Most of those who successfully maintain their weight and healthy lifestyle habits have created “rules” they generally live by. You don’t want to tackle too many at once. Remember, it takes several weeks to solidify a habit. More importantly, you want to create WINS. Set yourself up for success by selecting one that you have a degree of confidence that you can conquer. Wins build confidence to take on more…and more. Before you realize it, you’ve made life changes that work!

1. No eating after 7pm
2. At least one Fiber, Fruit or Veggie per meal
3. Drink one cup of water before each meal
4. Never eat more than a fist-sized portion of complex carbs at once
5. Eat only whole grain carbs
6. Have no more than one cheat meal per week
7. Check weight every Sunday morning
8. Exercise at least 3 times per week no matter how busy
9. Do bedtime stretches daily
10. Do morning stretches daily
11. No more adding salt or soy sauce to foods
12. Have red meat up to twice a week
13. Switch the nightly ice cream to fruit
14. Shop every Saturday at the Open Market for fresh produce
15. Get to bed by 10 pm daily
16. Switch to lean proteins

These are just a handful of examples. Several of these have worked well for me over the years. Create your own that take you another step in the right direction toward improved health maintenance.

*** I invite you to visit my website www.lifefitnet.com and participate in a short online survey that should take only 2-3 minutes to complete. No one’s personal, individual data is ever shared and the aggregated information is used to Build a Healthy Hawaii and better understand individual needs and preferences related to establishing healthy lifestyle habits. Mahalo for your support! Lori

Another interesting contribution from my son, Casey….

We have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Some of us take this to heart and eat a filling breakfast of bacon, eggs and rice, while some of us simply go with a nice, hot cup of coffee.  However, the basis behind this is that breakfast allows our bodies’ metabolism to get a jump start and burn some calories, essentially giving us energy throughout the morning.

Essentially, when your body is digesting food, it means your metabolism is working.  To really get the most from this boost, eating frequent, small meals have been shown to keep your metabolism working consistently; this along with complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and any other high fiber foods, because these nutrients take much longer to break down and digest.  Implementing complex carbohydrates into a sound diet plan and eating frequently will help maintain your boosted metabolism throughout the day.  Another overlooked approach to boosting energy and metabolism in the morning is a quick morning workout.

After working out, our metabolism increases for a period of time and will stay elevated.  Especially after a workout that includes some resistance, our body enters an anabolic state in which it uses macronutrients to rebuild broken down muscle.  This growth period is very important for anyone trying to increase their lean muscle mass or muscle mass in general.  Our body may also crave food during this period because it needs fuel to start this process, as the whole process actually uses up quite a bit of calories.

The more intense the workout, such as combining quick burst of resistance work with cardio exercises, the more benefit you get later.  Your body will use a lot more calories rebuilding muscle and restoring ATP stores (the main energy component used by all cells in our body) if the workout is more intense.  If you really wanted to optimize the amount of time your body spends building back and burning calories, you could try a morning workout when you wake up and another workout in the late afternoon; especially since the late afternoon is when our lungs and muscles are at their peak condition and because this is when our energy levels tend to drop down.

It should be noted that you can get this metabolism boost by exercising at any time of day.  However, getting in a morning workout (along with a good breakfast) will help set the rhythm of maintaining healthy habits throughout the day.  This is probably the most beneficial aspect of morning workouts. (Just as a footnote, if you are not a morning person or if working in morning training causes undue stress, push it back to a time that works better for you—but at least get your meal in. Elevated stress can negatively affect your metabolism so find what works in the long term.)

*** I invite you to visit my website www.lifefitnet.com and participate in a short online survey that should take only 2-3 minutes to complete. No one’s personal, individual data is ever shared and the aggregated information is used to Build a Healthy Hawaii and better understand individual needs and preferences related to establishing healthy lifestyle habits. Mahalo for your support! Lori

Perhaps the word has been overused and has lost its meaning over the years. People make a New Year’s resolution as if they are merely selecting the flavor of the day.  “Hmmmm. Today, strawberry. Tomorrow, I will diet and exercise.” A couple weeks later, they decide that maybe it’s better left for another year.

If you are setting a resolution for 2012, think.

res·o·lu·tion

1.    a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

2.    the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

3.    the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

These are powerful statements. They speak of determination, action and firmness. Wow! That sounds like someone destine to get somewhere and do great things!

Is that someone YOU?

In past years, we’ve supported your New Year’s pursuits by offering numerous strategies for setting goals and tactics for tricking yourself into staying the course. While these are helpful for those willing to put forth the effort, the ultimate deciding factor is rooted in the word.

• Are you determined to trudge through the unpleasantries to get there?
• Will you remain firm to your purpose?
• Are you willing and able to take action toward your goal?
• Are you resolved to achieve your goal?

This means that you will accept nothing less. You will not stop until you arrive at your destination. You will not quit. Quitting is NOT an option.

That’s what it means when you dare to claim a New Year’s Resolution. Anyone with this level of drive WILL achieve their goal. How driven are you?

*** I invite you to visit my website www.lifefitnet.com and participate in a short online survey that should take only 2-3 minutes to complete. No one’s personal, individual data is ever shared and the aggregated information is used to Build a Healthy Hawaii and better understand individual needs and preferences related to establishing healthy lifestyle habits. Mahalo for your support! Lori

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

I’m getting pumped for a breakthrough 2012! There is so much to look forward to and I’ve already got a jump on it by kick-starting my workout and eating well program right after Christmas.

I know. Everyone thinks that I always exercise religiously and I’m some health nut with my eating. The fact is NOT! I struggle with maintaining the program just like many of you. In fact, since I’ve spent the greater of the last several months trying to sell my house and then had to prepare for the holidays, I’ve been a bad girl.

So, the first order of business is to set a goal. You gotta have goals! No, I’m not talking about having to enter a competition or doing the marathon, necessarily. Nor am I suggesting that you should aim at losing “X” number of pounds. While that may work for some people, it may not be the best motivator for others.

The key is to find something that triggers passion in you. If it, for whatever personal reason has significance for you, it will be far more effective. Find that and you will drive through the moments of doubt, the seemingly endless sweaty workouts, and the denial of calorie-filled treats without a second thought.

You’ve already seen the miraculous changes that are possible in “The Biggest Loser” contestants. That should lay to rest any doubt you may have about the mere possibility of changing the body you thought you were doomed to keep after getting older, having kids, or living with health issues and injuries.

2012 is THE YEAR! Create the YOU that you will be proud of. Challenge yourself to reach new heights. Whether you are 18 or 80, you can improve your health and fitness. You may very well discover a YOU that you’ve nearly forgotten.

Set your goal…a vision.

Have a plan.

Stay focused.

Celebrate your progress.

*** I invite you to visit my website www.lifefitnet.com and participate in a short online survey that should take only 2-3 minutes to complete. No one’s personal, individual data is ever shared and the aggregated information is used to Build a Healthy Hawaii and better understand individual needs and preferences related to establishing healthy lifestyle habits. Mahalo for your support! Lori

This article comes to you compliments of my son, Casey, who was a personal trainer in Oregon.

There are many myths regarding temperature and how it affects our workouts: working out in the cold causes us to burn more calories because our body has to spend more energy keeping itself warm OR working out in the heat causes us to burn more calories because we sweat so much and our body is trying to keep itself cool.  The truth is that sweating itself does not translate to tons of calories being burned, nor does a body in the cooler temperatures which is trying to stay warm.

When we workout in the cold, whether it’s running outside in the early morning or in a nice air-conditioned gym, we feel great as our body starts warming up, knowing that we’re getting a great workout.  However, our body actually doesn’t spend extra energy warming up, because the act of doing some physical activity causes our body temperature to increase. No extra energy is expended in this process.  However, at extremely cold temperatures, when our body starts to shiver, we do expend extra calories in this process (sometimes up to 400 calories/hour).  Shivering is dependent on how long we are exposed to the cold, exactly what temperature it is, and what clothes we may be wearing.  But who would want to spend their workouts sitting in an ice cold room shivering the whole time?

When we workout in the heat we feel a sense of accomplishment as we feel the sweat dripping from our brow and soaking our clothes with perspiration. Again, it is important to note that sweating itself is not causing us to burn tons of extra calories, even though the body does expend some energy when sweating.  In actuality, when the body senses the need to stay cool, our heart rate increases in order to send more blood to the skin; this in turn leads to dilation of the blood vessels and then sweating.  It is the increased heart rate that causes us to burn more calories, not sweating.

So if you want a great workout while burning the maximum amount of calories, do your cardio in the heat.  Increase your heart rate but stay safe in avoiding heat exhaustion. Wear lightweight clothing and stay hydrated before, throughout and after your workout.  This method, however, only applies to aerobic activities and not to anaerobic activities like lifting weights.

Studies have shown that muscle endurance actually decreases with increased temperature.  The reason for this is not fully understood, but researchers have hypothesized that it may be due to a slowing of the regeneration of ATP (the energy source of all cells in our body) in anaerobic glycolysis.  But again, this is just speculation, further research is required.

Mahalo Casey for sharing your workout insight.

*** I invite you to visit my website www.lifefitnet.com and participate in a short online survey that should take only 2-3 minutes to complete. No one’s personal, individual data is ever shared and the aggregated information is used to Build a Healthy Hawaii and better understand individual needs and preferences related to establishing healthy lifestyle habits. Mahalo for your support! Lori