Slim for Life (26 page)

While we talked earlier about the value of having a DVD fitness library, it won’t be of help to you unless you use it—which with the little ones around can be challenging. Try making the kids a part of your workout. I can’t tell you how many moms send me cute pictures of their toddlers barking orders at them while they use my workout videos. The kids think it’s hilarious, and you’ll get your burn on—it’s a win-win.

Join a gym with a childcare service or room. They can play while you pump some iron and take care of you. Most gyms offer something—take advantage of it.

Answer e-mails on the StairMaster. Do conference calls from the elliptical. Read a business document on the stationary bike. You get the idea. While this is the last thing I want to see you do (my goal is
for you to train with intensity and focus for optimal results), there are days when I’ve had no choice but to do it. It’s likely the same for you. This advice falls under the cliché that doing something is better than doing nothing.

If you have a significant other, take turns watching the kids. This tip works really well for Heidi and me, plus it allows each of us to grab a minute of sanity and often much-needed alone time. She’ll go do yoga while I take the kids, then later that night or the next day I’ll go for a bike ride or a jog while she watches them. If you don’t have a significant other, try a friend. Do a sitting swap, and spread the good health.

You know who loves your kids as much as you?
Your parents!
This is why God gave us grandparents. Seriously. If you have parents or family in the area, ask them to watch the kids once a week while you get your workout in. They get their bonding time in, you get pumped, and everybody feels good. I’m lucky my mom is always up to a Sunday afternoon. Thank God.

Get up early, and exercise while they sleep. This is one I will never adhere to, but for you morning people, it works like a charm. Simply pop in a workout video and go to town. Or if you have home equipment and can give yourself a great workout, go for it. If morning isn’t your best time, as for me, you can also get it in after they go to sleep. I’ve done that, and it works pretty well. I put the kids to bed around seven, pop in my workout video, get my sweat on, and then eat dinner. It’s not my favorite solution, but it’s an option for those days when nothing else will work, and it helps me piece together my 4 to 5 weekly workouts.

Another excuse people use for not eating right or working out is time. You already have the answers to this problem, as I’ve made sure to sprinkle them throughout
Slim for Life
—you may have noticed that many of the tips are multipurpose. To not be painfully repetitive, let me just highlight the tricks to overcoming time issues that make this excuse totally invalid. By the way, you get no extra points for using these repeat tips; you’ve already counted your points and been rewarded in other chapters for squeezing your workout in and grabbing healthy food in a hurry.

1. Work out on your lunch hour.

2. Build a home gym or use DVDs to fit in a quick 30-minute burn session before or after work.

3. Use the NEAT tips from
this page
and
this page
.

4. Work out at your desk, and be sure to stand up and pace while on the phone.

5. If you have kids, work out with them or ask a friend or family member to watch them a few times a week so you can get your burn on.

6. Schedule your workout using whatever method works best for you—a day timer, your phone alarm. Treat it with importance, as you would any other appointment.

7. Exercise during commercial breaks for your favorite TV shows (although if you have time to watch TV, you
do
have time for a proper workout!).

8. Be a weekend warrior and get it in on Saturday and Sunday.

1. Pack your lunch.

2. Bring healthy snacks with you at all times. (You can even invest in a small cooler or cold pack. There are no excuses here!)

3. Enter your go- to restaurant’s contact info in your phone or write it on an
accessible list. That way you can grab a slimming meal on the run. Just call ahead and order so you can take out a healthy meal.

4. Modify your food order when eating out to create the healthiest meal from a restaurant’s options.

As with time constraints, I’ve also addressed the access issue previously throughout this book, but in case you didn’t catch the dual benefits of those bits of advice, I’ll give you a quick refresher so you can put two and two together. (Note: If you think you’re getting points for these tips, nope; that’d be “double-dipping.” As with the tips for overcoming time constraints, we’ve already assigned them and added them up in earlier chapters.)

1. Build a home gym.

2. Use your local environment, from running and hiking trails to the stairs in your apartment building, home, or hotel.

3. Bring DVDs and exercise tubing with you on the road, so even if there isn’t a gym near you, you’re covered.

4. Don’t let poor outdoor weather conditions deter you from working out. It’s an excuse that has no legs—literally. If you’re an avid outdoor exerciser, try these workout alternatives so you stay fit during the winter months as well as avoid winter weight gain.

1. Shop for healthy food online. Every supermarket chain is offering this now, from Whole Foods to Vons. In fact, even Walmart and Amazon have this service.

2. Remember to look for the cheese stick, the hard-boiled egg, the healthy energy bar, and the nut options at convenience stores—if that’s your only option when out and about.

3. At fattening restaurants, pick the healthiest choices, and modify the dishes to fit your slim needs.

4. When you’re traveling, scout the area where you’re going online, or use the “Places” locator on your phone—this nifty GPS tool (comes free on iPhones and most Androids) identifies your location
on the spot. Then it will give you information about restaurants, cafés, coffee places, and the like so you know the food choices that surround you. This modern technology is very cool—there’s absolutely
no
excuse to say “I have no idea where to get healthy food.”

I bet you’ve been waiting for me to address this bad boy of an issue all chapter long. Well, here goes. I actually don’t believe in the idea of a plateau. Why? Because in my experience 90 percent of the time if a person has supposedly hit one, it’s because he or she is simply eating too much and not keeping track of calories. Or they’ve been slacking off in the intensity, frequency, or both, of their workouts. There is one
rare
and real occasion where plateauing is real. Here it is: if you have lost a good amount of weight, your energy intake has significantly slowed, and your energy expenditure has increased due to exercise, your body can panic and throw on the brakes. Biologically, your body can think it’s approaching a phase of famine and will automatically release hormones to slow down your weight loss for survival purposes. Here are the best ways to rectify the problem ASAP.

Open up a notebook and write down what you eat for three days. See if you have unintentionally let your calories slip and you’re eating too much. If so, the fix is simple: rein it in a bit.

If you’ve done proper investigating, you aren’t overeating, and you’ve plateaued, then you need to actually
increase
your calories. Here’s what to do: start the next week with one high-calorie day at an intake of 2,000 calories. Then for the subsequent six days,
increase your previous calorie intake by 10 percent. So if you were eating 1,200 calories when you plateaued, then for the next six days after your high-calorie day, eat 1,320 calories per day. This will reassure your body that you’re not starving, and it will go back into fat-burning mode. I know the idea of upping your calories will probably freak you out, but I’m a master at this. And even if I’m wrong (which I’m not), you’ll only be taking in an additional 1,700 calories over the course of the week. That’s about half a pound. So take a deep breath, relax, and do what I say.

This tip applies only to those of you with 10 or fewer pounds to lose. Oftentimes you animals go too far and end up eating too little and working out too hard. Buddy, you have to understand that losing vanity pounds versus losing unhealthy weight are two completely different things from a biological perspective. Your body wants to shed weight when it’s obese. But if you want to be a size 2 instead of a 6, your body is likely not going to be on board with it. This is because you’re still healthy with a little “meat on your bones” (and I do mean little). From an evolutionary perspective, this is an ideal state for your body in the event of a famine. Yes, you and I know that’s not at all likely to happen here in America, but your body and your genes haven’t caught up to modern times yet. The key is to create no more than a 750-to-800-calorie deficit a day
maximum
. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories total in a day, then don’t eat
fewer than 1,700 calories. If you’re not sure how to figure out what your active metabolic rate is, go back to “
Live in the red
” in Chapter 1. This way your body won’t panic, think it’s starving, and switch to fat-storage mode.

If you’re in a rut at the gym and have been doing the same things for weeks, change up your routine. Remember, your body is a very efficient machine. It adapts to external stimuli very quickly. As you get fitter, a workout that used to require a ton of energy to perform may now require much less; your body has adapted and become adept at doing it. Don’t forget you must change your routine at least every two weeks, so that it’s not routine to your body.

This one is a bit tricky, because I have to leave you to your own devices a bit. You’re going to gauge the direction to turn your exercise
intensity dial. You might need to turn it up, by getting in more days, or conversely turn it down by taking a couple days off. Here’s how you know. If you’re working out hard and noticing frequent feelings of fatigue as well as a decrease in your exercise performance at the gym, you’re overdoing it and need a few days off. (By the way, this shouldn’t happen to you if you follow the specifics I laid out in
Chapter 2
.) On the other hand, if you’ve been doing the same resistance exercises, maintaining the same cardio intensity, and not really feeling winded or sore after your workouts, you need to kick your butt into gear and step it up a notch. Run faster, lift more, do your push-ups on your hands and feet instead of your hands and knees. Got me? Good!