“The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, ‘If we’re going to charge $10 an hour, we can’t call it jumping up and down.’”  ~ Rita Rudner.

Aerobics is so “eighties”! Now it’s Pilates, Ballet Boot Camp, Wii, and Zumba. If you need help with healthy weight loss, check out the P90X Extreme Home Fitness with Tony Horton – it’s Amazon’s bestselling health and fitness product. And, here are five steps to losing weight and keeping it off…

6 Steps to Healthy Weight Loss – Rita Rudner

1. Have realistic expectations. Healthy weight loss happens slowly, so don’t be discouraged after the first couple of weeks! It can take six weeks before you see physical changes in your body. “To avoid getting derailed,” says fitness instructor Amanda Vogel, “follow this six week approach: In the first three weeks, expect mental and emotional changes – more energy or a confidence boost. Expect to start seeing a slightly slimmer, tighter body after three weeks.”

2. Find what motivates you, and keep it under your nose. Do you get discouraged when you hear comediennes like Rita Rudner say, “I burned sixty calories. That should take care of a peanut I had in 1962.”? It’s true that it’s easier to NOT eat food than to eat it and burn off the calories you consumed, but don’t let that stop you from working out. Keep inspirational quotations or motivational sayings in your workout clothes, taped to your mirror, and on your computer monitor. To avoid becoming blind to them, move them around or replace old motivational sayings with new ones. Highlight strong, successful, athletic women like Venus and Serena Williams!

3. Put your workout gear on first thing in the morning. If you work from home (like me!), you may have an advantage when it comes to healthy weight loss. As soon as I get up in the morning, I put on my workout gear. Since I can “go to work” in whatever clothes I want, and I’ve found that putting on my workout clothes first thing solidifies my goal to exercise. If you can wear your workout clothes under your work clothes, you may find yourself one step closer to losing weight and keeping the pounds off.

4. Sleep in your workout clothes. Check this tip out – it’s from Barb Gormley, the owner of Custom-Fit Personal Training in Toronto. “Sounds crazy, but in winter, I wear my sports bra and workout T-shirt to bed so it’s super-easy to get out the door on cold dark mornings.” That’s like me, putting on my workout clothes as soon as I wake up! But, I don’t work out until 11 am or 4 pm, depending on how the day’s going.

5. Don’t exercise forever – exercise better. You can get a great workout in just 10 minutes! Instead of an hour-long workout with exercises or reps that isolate one body part at a time, try five or six exercises that target multiple muscles. Pilates is a great way to do compound movements, which is a healthy way to lose weight. The 10 Minute Solution Rapid Results Pilates are one of my favorite ways to exercise. Pilates – and these particular exercise DVDs are brilliant because they use your whole body in the workout.

6. Factor in your personality traits. Are you an introvert? (take this test for introverted personality traits to find out!) Introverts may not enjoy working out with groups of people, and may lean towards solo running, biking, or swimming. On the other hand, extroverts prefer intense workouts with groups of people, and are prone to exercising fairly often. Scientist Amy Hagan said, “These excitement-craving people love lots of activity, and want to go, go, go.” Extroverts also prefer to listen to music while exercising. To lose weight in a healthy way, be aware of your personality traits. 

One last  quotation from Rita Rudner:

“Men are very confident people. Even a sixty-year-old man with no arms thinks he could play in the Super Bowl if he had to.”

Wouldn’t it be great if women were this confident? We need more exposure to women like Whoopi Goldberg, Eleanor Roosevelt, Judge Marilyn Milian, and Queen Latifah!

If you have any thoughts or questions on these steps to healthy weight loss, I welcome you below…

Source of quotations: “Resolve to Tone Up,” Best Health Magazine, February, 2009.

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“Some people say that I have an attitude — maybe I do,” said Venus Williams. “But I think that you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there.”

Do you believe in yourself, no matter how much you weigh? Then you’re 90% of the way to being a successful woman! The other 10% comes from being fit and healthy. My best ”get fit tip” is to try the 10 Minute Solutions DVDs; one of my favorites is Kickbox Bootcamp. Keli combines strength training, cardio, kick boxing, and “burpees.” I love it! And the best part is that those fitness DVDs (the 10 Minute Solutions series) don’t cost much.

Okay, here are several ways to get fit and save money…

7 Fast Ways to Get Fit and Save Money on Exercise – Venus Williams

1. Practice NEAT exercise. “Naturally thin people never stop moving,” says personal trainer and Pilates instructor Fawn Gill. “Even in their seats, they shift and fidget. This is known as non-exercise activity time, or NEAT.” She says constant movement burns calories and raises the metabolism. Thin people are often fidgety, never staying still, always moving…and that’s a great way to get fit and save money on exercise! 

2. Swap your exercise equipment and workout DVDs with a friend. This is one of my favorite ways to lose 10 pounds fast: dig out your old exercise ball or old Wii Fit games, and trade them for your friend’s yoga mat or Pilates DVDs. You’ll save money, try new fitness activities, and be more accountable for working out more regularly (especially if you and the person you swap exercise equipment with vow to keep each other disciplined!).

3. Stop buying new workout clothes! A friend of mine starts a new exercise regime every few months, and shops for brand new exercise clothes every time! Lululemon, Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Nike — she buys all the brand names. And, she spends a ton of money on clothes that she plans to sweat buckets in. To save money on your workouts, exercise in preloved clothes. I buy all my workout gear at a local thrift store, and I don’t care if they get sweaty or dirty.

4. Quit the health club or gym — especially in the summer. Many gyms, health clubs, or fitness centers cost hundreds or thousands of dollars a year. Plus, many people stop going a few weeks after spending money on their gym memberships. “Gyms count on the likelihood that most members stop going, at least regularly, after a few weeks or months but are still stuck paying monthly dues until the contract runs out,” write the authors of The Smart Cookies’ Guide to Making More Dough and Getting Out of Debt. Municipal or community facilities or recreation centers will help you save money.

5. Join a hiking, biking, or triking group — or start one. “Before you join a gym, consider organizing a group of friends for daily or weekly walks, runs, hikes, or bike rides instead,” write the money experts in The Smart Cookies’ Guide to Making More Dough. “This way you can be social and be fit — and working out with friends will give you added incentive to stick to your exercise regime.”

6. Exercise outdoors — even in the winter. A 45 minute run or walk in the fresh air — even through the snow — instead of a stuffy gym can burn more fat, improve blood flow, and keep your brain alert. Plus, sunshine increases serotonin and vitamin D levels, which help keep your weight stable. And turning off the treadmills, elliptical trainers, and stationary bicycles can reduce national energy consumption levels. This isn’t just a great way to get fit fast, it’s also eco-friendly!

7. Make your meals and snacks from scratch. One of the best ways to save money while getting fit is to cook all your meals at home. It’s the only way to know exactly what’s in your food, why it’s there, and what you can reduce or eliminate without sacrificing taste. Muffins from coffee shops and Caesar salads in restaurants are perfect examples of high-fat foods that can be made at home – they’ll contain half the calories and cost a fraction of the store-bought price.

“Of course, I want to be number one,” said Venus Williams. “But being happy and healthy is the most important thing.”

What do you think of these ways to get fit and save money on exercise equipment? Please comment below…

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The life lesson: There’s more than one way to lose 10 pounds – because we all have different weight loss personalities. The successful woman: Julia Cameron, author of The Writing Diet — in which she shares her best ways to lose ten pounds.

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something,” says Cameron. “Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.”

Whether you want to lose ten pounds or write a bestselling novel — you have to commit yourself by saying you’re doing it! Click on the cover for more info on her book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size. And, read on for Julia Cameron’s interesting weight loss tips and dieters’ stories.

10 Ways to Lose 10 Pounds  – Julia Cameron

1. Know when you eat to please others. Do you overeat at your mom’s or when you’re with your sister-in-law? Be aware of eating to make other people happy – especially your partner. Many women gain weight after getting married or moving in with their partners, because they tend to mimic their partner’s eating habits. According to Cameron in The Writing Diet, if you stop eating to please others, you’ll find it easier to lose weight.

2. Eat clean. “For optimum weight loss, it’s best to eat clean – that is, to shape your diet so that refined sugars, flours, and starches are kept to a minimum,” writes Cameron in The Writing Diet. “Three days off sugar, and you no longer lust after sweets. A piece of fruit will satisfy what used to be a candy-bar craving.” Eating clean is a newish way to lose ten pounds.

3. Open your “Pandora’s Box of Emotions” and express your forbidden feelings in healthy ways (not by binge eating). Write out your feelings to help you identify why you’re eating. Are you sad because of your brother? Are you stressed because of work? Writing – especially while you’re eating – can help you identify and deal with your feelings.

4. Let go of “quick weight loss” advertisements. “What we are after is the permanent shift in lifestyle, not the quick fix of an extreme diet,” says Cameron. “If we lower our consumption by 250 calories a day and raise our exercise by 250 calories a day, that’s a moderate shift that results in a pound’s loss weekly.” A pound a week may seem slow – it can lead to permanent weight loss.

5. Know your trigger foods. Do you love fat, salt, sugar, crunchy, soft, bitter, or warm? Some foods trigger an eating binge. Knowing what to avoid or control can lead to greater weight loss and increased self-confidence.

6. Live one day at a time. It’s not a sexy, glamorous way to lose ten pounds – but it works. Take one meal, one afternoon, one day at a time. Eat well for today. Exercise for today. Sweat a little and move your body – just for today.

7. Scale back on the scale. “Freed from the tyranny of numbers, we begin instead to focus on ourselves and our own perceptions,” says Cameron in The Writing Diet. “When we release ourselves from the daily use of the scale, we find ourselves able to embrace a more “easy does it” approach to weight loss. We begin to see that as long as we are moving in the right direction, the speed at which we reach our destination matters less.” One way to lose weight ten pounds is to let go of your obsession with the scale.

8. Drink 3 glasses of water to overcome temptation. When you’re tempted to tear into that bag of Lay’s or Oreo chocolate chip cookies, drink three glasses of water first. Don’t deny yourself the potato chips or cookies; just drink the water first. You may wash away the craving…this is my favorite way to lose ten pounds! Water fills you up and make you less likely to eat “bad” foods.

9. Look at your diet relapses. “For many of us, a diet is an exercise in futility and self-flagellation,” writes Cameron in The Writing Diet. “We set a plan in motion and then we sabotage it. We take a step toward our goal and then we relapse. We undo the good we’ve done.” Figure out why you sabotage your weight loss efforts. Do you relapse at night? What are you favorite relapse foods? Who are you with? Effective weight loss motivation involves canceling out your relapse with hobbies, exercise, writing, and self-awareness.

10. Learn to let yourself be pretty. “Many of us have to get over a “martyred” mode of dressing. Overweight and oversize, we tend to think of ourselves ad draft horses – good workers but little else,” writes Cameron. “It is a shock to find that we are still sexually appealing. Not all men are attracted to skinny women.” Wear lacy undies, and discard your “low self-worth” undies. That will create an upward spiral that’ll make it easy for you to lose that last ten pounds – and keep it off!

Do you have any thoughts or questions about these ten ways to lose ten pounds? Please comment below…

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Beck says that appreciation and gratitude increases your motivation to lose weight and stay slim. Why? Because when you’re happy, you don’t do as much “comfort eating.” You don’t feel anxious or depressed – which both often trigger overeating. Plus, the stress hormone (cortisol) that accompanies anxiety encourages your body to hang on to fat.

That’s why many women lose weight when they fall in love!

To learn more about Martha Beck’s theories and research, click on The Four Day Win: End Your Diet and Achieve Thinner Peace. And, read on for her ways to increase your weight loss motivation…

6 Ways to Increase Your Weight Loss Motivation - Martha Beck

Remember: you need to find what works with your personality. Exercising in a group Pilates class may work for your sister – but walking on your own may be better for you. You need to tune in to your own likes and dislikes.

1. Use exercise as your “me” time. Combining solitude and sweat is what works best for me! I run and do Pilates at home alone – rarely do I work out with others – to let my mind wander, my creativity flourish, and my energy increase. If I had to go to the gym or yoga class, I…just wouldn’t! If you’re struggling with an illness, read Coping With Chronic Illness – Natalie Goldberg.

2. Get the right equipment. Maybe the best way for you to increase your weight loss motivation is to stock up on the exercise balls, spinning outfits, Pilates mats, and Yoga gear. Or, maybe you need to join a running group – and all you need is a good pair of running shoes. To figure out your exercise personality, look in your closet or basement: how many old pieces of exercise equipment or fitness clothes do you see? If it didn’t work before, it may not work now. Try something new!

3. Join an outdoor club. I was single when I lived in Calgary, Alberta – and I joined the Calgary Outdoor Club and was thrilled at what they offered! Hiking, ethnic dinners, movie nights, white water rafting, trips to Mexico – all for singles who wanted to do exciting things but didn’t want to do it alone. This was perfect motivation for me. I chose physical activities that challenged me, and I lost weight because my body was being stretched in new ways (sometimes literally!).

4. Try new physical activities. If you’ve always been intrigued at the thought of belly dancing or rock climbing, then grab a buddy and try it out. The more new workouts you try – even if you’re not spectactularly successful – the higher your self-confidence will climb, the better you’ll feel about your body….and the more you’ll be motivated to lose weight.

5. Join a team. This way to increase your weight loss motivation works if you love the comaraderie that accompanies soccer teams, softball teams, or walking groups. Knowing that your teammates or fellow exercisers are waiting for you could be all you need to get and stay fit.

6. Work with a personal trainer. Some people need the discipline and structure of a personal fitness trainer. If you can’t afford it, talk to a trainer about bartering. Can you offer a service that she needs, such as doing her accounting, babysitting her kids, or cleaning her house? A personal trainer may motivate you to stick to your weight loss goals – and not cost an arm and a leg!

For more weight loss tips, read 10 Ways to Lose 10 Pounds – Julia Cameron.

Friends, what works for you to increase your weight loss motivation? I welcome your comments and questions below…

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