Just One Thing

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I tend to be an “all or nothing” kind of guy. Either I do something flat out, 100%, no quarter given, or I don’t do it at all.

While that might sound like a positive, often times in my own life I find that if just one little thing knocks me off track – it’s not perfect – I can get aggravated and just throw in the towel.

Even worse, if everything isn’t perfect, if I don’t have all my ducks lined up in a row right from the start, whatever I am working on may never get off the ground!

And that’s one of the reasons that I hired a coach, in my case a business coach. Nancy and I meet regularly with her in order to keep the business headed in the right direction. She helps us see what is working, map out future projects, create action steps for those projects, and then keeps us accountable to those action steps. Nancy and I are also both in separate “Mastermind Groups”, and we are each responsible every Friday to give an accounting of our week and what we accomplished.

So why am I telling you all this?

Because based on my experience with hundreds of clients, there are a lot of you that are a lot like me.

Mulling over in your head all the reason’s why you can’t, which in turn paralyzes you into taking any action at all.

In the arena of diet and nutrition I see this all the time, and my goal is to help you break out of that cycle. We can talk all day long about what your ideal nutrition plan might look like, but then a dangerous thing happens – you start thinking about it, and your mind begins creating all these scenarios and “what if’s” of why it can’t or won’t work.

Here’s what I want you to do to break out of that cycle.

Just.One.Thing

I don’t want you to worry doing everything right – right now.

Choose just one thing you can do every day and build off that.

  • Not eating breakfast? Eat breakfast every day for a week. I don’t even care what, just eat something.
  • Vegetables never pass your lips? Add them to just one meal every day for a week.
  • Skipping Meals? Make sure you get in three every day for just one week.

Then build off that success. It might look like this:

  • Add a protein to your breakfast (eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese) every day for a week.
  • Eat vegetable at two meals, every day for a week.
  • Leave the starchy foods off the last of your three meals of the day, every day for a week.

Follow that pattern consistently, and pretty soon you have made a significant change into both your habits and how you look and feel!

For most of us however there is another critical part of the equation. I mean, who’s gonna know if I do those things or not? Makes it kinda easy to slide…not good.

Accountability

It’s a word that grates on many of us, but in reality we never outgrow the need for it.

Our bootcamp training is built around the concept of accountability to yourself, to your coaches, and to your training partners. When you aren’t here, you are missed and we let you know about it! :)

As your coaches, we understand that some of you want more accountability in the area of nutrition and body composition as well. As your coaches we want to help those of you who want more education and accountability.

I asked Coach Erin to come up with some concepts of what such a program would look like, and she did a fantastic job of outlining what we are now refining and will be rolling out to you in the coming weeks. I am confident you will be thrilled with what’s coming down the pike!

But that doesn’t mean you should wait around and do nothing!

Here’s a summary of what I have learned from my coaches that applies to you too…

  • Don’t wait for perfection to get started
  • Don’t expect everything to go perfectly once you have started
  • Don’t try to do everything at once
  • Be Accountable

So let’s hear it. In the comment box below tell me Just One Thing you are going to start doing today.

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean

Client Goal Assessment Breakdown – It’s All Here

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Wanted to share with you a fantastic goal assessment worksheet from one our our Get Fit NH Bootcamp “Supahstahs” (Your second goal sheet for S3 is due Friday the 22nd – make it happen!)

It includes an evaluation of her last 4 weeks and sets new goals for the next 4 week period. It is honest, thorough and specific, which are all keys to both setting and reaching your goals.

I have edited for length and content, to protect the not so innocent :)   There is a lot of great stuff in here – read and then take action!

***

Did I reach my specific goal for this period? What are the reasons I did or did not reach my goal? What did I learn this month?

I did not lose 8 pounds this month, but I did lose weight and bodyfat.  I may not have reached my goal because I continued to give myself a “cheat day”/meal the first two weeks and ate a piece of pizza and some macaroni and cheese during recovery week.  Also, my body may be unable to lose 2 pounds every week now that I am closer to my goal weight.  I learned that I can live quite happily without any processed foods or alcohol AND that I can survive social situations without drinking at all.  Additionally, I learned the importance of rest and recovery despite how much I hate it.  I learned that I have gotten much smaller than I thought and that I may have to focus on goals outside of the scale pretty soon.

What will I do differently next month? (complete sheet for next 4 weeks)

I will allow a small cheat snack rather than a cheat day or meal every two weeks rather than every week like before.  I find that if I do not give in to cheat meals my cravings for the food disappear entirely.

What do I want to accomplish in my fitness program (nutrition, exercise, and mindset)? The following are my outcome goals for the next four weeks:

Outcome related goal: I would like to lose 3% bodyfat in the next 4 weeks

How I will achieve this:

I will eat more greens each day
I will get my healthy fats in, and I will work to get them in a variety of forms
I will not eat after 7pm
I will workout hard during bootcamp
I will workout one day during my weekend  (Coach Dean says – still struggling with that recovery, huh :)

Why do I want to accomplish these goals? How important are these goals to you?

I want to accomplish these goals because I want to see how much I can improve my body.  Now that I am starting to appreciate my figure I want to see how far I can take it in a healthy mindful way.

How do I know I want those results?

Because I visualize being successful every night before I fall asleep. I went to this store (several but this one in particular) and it had this fabulous green dress only available in a (size). I could never have worn it before.  Now, not only did it fit, it looked awesome and I am wearing it to Easter.  I can’t give that up.  I also feel powerful because I know that not only do I look fit, I actually am fit.  I didn’t think of myself as an exercise person in high school or college, now I not only see myself as an exercise person… I get grumpy without my daily workout.

I’ll do just about anything to reach my goals but this: (Be as specific as possible)

I will not resort to extreme measures [liquid detoxes, stimulants, or exercising with sweats on to cut water weight] nor will I completely cut fruit. (I have already cut alcohol and refined carbs so I have gotten past those hang ups)

When I reach these goals, what will I do for myself and how will I feel?

I will continue to feel fabulous, revamp my wardrobe, and be fearless.

My past record of attaining my fitness goals is:

Good. As far as attaining fitness goals I normally do, however I tend to be lax on my eating habits.  I am not falling off the wagon.

What will make this time different?

It totally is different because I am a force and I have decided that it is time to be fit and thin.  When I decide to do something in my life, nothing can stop me.

***

Absolutely love that attitude – the only one that can stop you is you!

Be Unstoppable!

Coach Dean

Life Is More Than Showing Up

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I have heard it said that “Showing up is half the battle”, and while that may be true you still have to do something once you get there to achieve victory.

You can have plans out the wazoo, but if you don’t implement them, you aren’t going to get very far.

I was reminded of this as Nancy and I head down to Louisville (Jamaica -yeah right!) for a coaching conference today. It is the fifth time I have been to Louisville, and every time I come back with a tremendous amount of “actionable” information on coaching and business.

Every year the hosts of the event hand out a book with outlines of all the presentations and workshops. I can look over my left shoulder right now and see the ones from past trips.

Here’s a couple questions for you: Does having that manual on my bookshelf make my coaching any better? Does that 300 page book cause my skills to improve and our business to serve our clients better?

No, and No.

Because if I don’t take action on the information in those books, a tree got cut down for nothing – just a big waste.

I’ll admit that my shelf is littered with business books that did me no good for years, because I read them, put them back on the shelf, and did nothing about it. Until I stopped chasing “shiny objects”, the latest and greatest theory or method, I never got anything done, and my training business floundered.

When I think back on it I give a lot of credit to Danno (Dan Yeaton) for getting me off my duff. I was training a few clients one-on-one, and he kept asking me to do an early morning class. Finally we did the one thing that changed everything. We set a stake in the ground and set a date and time of May 8, 2008 at 5:00am for our first Get Fit NH Bootcamp training session, and then we actually held the class – action was taken!

While taking that step didn’t guarantee the measure of success we have had, without it there would be no Get Fit NH Bootcamp.

So what does that mean to you?

Are you distracted by shiny objects? I see many people who want to lose weight get distracted by the shiny objects of the diet industry, reading book after book, watching show after show, and never getting around to doing anything.

What is the one thing you are going to do today that will make a measurable difference to your goals?

Don’t just think about it…

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean

Ramblings of a Procrastinator

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I have plenty of time… I have 24 hours to get my goal sheet done, I mean ‘passed’ in. As well as my food log for three days. Nancy says I have until 11:59pm on Friday. No problem, plenty of time says the Procrastinator.

“Don’t f- this up” states our Drill Sergeant (ed-I VERY much doubt she said that :) overseeing the 6pm accountability. She is down right scary! So I spent this evening filling out forms, signing onto websites and it  hits me, I believe I’m a procrastinator?! It is not as though I like to wait until the last minute, I tend to get off schedule. I’m easily distracted, or just not in the right frame of mind to complete these tasks.

Sunday, I was so excited for S3 to begin, I had my plan, shopping, prep for the week & ready to go… ‘ooh look, shiny bauble’, instead of Grocery Shopping. I opted for going Snowboarding for the day. Really? do you blame me?? if there was a ‘Dislike’ button for grocery shopping I would be hitting it repeatedly. So, how’s  that snowboarding now that there is no food in the house?

It caused a little issue while I had to bare my soul on the ‘food log’ for the past 3 days. I am so not compliant… and I expect to lose weight?! Who am I kidding?? I did manage to stop at the store on Monday for a bag of salad and celery. My food log is pathetic, but I could atleast document a few green items and it wasn’t even green beer!

We are now 5 days into the S3/2 Challenge and I’m still on the porch!  Of course the easy thing to do would be to just say ‘forget it’. Of course that would mean I am backing down from a Challenge… haha- uh no! I’m still in the game, just got a slow start.

It may not be the end of my poor choices throughout the next 7weeks however, I don’t give up. Some of you may find yourselves in my shoes. Just remember, you can’t  undo the situation but you can learn from it, forget it and move on…make good choices and get back on track.

Blog you later.

gretchen

Fitness Starts Between Your Ears

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Jack Lalanne at Age 71

“Fitness starts between your ears,” said Jack LaLanne “You have to figure out what you want and then go ahead and do it. Your body is your slave.”

Jack, who passed away at age 96 this week lived fitness for longer than anyone I have ever heard of. He truly practiced what he preached.

In honor of Jack, join me in embracing life, in taking charge, in making good choices everyday.

Here’s Mine:

  • I choose to eat more veggies not pushing them aside.
  • I choose to eat baked or grilled not fried foods.
  • I choose to plan my meals and snacks each week. My life will be so much easier with a plan in place that allows me the flexibility to change it instead of being tossed around by the uncertainty of what the next meal holds.
  • I choose to drink lots of water. Water is important for our bodies. It acts as a regulator of all our body’s systems. Metabolism, temperature, a detox agent, alleviates constipation, a lubricant for our joints, a base for saliva, and much more.
  • I choose to take a multivitamin. I know I don’t eat perfectly 100% of the time so I want to supplement my intake with a quality multivitamin.
  • I choose to get a healthy amount of sleep each night. Our bodies do not shut off when we sleep instead they use this time to replenish, repair, and refuel.
  • I choose to avoid fad diets – instead I will make the changes to the way I live that will last a lifetime.
  • I choose to eat smaller portions and skip second helpings.
  • I choose to show my family and others the value of an active healthy lifestyle. When planning a family outing try hiking, skiing, bowling, or biking instead of centering it around the TV or computer.
  • I choose to take my training seriously. I will not exchange one trip to the donut barn for a workout session.

Everyone has choices to make each day. Choices about the foods we eat or don’t eat, the people we choose to inspire and motivate us, and the activities I participate in.

I choose to Make it Happen.

What about you?

To your best health,

Coach Nancy

Top 5 Things To Do Differently THIS Year

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1. Don’t Starve Yourself- I’m speaking mostly to women here but really why do we try this one? We know we can’t keep it up forever. We know when we take that first bite of something yummy we won’t stop eating until it is all gone.

Let’s be sensible. A eating plan should be something we can stick with for a lifetime. Jutta Matta, PhD  at Stanford University in CA, said, “A diet plan shouldn’t be done just to fit into a pair of jeans; it’s a healthy habit to manage or ward off chronic illness. You need to think of it as something you can do all your life.”

She also says, “If you believe a diet is complicated, that things are hard to calculate, chances are good you’ll quit the program before reaching your goal.”

My suggestion is to stick to getting in protein, produce, and water every meal and snack. Be creative, call it the PPW plan. Say it with me PPW- protein, produce, water!

2. Don’t Go It Alone- Find a partner, write out your goals and share them with others. Get a support group. Support groups like AA are successful not only for the advice, but the emotional help from others who are going through or have conquered their addiction. Support is vital to reaching your goals quicker. It is easy to cheat on your eating plan, or skip your training session if no one knows about your doing it.

3. Don’t Buy Before You Try- Our two week free tryout to Get Fit NH Bootcamp is for your benefit as much as ours. So many people in January with high enthusiasm sign up for a year at the local gym and buy an online meal plan without testing it out first. Two weeks into the year, they realize they dislike the food choices and the hours the gym offers, don’t match with their schedule. Feeling frustrated, they stop going to the gym and head to their local grocery store to stock up on cookies and donuts.

4. Don’t Make It Complicated- Save your sanity! When thinking of a getting healthy, seek out the experts. Researching the latest fitness gaget or buying a fitness video is not the same as having the hands on benefit of a personal trainer in the room who knows you personally. Although we might do research on the internet if we think we have a problem, we wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) rely on the information there to treat and cure us, we visit our personal physician. The same is true for fitness, although magazines can list out exercises to ‘trim the tummy’, they can’t correct form or help you know what exercises are right for you.

5. Don’t Quit- Our motto is Make It Happen. We strive to instill this in our training sessions because it affects our mental and physical state. There will be days when life gets in the way and fitting it all in becomes hard. We have to fight through it. As a mom I can describe it like this: you walk into your house exhausted. Its trashed. You have company coming and you only want to go to bed. What do you do? You can grumble and complain, yell and scream, cry and pout; but in the end you pick yourself up and do what it takes to make it happen. The cleaning might not be the best cleaning you’ve ever done and dinner for company might include easy to prepare dishes but in the end you do what it takes. You work through it all. You make it happen.

Yes, there will be days when it is more a mental workout than physical. Guess what? By overcoming the mental the physical gets done. It’s a double win, since the physical gets done the mental side gets a prize, a boost, a high five of sorts.

The flip side is true as well. When the mental side looses and the physical side loses too. They bring each other down one more notch. Its like they are scolding each other and they both walk away pouting.

Dig down deep and Make it Happen!

The coaches at Get Fit NH Bootcamp are trained to help you. We strive to help each person each day. Our program is unique. You can not buy it anywhere else. It delights us to help you reach your health and fitness goals.  Together lets make 2011 your year for a better healthier you.

To your best health,

Coach Nancy

My Health and Training Goals For 2011

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Happy New Year!

Just wanted to share an outline of my health and fitness goals for 2011 in three areas. I look forward to seeing yours as well!

Training:

192 training sessions this year. That breaks down to 4 per week, with 4 recovery weeks per year. (Sound familiar? :) Just like you, I have to make time to get this done. Believe it or not, your coaches have stuff to do outside the gym too!

Nutrition:

Protein, Produce and Water every 3 hours. Limit splurge meals (anything outside of PPW and training/recovery shakes) to 2 per week. I love eating, and when I eat nutritious food I just feel better. Over time my cravings for sugary, salty snack foods has diminished, so it does get easier. I am also convinced that if junk is in the house I will eat it, and once I start it’s challenging to limit myself. As a FFB (Former Fat Boy) I tend to gain bodyfat very easily, so keeping junk out of the house is key. Planning and preparation are absolute necessary to keep me on the right track.

Recovery:

Get a minimum of 7 hours sleep per night. This is probably the most challenging and most important. The alarm goes off at 3:40am four days a week, so if I am not in bed by about 8:30 this doesn’t happen. But recovery sleep is extremely important for overall health, bodyfat control and stress reduction. You cannot be at your best if you consistently lack good sleep.

I also set goals every year for each of the following “categories”:

1) Spiritual Development
2) Family
3) Personal Development
4) Household
5) Business
6) Financial

What about you? You can either let life happen or you can make it happen. You can’t control what comes your way, but you don’t have to sit around and be passive. Time is precious, don’t waste a minute!

Make It Happen!

Dean

Get Fit NH Bootcamp “Best of 2010″

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As we approach the New Year it seems like an appropriate time to reflect on the blessing and challenges of the past year, evaluate progress toward our goals, adjust and get ready for an even better 2011!

We have compiled a list of your (and our) favorite blog posts, articles and tips from 2010.

We would encourage you to choose the category you need to work most on and focus on one or two things you can do now to spur your progress.

Without ACTION nothing happens!

Mindset and Motivation

Why Are You Doing This?

Your Goals Aren’t

Who Is On Your Team?

What’s Your Bootcamp Motivation?

I’m Not Listening

The Wolfe’s Den

Practical Nutrition

Nancy Dishes on Food Prep

Nutrition Labels Revealed

Are You A Sugar Addict?

Dean’s Fat Loss Checklist

Nancy’s “Mom Tips” For Losing Fat

Recipe Book

Meal Planning

Exercise and Training

Why Do You Do It That Way?

What’s The Big Deal About Exercise Anyway?

I Don’t Want To Look Like A Man!

Your Best Health

Is Your Thyroid To Blame?

7 Simple Steps For Snoozing

A Natural Approach To Hormone Balance

Here’s to an even better 2011!

Make It Happen!

Dean & Nancy

Your Goals Aren’t

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“What do you mean my goals “aren’t? My goals aren’t what?”

Well for a lot of you reading this, they probably aren’t existent. You don’t have any (and if they aren’t written down, posted and reviewed regularly, stop kidding yourself – you don’t have any).

Dr. John Berardi of Precision Nutrition fame breaks goals into two separate and distinct parts, and the distinction is critical to success.

1) Outcome Based Goals are the objective or objectives that you hope to accomplish. “I want to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks” is an outcome based goal, as is “I want to earn $100,000 a year by the age of 30″. You can’t directly control the outcome, rather the outcome will be the result of things you have to do.

2) Behavior Goals represent the steps that need to be taken to accomplish your desired outcome.  This is where the rubber hits the road. When you want to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks, your behavior goals will likely include “I will reduce my total calorie intake by 500 calories a day for the next 10 weeks”, and/or “I will not miss training at bootcamp for the next 10 weeks.”

See the difference?

You directly control the behavior goal.

You choose to take action on it…

or you don’t.

Behavior goals for a 10-week fat loss program might include some of the following (which are familiar to many of you):

“I commit to eating breakfast every day for the next 10 weeks”.

“I commit to taking 3 grams of fish oil and a multivitamin every day for the next 10 weeks”.

“I commit to planning my “splurge meals” and eating junk food only during these 2-3 meals a week”.

“I commit to exercising 4 hours a week, with at least 2 being with my trainer at bootcamp”.

Building Behavior Goals does not have to be complicated. These are regular daily and weekly action steps that will positively and immediately impact your Outcome Goals.

Following is a real world example from a client that we received just yesterday. It is an outstanding example of behavior goals that are sure to contribute to her desired outcome (fat loss). She has already shared how establishing these goals with a end point (she set them for the month of August) has helped her overcome the feeling that she was somehow depriving herself. She just has to keep them for a month, not the rest of her life. So turning down the blueberry waffles wasn’t that hard, because it’s only for a month. Great lesson there as well!

Here are her behavior goals for the month of August.

***

1. I will keep my list of guidelines in a spot where I can easily
see them, and I will read them every day.

2. I will exercise 4 times every week.

3. I will write down specifically what I am eating.

4. For the rest of August, I will . . .

a. eat protein and vegetables at every meal.

b. drink a minimum of 80oz. of water each day.

c. eat no more than one whole grain bread serving each
day (and no later than lunch time).

5. For the rest of August, I will not . . .

a. eat any dessert items except for perhaps on special
occasions.

b. eat any pasta, rice, white potatoes, or white bread.

c. eat any more than one serving of cheese and one
serving of nuts or nut butter each day.

***

Now there is a lot on this list, yours doesn’t necessarily have to be this long. In fact here is what I want you to do. Establish one outcome goal for the next 8 weeks. It could be “lose 8 pounds in 8 weeks” or “drop 2 inches off my waist in the next 8 weeks”. Note there is a specific time period involved, don’t skip that part!

Now that you know your desired outcome, establish 3 behavior goals that support that outcome. You have some great examples above, and your trainers can help you if you are stuck.

Once you have your outcome and behavior goal(s), post them to the comments below.  Hold yourself accountable to meeting both categories of your goals. We look forward to seeing what you come up with, as well as coaching you to get there.

Now Make It Happen!

Dean & Nancy

I’m Fit, Right?

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What does it mean to “Be Fit”?

To assess “being fit” we view overall health as three legs of the same stool; Health Markers, Fitness Performance Markers and Body Composition Markers. Without each of those being taken into consideration, overall health and fitness is compromised. Two legged stools are pretty hard to sit on!

For instance we have seen members in the first responder community who can pass a base line fitness test which is all about numbers, but who are overweight, have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels out the roof. They could hardly be considered fit. Not picking on first responders, as many of us are in the same boat. Just saying there is more to it than “passing the test”.

At Get Fit NH Bootcamp we also perform a physical fitness test, but this is not a test you can fail. During a one minute time frame each client will do a certain exercise to the best of their ability. We do this with five different exercises in order to get a good judge of overall physical fitness abilities. (Some might be great at squats but have a difficult time with push ups, so one exercise will not be an overall judge) We repeat this test every four to six weeks, with the goal being to see improvement.

This improvement might come in way of the amount of the exercises being done or how they are done. But in real life most will not give two hoots how many pushups and situps they can do or how fast they can run, but they will care that they are improving.

We use these tests to demonstrate the efficacy of the program as well as show our members how much their hard work is paying off. If you have a women who could do no pushups the first time around but 8 weeks later can do 5 rock solid pushups, that is more important than being able to push an arbitrary number just to pass a test. We can then set goals for the next phase of training.

But fitness tests are just one leg of the stool. We also need to consider health markers such as blood pressure and cholesterol. It is more critical from a health standpoint for these numbers to be in line, as they are predictors of health challenges such as diabetes and heart disease.

Here are the baselines we use.

Blood Pressure: <120/80

Cholesterol:
Recommended Total: <200 mg/dl
Recommended LDL: <100 mg/dl
Recommended HDL: >50 mg/dl
Fasting Blood Glucose: <100 mg/dl

Triglycerides: Recommended: <150 mg/dl

Finally Body Composition Markers. We need to know a bit about how our body is put together- The ratio of our lean body mass to fat percentage. An easy way you can do this at home is with a quick trip around our middle.

Waist Circumference:
Women: <35″
Men: <40″

So don’t just look at one set of numbers. When we are looking for accurate predictors of overall health, all these factors should be considered. 

So what do you think now? Do you know all your “numbers”?

Do they tell you that you are “Fit”?

To your overall health,
Nancy and Dean

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