A Nutritional Plan That Will Help Break Through Your Fitness Plateau

Question from C.R. – “What are you eating? Do you have a set meal plan? I'm down 45 pounds, but hitting a plateau.”

Reaching a plateau can be frustrating especially if you have been doing so well trying to lose weight.  Your body goes through a lot of changes when you lose weight.  Therefore, when you reach a plateau, you need a new routine.  Change your diet or exercise routine, maybe both.

I personally don’t have a set meal plan.  I’m very active and burn a lot of calories throughout the day and find myself eating more to maintain my weight.  I’m not complaining, it’s a good problem to have.  Although I can eat anything I desire, I tend to eat fairly healthy and control my meal portions.  Your body is like a sports car, you have to give it the right fuel for the best performance.  Food is 80% responsible for your weight loss or gain.

I recommend following the menu below until you’ve reached your goal.  When you have reached your goal, then you can eat whatever you like but keep in mind the amount of calories you’re eating along with exercise.  The logic of losing weight is plain and simple.  Don’t consume more calories than you can burn off.  Until you are able to learn how to control your weight pound by pound, stick with this low calorie menu below.

BREAKFAST

Pick one main dish:

1) 2-4 egg whites

2) 1-2 eggs

3) Egg beater veggie omelet

5) Oatmeal mixed w/berries (instead of using any sugar)

Pick one side dish:

1) Rice cake

2) Low calorie wheat toast

3) Whole wheat English muffin

4) ½ Bagel

LUNCH & DINNER

Pick one main dish:

1) 6-8 oz. broiled/grilled fish

2) 6-8 oz. broiled/grilled skinless chicken breast

3) 6-8 oz. turkey breast

4) Tofu

5) Salad w/fat free vinaigrette dressing

Pick one side dish:

1) Vegetable dish

2) Dry baked potatoes or yam

3) Rice

OTHERS

Drinks:

1) Water

2) All natural fruit juice (with no corn syrup or fructose)

3) Coffee black or with non-fat milk

4) Green tea

Snacks (small portion):

1) Fruits

2) Popsicle (Use all natural juice and make your own)

3) Yogurt (non-fat)

4) Beef jerky (all natural)

5) Nuts

Meal Substitutes:

1) 8-10oz. of non-fat cottage cheese

2) Fruit smoothie (made with all natural fruit, w/non fat yogurt, fruit juice with no corn syrup or fructose)

Only use this weight loss menu as a guideline.  This weight loss menu contains approximately 1500 calories.  I also recommend drinking 8 glasses of water a day. 

If you reach a plateau, give my weight loss menu a try.  Otherwise, cut your meal portions or perhaps change your work out routine by doing more cardio exercises.  I promise combining with exercise, this menu will work! 

Sculpting The Perfect Abs

Questions from R.F. – “So is working out your abs a good idea to do everyday or every other day and how long is good for a work out?  Just wondering if they need time to rest like arms and legs do with weights.”             When it comes to abs, there’s no right or wrong way to work out.  It all depends on your goal.  Whether your goal is to have a runner’s lean abs or a muscular bodybuilder’s abs, it requires doing a lot of cardio exercises and a healthy diet.  Doing ab exercises alone may not be enough to give you the sexy abs you desire.  It requires work and consistency. I enjoy running and I used to jog 4 miles daily for my choice of cardio exercise but I had to find a balance because I was losing too much weight.  Now, I jog 4 miles every other day to maintain my weight.  I eat fairly healthy and I don’t feel the need to eat more just so I can jog daily. If you want a lean runner’s abs, you can do a shorter weightless ab workout everyday or every other day.  If you’re just starting out, start slowly and work your way up. My suggestion to start is 3 sets of 12 sit-ups (5 minutes). But if you want a muscular abs like the bodybuilders, then it requires an intense 1 hour of ab workout with heavy weights once or twice a week.  Ab muscles are like any other muscles in your body, it needs time to rest. I personally do 500 (5 different ab exercises @ 100 reps) weightless ab exercises daily at least 5 days a week.  My ab workout takes me about 45 minutes and is not for everybody.  When it comes to abs, as a woman, I think it’s more complicated than a man.  I like my abs to be somewhere in between a runner’s and a bodybuilder’s abs with some definitions, just enough ab muscles to find it sexy but not too much to considered masculine. There’s no right or wrong way to sculpt your perfect abs.  The choice is yours.  Whatever time and effort you put in will be the result.

Losing The Last 10 lbs.

Questions from P.N. – “I've gained 10 lbs and I'm now chubby.  Is it best to work out when I wake up which is usually around 1pm or before I go to bed, which is around 6am.  How often do I need to do cardio per week?  Is it alright to just eat 1 big meal per day?”

Whether you just started to gain or are trying to loss the last 10lbs., 10 seems to be the ultimate number.  It may not sound like it’s a lot but I applaud anyone keeping track or staying conscious of their body.  If you’re like me, 10 pounds would be quite a dramatic physical change because of my height.  I think finding the time to work out anytime of the day is fantastic!  If you have a choice, I recommend working out in the in the morning. It’ll jump start your metabolism for the day and burn stored fat instead of the food you’ve just eaten.  Before bedtime might not be a good idea because it will raise your energy level and may make it harder for you to fall asleep.

Cardio exercises are best for losing weight.  I recommend 1 hour per day at least 5 days a week until you reached your fitness goal.  If you’re just starting out, I recommend walking because it’s low impact and you can do it practically anywhere.  As you get more comfortable with your choice of cardio exercises, pick up the pace to burn even more calories!

I say it often and I’ll say it again.  Food is 80% responsible for your weight loss or gain, therefore eating healthy and cutting your meal portion is best.  I don’t recommend eating 1 meal per day because you’ll end up eating more than what you need.  Your body will then store the extra fat, which will make you gain even more weight.  If you choose to skip a meal, replace it with a healthy smoothie but don’t starve yourself to loss weight.  I recommend eating a regular healthy meal 3 times a day and carry a healthy snack throughout the day if you’re still hungry.  That means no fast food, sodas or alcohol.  Drinks a lot of water (8 glasses per day is recommended).

The key is to break your daily routine and try something different.  You can’t expect to get results doing the same thing.  The concept to losing weight is quite simple, eat less and work out more!  Follow these guidelines and you’ll loss that 10lbs. in less time and effortlessly.

Burn Off The Calories By Swimming

One of my favorite overall cardio workout is swimming, it’s low impact but it works your whole body.  And if you like the water, then it’s just considered a fun activity that’s beneficial to your body.  Swimming is one of the most important cardio exercises for losing weight, building muscles as well as having an aerobic affect that improves the body’s use of oxygen and increases lung function.  When you swim, all your major muscles are working at once.  Swimming is good for building muscles because water resistance is greater than air resistance therefore your muscles have to work harder.

If you don’t know how to swim, anytime is a good time to learn.  It’s never too late.  I taught myself to swim at 9 yrs. old.  I had no fear and it didn’t take me a long before I could swim like fish.  Up to this day, I still love the water and swim on a regular basis.  If you don’t have a pool, look for a gym, the YMCA or a community pool for a fun place to practice or learn as most places even have swimming lessons. 

Swimming burns about 3 calories a mile per pound of your bodyweight and improves your ability to maintain a healthy weight.  For example, if you weigh 150 lbs and swim 1 mile, you would burn 450 calories (3 calories x150 lbs = 450 calories burn).  If it takes you 30 minutes to swim 1 mile and 1 hour to swim 2 miles, you would burn 900 calories in 1 hour!  Swimming will burn up a lot of calories but be careful not to eat a big meal after you swim.  If you do then you’re just simply replacing all the calories you just burnt up.

Swimming also promotes proper breathing, stimulates your circulation and easy on the joints.  I swim on a regular basis because it’s fun as well as it builds up my muscle strength, endurance and cardio fitness.  

Broken Schedules & Managing Your Time

One of the top excuses I hear from people for not working out is finding the time.  Anyone that knows me well would never say such things because they know how much I multi-task and how dedicated I am to staying fit even while living on the road.  Being self-employed I have the freedom to make my own schedule, although it doesn’t make it any easier to find the time.  It still takes effort.

We all have to earn a living to provide for ourselves or for our family.  Working out is just as important.  You owe it to yourself to maintain a good health.  At the end of our lives, most people realize they should of taken better care of themselves and will grasp at anything to stay alive.

I don’t doubt that some of you do the best you can and that’s great but there’s always room for improvement.  People often ask me, “How do you find 2 hours or more in a day to work out?”  My schedule is constantly changing so I have to be flexible with my time to get my workouts in.

There’s 24 hours in a day, even if you used 16 hours between work and sleep, most people still have 8 hours of personal time.  How you choose to use that time is totally up to you.   Here are some tips I use to maximize my time in order to get my workouts in:

1)    I don’t watch TV unless I’m jogging on the treadmill. 

2)    I don’t spend hours on the phone just chatting. 

3)    I don’t spend hours at the hair or nail salon.

4)    I get ready quickly and don’t waste time looking in the mirror.

5)    Although social time is important but I don’t “hang out” on a daily basis.

I work around the clock until my mind needs a break. Some people take a break by having a smoke or calling a friend to gossip on the phone.  When I take a break, it’s only to workout.  Every time I take a break, I’ll either jog for 4 miles, swim for 30 minutes or do 45 minutes of ab training.  I believe in being productive and using every minute wisely.

What makes it harder for me to keep a consistent workout schedule is my traveling.  For people who travel for a living know all too well, it takes a lot out of your body whether you’re flying or driving.  After a full day of traveling, I’m wiped out.  I usually give my body a day to catch up before I exercise.  This is the only time I would skip a workout.  Nevertheless, I’ll still give my body a good stretch and try to get a good night sleep.

Most of us have complicated schedules but it’s important not to give up on your body. When you are as busy as I am, it’s even more critical to make the time to exercise.  This will allow your body and mind to be more energized.  While I was in college I had multiple jobs and sometimes I would do my exercises after midnight if that was my only option.  When someone tells me they don’t have any time to workout, I can only conclude that working out it’s not that important to them.

Lose Weight with Cardio Exercises

I can’t emphasis how great cardio is for your body and truly the best overall workout. Whether you choose to walk, jog, swim, cycle, aerobic, elliptical or participate in an active sport, all of these are great choices.  Cardio is truly the best especially if you’re trying to loose weight.  The more you do it, the better your results will be.  When you exercise your cardiovascular system not only will you burn off calories, your heart and lungs will get stronger.  This will improve the quality of your breathing because oxygen will be circulating better. 

A protein shake is an excellent pre-workout supplement if you are doing cardio exercise.  My choice of protein is soymilk.  Your muscle strives on protein so it’s good to consume protein approximately 30-60 minutes before doing cardio exercise. This will help increase your metabolism so that you loose more weights from fats.

My favorite cardio exercise is jogging.  As a warm up, I jog 4 miles before doing any exercises.  I used to do this daily but I had to cut down to every other day because I was burning too many calories and losing too much weight, which I know for most of you that is a good problem to have.  If you’re just starting out, I suggest you start slowly and work your way up.  Begin with a simple one-mile walk.  As long as you take that first step, you’re off to a great start! 

The best thing about jogging for me is the runner’s high that I get when I’m done and nothing gets my heart pumping more.  I feel alive and have the energy do anything. I’m often asked, “How can you stay on the treadmill for so long?”  For me, it helps to put on my ipod.  When doing cardio, I choose techno music because the fast beat really gets my body moving.  It’s during this time that I feel like I have no care in the world.

My advice is choose the music that you enjoy or have a TV in front of you to catch up on the news or your favorite program.  Some people may do better with a workout partner or being outdoors.  My technique is not for everyone, you’ll have to find what works best for you.  I enjoy jogging because that is when I’m truly alone and free of any thoughts or stress.   You need to make your exercises a priority, fun, and exciting.  That way it’s not a task but something to look forward to.  It’s this mentality that makes the difference between being fit or unhealthy.

If you are trying to loose weight, I recommend doing cardio exercises at least 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes to an hour.  If you need to, take a day to give your muscles a chance to recover by stretching, taking a nice bath, or getting a massage.  Cardio exercise is truly the best overall workout to maintain a healthy weight.