I wanted to share the article below...I particularly love # 3, 6, 10, and 13. Enjoy!
by Shaun Dreisbach
(1) Focus on today's
goal, not the long-term.
"Aiming to
lose 20 pounds is great, but it won't keep you plugging away," says Los
Angeles celebrity trainer Ashley Borden. "The instant gratification of
achieving smaller goals, like actually getting up for your morning workout
today, tomorrow, and the day after that, will."
(2) Don't say anything negative about your body. Not a thing! "The
point of a resolution is to improve, not to tear yourself apart," says
Borden. "So no talking sh-t." Feeling critical? Write down your
thoughts—and throw them away.
(3) Log the cardio.
Make it the
high-intensity, interval-training variety and you'll need just 20 minutes, two
or three days a week, to maximize weight loss. "Intervals give you a major
postworkout calorie burn," says Borden.
(4) Tone all your parts.
"A lot of
women work only the muscles they see in the mirror," says Borden. Include
moves that strengthen your back, butt, and hamstrings.
(5) Take five minutes to stretch after a workout.
"Recovery is
just as important as training," says Broden, "yet no one gives a crap
about stretching until they start falling apart." At the very least, do it
while you watch TV. But do it.
(6) Drink like a grown-up.
"Your
red-Solo-cup drinking days are over, so don't treat every night out like a frat
party," says Rachel Beller, R.D., founder of Beller Nutritional Institute
in Beverly Hills and author of Eat to
Lose, Eat to Win. "Aside from the harm that drinking too much can
do to your health—like upping your breast cancer risk—there's no way you can
knock back cocktail after cocktail and lose weight. I just saw a patient who
stopped losing weight, and she was shocked when I explained that her drinking
was equivalent to eating two Snickers bars four nights a week." Keep it to
no more than two drinks, two nights a week.
(7) Do a different kind of cleanse.
Want to flush
your body of toxins? Then "cleanse your fridge and pantry of packaged,
processed foods and gross frozen dinners," says Beller. Replace them with
fresh produce and foods that have short ingredients lists—under five is ideal—and
are as minimally processed as possible. And don't feel compelled to do a
liquids-only plan; "you'll achieve absolutely nothing from a total juice
cleanse but negative results," says Pamela Peeke, M.D., an assistant
clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine
in Baltimore and author of The Hunger
Fix. "You might lose weight, but do you know why? Because most
juice cleanses are so low in calories and protein that you end up cannibalizing
your own lean muscle mass and slowing your metabolism. That's why everyone
gains weight after a cleanse. It's probably the worst thing you can do."
(8) If you don't know how to cook, learn.
"Many young
women have absolutely no clue in the kitchen, so they wind up eating out a
lot," says Beller. "And we all know what happens when you go down
that rabbit hole: You eat bigger portions of less healthy food." To help
patients get over a culinary mental block, Beller, armed with a baking sheet
and a few supplies, visits their homes to give no-excuses cooking lessons. She
explains: "I'm like a personal infomercial selling them on how easy it is.
So they have to sell me on how they can't do it. And they never can." All
you need to do is toss precut veggies (broccoli, green beans, carrots) and a
piece of fish or poultry onto a baking sheet, add a little olive oil, season
with salt and pepper, pop it in a 400*F oven, and walk away. Ten to 15 minutes
later you have dinner. "Total no-brainer," she says. "It's like
a gateway recipe."
(9) Scrap crunches—stand up to work your core.
Your ab and back
muscles are responsible for every movement you do every single day—and they
cinch and flatten your waist. The best way to work them? "Planks are fine,
but core exercises that you do standing are more challenging," says
Borden. She likes the "farmer carry": Hold a heavy dumbbell (at least
15 pounds) in each hand, with knees slightly bent, chest up, and belly button
pulled toward the spine; take 20 steps forward; set down the weights and take a
10-second break; then pick up the weights, and walk 20 more steps. (If you can
finish this easily, you need to use heavier weights.)
(10) "Get a hell of a lot more sleep."
That's a direct
order from Dr. Peeke. You can't lose weight, be happy, use your brain, and stay
healthy without at least seven and a half hours of shut-eye every night. So
it's a valuable use of your time. Mini lecture concluded.
(11) Treat your workouts like a business meeting.
"Put them in
your calendar, and honor them," says Borden. "And don't give me that
whole 'no time' thing." You know all those people at the gym? They have
the same 24 hours that you do, and they figured it out. So can you.
(12) Woman up: Try the heavy weights.
Borden is all
about low reps (10 per set) with lots of weight—enough weight so that you
almost can't finish the last rep—at least once a week. (Hey, if you can carry
your niece, you can lift a 30-pound barbell.) "It releases hormones that
promote leanness and tone," says Borden. "The same doesn't happen
with high-rep, low-weight workouts like those barre classes. And don't even try
to tell me, 'I don't want to get bulky,' because it won't happen." Will.
Not. Why? Because you're not a man with muscle-boosting levels of testosterone.
(13) Invest in a fitness tracker.
"They're
awesome," Borden says of gizmos like Fitbit Flex and Nike+ FuelBand, which
monitor your activity level and help you set reminders to get up and move.
"They get you in the habit of paying attention to your body and not
letting it get lost in your busy day," she says. "It's like having a
personal trainer on your wrist."
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