What was happening just before you reached for those chips/cookies? Where were you? What were you thinking about? What were you doing? What were you feeling? Those questions can help you unearth the ROOT CAUSE of your habit. Nearly all of our habits serve a purpose. Or at least they did when we first started doing them. They may have eased boredom or loneliness, helped us deal with stress, given us a temporary shot of energy, and on and on!  But now the habit isn’t helping. You’ve outgrown it! When you can figure out the root cause SPARKING your habit, you are better equippe...

 Have you ever wondered how some people are able to maintain amazing bodies while you struggle with your weight?  They make it seem so easy to achieve and maintain results. What do they know that you don't? When you boil it down, the answer is quite simple. The missing link between you and your ideal body is good old motivation.  A healthy dose of motivation coupled with determination will get you almost anything in life. So how do you know if you're genuinely motivated? Motivation will tell you to get out of bed for an early workout.  Motivation will nag you to put down the doughnut.  Motivation makes passing on fries a reflex.  Motivation makes a sweat drenched workout exciting.  Motivation constantly reminds you why you do what you do. If your motivation levels are lacking, read the following four steps to turn on your motivation. Step #1: Pinpoint Your Motivator.  Motivation stems from having a go...

 We’re in the last lap of 2023 — and if you want to end the year with a giant exclamation point of accomplishment, there’s ONE THING you can do: Zero in on your “Sphere of Control.” That means focusing on things you actually have control over, like:  Your actions Your mindset Your effort … And letting go of everything else. Here’s a graphic that shows how this sphere works: When you focus on the things you control, you move FORWARD toward your goals. A few health and fitness examples of your sphere of control: Your workouts The quality of the food you eat Your performance and consistency Plus, your efforts in your “things you can control” circle carry a bonus. They can power the “things you can influence” by helping you make gains there, too. Some health/fitness-related examples in your sphere of influence: Setting up your bedroom so it’s cool, dark, and quiet, to help you get a great night of sleep Bein...

Are there things about yourself that you'd like to change?  Your weight, your habits, and maybe even your outlook on life?  We are trained to think that change is hard, that it takes time. But it really doesn't have to be.  I'm here to argue that lasting change happens in an instant.  I understand that this goes against mainstream belief. Most people believe that change has to be a struggle. We expect to try and fail numerous times before ultimately giving up or succeeding.  Think about this - how many people do you know who struggle with their weight? They want to make a healthy change by getting in shape, but the change never seems to happen.  What is it in your life that you want to change? Do you have inches to lose? Do you have preventable diabetes? Do you have a pair of skinny jeans that you want to fit into?  What is keeping you from making this change in your life?  According to professional speaker and author, Tony Robbins, it's the prepa...

 You have so many demands on you. Your family relies on you for money, food, transportation, and a million other things. You hardly get a moment to yourself at the end of each day. It’s hard not to feel guilty about taking a moment to care for yourself. From the moment that your day starts, with making meals, getting ready for work, and getting the kids to school on time and yourself to work on time, you have demands on you minute-by-minute. It’s easy to start feeling like there’s nothing left for yourself, even though the benefits of self-care are well known. Why self-care? Every time that we board an airplane to jet to another city, we are reminded of the importance of caring for ourselves before attempting to care for others. “In case of emergency, air masks will drop the ceiling. If you are traveling with a minor, please put on your own mask before helping the minor.” The reasoning is simple: if you are not in good working condition (i.e. gasping for air) t...

And it is something that you have complete control over… it’s the intensity with which you exercise. Intensity is something that’s difficult for the outside observer to measure but is felt within your body as you go through the motions of an exercise. It’s how hard you push yourself to go as heavy and as quickly as possible. It’s picking up a weight that feels hard to handle. It’s putting a boost behind each stride as you run. It’s resisting the urge to simply go through the motions. It’s outdoing your efforts from last time. Now I understand the urge to put out token effort in your workout, going through the motions while cutting corners along the way. We all have days when the weights feel extra heavy and our energy stores feel depleted, and those days will naturally be less intense. However, when low intensity workouts are your norm, you simply won’t ever achieve the results that you’re hoping for. And this is something that you completely control. So, as you go into your next worko...

Have you ever wondered how some people are able to maintain amazing bodies while you struggle with your weight?  They make it seem so easy to achieve and maintain results. What do they know that you don’t? When you boil it down, the answer is quite simple.  The missing link between you and your ideal body is your go-to list of excuses.  Start with an excuse and expect to be excused from losing weight. Here are seven excuses that have ensured dieters will fail in their weight-loss attempts before they ever get started.  Excuse #1: I’ve Always Been Overweight Here’s a little secret: feeling sorry for yourself will not help you lose weight. Quite the contrary. Whining and crying that you’ve never been thin can actually work against you, as you start to see yourself as stuck being overweight. Do that long enough and all you can see in your future is an overweight you. If you’re going to really cut your weight, you’ve got to be able to envision a lighter you.  Excuse...

  Talk to 10 people and you'll get 10 different opinions on the best way to get fit.One will tell you to attend an aerobics class. Another will swear by jogging.  Yet another will tell you that dance and biking worked for them.The truth is that there's really only one effective way to get fit. Before I get into the details, it’s important that we agree on the definition of 'fit'. Too often thin is mistaken for fit, and that's not what you should strive for.  When someone is thin, but has very little muscle tissue, they aren't truly fit.  Here’s why thin doesn’t equal fit:  Their body fat percentage will be higher than ideal—even though you won't see a lot of fat on them, if their muscle percentage is low then fat percentage will be higher.  Their resting metabolism will be low, since little muscle is present to burn calories at rest.  Their body won't be functionally strong, which will lead to injuries and frustrations. So ho...

 Here’s one small change to your daily routine that will help those unwanted pounds come off quickly and easily. ***Disclaimer: This sounds so easy but try it out before writing it off as too easy.*** The easy fat loss trick that you’re not doing is to drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water daily. This might sound boring, but take a moment to reflect on your water intake over the past few days. Did you even get close to the minimum of 64 ounces? Really, for optimal fat loss, you want to be drinking closer to a gallon of water each day. Why is water such a big deal? #1) Water Aids Fat Metabolism in the Liver When it comes down to the technical process of losing fat, your liver is where the action is. The key to having a highly functional liver, one that quickly removes metabolic waste and built up toxins, is to be properly hydrated by drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water each day. Your liver is a filter for your body. When you aren’t drinking enough w...