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How many times have you told yourself that starting Monday you were going to… start your new diet, go to the gym, get up an hour earlier to do, take a lunch at work, spend my time with my family, call a friend.  My guess is a million.  Now, how long did it last, if ever got started?? Did you make it 21 days?

Okay, so where did this 21-day concept come from?  Dr. Maxwell Maltz, wrote a book entitled  ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’  in the 1960’s after he observed that it took amputees about 21 days to stop feeling as though they still had their amputated limb(s).  Basically it takes our brain 21 days of consistent new stimuli to forge new pathways, so for any new behavior to become a habit we need to do it consistently for 21 days.

Can you do 1 thing consistently for 21 days?

I have 2 goals for the next 21 days.

1. consistently bring informative and actionable information in this blog
2. read for 1 hour each day

Now that I have written this down, and make it public, I got do it. So come brain help me make it stick!

So what does this have to do with fitness? Well, how is your fitness influenced by what others are doing?  Has a friend ever called/emailed/text-ed you and asked what you were doing and when you said you were going to workout they mentioned that a group of people (the herd) where doing something else and asked you to come along?  What do you say? Do you stick to your plan or do you go along with the herd?

We may have evolved, but we still like to feel part of a group and fear of not belonging sometimes over takes our need to be our own person. Trust me I know how you feel!

I am a fitness competitor and typically compete in 5 shows/year. The season starts in April runs through June and then I start back up again in the Fall. So trust me there are plenty of times when I get the phone call, have to go to a party, wedding or other social event and I want to follow the herd and play hooky, but this is when you reach inside and ask what are your goals?  How committed are you to reaching them?

Let me know do you follow the herd or do you stick to your goals?

For the past week, Boston has been held in suspense will we make again to the World Series. So last night while most went to bed to awaits the news of Boston loss, The Red Sox make an incredible come back.

Is there something that you have always wanted to do and thought all was lost? In Boston we have a saying “Why Not Us” When I am feeling down, stress out and thing I can’t turn things around, I think “Why Not Me”

Can you make a come back?  Have you made come back?  Tell me about it

Tell me (in the comments below) what have been some of the shortcuts you taken?  I promise no judgments.

I’m bumped up, got my favorite songs loaded on my pod, I’m 15 minutes into my run on a 10% incline I’m about to do a fast sprint decline and my treadmill gets STUCK!! I couldn’t get it off a 9 /12% incline.

Have you ever got stuck?  What did you do, did you just stop?
So instead of getting a boo boo lip, I just hopped on the treadmill next to me.

It’s 40 days and 12 hours until I compete in the Fitness America Show in Las Vegas; it’s time to put the pedal to the medal, if I plan to come home with some hardware!

My response to that well, those folks are obese and the weight they are losing is primary, water and some muscle.  Once they get to a reasonable weight the rapid weight loss they initially experience will slow

The facts:
It takes a caloric deficit of 3500 calories to drop 1 pound.
So the average person, if they reduce their calorie intake by 500 calories/day should expect lose at least 1 pound/week.  If you increase activity level by adding a little cardio and strength training you may boost that to 2 pounds/week. 
 
Any weight loss about that amount isn’t typical, sustainable or realistic.  So please look at reality shows for pure entertainment. Unless you are looking for me to become your new roommate.

When I was 28, I found a lump it turned out to be a calcium deposit, but I certainly was scared to death in the 24 hours before I could see my doctor. 

I asked myself, so what would I do if I needed to be brave?  What would you do if you needed to be brave?

Bring your lunch, purchase this awesome Lean Cusine lunch cooler, I have bought one every year for the past 5 years and they’re awesome.  The best thing about it is that $5.00 of each bag goes to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer fund.

One simple answer, MOVE IT OR LOSE IT!!
If we don’t exercise on a regular basis, we will lose about ½ of pound of muscle/year.  You will lose on average 15 pounds of muscle and gain 45 pounds of fat, that‘s a 60 pound change in your body from the age 20-60!

Holy (insert your expletive) !!! 

So what can you do?

Step 1:  Strength Train at least 20 minutes 2-3x/week
 No ladies you will not bulk up, by strength training
 Don’t know where to start?
Have a gym membership take a muscle sculpting class
Hire a personal trainer for a 30-minute session to show you the works
No gym membership, send me an email and we discuss some steps

Step 2:  Cardio at least 20 minutes 2-3xs/week
This doesn’t mean you are reading the latest chic lit book People magazine you are moving it!  You should break a sweat!

Step 3:  Nutrition:  Eat Right
Just because you are working out, doesn’t give you a license to snap on the feedbag!  Sure, you will be a little more ravenous, but our goal is drop some pounds!  So please follow a sensible eating plan.  We will take more about that in another post.