Weight Loss

Being a mother is ALL about giving. Although my nine-year-old daughter is somewhat independent, my one-year-old and almost three-year-old require far more individual attention. Since deciding to run a small licensed child care from my home, I have even less time for myself during the day. Reluctantly, I must admit there are nights that I am so exhausted, so completely drained, I sometimes questions whether I have anything left to give. But each morning I realize that I do. But I’ve come to the realization that I can only do this if I take care of myself FIRST! One of the biggest challenges after having three children and running a household was finding the time to exercise.

Over the years I have kept many different types of schedules: work, school, children’s activity, church schedule, etc. At any given time, a mother juggles at least half a dozen activities simultaneously, and that’s not including the other half dozen activities dwelling on her mind for the day! With so many obligations, I’ve struggled to find the RIGHT time to exercise that works for my life. For the past fifteen years I’ve been active, not always consistent, but somehow managed to exercise at every possible hour of the day imaginable. Early on in my marriage I can recall heading to the gym at 4:30 in the morning! It was 1998 and at the time we only had one vehicle so the best time for me to exercise was immediately after dropping off my husband at work and before I headed to class. Years later, I was working on a morning news show and headed to the gym after my graveyard shift ended at 8am. I’ll never forget the zombie-like feeling state my body was in while trying to run on the treadmill. But I knew myself well enough to know that trying to sleep first, then head to the gym, would be harder to do since my motherly duties started as soon as I woke from my five-hour sleep. Life changes, schedules change, so finding the right time to exercise (a time that fits well with your lifestyle) is critical.

Many studies show that having a workout partner will increase your chances to see results, but it’s very important that you find the right one!

I’ve personally trained hundreds of people and also quietly observed thousands more as they find their way throughout fitness facilities. Some are obviously there to get in shape while others obviously there for other reasons…socialization.

Both are great reasons to join a fitness facility, but if you can coordinate both efforts you may be better off in the end. One of the many reasons people hire personal trainers is for the “accountability” factor and motivation.

Oftentimes, people know exactly what to do, but aren’t motivated enough to do it on their own, so they either hire a trainer, or look for a training partner. There are pro’s and con’s to hooking up with someone in the gym, so let’s explore some of the reasons why you would want a partner and some of the reasons you wouldn’t.

Pros-

1. Accountability- Studies have shown that training with a workout partner can increase results substantially, so working out with a partner can drastically improve your chances of getting fit. If you know you need to meet someone at a certain time chances are you won’t stand them up as easily as you would hit the snooze button if you were on your own.

What is the Most Important Aspect in Training?

Your Vision of course!

In the world of fitness, I believe vision is the first step everyone must address. Not your eye site, but the vision you have of yourself and where you are going. Throughout my wonderful career in sports, starting way back in middle school, we were constantly challenged to set goals for ourselves. What this did was give me a reason to push through the pain or push through the days I didn’t want to go workout. Daily at my house I would look at a picture of a professional athlete hanging next to my goals and a challenging quote “shot for the moon, if you miss you will land among the stars”, author unknown. This pushed me to do extra push-ups, extra abs, to eat extra PB&J nightly trying to gain just a little more ground.

One of my founding principles I live my life by is “without vision people are unrestrained”. What this simply means is that if I don’t have a goal set before me, a vision of what I am trying to accomplish, with specific details, I will live without restraint in my life. This can be seen in all aspects of your life. One area is your finances, if you have a financial budget and in your budget doesn’t have money set aside for fast food you won’t go McDonalds because you don’t have the money.

I’ve been in this fitness game a long, long time. I counseled hundreds of people and have been fortunate enough to help many of them achieve the body they have always wanted. I’ve learned many things along the way and if I were to distill all of that down to one simple lesson, it would be this: you need to take responsibility for yourself. There, I said it.

I was just having a conversation this morning with a client who is very close to me, and I realized something. That person is always looking for some outside influence to help them FINALLY get in shape. I had to tell them the hard truth, “You’ve made every excuse in the world why you can’t get in shape. You’ve purchased every gadget, gimmick, had plastic surgery and none of that has helped you one iota. When are you going to take responsibility for yourself?”

It must have been rough hearing that, I know, but I saw a light come on in their head realizing that what I was saying was the truth. The bottom line is, this site can’t do squat for you, your spouse can’t do squat for you, liposuction can’t do squat for you if you are looking for those things to be the answer to your problem.

You need to “man up” and CHOOSE to do something about the way you look and feel, today. If you don’t, ten years will fly by and where will you be then? I told you when you came onto this site that I promised to tell you the truth and this is it: nobody can do anything for you but you!!!

This past Sunday I hit quite a mile-stone. It had been 3-months since I last took measurements, and I was excited, yet simultaneously nervous, about the results. In January, my waist measured at 37 inches. In April -- only three months ago -- it measured at 34 inches, and this past Sunday, the tape read 30 inches! The rest of my body has also “shrunk” and I am so-o-o-o excited about the transformation that is taking place.

A woman stopped me in the produce section of the grocery store and said, "Hey, Susie Shina! What can I do about this?" and she grabbed a big handful of her tummy. I told her very simply to STAND UP STRAIGHT.

It’s true. If you want to look slimmer, just stand up straight. Go stand in front of the mirror and slouch…really let it all hang out. What do you think? Do you look your best? NO! So why do you do it? You might argue that it’s more comfortable but…let me share a little story with you…

When I was a little girl, a family lived down the street from us and their grandmother lived with them. I was scared of her…she was a hunchback. Seeing her everyday at the bus stop burned an image in my mind that would stay with me forever. I made a vow all those years ago that I would always stand up straight. As a 12-year-old girl, already towering over everyone at 5ft, 8in tall, a vow like that was a major deal. I was already the tallest person in my school except Coach Thompson. Nonetheless, a promise is a promise and I always stand up very straight. And today, at 5ft, 11in tall, I’m taller than my husband!

Alright, the point of the story is this: Posture is important on so many levels. When you stand up straight and exercise correct posture, lots of muscles are working - upper and lower back, abdominals, hips and more. So, here we go!

We all know that lifting weights is an anaerobic workout. I encounter many people at the gym who ask me how I stay so lean all the time, and my response is mainly because of how I train. I’ve been able to maintain a body-fat percentage of 4-5 percent without any real dieting because of how I train. How to turn an anaerobic workout into an aerobic workout is quite simple.

For example, on a Monday I might do chest and biceps. Well, what I would do on that day is work one set of chest, and then one set of biceps, and then alternate doing ab work during this chest and bicep exercise. What I am doing is not giving myself time to rest by training two different body parts back and forth. What this does is speed your heart rate and burns a high amount of calories because of the speed of the exercises and the lack of rest time between sets and exercises. While incorporating this type of circuit training, your workout is starting to become aerobic because of the increase in heart rate, uncontrollable sweating, and shortness of breath.

When training like this, it is important to ease into it slowly because, if you’ve never trained like this, you will struggle in finishing your workout. The reason is that it takes time to build the stamina required to train like this. Another workout example is on Tuesday, I might do shoulders and back, and then alternate doing calves during those exercises. I’ll do one set of shoulders, and then do one set of back, and then I’ll go back and forth while trying to complete four exercises per body part.

This past Fourth of July weekend was unlike any other for me: I did something I never envisioned myself doing. This 35-years-old mother of three slid into a wet suit and hit the salty waters of the beach, entering the world of surfing: a fantastic world I knew absolutely nothing about. As I made my way into the ocean, and the water reached my calves, and then my thighs, the reality of what I was about to do shifted my heart into overdrive. I bravely tried to conceal it from my instructor, Phil, who smiled and said, “Are you ready?” I mustered up a smile in return.

Have you ever noticed that when you decide to begin a diet, you’re thrilled for the challenge; nothing can get in the way of your success? You map out a meal plan, then stroll through the aisles of your local grocery store to grab everything on your list. Your workout regime is mapped out, and walking into the gym (or wherever you decide to embark) seems almost refreshing?

Two or three weeks pass, you become lethargic, less motivated, and the challenge just doesn’t seem as thrilling anymore. Well maybe I have an answer. Folks, it’s not because you lack the drive and the motivation psychologically, it’s most likely that since beginning your health quest, you have probably deprived yourself of essential nutrients, making you feel weak and exhausted. This can play tricks on one’s psyche, as most of us then look into the mirror wondering why we are such failures. We revert back to our “old ways”, thinking we have failed once again.

Come on, pick yourself back up, wipe off the “I am a failure” façade, and let’s analyze your plan of attack. You see, since beginning your diet and workouts, your body is thinking “what are you doing to me?” It does not know which way to turn. It just wants to go back to its old ways, the ways that were familiar. And this is where you can utilize a few quick tips to beat the issue at hand.

It’s a question that every health book, magazine and fitness professional will say is critical to achieving health goals. Are they correct? Absolutely. I’ve lost weight enough times to know that the key to my success has always been the “Why?” I know what you’re thinking…Great, here’s another article about how “positive thinking” will help me lose weight, get healthy, yata, yata, yata. These types of articles used to annoy the heck out of me! I simply wanted to know WHAT DO I NEED TO DO to get rid of my blubber. So if you’re looking for the secret in doing this all I can do is share what worked for me.