I remember when Sara was like 10 and I used to ask her “show me your muscles Sara” and she would HATE it!  She would cry and call me “Mean”.  I would feel so bad because I just made my BEST friend in the whole wide world cry.  You and I both know I am not “Mean” but I really wanted to see her muscles, and now look at her? I knew in my gut, Sara was going to be famous using her muscle skills!  Like the Beastie Boys say “you’ve got the skills to pay the bills.”

Like my Best friend would challenge me to show her my muscles so I too challenge you to show me your muscles! Most often when people go into a gym to workout, the sole purpose is to lose weight and change the shape of their body.  In order to lose that weight and keep it off, the most important thing we can focus on is increasing our BMR or our Basal Metabolic Rate.  I will often hear women complaining that they think they have a slow metabolism but most often they are not fueling their metabolisms for success.  70% of our metabolism is dependent on our BMR meaning our lean muscle mass, and our cardiovascular fitness.  Metabolism is only 15% dependent on exercise and 15% dependent on digestion.  This being said, we need to work on building a bigger engine, using the muscle we have to raise our overall BMR, readily burning fat, and making our bodies calorie burning machines.  We do this by lifting weights or doing High Intensity Cardio Intervals.  Muscle is the only thing that drives metabolism.

If we want our metabolisms to be going full-throttle, then we need to be pumping the iron in the gym. This is not about making our muscles bigger, but using the muscle we have to our advantage. Why settle for a motor the size of a lawn mower when you have to ability to increase your BMR, and replace that engine with a Ferrari or Porsche size one?

So now I know, the next time my bestie says, SARAAAAAAAAAAAA ………………show me your muscles, I will proudly say, Yes Ma’am!

Fitness is a great way to feel better about yourself, and your body. By working on your personal health and fitness goals, not only will your body look and feel better, but you will have the energy to keep up with your life. Working out is a mood elevator. Often times, after my clients session, I find not only are they more energized, but their mood is elevated upon leaving. If you are not making the time for yourself now, you will start regretting your life, and the people who seem to own your time. I always say to my clients, the world will not fall apart in your absence so get moving!

Here are some helpful tips for being justifiably selfish and fit:

Get Professional Help
Hiring a trainer doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. If a tight budget is an issue, ask for help at your local gym, or try a virtual trainer. All you need is someone that can assess your starting level and goals to create a workout plan that works for you.

Get Rid of Processed Foods
It may not be the most pleasant task, but it’s important to get rid of the processed foods in your refrigerator and pantry that are causing you to pack on those pounds. Throw away packaged chips and crackers and replace them with fruits, veggies, nuts, and various types of protein.

Start Consuming More Protein
In order to maintain lean muscle and reduce body fat, try eating more protein. This means starting at breakfast with protein powder or eggs.

Drink More Water
You may have heard this multiple times before, but water does wonders for your health – and weight loss. By drinking at least 64 ounces every day you are increasing your metabolism, eliminating waste, and curbing false hunger cravings.

Switch Up Your Cardio
Don’t get stuck doing the same 30 minute routine every time you exercise. Adding in short bursts of higher heart rate intervals followed by a short period of rest will increase your body’s ability to burn fat – all while keeping you from getting bored.
Don’t think of fitness as another thing to add to your to-do list. Instead, think of it as an essential break for your mind, added health for your body, and the perfect way for you to pay attention to you.

Taking time out for yourself will help you be that better wife, mom, friend and co-worker you so desire.  When we take the time to work on ourselves, our bodies are renewed, and our energy source becomes full!

You owe it to yourself to Live the Beauty of Being Strong!

x sara

“It’s not arrogant for a flower to bloom.”

I wish I came up with that myself, but I actually heard it third hand – a friend of mine got it from a teacher in her yoga class. The teacher was saying that realizing your full potential is something that embarrasses a lot of people…

Think about that for a moment. It may sound strange, but it’s very true. Nobody ever looks at a flower and thinks, “Wow that plant is so arrogant!  What a show off that plant is.”

But most people, especially women, feel like there is something embarrassing about even ADMITTING to the vision of what they want to be… or look like.

It sounds selfish and shallow to want to walk through the world as a beautiful person with a beautiful body. Somehow in our society there is this idea that if you want to be the very best YOU that you can be, it’s a little bit arrogant. As if you should be ashamed about wanting to really blossom into something beautiful and wonderful.

Society, your friends, maybe even your family, reinforce this negative idea. Think about this for a minute… really think about it:

How would your best friend feel if you suddenly started getting really into working on your health and body? How would she feel if you really TRANSFORMED into somebody who was as beautiful and radiant on the outside as you already knew that you COULD

BE?

Sure, your friend would be happy for you…

But also, unless your friend is a VERY special and evolved person, there would probably be some resentment that you’ve changed, that you’ve improved, that you’ve blossomed and realized your full potential… and she has not. It’s not evil, it doesn’t make her a bad friend.  It’s simply human nature.

But it’s very self-defeating.

And yet, as I said, nobody ever thinks a flower is arrogant or a show off when it blooms into radiant color. Why not?

Because for a flower, blooming is simply the natural and right thing to do. Flowers are supposed to bloom.  It’s “God’s plan.”  Nature doesn’t want the flower to be modest.

In reality there is no lack of modesty in the flower realizing its full potential and

opening up to the sunlight to show off all of its dazzling color.

And it’s exactly the same for you.

Look, I realize that this might sound like some new-agey, mumbo-jumbo. It’s not.

If you are totally honest with yourself, you have to admit that part of the reason that you’re not enjoying fully blooming into the person that you COULD BE is that on some level you don’t believe that you DESERVE it.

You feel like suddenly losing weight, getting into shape, taking care of your body, and becoming beautiful would make you shallow or beauty obsessed, or that people would say, “Look at her, all she ever does is show off how HEALTHY she is.”

Are you afraid that you wouldn’t know how to live that life – that it might be hard being beautiful and not having the excuse of being heavy any more?

Maybe you are afraid of being judged unworthy of being beautiful. That is a very destructive (and common) habit that CAN be broken. The truth is, God, or nature, or evolution, or whatever you believe made the rules of the universe… WANTS you to bloom.

Like the flower, that’s what you are SUPPOSED to do.

I’m going to tell you an important, life changing secret:

It is not arrogant to bloom.

If you could learn to actually believe this one little thing about yourself, it would DRAMATICALLY change the quality of your life and it would make it much easier for you to achieve your health and body goals (not to mention your financial and relationship goals as well).

So I’d like you to ask yourself– do YOU think that it’s arrogant to bloom?

Is it shallow or selfish to want to be beautiful, or want to achieve the very best body, the very best health, the very best of everything you can be? When I lay it out like that, I know that in your heart you probably have some uneasy feelings that maybe it IS a bit selfish to want to be beautiful.

If you believe in something bigger than yourself, do you think that you were created and given a spirit and an AWARENESS of your spirit just so that you could live a life of internal and constant struggle?

If you believe in evolution, do you think that millions of years of trial, error, survival, and reproduction were all so that you could just “get by,” or rather so that you could PROSPER and be the most successful and best human animal that you could be?

If you believe in karma, physics, mother nature, or ANYTHING else, if you have anything in your life that lets you zoom out and see the big picture of life, then you must see that it is your DESTINY to be the BEST YOU that you can be.

It is what the world needs from you.  If you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you.

Let me say that again…

NO ONE ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU.

There has NEVER been a person that is exactly like you.  You are a unique individual with a unique story. Your life cannot be replaced, nor can it be repeated. If you don’t realize your potential, if YOU don’t grow to your fullest, there will never be another opportunity, and it will be lost forever.

Your life is ready and waiting to bloom.  Give yourself permission to reach for the sunlight. If you could talk yourself into this one idea, if you could honestly believe in the depths of your heart that it is not arrogant to bloom, that it is not AT ALL selfish to want health, beauty, success, and happiness on EVERY level…

…If you honestly believed that it would be a VIRTUE to bloom, like the flower, giving your gifts to the world…

…If you could change that one idea in your mind, it would be MUCH easier to achieve and keep ALL your goals in life.  Especially your health, fitness, and weight goals.

I KNOW it works, because I am the proof along with all of the friends and clients of mine who have succeeded by changing their mindset about this one thing.

It’s possible for you too. Live the Beauty of Being Strong!

Written by Andrea Albright

Diet books overfill the shelves and new fads are born by the minute. But the simple truth is food is a source of calories, and calories are units of energy. Take in more calories than you burn, and you will start storing those calories as fat. Take in less calories than you burn, and you WILL lose weight. It’s really that simple. Does that mean it’s always easy? Certainly not.  Sometimes it’s a difficult slow process. But, if you can commit to a gradual course of weight loss incorporating thoughtful eating and scheduled exercise, you will likely be more successful and happier than if you try for the quick fix and end up yo-yo dieting yourself into despair.

If you find it difficult to determine appropriate portion sizes, or which types of food to eat consider this: How will you feel an hour or two after eating it? Will you be able to take a run or a bike ride or a vigorous hike/walk? Whatever it is you do to get your blood pumping, will that food in your stomach be churning around making you feel like vomiting? Or will it be giving you the necessary fuel for your exercise activity of choice? This may take some experimenting because you may not realize that a lot of the things you are putting inside your mouth end up taxing your body more than rejuvenating it. You may not realize that your portions are too big, that they actually cause your digestive system quite a bit of distress (especially in the setting of exercise). That’s okay, because if you simply start paying attention you will quickly learn what does and does not work for your body, and you will adapt accordingly.

Of course there is SO much more to say on this topic- so many things to consider when discussing nutrition and exercise- but for now, let’s just start redirecting our thoughts about food to the very simplistic notion that FOOD IS FUEL. Food is full of calories, calories are units of energy, and we need only ingest enough energy to sustain our immediate needs. All the other benefits we think we must derive from food can certainly be found elsewhere if even just temporarily- just for this experiment. Find pleasure in being with the people you love, reaching goals, enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Reward yourself with a massage or a new book or a day to play hooky and relax! Find other reasons to gather together with the people you enjoy- or if food must remain the central theme, enjoy the fuel that is prepared for you and remember to consider how you will feel in a few hours… don’t overfill your tank, and go for the high octane quality option!

This has never been as apparent to me as it has been these last few years, and particularly these last 2 weeks. You see, I grew up in this outdoor mecca where people are always striving for greater physical prowess. Even at the height of my fitness, when I was able to pick up and run 10-20 miles on any given day, and enter multisport events on a whim the day before a race, I always felt I could be fitter- do better, be leaner, run faster. When I went away to med school and got entirely too busy working and studying, I longed for the days when I was “fit” enough to run marathons, or even 10K’s.

The last 6 months has made up the most stressful and physically exhausting period in my life. Beyond school and work and family drama, I have been the lucky host of various superbugs- leaving me short of breath, voiceless for a week, feverish, and just plain sick. Two weeks before I returned home I called my mom and told her I thought I might need to go to the hospital for a few days. I was so feverish, tired, and dehydrated that I weighed 10 pounds less than I had the week before. When I finally flew home I was met with exclamations of how skinny I looked. “I know,” I said, “I’ve been really sick.”

The point of this random story, is really in the reaction I received from everyone else upon my return.  Things like, “Wow- you look great!”  Or, “Looks like you’ve been keeping up with your exercise”   Even, “You look better/younger than you looked last year when we saw you, you must’ve had a stress free year!” And in response to my declination of invitations for various outdoor exploits, “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me! You are in great shape, you’ll be fine!”  “What do you mean you can’t run more than 3 miles? Look at you! You are in better shape than that.”

What exactly were these people basing my level of fitness on? They were simply looking at my body- my thinned out face, my now baggy pants, and my apparent lack of body fat. They were essentially saying “thin = fit.” Well, let me tell you- it does not. In fact, in my body thin equals easily fatigued, weak, and unable to fully participate in many things I enjoy.

If you simply look at the word “fitness” it is easy to see it begs a personal definition, tailored to your particular circumstances and ideals. Fitness is generally defined as “being suitable for a certain position or able to perform a certain function.” In sailing terms it denotes seaworthiness. In biology it speaks of an organisms ability to adapt, survive, and reproduce in a given environment. I think of fitness as being healthy and strong enough to take part in certain activities, prepared to withstand a certain amount of physical stress or endure physical activity for a certain amount of time.

I think the majority of Americans erroneously equate fitness with a certain body type. Sure, athletes generally have great physiques, well defined muscles, an appropriate BMI. But is being lean the goal? For some it may be. But here at Real Women Have Muscles we are more interested in cultivating a culture of personal goal-directed fitness, independent of shape, size, or weight. We are excited to strive for our own physical goals, dedicated to inspiring others to realize their potential, an interested in creating a community of strong confident women who understand what fitness is really all about.

I challenge you to take this opportunity to consider how you define fitness. Do you need to update your schema? Do you have realistic and inspiring fitness goals? Please share them here so we can encourage one another towards better health, personal achievements, and a kinder more positive self image.

Live the beauty of being strong!

check out those muscles!

WINNING GOAL!

 

How much time do you have? People often put off doing cardio because they think about how long it is going to take for them to complete a cardio workout!   The best way to plan to do cardio is to determine how much time you have to devote to the activity.  Make the decision that opting out of exercise is not an option, and then determine how much time you have to devote to the activity. Often times, if I know that I only have twenty or thirty min of time for cardio, then I determine what is the hardest, most calorie burning activity I can do in that short amount of time.  Maybe I only have twenty minutes so I will do intervals around the track.  Find something appropriate for your body, and make it difficult!  Our bodies change based on pushing thresholds, not on getting on the trainer with our magazine in hand hoping that the time passes by quickly.

It is not how much you do that is going to make the biggest difference, but what you are doing in the time you have that will show the greatest gains.

How much time do you have?  People often put off doing cardio because they think about how long it is going to take for them to complete a cardio workout!   The best way to plan to do cardio is to determine how much time you have to devote to the activity.  Make the decision that opting out of exercise is not an option, and then determine how much time you have to devote to the activity. Often times, if I know that I only have twenty or thirty min of time for cardio, then I determine what is the hardest, most calorie burning activity I can do in that short amount of time.  Maybe I only have twenty minutes so I will do intervals around the track.  Find something appropriate for your body, and make it difficult!  Our bodies change based on pushing thresholds, not on getting on the trainer with our magazine in hand hoping that the time passes by quickly.

It is not how much you do that is going to make the biggest difference, but what you are doing in the time you have that will show the greatest gains.