Tag Archives: support

3 Simple Steps to Meeting a Fitness Goal

One of our fave fitness gals, Erin Kreitz Shirey, is full of tips for working smarter, not harder, and living well. She runs Power Fitness PDX, a training center that specializes in small group classes, and she also writes about fitness. In fact, Kreitz Shirey recently contributed to an online guide to making 2024 your best year yet and we absolutely love what she had to say. (See pages 17 and 18 of the guide for a full run-down of her ideas.)

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Our favorite tips from Kreitz Shirey:

  • Stay motivated by signing up for races: Try registering for events that happen every few months so that you fit in one each season. If you’re always striving to reach a goal, you’ll always be training. (more…)
Posted on January 27, 2024 by Jessica Cassity

Be Willing to Face the Truth of Weight Loss: 5 Things That Make or Break Success

During my twenty five years in working with weight loss clients, I took note a few common practices among the success stories – that is, those who were able to reach their ideal weight and remain there for years. What I see, time and time again, are five common success indicators.

Bottom line – inspiration is pointless without direction. Channel your inspiration into accomplishing these five tasks.

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Be willing to ‘let go’ and learn ‘just the facts.’ Most of us have a tainted education and need some de-programming after years of media hype and distortion of the truth. Dumping all of this bad information is vital to your success. You have to be willing to replace old myths with new facts. If you can do this, and ignore 99% of what you see and hear, your odds of success go way up. (more…)

Posted on July 15, 2023 by GuestBlogger

3 Ways Yoga Supports a Healthy Lifestyle

Nearly everyone has aspirations to be healthy. Following diets and new and improved workout plans are popular behaviors at the beginning of each New Year, as many will vow to eat better and get more exercise.

A few months of eating fresh, high quality cuisine and hitting the gym makes a big difference in the way we feel. A slimmer waistline, clearer skin, and an overall feeling of health is worth it, so why is it so hard to stay the course?

Your lifestyle plays a huge role in whether or not your good intentions are going to stick. If you think your lifestyle might not be supporting your desire to be healthy, keep reading. (more…)

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Jill

Family And Friends May Be Unintentional Diet Saboteurs

Social gatherings can be difficult for dieters. Family food pushers like the grandmother who wants to care for you or the aunt who wants to be admired for a special recipe can make holidays and other family gatherings tricky. At other social gatherings it may be difficult to find things that fit within your food plan, friends may forget your diet, or acquaintances may not be aware of your goals. Medi-Weightloss Clinics recently commissioned a survey that they believe suggests that “it might be easier to lose weight these days if you live alone in a cave with no spouse, family, friends or colleagues.” As I look at the survey responses, though, I think there may be another interpretation.

The online survey was completed by 325 women between the ages of 25 and 55 who were currently dieting or had dieted in the past. It is unclear how these specific women were recruited or chosen. We are also missing further demographic information that might help us explain the results. When asked if they had ever felt others were not respecting their diet, 66 percent of participants agreed. Those most blamed for not respecting a diet were significant others, friends, and relatives; however, these are the people with whom we are most likely to have frequent interaction and most likely to share a meal. The more time we spend with someone, the more chance there is that person could disappoint us. Respondents were least likely (17 percent) to feel disappointed by their best friends.

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Posted on April 5, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

Benefits of Weight Loss Support

This post was submitted on behalf of DoctorsofWeightLoss.com, a website that educates people on gastric bypass surgery, explanations of cutting-edge research, and profiles of the nation’s leading weight loss surgeons.

Losing weight is a difficult task as it is, you can use as much help as you can get. One of the ways you can help ensure weight loss success is finding a partner in your journey.

Whether you choose a branded diet or just look to improve your overall health choices, even those with the best intentions can use someone else’s support. Some even say it’s the difference between success and failure.

It’s not just about dieting support either. When you exercise, try to do it with a friend. A friend can not just hold you accountable, they may also rely on you just as much, making it much more difficult to blow off a workout session. (more…)

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Jason

Find Your Next Workout Buddy Online

Fitness Magazine’s Alexa Cortese looks beyond her circle of friends for a workout buddy by looking online at some of the newest social media sites.

Research continues to support the idea that we all need a little support to keep us motivated and accountable when it comes to fitness. If you don’t have a friend, co-worker, or family member readily available to join your next stretch, try some of these ideas to find a perfect match.

View Find a Fitness Buddy Slideshow

See more from Fitness Magazine:

8 Ways to Get Your Kids Fit

Why a Virtual Workout Buddy Gives You More Motivation

Fitness Magazine on Facebook

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Fitness_Magazine

Dealing with Family Food Pushers This Holiday Season

Food is the first and most basic way that we nurture each other. It is one of the reasons that many of us turn to food for comfort.

Providing nourishment was one of the very first ways that our mother’s soothed us as infants, both feeding us and soothing us emotionally by holding us close. When your grandmother or aunt offers you another helping, insists you try the dessert, or even tells you look too thin, it may simply be a desire to express love to and nurture you. This desire can be more intense during the holidays as sentimentality heightens emotions.

When people are pushing food to express their love, a hard rejection can be experienced as personal rejection. You may be able to distract them with loving attention. The most direct response may be to thank them sincerely for the offer or compliment and tell them that you have had enough to eat or that you are avoiding certain foods for health reasons. It can sometimes help to also offer an expression of appreciation to reinforce the positive relationship.

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Posted on October 24, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

8 Ways Friends Can Support Your Diet

One common concern I hear about dieting is how to maintain both social relationships and weight when so many social gatherings include food.

Sometimes to obtain weight loss goals, you need to separate yourself from certain people, at least when food is involved.  The conundrum here is that dieting is tough work and a stresssor that requires physical, mental, and emotional energy. In the midst of such an undertaking, you need support more than ever. Often even our biggest cheerleaders are not confident in how to best support us when we travel roads they have not. While it can be difficult to ask for help, both you and your friend will be glad you did.

1. Accountability – Many people have a hard time doing things for themselves alone, but are more likely to follow through if they know someone else cares – or sometimes simply if someone else will know. Friends can join you in your exercise routine or ask you about how you are doing with your meal plan. You are much less likely to hit snooze if you know your friend will be waiting for you to workout at 6am. If you share your journey electronically, make sure you ask friends to specifically comment on your tweets or posts, so you know someone is paying attention and supporting you.

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Posted on June 13, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

Learning to Eat Better with My Body Tutor

MyBodyTutor.com Logo

I like to think of myself as a pretty healthy person, so when I started a two-week trial run with MyBodyTutor.com, I didn’t expect it to change how I eat very much. I hoped it would give me some personalized workout tips, and help keep me honest about how much sugar I eat. I was surprised to find out all the ways I could eat better every day, and by how very hands-on this online diet program really is.

My Body Tutor is a one-on-one nutrition and fitness counseling service that provides you with a totally personalized weight loss plan. When you sign up, you will be paired with a Body Tutor, a trained fitness and diet expert who will guide you along your weight loss journey. Before you start, you will have an initial call with your tutor to talk about your goals, fitness level and to help them get to know you.

Adam Gilbert, the founder of My Body Tutor, was—well—my body tutor. In our initial call, I proved to be a pretty atypical client, because my goal is to eat better but not necessarily lose weight. Adam was up for the challenge, explaining that we can all work to be a little healthier. He explained his eating philosophy: cut down on simple carbs, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and be sure to get protein with every meal. He also recommended eating some protein and complex carbs every three hours, either as a snack or light meal, to keep my energy and metabolism up.

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Posted on May 31, 2023 by Margaret

Biggest Loser Coach Network Offers 24-Hour Weight Loss Support

Been a fan of The Biggest Loser? Don’t think you could ever be on the show? Want to have the same amazing results in the comfort of your own home? Now you too can achieve fabulous weight loss goals, just as the show contestants have done for 11 seasons. The experts on The Biggest Loser Coach Network will help you:

  • Learn how to take control by starting healthy lifestyle habits.
  • Create challenges to help you improve and sustain your healthy lifestyle.
  • Recognize the difference between being an optimist vs. a realist.
  • Discover the common behaviors of successful people.

The Biggest Loser Coach Network will help you uncover the areas of your life that need improvement in order to help you create the best you, with unlimited, 24-hour telephone and Internet access to experts in goal setting, healthy life choices, business, relationships, time management, and more. (more…)

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Carmen

Bloggers Band Together for Diet Support

Sometimes the best weight loss tool can be a support group. If you’re not ready to fork over part of your paycheck to a big online weight loss program or follow a rigorous calorie restriction diet, you might mimic a few of our favorite food, family and lifestyle bloggers and look online to find a community that will help you reach your healthy living goals.

Food bloggers Sarah Caron of Sarah’s Cucina Bella and Cate O’Malley of Sweetnicks launched Eat. Live. Be., a healthy living challenge for a diverse group of bloggers who are trying to meet healthy living goals in 2024.  Some are trying to exercise more (or more regularly), some are pledging to cook more healthy dinners each week and others are giving up Diet Coke.

“I am working toward losing 40 pounds — and having the support of this fabulous community makes me more accountable,” said Caron. “I hope it makes others more accountable too.”

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Posted on January 11, 2024 by Maris