Resolution Rehash

New year resolutions always get me thinking. Mainly because they are usually the same...rather it is to lose weight, keep better records or stay in touch, they are a dime a dozen and stick like Velcro on a potato. December is a month spent riding on the pretense that in January "things are changing." The justification for lavish eating, drinking, smoking, and spending all for the misconception that "this year things will be different."

Things are not different. The year will repeat the last and in a matter of weeks, the resolutions will give way to the desire of what drove you in December...longing for instant gratification.

I think resolutions fail because the gratification doesn't seep into your body like the buzz of a Long Island or the slow soothing of nicotine. Rather the satisfaction of adhered to resolutions create holes that are memories of food, drink and vices that were abandoned. When something is taken away it becomes a source of fixation. If you want this years resolution to stick, there must be a new fixation. Rather than the loss of something that made you feel good -- and did it really? Did the hangover, the fat, the cough, the bill really satisfy anything? -- look toward something else that makes you feel better. Set a small goal...rather than lose 50 lbs, shoot for 5 lbs.

You can't trade stopping something that offers immediate gratification with a resolution that will bring delayed long term gratification and expect it to work.

Set yourself up for success not failure by creating small goals within your large goal. Make the progress visual by posting a list and checking off your small goals as you reach them. The visualization of seeing checks next to accomplishments will help ensure you that your hard work is paying off. It works with any resolution. Chart the bills you pay off, the money you save, the people you call each week/month, the days you haven't smoked, the words you haven't said, the acts you haven't done.

If you mess up, it is ok, start again. Make your resolution to make it a year, not to change your behavior. If your goal is to "start working out" there is nothing to keep you going...your goal was to start, you reached it. If your goal doesn't have a timeline, it is easier to let it fade in to the background along with the satisfaction you could have with the purpose behind it.

I have never met anyone who reached a goal and wished instead they had reverted
to the behavior that got them in the predicament in the first place. Never.

What ever your proposed resolution is, if you don't start with a plan, you can rely on failing. Do yourself a favor, think it through and be realistic about your resolution or save yourself the trouble and those around you the aggravation.

Another Typical "Oh Crap" Christmas

I shouldn't be surprised that there was another "blog worthy" incident this Christmas, and it is only the 19th. Late getting a Christmas tree in our little town in North Carolina, a good ole boy (well he had one foot in the grave, the other in a cast and apparently left his teeth by the sink) came out and sold us "any tree without a red tag" for $20. Well, none of the 5 tree's left had a red tag so it was buyers choice. I mean who in the bible belt waits til the week of Christmas to get a tree...ummm we do.

The man's grandson put the tree on the car, tied her down (apparently he wasn't a boy scout), and I was afraid the whole way home the tree was going through the windshield of any car behind us. Since it was so loose, mom and I contemplated accelerating into the drive way, hitting the breaks and hopefully landing the tree at the front door. Considering our luck, we decided against it. Looking at our "Charlie Brown tree" and the tree stand, that is more for a Rockefeller center tree, we weren't quite sure how it was going to work, but with all four screws fully screwed into the base, it looked pretty good. Lassoing the tree with the lights, I think we will be better off buying new ones next year than trying to unravel the mess made trying to get a light in each void on the tree. I was stretching lights from the top to fill in parts of the tree I wasn't even sure were there!

At last, the lights were up, and we began putting on ornaments...one by one with all the Christmas cheer available.

About the time we put on the last ornament, the jolly "it doesn't look so bad tree" turned into the "oh crap" Christmas tree. Sitting on the floor, I looked up just in time to watch the tree falling towards me, ornaments falling off and landing all around. The tree was down. We were laughing (and still are). Pushing the tree up right, I began looking around. The tree trunk was just too small to be anchored down, and the weight of the ornaments caused the trunk to slip back and the tree forward--on my head. My solution went through a couple of stages. First I wanted to duck tape it to the wall, but the walls are wood and tape doesn't stick too well and there is a window to deal with. I opted to shoving a tennis ball in one quadrant, a styrofoam square in two quadrants and a vacuum attachment in the fourth. Not being too confidant in that solution, I wrapped one of the loops of lights on the tree around the window latch, actually double looped...then got the bright idea to use the blind pull to wrap around the trunk of the tree and tie that puppy off. So far so good, but if in the morning the valance is out of the window, the ornaments are scattered around the room and the lights have torn a part no one will be surprised.

I think we will just put some Kahlua in the coffee and call it a Christmas puddle.

Fight Holiday Weight Gain

The hustle is on. It looks like people are training for American Gladiators in the malls, fighting holiday traffic and trying to score the perfect gift (even if it means wrestling Wolf). With the craze people generally grab what is easy to nourish between shopping, work, parties and Christmas plays. Then January comes and no one can figure out how the scale is tipping a little past pudge. I want to help you out with breakfast. Lunch and dinner is generally where I get the most resistance because of parties or other poorly fashioned excuses, but I am willing to work with what I can :) Just because Cinnabon tastes good now, doesn't mean it is going to look good later.

Even though New Years is generally cold, the jackets generally shed by the time clock strikes twelve, and you don't want to look like 16 oz sausage in a 12 oz wrapper.

Aside from the aforementioned Pumpkin Pancakes, which would be the best option and great to make and TAKE with you shopping or to work (since they can be wrapped and put in a zip-lock), here are some great, easy, calorie conscious ideas:

FIVE ALTERNATIVES TO CINNABUN

1. One cup oatmeal mixed with 2 T chopped pecan halves, 2 packets of splenda and cinnamon (can be made with light soy milk)
2. 2. Two reduced fat whole grain waffles with 2 T sugar-free syrup
3. Two reduced fat whole grain waffles with 1 T peanut butter & 1/2 sliced banana
4. Breakfast Smoothie: 1 cup vanilla soy milk, 1 cup frozen berries, 1/2 med banana (blend til smooth)
5. (Second only to Pumpkin Pancakes) Casein Pancakes: 1 scoop ON Vanilla Casein 4-5 egg whites, 3/4 c oatmeal, 1 T splenda, cinnamon (to taste). Mix well and make into evenly sized pancakes. This will give you 1.5 servings but it is hard to write the recipe otherwise.

By eating a hearty, healthy breakfast, you are more apt to make better lunch and dinner decisions (tho not guaranteed you are on your own if the "toast with eggnog" turns into Weekend at Bernies...too much nonsense to even know if you are dead or alive). It is not hard to stay on track during the holidays, you only have to apply a little thought, a little preparation and discipline. Put your New Years outfit out so you have some motivation. If you don't start now, it will just be harder later.

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe

After posting on Facebook that I was so blessed to have such a great friends and pumpkin pancakes to get me through tough times, I had requests for the recipe...so here it is! These are great! They also travel well for a snack during class (or 4.5hr finals!), after workout, during Christmas shopping! So don't gain that weight this holiday season, have all the flavor without all the guilt!! Topped with a little sugar free syrup or honey if eating post workout, makes this holiday treat, one that is good for EVERY MEAL!!

Pumpkin Pancakes:
1/2 cup Pumpkin
1/2 cup Oats
3 egg whites (sometimes I add a little more)
2 packets Splenda
Cinnamon
Mix well. Spray pan with Pam, heat over med-low. Pour mixture into four even pancakes, cover and cook on med-low until pan cake is able to flip. These will not bubble like regular pancakes, but the top will begin to look 'firm,' aprox 10min. Flip, cook another 5 min and serve. Cook times will vary depending on your stove.

The Nutrition: 244 calories/ 3g fat/ 30g carbs/ 17.5g pro/ 170mg sodium

The Info You Need to Read to Believe

Everyone is looking for the secret to the perfect body. We all want to know the key. Sometimes that key (or one of them) is perpetrated by friends and loved ones, but we dismiss it because "what do they know". There are a few tips that we should all adhere to regardless of the method of delivery.
Since we want info from professionals, here it is:

• Drink water
• Take a multi-vitamin
• Include a protein supplement
• Workout

Personally speaking, when I was just getting into competing, I was told to drink at least a gallon of water a day by people close to me. It wasn't until a girl down the hall in the dorm told me that the reason she lost weight was because she started drinking a gallon of water a day and stopped drinking other stuff (even diet sodas). I started on her recommendation (despite being told countless times before) and low-and-behold, inches GONE. It is true. I have the personal first-hand experience backed by the education that points to water as the top weight loss aid.

The second thing that most people don't have a problem with is the knowledge that you need to have a multi-vitamin in your diet. These days, food alone doesn't normally provide enough of the vitamins that your body needs to efficiently metabolise food. The problem lies in remembering to take it. Here is my lil tip: put it by something you need everyday (next to your toothbrush, next to your coffee pot ect), but put it next to something that will help you remember when you have eaten. Multi-vitamins need to be taken with food.

Likewise, most people do not get enough of the right kind of protein, or if they do, it is in a high fat form. Supplementing your training diet with a high quality protein, will allow your body to maintain lean muscle and take off stubborn body fat better than those with the higher fat content.

Exercise. Do we really need to validate this one? If you want a tight, tone body you HAVE TO DO RESISTANCE training in addition to maintaining a diet to lose the fat hiding your perfect body.

If you have any questions that you would like to see addressed in this blog, send me an email: lnewton@leslierae.com. I would be happy to help answer your question from a first hand account backed by years of training and education.

Attitude is Everything

I made a Face Book post the other day that went something like this:

Do what I say or do as I do, either way you will improve.

One of the comments referred to me as cocky...Really? I don't think so. I am not saying that I am better than you, or that I don't have room to improve. I merely noted that I walk the walk, and within that walk, is something undoubtedly you either don't know, haven't seen in a while or could reinforce and renew your goals.

In a world filled with individuals who try tell you what you need to do in order to improve, is an overpopulation of "preachers" who haven't lived out their own "preaching" recent enough for you to even be able to tell if they ever have.

I am not that person. If I tell you the best way to work your abs is to do sprints, it is because that is what I have learned, and it is what I do. We all could use sound advice from time to time, but what good is advice on investments from someone in bankruptcy? Maybe the advice is good, but I wouldn't consider it sound. Why would you get personal training from a trainer more out of shape than you? Because of the old notion "those who can't, teach?" Maybe, but to me fitness is like a foreign language, I want to learn from someone who can speak it fluently, not point to a track on a e-learning book.

If that is cocky, our world is in much worse shape than I ever thought.

Nutrition 101: Revisit the Basics

There is a lot of confusion about nutrition out there. I am always asked if I've heard about this diet, or that supplement, or been to this website or read that book. The answer varies but one thing stays the same: at the end of the day, calories are calories and the body only needs so many of each calorie source. Some of you may be a bit confused, and it's ok. Nutrition is not something readily taught in today's society. If we knew, I mean really knew and understood nutrition, there would be a lot of multi-billion dollar companies out of business.

So let's start with the basics: There are four nutrient sources of calories. A calorie (k) is the unit of energy our body receives from the nutrients we ingest. Nutrients are measured in grams (g) and the number of calories per gram of each nutrient source varies. These sources may be familiar: Fat, Protein, Carbohydrates, and Alcohol. Alcohol in this context refers only to the percentage of alcohol per volume in each beverage.

Fat has the highest calories per gram at 9k/g. Protein and Carbohydrates both have 4k/g, and alcohol has 7k/g. Manufacturers estimate the number of grams per nutrient and then the number of calories. I say 'estimate' because if you take a nutrition label and do the math, they rarely, if ever, add up to the numbers posted.

According a report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), the FDA has not done random sampling to test the accuracy of Nutrition Facts labels since the 1990s. This means you may or may not be eating what you think when your meal comes from a box or wrapper. Companies are always going to error in their favor, so the bad may be minimized and the good may be embellished. This is not the end of the world; you can always prepare your own meals, a novel ideal in today's society I know. But, the basics cannot be argued. The nutrients in grams in unaltered meat, grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and virtually all whole, raw foods is not argued and can be found in a variety of calorie count websites and books. I am not saying stop eating prepared foods; I am just opening your eyes (a little) to the reality of your consumption. We don't need to become paranoid; we just need to become a population that thinks for itself. Taking things at face value only benefits the person selling the product.