Burning More Calories With Sex

Over the past week I’ve read two very interesting blog posts about burning additional calories. The first one was from Cherrie of “I’m a Hot Mom”, in which she motivates us to be active because not only do we burn more calories during activity than at rest, but also because there is an after-burn affect, where we burn more calories at rest for a short period of time after being active. Makes sense because it takes calories to recover from exercise.

The second article was from Lisa Johnson Fitness in which she points out that not only is sex a great way to burn calories, but it’s also very healthy & good for you (sign me up folks – or maybe that’s why I’m in my current “condition”?). One of the comments on her site also leads to an article about how many calories you burn during sex.

Now, my mind being the way it operates has come to the conclusion that not only will you burn extra calories by having sex, but you’ll also burn more calories later on in the day after having sex… How’s that for a little motivation to set your alarm a little earlier and get a “jump start” on the day?

Cheers!

This week’s Guest Post is from: Scott of Online Fitness Information Center (@scottgofit).  He’s a fitness enthusiast, husband and father of 2.  In this post he shares the eight benefits of drinking water.

(If you would like to guest blog, then check out my guidelines here.)

8 Benefits of drinking water

If you, or somone you know, constantly feels fatigued, hungry, or are dealing with chronic headaches. This could be the easiest, and yet most effective remedy for you. Our culture today seems to promote drinking everything except water. Water is practically free. I guess maybe that is why.

Some may justify that there is enough water contained in our coffee, or beer, or soda to get our full servings for the day. “C’mon Man!” Simply replacing that diet soda with water will affect your hunger pattern for the better, help you feel energized longer (no crash), and actually quench your thirst!

Consider these 8 benefits of drinking water:

1- Weight Loss. Replaces high calorie drinks like juice, alcohol, and worse yet, soda (diet soda has many drawbacks, too, dealing with hunger issues and chemicals). Water acts as an appetite suppressant, as often when we think we are hungry, we are actually thirsty (dehydrated). Water has no fat, no calories, no sugar, and no carbs. Drink plenty to help with your weight loss program.

2- Energy. Dehydration steals your energy and makes you feel tired. Prolonged dehydration leads to fatigue, weakness, and dizziness. Infuse your body with plenty of water to feel lively and awake during the day.

3- Headaches. Water can play an important role in being one of the key reasons why people have chronic headaches. For some it could be the only cure they need. A simple, clean, good hydration habit…practically free!

4- Healthy Skin. Helps replace dull, pasty, dry looking skin with a healthy glow. Like giving water to a dehydrated plant or tree, watch your external appearance improve over a relatively short time.

5- Digestion. Our body requires a good amount of water to digest food properly. It can cure stomach acid problems. Along with fiber, can also help deal with constipation. Again, often a result of dehydration.

6- Cleansing. Water helps flush your body from toxins and other unwanted waste products.

7- Reduce Cancer Risk. Drinking the proper amount of water can help reduce the risk of several forms of cancer. Particularly colon and bladder cancer among others.

8- Better Exercise. Being dehydrated can reduce your perfomance significantly. Fitness exercise requires additional water so be sure to hydrate before, during, and after working out. This is especially true if you are using sports supplements.

Drinking enough water is simply a habit. As is not drinking enough water. Water filters are a great way to go. Bottled water can be convenient. Drinking water and driving is perfectly legal ; . ) Throughout your day, whether you are thirsty or not, keep taking several swigs. In fact, if you feel thirsty, you are already at dehydration levels. So this round is on the house. Have a drink…and another…on me. GoFit!

Hey folks!  How’s your week going?  Have you been exercising?  Drinking your water?  Saying “No” to treats?  And most importantly have you been getting a good night’s sleep?

Sleep?  Why is the Fitness Cheerleader asking me about my sleep? Does sleep cause weight loss?

Are you getting enough sleep?

Well – no, sleep doesn’t cause you to lose weight, but it certainly plays a vital role in preventing you from sabotaging your healthy eating plans.  You see, when you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases a stress hormone called cortisol.  And guess what? That nasty stress hormone cortisol causes our bodies to break down protein (our muscles) turning it to glucose (sugar).  This excess sugar is used for fat production and triggers our bodies to release insulin.  But guess what?  Our bodies over-produce insulin, therefore dropping our blood sugar levels too low.  This tells our brains that we are ravenously hungry and need to eat.  It makes us crave sugar and that excess sugar is used for fat production….  Ahhh – isn’t that a nice vicious cycle?
But wait!  That’s not the only vicious cycle cortisol causes!  Elevated cortisol levels also make it difficult to fall asleep… so again, you don’t get enough sleep and want to spend the whole next day tired eating a ridiculous amount of sugar laden foods.  Lovely.
Yes – Cortisol is bad… very, very bad.  Also, having elevated levels of cortisol has been found to lead to:

• Lowered immunity
• Poor short-term memory
• Constipation
• Weight gain, especially in the abdominal region and the waist
• Loss of muscle tone
• Reduced growth hormone, testosterone, DHEA and estrogen
• Osteoporosis

Seriously folks – Sleep is important! Just ask my kids what mommy is like if she hasn’t gotten enough sleep!  Numerous studies have linked the oversecretion of cortisol with obesity and increased fat storage in the body, so if you want to start having control of your cravings, and start getting fit stop reading this article and get to sleep!  I’m telling you this because I love and care for each one of you. Good night and sweet dreams.

How many times have you seen articles titled like that? Articles that have crazy diets and “fat-burning” exercises with the promise you WILL get SKINNY in 3 short weeks. Have you tried them? Do they work? I bet you think they don’t, so you quickly dismiss them and don’t try them.

Lose the Muffin Top in 3 Week Intervals

I’m going to be honest with you – they do work – sort of. If you follow the crazy diet, and exercise your ass literally off for three weeks you will lose fat, and probably build some muscle. But the way that these crazy things fail, is that no one can sustain them for long periods of time, and often people go back to their unhealthy lifestyles afterwards, typically gaining even more weight. We become frustrated, and distrustful of these fads.

A better title for these articles is: How to Lose the Muffin Top in 3 Week Intervals.

Let me introduce you to a new idea: Periodization. It’s a technique athletes use to prepare their bodies for peak performance. I briefly covered the topic in my post about how to build a half-marathon training program. In that article I failed to really go into detail over why the program is broken into hard/easy days and hard/easy weeks. You see, in order for our bodies to give up the fat that they’re storing, our bodies need to be challenged… continually. So if you do the same fat blasting workout for 6 months, somewhere after a month or two you will stop seeing results. You may even begin to GAIN weight. This is because your body has adapted to the demands you’ve placed on it. It’s no longer a challenge. And if you remember, I said to lose fat you need to challenge your body… continually. The same thing happens with athletes. That is why they don’t do the same workout day in, day out. They practice a technique called periodization.

So what is periodization?
The idea behind periodization is that you PLAN your exercise. You plan by week (a micro-cycle) and you plan by months (a macro-cycle). You don’t just hop on the treadmill and do the same workout that you’ve done the past 9 days… You break your week (called a micro-cycle) into hard and easy workouts. Yes – you mix it up and keep your body guessing. You alternate hard and easy days, strength, cardio etc… Perhaps one day you run hills, the next you do a slow easy jog, the next you do a fast tempo run, then you take a rest day, then you do a long distance run to build endurance… You’re running, every day, but because you’re mixing it up your body is being challenged and is left guessing. Your body is not really sure what demands you’re going to place on it. As well, because you’re giving your self easy days, your allowing some recovery so you don’t get injured. You’re also not getting bored. You then break your month (called a macro-cycle) into hard and easy weeks. One week all of your hard & easy workouts are harder than the week before. Then you take an easier week, then a harder week – slowly building your harder weeks to be harder than the hard week before. That, my friends is periodization.

So what does Periodization have to do with fad diets & exercise plans?
Think of those crazy fat burning hard exercises as your hard weeks. Maybe your macro-cycle is 3 months long. You workout hard – following a fad exercise plan for 3 weeks, then you back off for a week or two and take it easy. Now I said easy – not complete rest. Remember, you also need to break that recovery week up into hard & easy workouts. By hard, I don’t mean super hard – just harder than your easy day. Then, and this is where we all fail – then you need to follow that rest/recovery week with another week or two of hard exercise.

The best part of all of this is that you’ll get results and you won’t get bored. Below is a calendar I created for you, with weekly micro-and monthly macro-cycles. I haven’t dictated what exercisies you do because I’m not sure what exercises you prefer to do. If it isn’t stuff you enjoy, then you won’t do it right? I’ve marked hard days and easy days. The hard weeks are in RED BOLD and easy weeks are in plain black. What’s hard for me, could be easy for you. This is another reason why I’ve left it up to you to decide what exercises to do:

(Here’s a direct link so you can download it).

YOU CAN DO IT!!! Break it off into smaller chunks. Try to get through your three hard weeks, then reward yourself during the easy weeks (but not with food, unless it’s veggies). Try it for a month – tell me what you think. Did you get results? Did it keep you from getting bored? Are you losing your muffin top in 3 week intervals? I’d love to hear from you in 12 weeks from now

Reasons Why Women Have Difficulty Losing Weight:

Courtesy of Dove - Campaign For Real Beauty

I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that women have a much harder time losing weight than men.  Why is that?  What makes us so different than the men we love?  Unfortunately it all boils down to our body chemistry – we’re made differently than men.  Yep – we’re a bit more complicated due to physiology, brain chemicals, hormones and other issues (go figure):

Body Mass:
We have less lean body mass than men.  Yes ladies, we have more fat cells.  Lean body mass is a measure of how much muscle WE have.   The lower our lean body mass the less muscle we have and unfortunately muscle burns more calories than fat.  This is why our personal trainers suggest we strength train – strength training builds muscle and therefore burns more of those pesky calories.

Thyroid:
Women, more than men, have thyroid problems.  What’s a thyroid you ask?  It’s an endocrine gland in our bodies whose primary function is to control how quickly the body burns energy.

Pregnancy:
Actually the potential to become pregnant is what makes us have less lean muscle mass – our bodies have 20% more fat cells than men.

Brains:
Our brains make us have a harder time resisting foods we crave than men.  We are also more likely to overeat then men and more likely to have eating disorders or behaviours such as binge eating.

Sleep & Stress:
These two go hand in hand.  Lack of sleep (night-time parenting) causes stress.  Stress AND lack of sleep causes the levels of cortisol (a hormone) to increase.  High cortisol levels leads to an increase in appetite and thus causing us to overeat. We need to stop doing all the household chores and get some good beauty sleep if we want to have better control o our eating habits.

Exercise:
We don’t exercise hard enough.  We all know we need to exercise, but very few of us are aware of how hard we need to exercise in order to lose weight.  To lose weight we need to work out at 80% of our Max heart rate.  Why?  Because that is our Aerobic Zone. Here’s a table:

(Your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age. The figures above are averages, so use them as general guidelines.)

Ladies, we need to exercise at 80 percent of maximum our heart rate and we need to include some form of weight lifting if we want to see those extra pounds go away. A heart rate monitor can help us determine 80 percent of maximum and we should exercise at this level for around 20 to 60 minutes, 3-5 times a week.

Three of the factors listed above we have no control over – we’re women, we have fat cells, our thyroids are wonky and our brain chemistry works against us.  That said we have control of the other factors.  We can change our body composition by strength training, we can get enough sleep and we can do aerobic activity at 80% of our max heart rates.  Hmmm… I guess we can’t blame not being able to lose weight on being a woman anymore now can we?

Here’s a great way to create a spreadsheet tool using Google Docs, that tracks your weight loss progress that also allows you to share your progress with your blog readers in a nifty little chart that looks like the image to the right ->

Things You’ll Need:

• A computer connected to the internet
• A free Google account

Instructions:

1. Go to the Google home page
   Before creating your weight loss tracking spreadsheet using Google Docs, you must Sign In to your Googe account. To do that go to Google.com using your internet browser. On the Google home page click on the “Sign In” in the upper right corner of the web page.
2. Sign into your free Google account
   On the Google Accounts sign in web page, log into your free Google account by entering your account email address and password.
3. Navigate to the Google Docs web page
   After signing into your Google account, click on the “more” link at the top of the page, and then click on “Documents”.
4. Create a blank spreadsheet
   To create a blank spreadsheet, on the navigation bar click on “New” and select “Spreadsheet”.
5. Enter the headings into your weight loss tracking spreadsheet
   Enter the headings of your weight loss tracking spreadsheet into row 1. Type in these cells:-A1: Date
   -B1: Weight
6. Enter dates into your weight loss tracking spreadsheet in column A.
   I choose to only weigh myself once a week, on Monday mornings.  My column A has the following dates:2/1/2010
   2/8/2010
   2/15/2010
   2/22/2010
   3/1/2010
7. Enter your weight in column B.
8. Click “Insert”, then select “Chart” to begin creating your chart.
   
9. A new chart window will pop up. Select chart type of your choice:
   
10. In the “What data” field enter: Sheet1!A1:B11
11. Group data by columns, and tick off the two selection boxes:
    
12. Add a title to your chart and axis names – I have given my axis the names “Date” and “Weight”:
    
13. Save your chart!
14. Click on your newly created chart and scroll to “Publish chart”
    
15. Copy and paste the resulting HTML code where ever you would like to publish your new weight loss chart.
    
    Some examples are:
    • Your blog sidebar
    • Blog post
    • Page on your blog (I have a progress page where you can follow my weightloss and half marathon training progress).
16. Be sure to save your spreadsheet by clicking on the “Save” button at top of the web page.
    
17. Visit your spreadsheet each week and enter your weight – your chart will automatically update.
    

There’s an unofficial rumor that there will indeed be another 5K Fun Run at Blogher ’10! This is awesome news because I want to help you train for it!!

How will I help you?
I will personally coach you through 10 weeks of 3 days/week training. I will help progress you from a 30 min walk to running a 5K!! The bonus is that you WILL lose weight before the conference!

Sign up below to start receiving more information!

This week's poll

We all like to do different things to be active.  Some of us enjoy leisurely walks, gardening and chasing the kids, while others enjoy more strenuous activities such as: weight lifting, running, aerobics etc.

This week our poll is: What’s Your Favourite Way To Stay Active?

Please take a moment to complete the poll to share your favourite activities.  (Every week there will be a new poll)

Recently I was sent a bag of Weight Watchers Pecan Crowns candy (by Whitmans) to review.  Knowing how tempted I am to eat all of my kids Halloween candies, I waited until my kids were digging into their bags to dig into my own bag and try them.  I also have to admit that I was a little hesitant because dude, it’s diet chocolate! Who the hell wants diet chocolate?  Gimme the real thing baby!

I was wrong – they’re awesome!  They taste a lot like Turtle’s, only not as sweet.  Each one is 1 point (53 calories, 3.3g of fat, and 3g fiber).  My mom tried them too – she’s a very picky eater (sorry mom, but you are) and she liked them too!

Halloween can be a time of indulgence for adults, just as much as it is for kids, but now with Weight Watchers Pecan Crowns it doesn’t have to be – leave the Halloween candies for your kids, and have some Weight Watchers Pecan Crowns instead, your waist and taste buds will thank you.

Is it safe to diet while breastfeeding

Lola aka @flygirllovexxx asked:

I want to know, Can I start dieting if I am still nursing my baby? He is 8 months now. I still would like to nurse at nite????

Lola, I am so proud of you for breastfeeding!  What an excellent sacrifice you are making for your son! I breastfed each of my daughters for a combined total of 32 months.  I ate healthy, exercised and lost the entire 40lbs of pregnancy weight while breastfeeding – so yes it can be done!

However, Dieting, as in strictly reducing your caloric intake while breastfeeding is not reccommended.  That said, if your normal diet is full of junk food, sodas etc… Then by all means you can (and should) reduce your caloric intake and eat healthier.  Here are six guidelines from kellymom.com to safe weightloss while nursing:

1. Wait until your baby is two months old before dieting
   It’s best not to do anything consciously to lose weight until after the second month. This gives your body enough time to successfully establish a healthy milk supply that is less likely to be adversely affected if your caloric intake is restricted. Breastfeeding your baby, on average, burns 200-500 calories per day (above what you needed to maintain your pre-pregnancy weight) — so keep in mind that even without a weight loss program you are burning extra calories.
2. Breastfeed without restriction
   Research tells us that both more frequent breastfeeding and breastfeeding longer than six months increases maternal weight loss.
3. Eat at least 1500-1800 calories per day
   While nursing, you should not consume less than 1500-1800 calories per day, and most women should stay at the high end of this range. Some mothers will require much more than this, but studies show that going below this number may put supply at risk.
4. Keep weight loss at less than 1.5 pounds per week
   Most moms can safely lose up to 1.5 pounds per week or 6 pounds per month after the second month and not affect milk supply or baby’s well being. One study has suggested that short-term weight loss of 2.2 pounds (1 kg) per week is not a problem (in this study, moms dieted for 11 days).
5. Decrease the calories gradually
   A sudden drop in calories can reduce milk supply. Some moms notice this during an illness, although dehydration and/or medication use could also be a factor in reduced milk supply when mom is sick. It has been hypothesized that a sudden calorie decrease can cause mom’s body to go into “starvation mode” and cut nonessential resources such as milk production.
6. Avoid quick-fix solutions
   Liquid diets, low-carb diets, fad diets, weight loss medication, etc. are not recommended while breastfeeding.

Here’s how I lost the weight and beat the munchies I had while nursing:

I ate, ate, ate.  But I only ate nutritious stuff.  I gave myself a free-for-all on fruits and veggies.  I could eat as much as I wanted as long as it fell into those food groups.  I ate constantly – or at least it seemed like it.  Whenever baby nursed, I snacked.  Yogourt, cheese, fruit, veggies, tuna and crackers etc.  By keeping my tmmy feeling full I was less likely to turn to low-nutritional value, high-calorie foods.  I tried to avoid processed foods and cooked as many fresh meals as I could.  Oh – and I exercised.  Yes – exercise is safe while nursing as well.  I did a baby and mommy post-natal fitness class twice a week and I went to a strollerfit class once a week.  Kellymom.com also has some exercise guidelines for breastfeeding moms:

• For your own comfort, you may wish to nurse before exercising and wear a good, supportive bra (especially during strenuous exercises such as running, jumping, etc).
• Some babies don’t like nursing when mom has been sweating (due to the salt on mom’s skin) so you may wish to rinse your breasts or take a shower before nursing.
• If you regularly lift weights or do other exercises involving repetitive arm movement and you develop plugged ducts, cut back and start again more slowly.
• Keep yourself hydrated.

So, Lola, with a few precautions, losing weight after the baby is certainly possible.  Congrats on the birth of your son, and congrats for breastfeeding!

Please send any questions you’d like answered to: janice AT fitnesscheerleader DOT com

Because Losing Weight On Your Own is Hard

Have you heard of Bookie Boo? Have you heard of Mamavation? Bookie Boo is a fitness hangout for moms and Mamavation is the sister site to Bookie Boo that is dedicated to motivating moms, both are operated by Leah Segedie (@bookieboo on Twitter). I’ve known of Leah’s site Bookie Boo for at least a year and I must admit I’ve had my doubts about how a web site, even a “community” site, could ever help someone lose weight. The internet addict in me just figured that it would encourage me to spend even more time online, and get even fatter.

I was vastly wrong and I really underestimated how encouraging and supportive the Mamavation and Bookie Boo communities are. From my understanding, Leah started Bookie Boo to give moms a community to support each other in losing weight. Sometime over the past year she started a movement, if you will, called Mamavation. It started as a contest for one mom to be the Mamavation Mom and the Bookie Boo community would support and encourage her to lose weight. The idea is that watching someone else do it would encourage other moms that they could do it too.

Fast forward to the present – there are now a group of mom’s who follow along – Mamavation Sistas. They encourage each other to make healthy food choices and to be active through twitter tweets with the hashtag #Mamavation, their Bookie Boo profiles and at a weekly interactive video show called on Monday Nights at 10 est at MomTV, called Mamavation Mondays lead be Leah Segedie herself. I’ve been participating and following along for about a week – not that long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough to realize the power of participating. Tweeting what food choices I’ve made has made me so much more accountable for what I pop into my mouth and getting online encouragement has helped too. I’ve been making much better food choices due to the “peer pressure” and have been tyring to exercise more too. It’s nice to feel connected to others struggling with losing weight, being healthy and active too.

If you’re looking for help, I strongly recommend you join us (the more the merrier!):

• on Twitter (just start tweeting with the #Mamavation hashtag)
• on Bookie Boo – create a profile and join the forum conversations
• Monday nights at 10 pm est on MomTV

Losing weight on your own without a support community is hard – but Mamavation and Bookie Boo can help!

One of the most inspirational things about the fitness magazines I read are the reader stories of success. I always think “Hey! If she can do it, then so can I”. Then, I put down whatever sweet I’m eating at the moment and grab a glass of water. Because I find these articles so inspiring, I thought that I would share the success stories of my readers.

This week, I’m featuring the success of Trayce who blogs at: Yours…TrulyTrayce. Trayce is very active in the #mamavation Twitter group (her twitter name is: @trulytrayce) and she has really done a great job of transforming herself. Here’s her story:

NOW
NAME: Trayce
AGE: 31
LBS LOST: 38

Q – What was your turning point? Why did you embark on your weight loss journey?
My turning point was when I got to the point where I started not wanting to see old friends or go out because I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. Then I found an amazing on-line support group of moms going through the same thing and found a place that felt right for me and actually motivated and holds me accountable to finally lose this weight for good and get healthy for my family and for myself.

BEFORE

Q – What have you done to lose the weight? What life-style changes have you made?
I’ve made many changes which have included cutting out all soda and limiting my sugar intake. I drink a ton of H20 and exercise daily, even if it is for 5 minutes. I’ve added vegetables and fruit to my daily meal plan and make healthy swaps.

Trayce’s “Stick-With-It” secrets are:

1. Start small. The little changes will add up to be BIG. BE inspiring to others!
2. Be consistent! Even if it is 5 or 10 minutes per day, just do it! Then add to it.
3. Have a support group! On those bad days AND good days it is so important to have people who know what your going through and can pick you up if you fall.

Great job Trayce! You’re an inspiration to me, and you know what? If you can do it then so can I! Thanks you for sharing your story with us!

Do you want to inspire other moms? If so I want to feature you in a post on Fitness Cheerleader! Please complete my questionnaire so I can feature you!

One of the most inspirational things about the fitness magazines I read are the reader stories of success. I always think “Hey! If she can do it, then so can I”. Then, I put down whatever sweet I’m eating at the moment and grab a glass of water. Because I find these articles so inspiring, I thought that I would share the success stories of my readers.

This week, I’m featuring the success of Roselyn who has been blogging her journey at:
Mommys Losing It. Roselyn is very active on Twitter (her twitter name is: @MommysLosinIt). She is a stay-at-home mom and has her hands full with two adorable little boys (4 yrs & 22 mos). She has really done a great job of transforming herself. Here’s her story:

NAME: Roselyn
AGE: 32
STARTING WEIGHT: 180lbs
CURRENT WEIGHT: 160

January 2010 | March 2010

Q – What is your #1 motivation that keeps you working to lose/maintain your weight?
My family. I want to be around for them. I want to be able to run around after them, and I don’t want to be the fat mom anymore.

Q – What have you done to lose the weight? What life-style changes have you made?
I’ve upped my workouts from 3x a week to 5-6 x a week, for no less than 45 minute blocks. I kill the cardio and have incorporated strength training into my routine. I’ve also started to count calories and make healthier food choices.

Roselyn’s “Stick-With-It” secrets are:

March 2009 | March 2010

1. Schedule workout days on your calendar. Plan out workouts
2. Find a gym with a daycare. I like to workout in the mornings and need someone to watch after my youngest son, so a gym daycare is a must.
3. Blog about it. I feel accountable to my readers as well as myself and am more likely to stick with it because I know I have it documented on the Internet!

Great job Roselyn! You’re an inspiration to me, and you know what? If you can do it then so can I! Thanks you for sharing your story with us!

Do you want to inspire other moms? If so I want to feature you in a post on Fitness Cheerleader! Please complete my questionnaire so I can feature you!

6 am Monday morning, your alarm rings waking you up from a deep slumber. Without much thought you change into your running gear, lace up your runners, chug a cup of coffee and head out for your morning run. You do this every day. Mindlessly you run the same route day after day after day. You’ve definitely established a routine, a habit if you will, but not much has changed. Your weight loss has reached a plateau, your race performance hasn’t improved, or you haven’t been able to increase your distance enough to race that half or full marathon that you’ve always wanted to. Maybe you want to run longer? Faster? More consistent? Lose a pound or two?

What are your goals? Pick up a pen and a piece of paper and jot down the goals you’d like to reach. Don’t worry I’ll wait….

Done? Ok, now look at each goal and evaluate it as you read this article. Make any changes necessary to ensure that your goals meet the criteria for SMART goals.

The best goals are smart goals — well, actually SMART goals is more like it. SMART is a handy acronym for the five characteristics of well-designed goals. SMART goals are:

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

SPECIFIC:
Are your goals straightforward and emphasize what you would like to reach? Do they answer the what, why and how?

WHAT are you going to do? Use action words!

WHY is this important to do at this time? What do you want to ultimately accomplish?

HOW are you going to do it? (By…)

For example, a general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a running club and run 3 days a week.”

MEASUREABLE:
Do your goals establish concrete criteria for measuring progress? When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goals.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished? Some ways to measure progress are: Time, Distance, Weight, # of runs, speed, # of repeats etc…

ATTAINABLE:
When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. Goals you set which are too far out of your reach, you probably won’t commit to doing. Although you may start with the best of intentions, the knowledge that it’s too much for you means your subconscious will keep reminding you of this fact and will stop you from even giving it your best.

A goal needs to stretch you slightly so you feel you can do it and it will need a real commitment from you.

REALISTIC:
This is not a synonym for “easy.” Realistic, in this case, means “do-able”. Devise a plan or a way of getting there which makes the goal realistic. The goal needs to be realistic for you and where you are at the moment. Be sure to set goals that you can attain with some effort! Too difficult and you set the stage for failure, but too low and you’ll have difficulty sticking to your plan as the goal will not be a good motivator. Set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement!

TIMELY:

Set a timeframe for the goal: for next week, in three months…. Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards. If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action NOW.

Time must also be measurable, attainable and realistic.

So what does a SMART goal look like?
I knew you would ask that, so I thought I’d share mine with you. My goal is to:

Train to run the Mississauga Half-Marathon in May 2010 by running 4 times a week during my lunch hour starting when I return to work on January 4, 2010.

S= Train to run a Half-marathon by running 4 times/week
M=running 4 times/week
A=run the Mississauga Half-Marathon (I’m returning from close to a 4 year hiatus caused by the birth of my second daughter)
R=running 4 times/week during my lunch hour (I know that I’d never be able to commit to running every weekday lunch, and I also know that I’d never be able to commit to running on weekends – I value my family time far too much to give that up for some “me” time).
T=May 2010, ample time for me to train for a half-marathon – I know that I won’t post a PB, but I will definitely be able to complete the race and not spend the next two days complaining that I feel like I’m 90 years old…

Now that I’ve shared my goal with you, what are your SMART goals?

One of the most inspirational things about the fitness magazines I read are the reader stories of success. I always think “Hey! If she can do it, then so can I”. Then, I put down whatever sweet I’m eating at the moment and grab a glass of water. Because I find these articles so inspiring, I thought that I would share the success stories of my readers.

Fit & happy Rachel S.!

This week, I’m featuring the success of 30 yr old, mom of THREE (4 years, 2 years, 6 months) Rachel S. who blogs at: Rachel’s Random Ramblings. Rachel S. is very active in the #mamavation Twitter group (her twitter name is: @rachelsteffen) and she is also very active on DailyMile. Rachel has really done a great job of being a role model for her family. Here’s her story:

I grew up in a small town in the midwest. I was a very active, athletic child… who had a sweet tooth! I remember coming home from school and actually taking a spoon and dipping it in the sugar container and eating that as a snack!! *eek!*

My favorite food (all of it!) is italian… pasta! Yummy!

Rachel after the birth of her beautiful baby

Q – What was your turning point? Why did you embark on your weight loss journey?
I just turned 30 this year… and had my 3rd child (3 children ages 4 and under). I -believe- my husband and I are finished having children… and didn’t want to dilly-dally on losing all this baby weight I have held on to the past 5 (pregnant included) years.

I wasn’t recognizing myself in the mirror. The person who was looking back at me was NOT who I felt was me.

I wanted to be “cute” for my kids. I wanted to be “hot” for my husband.

I want to be the HOT – CUTE – friend… not the overweight, tired, stressed, etc… person I had come to recognize.

Q – What is your #1 motivation that keeps you working to lose/maintain your weight?
My children… I want my oldest son (age 4) to think I am “cute”. He hurt my feelings a few months ago when he called me “flat” his version of “fat”. Granted, I WAS pregnant… but it still hurt nonetheless.

I want to show him the importance of exercise and health. I also want to teach him that beauty isn’t always on the outside.

Q – How has losing weight changed you?
I am still a work in progress and have my good (as well as bad) days.

I do have more energy. I feel better about myself and the way my clothes fit. I find that I am more comfortable having “relations” with my husband… not so self-conscious.

I have always been active with the children… but now I am able to run while pushing them in the double jogger… all while keeping up with my 4 year old who is riding his bike ahead of us!

Q – What have you done to lose the weight? What life-style changes have you made?
I run… I run… I run!

When I can’t run, I walk. I load the kids up in the jogger (and/or wear the baby in the ERGO) and take off!

It is my 1 hour of ‘somewhat’ peace and quiet.

I also drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day. I fill up a plastic bottle (you know the big ones – 36oz) in the morning… and drink that before lunch. Then fill up another one to drink before dinner.

Regarding snacks and junk – I am still a sucker for that stuff. The best thing that has worked for me is: NOT TO HAVE IT IN THE HOUSE!! When it is not in the house, I can’t eat it… and if I REALLY want it… I have to make an extra effort to go get it (drive/walk/etc).

Rachel’s “Stick-With-It” secrets are:

1. Log your fitness each day (I use sites like mfp or daily mile).
2. Share your successes and struggles with people who are on the same weightloss/fitness path
3. Plan ahead… whether it be your workout for the day or meal plan… once it is written on my “to do list” it is SO MUCH FUN to scratch that item off the list!

Great job Rachel! You’re an inspiration to me, and you know what? If you can do it then so can I! Thanks you for sharing your story with us!

Do you want to inspire other moms? If so I want to feature you in a post on Fitness Cheerleader! Please complete my questionnaire so I can feature you!

Do something more challenging

Last year I made a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight and get fit. So I did what most of us do – I began exercising and eating “right”. Armed with some knowledge about SMART goal setting, and using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to determine what motivates me, from some posts I wrote, I developed a goal to lose weight by running 3 km on my lunch hour 3 times a week. It was Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. I knew I would be motivated to reach my goal and it was a SMART goal – I figured it would bring me results. But it didn’t. Actually that’s a lie – initially I did lose some weight and stuck with it, but after 4 to 5 months of this I was still running only 3 km each run, I was starting to gain weight and I didn’t lose the amount of weight my goal setting exercisee was developed for. Overall I didn’t reach my goal, I got discouraged and I stopped running. I haven’t ran or exercised for a few months, and the weight is quickly piling back on.

A new decade is approaching me – a new chance to forget all about the yo-yo dieting and to live happy, healthy and fit for the next ten years. So now I’m questioning: Why did my plan go wrong? How come my SMART plan didn’t work? How can I live happy healthy and fit if my goal setting isn’t working?

The SAID Principle
You see, I forgot all about the SAID principle. He said, she said – what’s the SAID principle you ask? The SAID principle is well known with elite athletes and it stands for: “Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand”. Athletes use this principle along with SMART goal setting when planing their training to get stronger, faster and better. In simple terms this means that when we place a stress of varying intensity and duration on our body, it will attempt to overcome the stress by adapting specifically to the imposed demand. As women we’ve all experienced this – a new bigger purse that we fill with all of our “necessities” feels heavy initially but after a few weeks of carrying it around we build some muscle and strength and it doesn’t seem so heavy anymore. Our arm responds to the demands of carrying that heavy purse and we develop strength – three weeks later when we’ve developed the strength to carry the purse it no longer feels heavy and it no longer creates a demand (or a “stress”) on our arm, so our arm stops building more strength to carry it. (I won’t bore ya with the physiological details on how our body builds strength).

When I started my new workout program I imposed a new demand on my body and my body responded by changing physically to the demand. Initially my body wasn’t working very efficiently so I burned more calories, and I lost weight. After a while though I adapted. I didn’t require as many calories to run that 3 km at lunch because my body adapted and became more efficient at doing that work. I stopped losing weight, I got defeated and I gave up. Sound familiar?

Applying the SAID Principle
That’s great – now that you know what the SAID principle is, how do you use it to lose weight? The answer is simple – change up your routine. Don’t do the same workout every day, don’t do the same video every day – swich it up. Vary how long you work out, vary how fast you walk, lift heavier weights, do more reps, do yoga one day, strength training the next, and cardio the day after. Keep your body guessing. If you keep doing the same thing every day every day you’ll end up back in the same rut. You’ll be in a routine, an active routine, but still a routine nonetheless. While our minds seem to be comfortable with routines, our bodies are not, at least not when it comes to losing weight, so try to get out there and do something different today!