Accountability is key!

For many people, eating right or exercising can be very difficult to stick with in the beginning. Once it becomes a habit, it is much easier. But to get through those first few weeks, sometimes we need a little extra push to stick with it. That's where accountability comes in. If you know someone it literally waiting on  you to go running with them, you're much more likely to go on and meet them and run. You don't want to leave them hanging or let them down. Same goes for eating right. If your spouse is going to see what you eat and they want you to succeed at eating well, it can be very helpful since you don't want to let them down either.

The 21 day challenge that I'm leading started yesterday - and already folks are loving the fact that they're sending me their food log and workout log for the previous day. It helps them feel accountable knowing that I'll be looking at it and giving feedback on both. And writing it down helps you feel more accountable to yourself too. Give it a try. Find an accountability partner. I'm a fitness coach of course, so feel free to sign up for free to have me as YOUR coach and I'll be that accountability partner for you. It just may make the difference you've been looking for :) Sign up anytime @ www.TurboRomero.com click JOIN and select the free option. The paid option includes a personalized meal planner though...so if you've been looking for that, you may like to peruse that option too :)

~To Your Health~

Pushed for time?

We all get pushed for time some days. It's easy to put off the things that are crucial to your success though. Have you ever put off school, training classes, or even workouts because you were just 'too busy'? I have. But once I stopped making excuses and started finding solutions to the time crunch, my life was 100 times better.

Now I've got my priorities straight. Family, Health & Fitness, Financial Security and Helping Others. Period. If I'm wondering if I have 'time' for something...I run it through my 'priorities filter'. If it doesn't fit with one of my listed priorities, then the answer is possibly no. Unless I just randomly have time for it. Otherwise, my time goes strictly to those priorities. Setting it in your mind like that makes these things non-negotiable. So if a neighbor wants to go grab a drink, but I only have an hour of time, I would much rather get my workout in than go and get a drink. Making friends with neighbors isn't a priority for me, but health and fitness is. Would it be fun to go have a drink? Maybe. Maybe not. If I had a ton of extra time that day, I'd probably go for it. But since I was crunched for time, I chose something that would help me meet my goals and make me happy.

So my lesson today is to figure out your priorities. List them on a sheet of paper. You may only have 1. You may have 3 or 4 like me. Now think on what tasks or events will help you achieve any goals related to those priorities. Keep these in mind when things come up. Schedule your time in advance - related strictly to your priorities. If you do this, you'll be happier and you'll feel more accomplished.

And on that note... speaking of working out - if you're short on time, but want to KILL a good workout, make sure you're trying some HIITs....second to none with it comes to effectiveness in a short period of time!

I'm happy to help with workout plans, diet planning, whatever you need...sign up for free to have me as your coach. Go to www.turboromero.com and click on 'join'. Select the free option, and *poof* you have a new health and fitness coach! :)

~To Your Health~

21 Day Challenge, starting soon!

I'm leading a 21 day health & fitness challenge - starting 8/29/11

I picked 21 days for the length because that's the amount of time it takes to form new habits (or break old ones).The challenge I created will be a group of people who commit to 21 days of working out, eating healthier - and keeping a food diary, replacing 1 meal a day with Shakeology (Have you heard of Shakeology before? Soooo good and ridiculously healthy, email me at fithappy@yahoo.com and I'll send you info if you want to know more!). And on top of committing to it all, each participant will send me their food diary and exercise log every morning for the day prior. I'll check them out and return any comments or suggestions I may have for improvements or motivation, etc. 

We'll also have a group page on FB where all participants can chat throughout and keep the accountability high - and I'll be on the page every day checking in and answering questions and providing suggestions.

Finally, the best part - everyone will send me their weight and waist measurements at the beginning...along with a "before" photo. They will be confidential, no one will see them unless the participant WANTS to share with other participants. Every few days I'll send an email with tips, motivation, ideas, whatever may help. And every 7 days everyone will send in current weight & waist measurements. At the end of 21 days- final reporting of weight and waist and an "after" photo...and new habits will have been formed; most people will have lost weight and inches...and whoever lost the most PERCENTAGE of weight will win a prize--- your choice of Hip Hop Abs Extreme DVD OR Turbo Fire Greatest HIITS DVD. 

So exciting! This type of challenge is very successful for those who commit to it - getting a boost through a plateau, forming those new habits, and seeing success is a great motivator to continue those good habits.

If you're interested, let me know! The Shakeology can be bought right through my retail site and it comes in several options. It comes in a bag which is actually 30 servings, or a box of packets which is 24 servings. It's about $4/serving (which of course is likely cheaper than whatever meal you're replacing it with or a Starbucks!) You'd only need 21 for the challenge, but the shake is SO good and so ridiculously healthy, most people don't mind having a few left over to use afterward. I drink it every single day for breakfast because I love it SO much and I've had such great success with it. Best part, it has a bottom of the bag guarantee, so if you don't love it, they'll refund your money even if you used it all

As for the workout commitment, I recommend a program, simply because of the structure and motivation it can bring to the table, but if there's something else you prefer (I.E. running, walking) that will work too, it just may be harder for you to really push yourself for the best results.

Sorry for the longness of this post, it's just a lot to explain  Let me know if you want in. We're starting on 8/29, so order your Shakeology today or tomorrow so you get it in time! I also recommend selecting the 'auto ship' option when checking out. It makes the shipping free and if you don't want to continue using it after the first bag, you can just cancel the auto ship. You can order here:  Order Shakeology

Excited to get started! 

~To your health~

Rest days. To rest, or not to rest?

Sometimes we can get so gung-ho about our new routines that it's actually hard to take a rest day. Here's the skinny, as I see it...

Yes, you need rest days. Especially after strength training. To build muscle, you actually do NEED that recover time afterward. No kidding. So if you do strength training for your lower body on Monday, you should not do strength training on your lower body again until about Thursday preferably. Now, there's no need to completely take those next couple of days completely off. You could do resistance training for your upper body one day. You could do cardio, HIIT, or even yoga or a swim. It should be noted, these rest days after strength training are unnecessary if you are not using weights that are heavy enough. If you do your resistance training and weren't struggling to get those last few reps out, your weights are TOO light for building muscle. In this case, you wouldn't really need to rest those muscles the next couple of days - because they weren't broken down.

So the secondary lesson for the day. If you want to build muscle (and you SHOULD! That's what increases metabolism and makes you stronger and fitter), you need to use weights that are heavy enough. It should be pretty difficult to get the last few reps out. If you do 12 bicep curls, and you feel like you could keep going, pick a heavier weight for your next set. Trust me, you'll be sore if you do it right, and that's exactly what you want if you're trying to build that lean muscle!!

So get those weights (or bands) and get after it. Work it HARD and then take your rest day to recover and build that muscle. You'll be so glad you did!

~To your health~

Work it!

So, I keep seeing and hearing things that concern me a little...about viewpoints on fitness and how to lose weight.

Yes, it's true that if you move more, and eat less, you will lose weight. (Calories in versus calories out IS the reason you lose or gain weight, afterall). But what I'm worried about is that this mindset allows us a mentality of 'bare minimum'. And of course, for some, that's fine. But shouldn't we strive for greatness? Not just in health and fitness, but in life? If you were looking for a job and you really thought you deserved a salary of $50,000 - and you went to the first place and they offered you $25,000. Would you accept it because "it's better than nothing"? Or would you fight for what you deserved?

To me, it's the same with health and fitness. So maybe going for a 1 mile walk every other day is enough to help you drop a few pounds. Well that's great! And it's a wonderful start. But are you content to 'drop a few pounds?' Or would you love to get into great shape? Would you love to raise your metabolism, feel great every day, increase energy and get to your ideal weight and muscle tone? Maybe it sounds impossible. I'm here to tell you it's not. But it does take more than the occasional stroll. You don't have to workout for hours every day though, either. It's all about choices. Set your goals. Make them big, that's the best part of life, sometimes.

As always, I'm happy to help - if you want help identifying goals; or would like help reaching them, please reach out to me. I help folks just like you with motivation, direction, accountability and diet & workout advice. You can sign up for free to have me as your fitness coach. Just go to www.TurboRomero.com and click "join". Select the free option (unless you read through and prefer the paid option benefits!)

Remember, it's all about YOU when it comes to health and fitness. Decide what you REALLY want...I'll help you get there if you're ready!

~To your health~

The Insanity of Insanity

So, I did it, I tried Insanity a couple of days ago. Here's how it went. First, I was excited. I knew it was hard. A friend lent me his set because he wasn't using them. So I went home after work, quickly changed, got some water and jumped right in. The warm up was good, the first few minutes I was feeling encouraged. Then about 10 minutes in, sweat was pouring off of me. I was beginning to wonder if I'd be able to do all 45 minutes. I will admit, it was HARD, but sort of fun in a sick way. Felt like drills, like football camp or something. And all that jumping and whatnot was certainly more interesting than going for a walk, or doing some random bicep curls.

So about 12 minutes in, I was considering stopping. Then Shaun T. says (while he's out of breath) "Alright guys, we're almost there, almost done with the warm up".

Crap.

The warm up? I'm warmed up and dying here. Literally sweat dripping on my floor and already considering cooling down and quitting. And this was the warm up? Fear came next. But quickly I overcame it. Yes, of course I can do this. I'm fit. I'm used to running. I KILL Turbo Fire and sweat like a mug doing that too. And I even show off while doing Physique 57 and P90X occasionally. I CAN do this. So I reset, got after it, and let Shaun T. lead me through an amazing workout. Until I finally quit at 30 minutes. So yes, I'm not afraid to admit it, I only did 30 out of 45 minutes. It WAS hard. Holy cow. I swore it off. Said it was stupid. My calves are sore today. (2 days later!) But you know what's weird, I put it on my schedule to do it tomorrow. Love pushing myself and doing something that seems impossible. Mainly because nothing is impossible.

Call me crazy. Or Insane. (ity).

~To your health~

A word about positivity

There are tons of books out there about the power of positive thinking. There's a reason why it's so popular in some groups. I thoroughly recommend reading (or listening to the audiobook) some of these. The one I'm reading right now is "Think and Grow Rich" By Napoleon Hill. It's eye-opening. And for those of you who know me personally, you can probably tell that my positivity has increased. I'm truly happy every day. I BELIEVE my day will be good, and it is. I BELIEVE I can help someone, and I do. Imagine the possibilities!

Just think - what successful person do you know that has a negative aura? When was the last time you heard the CEO of Starbucks say, "I'm just not sure I can do this?". Never! Successful people are organized, they have positive self-talk, they are energetic. And if you're surrounded by negative people, people who bring you down, wallow in it, and they take up all of your energy, you may need to rethink your circle. I'm not saying go and de-friend anyone. Just make a mental note...and give them less of your energy. Start your positive self-talk today. It's contagious too, so you may even help those sad, down people you know!

If you'd like more book recommendations, I'm happy to give them! Also, I REALLY encourage you to sign up for Chalene Johnson's FREE 30 day challenge. It's SO enlightening, and helped me to change my way of thinking about myself and my goals, and it got my organized and MOVING toward my goals actively. Do you have something more you want to achieve? Her program is here: http://www.30daypush.com/ - Try it, you won't be sorry!

And finally, I have to say, part of being mentally positive and centered includes being physically energetic and happy. If you're ready to start a fitness program, contact me! I can help you find the right program for you, your schedule, your goals, AND I can be your coach throughout it to help you with accountability, motivation, and someone to share your successes with. Email me here, or directly to my inbox @ fithappy@yahoo.com and we can chat.

Surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed!

~To your health~

A few recipes

So, a few healthy recipes that I use often. Keep in mind I'm not a gourmet chef. And I typically have to cook quickly due to workout schedules, work & relaxing time in the evening. So having said that, here you go!


Quick Chicken Bake
(makes about 4 servings)

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast (or tenderloins)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)

1 cup water

½ bag of frozen green peas (or broccoli, or whatever veggie you prefer!)

1 cup Cous cous or quinoa

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper if you like it

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Let the pan heat for a minute. Add chicken to the pan, sprinkle with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Cook for 2 minutes on one side, flip over and cook 2 more minutes.

In a bowl, mix together the cream of mushroom soup & water until smooth. Put mixture,  frozen veggies & cous cous or quinoa, and partially cooked chicken breasts into a baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check cous cous, when it’s tender it’s done. Double-check chicken to make sure it’s not pink inside. If it needs more cooking, just pop back in for 5-10 minutes.

Healthier Spaghetti

(Makes about 4 servings)

1 lb very lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey

1 jar of Prego or Ragu, etc

1 small can of plain tomato sauce

Italian seasonings such as basil, oregano, parsley & garlic, etc

Optional: Capers & black olives

Whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Brown the meat on med-high heat in a pot. While it’s cooking, add in the basil, oregano, parsley & garlic – about ½ tsp of each. When meat is browned, drain any fat off that accumulated. Add in the jar of prego or ragu, the can of tomato sauce, capers and olives if you'd like. Cook over med-high heat for about 5 minutes. Turn down to low heat and cook another 5 minutes.

While sauce is warming, boil water & cook several servings of noodles according to package instructions. Make sure you check the serving size of noodles!

Drain noodles, place 1 serving of noodles on a plate and about 1/2 cup of sauce on top of the noodles. You should not need parmesan on top, but if you do, make it just a light sprinkle.

Quick Tilapia Bake

6 Tilapia filets (from frozen for easy-factor)

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper

Lemon juice from concentrate

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (or according to frozen package instructions)

Place tilapia in a baking dish. Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Top with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Add about 1 tablespoon lemon juice on top of filets. Cover with aluminum and bake for 11-13 minutes (or according to package instructions). Check fish, if it flakes easily with a fork, it's done.

While fish is baking, steam some veggies - from frozen if you'd like. Top steamed veggies with a dash of salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.

Hope you like these! I'm happy to share more, just let me know you'd like more - comment below!

~To your health!~

Motivation?

What's your motivation?

Sometimes you may not feel like getting your workout in. Or maybe you don't feel like eating healthy anymore. When these times come, it's important to remember your motivation.

Do you want to be healthy for your kids?

Do you want to be healthy so you feel better?

Do you want to be healthy so you're around for your friends?

Do you want to like what you see when you look in the mirror?

Maybe fit back into some old clothes?

Perhaps it's just because you want to be a motivator for others?

Determine your motivation. Write it down. Put it everywhere. Make it your screen saver on  your computer. Put it on your wallpaper on your phone. Put a post it note on your steering wheel. Remind yourself always about your WHY.

And while we're all allowed those days where we just don't feel like it, make sure it's not happening all the time. If it is, reset yourself. Reingage. Jump back in and you'll be SO glad you did. Once you start seeing results, sometimes that's all the motivator you'll need.

So next time you're just not feeling it, look at your "WHY". Tell yourself even a quick 10 minute workout is better than none. Press play and you'll be glad you did. Have you ever met someone who regretted getting a good workout in? Thanks to Chalene Johnson for reminding me of that. :)

So GO PRESS PLAY!

~To your health~

Help! I'm craving....

We all have cravings. When you're trying to watch what you're eating, whether you're counting calories or just cutting back on things like sugar, preservatives, whatever, it's still hard to curb those cravings. But there are ways to indulge or to divert those cravings with healthier choices. The hardest part is those first few weeks of trying to NOT eat something or eat a lot less of it. For instance, in December of 2010, I decided I was going to eat healthier, watch my calories, and I started running. Now, all went pretty well because I was motivated. However, I have always had a sweet tooth. Not many people don't, I know. But when you're trying to cut back on sweets, you feel like you're the only one who could possibly know what that feels like to NEED your dessert. That's it, you need it. It IS like an addiction. So you have to treat it like one. First, recognize that it's going to be difficult. Now, accept that you may have moments of weakness. That does not make it a failure. Any time you have a bad day of eating or a few days of no workout, don't fall of the wagon. Just jump right back in. A few moments of weakness doesn't mean that your journey is over.

Once your mind is in the right place, it's time to start working on cutting back or eliminating those things you crave. Now, if you're craving broccoli...then please, keep on eating it! But for those of us that crave junk food, read on.

First, recognize when your cravings set in. To do this, keep a food journal. Write down everything you eat, and at what time. You may also write down things that were going on or what you were feeling when you ate certain things. This can be helpful if you're an emotional eater. You can identify those triggers this way and start to divert the attention to another habit. After keeping a journal for a few days you will likely start seeing where your weaknesses are. Perhaps you already know yours. You may not need a journal to identify it. But for some people, those weaknesses are hidden, you can convince yourself they don't exist or they aren't that bad. For me, I was eating dessert after every dinner. But I was failing to realize that the random sweets I ate throughout the day amounted to as much as they did. So, maybe I had a cookie after lunch. Maybe I had a piece of dark chocolate after that. And then I may even have another cookie when I get home. I mean, one cookie can't hurt, right? And then my usual dessert after dinner because, well, that's usual. Writing all of it down and seeing it stare me in the face was enlightening.

But how can I overcome these cravings, you may ask? Well, for some people, cold turkey is the best way. Sounds simple. It's not, really. First, you have to get rid of all temptations, get it all out of your pantry and freezer and your desk at work. You also have to have a powerful motivation to succeed here. A good motivator is to know that after a few weeks of cold turkey, your habit WILL be broken. It's sort of a detoxing process. Your body craves something, like I mentioned earlier, like an addiction. Stopping that indulgence can be difficult in the beginning. You may experience mood swings, headaches, or other symptoms of that nature. If you can get through that part and get past it, you will get over those cravings.

Some folks can't go cold turkey. Understandable. For those people, I recommend a replacement and weaning technique. Get rid of the REALLY bad indulgences from your kitchen and replace with LESS bad things. Start paying attention to serving sizes and you'll have cut your intake already. So if brownies and cookies are your thing, get rid of them. Go out and get some replacements such as reduced sugar ice cream & light chocolate syrup. And actually measure out the serving sizes. This will start to help you teach yourself control over portions. Go get chocolate graham crackers (or regular ones), get sugar free chocolate pudding, Bear Naked chocolate chip cookies, and so on. As long as you're actually replacing what you'd normally eat with one of these types of *better* things, you're reducing your intake and also slowing weaning yourself from expecting the really awful things. This technique can be tricky. You still have to pay very good attention to how much of these replacements you're eating. You may subconsciously eat more since you know it's *better* for you. Keep writing everything in your food journal so you can watch it. And really, measure out those serving sizes and stick to it, it will help you control it.

Finally, when it comes to weaning yourself off of the *better* options, you can start with eating only one of your indulgences per day. A lot of this is mental, so if you're trying to stop eating, say dessert after lunch and just want to keep it to eating it after dinner, you may need to find something else to DO after lunch. Replacing that time with something else, if you will. So maybe after lunch you go walk the dog now. Or you read a book for 10 minutes. Anything to keep your mind off of it for a few minutes and start a new habit in it's place.

Eventually, if you want to cut it ALL out, you'd just repeat that weaning step again for any remaining servings you have been eating. For me, I eventually quit eating dessert after dinner. That was hard since I'd done it for so many years. I ended up replacing dessert with a workout. May sound crazy to you, but trust me, it's not. Once you get 'hooked' on a workout and you really love it, you will WANT to do it. It's a perfect opportunity to use that workout to replace another bad habit! That feeling you get after a great workout, one that was fun and taxing, it's actually a type of high. It produces a new addiction. A good one. So go for it!

So tell me, have you had any experiences in trying to break a craving or a habit? How did it work out? Are you trying to break one now?

Oh, Calories...

Ever wondered how much you should *really* be eating? Well you should! Many of us tend to overeat or even under-eat. Overeating is more recognizable. Most people who do it, sort of know they're doing it. Under-eating is a different story. Some people "just aren't hungry" enough to eat all the time. The bad part about that - is that means their metabolism is SO slow that they aren't feeling hunger like other people. And eating too little makes your metabolism stall even further - AND it makes your body store fat. Bad combination, huh?

The good news is, this can all be fixed - with a little knowledge and some new habits.

First, you have to figure out how many calories you burn in a day without trying. This is your basal metabolic rate (BMR). It's what your body burns just by living. You can estimate your BMR by using some online calculators. The one I use is this one: http://www.bmrcalculator.org/

Basically, you'll enter in your height, weight, age, and sex and the calculator will tell you what your BMR is. Now, you must account for your activity level in addition to the BMR to figure out what you *really* burn in a day. Unless you're literally bed-ridden, you are burning more than your BMR. The activity levels vary based on how hard you work out and how many times per week. That activity level adds to your BMR to give you total calories burned per day. So, if you wanted to stay at your same weight, you'd want to eat right around that number of calories every day. If you wanted to lose a little weight, a good rule of thumb is to eat about 500 calories less per day than what your BMR + Activity level amount shows. Using the site I mentioned above, you can figure out your BMR, then right below that, there is a chart that you can use to determine what your total is based on activity. Take that number, write it down somewhere.

Now, to get a handle on what you're really eating, you should start logging your intake. I use fatsecret.com to do this. I don't use it much anymore because I now have a good handle on what my 1600-1800 calories looks like (that's how much I should be eating every day, so yours may be different!) Just create a free account there and start logging every single thing you eat and drink. Don't overlook things like sauces and dressings too!

After a few days of this, you'll get to seeing your patterns. This is a tool you'll be so glad you found, because really, calories in versus calories out is the BASIS for any healthy diet. From there, you can start thinking about protein, carbs, fats, ratios, etc. I'll hit on this in another post, I promise!

If you already use another calorie tracking program, I'd love to hear about it - comment below! :)

~To your health~

Run faster!

So you're a runner. Or maybe you want to be. But you feel slow, or maybe you've had the same pace for the last 3 months. The thing is, if you keep running at your current pace - you will stay at that pace. In order to run faster - you have to, well, run faster. Sounds like I'm being a smart aleck, I know. But just go with me on this. Imagine you're trying to get better at something else; like speaking in public. The only way to get better at it is to practice it. So in that same vein, the only way to get faster is to practice being faster.

Here's a good way to train to be faster...

On one of your runs every week, start interval training for speed. So, for example, jog lightly for a few minutes to warm up, then run faster than your normal pace for about 1 minute. You should not be sprinting, keep it just shy of that. When your 1 minute of fast pace is over, jog at your normal pace for 2 minutes. Now, run that faster speed again for 1 minute and then your normal pace again for 2 minutes. You get the picture. Repeat this for your entire run if you can. If it's too difficult to do this for your entire run, at least try to get in 5 repeats of the pattern. Don't forget to cool down and stretch as usual. You are stretching after every run, aren't you?

Once these speed days are feeling better and better, you can start to increase your 'speed' interval. After a few weeks you can start running the fast pace for 2 minutes and recover for 1 minute and repeat. You're training your body, muscles, and the tiny little fast twitch muscles to accept that faster pace. Start working in 2 speed days a week and before you know it, your pace will just increase.

Working up to longer runs will also help your pace on shorter runs. For instance, when I started running 4-5 miles on the weekend, my weekday 2-3 milers got a bit faster. It's just that they become 'easier' so you're able to push harder.

It may also be helpful to run with someone with a faster pace than you (just not TOO much faster!) - you'll probably push yourself harder because you're running with them. Get out of your comfort zone, that's how you progress!

Anyone have any other tips for increasing your speed? We'd love to hear it, comment below! :)

~To your health~

Weights or Cardio?

I sat here thinking long and hard about what my FIRST post should be about. That's a lot of pressure, you know. The inaugural post. It should be something memorable. Something that matters. Something that will make you want to come back again. Then it hit me. One of the most misunderstood parts of working out and getting fit is cardio versus resistance training. SO many women think that hours on the treadmill is all it takes to 'get skinny'. That's so far from the truth - AND I'm passionate about spreading that word.

So there you go. My first post is to help YOU figure out what kind of workout is best for your goals.

Now, please don't misunderstand. Cardio IS super important. It's good for your heart, lungs, and for burning calories. But that's the rub. The calories you burn during cardio is all over once you stop. What you likely want is to burn more calories even while you're at rest...right? To do that, you need to build muscle. MUSCLE burns more calories - even while you're at rest. Yep, that's right. If you have lean muscle, you're burning more calories while you're just sitting around. Watching TV. Even sleeping. Can't beat that, huh?

Guys and girls build muscle differently. Girls do not have enough testosterone to get 'bulky', so ladies, don't shy away from those weights. A good rule of thumb is to still get your cardio in a few days a week, but you do not need to spend hours on the treadmill or outside walking. Instead, do 30-60 minutes of your normal cardio a few days a week, and then add in 3 days a week of strength training. They key here is to work your muscles to exhaustion. If you're not feeling the burn in the muscle you're working, your weights are TOO light.

Now, there's tons more detail about what kind of things to do, not to do, and even some great tips I have on  making your cardio routine more effective too. A different post though...stay tuned! :)

Tell me, what is your routine now? Have you tried strength training before? If you need advice on a particular strength training routine, let me know - I can help you get one planned! You can comment here, or you can always email me at - Fithappy@yahoo.com

~To your health!~