The Workout studio in LA is called Skylab and in Skylab, they hold regular weight loss challenges where clients are assigned trainers to guide them in exercise and nutrition.  I was really getting into the show and having fun watching how similar the clients are to my own clients.  I was struck by one scene in particular where a woman confronted her trainer with tears in her eyes complaining that even after all her hard work, she had gained 15 lbs!  

Her words were what struck me the most, “I just feel like giving up!”

At that moment, I realized that she thinks there is an end to what she is doing.  She thinks that when she arrives at her goal, she doesn’t have to do this anymore.  It was also clear to me that she didn’t believe she was worth the effort.  Many of my clients feel the same way.

Today’s post is to help you with your mindset for weight loss.  To achieve a mindset for successful weight loss, begin your journey with these two things in mind,

Exercise is for life

You will always need to move your body to maintain a healthy body, spirit, and mind.

You are worth the effort

Not only are you worth the effort, but exercise and eating fresh, non-processed foods sky rockets your sense of self-worth.  If you have trouble with this, please seek out a professional coach or counselor.  

The other day, I came across this quote,

“If you want to waken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself.  If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.  Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self- transformation.”  ~ Lao Tzu 

If you are overweight, your body is toxic.  If you feel bad about yourself because you are overweight, your spirit is toxic.  If you feel that there are more important things in the world to focus on other than your health/weight loss journey, your mind is toxic.  Your best self, with a healthy spirit, body, and mind is what the world needs from you and it is what you deserve.  Your self-transformation is your greatest gift.  Do it with love and heal well.

Strength & Love,

Try these quick, easy, & tasty meals for dinner and know that you will burn body fat, enjoy your meal, and get the nourishment and nutrients you need to stay on track with your weight loss goals.  

In my personal experience, my clients, and anyone that has lost weight in the past, I know for certain that the key to eating for weight loss is in the planning.  Keep these tips in mind before you begin:

1. Make enough for leftovers.  
2. All meals are interchangeable (breakfast for dinner, dinner for lunch, etc.).
3. Do your best to plan ahead and know which meals you’ll have and when.

Taco salad 

 Ground beef + taco seasonings over lettuce.  Add tomatoes + avocado slices+ fresh salsa

Rotisserie Chicken

Store bought chicken + microwave, baked sweet potato + raw or steamed broccoli + 1T butter

You may have heard from popular weight loss programs or magazines that 30-60 minutes of cardio a few times a week is necessary for weight loss.  The usual “traditional cardio” plan is to hop on the treadmill or elliptical, or head on over to a spin, Zumba, or kickboxing class because you need to get your cardio in.  Maybe that’s just what you’ve always done so that’s what you still do.  

But there’s a better and more efficient way to lose weight & burn body fat than the traditional prescribed 30-60 minutes a couple times a week especially if you have been doing the same thing for years, the time required is unrealistic, you don’t stick with it, or you hate every minute of it.

The truth is, doing cardio for 30-60 minutes a few times a week may help some people lose weight.    

If you are very overweight, building up your fitness base with slower paced cardio until you improve is very appropriate.

If you are training for a long distance race, traditional cardio is very appropriate.

If you absolutely LOVE your cardio.  Your treadmill, elliptical trainer, Zumba class, etc..  Then it’s appropriate!

One potential drawback for traditional cardio is that your body adapts and get used to it very quickly.  Your mind may perceive it as challenging but your body will burn calories at a slower rate because your heart & lungs are more fit & more efficient.  So traditional cardio may not be as good for weight loss that it was known for in the past.

If you are healthy and have already acheived a fitness level where you can sustain 60 minutes of cardio and you want to lose body fat, increase your intensity and shorten the time you spend doing it.  You can do this with intervals or what’s known as high intensity interval training (HIIT).  High intensity interval training is incredibly effective in burning body fat and more calories because of this reason,

Interval training causes an “after burn” technically called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) that makes your body burn excess calories hours after your workout has ended.

So how do you do high intensity interval training and are you fit & ready to do it?  First of all, you must keep it simple.  Pick 4 high intensity exercises that you know and do them all for time, rest, then repeat the sequence.

Pick one of the exercises in each example below and do it for 30 seconds, rest 10 seconds, move to the next exercise and repeat until you’re through with all four.  Rest for about 1 minute, then repeat the round. When you do a couple rounds of your 4 exercises, you have done the perfect high intensity interval workout!  Short, intense, and extremely effective for burning tons of body fat.  Try this one

1. high knees, jogging, or marching in place
2. burpees, up downs, or modified push ups
3. jump rope, 2 feet hops without a jumprope, scissor jacks
4. skaters, side to side stepping, or jumping jacks

Watch the video demonstration below to see exactly how to do these exercises.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the 4 examples above there are challenging exercises and modified exercises.  I picked exercises of various levels so it’s easy to see that you are ready for high intensity intervals.  You can do it!

What are you waiting for?  Get started now and be finished in just 10 minutes.  I don’t know about you, but I would rather bust through this kind of exercise (even though it’s not easy!) than spend an hour on the treadmill .

Since I discovered and now do high intensity interval training, I feel more fit and energetic, and I’ve lost more body fat than I ever have doing traditional cardio and so have my clients that are willing to give it a try.  I know it can be tough to change your workout routine when you’ve been told to do traditional cardio for so many years.

Every now and again I’ll pop on over to my Zumba class where I feel good about my body, have fun expressing myself, and notice how much more fit I look and how much more energy I have now than ever before.

I want the same for you!

Remember, my blog is free to join so if you want do have more workouts like this as your go to source instead of trying to figure it out on your own, sign up in the box to the right to get on the list.

Try this workout and tell me what you think in the “Leave  A Reply” section below .  Don’t forget to share this post with your girlfriends by clicking the Facebook “Like” button and Re-Tweeting on Twitter.  Thanks so much!

Strength & Love,

Click here to view the embedded video.

Strength & Love!

Chances are you have struggled with weight loss for so long you’re beginning to wonder if something is wrong with you.  Maybe it’s just impossible for your body to rid excess body fat because of your metabolism, hormones, age, lack of will power, etc.

Over the past several years, I’ve watched myself and my clients sabotage efforts to lose weight even though we know exactly how to eat, or exactly what exercise works, and we have a deep desire to do it.  So what gives?  Why can’t we follow through?

I  posed this question to my hypnotist friend, Randi Light.  Randi has helped me understand that there can be limiting thoughts and beliefs in our subconscious mind that can keep a person from reaching goals and being the best they can be.  It’s possible that you have limiting thoughts and beliefs that keep you from losing weight.

Randi has helped hundreds of people relax and focus enough to let go of deep rooted emotions (like the ones that have  you believe cupcakes will make you happy ).  She does this by having a chat with you while in a deep relaxed state.  When you are relaxed, you are more easily able to connect with your subconscious mind where the blocks and self-sabotage live.  In hypnosis, you are more easily able to change these destructive thought patterns into thoughts and actions that will serve you positively.

With hypnosis for weight loss, you can lose weight easily and permanently by reconditioning your mind to love healthy foods and exercise and have no interest in cupcakes or skipping workouts.   OMG!

One day, Randi and I went hiking with the dogs and kids all the while masterminding about our businesses and chatting about our relationships (as most girls do) when it occurred to the both of us that the other had the missing link to helping all of our weight loss clients succeed.  Why can’t our clients work with the both of us with one successful system combining nutrition, fitness, and hypnosis?

Because we live in different states for crying out loud!

So the next best thing was to create an online product that reaches the greatest amount of people everywhere.   As busy mom entrepreneurs, it took us a while.  A long while of organizing thoughts, designs, strategies, etc. and we finally came up with a product that feels much like a perfect child to us.

With all of our expertise and passion, we are very proud to introduce Food, Fitness, & Inner Health, a unique weight loss system combining nutrition, fitness, and hypnosis.

Learn more about the entire program by Clicking Here>> Food, Food, Fitness, & Inner Health

Strength & Love,

Remember your guidelines are this:

1.  Each meal must consist of Healthy Fats, Protein & Fiber Filled Carbs

Healthy Fats are nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado, or fish oil supplement, lean proteins may come from meat, legumes, or a protein powder supplement and, fiber filled carbs are fruits and vegetables.

2.  Starch Filled Ccarbs After your Workout Only

Your body can best digest and utilize the energy from starch filled carbs after exercise.  Include a serving of starch filled carbs after your workout by choosing sweet potatoes, legumes, beans, or gluten-free bread or pasta.

3.  Portion Size is Key

Healthy fats – the size of 1 die, or 7-10 nuts (check serving sizes of nuts on the package)

Protein - the size of a woman’s palm (2 palm sizes is a serving for men)

Fiber Filled Carbs - 1/2 cup

Slim Down With These 10 Fresh Snack Ideas:

1.  Banana or Green Apple + Nut butter
2.  Hard boiled egg + pepper + paprika
3.  Guac Salad – Diced avocado, tomato, onion, + cilantro
4.  Larabars
5.  Veggie or Fruit smoothie – Coconut milk, nuts, + veggie or fruit choice
6.  Ants on A Log – Celery + nut butter + raisins
7.  Sliced Turkey + slivered cucumber + guacamole
8.  Sliced Chicken + slivered carrots+ guacamole.
9. Diced chicken breast + broccoli drizzled with olive oil and herbs
10.  Canned tuna + diced celery + diced green apple + whole ingredient mayonaise

Strength & Love,

The following 3 elements must be in place over time (not just 6 weeks or 30 days as some online fitness ‘pro’s’ would have you believe).

1.  Total Body workout

2.  Lean, Clean & Green

3.  Ease the Tension

The concept of taking time for health is very important.  Sure, I want a flat stomach just like you but it makes more sense to me for a flat stomach to be a by product of a healthy body.  When I write to you, I imagine that I’m speaking to someone who is intelligent and interested in more in life than just having a great looking physique that helps with self-esteem.  Am I right?

Did you find this video helpful?

Give me a shout out in the “Leave A Reply” box below.  I would love to hear from you!

Strength & Love,

Everyday, I work with clients face to face, listen to their questions, share methods, inspire them to take action, become inspired by their progress and all that great stuff that comes with being a personal trainer.  But I absolutely love reaching out to you online and getting your questions and feedback.  Thank you for your questions!

Today, Becca asked me what my opinion is on the Biggest Loser Slim Coach and the Body Bug.

Question:  ”Hey Jill, as you know, I always like to stop by every now and again to ask random fitness related questions. : ) So, what’s your feeling about things like The Body Bug or the new SlimCoach by BL? Are they worth the cost for monitoring calories, burn, heart rate, etc. Or are they more of a gimmick? Thoughts?? Hope you’re well.”

Answer:  ”Hi Becca, I love when you stop by and ask questions . Thank you for stepping up! Measuring progress is important. It allows you to know you’re getting results with your current nutrition/exercise program and when you need to make some changes. Seeing progress is also very motivating. That said, the two items you mentioned above are to track progress. They are one method of many such as wearing a heart rate monitor to track effort, a pedometer for distance, or tracking calories with online software. If tracking progress like that is motivating for you, then it is a good option for you. They are not necessary but make sure you measure your progress in some way. Good?”

For every question you ask and comment you make on my website, the website becomes more popular to the search engines.  So when women like yourself need somewhere to go for sensible weight loss information, all you have to do is “Google” what you’re looking for and and get a professional to ask.  Of course, sifting through the gimmicks is difficult but the more you ask for quality, the easier it will be to find.

Today, I want to thank you for your questions and comments!  For every comment or question you ask below, I will send a free copy of my Top 5 Weight Loss Strategies For Busy Women.  Learn how planning, eating the right kinds of food, and getting stress free will give you a fit, confident body you’ll love. Comment below, and I’ll send you yours right away!

Strength & Love,

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Motivation Tips To Keep You Moving Forward

In life and in weight loss you will have days when you just can’t get motivated, especially if you’re feeling

• overwhelmed
• fatigued
• or not in the mood.

Life Coach, Faith Davis has generously offered her professional tips that can help create the motivation you need to get you back in the groove of exercise, self-care, and eating well.  Pay particular attention to the Recharge paragraph.  It’s my personal favorite!

1. Eat (a good) Breakfast

A good hearty breakfast ignites your metabolism for the entire day. This one is the simplest tasks but I am always surprised by how many people still skip breakfast. EAT. You have been sleeping and have not eaten for about 8 hours. Your body has been registering “fasting” over all this time. It thinks “I’m starving” and as a result, goes into the “must keep fat stores to survive” mode. Worse yet is over time, your body learns to hold onto fat throughout the day because it knows that fuel won’t be coming for a while.

2.  Coffee

The metabolic rate of people who drink caffeinated coffee is higher than those who don’t. However, some people don’t metabolize coffee well. You probably know who you are. Signs are jitters, headaches, inability to focus and sometimes nausea. but if you are one of those lucky people (my personal opinion) who metabolize caffeine just fine, rejoice, drink up! But don’t go overboard. A nice heaping 8-12 oz. cup of joe will suffice to rev up the calorie burning furnace.

I think it goes without saying but the media forces me to believe otherwise, suped up coffee drinks are very high in calories. Choose wisely. If you prefer cream and sugar to satisfy you morning coffee fix, a tablespoon of cream a bit of sugar, honey, stevia, or guava nectar will not sabotage your efforts to create a fast, efficient metabolism.

3.  Water

Recently, I read a study done at the University of Utah where they found that volunteers who drank eight to twelve 8oz. glasses of water per day had higher metabolic rates than those who had only four glasses.

Making a habit out of drinking water throughout the day can lead up to many pounds lost without much effort. So far, drinking water for fat loss is the simplest and easiest suggestion in my metabolism boosting, fat loss tips.

Want more help speeding up your metabolism?

Sign up to receive your Metabolism Makeover Starter Kit <<Click Here>>  to get yours now and say ‘goodbye’ to a slow sluggish life and ‘hello’ to an energized fit body !

Strength & Love,