This workout was short, but sweet.  I did it yesterday, so as I’m writing this, I can feel how sore my legs and glutes are!  In other words…

It worked!

Check it out below:

Dynamic Warm-up:

• Medicine Ball (MB) Diagonal Chops 10
  

  Single Leg Sit Downs

• MB Squat Press 10
• MB Burpies 10
• Jump Rope            100

Repeat 3 times

Butt Blaster Workout:

• MB Forward Lunges
  

  Plyometric Lunges

• MB Alternating Side Lunges
• MB Plyometric Jump Lunges
• MB Single Leg Sit Down

10 of each exercise

Repeat the circuit 3 times through

If your butt’s not sore the next day, then you either already have “buns of steel”, or you need a heavier medicine ball!

Have fun everyone!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Okay…I swear I didn’t fall off the face of the planet.  With the engagement came tons of family holiday time.  And of course….food.

And then there was Texas.  There was one point when the choice was either Sonic or Dairy Queen (yes…my dad lives in a very small town).  It was tough to say the least.  Yee Haw…  (and I can’t believe it…but I was taking all the pictures with Miguel’s camera…and he misplaced the memory card!  So I apologize for not having any fun, cool pics.)

But, despite my best efforts of not overdoing anything, I managed to only gain 2 pounds.  And considering the cheese tots at Sonic and then the fancy steak and wine dinner the next night (complete with a twice baked potato and dessert), I think I did okay.

At one point this month I was 6 pounds down, but after the holiday week, my net loss for December was 4 pounds.

Yay!  During a month when most people put on over 10 pounds, I officially lost 4!  Not too shabby after a Monkey bread Christmas morning, Tex-Mex, and cosmos on New Years Eve  (and if you didn’t already know…I’m not much of a drinker.  2 cosmos = very bad headache next day…ouch…)

I feel like I accomplished an important goal in December.  The main point of my blog for the month of December was to attempt to show you that with some pretty regular exercise, and just not over doing it with the food, you can maintain your weight through a hefty holiday season.  I even lost a few pounds.

But the truth is, I feel awful.

The types of foods I was eating, while portion controlled so I wouldn’t gain weight, were hardly healthy foods.  My consumption of processed foods increased, including lots of white flour-y and dairy products.  My vegetable intake decreased dramatically, despite my attempts at eating a salad for many lunches.  (everyone thinks that if they just eat a lunch salad that they’re getting the necessary intake of veggies.  Sorry Charlie…you need more than that!)

So now, the real games begin!

The truth is, that even though I dropped 4 pounds in December, I’m still 10-15 pound heavier than I was just 2 years ago!  I’ve been uncomfortable with my weight for the past year and I’m just fed up with not being able to fit in my clothes (and of course…I refuse to by new, bigger clothes!)!

Plus I have some very big incentives to get motivated and to make this happen.

1. Doing this for the world to see is proving to be the best way to keep me focused and honest!
2. In Bootcamp, we are starting our 12-week challenge and it’s going to ROCK THE HOUSE DOWN!  With everyone else around me getting all inspired…it’ll be easy for me to jump on their bandwagon!
3. Kathleen (aka:  Bad-Ass Bootcamp Instructor) really and truly wants to do this fitness show in March and introduce me to the weird world of figure competitions.  That means I’ll be parading around in a freaking bikini for the world to see.  That fact alone will scare me away from the gelato.

And finally…

1. I’ve just entered into the weird world of being engaged.  It’s truly crazy.  While I’m very excited about it all, I can’t believe that if I want to get married in October, I have to go dress shopping in February or March!  It’s absolutely crazy!  And OF COURSE…I don’t want to go dress shopping until my body is smokin’ hot!   Hello….!

So as you can see…I have a lot of reasons to nip this in the bud right now.

But can I just take a moment to complain a little?   I KNOW most of you will be able to relate.

It was SO EASY when I was teaching 10-15 group exercise classes a week, from step aerobics, to cardio salsa, to strength training, to spinning classes.  All I had to do was focus on clean eating for a week or two, and BAM…problem solved.

What’s happened over the past few years is that I’ve had to officially become a grown-up.

I sit in front of a computer for most hours of the day getting my fitness business up and running (ironic…I know.)

What I am about to embark upon is going to literally kick my ass.  Lets use today as a great example.

6am: rise and shine (this is actually sleeping in…)

7:30:  to a Leads Group Meeting

9am: Client (they exercise…not me)

10am: Client (they exercise…not me)

11am:  I have the rest of the day to get a ton of work for the business done.  YAY!

From 11am until right now 6:05pm.  I have not left my desk except to use the restroom and heat up a pre-made lunch.  (Scratch that…I’m proof reading this right now and it’s 7pm.  So that would be 8 hours of horrible posture and zero exercise)

Seven Eight straight hours in this chair with no exercise at all today.  AND I’M NOT EVEN FINISHED WITH HALF OF WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE!  ARG!  (Oh and ps…the work I’m having to do right now doesn’t even include keeping up with this blog.  I am doing this AFTER I finish my other work.)

You can see what I’m up against.  I for the first time in my life feel like I can totally relate to my busy clients who complain of not having enough time to exercise because of their hectic and demanding life.

I get it.  I really do.

I am going to spend the next 3 months WITH YOU going through this challenge WITH YOU and going through the same struggles WITH YOU.

I swear to you…if I can do it…I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT, TOO!!!!

More to come tomorrow.  But for now, if you are interested in doing this with me there are many options:

It all starts January 23rd!

• Here are all the different levels in which you can participate in my Best Body ChallengeSign up for the FREE 12-Week Best Body Challenge. You have to make a $10 donation to charity, and then you get a 12-week exercise and nutrition manual, 10 Saturday Bootcamp training sessions, and before and after assessments.

• Sign up for the Free 12-Week Best Body Challenge, and ALSO sign up for our Bootcamp Program!  You’ll get unlimited training sessions and will literally watch the weight come off!  (our bootcamps rock…you have to try them out!)  If you are reading this and you go to bootcamp…you better leave a comment below and tell everyone how much you love bootcamp!  If you want more information on our bootcamp program, you can find it here.

• If you are really serious about getting the weight off and making this your best year yet, then signing up for my 12-week Weight loss Coaching Program is the right choice for you.  You can do this program whether you live nearby or not.  It is a true commitment to yourself, and I will be there guiding you every step of the way!  Imagine having your own coach to lead the way, motivate you, and hold you accountable!  This program includes full nutrition support, exercise accountability, live coaching and more.  Stay tuned as I unleash this program over the next few days!!!!

This workout ROCKS!

You have to try it out for yourself. It was tough, but over in a matter of 25 minutes.

100 skips

18 total reps: single let burpies with a push-up.

Woodchops, 20 on each side

Down and Ups with high knee run, 15 reps

Swinging lunges with a medicine ball, 10 swings on each leg

I did the entire circuit 3X through.

GRAND FINALE:

3 Sets Through of:

5 pull ups

10 hanging  abs

10 reverse abs

It’s Weigh-in Wednesday!

It’s been a tough week. It’s hard to get the workouts in during this crazy time of the year, and then you are constantly being bombarded by food! I swear it’s coming from directions I never would have thought!

Tomorrow before we get on that plane, we have a ton to do, but we are definitely starting our day with a workout or a bike ride.  It will set the tone for a healthy holiday even though I am about to enter the land of my Grandmothers peanut brittle, and my Aunt’s cookies.  I think I’ll need to make some rules around this TX trip.  I’ll post that up tomorrow.

Well, it was another weekend of holiday fun and craziness.

We ended up going back up to San Francisco on Saturday for some holiday shopping.  And then we had two parties on Sunday.  It was a difficult weekend to maneuver.  Last weekend I felt like I had a very good excuse for eating a cinnamon croissant…it went so well with my coffee and new bling!

But this weekend?  Well….you’ll have to see below how I did.  But first…how about a new workout video!

Saturday:  San Francisco Shopping Day

I had a typical oatmeal breakfast, and then a protein smoothie for a snack on the way to the city.

Very late lunch/early dinner:

Miguel and I have a San Francisco Holiday Shopping tradition.  We always end up at the new West Field shopping center near the Metreon (5^th and Mission) and we go down to the food court to eat.  Now before you read this and think I’m crazy…it’s the ONLY mall food court you would ever catch me in!  If you’ve never been, it’s a treat.  While I’m sure there are deep-fried-over-salted choices, they also have restaurants like Andale and Skewers, both of whom serve up extremely healthy, free-range meat choices, grass-fed beef choices, and organic veggie choices…AT A FOOD COURT!  Our favorite is a sea food resaurant (can’t remember the name!)  where we order grilled salmon, spinach risotto, and grilled artichokes!  So delicious.

We usually go to the crepe and gelato store afterwards…but not this trip.  And you know what?  I didn’t even really miss it.

SUNDAY:  Parties Galore!

I started out with my high-protein Flax Pancakes and blueberry and peach fruit compote.  Very healthy, very yummy.

Then it was over to a client’s house for a festive open-house…you can see from the pictures below…

So delicious and so perfectly small!

I enjoyed a shot of Bloody Mary shot with cocktail shrimp and a pomegranate mimosa.  And then there were tiny little latkes, smaller egg tarts, and an eggnog French toast in a muffin cup.  It was all so perfect—because everything was sooo small, I could try the different foods without feeling like I overdid it.

I've never had a pomegranite mimosa before!

It all went well until dinner.

It was a family dinner and if anyone reading this has a big family, or even more specific, a big latin family…lets just say it can get a little crazy in the kitchen.

I did my best.  No appetizers.  Half my plate was salad with no dressing.  Then I had 2 small pieces of braised beef with a smaller portion of mashed potatoes.  Oh…and then the shrimps mixed with onion, cilantro and tomato…I had to have some of that too.

It was the wine that did me in!

All went well until my soon-to-be-brother-in-law kept pouring wine in my glass…and I kept drinking it!  Argh!  I was having so much fun that I didn’t even realize 3 glasses went down without a thought.  It’s the typical story.  The reason too much alcohol is such a problem has less to do with the alcohol calories, and much more to do with the CHEESECAKE CALORIES!!!

Yup…I enjoyed a slice of cheescake.  Yup…the ENTIRE slice.  I didn’t even leave a little on the plate. (in fact…quite the opposite…I practically licked my plate it was so good!)

I’m supposed to be demonstrating control and how NOT to gain weight over the holidays.  Well, last night’s dinner was definitely NOT a good example!

In fact…if you want to gain weight during the holidays this year…do what I did last night.  Drink too much alcohol so you lose your inhibitions and then eat cheesecake at 9pm.

I’m nervous to weigh in.  You’ll see those results tomorrow!

I can’t believe it.

The video proves it.  I didn’t lose one single pound…but what’s even more important is that after my wine, food and dessert weekend…I DIDN’T EVEN GAIN A POUND!  Wooo Hoooo!!!

My main goals for the month of December are 2 fold.  First, for my personal goals, I’d like to lose a little weight, despite the nagging fact that we are smack down right in the middle of the holiday season.   Instead of going through my detox program or my 21-day eat clean (aka: rapid fat loss solution).  I’m eating healthy food, but I’m also not depriving myself of anything (hence the coffee on the weekends and even a few desserts at a special dinner or party).

The second goal is that I want to show you that it is possible to enjoy the holidays and maintain your weight.  This weekend would be a great example of this.  I didn’t say dessert was off limits, but I made sure not to eat very much of it.  If I knew we were going to have a big dinner, then lunch was smaller to compensate.  And no matter what…I always started off with a healthy breakfast.  (Well…except for Monday which were croissants and coffee in our cottage…but I really paid for that one with a big headache and unstable blood sugar the rest of the day…)

So, I hope you find this helpful.

Exercise:

I couldn’t get a videographer (aka Miguel) today, so I went on a long run (long for me).  I ran the trail in Los Gatos starting on the Main street bridge, then along the pipeline, then up 3 hills, then all the way back into town.  During the hills portion of the run, I did 10 30-second hill repeats with anywhere from 30-seconds to a minute of rest.  It’s a great way for me to break up a long run and get some strong bursts of power in there to help boost my metabolism and tone my thighs.  You should try it!

Tomorrow I have a KILLER workout planned, so stay tuned!

If you like this, or if you have anything to say, I would love for you to comment in the space below!

So many of you are so supportive, so I just wanted to say thank you!

The weekend of Dreams

I got engaged!!!

Well, I’m going to give you a recap of my weekend.  What was supposed to be one night in the city turned out to be a very long weekend of fancy dinners, parties, and then a wine country finale to include a Michelin rated restaurant, spa treatments, champagne, wine, and… A RING!  Yup…I got engaged this weekend!

And since I’m sharing with you my food and exercise journey over the next few months, I feel like I need to share with you what happened this weekend!

In regards to exercise…

we tried to get a little in, but the weekend was pretty much dedicated to spa treatments, relaxing, incredible restaurants, and yes…a little too much wine.  You’ll have to check out our hotel room workout:

I did my best to make smart choices with food…

but there were for sure desserts at every dinner, and I’m proud to say that I tasted them all, but always left at least a 1/3 of it behind.

Did it all go out the window?  Well, no.  I made sure to make smart choices during the day and even more importantly, used portion control to make sure I never over did it.  The only night that we went a little overboard was Sunday night, when we finished off a bottle of wine (we’re light-weights…), and a small bottle of champagne.  Needless to say I woke up with a phaty-headache and a little nauseous the rest of the day.  And then, I did what I would normally do in this case, which was to drink some coffee to kill the pain, but because my coffee intake has been so low, it sent me over the edge and made me feel worse!  ARGH!!! Now I know why don’t drink (much) alcohol in the first place!

So there you have it.  This was definitely not my typical weekend, even for the holidays.  I’m doing my official weigh in for the week tomorrow, so we can better see how bad the “damage” is, and where to take if from here.

Friday:

typical oatmeal breakfast, Starbucks turkey sandwich (on whole wheat) on the way up to the city, an apple for a snack, and then an exquisite dinner:  frisee salad with goat cheese and cranberries (by standards of my typical salads, it was about 2-bites big) Mahi and Fillet Mignon with braised greens and scalloped sweet potatoes.  Dessert was a small chocolate tart, of which I ate less than half.

Saturday:

Breakfast:

Whole oat grout oatmeal with dried fruit and milk. 2 eggs. A very small bite of a homemade pumpkin/banana muffin  Coffee (yes…with cream and sugar..and OMG…it was so good!),

lunch was a bowl of clam chowder soup (with a few bites of Miguel’s sourdough breadbowl).

And dinner was a big steak salad with veggies, egg, and blue cheese.  It was swimming in dressing (I forgot to order it on the side), so I started getting nervous about eating too much, so I barely finished half of it.  It wasn’t that good anyways.

A glass of wine at the Ballet.

Sunday:

This oatmeal dare I say...was even tastier than mine! The trick is using the whole oat groat

Breakfast: Same fabulous oatmeal breakfast

Snack: Apple and almonds (they travel well!)

Dinner: This was “the dinner”.  We ate at Terra in St. Helena, which is a Michelin rated restaurant…and it was awesome!  We started with a soft-shell crab salad, muscle saffron soup with carmelized onions, and Gnocchi of Bellwether Farm Ricotta cheese in Pheasant Sugo with chestnuts.  Dinner was a grilled dry-aged New York Strip (you can take the girl out of Texas….)  And dessert was Maple Breadpudding stuffed baked apple with cinnamon creme fraiche.  I had one glass of wine.

All of this I think was fine…but it’s what happened next…hence why drinking too much alcohol can never play a role in real weight loss.  That night after the glass of wine with dinner, we shared a bottle of wine (which is usually enough to send me over the top), and also a small bottle of champagne.

Monday morning breakfast:

It just gets worse from here!  We stayed at a bed and breakfast that brings a “breakfast basket” to the cottage in the morning.  It’s filled with a nice bowl of friut, juice, and…CROISSANTS filled with cinnamon!  I couldn’t resist having it with some coffee and while staring at my ring!  Needless to say, that within a few short hours, my blood sugar dropped exponentially, I felt irritable, hungry, tired, and even nauseous.

But now, I’m back to reality and back on track.  Went to an AWESOME bootcamp class this morning and my food is back on track.  I weigh myself tomorrow…so you’ll have to stay tuned to see how it all goes!