Learn to celebrate the little things. If you make it a week eating healthy and then break down and eat five slices of pizza and enough cake frosting to decorate a gingerbread house, so what?! Give yourself a pat on the back for staying true for a week and then make it your goal to go at least two weeks this time without breaking down! For most, changing behaviors is a give and take process that takes TIME.

I love watching a client’s progress as exercise and eating healthy becomes part of their lifestyle: someone who sporadically misses workouts during their first few months finally making the statement, “I missed my workout yesterday and I’ve felt off all day since then. It just doesn’t feel right.” OR “I had pizza and wings last night and it just doesn’t sit well in my stomach anymore. I felt like crap all day after”.

Enjoy life! Eating healthy is not the end of the world! If you have a chocolate craving, have a few chocolate chips:

Oatmeal Recipe:

Cook a bowl of plain Old Fashioned Oats

Add: cinnamon, cinnamon sugar (calorie free), stevia, raisins, small handful of chocolate chips (will melt around everything in gooey goodness!)

Boom. Delicious meal! You can always add in a scoop of protein powder as well. Have fun and keep at it. You’ll get there.

Losing weight is tough to do. If it was easy, everyone would be lean as can be and strutting around with the physique of their dreams. The reality is that it’s a long, arduous process that involves dedication, tons of will power, changed behavior, consistency and patience.

A diet and exercise plan alone will not cut it. If you want to succeed you need to adopt a complete LIFESTYLE change. You need to learn to make healthier eating choices, make exercise a part of your daily routine, change the way you think, act and feel. You may have YEARS of non-optimal behavior to change. It doesn’t happen overnight.

Don’t obsess! Don’t weight yourself every day, you will go crazy! I suggest picking one day a week to weigh yourself. Weigh yourself on the same scale at the same time of day. Gauge your weight- loss by that number.  And even so, weight loss is funny. If you’re lucky, your weight will go down consistently. More likely, it will be silly. Might go down 4lbs one week, up two the next, down three the next, then up one. You might not drop a pound for a month even though you are sticking to your exercise regimen and nutrition 100% and then all of the sudden you drop a crazy amount of weight within a week. Every body is different, but what I do know, is that if you are consistent and stay true to your regimen, your body will change, guaranteed.

Random tip of the week: Feeling bloated after meals? Try Fennel Seeds. “Fennel seeds often provide quick and effective relief from many digestive disorders. They help to overcome gas, cramps, acid indigestion, and many other digestive tract maladies”. I’ve been eating Fennel Seeds after, at least, 3 meals a day for the last week. I can notice a positive visible difference in my stomach. They taste like black licorice (I agree, Twizzler flavor would be better)and can be found in any grocery store. The trick is finding them – they seem to usually be in the bulk food aisle in prepackaged containers. Try not to exceed 7g (1 ½ tsp) daily.

I saw this online and thought it was funny:

I couldn’t get out of bed this morning. I felt down and out of sorts. Even after I got to work I just couldn’t get with it. All day this lasted. I didn’t have my normal motivation for my workout this evening. I’m craving pizza and peanut butter as I type this. I do not want to be writing this blog – I was contemplating putting it off. I definitely do not want to cap this evening off with a jog.

But, I’m not going to take myself out of the game. Everyone has a bad day. Today’s mine. I still worked out today, I’m not going to gorge on pizza and peanut butter, I’m writing this blog, and I’m going for a jog when I’m done. I’m doing it because even though my heart isn’t into it right now, it will be tomorrow, and I’ll be glad I didn’t fall off track.

It’s the same with any venture in life. You’re heart isn’t always going to be into it, but that’s when you need to keep trudging forward, because when you do become reinvigorated, and you will, you’re going to be glad you’re that much more ahead of the game.

One of my hardest working clients lost A LOT of weight training with me. She kept it off for a long time. Then life got in the way. Still, she trudged along. Then, more personal challenges came up. I told her, “Don’t take yourself out of the game. Keep plowing along because you will get your mojo back and when you do you’ll be glad you didn’t backtrack.”

She took herself out of the game.

A few months later we started training again – this time from a heavier weight than we originally began. She has her head sorted out and she’s absolutely KICKING BUTT right now and she’ll get right back to where she was. However, had she not taken herself out of the game, she sure would have saved a lot of time.

I ALWAYS want to be moving forward. NEVER back.

I’m so inspired right now.

I’m sitting outside on the patio. It’s 10:30 at night. There’s salmon and haddock on the grill as I’m typing this. I trained a full day today, worked out this afternoon,  just ran a mile to put a period on my activities for the day, and I feel great.

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Fitness 19 is open for a half day and my day is packed. My day is packed because I have the opportunity to work with people who are passionate about fitness. People who want to come in on their day off from work and get their workout in because it just wouldn’t feel right if they didn’t.

If you don’t know what that feels like, you should try it sometime. I love being around people who share the same lifestyle as me. What’s really cool is that my ‘weird’ health-oriented lifestyle is starting to become the norm in our society. More people are seeing the value in exercise, proper nutrition, functioning optimally. It’s pretty awesome.

If you’re grilling tomorrow, try what I have finishing up right now: haddock, salmon, and shrimp seasoned with fish seasoning, salt, pepper, thyme, and a sliced lemon on top. Have it over a bed of lettuce. If you want a carb, try cutting up some potatoes into French fry wedges and cooking in a frying pan with: olive oil, diced peppers, and diced onions. Absolutely mouth-watering phenomenal! Plus, you won’t wake up on Thursday saying, “I wish I wouldn’t have eaten that _________”

Have a fun and healthy FOURTH OF JULY!

This article is going to discuss what you should be putting in your mouth before a weightlifting/high intensity workout.

PRE WORKOUT!

Your body needs energy to fuel itself through the fun which is to come, so you MUST EAT before you lift weights.

HOW LONG BEFORE?

Use a general guideline of 30min – 2hours. It really depends on your stomach. Some feel ill if they eat too close to a workout although anything over two hours there’s probably not enough energy/blood sugar in your system to fuel you adequately. PLUS, without the right fuel in your system you will actually burn fewer calories and less fat than if you had eaten. DOUBLE PLUS, if you don’t have proper energy in your body to fuel anaerobic activity your body will actually break down your muscle to create energy to build muscle. Sound counterproductive?

I usually eat 45min before a workout.

WHAT TO EAT?

PROTEIN

WHY?

Resistance training breaks down muscle protein. Protein before exercise increases muscle protein synthesis and encourages increased muscle growth.

WHAT?

WHEY PROTEIN: Great pre-workout choice. Very fast digesting and can be taken as little as 30min before a workout.

I don’t do this for two reasons: 1. Whey protein does not supply the essential vitamins and minerals that other protein sources supply. That being said, because of my job, I’m stuck drinking protein shakes 3+ times a day. I never want my shake meals to exceed my whole food meals. I eat seven times a day. Another shake would put my over my limit.

2. I don’t feel full or energetic from a protein shake meal. I feel empty, and not in the mood to workout.

Verdict: Go for it! If you’re not getting that many shakes throughout the day and it’s a quick and convenient substitute, it works just great! For me, it’s not right.

EGGS AND FISH: Great choices as well. The proteins in these tend to be digested quicker than chicken and beef. They’re light on your stomach, plus the fish contains omega 3 fatty acids which help fight fatigue and improve circulation – both of which would benefit you while training.

Verdict: Go for it! Another great choice. Not right for me because eggs and fish are too light on my stomach. I need something hearty.

CHICKEN AND BEEF: Longer digesting than the above so advised to workout one-two hours after consuming. My favorite choice and I do just fine eating 45min before my workout. The saturated fat in burgers or steak gives me some extra energy to plow through my workouts (Don’t eat red meat too often due to the high fat content in most cuts)and the chicken is hearty enough that I feel satiated and full of enough energy to tackle what’s to come.

Verdict: My favorite. I usually eat pulled chicken or 93percent fat free burgers before every workout UNLESS I workout first thing in the morning and that’s only because I can’t stomach chicken at 6am.

CARBOHYDRATES

Why?

Weightlifting requires carbohydrates for fuel. Carbohydrates are utilized during anaerobic activity which in turn prevents your body from tapping into muscle for energy.

What?

Complex Carbohydrates: slower digesting fuel for prolonged energy during your workout (brown rice, sweet potatoes, Ezekiel bread, oatmeal)

Some of my favorites (Complex carbs are very easy to combine with your protein sources):

Chicken mixed with brown rice and Frank’s hot sauce

Chicken mixed with sweet potato French fries and ketchup

Oatmeal with Protein Powder mixed in

ALSO: Simple Carbohydrates: faster digesting immediate sources of energy (jelly, honey, fruit)

*Fruits are actually a mix of complex and simple carbs (although this can be debated as well) and are another can of worms that will be saved for another blog but for our purposes here, any fruit will suffice.

For more info on fruit check out: http://www.chrisrombolatraining.com/?p=459

I like adding a small amount of simple carbohydrates to my pre-workout meal for a nice jumpstart of energy.

Examples:

Protein Shake + Ezekiel bread toast with jelly

Oatmeal mixed with honey, raisins, and protein powder

Fats

I tend to avoid fats pre-workout. Fats slow protein absorption and our goal is to get our pre-workout meal to our muscles ASAP. I only ingest trace fats pre-workout (any fat that is naturally found in my proteins and carbs).

This should be a good starting point to figuring out what’s the best pre-workout nutrition for YOU!

Next will be POST WORKOUT nutrition.