Let’s talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be. Let's talk about health!

It's tough. I've been a personal trainer for years now and I know that there is a lot of information from the practical workshops and text studies that I forget. However, I love fitness and I'm all about finding out what one can do to mix up the work out, keep the diet on track and make eating and working out something to live for and have fun doing.

That said, I had a client this week that asked me about plating. I said, I never heard of it. Then I did some research on what's formally called 'Power Plating'. In theory, and you can do your own research, I'm sure the people that made this new exercise a trend, have all the information to back up why this is a good thing to do.
However, if you actually saw me, a very fit person, try to power plate, you might think I was rehearsing a new skit for Saturday Night Live.
I'm not gonna go into it, but I was not, by any means, into it or good at it. It made me laugh hysterically which made my core stronger. I don't know what the power plate did for the rest.
I told my client about the machine and what it did. I said if she wanted to try it, there were some places in Beverly Hills and Culver City that she could take a class.
I like how my clients ask me about new classes and trends. If I haven't heard about it, I will sleuth it out like a PI and report back to them. If possible, I can bring some of these trends into the homes of my busy clients so that they don't have to go to the classes or gyms or studios that offer these new and exciting new workouts.

It got me thinking, though.

I love teaching. I love coming into the homes of my clients or going into the studio that I teach and bringing my students new perspectives on how to see and experience the same old and new.

I also like what works.

I've been doing yoga, running and weight training for more years than I can count.

I also used to be a fat girl.

Information is power and the more information I can ingest, the more I can share.

Here's the deal, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
As long as your workouts are fun and different, they are probably working.
Whether you have a bunch of weight to lose or not, your trainer or teacher should be monitoring your weight, exercises, nutrition and progress. And so should you.
That's what life is all about progressing.
Even if you have a trainer coming into your home several times a week, you should be on point with what you are doing outside of your time together. That is the only way you will make progress.
Most of my clients are at points in their life where they just want the consistency of a different and new workout each time they see me. They want to feel strong, healthy and balanced.
I also have clients that want to lose weight.
They work with me a couple times a week, but they allow their diets and off days to do or not do, whatever they would like.
Progress can't not be made this way.
It's been a long time since I've been overweight, but not too long ago when my weight would shift between 5-10 pounds over a few months depending on my stress level and busyness.
Teaching yoga for as many years as I have has allowed me to explore yoga in more ways than just postures. The awareness it creates in everyday life, the way you interact with others, is priceless.
However, training was what got me into the awareness of diet, nutrition and exercise for health in a way that yoga did not.
Yoga is tremendously healing, strengthening and balancing.
Training afforded me the opportunity to understand how I fueled my body and what was necessary for me to be at peak and on point in my teaching and everyday life.
We are different and require different foods to keep us healthy.
Although I support the vegetarian lifestyle and was a vegetarian for years, I discovered that my own body chemistry and physical health deteriorated when not eating animal products. You can argue with me till the cows come home and I will moo right back.
I eat as much as I can from non-animal products, but it is necessary for me and my on the go all the time lifestyle to eat animal products. When I eat lean, free-range organic turkey, I can actually feel myself get nourished in ways that lentils and tofu cannot.
So, even though I support those people with physical constitutions that can handle the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, I cannot sustain it myself.
I also believe certain 'types' of yoga, like Hot Yoga or Ashtanga yoga are right for certain people and unhealthy for others.
Fasting and cleanses can be liberating for some and absolutely detrimental for others.
That said,
We are all different and all need different prescriptions for how we move our bodies and fuel our bodies.
Which leads me to my topic.
Calorie Cycling and Calorie Counting.
You might think I'm OCD about this and maybe I am, but I count my calories every day. At first it was to help me figure out what was not good for me digestion wise. I had just finished my second master cleanse and was slowly bringing different foods back into my life.
I was interested in the fact that, even though I wasn't heavy, I had lost a considerable amount of weight on the master cleanse. It's not a diet!!!
But I was surprised at just how thin I got. I thought, well, I don't necessarily want to stay this skinny, but what if I managed my weight by looking at my height and 'normal' weight for my height and see if I can maintain it by bringing in foods one at a time and seeing how I respond to it while integrating back my regular work outs. (Fasting for me was very difficult while balancing a very busy lifestyle)

So, I did. I started balancing breakfast (which was new for me), lunch, dinner and snacks. All of my meals were very light. I ate about 6 mini meals a day. I worked out about 4-6 days a week, running, doing yoga, meditating (that's a workout for the mind), and weight training.
It's been a year and a half and I've maintained my master cleanse, 'skinny' weight and yet I never miss the opportunity to over indulge when I want. I just have to reaaaally want it. I eat what I want. I was NEVER able to say that, even as a younger girl. But what I eat is not insane. I'll have a crazy dessert now and then but pretty much every day, I will indulge in a little of the sweet and salty I love so much, it's just not so much!

This diet works, and there ain't a book out there that I know of tellin' you so. Eating a different amount of calories everyday but staying within the range of the calories you need for your weight and height for the week and the month, that's where it's at.
It keeps your metabolism guessing.
It can help you maintain, lose or gain weight accordingly.
Exercising and keeping your body and mind challenged is also necessary with this diet.
Yoga teaches you awareness. Calorie counting increases your awareness and makes you mindful about what you are eating. When you count your calories you take a step back before eating the extra cookie or ordering the 2nd glass of wine. It makes you mindful about what you need and what you want. And let me tell you, want is important too. You should give into your wants, fo sho!! However, be mindful tomorrow when you want because if you give into your wants everyday, you will turn into a big 'ol baked potato in no time.
Need is more important. That 'need' food is the food that keeps you energetic enough to do your daily tasks fully.

What you crave you might just need.

When you are aware of what you are eating, you will appreciate it that much more. How many times do you see people at restaurants just push food into their mouths while speaking or laughing?
Food brings people together but part of that togetherness is experiencing the food you are imbibing, then laughing or telling a story or miring in the miraculousness of a dish together.

I'm not saying you should freak out if the calories aren't listed on the menu. I've done that. That makes meeting someone for a meal a bummer. I'm saying, try counting the calories from what you purchase at grocery stores. It's all listed on the packages. Fruit and veges you don't have to worry about so much but they have calories too.
Go to Calorie King. com and put in the food (fruit, veges, questionables) meals from restaurants. Many of them are listed. If they aren't, put what you had on the restaurant menu into the Calorie King search and make your best guesstimate. Find out how much you weigh, what your height is and what your daily minimum calorie intake should be. Count all the calories you had in a day, a week a month and see if you have maintained your weight, gained a pound or lost. It's math and it ain't that hard. You eat 3500 extra calories a week (seems like a lot but it isn't) and you've gained a pound. Lose a few calories off your total and work out a little more and you've lost or maintained your weight. It's that easy. Make it a habit. If not for a little while.
Chances are, after a few weeks, you will get just how many calories are in your favorite yogurt, burger, salad or latte and you won't need to sleuth it all out, write it all down and micro manage it.
You will get what time of day you tend to over eat or what time of day you feel lethargic and need a snack to maintain your energy. After trial and error, you will find the snacks to maintain your energy (a handful of almonds or an apple with some peanut butter). It will keep you from over indulging in a pinch so you can over indulge later when it really means something, like going out on a date or going out to lunch with a pal. If you grab a smoothie from Jamba or a burger at McDonalds, you will overdo your calories and probably not enjoy it nearly as much 'cause you were starving and needed to eat and didn't have the proper mind set to make the right decision and choose the right nutrients to get you through the next task and to the next meal. Deep breath.

I do this calorie counting thing because it's my job and I like it.
I also had many times during the day when I thought; I'm exhausted and grabbed a cup of coffee to keep me going instead of eating something that kept me calm and focused. I also went through the power bar phase and that over-processed gummy junk just made me constipated and angry that I wasted 200 calories on something to get me through a few hours when I could have enjoyed something bigger, fuller and tastier, if I was wiser about nutrients. I'm wiser now. And you don't have to make the same mistakes as I did.

You will probably only need to do it for a few weeks. It will plant the seed in your head about how many calories are in things and if you really want to spend your calories on what you are eating now or what you might want later, like a cupcake.

In addition, there is something called the thermodynamics of food, meaning what you eat might require the body more energy to digest.
A lot of processed food does not require a lot of energy. In turn, a lot of it turns to fat on the bod if you just sit around all day and aren't active. If you choose whole foods like greens, fruit, things from the earth, animal products, organic of course, the body uses more energy to digest it using it more for fuel as opposed to fun when it's more likely to go from the lips to the hips.

Eat the foods that give you fuel during the day. Add them up. Do the math. You might have some extra to enjoy that bit of chocolate at the end of the day.

Look at the labels in the grocery. The more ingredients, processing, unpronounceable names in a piece of food, the more likely it will do nothing for you.

Look for a balance of protein and carbs. Look for little sugar and if you need a sugar rush, grab an apple, the fiber will fill you up and it will give you the little bit of sugar to stave off the craving...if not until later.

Calories are not free. They are like cash in the bank. Spend it wisely and you will do well in the body economy. Be frivolous with it and you will find yourself on the calorie unemployment line.

Allow yourself all that you want, but keep it in your budget and exercise.

If you crave sweets and salts like I do, keep it naturally sweetened.

There are tons of chocolate bars, ice creme and the like that are sweetened naturally with agave or fruit sugars. You don't need stevia or white sugar to get you the same yummy high.

As for salt, I like baked potato chips. The less preservatives the better. The fewer ingredients I can't pronounce, the better.

I'm not saying this is all good either. Keep these indulgences on the DL.

Stick to fruits for your sweets, if you can and really check yourself before you wreck yourself at the Crispy Creme. The moment is over so fast.

Live your life and if you are like me and enjoy living to eat, make sure what you eat, if it's a nasty indulgence, you are going to appreciate every freekin' second of it.

A calorie is a calorie but also, not so much. Take in what you need and burn off the rest. It will keep your weight manageable and guilt free.

Fuel yourself with foods that keep your body strong and your mind clear.

Indulge yourself mindfully and monitor when you do. Count calories just to see, just for a few weeks. Knowledge is power.

I love when friends quiz me and ask me, ok, how many calories do grapes have, how 'bout the barbeque chicken pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, a gingerbread latte at Starbucks, a cookie from Mrs. Fields, a bowl of soup from Whole Foods, a Panini from Panera. I know the answer. It didn't take me a year. It took me a couple of weeks and that's it.

It makes going out to eat fun, not scary like I know you are thinking. And if you go out for a meal with me, my brows are not furrowed and me speech is not hesitant. No one will EVER say, the girl doesn't eat.
And I feel stronger and fit than ever.
Take that and eat it too.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Time for a snack.
Be good to yourselves.
Drink tons of water and call your mother.
Namaste,
Laurie