For me, that translates into increased awareness about what I’m putting into my body and how I’m taking care of it.  I think before I eat something, weigh whether I want it or need it (seriously, who’s ever needed a cupcake?), and if I do want it and it’s perhaps not such a clean eating food, I weigh what I’m willing to do to balance it out…like more time at the gym.  Simply becoming more self-aware goes a long way toward preventing chronic disease — increased self-knowledge leads to better choices and avoiding unhealthy behaviors.

Having recently lost a friend to pancreatic cancer who was only 50, I regularly think about how fortunate I am to be healthy with no major medical problems.  My friend Pam’s death was such a wake up call.  Before she got sick, she had a healthy lifestyle doing all the right things yet she still got sick.  Really, any of us can be susceptible.  When I step back and get some perspective, my slightly creaky joints, sometimes sore foot from doing too much cardio and little aches and pains are nothing compared to the several friends I have who are currently dealing with cancer or other illnesses, or who have sadly passed away.

I really believe that how we treat ourselves today, especially those of us in or nearing middle age, has everything to do with how our older years will manifest.  Do you want to age vibrantly and be energized or can you see yourself burdened with health problems that cause regret about your past self-care efforts (or lack thereof)?  Needless to say, I’m all about being preventative, eating clean foods, getting plenty of exercise and rest and taking the best care of myself that I can. 

Last week I opened up my friend Ginny’s bi-weekly newsletter and was struck by the content. Ginny, a life coach, is a pro at helping people shift perspective to get new insights into challenges they may be facing.  She mentioned how helpful it is to think about what you’re willing to do to solve a problem and why that’s so important.

I read her newsletter and immediately wrote back and said, “I’m willing to do a strength training workout 3 times per week so I feel great in a bathing suit this summer.”  I was struck by what an easy shift I had when I was able to articulate both what I’d be willing to do and why it was so important.   It’s only mid-April and I’m already focused on a summertime goal and excited about it (especially since I joined a new gym that’s motivating me).  I can already feel how I’ll feel when I’m on the beach this summer and feeling great in my bathing suit and about my body. And truth be told, in the end, it’s less about the physical manifestation (looking great in the suit) and more about how I’m taking care of myself  that really matters.

I find that when there’s a larger reason that’s inspiring me, it’s so much easier to get started on a goal and stick to it.  In fact, it doesn’t have to be so hard at all.

I’m curious to know what you’re willing to do to prevent chronic disease and feel your best as you age.  What’s your spark of inspiration to help you feel your best as your body changes?

I can use myself as a perfect example. For me, clean eating is a no-brainer. It’s on my priority list to plan, shop for and prepare clean eating meals on a weekly basis. I end up spending a lot of time in the kitchen but the truth is, almost everything I eat is fresh AND I save lots of money.  On the other hand, however, it’s taken me months to get back into a gym routine I can maintain.

I’m chocking most of this up to having some minor surgery in January that got me off track combined with the fact that I was uninspired at my old gym.  It used to be that I had a gym I liked (even though it wasn’t so aesthetically appealing) — friendly people and lots of classes to keep me motivated (I even met my husband there). When that gym closed, my husband and I signed up at another gym but it didn’t offer any classes, so lots of cardio machines and weights which was perfect for him, but far from inspiring for me.

It recently became clear to me that what I was doing, wasn’t really working.  I half-heartedly went through the motions on the cardio machines and just wasn’t excited about lifting weights the way I used to be. What did I need? A change to shake things up.

Several weeks ago I went to check out a gym that’s about 10 minutes away. It’s absolutely beautiful, the people are friendly and they’ve got tons of classes — 60 per week! I joined a few weeks ago, even though it’s a lot more expensive that my current gym, but it’s already worth it — I’m excited to exercise again and support my health. I’ve found my workout mojo and I’m having great fun mixing things up with classes, cardio and weights. Plus, there are lots of people from my old gym so it’s fun to see familiar faces.

Sometimes we just have to change things up and try something new. And the fact that I already had the clean eating down has made the transition to consistent exercise that much easier.  Now I’m finding that I’m in a good groove to do both and reap all the benefits (like feeling great in my bathing suit this summer!).  It may have taken me awhile, but persistence pays off, sometimes you just need to do some fine tuning.

What do you do to balance a clean eating lifestyle free of unhealthy fats, sugar and salt with consistent exercise that inspires you?

My friend and colleague Angie Schumacher is back with another guest post on finding our motivation to keep exercising. I love her 5 tips below for getting and staying in the exercise zone. Read on and get inspired.  Learn more about Angie, join her Fit Chick Express community and get into action at

What is the single most reason my clients come to me for my group fitness classes or individual training? MOTIVATION, or should I say lack of it!

We all seem to lack motivation from time to time, even I have trouble staying motivated at times. It’s very easy to just ‘fall off the wagon’ and get back into our bad habits. It’s always easier to do nothing but sit around watching TV or to order out or make a meal from a box. It’s just easier…and that’s why we go back to it.

So what things do I suggest to my clients that will make it worth it to stay motivated? Here are some ideas to get you started or get back on the right track. Remember, sometimes all you need to do is take baby steps…

1. Set a goal. Just one goal. Set a deadline for that goal and when you achieve it, set another…remember, I said baby steps. By setting a goal, you know in your head what it is that you want. You should put it down on paper and read it daily and maybe even a couple times a day. Put it where you can see it and remember why you have that goal. Eventually it will be a part of you and all you will be able to think about is achieving that goal!

2. Set a Reward. How do you want to reward yourself when you reach that goal? A new outfit? A new hairstyle or some new jewelry? A skimpy little bikini? Whatever it may be, make sure it’s something special, not something you do for yourself all the time.

3. Find a “workout buddy”. Do you have a friend that lacks motivation as well? Get together and plan times during the week to workout or help each other plan meals for the week ahead. Knowing that if you don’t meet your friend, you will let them down is a great way to stay motivated! Join a group fitness class with a friend! It’s always harder to skip a class if you know the other members are going to ask you were you have been!

4. Don’t give up. If you feel yourself slipping or you do slip, don’t have the ‘all or nothing’ attitude. Just because you had a piece of chocolate cake after you promised yourself you wouldn’t is no reason to eat the whole cake! Move on…promise yourself you will do better tomorrow.

5. Always be positive! This one can be one of the hardest things to do. I am always making my clients tell me something positive after they come to me and tell me all the negative things that have happened in the past few days. If you didn’t reach your specific goal that you set, look at what other accomplishments you have made in that time period. There is always something that you can find that was positive about what you have done, so think about that and not about what you didn’t do.

What things do you do to stay motivated? What keeps you from slipping up and moving forward and eventually reaching those goals?

Today’s post comes to us courtesy of my good friend and fitness guru Angie Schumacher.  Angie inspires women everywhere to feel great about their bodies and get in action.  I love her focus on the lower body because that’s where I personally am challenged and need to focus my attention.  Best part of all, you can do this in 10 minutes!  This is a great tool to help get you in tune with your body and support healthy weight loss.

The following will be the exercises that you will use. You will repeat this sequence up to 4 times. If you are a beginner, I suggest you start out doing half of the repetitions and still doing the circuit 4 times through.

*24 Reverse Lunges
*20 Squats
*24 Alt Step Ups
*20 Jump Squats

Now watch the video for proper form. Make sure to listen to your body, but work hard to get the most effective fat burning workout in under 10 minutes!

Can you see yourself doing these exercises? How can you build them into your busy lifestyle?

You can learn more about Angie at her workouts and how she inspires women like me to get into action at http://fatburningtips4women.com/. And be sure to check out her free, online community for women to get connected and active, Fit Chick Express: http://fitchickexpress.ning.com/

The good news is that I’ve finally gotten back on track and today I went to my new gym for my first workout.  And it was totally refreshing. The gym is large, bright and has some great equipment.  The weight machines are so much better than at our old gym, where half of them seemed ancient.  With lots of open space and multiple machines for just about every part of the body, there’s simply no reason why I shouldn’t be able to happily work on my definition and increase my strength. Not to mention that lifting weights helps to kick that fat burning into gear and supports healthy weight loss.

I also love that they have row after row of cardio machines (not that I’m such a huge fan of mindlessly using the machines.  I much prefer classes but they don’t offer them). Only downside is that as I was moving to a different treadmill today, I managed to step on the one next to me that my husband was on and didn’t see that it was moving! If you could have seen the spill I took and the scene I made as I, quite clumsily, fell to the ground, tumbled over and hit my arm.  The fact that I didn’t break anything is nothing short of amazing.  And thanks to the helpful gym staff I quickly got an ice pack on it minimizing the swelling.

Despite my little mishap, I have to say it was a great start at a new gym that’s got my very excited to maintain my motivation and stay in shape.

What have you done lately to get back on track with exercise when you were in a slump?

Even though I’m not exactly an angel when it comes to eating when I’m on vacation (I mean honestly, who really is?), there’s still a part of me that maintains some semblance of healthy eating so all is not lost when I get back home.

And that’s exactly how things unfolded this week when we were in Montreal for the jazz festival. Generally, I did pretty well. I’m not a big drinker so there weren’t lots of empty calories expended on that. And we walked everywhere, some days logging 5+ miles so that helped too. But i did indulge a bit with desserts. We came across some awfully good ones that I must admit I loved. The good news is that it was all in moderation.

So what’s the key to my success in averting weight gain while on vacation? It’s all about finding a few healthy snacks that are easy to carry, keep blood sugar stable and stave off hunger. My first order of business in a new city is always to scope out the closest market and we easily found the IGA about a 1/2 mile from our hotel. We stocked up on fresh fruit and nuts that powered us through our busy afternoons of exploring and listening to amazing jazz.

We also found the one healthy food stand at the whole jazz festival. Well actually, most of the food at this particular stand wasn’t the healthiest, but the big winner was the fresh mangoes on a stick that they featured. As soon as I saw someone eating one, I made a beeline to get my own.

Check out the video I created right at the festival with this yummy treat. It’s so easy, you can make it at home yourself!

What do you do to ensure that you don’t fall completely off the wagon when vacationing? What’s your success strategy to avoid weight gain? Do share what works for you.

That’s been me of late, as I wrote about a few days ago in a post.  I’ve had a hard time staying on the exercise wagon lately which all started when I injured my knee.  Add on having the shingles and finding out my gym was closing, and you can see why I’ve gotten into a serious gym funk.  Motivation? Out the window. And with all our rain lately, even walking outside seems less than compelling in the midst of a downpour!

But getting back on track is all about taking a new approach to shake things up. The easiest thing I could do would be to just sign up for another gym and quietly go through the motions again.  Hello?! Why in the world would I do that? I want change, not more of the same. And since summer is a time of new beginnings for me, I’m all about looking at exercise from a different perspective.

So I thought it fortuitous when I saw my friend Steve the other day at a party. Steve just got certified as a yoga instructor and when I asked about where and when he was teaching he mentioned that he has a Tuesday evening class at a yoga studio minutes from my house. He said that it’s a beginners class, and even though I’ve done a fair amount of yoga, it struck me that taking his class would serve me well — I’m the queen of overdoing it and easing back into yoga with the basics immediately resonated with me.  Besides, I’m going easy on my knee and the last thing I want is to make it worse.

I’m leaving for vacation for a week tomorrow, but when I’m back, I’m committed to kick starting a new exercise routine with a healthy dose of yoga from one of my favorite people.  And then we’ll see about the gym situation and what makes the most sense.  In the end, it’s about taking small baby steps to get back on track and that’s my plan. 

When it comes to exercise, when was the last time you really shook things up and tried something different?

But that’s exactly what happened recently when I headed over to Bally’s last week just to find a sign posted that they’d be closing in a week.

Funny thing is, I used to be devoted to exercise — a nice combination of weight training, cardio and yoga. I was so into it that I actually met my husband at the gym four years ago when we both used to workout out at 5:30 in the morning before heading to work. And if I missed a day of my routine you would almost think the world was coming to an end.

But shoot, things sure do change sometimes, don’t they? That’s before I started running a business, juggling multiple priorities and trying to make it all work with limited time.  You know that feeling you get when you don’t go one day and swear you’ll go the next?  But when the next one comes around, there’s a compelling reason why it won’t quite work either. That’s what started to happen to me of late. And then throw in the fact that I injured my knee in Step class several months ago and got the shingles, and you can see how a girl can get in an exercise funk.

So now that the gym is officially closed, it does beg the question about what I’m going to do to get back on track and get my gym mojo back. First on the list, my overdue physical therapy for my knee.  I’m going to couple that with some low impact walking at least three days a week. And we’ve even been contemplating getting Bruce a bike so we can ride together.

Bottom line: we can all fall off the wagon sometimes but it’s all really about the small, baby steps we can take to get back on track. I’m keeping my plan simple and doable.

What about you? What do you do to get back on track when your exercise routine falls by the wayside?

That’s what I love about my friend Leah Segedie who has lost over 100 pounds the slow and healthy way, not the I’m-on-the-latest-fad-diet way.  Leah has been working at it for awhile after two babies, and she got so inspired that she now helps other women get inspired to get fit and feel good in their bodies too. She’s the chief mom over at bookieboo.com, a hub for moms, women and a healthy lifestyle.

And you know what’s really cool? She’s kicking off her new BlogTalk radio show this Friday — called Mom Active. You’ve got to check it out and share the love. How many other moms do you know that are itching to get healthy and more active but they need a spark of inspiration? Well she’s your woman, and she’s super fun too! You can get all the exciting details about the show by clicking here.

Oh and check out her MomActive Twitter party this Thursday night, another super cool event.

Come on moms, let’s get active and inspired!

So I’m always encouraged when I get a dose of inspiration from one of my favorite fitness experts, Angie Schumacher.  Angie shares her fitness expertise on my blog and I think you’ll love today’s post about trimming off that stubborn belly fat. Good news? It doesn’t have to be so hard if you follow a few simple steps.

Summertime is just around the corner and if you are like most people, the chances of you wearing some form of swim suit is pretty good. You are going to want to have that waistline looking fabulous and sexy, am I right?

Most people think that the best way to burn off belly fat or get rid of that “spare tire” is by doing abdominal  work and I hate to be the one to break it to you, but they are so wrong! While abdominal work is great for helping you to create a strong, solid core and for building up those core muscles, that is all that it will do. You will be building up the muscle UNDERNEATH that layer of belly fat. I am sure there are lots of people walking around with some great looking abs underneath their bellies, but the one way that you are going to trim off that fat is by doing cardio.

Now when I say cardio, I do not mean jumping on the treadmill for 60 minutes every day or going on a 10 mile bike ride. I mean adding intervals OR bodyweight circuits to your fitness routine.

Intervals are periods of high intensity training followed by an active recovery period.  For example:

Start off on a treadmill at 3.0 mph for 2 minutes to get warmed up. Then increase the speed to 5.0mph for 1 minute, followed by a drop back down to 3.0 for 1 minute (or longer if needed). Repeat this 4-8 times and you have a great belly fat burning cardio session. You can do the same thing on a bike or walking. The main goal is to increase your heart rate and then bring it back down, making your body work harder than it would have to if you were doing the same form of exercise at a steady rate of speed.

By incorporating 15-30 minutes of intervals into your fitness routine at least 4-6x each week, you will have no problem burning off that belly fat and start seeing those muscles that you build up by doing your core or abdominal work.

You can learn more about Angie at her website: www.fatburningtips4women.com. Check out all the exciting things she’s up to!