You want to be slimmer and to tone your body, but your weight won’t budge.

Read the following 6 Weight Loss Blockers to discover what is standing in your way and how to quickly and easily begin your weight loss journey.

Blocker #1: Your Mind

Your mind is your number one ally when it comes to achieving your goals. However, until your mind has been programmed for success, it will do more to derail your efforts than to help you.

• Take a few moments each day to visualize yourself at your ideal weight. Imagine how it feels to look the way you’ve always wanted.
• Protect your mind from any negative self talk. If a negative thought comes to mind, immediately reject it.
• You want to be thin and fit, and yet you think of yourself as out-of-shape and fat. Re-program your mind to think of yourself as fit and attractive, and you will be well on your way toward achieving your goal.
• Give up the belief that you can’t achieve the body you’ve always dreamed of. See it first in your mind, and then in the mir

Blocker #2: Your Fear

Change makes most of us nervous – even if it is a change in the right direction. You may not be consciously aware of the fear you have of getting into shape. Until you conquer this fear, your weight loss efforts will be blocked by self sabotage.

Professional speaker and author, Anthony Robbins, has outlined three specific beliefs that you must have in order to conquer your fear and instantly create a lasting change.

• Believe that something MUST change. You can’t be wishy-washy about it. You can’t be considering it. You can’t even be pretty sure about it. You’ve got to be rock solid.
• Believe that YOU must change it. You can’t pass the buck of responsibility and expect to lose weight. It’s on your shoulders. Other people will prove to be great assets in your journey, but in the end you are the one who is going to make it happen. You have to want this weight loss enough to make it your personal mission.
• Believe you CAN change it. You may have failed in the past, but that doesn’t matter. When you put your mind to it, you’re able to do amazing things. Do you believe that you are capable of losing weight? Once you own the belief that you can, you will be unstoppable.

Blocker #3: Your Excuses

Your excuses for being out-of-shape are getting old. An excuse takes less immediate effort than an action, but in the long run the action taker always has the advantage. Don’t allow excuses to ruin your life any longer.

• Don’t skip out on your responsibilities with excuses, instead expect more from yourself.
• Focus on the big reason why you are losing the weight. Make a list of the benefits you’ll enjoy once you achieve your goal, and read them first thing each morning.
• Remember that you can only have two things in life: excuses or results. Which do you want?

Blocker #4: Your Commitment

How many times have you tried to lose weight, only to give up a week or two later? We live in a commitment-phobic world, so it’s no wonder that you routinely abandon your goals. If you truly want to lose weight then your commitment to the process is a must.

• The margin between success and failure is bridged by your commitment. Don’t give up until your goal has been achieved.
• Treat exercise with the same importance as a work meeting, and you’ll never skip it at the last minute. Find three available 60-minute time slots in your schedule and mark them (in pen) on your calendar. Now stick to your schedule.

Blocker #5: Your Diet

If you consistently eat the wrong food, then you’re weight loss efforts will all be in vain. To put it bluntly, you need to stop eating junk. Processed foods, refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup do not belong in your diet if you want to be in great shape. Cut these items out of your diet and replace them with real whole foods like lean meats, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fruits.

• Don’t eat processed foods. Even though processed foods are accepted by our society, they contain tons of chemicals and empty calories that will make you sick and fat.
• Fat contains twice the caloric density of protein and carbohydrates, so make sure to limit the amount that you consume. Eat lots of lean proteins and wholesome carbohydrates from plants and whole grains.
• Vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts and seeds are filled with fiber and antioxidants which are vital for healthy weight loss. Snack on these instead of packaged treats.

Blocker #6: Your Patience

It takes time to transform your body from fat to fit, even though you want it to happen overnight. Remind yourself that it took time to put the weight on, so it will take time to take the weight off. When you find your patience wavering, or when you encounter a frustrating plateau, do the following:

• Review your goal. Is it specific and measurable? Is it small and attainable, rather than monumental? Focus on your goal when the going gets tough.
• Make each workout a new experience. Challenge your body with different resistance, new exercises and a varied pace.
• Remember that anyone can have one great workout, but that won’t get you the body you want. The only way to achieve your goal is by consistently exercising and eating right, plain and simple.

For many the warmer weather is the opportunity to get those tasks done outside that we have been putting off, cleaning out the garage, fixing the deck, gardening, or mowing the lawn. For others it will mean sitting down and enjoying a good book in the sun or getting ready for a backyard BBQ.  With all that you have going on, ask yourself, did you schedule in time for exercise?

I know you are thinking that really how can I fit everything I have to do in my day and schedule a workout? Perhaps these 3 ideas will give you the motivation.

1. Think of exercise as a ‘must’ not a ‘should’. If you plan the time that you will workout, even put it down in writing where you will see it, you will have no excuse not to do it.

2. Think of how you will after you workout, BEFORE you start. I know for myself that after a workout I feel energized and ready to take on the tasks of the day. If you think of how good you will feel after, that you took the time to exercise that may help give you the motivation to get started.

3. Switch from ‘I have to do this’, ‘to I get to do this’. Everytime we engage in some form of physical activity our bodies benefit in so many ways. Outside of the obvious fact that it will help us to control our weight, it also can lower our blood pressure, lower our cholestrol, improve our bone density,it can also help our body use insulin more effectively thus reducing our chance of diabetes.

Keep these points in mind the next time you are tempted to skip your workout because you think you are ‘to busy’.  Really with so much at stake how can you not workout?

Have a great long weekend,

Shelley Healy

Ready to grill? Throw some bok choy on the BBQ! Bok choy is packed with vitamins A, C and K, as well as beta carotene. This grilled bok choy has tender stems and crispy leaf edges.
Servings: 6

Here’s what you need…

• 2 lbs bok choy
• 1 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1. Preheat grill and lightly oil the grate.
2. In a small bowl combine the oil and seasonings. Mix well.
3. Slice the bottom off the head of bok choy, and wash each stem.
4. Lay bok choy on prepared grill. Brush with the seasoned oil mixture. Cover grill and cook until stems show grill marks, about 4 minutes. Turn the bok choy, brush with more seasoned oil mixture and grill the other side.
5. Transfer to platter and serve.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 36.5 calories, 2.6g fat, 3g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, and 2g protein.

The average person gains almost a pound a day while on vacation.

But that doesn’t have to be you. Most of the time extra pounds sneak up on you when you least expect it, so decide right here and now that your vacation will leave you slimmer than when you left.

All you have to do is have a plan.

As you embark on your next vacation adventure, use these 6 tips to come home fitter than when you left.

Trick #1: Cut Your Carbs
Vacation days are notorious for carbohydrate rich meals, and it’s a well-known fact that too many carbohydrates will quickly add up to unwanted pounds.  Combat this fat-trap by choosing one meal per day to go carb-less.

• Breakfast: This may be the most effective meal to use the carb-less trick, since breakfast often involves breads, pastries or pancakes. Skip the toast and fill up on egg whites and lean breakfast meats.
• Lunch: A great carb-less lunch is a salad with lean meat. It’s so filling and satisfying that you won’t even miss the bread.
• Dinner: Since you’re on vacation, you don’t want to feel deprived, so dinner is the hardest meal to go carb-less. But if you’ve indulged at breakfast and lunch then make it a point to cut the carbs at dinner. Stick with veggies and lean meats.

Trick #2: Be Active
If your travels keep you too busy for a workout, or if your hotel does not have an exercise room, make a conscious effort to be active everyday. Go on a brisk walk after your day’s activities. This is a great way to see a new city, and also a great way to burn off extra calories. Take the stairs instead of elevator in your hotel and any other buildings you visit. Go on a short jog in the mornings or evenings of your stay. If your hotel has a pool, swim a few laps each morning or evening.

Trick #3: Indulge with Control

Eating out is a must while on vacation. Whether you’re visiting 5 star restaurants or fast food diners, you are faced with the same problem: large portions. While the easiest thing to do with a large portioned meal is to simply eat it all – you are on vacation after all…right? – that isn’t the best for your waist.

When you order your meal ask the waiter or waitress to bring you a to-go box. Take half of your meal and place it safely into the box before you even begin to eat. This gives you no choice but to eat a healthy portion. If you would rather not carry around a to-go box then ask that your entrée be made into a smaller portion. If it is dinnertime ask for the lunch-sized entrée.

Trick #4: Don’t Eat Late
One of the easiest tricks for preventing weight loss is to simply stop eating 3 hours before you go to bed. This is especially effective while on vacation. So skip that late night indulgence and wake up looking and feeling great.

Trick #5: Snack Healthy
Have you ever noticed how travel days create the perfect opportunity for snacking? A coffee and muffin before your flight, a snack on the plane and then before you know it – it’s lunch time! Taking a road trip? This opens up even more opportunities for regrettable snacking…rest stop vending machines, gas station quickie marts and of course the never ending string of fast food restaurants along the highway.

This summer cut unhealthy snacking off at the pass by brining along your own healthy options. Dried or fresh fruit, unsalted nuts, health bars, cut veggies and low fat crackers are a good start. By filling up on these healthy snacks between meals you will end up eating less when presented with a less-than-healthy meal.

Trick #6: Avoid Fried Foods
While fast food restaurants are definitely convenient, with their low prices and quick service, this convenience is not worth the additional pounds brought on by chips and fries. As you enjoy your vacation keep this in mind: avoid fried foods. While this is always good advice to follow, it is even more important to abide by while traveling.

While vacationing you will likely burn fewer calories each day than you would burn at home, and you are consuming more calories due to your schedule of eating out. You are walking a fine line, and eating fried foods would throw you right over the edge. A gram of fat contains 9 calories as compared to the 4 calories that proteins and carbohydrates carry – so you can see that consuming fried foods will drastically increase your caloric intake.

If I still haven’t convinced you to pass on the curly fries, keep in mind that heartburn and indigestion are never fun…especially while on vacation!

So enjoy the summer weather in Calgary, and with a little planning you can make it your best summer ever.

Shelley Healy

1.  Spot Reduction: Many people focus on their abs. They want a flat mid-section and believe that crunches or using an ab roller will flatten their abs.  Remember, abdominal exercises are actually for strengthening your core.  In order to see definition in your abdominals you must decrease overall body fat percentage. When the layer of fat that is covering your abs is reduced, then and only then will you have a flat stomach.  This is done by burning calories through cardio and cutting down on your calories.

2. No Pain, No Gain: Many people feel that if they don’t hurt all over for days then they must not have worked out hard enough. In reality, if soreness persists then perhaps you are not giving yourself enough recovery time between workouts. Rather than ‘no pain, no gain’, go for the motto of ‘train, don’t strain’.

3.  Strength Training Builds Bulky Muscles. Many women have this idea and really it is just not true. For the average women it is nearly impossible to put on enough muscle to the point where you are bulky. Genetically, everyone is different and some women may have more muscle in certain parts of their body, such as legs, or arms. But in general unless you are power lifting you will build healthy muscle without bulk.

4. Working the Zone is Best: Most exercise equipment has a chart that plots your heart rate against your age. These charts recommend at what rate your heart should be beating to burn calories while using fat for fuel.  It is usually recommended that the best exercise is one that takes place at a lower intensity. The real issue is the burning of calories. It does not matter what percentage of energy is derived from fat or carbohydrates. What matters is how many calories are burned per minute.  I believe strongly in the interval training method, where your workout is varied and constantly changing.

These are 4 of the common fitness myths, how many did you believe? If you did, don’t despair, a little knowledge goes a long way.  Ckeck back to my website often for great advice on how to lose weight and keep it off.

Shelley Healy

Here’s what you need:                                                                                                      

• 1 cup unsweetened rice milk
• 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseeds
• 1/4 cup safflower oil
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• zest from 1 small lemon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 1/4 cups cooked quinoa
• 1/3 cup finely chopped dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup organic turbinado raw cane sugar

1. Preheat oven to 370 degrees F. Place 12 muffins liners in muffin pan and set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl combine the rice milk, flaxseed, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, almond and lemon zest.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, ground almond, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cardamom. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones and fold in the cooked quinoa and chopped cranberries.
4. Use an ice cream scooper to fill each muffin liner 3/4 full. Sprinkle the turbinado raw cane sugar on top of each muffin. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 55 calories, 2.5g fat, 8g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, and 1g protein.

You get too busy, too stressed and quite simply too tired.

Here’s a list of 13 of the top reasons to exercise. Pull out this list and read it when you’re having one of those days.

1. To Prevent Disease
Exercise has been proven to reduce the risk of just about every single health problem known to man, from stroke to heart disease to cancer and osteoporosis. Exercise is also a great defense against type 2 diabetes, which is one of the most widely growing diseases of our time.

2. To Look Great
Exercise firms your body, improves posture and even makes your skin glow. Looking your best is a wonderful result of regular exercise.

3. To Lose Weight and Keep It Off
Exercise burns fat and prevents future fat storage. If you want to have a thinner, healthier body, exercise is the answer.

4. To Have More Energy
Anyone who exercises regularly will tell you that they are more energetic, less easily irritated and are more peaceful.

5. To Sleep Better
Exercise boosts energy levels, but also wears you out. It makes you feel more vibrant during the day and sleep better at night.

6. To Age Slower
Exercise is one of the most effective ways to fight aging. When you age your body loses muscle and bone, while the loss of both are drastically reduced with regular exercise. Exercise also helps reduce inflammation.

7. To Relieve Back Pain
In most cases, the best thing that you can do for back pain is to move and strengthen those muscles. Consult your physician or physical therapist for guidance.

8. To Ease Depression
Exercise has been proven to reduce depression – sometimes even as effectively as medication. Just chalk this up as yet another amazing benefit to exercise.

9. To Reduce Aches and Pains
By strengthening muscles around your damaged joints you’re able to use exercise to reduce joint pain and overall aches. Always consult your physician before starting an exercise program, especially if you have chronic joint pain.

10. To Stay Mentally Sharp
Exercise has been shown to improve memory and other cognitive functions, and seems to have a protective effect against dementia. A Harvard University researcher called exercise “Miracle-Gro for the brain.”

11. To Enjoy Your Lifestyle
Whatever it is that you love in life – your kids, travel, sports, fashion – it is all more enjoyable when experienced in a fit and healthy body. Exercise so that you are able to enjoy all the great things in life.

12. To Reduce Sick Days
People who exercise regularly are 50% less likely to call in sick to work. A regular exercise program reduces colds and upper respiratory infections.

13. To Boost Confidence
Being fit, feeling healthy and having energy are all building blocks to having great confidence. There is no better confidence booster than sticking with a regular exercise program.

Regular exercise gives you so many amazing benefits, as you’ve seen from the above list.  As a personal trainer working in Calgary, I can help you to get started and change your life for the better.

1. Moderate Carbohydrate Reduction

Our bodies use a combination of carbs, protein, and fat to get energy, Since the majority of people eat a day-to-day diet that is high in carbs, it makes it impossible for our bodies to burn all the carbs eaten, let alone the protein and fat.  The result? The leftover carbs are converted to sugar and fat for storage. Studies have also shown that diets higher in refined carbs can lead to disease such as diabetes. Whereas moderate carb reduction can help with weight loss.

Rather than saying ‘no’ to all carbs, focus on moderately reducing them. Meal consisting of roughly 50% of complex carbs, is a good place to start. Since everyone is different you may need to play around with this and find the balance of carbs, protein and fat that ultimately work for you.

2.  Carbohydrate Cycling

For those who have reached a plateau with regard to weight loss, this approcah may work for you. With this method you dramatically reduce carb consumption for 3 days.  This reduction should be at a level that would make it difficult to maintain for daily living. Follow that with a raise in carb levels for 1 day. Then repeat the cycle again. By cycling with the 3day/1day, you will avoid the side effects that kick in when carbohydrate stores are depleted.

This method also prevents your body from kicking in to the starvation mode, where you are actually slowing down your metabolism. Our bodies are smart, if you continue to long with limited carb stores, your body will adapt making it even harder to lose the weight. Remember this rule: keep your body guessing, to keep your metabolic rate up.

An easy way to get started is to cut out starches in your evening meal.  This will leave you with green fibrous carboyhdrates and lean protein.  If you do this, your meal will automatically shift towards less carbs and higher protein.  It is an easy technique and yet it can make big progress in your results.

Ultimately I believe there is no food group that should be eliminated entirely. Our bodies are designed to work best in a synergy, with a little practice and persistence you can find the best way of eating for you.

Shelley Healy

Here’s what you need…

• 1 cup dried pinto beans
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups filtered water
• 2 bouillon cubes
• dash of freshly ground sea salt
• dash of freshly ground pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed between your fingers
• 5 large carrots, diced
• 2 bunches kale, chopped

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the beans and cook for 60-90 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. In your soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the cooked beans, water, bouillon, salt, pepper, bay leaves, rosemary, and carrots. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the kale and cook another 15 minutes or until kale is tender. Add more water if needed.
4. Remove the bay leaves, add more salt and pepper if needed.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 112 calories, 2g fat, 20g carbohydrate, 7.3g fiber, and 6g protein.

This is a great meal for cutting calories and dropping weight. Watch your portions with the brown rice in order to stay within your daily calorie goal. White fish is packed with protein – just what you need for toning your body.
Servings: 2

Here’s what you need:

• 2 fillets white fish
• 1 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 lemon
• seafood seasoning
• paprika
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 2/3 cup brown rice, cooked
• 2 Tablespoons salsa

1. Preheat broiler. Grease your broil pan with the olive oil. Place the fillets and bell pepper in the pan, squeeze the lemon juice over it. Sprinkle with seafood seasoning and paprika.
2. Place the pan under the broiler for 5-7 minutes, watching closely to prevent burning. Add the broccoli and cook for another minute until soft.
3. Mix the cooked brown rice with the salsa and divide between two plates. Place a fillet on each bed of rice along with half of the veggies.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 203 calories, 3g fat, 24g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, and 19g protein.