For Hot Mama

Hot Mama asked if I would spill the beans on what the personal trainer has taught me . So here is what I have been told.

#1 thing that I am learning is how to eat properly. So here is how I eat. I eat every morning within an hour of waking up. I never go over 4 hours without eating something. Sometimes I am not really hungry but I make myself eat anyway. I eat a balanced clean diet of 40 percent protein 30 percent whole grains and 30 percent veggies. I eat a fruit as one of my snacks. I eat 3 square meals a day but never eat after 9:00 at night. I take a multivitamin everyday and a fish oil capsule 3 times a day with my meals. You can never get enough of your omega 3's with just diet alone. (So I've heard) Anyway the most important thing is that I eat every bit of my calorie allotment every day. I do not starve at all. I have had the mistaken understanding in the past that starving yourself will make you skinny. NOT TRUE -- all I have seen is a minimal weight loss but most of all you feel like !@#$&. So no more of that for me EVER! I want something that I can maintain not something that will cause me to be sick.

#2 is my exercise. I actually only work out for 30 - 40 minutes a day. Mon, Wed, Fri I do cardio. Right now I'm doing interval training. For example 1 minute of running in a sprint and 2 minutes of recovery. There are a million things you can do. Tues, Thurs, and Sat I lift weights. I start in at the gym on the eliptical to warm up for about 10 minutes and then head over to the weight machines. I do one machine after another with no rest in between. It gets your heart rate up there and it is building muscle at the same time. That cycle lasts for 20 minutes and then I'm done. If you can't get to the gym you could buy some free weights along with some other equipment and do circuit training at home. For those of you who have new babies and can't get away.

I have noticed a HUGE impact on the way I feel which is what matters most to me. I feel healthier everyday and am surprised at how quickly I am able to build my endurance. It has been wonderful.

So now I don't the need my trainer with me at my workouts until I plateau and need a different routine. It was worth being uncomfortable around Mr. Fitness to learn the things that I need to do.

I just hope that all of us look at this as a way to get healthy!!!! There is a difference between being healthy and being skinny. I look around at many women who go beyond that point and wonder how long they can keep it up without paying a price with their overall health. When you are healthy you will have a healthy glow to you and then there is a point when you can go too far and loose that glow all together. So my goal is that the next time we all see eachother I am glowing - glowing - glowing!!!! :O) I hope you are all glowing too!!!! I know you will be!

Sorry this is like 25 pages long :O) -- Yikes!!!

- Thunderbuns