Coaching Archives

9 Ways to keep Weight Off Over the Holidays

How to resist indulging during the holiday feast?

The holiday season and gathering time is upon us! It is a great time for celebration with co-workers, family and friends. The down side is that it also tends to become a time for over-indulgence and weight gain!

Why is this important, you ask?

Some statistics show that people gain an average of 8-12 pounds the last 3 months of the year between Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas Celebrations. If something isn’t done about this, this can lead to a LOT of extra weight and health issues. Who wants that!?

Just because we are in the holiday season, doesn’t mean we have the open ticket to gorge ourselves! The holidays do not have to cause weight gain if you think differently about it, have a different focus than food and follow a few tips to stay healthy.

By implementing a few simple tips you can stay healthy through the holiday season and change your focus to the activities, the fun and the true meaning behind the holiday celebrations.

9 TIPS to Help you out:

Avoid Focusing on Food…

Take focus off the food part of the celebrations. Focus on the true reasons you are getting together with others you care about such as catching up with people you have not seen in awhile, focusing on the Christmas Season and its true meaning, and participating in some fun activities such as cards, skating, making decorations, walks to check out locally decorated homes or just to enjoy the fresh air.

Have Realistic Expectations…

Be realistic. Don’t make your main focus about losing weight during the holidays. Just focus on maintaining the best health possible while avoiding gains.

Exercise Daily…

Make time for exercise every day. Exercise reduces stress levels during holidays and certainly contributes to your efforts of preventing weight gains! Consider adding extra exercise to your regular routine due to the potential increase of calorie intake during this season. An example could be an extra 30 min cardio session or even a brisk walk each day.

Avoid Skipping Meals…

Avoiding skipping meals. Be sure to have healthy snacks such as fruits, veggies, raw unsalted nuts, and/or fat free plain yogurt prior to going to a celebration or party to avoid being too hungry! This way there will be far less temptations!

Watch those Unhealthy Fluids…

Be sure to be careful about the amount of unhealthy fluids you drink. Many beverages are packed with fat and sugar (especially some egg nog and cocktails). Alcohol is a dangerous one to be drinking if you want to stay healthy since it reduces our inhibitions generally, can lead to increase snacking and over-indulgence. Also, alcohol tends to be full of calories and sugar!

Scan for Healthy Options…

When you go to an event or party, have a look at what foods are there before you start filling your plate. Choose the foods you like in small amounts and try to balance your plate to be lighter on the calories with salad and vegetables (and avoid heavy sauces). If you know there will not be any healthy options available, consider bringing your own healthy food with you or bring a healthy meal to share with others!

Cook Healthier at Home…

When doing your own holiday cooking, try to cook with the healthier, lower fat, lower sugar and lower salt alternatives. For example, you can put the gravy in the fridge and skim the fat off the top once it hardens. Use more vegetables in your stuffing instead of breads and use low-sodium broth to cook with. Remove the skin off your meats and trim any visible fat. When you make mashed potatoes, try using skim milk, garlic, low sodium broth, and Parmesan cheese instead of whole milk and butter.

Eat Slow and Stop when Full…

Eat slowly and stop once you are satisfied. Don’t keep eating until you feel over stuffed. Enjoy your favourite foods in small portions. Take in the surroundings, enjoy the people you are with and have fun without over indulging on foods or drink. You will feel much better afterwards!

Enjoy and Find a Way to Burn off the Extra Calories…

If you happen to overeat at a celebration, don’t be down on yourself. Just exercise more and eat lighter the following few days. We can make up for the small indulgences by having a plan! So if you really want a butter tart, have one, but consciously have a way to make up for it.

In summary,

Be sure to enjoy all of the holiday festivities, plan to be healthy and focus on enjoying the real reasons for the holiday celebrations and avoid over-focusing on food.

Be sure to make time for physical activity and cook as healthy as possible for your holiday meals.

Don’t restrict yourself from enjoying your favorite holiday foods (find a good way to make up for the extra calories!).

Once the holiday season is over, your mind and body will thank you!

Please comment below with your thoughts on keeping weight off over the holidays! Any other tips you might suggest?

BONUSES FOR YOU

Learn how to eat Clean: To get a free PDF download about the basics to get started with a clean eating lifestyle, CLICK HERE

Have me as your Coach: To read more about me and why I would like to be your coach and help you get healthy and fit….see it here! To join my next fitness, fat burning and nutrition challenge, message me HERE.

The Secret to Thriving after Abuse

I know what it feels like to be powerless.

It’s a terrible feeling to live under someone’s thumb. Or be physically or emotionally abused. It’s worse when it continues and there’s nothing you can do about it. Every year the injustice continued, I burned hotter with rage.

I vowed that when I grew up, I would never be a victim. More than that, I would not let others be victims either. I would fight for others, even rescuing them if I could – just the way I wished someone had rescued me. It wasn’t easy. The temptation to feel sorry for myself was definitely there. But the rage was bigger than my sadness, and drove me to action.

Thus a lifelong advocate was born. I lived to help others – in the school yard, among my friends, and even down to choosing my profession as a nurse.

I’ve also known a different kind of powerlessness – the feeling of having no control over my body. Despite having loved fitness and physical activity since childhood – and even despite my training as a fitness leader! – my body began to change. My knees hurt. Chronic pain plagued my lower back. Weight added itself to my face and waistline every year without my permission. I was so exhausted sometimes I could barely get through the day.

I remember looking in the mirror and thinking, “Is this what being forty is about? Is this just how it is?” What was happening to me?
I thought I had no choice but to submit to whatever was happening in my body. After all, I was getting older, so I may as well get used to it, or so I was told.

After a while though, I realized what I was really doing. I was simply going along with what was happening, just as my female role model had submitted to all those years ago. I was talking and living like a victim.
That’s the day I renewed my vow to take my power back. I would not be a victim anymore, even of myself, even of my own body.

I remembered something important that day: we need to be advocates for ourselves. It’s an empowering thought, especially for someone who has been victimized and suffered abuse.

It’s strange how abuse tends to repeat and filter down– the abused often become abusers. But we don’t have to. We can thrive. For me, thriving starts with advocating – both for others and for myself.
I took charge of my fitness that year. After signing up for the P90X Beachbody program, it promptly kicked my ass. I couldn’t do more than a few jumping jacks or two knee push-ups before falling apart. My knees and back couldn’t take it.

But I would not be a victim, even of that.
In my determination, I recruited physiotherapy help to get me through the program. I modified, I pushed, and damn-well made it through to the other side. The result?

I got my power back, baby.
I got fitter and leaner and now have some awesome before-and-after photos for starters. The whole experienced Changed. My. Life. I dove in headlong and became a coach as another way to advocate for people.
But there was so much more to it than even that.

It wasn’t just my physical strength and mobility that improved. Not only did weight come off and energy increase. I found a new strength – the power of advocating for myself – the power of refusing to be a victim, even of myself. And that’s the key to thriving, no matter where we come from.

Contact Diane, the Athletic Grandma

Click here to get more information about Coaching

We get what we focus on

Our message for today is that we all get what we focus on most in life. It’s very true!!

If we focus on what’s wrong, what’s no good, what doesn’t work, what sucks, there’s never any time, I am broke, there is never enough money, problems, what we are mad or sad about, what we don’t like, what we hate, gossip, talking negative about other people,etc. Then we will attract more of this negativity into our life.

Today we are choosing to focus on what is great, what we are thankful for, knowing that there are always solution to everything, smiling, happy for the abundant life that we have, happy for the moments we have, there is lots of time, pleased with life the way it is, and… This way we will attract more happiness and positivity into our life. Sounds like a good plan to me ?

Remember, in this world, we get what we focus on. So, focus on the happy and positive… Then that’s what you will get back??

Happy Wednesday! ?

#WeGetWhatWeFocusOn #livehappy #positivechange #athleticgrandma #fitnessgal1969 #consistent #determined #dedicated #pianoplayer #introvert #positive #learnfrommistakes #horselover #mom #runner #fitnesscoach #nursepractitioner #musclesgrandma #grandson #cleaneater #advocacy #enjoylifenow #unstoppable #grandma #INTJ

Last chance to get in on Health Bet!

Seriously? We can commit to getting healthy and be consistent with superfood and exercise over 4 weeks then get paid for it? It’s TRUE!

There isn’t even an entry fee into this one! Normally “diet bets “require $30-$50 bets to be placed before you can be entered, but not this one!! All you need to do is log your workouts (at least 3 per week) and your superfood (at least 5 per week) and you WILL get a portion of the pot! There is NO gambling here and I want you to get in on this!

Seriously all I need to register you in my health bet challenge Group is the email that you have on file with me at Team Beachbody! It’s super simple! ????

Comment below or email me at gudmund@mymts.net to let me know you want in! ?

#don’tmissit #timeisrunningout #healthbet #commit #makeadecision #letsdothis #timeforsuccess #athleticgrandma

To be Convicted is a good thing?

Today was a challenge to get my butt moving out of bed and down to the basement for a power lifting session…? …but I got it done! ?

What really helps to keep me going is the fact that I made a true decision to get fit, healthy, feel good, and to sculpt a body that I can feel good about in anything I wear. I was tired of muffin top, and fat bulging out over my bra strap, and feeling self conscious which made it hard for me to feel good in jeans and many other clothes!! Yuck!

The kind of decision I am talking about here is not just a “I wish”, or “I hope” kind of decision…this is a decision that is made with the kind of conviction that makes the other choices NOT an option…the kind of decision where you are in 100%, and NOT 99%.

The kind of decisions that are made with conviction and deep determination are those decisions that lead us to our goals. The 100% way means that there is no being on the fence, no waffling, no deciding whether or not to have that donut out of that box that someone brought into the office…it just makes it easier to be 100% into the decision and to stick to the plan. Learning to make these kind of decisions can change your life! This certainly has changed mine! ?

True decision-making gives you incredible personal power and it feels great! ?

Fitness and health is only one area, but we can use this kind of decision making in other areas of our life too…I am going to make more decisions today…I have decided! LOL ?

Comment below with a decision that you have made with conviction and are 100% in on…I would love to hear about it ?

#athleticgrandma #fitnessgal1969 #icandothis #muscles #hammerandchisel #conviction #decision #letsmakerealdecisiontoday

Easy will not get you to the next level! ?

“Easy” won’t get you to the next level…you gotta work for it! This is what my trainer reminded me of this morning as she was kicking my ass with a 40 min weighted cardio workout.

You cannot beat having your own trainer at home early in the morning!! No baby sitter needed, no inconvenience of having to get to and from a gym, get pushed to work much harder, no interruptions, no worry about being self-conscious like at a public gym. All around, I have had the absolute best results using home-based professionally designed programs and have taken my fitness to the next level far more than I ever did in the gym setting. ?. All of these benefits, plus I am constantly making amazing new friends in our online accountability group!!

The beauty of this type of program is that it also doubles as a cross training program to make you stronger, faster, and better endurance for other sports that you participate in! It works for me for running! ?

if this type of fitness lifestyle appeals to you, feel free to contact me as I now have openings for new clients for my coaching program.

#dontgiveup #easygetsyounowhere #beforebreakfastclub #athleticgrandma #fitnessgal1969 #fitnesscoach #fitnesschallenge

What decisions lead to success?

Consistency in good decisions leads to success

It is those small decisions that we make and consistency of those decisions every day in the right direction that make all the difference in our success or failure.

For example, choosing an apple over a chocolate bar, choosing to do a workout instead of watching TV, choosing to speak kind of others instead of gossiping, choosing to see the best in others instead of focusing on their faults, choosing to save that $10 instead of buying junk food…and so much more!!

This morning I could have had an extra hour of sleep (much needed), but…even though I didn’t want to, I got up at 5 am and got a plyometric workout in. This was a choice! I can choose to be successful in my health and fitness and be consistent or I could choose an extra hour of sleep…hmmm I think I made the right choice and will do the same thing tomorrow even if I really do not want to! This is called Self-discipline and I don’t hesitate to kick my own butt if I need it!? …??

What other choices can you think of that people could make more consistently each day to be happier and more successful in their life? Comment below!

#FitnessGal1969 #athleticgrandma #consistencyiskey? #dailychoices #survivalandsuccess #choosewisely

Aspiration Wednesday!

Let's use today as a day to aspire and grow! — Let’s use today as a day to aspire and grow!

Quick photo capture during breakfast intake today…Gunner is as crazy about bananas as his auntie Lisa is!!

It’s hard to believe it’s already Wednesday… 🙂

By the way, this morning I was reading some personal development by my mentor Darren Hardy. It was interesting how he points out that people are driven by one of four psychological motivations.
1. Things(envy), 2. People(gossip), 3. Thoughts (anger), and 4. Growth (aspiration)…

The Mediocre mass spend the majority of their days thinking feeling and acting on numbers 1-3… On The other hand, the achievers (successful) spend the majority of their precious time and thought, planning, and discussion on number four.

Take a few moments to really listen to what people are thinking about and saying around you today… Do you notice? What are on your thoughts today?

After reading Darren Hardy’s post, I have decided that I’m going to call today aspiration Wednesday !! ??. Have a great day!

#AspirationWednesday #ThinkPositive #BeHappyNow #EnjoyLifeNow #fitnessgal1969 #athleticgrandma #DarrenHardy

That post-meal Happy…

Don’t you just love that feeling after a satisfying and healthy meal… That great feeling of warmth, satisfaction and relaxation ?. Just thinking about how happy this makes me feel, reminds me of something…

Only a couple years ago, I remember having the attitude that… “I will be happy once I get my mortgage paid off…”… “I will be happy once I am in better shape and 30 pounds less”…I will be happy once my business is successful…” “…I will be happy once my yard is totally landscaped and beautiful..” Who can ever be happy with this attitude?

It was a real eye-opener once I started working on personal development that I had it all WRONG!! Imagine waiting 15-20 years for the mortgage to be paid off to be happy? I realized I will never be 100 % happy with my weight or fitness level, so why wait to be happy about something that may never happen? Why wait years before being happy about my yard? Also, it takes years to build a business, so why wait til it is successful to be happy? Let’s face it…once one goal is reached, there will be more to reach for! So I had to learn to refocus my thoughts totally in order to be happy!!

I learned to implement small successes towards my goals to feel happy and fulfilled TODAY that I am making small strides towards my goals. Instead of making them distant end points of happiness, I turned them into the icing on the cake! Instead, I focus on the small things each day that will get me there and it makes me happy now!

For example, I decided that putting an extra $100 on my mortgage principle every paycheque is what I would implement now. This makes me totally happy! I know I am making small step towards a big goal and it is not at all overwhelming! I focus on eating clean today and getting a workout in and am happy knowing I am doing the best I can towards better health and improved fitness level over time. I focus on one small area of the yard each year, and over time, I am sure the yard will get nicer…it’s way too overwhelming to attempt to get it all done fast (it’s a Huge yard!). I also take courses, work on myself and be consistent in my business, which makes me happy as I just know these simple things will lead to little successes as time goes on ?

The message I got from my own personal development was it is imperative that I focus on being happy in the present! Life is too short to keep thinking about huge long term wants and being depressed because they seem huge, overwhelming and unachievable!

I really had to re-work my whole way of thinking in order to be truly joyous and happy NOW and in the present! When i did this, I started to realize more and more what I have to be grateful for and it feels great and is so motivating!! ?

Helping others to discover happiness NOW is also one of my daily goals. Please reach out to me if you need help or support in this area…it’s truly a magical thing to change your mindset ?

Are you Enthusiastic?

I don’t know about you, but I plan on being enthusiastic today!

Some of the things that we do routinely, quite often, or repeat over and over, often become mundane or boring once the initial excitement has worn off.

This is so true about many things in life. Whether it’s work, doing the chores, reading the kids a book, driving our car,and many other hundreds of things that we do every day… Let’s face it we all become somewhat robotic after a while?
… And definitely not enthusiastic!

So, where will you inject some new enthusiasm into your day today? Your health and fitness journey? Treat your job like it’s your very first week at that job again? Be creative and come up with new ideas, even though the old ideas never worked or were approved? Come on, I am sure you can come up with something to be enthusiastic about today?

We are nearing the end of the workweek now… So let’s finish this week with some smiles and some enthusiasm ?. Have yourself an enthusiastic Thursday!! ?

#EnthusiasmIsContagious #EnjoyLifeNow #AthleticGrandma #FitnessGal #BeHappy #BeCreative #JustDecide #WeCanDoThis