Awesome

Marnie was in one of my previous posts about how deceptive it can be to just count on the scale to determine success or failure.  She blew that myth out of the water.  You can read over that blog post here

She had a great journey with MFC and I was excited to be a part of it.  Overall Marnie dropped about 15lbs but lost 20 inches.  The biggest measurement change was around her navel-she dropped 4 1/2 inches!

One of Marnie’s goals was to have a photoshoot at the end of all of this and I can’t WAIT to see the results.  Here is a link to her wonderful testimonial

I am going to brag a bit about a client of mine– Brenda.  She came to me talking about wanting to get lean and I just had to laugh when she sent me her starting pictures.  My first reaction was–um–you are lean LOL.  She just couldn’t see what I saw.  I knew this girl was going for that NEXT STEP.  Getting to a place where she would see abs popping and striations in her shoulders.  So off we went.  Brenda is one of those clients that inspires you to get your butt in gear!  Her biweeklies would come in and I would be like–CRAP, I have to get my diet in gear LOL.  I am very proud of how well she did.  She will be trying to gain some size in her legs in the fall but is going to enjoy this great body over the summer months.  Check out her Testimonial HERE .

As you can see brenda got her abs to show!!!

Here are some great shots – the veins show how lean she is!:

Great Job Brenda!!

I hate to say it but I am so sick of hearing women complain about how they don’t want to lift because they don’t want to get big and bulky or look like a man.  Seriously when is this stigma of lifting weights and turning into some huge female body builder going to end? Not to mention all of the benefits that women get from resistance training!  I want to post an article that was written by Charles Poliquin that shows the health benefits of women lifting!  Here is a link to his blog as well.

Why Women Should Not Be Afraid of Gaining Muscle

by Charles Poliquin

Increasing your muscle mass and bone mass has a myriad of health benefits.

Here is what you should know before you frown upon on gaining a few kilos of muscle mass:

1. The more muscle and bone mass you have, the greater the acid buffering power you create. That is, you now have more protein, potassium, magnesium and calcium to buffer the acidity in your body. The more alkaline you are:

• the greater the endurance potential of the body
• the greater your immune power is, the better your chances at surviving cancer or the swine flu

2. According to Tufts University, the greater your muscle mass the greater the longevity potential. It is, in fact, the number one biomarker of longevity. It is a far better predictor of longevity than total cholesterol or blood pressure.

3. The more muscle you have, the more insulin receptor sites you have, and the more sensitive they will be. Increased muscle prevents diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Translation: the more muscle you have, the easier it is to have low body fat.

4. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. It is estimated that for every pound of muscle you gain you burn an extra 50 calories a day.

5. The more muscle you have, the more strength you have. This, according to the same researchers at Tufts University, is the number two predictor of longevity. For women, strength is empowering.

6. In my thirty years of experience as a strength coach, for every kilo of lean tissue gained, there was an equal loss of weight in body fat. In other words, the body composition changed dramatically. For example, a female executive with a 60 kg bodyweight with 20 % body fat has 12 kg of fat. If, in 10 weeks, she gains 4 kg of muscle mass and loses 4 kg of fat, her body fat will now be 13%. With these body composition changes, not only will she feel more empowered, but her body will look fantastic!

Would you call her bulky??  NO

I have the privilege of working with many different types of people.  I have women looking to get back their pre-pregnancy bodies, competitors, triathletes, bodybuilders, pro volleyball players, and some that are just looking to completely change the way they eat and look at food.  This to me is the exciting part about my job–variety.  Everyone’s goals seem so individual.  One of my clients that I have now is a mother of 3 very young children and has just not made any time for HERSELF (wow, that sounds familiar!).  She was definitely ready to make a change when she hired me.  One of her main goals was to take off some of the pregnancy weight WITHOUT jeopardizing her milk supply.  I am so excited at how far she has come and not just with her body but mentally too.  She is a very positive poster on my board and encourages so many other people there.    She is still working toward her ultimate goal but just look at how far she has come:

She has written a wonderful testimonial HERE about her goals and her journey so far.  Thanks again Jackie for letting me be a part of this process!

Ok, so I promise this will be my last blog for a bit about kid’s nutrition.  I have been on quite a rant since coming home from disney!

I don’t think we realize as parents exactly how bad the “kids meal” at our favorite restaurants has gotten!

This info came from Men’s Health.

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE:

Outback Steakhouse Kookaburra Chicken Fingers meal with Aussie Fries

1,030 calories
60 g fat (21 g saturated)
2,052 mg sodium

Fat equivalent: 12 Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts!

OLIVE GARDEN

Olive Garden Fettuccini Alfredo meal

800 calories
48 g fat (30 g saturated)
810 mg sodium

Saturated fat equivalent: 1.5 full jars of Nutella!

APPLEBEE’S

Applebee’s Grilled Cheese with French fries

1,020 calories
54 g fat (17 g saturated)
2,170 mg sodium

Calorie equivalent: 400 Cheddar Goldfish Crackers. (That’s 1.3 full bags!)

Here’s the crazy part: You can make a grilled cheese sandwich in your own house — using real cheese and toasting it with real butter — and still manage to slide in at about 300 calories. This one has 620 calories, and the fries account for the extra 400

DENNY’S

Denny’s Slap Shot Sliders (2) meal with Finish Line Fries

1070 calories
53 g fat (16 g saturated, 2 g trans)
1180 mg sodium

Calorie equivalent: 505 Jujubes (That’s just over 2 full boxes!)

FRIENDLY’S (I don’t know this place)

Friendly’s Mac & Cheese Quesadilla meal with Friendly Frank, Shirley Temple and Friend-z Peanut Butter Cup

2,270 calories
109 g fat (45 g saturated)
3,320 sodium

Calorie equivalent: 45.5 Glazed Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts!

Friendly? Ha! This restaurant deserves the Phoniest Name of the Decade Award. This meal has an entire day’s worth of calories for a full-grown adult.

This made me stop and think about what I am ordering them when I go out…how about you?

I got this from one of the blogs i read http://www.stumptuous.com

I was reading one of the several blogs that I keep up with and came across a post that really bothered me.  It was written by Mark Young and discussed what is in the things that we are feeding our kids.  So let me ask you–What do you think this is?

Quoted from Mark “After the primary cuts of meat are taken from the chicken the carcass is passed through a high pressure sieve to recover the lovely substance you see above.  This is what is often used to make chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and pressed into those little blocks behind the deli counter from which we slice off cold cuts for our kids.  Basically, your kids are eating lips and assholes.  Still think this is a good idea doc?”

I don’t know about you but that makes my stomach turn!!!!!!  I think he makes a very great point when he talks about how parents reasoning is – well they just won’t eat anything else.  I am a parent of three girls, and 2 of them are soooooooo picky that it drives me nuts but in the end it is my decision as a parent what I place in front of them as an option to eat.  And even if they have to go to bed hungry-they will not be eating that crap.  I really agree with Mark when he says that we shouldn’t allow a 3 year old to dictate what we buy for them to eat.  I mean really, what kid isn’t going to pick fries and doughnuts if allowed to eat them all the time.

Another gem pulled from Mark’s blog- the 37 ingredients that go into making a Twinkie.

Really?

Parenting carries a huge responsibility and I think we take this issue too lightly.  Ok..enough ranting

Yes it is had been a while since I blogged but at least this time it is for good reason.  I actually went on vacation!  Our family hasn’t been on one in quite a while so this was a big deal.  We went to Disney.  Now I am still not sure how much of a vacation this was because I came home exhausted, but I will say that seeing my girls’ faces light up with excitement each day was the best!  This was everyone’s first experience there including Scott.  Jamison (my baby) was finally tall enough to ride everything so we headed out for 7 days.

Disney was definitely an “experience”.  We hit Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Typhoon Lagoon.  We opt’d out of Universal only because we want to go back when the lines die down for the new Harry Potter there.  I really couldn’t have asked for better kids-it was HOT and the lines were definitely long but they were in great spirits the entire week.  I was definitely a proud mom.  We even got to meet up with Dan and Cara for a day at Magic Kingdom!  Here is a pic of my girl on her first rollercoaster!

Can you see the excitement!!

There were definitely things that I notice while being there though that made me incredibly sad.  I can honestly say that being fit left me as the odd man out.  Even the children were bordering on obese.  It is one thing for an adult to be that way but it is something totally different to see a 5 year old walking around a good 30lbs too heavy.

Scott and I packed a cooler and a backpack each day before heading out.  In the backpack were TONS of bottles of water and then some snacks.  I think by 2 pm at Magic Kingdom we had blown through 11 bottles (HOT).  And it wasn’t until Dan and Cara commented on something that I even noticed:  The girls never once asked for anything from the shops or food vendors.  And as most of you know-ice cream, funnel cakes, candy and tons of other things are EVERYWHERE.  Dan even ask the girls several times about getting ice cream and it wasn’t until late that afternoon that we finally got some.  It really made me smile.

I also found it interesting that Riley commented on some things  having to do with nutrition.  One of them was when we were on the Ferry Riding over to MAgic Kingdom.  I thought she was going to have a fit because she saw a mom putting Fanta Orange Soda into her babies bottle.!  She also made a comment about why others didn’t bring their food into the park.

Anyway, a great time was had by all!  This leads into my blog for tomorrow which will be a little bit more of a rant about kids and nutrition!

Before getting on TOWER OF TERROR!! LOL

One of the questions that I get a lot is “Do I have to be in a gym to work with you?” NO!  Depending on what home equipment you have available, I can definitely make your workouts around YOUR gym.  I just finished working with one client just like this an it was a big success.  Read her testimonial HERE

One of the other big changes that Melanie made was just knowing that she was still going to be going out to eat with friends and figured out a way to work her new nutritional requirements into HER life.  Definitely a lot of changes and she did a great job!  Thanks Melanie!