What is your immediate goal?

If you don’t have a ready answer then chances are good that your motivation is low and it has resulted in a lack of results.

I know from firsthand experience that operating without a goal will get you nowhere. Sure, you may still be exercising regularly and eating mindfully but without that concrete goal your efforts will yield little results.

1. Setting your goal

You want to be in “better shape” but that’s so vague. Dig deeper.

What specifically do you wish you had now that you don’t?

• To drop 3 dress sizes.
• To lose 2 inches of arm fat jiggle.
• To melt 4 inches from your waist.
• To be able to run 3 miles without stopping.

2. Define your timeline

Now that you’ve determined exactly what part of your body isn’t up to par, tie that goal in with a specific timeline. When you have a timeline to measure your progress against, you’ll find that achieving your goal becomes an easier process.

• To drop 3 dress sizes by August 20th vacation.
• To lose 2 inches of arm fat jiggle by October 13th wedding.
• To melt 4 inches from your waist by July 7th pool party.
• To be able to run 3 miles without stopping by June 16th city 5k.

3. Name your prize

It’s time to take your motivation to the next level. Now that your specific goal is set and your timeline is clearly defined, let’s add a prize that you’ll receive once you’ve accomplished your goal. This prize shouldn’t be anything related to your unhealthy habits – so no junk food or extra large meals. Make the prize an item that will reinforce your slimmer body, like a nice piece of clothing.

• A couple new outfits for your August vacation.
• A sleeveless dress for the October wedding.
• A new swimsuit for your July pool party.
• A new pair of running shoes for your June 5k.

4. Picture it

You know what you want, when you want it by, and the reward you’ll get by achieving it. Now spend time picturing your end goal. Find a comfortable, quiet corner, close your eyes and see a mental movie – starring yourself – enjoying your reward with your new and improved body. Play your mental success movie several times throughout the day.

• See yourself enjoying an afternoon of your vacation, wearing your new clothes with confidence.
• Imagine how you’ll feel walking down the aisle baring your toned arms.
• See yourself lounging by the pool in your swimsuit, carefree and happy.
• Imagine the feeling of accomplishment you’ll feel as you cross the finish line.

5. Recipe for success

The steps that you’ve taken above have prepared you to mentally take on the challenge of motivating yourself through this transformation process. All that remains is a solid exercise and nutrition plan to push you through to your new body.

This is where I come in.

I’m fanatical about propelling each and every one of my clients through their own personal body transformation.

Call or email today and I’ll get you started on a program that will make your goals a reality.

Servings: 12

Here’s what you need…

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bunch of carrots, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 bunch of celery
• 1 fennel bulb
• 1.3 lbs lean ground turkey
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 1 (14.5oz) can stewed tomatoes
• 1 (15oz) can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 ears of corn, kernels sliced off
• 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• dash of salt and freshly ground pepper

1. In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add garlic.
2. Add chopped carrots, cover for 5 minutes.
3. Add onions, celery and fennel. Sauté until soft.
4. In another skillet cook the ground turkey over medium heat until fully cooked, stirring often. Drain off excess fat.
5. Transfer the veggies to large soup pot and add the remaining ingredients, and the cooked turkey. Cover and cook over low heat for 40 minutes. Add extra water as desired.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 119 calories, 1 fat, 336mg sodium, 10g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, and 15g protein.

Servings: 4

Here’s what you need:

•     1/2 cup Greek yogurt, fat freeEasy Baked Salmon
•     1 lime, juiced
•     3 garlic cloves, minced
•     1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
•     1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
•     4 (3oz) wild caught salmon fillets

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
2.     In a small bowl combine the yogurt, lime juice, and garlic. Put half of the yogurt mixture aside in the fridge. Coat the salmon with the other half of the yogurt mixture and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3.     Place the salmon on prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Turn on the high broil for an additional 5 minutes until the top of the salmon has browned.
4.     Serve the salmon on a bed of kale with a dollop of the reserved yogurt.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 172 calories, 6.9g fat, 62mg sodium, 1g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, and 24.6g protein.

Head to a restaurant, and it’s another story.

The ingredients, method of preparation, and portion size can easily add excess calories to your diet.

Restaurant menus have so many choices and are often full of unfamiliar terms. Is a food fried or baked? Does it come with a sauce or dressing? If you’re not careful, you won’t know answers to these questions and more until you ask them.

Before heading out to dinner tonight, here are some tips to enjoy a healthy meal.

So Many Options
When considering what to choose from dozens of options, you can easily become overwhelmed. Just as easy is to be tempted by the unhealthy choices. Thankfully, most restaurants these days include healthy options on their menus and label them accordingly.

For your main course, choose chicken, turkey, ham, or fish over beef. If it comes with a sauce, avoid creamy or cheesy sauces and go with a tomato or vegetable sauce.

Additionally, try to include a salad, fruit, or steamed vegetable, and go sparingly on dressings, cheese, salt, and butter. Instead of chips, fries, or fried rice, choose boiled rice or potatoes.

Need some extra seasoning? Leave the salt and butter alone. Instead, reach for some fresh herbs or lemon. And if the meal comes with bread, choose a whole-grain option and go with a sherbet, sorbet, or fresh fruit if you can’t say no to dessert.

Food Preparation
Menus are often vague when it comes to the way the food is prepared. If you’re not sure or the menu doesn’t say how the food is prepared, be sure to ask.

Remember—restaurant foods are full of fats, as fats help keep the food moist and yummy.

To play it safe and to avoid excess fat, choose foods that are grilled, boiled, steamed, stir-fried, or poached instead of fried, baked, or battered. Also, take control of your food destiny by asking that your meal be prepared with olive oil instead of butter or other fats.

When your salad arrives, opt for oil and vinegar rather than dressing. Or have your dressing on the side so you can limit the amount you use.

Terms to watch for include “lightly breaded,” “wrap,” “baked,” and “viniagrette.” These may all sound healthy but may are deceiving.

Foods that are lightly breaded are often deep-fried. A wrap may sound like a good option, but two slices of bread may have fewer calories than a 10-inch tortilla. Baked sounds better than fried, but it could possibly mean the food is baked deep-dish style and contains high-fat, creamy ingredients. While baked salmon is a good choice, baked lasagna is high in fat. And though vinaigrette dressing sounds healthier than a cream based dressing, it is mostly oil, so order it on the side.

Portion Control
Not only do portions keep getting bigger, so do the plates that hold them! With so much food sitting in front of you, it is sometimes hard to resist the temptation to eat it all—especially when you paid so much for it.

To avoid the temptation to eat unhealthily large portions, split or share the entree, then choose a soup, salad, or extra side. If you know you’ll get too much food, go ahead and ask for a to-go box when you order. That way you can divide the food as soon as you get it, so you won’t have to stare at the extra food as you eat.

Know What to Look For
Knowing what to look for on a menu and what to avoid will help you choose healthier, low-fat options. If you find that your diet is lacking fruits, vegetables, or whole grains when you eat out, make up for it when you eat your other meals at home.

Remember that healthy eating is only half of the battle when it comes to losing weight.

Call or email today to get started on a fitness program designed to get you real results.

Massage is great for post workout recovery, to relax and rejuvenate on your “off-days”, or just because you are a Rockstar and need to reward yourself for the hard work you’ve been putting in!

To book a session at our promotional rate of $60 for your first one hour session click here! and use promotional code: MASSAGE60

Please note:  This promotional rate is only available for the first session

To read more about our massage service click here.  To ask us questions, feel free to email massage at freshfitness dot ca!

Here’s what you need…

• 4 large, round tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 slices organic, nitrate-free turkey bacon, chopped
• dash of dried oregano, plus more for garnish
• optional dash of salt (added salt is not in nutritional analysis)
• dash of pepper
• 4 organic, omega-3, free range eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wash tomatoes, slice off the tops and scoop out the insides. Place tomatoes on a pan, and bake for 5 minutes.
3. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add garlic. Add onion. Add chopped bacon. Saute for 5 minutes, until mostly cooked. Add the spices and mix well.
4. Turn oven to broil.
5. Fill each tomato with the bacon mixture, leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top of each tomato. Crack an egg into each tomato then sprinkle with oregano. Place in the oven under broiler for 5 minutes. Remove from oven once the top has set, and you’ll have perfectly done over easy eggs.
6. For well done eggs: change oven temperature back to 400 degrees F, and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 98 calories, 5g fat, 162mg sodium, 3g carbohydrate, .6g fiber, and 9g protein.

Don’t allow past failures get you down. It can be frustrating waiting for results, but by a combination of cardio exercises, a healthy diet, and the right resistance workouts targeted for the butt and thighs, you will reach your goal.
Here are the essential exercises that target your gluteal muscles to give it the shape and tone you desire.

Exercise 1: Hip Lift
A great exercise to work your glute muscles is the hip lift. To do this exercise, lie on the floor with your back flat, knees bent, and feet resting on the ground. While keeping your arms at your sides on the floor, lift your bottom and lower back off of the floor. Hold for a few seconds, and then slowly lower yourself. Repeat. To work your muscles even more, lift a leg in the air when you raise your bottom off the ground. Lower yourself and then repeat, lifting the other leg.

Exercise 2: Leg Lift
To do a leg lift, lie on your side and prop yourself up on your elbow. Raise your top leg slowly into the air, as high as you can, so your legs make a “V” shape. Hold for a few seconds, and then slowly lower your leg. Repeat 10 times, turn onto the other side, and lift the other leg.

Exercise 3: Banded Shuffle
This is a great exercise to get your heart pumping and work your butt. To do this exercise, you’ll need an elastic sports band. Stand up straight with your legs hip-width apart and tie the band around your lower legs. Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, your back is straight, and your abdominals are tight. While in this squatting position, take several steps to the left, then several to the right. You may need to use your arms for balance, but your butt muscles should feel a workout.

Exercise 4: Plie Squat
Another form of squat is the plie squat. If you don’t have an elastic band, this is the exercise to add definition and shape to your butt. Start by standing with your legs slightly more than shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed out to the sides. This is what ballerinas call the plie position. For balance, hold your arms in front of you. While keeping your back straight, slowly squat to the ground until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Hold this for five seconds and stand back up. Repeat 10 times.

Exercise 5: Lunge
A fifth exercise that targets the muscles of your butt, thighs, and hips is the lunge. Putting one foot out in front of the other, lower your body toward the ground, keeping your abdominals tight and your torso straight. Lower until the front knee is bent at 90 degrees and not extended past your toes. Stand back up and then extend the opposite leg and bend. Perform 10 repetitions. For an increased workout, hold dumbbells in each hand.

Exercise 6: Run or Walk
Running or walking outside or on the treadmill are other great exercises that work your butt while giving you a cardio workout to burn fat at the same time. Make it your goal to exercise 30 to 45 minutes at least three times a week, including walking or running each time.

Burn, Baby, Burn! These exercises are excellent ways to burn extra fat off your butt while adding the definition you desire. Not used to working your gluteal muscles? You’ll definitely feel the burn the first few days, but the end result will be worth the effort!

If you’re serious about transforming your body then call or email today to set up a consultation with me. Together we will create the perfect program that will quickly get you into the body that you deserve.

Don’t wait – call or email today to get started.

What’s the difference between sodium-reduced and low-sodium?

Is something really better for you if it says “natural”?

How can I really know if what I buy is healthy for me?

The food industry is worth BILLIONS and a lot of that money is spent on marketing, gimmicks, and advertising to convince you to buy their food. But all that advertising can make it difficult to figure out what is truly good for you.

Just because something has a “health check” symbol, is endorsed by a charitable foundation, or says “low-sugar,” or “no-fat,” doesn’t mean that it’s good for you!

At FRESH! we work with people every day who’ve struggled with losing their excess body fat.  They lack of motivation, and have little knowledge on what they need to do to get healthy, fit, and feel great.  Learning about nutrition and how to shop for food effectively is a foundational skill necessary to make positive changes in your life.

That’s why FRESH! is hosting a Grocery Store tour for our valued clients (and guests).

This Shopping Tour will help you learn the “hands-on” strategies and information necessary to navigate the crazy and confusing world of “Food Marketing” that we are bombarded with inside and outside the Grocery Store.  We look forward to seeing you at the tour!  Here are the details…

Is This Fat-Free Probiotic Yogurt a Good Choice? The commercials say it is healthy.

Date: Tuesday, March 20th

Time: 5:45pm to approximately 7:00pm

Place: CO-OP Midtown Market.  (Corner of 11th Ave and 11th St. SW Calgary)

Great Rate: $19.95 (plus GST)  – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

(FREE BONUS:  The first 20 people receive a Free Gift Bag with over $70 of great Swag!!)

FRESH! Members please check your email for a discount code (or call us for the code)

Details: This will be an interactive workshop, so come with LOTS of questions!
Handouts will be provided, but a pen and notebook may be handy to take notes on all the great information

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

For regular updates on our events visit us on Facebook!

Let’s go through the list point by point and address the issues.

Myth #1: Cardio Calorie Burning

This one is very true!  Unless you enter ALL of the appropriate data and track your heart rate along with this data, the calorie total you get will be completely erroneous.  If you really want to track your calorie burn during exercise, your best option is to get a good quality heart rate monitor (Polar, Suunto, Garmin, etc.) and ensure you have entered all of your appropriate information (age, gender, height, weight, fitness level, etc.).  Keep in mind that tracking your heart rate for some types of workouts is not useful (i.e. strength training) as raising your heart rate is not the goal of the workout!  This may sound simple, but the concept is lost on many people…including some “trainers”.

Myth #2:  Heart Rate Monitors & Intensity

This “Myth” is really talking about three different things.  First, it is correct that heart rate monitors can create errors in specific types of activities (i.e. swimming).  Unless you have the right type of monitor, are wearing it correctly, and the sensors are kept moist (sometimes a challenge due to wind in cycling), you may get erroneous results.  However, this is rarely an issue for the average user of HR monitors…and it’s quite easily fixed in most situations.

Second, as stated in Myth #1, getting results from some exercise modes is not directly related to heart rate measurement or intensity.  When doing a strength workout, you shouldn’t really worry about what your HR is doing (unless of course is STOPS)!  Circuit style workouts and Metabolic Conditioning sessions will be a different story, but HR goals will vary based on the goal of the workout.

Third, using RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a valid thing to use as a general guideline.  However, if you are doing a workout where it’s helpful to track HR, then knowing exactly what your HR is can be an extremely valuable training tool.

BONUS POINT:  The other thing to keep in mind about heart rate and accuracy is that the heart rate ZONES that you find on most charts/cardio equipment/graphs are completely USELESS!  They are rough estimations based on a “general” population (what the hell is that anyway?) and are probably many beats away from your actual zones.  The most effective way to find out your ACTUAL zones is to get an exercise metabolism test (aka VO2max).

Myth #3: A Slave to the Scale

This is true, with a big BUT (or BUTT…depending on your perspective)!  Muscle weighs more than fat and you shouldn’t rely on the scale completely.  However, if you are significantly overweight or obese, then the scale will be an accurate measure of progress.  At FRESH!, we often see people make excuses and feed their denial by justifying that they are gaining muscle when the scale doesn’t move.  Doing some 3lb dumbbells for a couple workouts at the gym is not going to build muscle or make you gain weight.  In fact, muscle is more metabolically active than fat, so the more muscle you have, the HIGHER your metabolism will be.  That means you will burn MORE calories every day than someone of the same size, weight, and gender who has less muscle.

For example, let’s say you have two people, each is 5’6″ and 150lb.  However, one of those people is 12% body fat, and the other is 30% body fat.  Even though they are the same height, weight, age and gender, they will have COMPLETELY different body compositions, physical appearances, metabolic rates, fitness levels, and physical capacities.

Myth #4:  Fat burning & Exercise Intensity

Your body does NOT dig into fat after you’ve burned through all the carbs.  This is simplifying the situation to the ridiculous!  Your body is ALWAYS using some proportion/mix of carbohydrates and fat regardless of the exercise intensity.  In a 100m sprint you may be using predominantly carbs and in a marathon, you may mostly use fat.  However, there is always some contribution from the other system.  Your brain runs solely on carbohyrates, so if you run out completely, you will not be able to function.  Have you ever seen people hit the “wall in a marathon” or “bonk” during exercise?  This is a reason behind it.

Also, the intensity of your exercise along with the efficiency of your metabolic pathways (what you’ve trained for) will determines the ultimate mix of carbs/fat being burned during an activity.  Highly trained people are better able to utilize their fuel stores for activity (whether aerobically or anaerobically)

Myth #5:  Protein Shakes

I completely agree on this one.  EAT REAL FOOD!  If you are planning well and have control of your schedule, there should be very FEW real “emergencies”.  When this starts to happen every day or every couple days, they aren’t “emergencies”, they are just poor planning!  Get interested in the quality and source of the food you are putting into your body and once you are consuming the most high quality fuel possible, it will have a remarkable effect on your health, mindset, and results!

Myth #6: Spot Reduction and “Toning”

It’s true that you can’t do situps to lose belly fat, or bicep curls to lose fat on your arms.  However, the description of this “Fact” is ridiculous!  From a technical perspective, the statement is accurate, but it completely missed the point.  Yes, with practice, your body will become more efficient, you will burn less energy to accomplish the same goal.  If you never changed anything about your workout, you would start producing diminishing returns.  In other words, you would reach a “plateau”.

Now, the idea of fitness is that we are continually challenging our body to adapt.  Therefore, if you get more efficient at doing an exercise, just increase the challenge!  There are many ways to do this.  You could

• Do more reps with the same weight
• Do the same reps with more weight
• Change the style, variation, angle, speed, etc. of the movement
• Or do a completely different activity

So, high repetitions are a great part of your program…as long as its not the ONLY thing you do.  You need to switch things up regularly.  This is where so many people go off track.  They don’t know what to do.  Hire a qualified and experienced Personal Trainer to help you out and teach you what you need to know to get the most out of every workout session.  At FRESH!, we like to say that with our guidance, we can easily get you twice the results in half the time compared to your normal training plan!

Myth #7:  Calories In/Calories Out

While we hear this all the time, it’s not always the case.  If everything in your system is functioning great, then this principle will likely apply.  However, MOST people struggling to get fit and lose weight have messed up their system through so much abuse to their body and lifestyle that their system doesn’t function correctly anymore.  They need to dial in many other factors to get their hormone profile and metabolism under control before the calories in/calories out equation will be even close to working correctly.  That’s why FRESH! takes a holistic approach to getting results.  We realize that exercise and nutrition will only get you so far…and it’s often not the best place to start.  So many people end up spinning their wheels for years because they aren’t focussing on the correct areas of their health and lifestyle.  To find out what those are for you, just ask us.!

Myth #8:  Cardio and Weight Loss

Once again, the concept is correct, but it’s not explained well.  At FRESH!, we like to free people of the concept that they need cardio to lose weight.  In the traditional sense, you never have to do cardio again if you choose to.  You can still lose weight.  Most people spend hours slogging away on a “Deadmill” or elliptical because they think that’s the best way to lose weight.  Yet, this is one of the worst uses of your exercise time.  Your heart doesn’t care WHY it beats, it just adapts to the demands placed on the body by pumping more blood to the working muscles.  Therefore, if we work our muscles more, the heart will pump more blood to them.  Simple concept, but rarely followed properly.

An analogy I often use to drive the point home is…”Do you ever see a FAT sprinter?”  The answer is no in case you had to think about it.  Yet sprinters rarely ever run for longer than 5 or 10 minutes continuously.  They do strength training, speed and power work, and watch their nutrition.  By building a solid base of muscle, training regularly, and eating well, they boost their metabolism and continually challenge their body to adapt.  THAT’s how they are so lean and fit.

Next time you are at a marathon, look around and see how many overweight and obese runners there are.  Just because you can complete a marathon doesn’t mean you are a fat burning machine.  In fact, it’s often the opposite!  This is another area where are VO2Max test and Resting Metabolism Assessment are very helpful. They will make sure you have the right information to make SMART training decisions.

Myth #9:  Workout on an empty stomach

Working out on an empty stomach (especially intense activity) is a great way to “bonk” (feel nauseous, dizzy, etc.) and leave you feeling frustrated about your exercise attempts.  Even eating something small will help give you energy to make it through your workout.  Everyone is different with how close to an exercise session they can eat, but in general, it will take at least 20 minutes for the food you eat to be useable for fuel.  Once you start exercising (especially intense activity), the blood is shunted away from your digestive organs and sent to the working muscles.  That means any food not digested already will just sit in the stomach waiting for you to stop exercising.  This can cause discomfort and gastrointestinal issues with certain activities.  Therefore, plan your meals and workouts accordingly.  That means going for a hard run right after Thanksgiving dinner is probably NOT a good idea.  Though a casual walk with light movement will usually help with digestion!

Myth #10:  Ice Cold Water & Fat Burning

You can shock your system by jumping into a frozen lake too, but it may not help you lose fat!  The problem with this myth is that water is not absorbed until it reaches body temperature.  Therefore, any cold water consumed will just sit in your stomach until it warms up.  This can cause challenges during exercise as the water is “sloshing” around in your stomach while you are doing those burpees!  That’s a recipe to see what you had for lunch!

So, drink room temperature water.  It will be absorbed and get to do it’s important job much quicker!  Plus, your stomach will thank you!