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It’s all in your head - “Enough is as good as a feast”

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“Enough is as good as a feast”

My dearest friend Barbara attributes this saying to her late Mother who was English, and I remember hearing it growing up courtesy that other maven of politesse, Mary Poppins. Simply put, there is no benefit in going overboard (on food, if taken literally, but can be applied to many areas of life.)

Boot campers are nearing their first weigh-in checkpoint, and those doing the “classic” plan are gleefully plotting their cheat days. For the uninitiated, cheat day is the first day after two weeks of following the Meltdown food plan, when newly ‘detoxed’ participants have the opportunity for one day, morning to night, to partake of whatever they want to eat (or drink.) After this weekend, 25 bootcamps-worth of Meltdowners will attest to the notion that there is little comparable to the dietary debauchery of a first cheat day. One long-time friend of the program was famed for his ‘McWenby’s’ combo - three drive-thrus, and a meal fit for a death row inmate’s final feast.

Since Little 500 also happens to fall this weekend, I will put up the most bedraggled Sunday-cheating Meltdowner with a ‘carbover’ Monday morning against the bleariest-eyed participant of Sunday Court. In many ways the effect on your body of suddenly infusing it with mass quantities of sugar and fat is the same as an alcohol hangover. It feels really good, right up until it doesn’t.

Many people find that despite having a culinary wish-list a mile long, they don’t get near the amount of food in after weigh-in that they think they will. As soon as that first meal hits the bloodstream, they hit the couch, sometimes waking up in a panic that perhaps the day has completely passed them by! NO? Phew! Time for one more run - Jiffy Treat, Chocolate Moose or Brusters? QUICK - THE SUN IS SETTING!!!!!!!

That first class the next day will be the real challenge. It’s like your legs are filled with the pureed remnants of jelly donuts. Please, for the love of all that’s good and right and pure in this world, Trish, DON’T DO THE BURPEE SINGLE SET IN T60!

Ooooh - that’s gonna hurt.

Now, I say all this NOT to be a biscuits and bonbon buzzkill. I’m merely throwing out the seed of an idea - I hope it will take root. This is NOT your last meal. You _will_ enjoy your whatever your food drug of choice is again. I’m just asking you to be mindful in your eating, even on cheat day. Especially on cheat day. Stop and enjoy the journey. Ask yourself if the next bite is because you are hungry, or because of something else. Once we are able to ascertain what it is food is doing to us and for us, then we will truly start to gain control over it. Long term, this is not the rote recitation and repetition of a proscribed food plan for eight weeks. It’s the beginning of a journey that I hope will find you healthier in the months and years to come.

Now where’s my carrot cake?

Coach Marcey Tidwell is started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program!

Coaches Corner: Weird Al Speaks Truth with Coach Marcey

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To quote the great songwriter from his first album, “I’ll be mellow when I’m dead.” - (There is actual footage somewhere of me lip syncing one of his tunes, circa 1988, in a high school variety show…)

So I’ve kinda lived by this sentiment forever. And this is going to seem to some “do as I say, not as I do.” BUT I hope you will help to keep me accountable going forward to this one thing that is holding back my results, and may well be holding back yours.

Recovery.

Heyheyhey - I saw you roll.your.eyes. :)

Stick with me here!

Time and time again, Meltdowners will come to me seeming to be doing all the right things - food is on point, exercising with good effort, and yet the scale won’t budge.

I’m surprised at how often my day job and the issues most common in the Meltdown intersect - here’s a knowledge bomb on stress that I give to my students: it’s not the load you carry, it’s how long you carry it. Yes, I know you have had years of (insert your crazy life challenges here - job, other job, kids, school, parents, spouse, ex-spouse, money trouble, insane boss or co-workers, the to-do list that won’t end, and insufficient or poor quality sleep) and handled it just fine. We can all take a variable amount of abuse on our psyche and body and compensate - sometimes for a really long time depending on how stubborn you are! But you ARE accumulating the evidence of that stress somewhere in you. And it is causing changes in how your body responds to your efforts to burn fat.

This weekend, hubby and I went for a “couple’s massage” - the “Deep Rub” consists of the extraordinarily talented therapist going after trigger points (by my request) with a gusto that should mandate a safe word. I was a pile of lumps and knots just below the surface reminiscent of bubble wrap and about as crackly.

It’s been around two years since we added recovery minutes into a required portion of the fitness trackers at NGPT. Body shop and Yoga classes have traditionally been the red-headed stepchild of the Meltdown experience. If you don’t come out sopping in sweat and ready to die, is a class really worth it?

YES. Take advantage of those options. I am Nancy Adams’ #1 Body Shop groupie. But that’s not the only way to get recovery.

Foam rolling - check out those free videos on the wemeltyou youtube page - click here.

Stretching. Massage. Lacrosse ball.

SLEEEEEEEP.

Sleep deserves its own whole separate blog, which will follow, but in the meantime, WHAT are you doing to counter the effects of the hard-charging life you lead? You may say you don’t have time for recovery - I say confidently and from personal experience that you are wasting all those other hours if you’re NOT working on that actively. Email me! [email protected]

Coach Marcey Tidwell is started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program!

Coach Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell

 

 

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Coaches Corner: The Goldilocks Theorem with Coach Marcey

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We’re speeding through the second half of the January bootcamp as I write this. The beginning of the year has a special arbitrary motivational magic, so the results are generally especially impressive. But in the way of all or nothing thinking that is human nature, sometimes participants are incredibly focused on that “finish line.” I GET TO GO BACK TO NORMAL!!!! You may even have family and friends who are counting the days until graduation.

Not so fast there.

Normal is what brought you to NGPT.

Normal is common. Ordinary. Conventional.

I suspect very few of us grew up hoping to live a common life.

A certain percentage of people participating in the program will finish viewing it as a one-off. They go HARD for eight weeks and then stop. Been there, got the cool Tshirt, now where’s my real bread?

OR, some may go on the other end, continue to push to the extreme, eventually burning out.

Our dance teacher Matt says that when we are trying to learn a new move, we’ll generally over-do motions, then under-do, before settling into that “just right” Goldilocks middle ground.

Start to consider what your “just right” mindset looks like. Encourage yourself to give it your all during this launch period, but also save room for the idea that life is not meant to be a series of bootcamps with months of hedonistic abandon linking them. It may take more than one to cement the lifestyle, but know that the goal of your coaches is to give you the information to make good choices that fit into your life outside the bootcamp confines. The Meltdown system is set up to provide you with ongoing checkpoints to determine whether your “just right” might be a little “too much” or “too little” to maintain results.

“The rest of your life” is too scary a thought to contemplate on any topic. AA only asks you to take it one day at a time. I’m going to ask you this: make one small step towards committing to your post-bootcamp life. Go now and sign up for your week 10 weigh-in. (That’s March 20th or 22ndish - the weekend closing out spring break here in beautiful Bloomington.) Maybe you’ll be vacationing that week, but tell yourself NOW that that critical checkpoint will not pass without you honoring your eight weeks of hard work by holding yourself accountable for “what’s next.”

And when you do this? Drop me an email at [email protected] and tell me, and the one thing you’re currently celebrating so far in your progress.

AND? If you’ve fallen off the wagon from a prior Meltdown adventure, take that FIRST step toward regaining control - weigh-in this weekend (it’s not a bootcamper checkpoint!) and email me. We miss you. You’re always a member of the Meltdown family no matter where you’ve traveled since we last saw you :).

Coach Marcey

Coach Marcey Tidwell

Coach Marcey Tidwell is started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program!

 

Weight Loss Strategy: The Over Eating Factor

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One of the things that we preach at NGPT is that we are products of the product. I think that gives us a unique perspective on helping others with weight loss. Most weight loss programs will focus heavily on calories in vs calories out. Sometimes it is more of “eat from this list” but never eat “these other foods”. From our personal weight loss experience we know that there is another very powerful factor that influences results: the ability to over eat certain “healthy” foods.

As new clients look at our list of approved foods sometimes they say things like “why can’t I eat bananas?” or “where is the yogurt?”. There are all kinds of foods out there that are basically healthy but they might also be very calorie dense and….the killer……very easy to eat a high quantity of. Take a look at this list and think about whether or not the typical person would eat just a single serving or tend to eat much more:

  • Bananas: typical serving size is 1/2 banana
  • Hummus: 1-2 Tbsp
  • Little cup of yogurt: ONE little cup
  • Melon: 1/2 cup
  • Healthy Cereals: 1/2 to 1 cup….dry

When I weighed over 300 lbs I could eat 12 of those little yogurt cups, no problem. To this day if you put out a tub of hummus in front of me I will destroy the whole thing in one sitting! For some people another example would be peanut butter. The serving size is 1-2 Tbsp and they will eat half the jar. These types of food are “healthy” in general and can fit into a lot of diet strategies but they can be nutritional land mines for those that struggle with over eating. This can be very frustrating for people that are seeking to see weight loss results. They are typically eating the “approved foods” but they are just eating too much of them. So as we work with clients at NGPT we try to have a basic list that are not approved from the start because of the over eating factor and then we work with the clients to single out other problem foods as we go along.

If you struggle with over eating these types of healthy foods the best strategy is to not have them in your house. It is just too easy to say “this food is healthy…..I should be ok to have a little more!” You will feel empowered when you make a decision to single out these types of foods that you struggle with and then kick them to the curb! Your weight loss results will really take off as a result!

Fitness Tips for New Moms

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When it comes to weight loss, you will never find anyone more motivated to get results than a new mom. After nine months of pregnancy they are ready to regain control of their body! We have been able to help many new moms achieve their weight loss goals with a few simple fitness tips.

Before we jump into our specific fitness tips, I do want to point out that the most important thing to do is listen to your doctor’s advice that is specific to your own situation. Everyone’s body is different and it is important to follow the protocol that your doc says is best for you.

New Mom Fitness Tip #1: Eat as clean as possible during pregnancy. You will steadily gain weight as the baby grows and you will need to consume some extra calories. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to crush a box of Frosted Flakes every day for breakfast. If you can stick to lean protein sources, veggies, nuts, and fruits as your core calories you are going to put on minimal body fat. Sometimes women find themselves pregnant while they are already overweight to start with. It is possible to lose some of that weight during pregnancy but this is definitely a situation where we have to work directly with your doctors to make sure we are doing what is best for you and the baby.

New Mom Fitness Tip #2: Stay active during pregnancy. Again you will need to follow the exercise rules provided by your doctor, but we have many women in our studio that are 5 or 6 months pregnant and they are doing great. The more active you are, the less body fat you will gain during pregnancy and many doctors say that the stronger you are the easier the birth will go. Staying active can be tough when your energy levels are drained but once you get moving you will usually be glad you got started. If you can’t make it to the gym try to find some workouts you can do at home. You can use our online fitness website as a resource. Click HERE to check it out.

New Mom Fitness Tip #3: Transition back into your normal nutrition and fitness routine. Sometimes women want to rush back in and do our full on boot camp once they are cleared to work out. This can be a major shock to the system. My suggestion is that you should ease back into things overall and don’t get into “hard core” mode with both your diet and fitness right away at the same time. This could lead to decreased milk production among other things for new moms. I recommend that you clean up your diet first and ramp up your exercise by 30 minutes or so each week until you are back in your groove.

New Mom Fitness Tip #4: Be strategic with your liquid intake. One area that new moms are always stressing about is their milk production. They don’t want to jump into a weight loss routine and have the milk flow slow down. As strange as this sounds….I’ve become quite the expert in this area…haha! We’ve had lots of clients follow my protocol with great success. I recommend that you take your total average daily liquid intake and do 1/3 organic milk, 1/3 water, and 1/3 Powerade Zero or another electrolyte based drink. So if you normally consume 120 oz of liquid per day you would do 40 oz organic milk, 40 oz water, and 40 oz Powerade Zero throughout the day. This has allowed our moms to lose weight but keep the milk production at a high level so that baby is happy too!

These fitness tips are simple to implement and they really work! It is not uncommon for our new mommies in the program to drop between 4-8 inches off of their stomachs in our eight week boot camp program. I also used these same strategies to help my wife get into bathing suit shape within a couple months of having our son Henry. In general, new moms are calorie burning machines and their bodies are ready to change rapidly so that they can get back to feeling normal. With a little bit of hard work and a solid strategy you can be looking and feeling your best in no time!

It is possible to have a FUN and HEALTHY vacation!

Vacation Weight Loss

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During this time of year it seems like many people stress out about their vacations. They don’t want to back track on all of that progress that they have made during the first half of the year. The words “weight loss” and “vacation” aren’t usually used in the same sentence but we see it happen all the time with our clients! The key is to have a solid plan of attack for pre, during, and post vacation. Below you will see my golden rules of vacation weight loss. Many of our clients have used these as a guideline for a fun and healthy vacation.

Rule #1: HAVE FUN….you deserve it! You need to recharge your batteries and have fun with family and friends. Please note that “have fun” is not equal to “eat as much junk as you possibly can”. Focus on enjoying the weather, events, and people you are surrounded by. THAT is what a vacation should be about.

Rule #2: Set a damage control goal of not gaining more than 2-5 lbs while you are gone. That range is very manageable to deal with once you get back and your momentum will build quickly.

Rule #3: For the 2-4 weeks leading up to your vacation you should be extra strict on your diet and fitness regimen. You cannot head into a vacation on a downward spiral or you will put on mega LBS and it will be hard to recover from. So get your mind right and focus on building momentum pre-vacation. If your focus is continued weight loss I would recommend doing no cheat days or meals during that 2-4 week pre vacation stretch.

Rule #4: Check your weight before you leave. It is also a great idea to do some measurements and/or get a body fat test done.

Rule #5: Check your weight and measurements when your vacation is over. We suggest that all of our clients schedule their post vacation weigh in checkpoint with us BEFORE they leave. That way they are already committed to it. This will allow you to assess the damage or celebrate your vacation weight loss victory.

Rule #6: Focus on protein, fruit, and veggies while you are on your trip. These are things that you can find anywhere. You might not be 100% “on plan” compared to your normal regimen but if you focus on these core three food options you won’t see a caloric surge. Are you going to have some cheats in there????….most likely…and that is OK. Just fight it out one meal at a time and choose the best possible option in front of you. REMEMBER….you are not entering yourself into an eating contest….be sensible! A great “damage control” strategy would be to limit yourself to one cheat meal per day while on vacation. A great “maintenance” strategy would be to limit yourself to one cheat meal every other day while on vacation. A great “weight loss” strategy would be to limit yourself to 1-2 total cheat meals while on vacation.

Rule #7: You need to stay active, and the more active you are the better your chances are at seeing some weight loss or at least maintaining. For “damage control” you should work out for 10-15 mins each day. For “maintenance” you should workout for 25-30 mins each day. For “weight loss” you should shoot for 45 or more minutes each day that you are away. The KEY to the workouts is to do them FIRST….ideally before everyone else wakes up. We all know that there is a 0% chance of you getting in a 45 minute workout after a day filled with chasing your three year old around Disney World! If you want a great resource for some workouts that you can do anywhere and anytime, as long as you have an internet connect, check out our online fitness website HERE. These are awesome 15-30 minute bodyweight workouts that will crank up your metabolism and the instructor is super cool…………….

Rule #8: Once you return you need to go back to being super strict with your nutrition and fitness plan for the next 2-4 weeks. If you do happen to gain weight, give yourself twice the amount of time to take it off compared to how long you were on vacation. So if you were on a 10 day vacation and gained 5 lbs give yourself 20 days to get back to your pre vacation baseline. That time frame will allow you to take the pressure off of yourself and not feel like you have to lose it all at once when you return. If you put too much pressure on yourself you might just continue to slip up and end up gaining even more weight.

If you have never checked out our comprehensive Vacation Survival Guide we would love to send you a copy for FREE. Just email Trish Surfus (trish @wemeltyou.com) and she will send you your free copy!

So if you want to have a great vacation and still see some weight loss results just follow the rules above with your plan of attack for pre, during, and post vacation.

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Weight Loss Tip: Train Your Brain

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Weight loss is a more complicated subject than many people think. Most of the time when people engage in a weight loss program they assume that they just need to punch the clock at the gym, eat healthy, and they are good to go. This does work sometimes, but many people ignore the very important mental component that needs to be addressed with any weight loss journey. This is especially true if you have a significant amount of weight to lose.

As most of you know, this mental component to the transformation process is HUGE but it is also the most likely aspect to be ignored. The mental/emotional component will take serious effort to transform and when it lags behind you are likely to see a lot of weight fluctuation. This creates a downward spiral of negativity that attacks our already weakened mental state. I think you see where I’m going here!

So how do we work on this all important area? I’m here to give you some insight on what I do personally and what I recommend for our clients:

1. Readers are Leaders: I read 3-4 books a month…..I know…this may come as a surprise to those of you who just imagine me filling my days with picking up heavy objects and eating meat. I actually LOVE to read. I usually have two books going at once. Every two weeks or so I try to read one book that inspires me and another that helps me work on an area that I want to improve upon. Currently I’m reading the autobiography of Andrew Carnegie and a book called Business Brilliant. My top TWO books for people to read to train your brain for faster weight loss would be: “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhig and “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor. Here is a cool video of Shawn Achor speaking at a TED talk event: Achor TED talk

2. Do a semester in your car: Did you know that the average American spends the equivalent of 1-2 college semesters worth of time in their vehicle each year? It is sad to say that most of us spend that time listening to the latest Brittney Spears radio mega mix! I challenge you to turn your car into a classroom. I personally choose to download personal development material to my iPhone and I listen to that in my truck while I drive. My favorite is anything by Tony Robbins. That dude is amazing! You can check out his website HERE or you can just browse the iTunes shop for some of his material. The trick is to pick a topic that you need to work on and listen to an expert on that topic while you drive. You can find tons of motivational material that will lead to weight loss results! I recommend that you keep a note pad or your phone handy for quick notes (while you are at a stop light!).

3. Check out our monthly FREE Goal Achieving conference calls. We do these on the last Wednesday of each month and we focus 100% on the mental side of weight loss. I also pull in some great co-hosts who are out there getting results. Each call focuses in on one of our six Goal Achieving Success Principles:

  • Develop a definite purpose
  • Get on the same side of the boulder
  • Develop accountability anchor points
  • Take the fast lane to results
  • Know your enemy
  • Look at how far you have come

We also have Goal Achieving Tips videos and Goal Achieving Workshops. Check out all of that info HERE. You can also upload the archived calls and listen to them in your car OR while you do some cardio!

The real key here is to take some sort of action on a daily basis so that you can develop that mental component to your transformation and achieve those weight loss goals that you are after! Whether you read a book, listen to a podcast, or check out a website….just take action and start building your momentum!

 

The PT Interview: How to find a personal trainer that best suits you

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I always get bummed out when one of our clients moves out of town. We all get so attached to the people in the NGPT community that it is hard to say good-bye. One of the conversations we almost always have as people leave town is how they can find a trainer/gym that will fit their needs in their new home town. I thought it might be handy to blog a bit on this topic so that you can use these tips to find yourself a high quality fitness professional to work with!

Here are five basics that you MUST look for:

1. The personal trainer should be insured. If they don’t have insurance then they aren’t serious about what they do or this could be a sign that the company isn’t in a good financial position.

2. The personal trainer should have some sort of a certification. Some good ones to look out for are the ACSM, CSCS, or the ACE certifications. The ACSM and CSCS are a couple of the toughest certifications to acquire because you must have a college degree in a health related field to even take the test and the test is TOUGH!

3. The personal trainer should have some sort of a college background in the fitness field. Sometimes people do fall into the fitness industry from other backgrounds but it is always a good indication if they went to school for this. The red flag that you need to watch out for is if someone has kind of done everything else as a job and it “didn’t work out”….then they say “Hey I’m in shape so I’m going to be a trainer now!”.

4. The personal trainer that you are working with should be a product of the product….aka…..they should be in good shape and represent their company well. They should inspire you with their own fitness!

5. Look through their website (if they don’t have a website I would consider that a red flag!). They should have some results posted like pictures and testimonials from satisfied clients. The major red flag to look out for is if the trainer only has pictures of themselves on their site with no client results to speak of. Remember that the trainer is the one that is supposed to be in great shape. It is a whole different ball game to be able to help others reach their fitness goals. Also watch out for generic testimonials like “Wow…I love these workouts” and “Man…my trainer sure is CUTE!”…… Look for someone that has achieved results that are similar to what you would like to achieve and don’t be afraid to ask to speak to current clients that fit a similar profile to you.

If they pass the test with these five key points then they are definitely worthy of consideration. In the end you need to go with someone that gets you fired up about reaching your goals and motivates you to work hard every single session!

One last note….EXPECT RESULTS! Too many people get locked into the traditional trainer/client relationship where they show up, sweat, and hand over a check but no real measurable results are presented at any time. You aren’t paying to be sweaty and tired…your are paying for tangible results so don’t be afraid to ask your fitness pro to show you what you are getting out of your time, money, and hard work!