My 5 Day Vegas Diet

6 Comments

I think we can all admit that bathing suit shape is different from normal San Francisco cloudy -weather shape:-). You can hide behind clothing living in this city pretty easily with all the fog and wind.

But this means when an opportunity arises for some fun in the sun, most people go on a rampage to get in shape quickly.

Even I like to drop those last couple pounds before heading anywhere I have to rock a bikini and skimpy dress for a few days!

 

I will be heading to Vegas this weekend with all my friends, so my diet and workouts are my #1 focus right now.

 

Many of my ‘secret’ dieting techniques I steal from my friend Audra’s Clean and Lean Challenge.  And they work without fail Every time! (BTW We are starting another 30 day Clean and Lean Challenge on September 20th so if you want to beat the rush and learn how our clients are dropping between 5-20 lbs in 30 days, register for our Free Nutrition Seminar here. )

Okay, onto my meal plan for the week:

Sunday

  • Breakfast – 2 eggs with sauteed spinach
  • Lunch – chicken on a bed of of mixed greens, tomatoes, cabbage, onions
  • Dinner – salmon with broccoli, mixed greens

Monday

  • Breakfast – 2 poached eggs with mixed greens and salsa
  • Lunch – avocado and chicken spinach salad
  • Dinner- asparagus, mushroom, onion stir fry with greens and sirloin steak

Tuesday

  • Breakfast – 2 eggs scrambled with sauteed kale
  • Lunch – walnut broccoli with carrots, greens and halibut
  • Dinner – Left over from Tuesday night

Wednesday

  • Breakfast – 2 eggs sunny side up with spinach
  • Lunch – southern greens chicken wraps with carrots, cabbage, greens and onions
  • Dinner – same as lunch

Thursday

  • Breakfast – 2 eggs with mixed greens
  • Lunch – spinach and salmon salad (that was my plan. I ended up losing all will and cheating due to Dan Martin’s amazing sandwiches he had for us post workout at our Coyote Point KB club – turkey, cheese, avocado, arugula- just the yummiest sammies! But you all should stick to the salmon with spinach:-)
  • Dinner – chicken and veggie stir fry

** On all of these days if I have to snack, I will snack on something I cooked for lunch or dinner (eg. making a little extra in case I get hungry mid day)

Friday – Off to Vegas baby! (No dieting here:-)

Seriously, anyone can do this for 5 days.

But if you have some real  poundage to lose, you can actually use this diet for a longer period of time. This is why our Clean and Lean Challenge is so effective. You have the support and motivation of an incredible nutrition coach and an actual plan of action to help you get through the 30 days and beyond. That way when weekend outings come up you can be ready in a flash!

Tune in next Monday when I share my 2 week Vegas Workout Plan!

You should try out this meal plan with me and let me know how you feel by leaving a post on the blog below!

I’ll talk to you when I get back.

How I Burn Fat Fast – My 21 Day Fitness Challenge

Leave a Comment

Many new clients will come to our fitness boot camp when they have an event coming up in the near future – a wedding, beach vacation, reunion, playboy mansion party (that is true!), you name it. Everyone is always searching for that magic formula that will help transform their bodies in record time.

I know this may sound like a late night TV commercial, but I do believe that if you truly apply yourself, you can burn fat quickly. It is hard work. But a lotcan happen in a short amount of time if you implement a strict plan of proper nutrition and a workout routine filled with compound movements, interval cardio training and flexibility. With this formula, you are bound to see incredible results.

If you are the type of person that wants to see fast results and then maintain them, read on…

I have seen great progress on my own body and with my clients over the years. In fact, to test my theory further I had a group join my New 21 Day Challenge (we are holding another one right after Labor Day) and here are the results they got:
* A combined Loss of over 41 lbs
* A combined Loss of over 45 inches!

Of course, to maintain them it is best to engage in fitness activities you enjoy on an ongoing basis. Any fitness jump start should be followed with a maintenance plan to keep you slim and healthy.

So here is the Secret formula I use to get my clients the best and fastest results possible and what you can use in your own fitness plan:

1 – Eat 3 meals consisting of healthy, whole foods / day – Each meal should have Tons of non-starchy veggies, healthy fat, and protein.

2 – Perform Full body strength exercises to tone and lean muscles with maximum effort on every set,  3 – 4 times weekly and no more than 20-25 min per workout. The shorter your workouts are, the more intense you can make each set. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym if you are using maximum effort and if you are, it is very hard to workout more than 25 min.

3 – Incorporate high intensity interval cardiovascular and strength training to your workouts. (Eg do 5-10 sets of running hard for 1 min and walking for 1 min after a warm up.)

4- Join our New 21 Day Challenge! or Find a class or fitness coach that will motivate you to go and work hard! Sometimes we just need that extra push to get started and maintain our fitness programs in a consistent pattern. In fact, if you are this person I would love you to join us for our New Post Summer 21 Day Boot Camp challenge!! You can find all the details here at www.SF21DayFatLoss.com.

5- Make sure you are incorporating proper warm up and cool down techniques during your workouts. (I prefer doing joint isolations and vision work.) You can read more about how to do this here.

Getting Motivated for Your Fitness Plan

Leave a Comment

There is not one client I have worked with who has not had trouble with gaining motivation at some point or another during their quest to get in shape.

After working with this issue for some time now, I have learned that going back to the foundation of your goals and motivation which is the driving force for your wants and needs can really help you get through a fitness slump…

Announcement: (Before I go any further, click to our San Francisco “Your Best Body Challenge” website to see our Big Announcement and really jump start your fitness Plan: www.SFYBBChallenge.com. This will begin Saturday April 9th behind AT&T Park!)

Okay, Back to motivation! Becoming unmotivated to work out usually comes down to 3 important things:

  1. Not having clear fitness goals in mind – Your goals are what you want to achieve. Eg “I want to lose 10 lbs.”
  2. Not knowing what motivates you to get in shape – Your motivation should be connected with each goal. Eg “I want to lose 10 lbs to fit back in my skinny jeans.” Or “I want to lose 10 lbs to have more energy to play with my children and feel more healthy.”
  3. Not having an understanding of your level of commitment to achieving your goal – Your commitment level can be measured on a scale of 1-10. If you do not find that you are at a 9 or 10, try to determine why you do not feel this way. Think through your goals and motivation. If you cannot muster up the determination to be at a 10, then it will be hard for your to motivate yourself to get up and works towards the fitness goals you want to achieve. At this point, it is helpful to visualize yourself being at your goal weight, wearing exactly what you want, feeling healthy and energized! Do this for a couple weeks every day, then see if you have reached a high level of commitment. Write down in detail how you want to feel, what you want to look like and how you want your life to be.

Why Visualization is So Powerful:

I learned recently that the brain cannot tell the difference between a real occurrence and something thought up. I’m gonna write that again because this is powerful stuff! The brain cannot tell the difference between a real occurrence and something imagined. This means that the more you visualize and think of yourself being a certain way, the more your brain will program you to be this way and to take action! Good or Bad. So the more detail you can use, the more writing you can do, the better. You will ultimately be programed for success!

Other very Powerful Motivators:

  • Getting a Fitness Coach to help you work through those times you need some extra help.
  • Joining a Fitness Challenge Like the one on this Website starting Saturday April 9th: www.SFYBBChallenge.com
  • Finding a workout buddy
  • Joining a fitness class you Love! Sign Up for a Free Week to try out our programs here: www.sanfranciscobootcamps.com!

Last But Certainly not least, our client of the Month Brenda T had some great words on motivation. Click here to see her video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmAyPaxiq3w&feature=channel_video_title

 

Avoiding the Workout Plateau

2 Comments

I for one, get bored very easily doing the same workouts day in and day out for myself and even for my clients. This is actually a good thing for a couple reasons:

1) It allows us to have greater creativity while programming our boot camp and personal training workouts.

2) It pushes us to never get in a training rut where we lose motivation to get our clients working out in different ways helping them to completely avoid plateaus!

This doesn’t necessarily mean we have to invent brand new off- the- wall exercises all the time. I have my favorite body toning exercises that also happen to be incredible for building full body strength, caloric expenditure and endurance. But it does mean that we can take functional exercises and perform them in different ways to add more variety to a workout.

Along the same lines, avoiding the workout plateau can be done using the same types of exercises but changing the following aspects which have to do with varying the resistance or type of weight you are training with:

  1. Using Heavier weight for greater Strength Gains (this does not mean bulking up:-)
  2. Number of repetitions or Time you are performing the exercise
  3. Type of exercise you are doing
  4. Type of Weight you are using

Using Heavier weight for Strength Gains and Better Muscular tone: You can avoid a workout plateau by always being mindful of the resistance you are using and pushing yourself to the next level of strength when you are ready. This can be done once you have your exercise form down and approved by your weight training coach. If you are always working with the same strength, you are not giving yourself the option to challenge yourself and get stronger. Sometimes this takes picking up a heavier weight, doing a certain amount of repetitions and finishing off your set with a lighter weight. Trying to do one more repetition every day you perform that exercise with a heavier weight can keep you challenged in your workout routine.

Number of Repetitions or Time you Are Performing the Exercise: Being mindful of the number of repetitions you are performing (10 vs. 20) or time frame in which you are performing your exercise (30 seconds vs 60 seconds) is essential when it comes to choosing the best resistance for your exercises. If you are doing 10 repetitions vs 20 Or 30 seconds vs 60 seconds, you are able to use a heavier weight due to the shorter duration of the exercise you are performing. So, you are able pick up a heavier weight to challenge yourself. If you are working more on muscular endurance (20 reps vs 10 or 60 seconds vs 30), you will generally stick with a lighter weight so you can get through the entire set without stopping too much. But, you must make sure that your muscles are fatiguing near the end of the set so you either feel the burn or feel like you cannot perform another repetition. This is how you know you’ve chosen a resistance appropriate for your level of strength that will also help you feel challenged and grow stronger. One more tip on this! If you are doing an exercise for time (EG 30 or 60 seconds), Don’t be afraid to try and work with a heavier resistance, do as many reps as you can, take a short break within the set and finish off the set with the same resistance. This will also help you to constantly develop your strength.

Type of Exercise you Are Doing: If you are doing a Leg Exercise OR Compound Exercise vs an Upper Body or Single Joint Exercise, you will need to vary the resistance you are working with. For Leg or Compound exercises (compound being exercises that use both upper and lower body movements together – Eg. – squat to a shoulder press), you will need to use a heavier weight to feel fatigued. The reason is because your legs have the biggest muscles in your body and can therefore handle a much heavier load than doing just arm movements alone.

Type of Weight You are Working With: It is always a good idea to Mix It Up by using different types of weights. In our boot camps, we use resistance bands on some days, medicine balls on others, body weight exercises and have recently incorporated dumbbells for greater strength gains and muscular toning. Changing the type of equipment you are working with forces your body to adapt which brings you to a new and increased level of fitness. Resistance bands are excellent because they provide you with tension to do exercises with lateral, vertical, and diagonal movements. Provided you are maintaining tension on your band at all times, they enable you to push through different types exercises and add variety to the direction you can workout your muscles in. They also allow you to work more safely through the eccentric phase of your exercise (EG – Lowering your hands down from a shoulder press or straitening your elbow from a bicep curl). Medicine Balls are excellent for explosive or power training (med ball slams, med ball passes), cardiovascular drills, ab exercises, buddy drills and hand – eye coordination (throwing/catching the ball). They get your heart rate going, allow for improved range of motion, flexibility and joint integrity.

Body Weight Exercises enable you to use your own weight to create resistance for exercises (such as push ups, mountain climbers, etc). I find body weight exercises performed in a plank position are some of the most difficult to do. The reason they are so effective is because you have to recruit almost every muscle in your body and especially your core to perform one repetition with proper form. Because you are using so many muscles to perform one repetition, you are burning many more calories than doing a single joint movement (such as a bicep curl) alone.  When you begin doing body weight exercises, it takes time to build the strength to complete a certain amount of repetitions that will really get your heart rate going. Don’t worry, you are still getting a workout! If you feel you cannot do another repetition at the end of your body weight exercise, you are on the right track. If you feel that you could do 10 more, you need to increase the intensity of your motion. More on this in another post! Last, Using Dumbbells is an extremely effective and functional way to train movement patterns.  Our daily activities require that we lift, push and pull objects of different weights which is very similar to what we do when training with free weights like dumbbells. For example, lifting a heavy box or even a child is very similar to doing a low dumbbell squat or bent leg deadlift. You will train the appropriate movement pattern to help your muscles get stronger so you do not injure yourself in everyday life. They also allow us an opportunity to take body weight exercises to the next level (EG doing a plank and rowing one arm back with a dumbbell), enable us to develop greater lower body strength than resistance bands alone,  and allow us to do weighted cardio training to take our heart rate up higher and faster.

Weather you are looking for further strength gains, muscle tone or just a more challenging workout to avoid a plateau, these techniques should do the job! For even more info on how to use them, come check out a Free Week of Boot Camp by visiting www.sanfranciscobootcamps.com!

10 Steps to Making Nutriton for Fat Loss Simple Part 1 and My Weight Loss Challenge

6 Comments

This is going to be a long post. First we will be going into 10 steps to make nutrition simple. Then, you will see my favorite vegetable and the benefits of it. Last, I will show you my own food journal and what I am eating to lose 5 lbs to get into fitness model shape!

With so many options on the market and so much bad information, it can be difficult to know if you are making the right choices with your foods and therefore your health. I have been taking a nutrition course from an incredible place called Bauman college and they have opened my eyes to making nutrition clean, simple and easy. It really doesn’t have to be complicated and stressful! Often times, after building the habit of eating a well balanced diet of proteins, healthy fats and carbs, you will start to feel when you are off balance nutrition – wise.

So like I said before, it really doesn’t have to be complicated! Here are the first 10 Steps you can start changing today to feel more healthy:

  1. Increase your Intake of local and Seasonal Foods. Take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and visit your local farmers market with your friends or family to see what is in season. It makes a fun and educational morning or afternoon trip. Collect fresh foods for the week and prepare them ahead of time so you always have a healthy meal or snack when life get’s busy.
  2. Drink purified water (about 1/2 cup every hour). In drinking throughout the day you can prevent dehydration, food cravings, muscle cramps and feel more energized! Most people are dehydrated and they don’t even realize it. Signs that you are: Thirsty, dry lips, feeling low on energy when you wake up in the morning. Simply drinking a glass of water right when you wake up can put you off to a great start in meeting your water needs for the day.
  3. Become a “Label Reader” at the grocery store. I know it sounds tedious, but it can really save your waist line to know what you are putting in your body. Avoid the following ingredients to start with: White Sugar, White Flour, anything artificial, canola oil, high fructose corn sugar, trans fats. Or better yet, just chose healthy fruits, veggies and meats that don’t have labels!
  4. Decrease or Eliminate your intake of of artificial sugars, unnatural fats, added hormones, preservatives, colors and antibiotics. – Enough said:-)
  5. Eat 1 gram of protein for every 2 lbs of body weight and eat protein with Every Meal and snack to curb sugar cravings.
  6. Decrease consumption of glutenous grains (barley, rye, wheat, oats) and Increase consumption of gluten free grains such as quinoa, brown rice, millet, buckwheat, amaranth.
  7. Increase consumption leafy and crunchy veggies in tons of colors! Leafy veggies (EG: mixed greens and kale), crunchy veggies (EG broccoli, celery, cauliflower). This will provide your body with minerals and vitamins.
  8. Balance out your plate for breakfast lunch and dinner to include 1/2 leafy and crunchy veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 starchy gluten free grains and 2 TBSP healthy fat.
  9. Eat Healthy fats from seeds, avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, and nuts.
  10. Write it down and record how you feel eating certain items! This way you can tell if you are eating too many carbs / proteins/ too much sugar/ drinking enough water, etc.

My Own Weight Loss Challenge

Now, onto my own weight loss challenge. So I was recently contacted by TRX to do a photo shoot in 2 weeks. Doing fitness photo shoots is kind of like being in great bathing suit shape. So I have decided to lose 5 lbs to look great in those photos. I will be recording my food journal on the blog for you all to see:

Here is my first day:

Sunday

Breakfast

2 Eggs, 1/4 cup pinaple

Snack

1/2 cup blueberries and 8 raw walnuts

Lunch

Lidia’s Green alkalizing soup, kale salad with seaweed and seseme seeds, 1/2 cup chicken chille verde

Snack

8 Celery sticks with hummus

Dinner (On the go! Went to Whole foods salad bar)

1/4 cup guacamole, palm size protein – chicken thigh, 2 cups greens

Dance Practice

Coconut water and 1/4 cup garbanzo beans when I got home

Day 2 Monday  – Ode to Kale (one of my favorite vegetables)

Kale

  • more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost ANY other food
  • source of Vitamin K A and C
  • aides detoxification ** This is especially great for cleansing during this 24 day challenge
  • CALCIUM
  • lesson occurrence of some cancers – breast and ovarian

Here is my food journal for today:

Breakfast

- 2 Eggs, 1/4 cup garbanzo beans (this was a stellar combo for me!) It kept me going for 4 hours through a boot camp class and personal training session

Snack

- 8 Walnuts, 1/2 cup blueberries

Lunch

- 2 Small pieces of chicken (1 oz), 1/4 cup garbanzo beans, 1 cup of greens

Snack 1

- 8 celery sticks with 2 Tbsp almond butter

Snack 2

- Quinoa Salad with Kale and seasonal fruit

Dinner

- 1/4 cup Lydia’s alcalizing soup and 1/2 cup Biason with crunchy vegetables

If you love this post, leave a comment record your food journal and I’ll let you know how we can make it better!

10 Steps to Making Nutriton for Fat Loss Simple Part 1 and My Weight Loss Challenge

6 Comments

This is going to be a long post. First we will be going into 10 steps to make nutrition simple. Then, you will see my favorite vegetable and the benefits of it. Last, I will show you my own food journal and what I am eating to lose 5 lbs to get into fitness model shape!

With so many options on the market and so much bad information, it can be difficult to know if you are making the right choices with your foods and therefore your health. I have been taking a nutrition course from an incredible place called Bauman college and they have opened my eyes to making nutrition clean, simple and easy. It really doesn’t have to be complicated and stressful! Often times, after building the habit of eating a well balanced diet of proteins, healthy fats and carbs, you will start to feel when you are off balance nutrition – wise.

So like I said before, it really doesn’t have to be complicated! Here are the first 10 Steps you can start changing today to feel more healthy:

  1. Increase your Intake of local and Seasonal Foods. Take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and visit your local farmers market with your friends or family to see what is in season. It makes a fun and educational morning or afternoon trip. Collect fresh foods for the week and prepare them ahead of time so you always have a healthy meal or snack when life get’s busy.
  2. Drink purified water (about 1/2 cup every hour). In drinking throughout the day you can prevent dehydration, food cravings, muscle cramps and feel more energized! Most people are dehydrated and they don’t even realize it. Signs that you are: Thirsty, dry lips, feeling low on energy when you wake up in the morning. Simply drinking a glass of water right when you wake up can put you off to a great start in meeting your water needs for the day.
  3. Become a “Label Reader” at the grocery store. I know it sounds tedious, but it can really save your waist line to know what you are putting in your body. Avoid the following ingredients to start with: White Sugar, White Flour, anything artificial, canola oil, high fructose corn sugar, trans fats. Or better yet, just chose healthy fruits, veggies and meats that don’t have labels!
  4. Decrease or Eliminate your intake of of artificial sugars, unnatural fats, added hormones, preservatives, colors and antibiotics. – Enough said:-)
  5. Eat 1 gram of protein for every 2 lbs of body weight and eat protein with Every Meal and snack to curb sugar cravings.
  6. Decrease consumption of glutenous grains (barley, rye, wheat, oats) and Increase consumption of gluten free grains such as quinoa, brown rice, millet, buckwheat, amaranth.
  7. Increase consumption leafy and crunchy veggies in tons of colors! Leafy veggies (EG: mixed greens and kale), crunchy veggies (EG broccoli, celery, cauliflower). This will provide your body with minerals and vitamins.
  8. Balance out your plate for breakfast lunch and dinner to include 1/2 leafy and crunchy veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 starchy gluten free grains and 2 TBSP healthy fat.
  9. Eat Healthy fats from seeds, avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, and nuts.
  10. Write it down and record how you feel eating certain items! This way you can tell if you are eating too many carbs / proteins/ too much sugar/ drinking enough water, etc.

My Own Weight Loss Challenge

Now, onto my own weight loss challenge. So I was recently contacted by TRX to do a photo shoot in 2 weeks. Doing fitness photo shoots is kind of like being in great bathing suit shape. So I have decided to lose 5 lbs to look great in those photos. I will be recording my food journal on the blog for you all to see:

Here is my first day:

Sunday

Breakfast

2 Eggs, 1/4 cup pinaple

Snack

1/2 cup blueberries and 8 raw walnuts

Lunch

Lidia’s Green alkalizing soup, kale salad with seaweed and seseme seeds, 1/2 cup chicken chille verde

Snack

8 Celery sticks with hummus

Dinner (On the go! Went to Whole foods salad bar)

1/4 cup guacamole, palm size protein – chicken thigh, 2 cups greens

Dance Practice

Coconut water and 1/4 cup garbanzo beans when I got home

Day 2 Monday  – Ode to Kale (one of my favorite vegetables)

Kale

  • more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost ANY other food
  • source of Vitamin K A and C
  • aides detoxification ** This is especially great for cleansing during this 24 day challenge
  • CALCIUM
  • lesson occurrence of some cancers – breast and ovarian

Here is my food journal for today:

Breakfast

- 2 Eggs, 1/4 cup garbanzo beans (this was a stellar combo for me!) It kept me going for 4 hours through a boot camp class and personal training session

Snack

- 8 Walnuts, 1/2 cup blueberries

Lunch

- 2 Small pieces of chicken (1 oz), 1/4 cup garbanzo beans, 1 cup of greens

Snack 1

- 8 celery sticks with 2 Tbsp almond butter

Snack 2

- Quinoa Salad with Kale and seasonal fruit

Dinner

- 1/4 cup Lydia’s alcalizing soup and 1/2 cup Biason with crunchy vegetables

If you love this post, leave a comment record your food journal and I’ll let you know how we can make it better!

Turkey Busting Workouts Feed The Hungry

4 Comments

Wow! We just had an amazing full body workout behind AT&T park! I want to thank everyone that showed up from the bottom of my heart. We donated a ton of food (my biceps are in pain from carrying it all to the car with my fiance – Ha!) Luckily for those of you who missed it or who want  a second dose, we will have another FREE workout this Saturday November 27th!!  All you have to do is bring a can of food or $1 – $10 monetary donation (i just learned this actually goes further than the cans of food) to come in for free. All donations will go to the SF Food Bank. The location will be behind AT&T park if it is sunny and at My Gym – 901 Minnesota Street if it is raining.

Check out my twitter account in the morning to find out where we will be if the weather is iffy -

http://twitter.com/kristenfitness

Here is a photo from our workout today – Samantha, Michelle and our Birthday girl Kimi are front and center!:

Put your hands up!!

Dropping the food off at San Francisco Food Bank felt incredible. We were able to donate 72 pounds of FOOD!! No wonder my arms are killing me!! A great way to start of the Thanksgiving Holiday right and realize how much we can make a difference in the lives of all the people who are in need. We are all very lucky and have so much to be thankful for.

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for all my boot campers and personal training clients who have been with me this past year as this coming Monday marks my anniversary of my official start of I Luv My Body Fitness Boot Camps and Personal Training! It will be a very exciting day and I have spent this week reflecting on this past year, realizing how many people we have helped achieve their fitness goals and dreams which has made me a bit emotional! We have come so far as a company but still have so much more to do. This is the exciting part.

So thank you to all of our clients for making it all happen. I am so grateful and honored to be your fitness advisor and can’t wait to see you all get even better in the New Year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and healthy (maybe-) Thanksgiving. Please join us this Saturday so we can make an even bigger difference with our Food Donations! Bring everyone you know, let’s make this huge!!

Thank you again!