CoachMeFit Blog

Brandy Golden, ACSM Health Fitness, Specialist

CoachmeFit, East Grand Rapids

  “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”             

                     -Winston Churchill

       Do you remember when you first began your weight loss journey?  You were so excited - full of motivation and great expectations.  You had a plan and you were sticking to it! Perhaps you have remained faithful to your plan and as a result your body has changed. Your muscles are stronger, your waistline slimmer, and your endurance greater. You should be proud of your success.  Or maybe you have come short of the expectations you set for yourself when you began this journey. You miss an exercise session on occasion and stray from your intended diet frequently.  Regardless of which person you are, the road to weight loss can be bumpy.  There will come a day when you will need more than enthusiasm to reach your goals, you will need to persevere.  Here are some tips to help you endure the road to weight loss.

1.      Go down memory lane

Reminding yourself regularly of reasons you started this journey is key to staying on track. There will be days when you just want to go home, hit the couch and grab the Oreos. However, when you look back at your goals which state that you want to feel more comfortable in your own skin; be more active with your kids, or attract some extra attention from that special someone, then you will be more likely to exchange the Oreos for a nice glass of milk.

2.      Find an accountability partner.

Accountability is the obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for your actions. This is the tool that will help you resist the habits that hinder weight loss. Personal trainers are great accountability partners. With a trainer you are forced to keep your appointment and if you miss your session, you lose your money. Friends are great motivators as well. The fear of disappointing a friend could be what drives you to attend the 7p.m. cycling class after a long day of work. Your most important source of accountability, however, is yourself. To keep yourself on track, try keeping a daily journal and setting weekly goals. Simple goals such as “I will eat breakfast every day this week,” may seem small, but these are the stepping stones that will ultimately lead to the “big” goals. Remember accountability is the obligation, not just the willingness to take responsibility for your actions. Whether you consciously use these accountability aids or not, there will always be a consequence for every action. You would rather put forth the effort and see your short comings in your daily journal than see them in next year’s family vacation photos.

3.      Strengthen your will to resist.

The goals that you set years ago, months ago, or even today will not be achieved without much effort and sacrifice. Regardless of any circumstance, if your goal is to stop eating at 7p.m., then you must stop eating at this time. Each time you resist the urge to eat at 7 p.m., you feed the healthy habit and strengthen your will to resist. When you do not meet your daily goals, you are feeding the poor habits and ultimately strengthening your will to give in. Resisting temptation is not easy, but the only way to strengthen your will power is by exercising it. Any time you are tempted to give in remind yourself of the consequences. For example, “The cake would taste so good right now, but I will be disappointed in myself later if I eat it; not to mention, the enjoyment of eating the cake will last less than five minutes; but the weight I will gain as a result of it could last a while.”

4.      Recognize your progress

Acknowledging your achievements is just as important as acknowledging your shortcomings. When you see the healthy changes you are making, it only encourages you to continue. However, when you focus solely on your shortcomings, you will become discouraged. You may think thoughts such as “I will never lose the weight,” or “I’m a failure, “but discouragement can also manifest itself with the “all or none” mentality. For instance, you eat one chip, so you think, “I’ve already messed up, so I’ll eat twenty more.”  Obviously it would be great for you to avoid the chips, but usually it is the bowl of chips, not the one that causes excessive weight gain.  If you eat something that was not planned, your weight loss journey is not over.  Keep moving forward and applaud yourself for doing so.

            Achieving long term weight loss can be difficult. The tools listed above such as accountability and will-power will help you greatly on your journey. However, there will still be times when you miss a workout or splurge on buttered popcorn at the movies. Do not give up.  The road to weight loss is often completed by taking one step forward and two steps back.  No matter where you are on the journey, keep moving forward. Sooner or later everyone needs to look past motivation and depend on perseverance.  If you have exceeded your expectations thus far, remember success is not final. Perhaps you have come short of what you had hoped; thankfully, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. Keep heart. You can do this!

By Amber Tebeau, Lead Personal Trainer, CoachMeFit West Bloomfield

Lactic acid training should be incorporated into your cardio routines

It is important for any individual who is trying to stay fit to understand the difference between aerobic and anaerobic training. The anaerobic system does not use oxygen to burn glucose for energy, and is used in any activity lasting less than two minutes. An aerobic activity usually lasts longer than 2 minutes and it does use oxygen to burn glucose for energy. A 30 second sprint would use the anaerobic system due to its high intensity and its short duration; a distance run would use the aerobic system due to its low intensity and its long duration. In the anaerobic system energy is readily available; however, it is not as efficient due to the lactic acid that builds up in the muscles. The build up of lactic acid in the muscles is the reason anaerobic activities do no last a long time. In an aerobic activity the body is efficient in removing lactic acid from the muscles which allows the activity to continue for an extended period of time.

The National Academy of Sports Medicine defines the Anaerobic Threshold as the point when the body can no longer produce enough energy for the muscles with normal oxygen intake. This is the point when the body stops using oxygen to burn glucose for energy. Due to the short amount of time that the body can sustain an anaerobic activity, it is advantageous to increase the anaerobic threshold because an aerobic activity will burn more fat calories than an anaerobic activity.

To increase the anaerobic threshold one must continually push themselves to their anaerobic threshold, until the body becomes accustomed to removing lactic acid from the muscles more efficiently. Interval training is effective in doing this because the body is pushed to its anaerobic threshold several times in one workout. This allows the body to be pushed almost to its limit and then allows adequate time to rest and recuperate energy. Interval training will enable an individual to increase their anaerobic threshold and thus increase their calorie burn during a workout.

“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.” –Earl of Derby

Don’t make a fitness resolution you won’t keep for the whole year.  Decide to make a lifestyle change.  Below are a few tips on how to make this change:

Keep track of your progress: Instead of focusing on the scale, get yourself pumped by logging improvements in your performance and the way your clothes fit.

Surround yourself with positive role models: Find inspiration in someone who motivates you to be your best and who has a sense of determination you admire.

Excuse proof your environment: Leave a packed gym bag on the passenger seat of your car, your running shoes by the door and a clean eating recipe on your fridge.

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!