It could be because you’ve been doing the same routine for too long. After a while, your body adapts to exercise, and levels off, or plateaus, so it’s important to change things up periodically.

Sometimes, it could just be changing the intensity, or maybe changing your whole routine. For example, if you’ve been doing a cardio routine for weight loss, and you find that you’ve stopped losing weight, then look at what you are doing.

For instance, if you’re walking for 30 min., 3 times a week, then you might want to increase that to 5 times a week and add a hill climb to increase the intensity.

The other thing you should do is resistance training. Resistance training will increase your exercise intensity, and it will also start building muscle, which in turn burns more calories at rest, thereby increasing you’re your ability to lose weight.

Here’s a healthy & delicious recipe you can use for an appetizer:Tomato Skewers

Cherry Tomatoes
Mozzarella Cheese
Fresh Basil

Layer tomato, a small piece of cheese, & a piece of the basil on a skewer.
Make as many as you need, and then drizzle Italian dressing over them.
Let marinate for an hour or so and serve!

Enjoy!

Walking is now being touted as the fountain of youth! All you need to do is walk 30 minutes a day(at a brisk pace), and you get improvements in cardio vascular conditioning, you will lower your stress levels, lower your blood pressure….

So, why not start a walking program today? All you’ll need is a good pair of shoes.

Abdominal fat, not the kind you can grab around your middle, but the fat that grows around our organs which is visceral fat. It’s this visceral fat that can cause a variety of health problems. This type of fat may contribute to increased risk of heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

If you find you’ve gained some inches around your waist, don’t despair! Starting a moderately intense exercise program of at least 30 minutes per day can control this weight.

Don’t worry about how far you go, but how long you go for…..generally it’s best to go for time.

Adding strength training to your exercise program also helps you lose abdominal fat, and keep it off.

As your muscle mass increases from strength training, your ability to burn calories goes up because one pound of muscle can burn up to 50 calories a day at rest.

You must also pay attention to your diet. Try to eat a variety of fruits & vegetables, whole grains, high quality protein, nuts & seeds, and high quality fats such as olive oil. As much as possible, stay away from processed food, and fast food which contain high quantities of sugars & fat and are very high in calories.

So, to sum it up, if you want to lose inches around your waist, take a look at your lifestyle, and start making some changes to your diet, and start walking……

Well, my Valley Women’s Network Makeover has come to an end. That doesn’t mean though that my work outs with Alison will!!
I can honestly say I have not looked so fit since I was in my 20’s! All the inches I lost have left me with a sleeker & more toned body….I Love to Flex my Muscles!!! LOL
I have included in my Blog, the excerpt from the PowerPoint Presentation I did for the Valley Women’s Network to thank Alison for her gift of being my personal trainer since June. I am looking forward to Alison being my work out buddy for a very long, long time. She is THE BEST!! I Feel (and Look) 10 Years Younger…..THANKS ALISON!!

“My goals with Alison were to become more flexible, to have more core & muscle strength & to loose 5 lbs. I met & exceeded my goals with her.
Alison provided me with a pedometer, a lifestyle/fitness journal and hours & hours of a well rounded fitness regime that was fun & full of encouragement. Alison has a very cozy setting for her work out studio
in her home, complete with great music & all the equipment you find in a gym.

Alison is an incredible personal trainer who is a joy to be with. She is highly motivating & is very conscientious about knowing her client & their limitations & capabilities with
regards to their fitness training. I always left Alison’s studio sweating, feeling energetic & better about myself.
I would recommend Alison to any person wanting to get back into shape or to hone their fitness goals to reach their own potential. She truly is the best work out buddy you could ask for!

Check out Alison’s website, read her newsletter and if you want proof after the slide show of the great results you can get with Alison, I dare you to come challenge me in an arm wrestle!!!”

Karen & her business partner Janice of Spectrum Presentations had put together a great power point presentation covering everyone who contributed to Karen’s makeover, and Karen had prepared a wonderful speech detailing what each person had done for her, and what the experience was like for her.

Naturally, she feels like a new woman!

Karen is so up beat, and has so much energy….she was a joy to train, and we had so much fun!

You rock Karen!!

Well Karen has finished her 2nd week on her new program, and, although it is hard, she is rising to the challenge!

Her business partner Janice came over last week to take some pictures of Karen working her butt off. They are also taking pictures of all the other business participants, and are going to be doing some video fairly soon. Karen can use the makeup skills she has learned from Mary Kay to make sure she looks beautiful for her movie debut!

She’s doing great , and working hard, and she’s reallllly fun to work with!

After two months, she’s ready! She’s going to love it (!!?) even though it will be a harder program. As I mentioned before, when you are working out, it’s important to make sure you progress your program, or you will find that you plateau. Your body adapts, so you need to step it up a little….this could be by simply increasing the intensity of your workout, or changing it up. Also, when you change it up, you have a new mental learning curve as well, so it won’t get boring!

I’ll let you know how she likes her new program….and I’m sure she will let you know her thoughts as well.