Weight Loss Journey: Behavior Change #2

“Eat food, not food-like substances.” 

Behavior change number one was to start reading labels. Now let’s move on to something tangible.

Behavior change number two is to add in organic produce. Organic produce doesn’t have pesticides and is not genetically modified like conventional produce. Organic produce will fight diseases; conventional produce will feed them.

By adding in good stuff, your body will start to get used to the amount of vitamins and nutrients you are feeding it, and it will crave more.

Let me tell you a personal story that proves this. When my boyfriend and I moved in together, we had huge differences in our eating habits.  He didn’t eat breakfast, ate Boar’s Head sandwiches for lunch, and had a Lean Cuisine for dinner. He was definitely in shape and seemed perfectly healthy, but I slowly showed him the “problems” in his ways.

Instead of banning his types of food from the house, I started cooking for him and offering healthy, organic meals. I would make my healthy french toast or chick’n and waffles for breakfast. Lunch included pita pizzas and hummus wraps. Snacks were chopped veggies and fruit. For dinner, I made salads into meals by adding grilled chicken. Dessert was soy vanilla ice cream in stevia-sweetened root beer. By the first week’s end, he started craving my salads and asked if I could please make them. He wanted to know where the chopped veggies were, and asked for more celery. I never thought I could get that freezer empty from those sodium-filled tiny trays, but I did! And if I’m not home, or feeling too lazy to make dinner, he’ll enjoy a low-cal one by himself that is full of lean proteins and veggies.

The moral of the story here is that, even a manly-man, who played lacrosse throughout high school, can now love a salad for dinner. (As long as I add in a tablespoon of dried cranberries, he’ll devour my grilled protein salads!) So even though he was perfectly healthy before, he now sees food in a different light, knows how to read labels, and has hopped on the organic train with me. We are fighting disease together by eating together. It’s simple additions that lead to an overall lifestyle change. And now we get to bond over meals and feel great together, knowing we are extending our lives and avoiding disease.

Head to the store, fill up your cart with all your favorite seasonal fruits and veggies, and get your weight loss journey off to a great start. It’s the first day of Fall, and a great time to start getting healthy.

If you need any help getting started,  you can head on over to check out my meal plan.  If you need recipe help, just email me. Give me your ingredients, and I’ll  give you a healthy recipe. It’s all included!

Bonus: These changes are not just for weight loss, because you could do that in numerous ways. But this plan is to increase your overall health, fight the top five fatal diseases, and cure your ailments you are currently taking medications for. Say goodbye to that handful of pills once and for all.  High blood pressure, cholesterol meds, and heartburn will be a thing of the past. Just follow my blogs, read my daily tips, and sign up for my membership. You will not regret it.

Boars Head: Isn’t it natural? No. Processed meats, lunch meats, cured meats, and sausages are cancer-causing. The way they are processed into their final products means adding in carcinogenic dyes, preservatives, and nitrates. If you like to eat meat, choose local, organic sources. Eat lean meats that are right off the bone, such as boneless, skinless, chicken breast, wild or sustainably farmed salmon, and grass-fed organic beef.  Try a farmer’s market, health food store, or Trader Joe’s for these options.

Weekend Warrior on a Weightloss Journey

On October 6th, 2012 I will host my very own first bootcamp class! I am ecstatic to get my business started through a weekend class. By starting your weekend off right, you give yourself the right excuse to eat healthy, watch your drinks, and be active.

My Weekend Warrior tip for this weekend is to Know Your Menu! I will show you how to dine with your health in mind! 

When training hard in the gym and making healthy meals at home, eating out can seem like a daunting time. Relax. I’ve got your back. This list will make ordering from any menu an easy task.

GREEN FLAG

(Potentially Good for You)

  • Baked
  • Boiled
  • Broiled
  • Fresh
  • Grilled
  • High Fiber
  • Light/Lite
  • Marinated
  • Multi-grain
  • Poached
  • Red sauce
  • Green Sauce
  • Reduced
  • Roasted
  • Seasoned
  • Steamed
  • Stir-Fried
  • Vegetarian
  • Vinaigrette
  • Whole Grain

 RED FLAG

(Probably Bad for You)

  • Au gratin
  • Basted
  • Battered
  • Bearnaise (or hollandaise)
  • Bet you can’t finish it
  • Bottomless
  • Breaded
  • Buttery / Buttered
  • Casserole
  • Cheesy
  • Country-style
  • Covered
  • Creamed / Creamy
  • Crispy
  • Crunchy
  • Escalloped
  • Fried / Deep fried
  • Giant
  • Loaded
  • Platter
  • Smothered
  • Stewed
  • Stroganoff
  • Stuffed
  • Sweetened
  • Value Size
  • Volcano
  • White Sauce
  • Tempura

And you know what really kills all that healthy eating, exercising, and restricting sugar? DRINKS! You had the grilled fish and veggies. You had oatmeal for breakfast. You’ve done amazing all day…but then you go out for drinks. The girls and guys pressure you into one more beer, one more cocktail, and another glass of wine. You don’t feel bad because you think, “Well I had oatmeal for breakfast.” But these drinks can demolish ALL of your efforts. Alcohol prevents your body from using fat as a fuel, and makes it focus on breaking down proteins for use. Oh no! All that hard work building muscle! Well here are my simple tips…but the best one is to avoid alcohol as much, and as often, as possible.

Happy Hour Tips

GREEN FLAG (Max 2 Drinks)

  • Stirred
  • Shaken
  • Light
  • Skinny 
  • Stick to a Clear Liquor+Sparkling Water/ Low Cal Juice
  • A Light Beer
  • White Wine
  • SkinnyGirl Brand
  • Light Beers List

RED FLAG (More than 2 Drinks)

  • Blended
  • Simple Syrup
  • Sugar-Rimmed
  • Whipped
  • Creamed,
  • Sour Mix
  • Frozen
  • Triple Sec (sugar)
  • Dark liquors (Brown Rum/Whiskey/Scotch)
  • Daquiri
  • Colada
  • Mai Tai
  • Volcano
  • Hurricane
  • Sweet Tea

*Why not Red Wine? You can get your “Heart-Healthy Reservatols” from all those fruits and veggies you are eating. You don’t need them from wine! *

A Trainer’s Weight Loss Journey

Believe it or not, even trainers go through a weight loss journey.

As a child I was overweight. I was active and loved playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, running around, riding bikes, and hiking hills. But I grew up in a low income household eating junk food to sustain myself, and it did not help my health…or weight. Little Debbie was my best friend and brownies were my breakfast.

Although I was constantly running around all day, I couldn’t out-play my bad diet. And neither can you.

Today I am a fit person inside and out, from a low body fat percentage to a strong physique. I decided to make a change at age 17 after taking a nutrition course in college. It opened my eyes and motivated me to help others and now I couldn’t imagine turning around to that lifestyle.

Since then, I’ve taken many years of education dedicated to being and making the best bodies, minds, and souls.

Everyday we both must pay attention to every morsel, every bite, and every drink we put in our body. By having control of what we put in our bodies, we have control of how they look and feel. 

With proper behavioral changes, we can gain that control and will power. And with the support of a team, a social network of people, and each other, we can do it.

If you’re interested in starting your weight loss journey, click on over to here.

Weight Loss Journey: Behavior Change #1

Most of us go through some sort of weight loss journey in our lifetimes, if lucky. We may be doing it after gaining weight in college, having a baby, or just getting lazy. At one time or another, we turn to quick fix diets, weight loss pills, caffeine, and the media to give us our answer on how to be the next thinnest thing. Something or someone lights a fire under our ass to tell us it’s time to lose a few. Whether it’s to the point of a doctor explaining your cholesterol and triglycerides are high, to an upcoming best friends wedding in a bridesmaids dress we are already regretting- there is a time to lose weight.

Most of us will turn to anything and everything that is low-fat, low-cal, low-anything, to lose a few pounds. Then we realize that all of our efforts on the low-food isn’t working and hit the gym. And after we lose 3 pounds from wearing down our legs on that horribly boring treadmill, we feel elated. Deflated. Utterly discouraged. And give up.

But I’m here to show you it can be easy to be healthy. The hard part is getting sculpted like an Olympic athlete – that takes time.

Behavior Changes

The main way to lose weight and keep it off is to change our behaviors. We must change our connection to food. Food brings us joy, is there to comfort us, and is there to help us celebrate. But most of the time, that food is unhealthy, packed with calories, and sinfully delicious. And I mean sinfully! 

To start, we must disconnect food from emotions, and connect it to what it truly is: fuel.

A calorie is a unit of measure that nutritionists use to determine how much energy a certain piece of food can give us. If we eat too much, it gets stored as fat. If we eat too little, our body feeds off that fat. (Yay!)

Behavior change number one is to start reading labels. Read how many calories a food is, how much each serving is, the amount of fat and sugar in each serving, and so on. Get to know the food you are eating before you eat it. Move on down to the ingredients. Do you recognize them? Could you picture them in your head? If not, chances are the product is full of things you don’t want to be putting in your body. Start with this simple change this week, and next week we’ll add another.

Good Luck,

Nicole

Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday is a worldwide trend of having a  meatless dinner on Monday night. Since it’s already chilly and cold here in New Hampshire, I’ve decided to share a veggie soup recipe with ya’ll. I’ve also been feeling a bit ill myself, so I figured this would spark me right up.

Veggie Soup

  • 1 onion roughly chopped
  • 6 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
  • 1 handful baby carrots
  • 3 stalks celery roughly chopped
  • 2 potatoes cubed into bite size pieces
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1/2 bag mixed frozen veggies
  • herbs of choice
  • 4 cups of water
  • salt, pepper & red pepper flakes – to taste
  • 1 C whole grain pasta, brown rice or quinoa, cooked
– In a large stock pot over medium heat saute the onions in 1 tablespoon olive oil until translucent
– Add the garlic, carrots and celery and cook for 5 minutes
– Add everything else (except pasta) and bring to a boil
– Simmer for however long you have 20 minutes – an hour
– Add in pasta/rice and boil until warmed.
-All Done!
This is a great and healthy meal, especially for those trying to lose weight. Vegetable soup can be as low as 80 calories per cup and it leaves you full, warm, and satisfied.
**Remember to forget that diet, and just eat healthy.**
Best Health,
Nicole

Why Interval Strength Training is Right For You

What is Interval Strength Training?

High intensity exercises for set periods of time and rests. For example, a 1-minute interval of squat jumps with a rest period of 15-seconds and then a 45-second set of  shoulder press-bicep curls and another 15-second rest. The intervals keep your heart rate up and the exercises increase your muscle mass.

In this day and age there is a machine and gadget for every type of muscle movement.

You may have seen these crazy late-night fitness gadgets and thought, “Well that looks like an easy way to get fit.”

You don’t need a gimmick that comes for 5 easy payments of 29.95. It will gather dust in your broom closet after you realize it does absolutely nothing for your body. You need a better body and healthier lifestyle, and I’m here to help you get it.

Is my program right for you?  If you want to burn fat, raise your metabolism, burn more calories at rest, build muscle, build strength, and lose weight, then YES, this is right for YOU. My method is scientifically proven. I didn’t just pull it out of my magic trainer’s hat, it is backed by years of research.

When you get into a workout, your mind does not like counting reps, but when I say, “Ten more seconds,” you quickly realize you’re almost done and push it up a notch. This benefits you, your body, and me as a trainer. I’m able to push you harder so you get what you want faster.

Another great thing about Interval Strength Training is that it is fool proof against adaptation. Adaptation means your body becomes efficient at one activity and it takes less energy to do that one exercise, making you burn less calories. For example, if your workout consists of going to the gym, running 20 minutes on the treadmill and doing the circuit of machines, you will adapt very quickly; within 14 days to be exact.

When you do something new that challenges your mind and muscles, you burn max calories and gain strength. This is why having an educated trainer is so vital. There aren’t posters in the gym that tell you these facts, or show you how to avoid your pitfalls. There aren’t flyers telling you why you’ve stopped losing weight, or why you’ve even gained a few pounds back after working out for 2 months. I’m here for that, and I’m here for YOU.

BootCamp: Why We Work Harder In Groups

Do you wonder why you sweat more, push harder, and are sore longer after a group-fitness class? Zumba with the ladies, Kickboxing with the cute instructor, and spinning with that super energetic woman up front are your secret to a better bod. But why?  This phenomenon isn’t just by chance and it’s not just the cute instructor you’re trying to impress; it’s called Social Facilitation. 

Wikipedia defines Social Facilitation as “the tendency for people to do better on simple tasks when in the presence of other people.” It’s actually simple to kick high and spin faster, but when alone you see no reason to push it. It’s all the energy around you, the people watching, or at least the thought of them all watching you, that makes you push it. Wait…what? I’m being duped by just the thought that I’m being watched? Are you telling me that super hot instructor isn’t eyeing me because I’m doing the best in the class? Darnit!

Most people need to be pushed. It takes an immense amount of discipline and dedication to push yourself to your limits when no one is watching. You think to yourself, “Why am I doing this? No one is seeing it.” But they are seeing the results.

Why is my bootcamp the best? Because I care. Because I pay attention to things like above, and want to help you no matter what your reason is for being there. Got a hot date next week? A wedding to tone up for? Or maybe you just want to make friends, have fun, and get fit at the same time…while extracting your inner athlete for all to see. I’m here for you.

What do we do in class? I use bodyweight exercises so that You Are Your Own Gym. In my class, you use the body you have to build the body you want. Forget trying to lift a heavy weight, crank your thighs on that weird machine that makes you do the splits in public, and boring yourself to sleep on that treadmill. My classes are fun and engaging. I mix all sorts of cardio and strength moves, making working out a game, so that you are laughing and having so much fun pushing it that you forget where you are and what you’re doing. Before you know it the workout is over, you’ve burned over 500 calories, and you want more. Believe it or not, every time I say, “That’s it,” people ask for more! They don’t want to go back to life after having so much fun with the hour to themselves – away from their daily stressors and tensors.

So take a chance, realize your limits, and challenge yourself with one of my bootcamp classes.

Sign up today or learn more by emailing me at:

NicoleDavidsohn@Gmail.com

Best Health,

Nicole

PS: I’m here for YOU!

Welcome to Nicole Davidsohn Personal Training, Nutrition Counseling, and Lifestyle Coaching

Welcome to my website! Here you will find posts on all things health and wellness. From your mind, to your body and soul, my posts will enlighten you, educate you, and remind you of all things important to leading a healthy and happy life. Check out the About section to learn all about me and why you should continue coming back.

Best Health,

Nicole