On the show today you will learn how to lose weight BEFORE Thanksgiving and how to keep it off during Eating Season 2011. I’ll share with you 10 tips to help you lose fat during this 30 Days of Fat Loss and 5 tips to help you maintain until the end of the year when everyone is pushing food your way and trying to sabotage your efforts.

Each week you will learn how to be more fit next week. Tune in to listen to tips, tricks and strategies to help you get on and stay on the FitTrak.

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Wellness means feeling good about yourself, confident in what you are doing and comfortable in your space while presenting a healthy air about yourself. Carrying around extra weight can lead you to feel just the opposite of the feelings listed above. Although I have not been able to pinpoint one, inexplicable meaning of wellness, when you hear the word, you get a sense of its meaning and whether or not it fits on you.

Achieving your weight loss goals can help you to move closer to a state of well-being and in turn help you to achieve a great sense of wellness. It’s kind of a catch-all term right now, everyone seems to use it when they are describing their programs but no one, it seems, can really pinpoint a definition.

I suppose that’s because wellness is more of a feeling, a state that you achieve. Losing weight and getting closer to your goal weight and a better level of health helps you to in turn achieve a greater sense of wellness. Some will argue that you can still be healthy and be overweight. My opinion is that you are only healthy until your system begins to rebel against the extra weight you are carrying around, then you begin to realize that something must be done.

Now I know that everyone isn’t a size 3 or even a 6 and no one has a perfect body fat percentage or body mass index. However, I do honestly believe that you can carry too much weight for your system to handle, that’s when problems set in.

I totally agree with self-acceptance and learning to love your body with all its flaws, Lord knows I have my own, but everything and everyone has a limit. My job is not to tell you where your limit is but to help you achieve optimum health and wellness to a point where you are truly comfortable and all your systems are as normal as possible. Since every person is unique, everybody has a different optimum functioning level. So it’s really all experimentation; you and me working together to find out what works for you. I can’t tell you when, but you will know. After all, it’s your body.

In conclusion, losing weight and accomplishing your goal makes you feel empowered because you did what you set out to do. Now you feel like you can do anything. You feel successful. Feeling successful and empowered leads you to do more to help yourself achieve and maintain optimum wellness.

This article is part of Optimum Body Sculpting’s “Wellness, Weight loss and Fitness” series. Check out the other articles in this series:
How to Get Fit and Stay that Way

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We’ve all heard of the ‘Fat Burning Zone’, but what exactly is that?  Exercising in the Fat Burning Zone refers to the concept that if you exercise at a moderate intensity with a lower heart rate and at a slower pace you’ll burn more fat calories. Sounds great … but when it is all said and done it is just Not True! Let me explain why with this example. Two ladies’ both weigh 130 pounds and both are exercising for 30 minutes on a treadmill. The first lady is working at an exercise intensity of 60%, in the 30:00, she will burn 146 calories, half or 76 calories are from fat. The second lady is working at an exercise intensity of 80%, in the 30 minutes she will burn 206 calories, and 82 are from fat! As you can see the second lady burned a little more fat calories, but the total overall calories burned was a much larger number. Remember 1 pound equals 3,500 calories, if you eliminate 3,500 calories either with diet or exercise you will lose 1 pound.  For the average person the bottom line in weight loss is the number of calories burned or eliminated not the source that they come from.

That leaves us with the questions “How hard should I be working out?” And “How do I figure that out?” There are many scientific ways to determine your exercise intensity including; VO2 max and Oxygen Consumption, Age Predicted Maximal Heart Rate or Metabolic Equivalents (METS) but the easiest way is to use the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale. It is a simple 1 to 10 scale; where 1 requires no effort and 10 means you could not possibly do another repetition. The thing I like most about the RPE Scale is that you are listening to your body. Next time you are on the treadmill up the speed each minute until you get to a 9 /10 on the RPE scale then you will know how to judge how hard your exercising by listening to your body. The RPE Scale works for cardio and strength training fitness exercising.

Follow the below RPE guidelines and listen to your body when you workout.  No equipment necessary!

RPE 1-2      Very easy – you can converse w/ no effort
RPE 3         Easy – you can converse w/ almost no effort
RPE 4         Moderately easy – you can converse comfortably
RPE 5         Moderate – conversation requires some effort
RPE 6         Moderately hard – conversation requires a lot of effort
RPE 7         Difficult – conversation is challenging
RPE 8         Very difficult – conversation is very difficult
RPE 9-10    Maximum effort – basically no talking

For the best possible fitness results – forget exercising in the Fat Burning Zone and work as hard as you can!

Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy!  ~ Tanya

Workout for a Fitter, Healthier You, it’s easy @ tanyastroh.com

Tanya Stroh, B.S., NSCA, ACE

Tanya is the founder and creator of Tanya Stroh Training Solutions, an on-line, fitness and personal training website, featuring uniquely, individualized workouts and the proprietary software technology, TS Trax. Tanya’s philosophy has always been that exercise along with a healthy diet & lifestyle produce the best results. Tanya’s clients, ranging in age from 12 to over 70 years old, have successfully improved and achieved their health and fitness goals because of her highly individualized approach to fitness. And now with Tanya Stroh Training Solutions so can YOU!

Tanya has dual national certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American Council on Exercise (ACE). She also holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Education/Physical Education from West Chester University.

As a contributing writer, Tanya is the fitness expert for the “Chester County Women’s Journal” and has provided fitness articles to Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong.com. She is a regularly featured fitness guest on the radio show “Mission Nutrition” which airs live and on-line. With her passion for fitness, Tanya has also spoken at numerous charity events including; cruiser weight boxer champion, Steve Cunningham’s Kids Camp.

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Dr. Oz is back in full force for his new season. I usually don’t watch a lot of daytime shows, but when I see something pertaining to weight loss or fitness, I’m all ears and eyes.

Prior to the airing of this episode, Dr. Oz conducted a poll on his website asking women to choose their biggest hurdle to overcome when trying to lose weight. He took the top three hurdles and discussed them on his show. I’m revealing them to you here and adding a little extra advice on top of it.

#3: Eating Out

Food is all around. Eating is one of the hardest parts of your weight loss journey to regulate because it’s a necessity. You really do need to eat. And because of your hectic lifestyle, a lot of the eating is done at restaurants.

Dr. Oz recommends visiting the websites of the restaurants that you plan to patronize and research their menu. That way, you will know exactly what you can order to help you stay on track with your weight loss plan. He also says not to take home a “doggy bag” because you will most likely eat it right away. But I say, go ahead and get a “doggy bag,” just don’t eat it when you get home, save it for lunch the next day.

One more suggestion is to order an appetizer and a salad or a couple veggies and make a meal out of that instead of ordering a regular-sized entrée. In addition, be the first to order, that way you aren’t tempted by what everyone else is ordering and you can relax, knowing that your diet is safe.

#2: Your Busy Schedule

Let’s face it, everyone is busy these days. In fact, if you meet someone that doesn’t have a lot going on in their life, you may think to yourself “What’s really going on with them??” So it’s no surprise that your schedule can get in the way of your weight loss program, if you allow it to.

Dr. Oz says to create an exercise box where you take index cards and write a different exercise on each card and drop them in the box. Each morning you reach into the box and choose one exercise and do it for fifteen minutes. It’s that easy and you can color it done for the day!

I’m going to throw in a little twist, instead of just writing down a single exercise, write “visit optimumbody” and get a whole workout. There are several videos that you can choose from on the site. Each video lasts 30 minutes, so now you’ve actually completed an entire workout for the day. You are well on your way to success!

Finally, the #1 hurdle, Loss of Motivation:

That’s a tough one! You are so motivated and raring to go, in the beginning, but as time goes on and you really start to get into the process, it becomes harder and harder to keep yourself motivated to keep going.

I love Dr. Oz’s solution: Treat it like an event

I always tell my clients to choose an event like a run or walk or some other type of physical event as a goal to work towards to help them stay motivated. But this idea of throwing a big party for yourself to celebrate your accomplishment is ideal! So set the date (12 weeks from now works well) and send out the invitations! Now that you’ve announced your goal celebration to the world, you’ll be less likely to lose steam before you actually reach your goal.

Use these solutions to the three biggest weight loss hurdles to help you make your weight loss journey a success.

Let me know what strategies you use to help you stay on track.

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Week #11 in our 12 Weeks of Fitness Series: It’s All About Your Blood Pressure: High Blood Pressure is a leading risk factor for stroke, but it also is a key factor in several other health conditions. Are you at risk? Maybe you have it and don’t even know it. Find out all about High Blood Pressure, what it is and why you should be concerned on this week’s show.

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Raven-Symone, former child star on “The Cosby Show” and now all grown-up star of “The Great State of Georgia” which airs Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30 c starting June 29th on ABC Family, reported that she “stopped stressing,” Raven says of how she began to slim down. As reported by JuSt iNk on their blog yesterday.

Stress can cause weight gain:

Regardless of the reason, stress is a way of life in the 21st century. And for some people, the effects go beyond feelings of anxiety and discomfort. For these people, stress can mean facing each day ravenously hungry — and adding weight gain to their list of worries. Read more>>

So What’s the Connection between Stress and Weight Loss?

Is there a connection between stress and weight loss? According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, it’s easier to lose weight if you have less stress in your life. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this, but it helps drive home the point. Of course, no one likes stress, so this just gives you an additional reason to control it. On a related note, the study also indicated that people who sleep at least 6 hours per night can more easily lose weight. Read more>>

Cortisol and Stress

Cortisol is elevated in response to stress. The adrenal glands are not particular, any kind of stress will do. The stress can be physical, environmental, chemical or imaginary. The human brain is hard wired with automatic responses to protect the body from harm. The classic work on stress was done by Dr. Hans Selye, M.D. He studied the physiological consequences of stress in rats and transferred that research data into a human model. Read More>>

Here are three stress-free ways to kick  weight loss in the butt!

1. Focus on gradual loss. I mentioned this above, but it’s important. Too many people focus on trying to lose weight fast — 10 pounds in 4 weeks, 20 pounds in 2 months, etc. It’s not healthy, and it doesn’t work, because even if you are able to lose that much weight that fast, you haven’t learned sustainable eating habits that will last you a lifetime. The key is to figure out an eating pattern than will work for you for the rest of your life. Again, if you focus on losing 1-2 pounds per week, you will lose between 50-100 pounds per year. You just have to be willing to wait a year, but trust me, a year goes by pretty fast these days (I think it’s inflation or something).

2. Focus on nutrition. Exercise is important. You have to do it. It has wonderful benefits. But if your focus is on weight loss, the most important factor is what you eat. Don’t ignore exercise, by any means, but if you focus on exercise and think you can eat whatever you want, you’re wrong. You have to focus on nutrition (what you eat) and use exercise as a way to supplement the calorie burn and to get your body looking how you want it to look (not to mention as a key way to get healthy and feel great).

The reason: you can change how many calories you take in to a much greater degree than you can change how many calories you burn. Thirty minutes of exercise, for example, can burn less than a medium McDonald’s fries. Lose the fries, and you’ve done in a few seconds what would take 30 minutes of exercise to accomplish.

3. Become aware of your hunger. This is one of the key things I’ve been learning. Many times we are not conscious of how hungry we are. We ignore our bodies because we’re too busy thinking about other things. As a result, we only eat when we’re famished, and that’s not a good time to eat, because you don’t make healthy eating decisions when you’re super hungry. Your blood-sugar level is too low, and your body just wants a quick sugar fix — a donut or some cookies or white bread or a Coke will be much more appealing than a salad or healthy sandwich on whole grain bread.

Learn to listen to your body, and be aware of your hunger when it’s in its early stages. This is a key skill to weight loss, something the other plans don’t tell you about. They tell you what to eat and when, but don’t teach you how to use your body’s signals to learn to eat healthier. Read the other 9 stress-free ways to kick  weight loss in the butt!

Motivated to get more organized and keep your life saner and less stressed? Get your copy of Zen To Done: The Simple Productivity E-Book!

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