Here are some guidelines to keep you from really blowing it…

Facebook video: how to deal with Cheat Day

Eek! I’ts me!

That’s right, as a fitness trainer it’s pretty important for me to stay slim and healthy, agreed?

Well, it’s been a downhill spiral since my husband Paul and I went on a Mediterranean cruise in November of 2011.

(See cool photos of Italy, Greece & Turkey at
www.facebook.com/kristina.powellraines)

So what am I doing about this 10 pound weight gain?

Watch this video to find out:

Kristina’s personal transformation plan, phase 1

Beginner or intermediate, if you want to get off your knees and start doing full pushups, the first thing most women have to do is…

…get off your knees and onto your toes.

That’s right, doing bunches and bunches of knee-pushups won’t really help your toe-pushups.

Take me for example – ten or twenty years ago I could do 80 deep pushups on my knees in a minute, yet I was still kind of pathetic about doing them on my toes. I had plenty of upper body endurance, but not much strength, so I could do maybe 10 truly correct pushups.

I only got better at pushups on my toes because I started making myself do pushups on my toes, but in a special way.

The technique I’m going to describe will also improve pushups for people already doing them on their toes.

Me, I had to get off my knees. In the beginning, it was tough to get down all the way, but I took my time and did it, just a few at a time.

I was often sore and my low back hurt now and then. My body was forced to adapt more quickly to more leverage.

At the time, I even didn’t realize I was using a technique that’s great for building strength: eccentric work. That’s where you lower yourself very slowly, then raise more quickly. On the way down, your muscles are lengthening while resisting the pressure of gravity, and that’s tough.

Maybe all you can do is lower yourself…? That’s okay, keep doing that in full pushup position, and then get on your knees to get back up. You can even rest at the bottom if you need to. Then it’s back to your toes to start over, lowering slowly – taking 4 or 5 seconds to get down – then back to the knees to get up.

Try this three times per week, starting with 5 to 10 attempts depending on where you’re at now. Then increase that number gradually until you hit your goal and beyond.

Finally, one big thing that made good pushups much easier was losing a few pounds. Going down from 138 to 110 didn’t hurt one bit.

Now I perform toe-pushups with more ease than ever before. I can do a good 40 in a minute.

Know that it’ll take time. Where would you rather be in 6 months, able to do 10 or 20 real pushups on your toes, or still doing them on your knees?

Challenge yourself safely, whatever exercise you do. It’s the only way you’ll grow. If you have shoulder, elbow or wrist issues, see a doctor first.

1.5 cups Greek yogurt
1 ripe banana
1/2 can pumpkin

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Makes 4 servings.

Want to turn it into a shake? Add coconut milk until drinking consistency, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup.

Either treat fits in well with a no-deprivation weight-loss plan. Provided you can eat just one serving of course!

Sudden sharp impact or torsion can be a bane to even the seasoned exerciser.

I was walking our dog Zac a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, when he suddenly decided to change direction on me…pulling my arm backward and behind me.

Isn't he handsome

Oh. My. Elbow.

I figured I’d let it heal naturally. After all, I was about to go on a cruise (see awesome photos at www.facebook.com/kristina.powellraines) so I would get a nice 10-day break.

The only problem is tendonitis isn’t so quick to go away unless you really rest, and I mean completely. No brushing your teeth, opening doors, or picking up your blanket to get into bed.

Right.

Come the end of December I realized my elbow just wasn’t going to get better, especially teaching 9 fitness classes weekly and being back to walking Zac daily.

So I pulled out a few of my favorite herbal digests and re-discovered that sarsaparilla, slippery elm, and horsetail would speed the healing process and cure me without side effects.

I placed an order and received my goodies just last Thursday. It’s Wednesday, 6 days later, and already I’d say my elbow’s 80% better. I haven’t even taken full doses of each herb every day.

I’m even back to doing full pushups. In less than a week.

Thank goodness for natural botanical power…personally I’d rather swallow a few herb capsules than get steroid injections or take nsaids that would eat up my stomach and liver. How about you?

Hints:

1. Use these exact ingredients or substitute with foods you like better.

2. Use as much or as little of each ingredient as you like.

3. Nothing’s off-limits; you may delight yourself with kooky combinations.

They have NO calories!

Here are a ton of great noodle recipes you can try, plus a 4-week eating plan that’s completely laid out for you, no thinking required.

Download now –> Miracle Noodle recipes <–

They’re especially great in stir-fry and soups.

If you’ve looking to lose weight without suffering through weeks without pasta, this will be a godsend.

Try it today – Miracle Noodle recipes

People often start a fitness and diet plan and quit a few weeks or months later, if not sooner.

Maybe they stop exercising. Maybe they can’t stop eating a favorite high-calorie food.

Why? Well, there are hundreds of reasons. Every sufferer has a different experience.

If you’re serious about getting healthy and lean and losing body fat, it doesn’t matter the reason. But it does matter that  you do something about self-sabotage and other issues that cause you to fail at your newfound good habits.

You’ve GOT to get rid of whatever is making you fail. Willpower is not enough.

Hunger, anger, loneliness, tiredness, time issues, family upsets, lifestyle changes like marriage/divorce, kids, job changes…any and all challenges are fair game when it comes to using Quick Cravings Control. And QCC works like gangbusters on all of them.

Here’s a quick informal run-down on what Quick Cravings Control is like:

After watching the intro video, figure out what is bothering  you. What exactly makes you want to eat too much, or sit on the couch instead of exercising?

Hunger, anger, loneliness, tiredness, lifestyle changes, people who frustrate you, a job you hate…

Next, follow along with this video until your issue has gone down from a “10″ in irritation to a 1 or 0:

Many problems go away for good. If the issue comes back, just do it again. If new issues pop up, work on them the same way.

If you find you aren’t thinking about the original problem when new ones come up, it’s working. Keep cycling through each food item until they’re all gone.

Then you’ll notice, no more bingeing, greater appetite control, less comfort eating…you’ll stop eating when you’re done consuming the calories you need, instead of stuffing your face some more.

If you have to spend an hour or two tapping on your biggest challenges, what’s that compared to a lifetime of pain and thousands of extra calories? Never give up!

 Much appreciation goes out to Roger Callahan and Gary Craig, who, respectively, invented and honed EFT, on which QCC is based. www.emofree.com

If you’re fairly deconditioned, your body runs out of muscle fuel quickly. At any fitness level, the switch to liver glycogen happens at that moment when you run out of steam and feel the burn.

It’s the point when you start to shake and feel like your muscles might give out.

After liver glycogen’s depleted - another point at which you feel the need to break - your muscles start calling for triglycerides from fat storage.

Now we’re talkin’.

With regular work outs, you reduce overall glycogen stores, providing you’re not treating yourself to pizza and ice cream every time you exercise.

With less glycogen available, your body must let go of more triglycerides, using up fat stores faster.

Conveniently, sticking to challenging workouts also makes you able to push harder for a longer period of time. The harder and more densely you work, the more calories you burn, leading to that deficit needed to lose weight.

How do you get these wonderful effects?

By never quitting. Every time you exercise, your body becomes more efficient at burning more body-fat for more energy.

Consistency really is key…shoot for 3 intense workouts weekly, plus 3 moderate workouts, and watch your waistline whittle down.

On top of that, I started to get the sniffles. I blew my nose over and over, further irritating my back.

Then…I sneezed.

Thank goodness I was sitting down. It felt like I’d slipped a disc. Now I know what my husband feels like when he throws his back out and has to crawl to bed. If I’d been standing, it would’ve brought me to my knees.

I thought “how in the world will I be able to teach 2 fitness classes tonight?!”

In my 17 years of holistic health studies I’d learned that vitamin C in large quantities is reputed to quash colds and also to speed recovery from intense workouts. I started taking 1,000 mg of C every hour, not really expecting anything miraculous.

Another known exercise recovery aid is amino acids. I took 1 tablet every hour along with the vitamin C. I think I remembered to do this hourly ritual for just 7 or 8 hours altogether.

Now I did know from previous experience that I could count on superfoods for the cold. One of my six small meals consisted of egg whites with broccoli, cauliflower and garlic, plus some zesty corn and bean salsa on top.

Btw it’s the cruciferous veggies and garlic that kill colds, not the corn and beans.  Certainly tomato salsa has vitamin C too, but not nearly enough, maybe 30 mg in 2 tbsp if you’re lucky. For me the condiment was more of a taste aid.

Another germ-getter worth it’s weight in antibiotics: chicken soup. I convinced the hubster to add additional frozen spinach and onions, and fresh pressed garlic to a can of the organic low-sodium style. Ahh, relief.

By class time Wednesday night, I was about 90% better. Thursday, felt like normal. Today, Friday, same thing, no cold, no aches.

Hope this helps you clear up your next cold or backache. Good luck!