If only burning fat and losing inches was as easy as ordering ice cream… I’ll take 3 inches off my waist… 1 inch off my arms... And some Thigh Gap to go… “Yup! That’s It!” The truth is many hardworking, well-intended women have what I call a “Surface Desire”… You know… something that would be “nice to have” instead of “need.” “Is that something you want or need?” Well saddle up sally, it is about to get REAL! So, if you want TRUTH, RESULTS AND NO FLUFF…stay seated and keep reading. If you hop from fad diet to fad diet, think working out is “too hard” or “too expensive” you should really read this… But you’ll probably migrate your mouse to the top right corner and click the red “X” button! Now that we have the appropriate people… Let’s burn that fat and get after our dream bodies!  

Reason #1: Too Much Cardio, Not Enough Weight Training (or cowbell…)

Imagine for a second… That when you go to work, you get to work 6 hours instead of 8, and you get a 20% pay increase! Would you say yes to that deal? Of course! Well, that offer is essentially being made to you right now! Ditch the elipticals and, treadmills and trade those boring, monotonous and nauseating means for cold and hard steel! Lifting weights has been shown to do the following for women:

• Increase lean body mass (muscle)
• Lower body fat percentage
• Improve cardiovascular system (healthy heart)
• Increase bone density (fight osteoporosis)
• Improve insulin sensitivity (so you’re body reacts appropriately to the carbs you DO eat)
• Maintain a stable body weight and prevent the “yo-yo” effect
• Improve mood and boost self-confidence / image (strong is sexy!)

All of these things leave you feeling “tone and tight.” And the kicker is, we can even design your resistance training program, so you get the EXACT same cardio vascular benefits as if you ran on the treadmill for an hour. BOTTOM LINE: Work smarter NOT harder! When you start lifting weights you’ll and start feeling the difference, it will help you discern between lies in the media and things we hear from co-workers that stat to influence our thoughts on this topic even though they just regurgitate what they heard such as:

• If I lift weights… I’ll get too bulky
• I don’t have enough time
• I don’t know how to lift weights

Reason #2: Not Challenging Yourself

Put your big girl pants on, turn your music up loud and channel your fierce inner Beyoncé. This ties back to maximizing your time in the gym. Every time you show up to train at the gym, if you do not spend what you have, you don’t get to keep it. TRANSLATION: If I gave you $678 to spend at the store of your choice and you only had 1 hour to spend it all OR you would have to give back what’s left… You would make sure to spend every penny, right? Why? To MAXIMIZE the benefit of the time and energy you’ll already be spending! So what would you get? Shoes? Bags? Jewelry?  Make-Up? When you are working out regardless of modality (weights, cardio etc.) you have to learn to push past your comfort zone because therein lies the benefit! The entire purpose of you working out! You can easily identify the threshold of your comfort zone by this conversation in your head:

• Man this really burns!
• If I do 1 more rep, I think I’m gonna die
• STOP! STOP! STOP!
• Ok, I said I’m gonna do 12…okay, maybe I should only do 6….
• F&%! that’s hard…

Reason #3: Too Much Consumption And Not Enough Work

This is 2-fold. Consumption from 1) Information and 2) Food

1) Information

There is so much INFORMATION that you don’t know what to believe, you’ll hop from diet to diet and whatever Dr. OZ says one day and whatever direction the wind blows the next. The problem here? NO FOUNDATION! Educate & Empower Yourself! Seek out someone you trust that can give you quality information! Ask a certified coach! Yes, that might cost money…but if it’s important to you, it’s non-negotiable! You should want to pay a professional for the expertise and or service. Would you want to get a tattoo for free? NO! You’re thinking… this person doesn’t know what they are doing! RUN!! However, there are some excellent FREE & CREDIBLE resources out there! Use your built-in B.S.-o-meter; you probably have a pretty good instinct and can tell within a couple minutes of meeting the person whether what they are saying has merit or is full of stinky stuff. In case your B.S.-o-meter isn’t working, avoid “coaches” who:

• Talk more than they listen
• Try to shove supplements and training down your throat without first examining and talking with you
• Don’t explain the “why” they recommend this or that
• Treat you as a # instead of an individual

  Oh… I almost forgot, here are some of the FREE RESOURCES we recommend: NUTRITON: Precision Nutrition or Examine.com TRAINING: Umm…you’re in the right spot ;) or Juggernaut – Girls Gone Strong – Bret Contreras

2) Food

 POP QUIZ: Which food is more “dense”? (meaning has a higher quantity and quality of calories / nutrients)

1. A) 600 grams of Cherry Tomatoes

OR

1. B) 23 grams of Sour Gummies

Both have 23 grams of carbohydrates BUT which one has more vitamins and minerals? Which one allows you to eat more, and keep you fuller for longer? A! ALL DAY! ^Good job! See… you know what you’re doing! One choice can influence the next. Eating the cherry tomatoes keeps you fuller for longer which prevents you from eating more calories throughout the day (which is also our #1 priority for accelerated fat loss). Calories can easily sneak s into our diet and increase our daily intake while not contributing any nutritional benefits. Here are two quick examples: Drinking a can of pop which has over 200 calories, has absolutely no nutritional value. Giving up pup is one of the easiest ways to REDUCE calorie intake in on small decision. Solution: Drink water or tea at every meal. BOOM! Just saved you 200 Calories…OR 10% of your total daily calories! Eating a salad with high calorie toppings such as Ranch dressing and croutons. Solution: Stick to healthy oils (olive oil and vinegar dressings OR have dressing on the side to reduce consumption). Small, consistent and daily concessions yield big, long-term and sustainable benefits for your body weight, body image and long-term health!

Wrap Up!

Grab some weights. Challenge yourself. Be fierce. Be consistent And do the damn work ladies!