Your Ideal Form

Helping you on your journey to your best self!

Tips and Tricks

Getting Started with Lifting Weights

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Getting Started with Lifting Weights

So you’ve got a good cardio routine down, but you’re really curious about the other half of the gym: the weights. It can be a bit intimidating over there if you don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m here to help you ease into it!

Let’s start by getting some facts straight: increasing your muscle mass is the only way to PERMANENTLY increase your metabolism and burn off more calories while you sleep. Don’t fall for the myth that lifting weights will make you bulky. If you want to get bulky, you will need to eat at a calorie surplus, eat a lot of protein, and for most women to get supper ripped, you will also need to take steroids. Lifting while eating to lose weight will give you the lean body you are looking for. “Toned” just means “having low body fat and showing some muscle definition.” If you want to get toned, you will have to lift weights. And you might be surprised just how much you’ll have to lift to start seeing that definition. If your purse weighs 10 pounds (some of us feel the need to carry whatever we might possibly need in case of any eventuality) or your toddler weighs 20 pounds, then toying around with five pound weights isn’t going to get you anywhere!

As always, consult a doctor. If you can, consult a trainer. Doing things incorrectly can hurt you, and we don’t want that. One session with a trainer to nail down your form and make sure you are lifting correctly can save you from a world of hurt and injury down the line.

Machines

Weight machines have you use levers to move a stack of weights. Working with a trainer will help you overcome the “I don’t know what I’m doing feeling” when approaching some of the weight machines. Some of them seriously look like medieval torture devices, and having someone show you how it works rather than figuring it out on your own can really make a difference. That said, newer weight machines at newer gyms will often have a diagram on them explaining how to use it. Weight machines tend to only work one way, so there is less chance of injury, since the machine forces you into a particular plane of motion. Whether with the help of a trainer, the guide on the machine, or asking the person who just hopped off the machine (people are generally happy to help if you just ask!), get into the proper position on the machine, use the pin to set a weight that’s good for you (start light, you can always increase later) and then work through as full a range of motion as you can.

Cable Machines

Cable Machines use a steel cable attached to one or more pulleys to move a stack of weights. Because the end of the cable that you hold can move around freely, cable machines let you work with a wider range of motion and exercises. Especially ones where you can adjust the height of the pulleys so that you can work different muscles. For example, you can attach a bar attachment to the cable, set the pulley low, and use it to do bicep curls. Or you can use that same bar attachment, set the pulley up high, and push down on the bar, working your triceps. By adjusting the pulleys and what attachments you use, you can easily get a full body workout in from just this one machine! Since the cable gives you a bit more freedom to move around somewhat, it is important that to get the most out of your exercises that you be sure to practice good form. Keep your core nice and tight, and for most exercises, you’ll likely want to keep a straight/flat (not rounded) back.

Dumbbells

Dumbbells move us into the realm of free weights. There is nothing restricting the movement beside your own muscles. Free weight exercises often require that you use auxiliary muscles for stabilization, giving you a better full-body workout. Dumbbell exercises are very versatile, and you can find them in most gyms, including hotel gyms if you tend to travel often. Depending on the exercises you are doing with dumbbells, you may want to consider using wrist wraps for extra wrist support. You may find that your arms can lift a certain weight without a problem, but your wrists end up being the limiting factor. If you’d like to get started with dumbbells, check the the end of this post for a free workout!

Barbells

Barbells are the next step up from dumbbells. Once you get into barbell lifting, form becomes VERY important. Olympic weightlifting and  power lifting use barbells for lifts such as: squat, deadlift, clean, jerk, snatch, and press. Many of these movements are complex, full-body movements and can give you an amazing workout. As they are complex, I do not recommend working on barbell lifts without a trainer or very experienced lifter to check your form. That said, once you get into barbells, it is hard to go back to lifting any other types of weights! You get to realize just how strong you are, and it makes you feel unstoppable!

If you have any questions at all about weight lifting, please ask in the comments below!

 

Setting Successful Weight Loss Resolutions

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Setting Successful Weight Loss Resolutions

It’s that time of year again. And with the year this has been, this year cannot come to a close too soon. Bring on the New Year and the Resolutions! Let’s look at steps we can take to make our resolutions a success for the entire year, and not just a January kind of thing.

The Process

Firstly, it is important to focus on the PROCESS, not just the results. While weight loss is a goal that is certainly completely within your control, some others are not. For example, let’s say your resolution was to get a raise. A better resolution would be to make it a goal to call 10 customers every day. Unless you are your own boss, you have no say in whether you get a raise or not. The economy could tank, the company you work for could lose an important contract, or you could get a new boss who just doesn’t like you. You can’t do anything about that. But you can make those calls every day and by doing so make more sales, and likely increase your chances of getting that raise. Similarly, you want to pinpoint those habits that, when done consistently, will be the most likely to help you reach your ultimate goal, and then resolve to do those actions with discipline.

The SMART Formula

These habits should also follow the SMART formula of being Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. So instead of saying “I’m going to eat better”, follow the formula. “I am going to eat 2 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.” You can measure whether or not you’ve eaten those 2 servings or not. You can’t really measure the ambiguous “better”.

The Method

There are two methods for creating change in our lives. It’s a bit like getting into a swimming pool that has water that’s a bit chilly. One method is the jump right in method. You go all the way all at once, getting it done and over with. This method can work well for some people, but for others, it simply leads to failure when they try to take on too much change all at once. If you go from not doing any exercise to deciding to CrossFit 5 times a week, you’re going to get VERY sore and likely quit. The other method involves dipping in your feet, and once you get comfortable, get in up to your knees, and then up to your thighs and so on. As a resolution, it might look something like this: January – write down all meals in a journal. February – track foods eaten in an app that calculates calories for you. March – start measuring your meals to get a more accurate calculation of what you are taking in. April – calculate your TDEE and start slowly lowering your intake to get below that number. May – lower your intake more if necessary, or add in some exercise. And so on.

The Why

Another important component of success with resolutions, New Year’s or otherwise, is to constantly remind yourself WHY you are doing this in the first place. The stronger your reasons, the more likely you are to stick with it when things get hectic. Visualize what a successful outcome will look like for you. Is it looking good on your wedding day or in a swimsuit? Is it being able to play with your children and keep up with them? Is it being able to get pregnant and have a child without being stressed out about potential complications due to excess weight? Is it not feeling ashamed when going or eating out? Imagine yourself at your ideal form. What is different? What is your life like? That is your WHY. That needs to stay forefront in your mind each and every day. You can give yourself reminders with sticky notes on your mirror, a Pinterest motivation board, daily journaling or even meditation. But it is so important to keep your reason for reaching your goal present, to really keep yourself motivated to stick to the habits you resolved to achieve on January 1st!

Are you weighing yourself wrong?

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Are You Weighing Yourself Wrong

When weighing yourself to get a measure of your progress, it is important to get accurate data so that you can make an informed decision on whether to change up your game plan. Let’s take a look at four common mistakes that are often made when stepping on the scale.

1. Weighing in too often

Weight fluctuates drastically over the course of the day. Try weighing yourself before and after going to the bathroom to see one example of a difference. As we eat and drink and go about our day, our weight changes. Trying to weigh multiple times a day can just lead to frustration, or at the least, confusion. Weight also fluctuates day to day. Maybe you had a large meal and are retaining water. Maybe your cycle is about to start. Weighing in too often can lead to discouragement when the scale jumps up and down constantly.

2. Not weighing in often enough

Conversely, you don’t want to go for long periods without checking in on your progress. You want to make sure you are on the right path, and not accidentally veering off course. Periodic check ins will let you know whether or not you need to make any changes to your diet.

3. Not being consistent

It is important to be consistent in how you weigh yourself so that you can get data that accurately represents where you are. If you tend to eat more on weekends, and one week you weigh in on a Friday after a week of diligently sticking to your diet, and one week you weigh in on a Monday after a big family meal the previous day, you’re going to get vastly different results. Pick a day and time and stick with it. Since I tend to program in a “cheat day” into my diet plan, I weigh myself first thing in the morning on that day after going to the bathroom, but before eating or drinking anything. Also, if you can, be sure you are wearing the same clothes when you weigh yourself. Ideally, just weigh yourself completely naked to eliminate any variables. If you prefer to weigh in less often than once a week, choose the same time each month to account for any bloating around your cycle. If you prefer to weigh in daily, measure yourself at the same time each day. Also, there are apps available that will track daily weigh-ins, but give you an average of what your weight is doing, so that if one measurement spikes up, you can still see that the trend is moving downward.

4. Relying solely on the scale

Don’t forget to measure yourself in other ways too! You can take some pictures to compare to how you looked months ago. You can try on some old clothes to see how they fit. You can also get out the measuring tape to see if you’ve lost some inches. The scale is merely a tool, and only one of many that you have available to you!

Achieve Your Body Goals by Focusing on the Process, not the Results

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Goals are a fantastic thing to have. And I’m sure you’ve heard about SMART goals, but just in case, here’s a refresher. Goals should be:

Specific – Not just “I wanna be healthy”, but “I want to be healthier by losing weight”.

Measurable – Not just “I want to lose weight”, but “I want to lose 20 lbs”. Or “I want to drop my cholesterol by 3 points”.

Attainable – Is your goal even possible? Have you achieved it in the past? Do you know others who have gotten there?

Realistic – Even if a goal is possible (running a marathon in under 3 hours, say), it might not be realistic for you.

Timely – There needs to be a time limit. A goal is a dream with a deadline. Without that time aspect, you can find yourself pushing out your goal forever.

So do you have your SMART goal now? Great! Now, we want to focus on the PROCESS that will get us to that goal. HOW will you reach your goal? You might say something like “I will lose 20 lbs in 4 months by eating no more than 1500 calories per day and exercising for 30 minutes 3 times a week.” Your goal is losing weight. The process you have is your diet and exercise plan. The idea here is that if you completely ignored your goal, but still stuck to your process, you would get to your destination regardless.

Many small wins

Focusing solely on your goal means that nothing but that matters. It makes the journey to get there a slog and no fun. This increases the likelihood that you get burned out. By focusing on our process instead, we give ourselves the chance to get many small wins. Every trip to the gym is a victory. Every day you hit your eating goals is a triumph.  Every healthier choice is a success!

Lifestyle thinking

I’m sure you’ve also seen plenty of motivational images about how healthy living is a lifestyle. And it is! If you go on a diet merely to reach a goal, and once there, you stop and go back to your old habits, you’ll end up right back where you started. Goals are fantastic, but we must be cautious of having them be this huge end all be all for us. I trained for and ran a marathon once. After the race, I had no other running goals, and decided to take a short break from running to “reward” myself and recover. I meant for it to be a month. I didn’t run again for over a year! Fall in love with the process instead, and you’ll find it so much easier to keep up your habits well beyond once you’ve reached your goals.

In order to have permanent change, the changes we make must be permanent. This is why it is so important to find a process that works for YOU. In that vein, I’ve created a 13-diet comparison guide that goes through the pros and cons of some of today’s most popular eating plans and give my recommendations on each so you can determine which might work best for you for the long haul. It’s free, so check it out!

A Different Kind of Meal Prep

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Meal prepping is one of the best things you can do to help you achieve your weight loss goals.  But what about when you’re not at home? Unfortunately, it is far too easy to go way over your limits with even just one dish at some dining establishments. Today I want to look at a few ways we can prep before going out to eat, so we don’t end the night feeling like one meal has completely derailed all our progress.

Plan ahead

The key here, as is often repeated, is to plan ahead. Either plan to eat foods that fit into your allowance for the day, or if you can plan way ahead, you can eat less during the day/week leading up to it, so you can eat what you want without worry. So if you know your birthday dinner is this coming weekend, and you absolutely must have the tiramisu at your favorite Italian joint, keep the rest of your meals for the week on the lighter side to “make room” for that decadent dessert. If a dinner out is more of a spur of the moment decision, then plan to pick something off the menu that fits into your diet plan for the day. So, how can we make sure we’re sticking to our plan?

Pre-peruse the menu

These days, every chain restaurant has the nutrition information of their menus posted on their website. Before heading out, take a look at the online menu and decide ahead of time what you are going to order. Now, while this is an easy tip, it’s really hard to stick to. It’s easy to look at the menu and say “oh, I’ll order the grilled salmon!” but then once you get there and smell all those wonderful smells, it becomes very difficult to not order the smokehouse burger and cheese fries instead. This is where it helps to go back up to planning ahead. If you’re not going out for a few days, you have time to build in some wiggle room so you can order what you really want to eat, rather than having to settle for something yummy, but that doesn’t quite “hit the spot”. If you are going to a more “mom and pop” local joint, you can still look up a similar chain online to get a decent estimate of menu items.

Promise to go halfsies

Another option when going out to eat is to promise yourself ahead of time you’ll only eat half of your meal. Many restaurants these days give you huge portions that are more befitting of two meals than just one. You can ask for a box up front to box up half of the food right away so that it’s not even on your plate anymore. This lets you basically cut the calorie/macro count of the dish in half right off the bat. Just be sure to also plan ahead for what you will do with the leftovers. Alternatively, you can offer to split the dish with a dining partner so there aren’t any leftovers.

These are just a few tricks you can use next time you dine out so that you can eat what you really want, but still continue making progress toward your goals!

For more ideas on how to handle eating out with coworkers, check out my Ultimate Guide to Meal Prep.

How Water Affects Your Weight

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How Water Affects Your Weight

In case you’ve ever wondered how something with zero calories and some say zero taste can have an effect on your weight, this post is for you.

You retain water after eating.

Let me start by explaining just how water retention in the body works. When you eat a big meal, all that food heads to your stomach to start being digested. To absorb the nutrients in our food, the stomach breaks things down and turns it into a soup. To get things soupy, the body siphons some of the water out of our bloodstream and into our stomachs. This has the effect of making the blood thicker, so the body signals to the brain “hey, we need more water!” The brain then signals for thirst, and you drink some water. Once digestion is done, that excess water that was in your gut goes back into your system. Now there is too much water, so you eventually pee it out. This whole process can take up to 12 hours. In the meantime though, you could be carrying up to two pounds of excess water around. Water is heavy. A 20-ounce bottle of water weighs a pound and a half.

You  retain water after a workout.

A similar thing happens after an intense workout. While protein builds muscle, water aids in muscle repair and recovery after a workout, so water gets siphoned off to your muscles. This is what causes that post-workout “pump” where muscles seem to look a bit bigger than normal immediately following a weight lifting session. They’re just hoarding your water.

If you stay properly hydrated, your body can still use some water for digestion or muscle recovery without triggering the thirst centers of the brain to compensate.

You retain water at certain points in your cycle.

Bloating can make us feel fat, and then stepping on the scale can just make us feel worse. Take heart, however, because…

Water retention adds temporary weight, but NOT fat.

I’ve gone over how water can make it seem as if you’ve gained weight. You have temporarily gained “weight”, but what you have not gained is fat. This is why it is a good idea to schedule your weigh-ins for first thing in the morning, after using the toilet. You’ve had all night to digest your last meal, and so it’s right about time for you to shed some of that excess water.

Water can keep you from overeating.

Now let’s look at how water can actually help us lose weight. Many lists of healthy eating tips include drinking a glass of water before each meal. This helps your stomach hit that pleasantly full feeling sooner, so you don’t overeat. Often times, when you think you might be hungry, you’re actually just thirsty. Try drinking some water and waiting 15 minutes to see if the craving passes. Staying properly hydrated can improve your performance in the gym and help you recover quicker, which can help you burn more calories during your workout.

Stick to water, you probably don’t need Gatorade.

Speaking of workouts, don’t make the mistake of trying to quench your thirst at the gym with high calorie “performance” drinks. Unless your workout goes for longer than an hour, you don’t need the electrolytes in drinks like Gatorade or Powerade. Water is plenty sufficient, and doesn’t have extra calories.

How to get more water in your day.

If you don’t think you are getting enough water in your day, here are some things you can do to help you stay hydrated:

  • Set a timer to go off once an hour to remind you to drink some water.
  • Buy a water bottle and keep it handy; buy one for home and a separate one for work so you’re never without one. (I have a water bottle at home, one at work, one in my gym bag, and one in my work laptop bag for when I do an activity immediately after work.)
  • If water is too boring for your tastes, try infusing your water with lemon, strawberries or cucumber for a refreshing twist. They even sell water bottles with a special compartment to put the fruit so you don’t have to worry about accidentally choking on a strawberry.
  • You can also buy zero-calorie water enhancers that can give your water some flavor.
  • If you like carbonation, try seltzer water which can be found in a variety of flavors.

How much water is enough?

So now that you are all pumped to drink more water, you may be wondering just how much “more” is more. There is the often touted “eight glasses a day”. But what size glass are they using? As with most things surrounding healthy eating, there is no one-size fits all answer for everyone. That said, there is an easy way to tell how hydrated you are: check the color of your pee. This infographic from the Cleveland Clinic details how to tell if you are hydrated enough, or whether you could use some more water. Drink up!

The Color of Pee

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