Fat is Only a Feeling

Have you ever thought, "I feel fat"? I am sure as a woman you have at least 100x/week. But fat is only a feeling. Are you really fat? Probably not, you may just be having guilt feeling about eating some chips or doggin' it through your last workout. It comes down to your mindset, how do you see yourself. People are harder on themselves because we are naturally self-absorbed. Believe me others are not criticizing you for skipping yesterdays workout- they don't even know and they are too busy worrying about themselves. Ok, so we have that cleared up, no one else is critiquing you. But what about you, why are you hard on yourself? Ask yourself these questions and answer them truthfully, everyone's answer is going to be different and I would love to hear them. If you are overweight, you have come to the right site for help and support too.
Myself, I will answer this question for you right now. I feel fat when I eat a poor breakfast like junky cereal, this sets me up for the day. I also feel fat according to my monthly cycle, that I feel I cannot control how my hormones affect my mind. I can honestly (and my clients will attest to this) say I don't think I feel the same degree of social pressures as other women I know regarding my body image. I am female and I do have them, but I know that part of my attraction of being a successful personal trainer is because of my positive self image. So where did this come from, we all read the same magazines and watch the same tv.

I don't have a six pack, but I am strong and happy with my body. I will post videos when I am feeling fat and bloated, like the kettle bell video, because I know all people have these days, that's life. I could diet for photo shoots if I wanted to, but I won't that's not real life. I was going to, but decided personally against it. I train for overall health.

I can attribute my positive self image to being an athlete. Yes that is right, I always trained for performance not for looking good but for actually being good at something. I played soccer, basketball and volleyball all at a highly competitive level. My sport of choice that I continued playing on the varsity team was volleyball, and I can attest it was my worst sport as well. I was good enough to play varsity, but it was my biggest athletic challenge and I took it on. If I can play at this level in my worst sport I can do anything. I had to get better and that is when I started training, just to be competitive with the other athletes. This is how I got involved in working out, I loved it. I never started to lose fat, I just wanted to jump higher and be faster. The thing is it worked for both, I became a better athlete, I had a leaner body and my self image sky rocketed.

What Every Mom Can Learn From A Man-you may not thought this possible

I had an interesting conversation with one of my male clients who is an ex professional athlete. Dealing with men, they do not hold back, he out right said I am fat, I need to lose 25 lb. He has a young family and is extremely busy. He is honest with himself about his health and how he feels. He told me point blank " I am fat, I am embarrassed of my fitness level and I want to feel like and athlete again". That was it, a light bulb went on for me "FEEL LIKE AN ATHLETE" and your body will follow. I am expecting tremendous results from this man because he is honest with himself and does not hide his feelings about his body image from me.

Be honest with yourself. Remember fat is only a feeling, self body image is what is important. Training like an athlete will get you there. But I'm a mom, not an athlete and never have been. That does not matter, you are training for performance, yes how you pick up, hold and carry you children, this is your sport. This is my sport now, and I need my training to perform as a mom at a top level and be energized and pain free managing my kids. Train for you health, without your health you have a lot to lose- increase your quality of life with your family.

Make this a priority, THINK LIKE AN ATHLETE and MOTHERHOOD is your SPORT. Positive body image will follow and you soon the body you desire and deserve will follow. I know all of this is easier said than done and keep visiting this week as we talk about reasons for exercising and changing your mindset.

REAL MOMS, REAL RESULTS

So I have gotten some questions and feedback about the "FREE MOTHERS DAY" busy mom fitness program that many of you are following right now. Please read this email I received and I will methodically answer this moms questions regarding the "FREE MOTHERS DAY" busy mom fitness program. Please send in comments and questions, I will answer each of you individually, and chances are if you have a question about something another mom is thinking it as well. Help our growing community.

Denise writes:

Overall, the whole week was great. The descriptions with pictures were good.........there's really only one exercise that I'm not sure I'm doing right (the waiter's bow....how would I know if I was doing it correctly? How is it supposed to feel? After doing day 1 twice, I'm still not sure how it's supposed to feel) Other than that, everything else was clear.

Day 1 is probably the easiest day for me. I even did 3 reps instead of 2 this week because I just felt like I could. So either my muscles are starting to remember that I used to be strong, or I'm seeing results after one week already.

Day 2 I felt the best after. I like doing the 6 exercises without a rest, it really gets your heart pumping and works up a sweat. It's my favourite day.

I found day 3 and 4 the most challenging. I think that my stability ball might be the wrong size for me (how do you know what size is good? Does it go by height?) so maybe that's why I feel like this is harder. But even though I find these days the hardest, it feels like a real accomplishment when I finish.

I hope your kids are feeling better today.

ONE MORE THING
I forgot to say this in my last email, but I thought you would find it funny. Last week I couldn't find my step that I have to use for the steps ups in day 2 so I used what was handy.....Leah's potty! She has a potty that has a lid that flips down to make a stool for her to stand on. Only a mom would understand!

Wow Denise, great questions/comments. This is a mother with 2 young children at home who is taking action, with what ever she finds around the house. Keep it up.

The Waiters Bow- this is a traditional Romanian Deadlift exercise, the name has been momified as many people are not familiar with barbell training terms. Description of exercise- bend at your knees slightly and hinge forward at your hip joint while bracing your abdominals. You want to think of pushing your butt back as you bend forward until you feel a small stretch in your hamstrings (back of legs). Keep you collar bone high and do not round your upper back, slightly squeeze your shoulder blades together to prevent this. You should only have to bend to about 90 degrees to get a stretch in you hamstrings, remember to push back through your heels and into your buttocks this will help. When you feel the stretch extend at your hip joint fully, squeeze your buttocks at the top of the motion to ensure full hip extension.(rising out of your lift to standing)

The Waiters Bow exercise- you should feel a small stretch in your hamstrings. It is a strengthening exercise mainly for your hamstrings, then gluts and entire posterior chain. This motion is key for many mom fat burning exercises such as the front chop, weighted deadlift, 1 legged reach. Please master this motion.

Denise as for your comment on muscle memory or results, this early in the game it is most likely muscle memory. You will feel results after about 2 weeks, and see results after about 6-8 weeks. You may go through a period of adjustment after about 6-10 weeks somewhere in there when you feel tired, this is normal and persevere. If it lasts more than 1 week you may just be exhausted, but you should snap out of it as your body is changing.

Day 2 was Denise's favourite and I will tell you why. This is a circuit day that gets your heart pumping. Women are built for cardio success, we have the ability to adapt to cardiovascular training quicker than men do because we do not have as much muscle tissue to pump blood to, also most women have probably done a tonne of cardio work before as well. You are always drawn to what you are most successful at. Onto the next point, Day 3 and 4 were difficult. One of these days is a stability day and moms abdominals have been compromised during pregnancy- time to get them back into shape with some hard work. The other one of these days is a strength day, women have to work extremely hard to build lean muscle tissue and are most likely not used to this type of training. Key points here- you need to do what you are not successful at. If you only have 3 days to commit to working out, pick the 3 hardest days for you personally from the program, don't just do your favourites.

Stability ball size. The majority of women are between 5"2-5"6 so you can use a 55cm ball, There is a guide on the side of the box. I use a 65cm ball as I am 5"8 and mostly legs. A great test is sit on your ball and your hip and knee joints should bend 90 degrees each. This being said the exercises in this program are not specific for any size ball, you can get away with using the standard 55 or 65 cm ball for these exercises. Inflation will obviously make the ball bigger and they can take a lot. If the ball is slightly deflated some on the exercises will be more challenging as this will provide more resistance.

I hope this response has helped Denise and any other mothers with questions.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline

MOM WORKOUT- Immediate Stress Relief

So I keep getting Happy Mothers Day greetings days after the event. Obviously my daughter had been groomed to say this continually until the day fit.

Exciting things are happening in our house, well for the kids. We have a birds nest on our windowsill. The momma had layed 3 eggs that hatched today. We have three baby birds, a mother and a father that is always around bringing food to the nest as well. Kasia is over the moon, she checks on the birdies every 5 minutes, and I must admit I love it too. We are sharing time learning about the birds and just "watching" them.

Busy Mom Fitness
I completed a 2 circuit Tabata workout today again without a single crunch. My workout was very short, maybe a bit too short but I was feeling congestion in my chest and having no husband help this week I decided this was enough for me. I still felt the need to workout as a form of stress relief and craved that sense of accomplishment for myself. I bet if I didn't workout most days I would skim through life never completing anything for myself in the day. You can still pick up your free mothers day program at the bottom of the Tabata post

I made a great homemade pasta sauce yesterday during my prep day as organic cherry tomatoes were on sale this week. The girls love pasta, it's an easy meal for all of us.

MOTHERS DAY - FREE 4 WEEK BUSY MOM FAT LOSS PROGRAM

Mothers day is fast approaching and I wanted to prepare a gift for all of you mothers. I have created a free BUSY MOM FAT LOSS Fitness program just for you. The program is 4 weeks long with 4 workouts per week. Workout charts and exercise photos and descriptions are all in there. Each workout should take approximately 20 minutes including warm up and stretching.

The 4 different workouts I use are segmented into STRENGTH, CIRCUTS, STABILITY BALL/CORE and METABOLIC exercise. You can complete them anywhere with minimal equipment.

All mothers should feel great on Mothers Day, so enjoy this gift and reclaim your body with these fun, exhilarating workouts.

So sign up on the form below to collect this mothers day bonus.



Please note this program is different from the free early post partum and beginner fat loss program I give away at the side of the blog. So here you go mom, you deserve another free gift.