The Dreaded Holiday Weight Gain - Not Again!

Last fall I was in really great shape. My body fat percentage was dropping, my muscles were showing, I felt great all around - and then the holidays hit. In my mind, I was sticking to my normal routine, just a more relaxed version of it. But when I took my progress pics January 2nd, I was shocked at what I saw. The weight gain had snuck up on me over the holidays and I spent the first part of the year trying to undo the damage.

Foolishness.

Because the crazy thing is I didn't remember the desserts I "just had to have." I didn't feel any more rested because of the days I skipped my workouts. My instant gratification had long-term consequences that I had to deal with and remedy.

Sure, the weight I gained came back off - but why did I put myself in a position to have to lose it in the first place?

Not this year! This year I am 100% focused on my goals. No relaxed routines. No skipping workouts. No over-indulgent cheat meals. Business as usual, if not more focused than usual. Those treats add up and I have worked way to hard to go backwards now.

That's not to say that you shouldn't enjoy an occasional treat here or there. By all means, it's your fitness journey. But this is what I am doing this year.

So what are your plans? Have you thought about it?

If you want to stay on track or find a happy balance - be sure to check back her regularly over the next few weeks for my holiday survival tips!

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Frustrated? Confused? Discouraged? Me too! And it's ok.

If you have ever tried to change your body, you have probably experienced some frustrations. And if you haven't, you probably didn't stick with it very long or you're very lucky. It's a frustrating process. It goes well. Then it doesn't. You're working hard and then your motivation slips away. You're making progress and then you feel stuck. 

Believe me. I get it. 

This morning I woke up & was actually pleased with my progress as told by the mirror and progress pics. A little slower than I would have liked, but overall pleasing. Then, I got on social media. 

I follow a bunch of bikini and figure competitors. After a few scrolls the negative self talk began and I got discouraged because I still have a ways to go before I reach my goals. Yeah, completely disregarded this morning's happy feelings. 

The funk kinda stuck with me all day. I ate some snacks that weren't part of my meal plan. Clean snacks, but still not part of the plan. I was less motivated to start my workout. It really took a toll on me. 

Then I text my friend and told her I needed an intervention. 

She responded with some things to make me smile. And after all the positivity she said, "If 1-4 fail, blame your period. That sneaky hoe is always around the corner." Haha. Love her. Then she told me that I wasn't allowed to beat myself up anymore today. So I snapped out of it and had a productive workout. 

In the wise words of my dear friend, "Anyone who's ever worked toward any at least minimally ambitious goal has felt the spinning wheels feeling. Frustrating, but normal." 

So, whenever you are frustrated, discouraged, annoyed, or anything less than satisfied with your progress - know that it is normal. And it happens to everyone. Even trainers and health coaches. Heck, even the competitors that are all over social media. 

BUT it's what you do with that frustration that separates the people that reach their goals and the people that don't. Do you throw in the towel and quit? Or do you buckle down and figure out what changes, if any, you need to make to your program? One of these choices will get you to the results you want and one of these choices will leave you unfulfilled and unsuccessful. 

What choice will you make? 

I would love to work with any of you who are tired of spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Email me at jamar.paige@gmail.com. 

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Welcome to My Fitness Journey

I don't share a lot of details of my fitness journey. Sure, I talk about working out and eating healthy - but I don't generally go into the details of my highs and lows.  I don't discuss my struggles. I don't discuss the bad days or the "off" weeks. But what good does that really do?

Truth is - I struggle some days. Everything doesn't work out the way I want it to. Most notably, I still don't have [visible] abs.

So I have decided to share my journey with you all. The good. The bad. The ugly. 

Hopefully it will inspire someone to keep pushing towards their goals.   

This week I started a new plan. I want to lose some body fat and build muscle. Right now I am targeting my flutes & hamstrings, along with my arms. Obviously my abs are always a thought, but they aren't my target right now. 

I started doing more interval/HIIT training this week. I also changed to a new lifting plan. So far I like the new workouts. I also started using my heart rate monitor again. I love that thing! It makes me push harder every workout because I set goal caloric burn amounts for each workout. 

Nutrition wise I have been eating clean. I haven't been counting calories, but I have been eating all high quality, nutritious foods. However, yesterday I was thinking I was going to do a Whole 30 or Paleo challenge to detox my body and get back to the basics. Then I woke up overnight with an upset stomach. I am definitely starting The Whole 30 or a Paleo diet Sunday - when I meal prep for next week. 

Feel free to join me. 

That's it for now. I'll post at least once a week, but sometimes it'll be more frequent depending on what's going on. 

5 Tips for Sticking to Your Nutrition Goals During Football Season

1. Make sure you get your workout in! If you normally workout on game day, make sure you still get that workout in. Schedule it into your routine.

2.  Eat before the game or event & eat something healthy. That way, when you are around all the tempting unhealthy food you are already full and you're less likely to indulge at all, but you're definitely less likely to over indulge because you have already eaten.

3.  Take something with you or prepare something that you will eat. Don't be afraid of people looking at you like you're weird or asking you what you are doing. Just be confident in that you have goals and you want to stick to them. It's just a football game. No need to derail your goals.

4.  If you are going to partake, don't over do it! If you must have wings, get a couple and if there is a vegetable tray fill it up with vegetable or fruit - whatever is close to your normal eating habits.

5. Remind yourself of your goals & why they are important. Ask yourself, "Is this moment, or this day, or this football season worth setting myself back & undoing some of my hard work that I've put in?"


Watch the original post on YouTube:
5 Tips for Sticking to Your Goals During Football Season



And because I'm a Georgia fan ---

I really hope this was helpful! If it was, please share it with your friends, family & social networks. 

If you are interested in having me as your health & fitness coach, or if you are interested in what I do as a coach, email jamar.paige@gmail.com.

I would love to work with you to help you achieve your fitness & health goals or your personal & financial goals!

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No, You Can't Just Lose Weight In Your Stomach - But You Can Do This....

I frequently have people tell me they want to lose weight in one specific area, while keeping everything else the same. Unfortunately, our bodies don't work like that. You can't
tell your body where you want to lose fat and where you want to keep it.

When I started losing weight I was a 36D and had a lot of hips, thighs and booty. If I ha my way, I would have kept all of that and lost my belly. Well, kept most of it and just lost my belly.

Left: 2005
Right: 2014

But, when I started losing weight, I dropped to a C cup. And then [in what seemed like] one day I woke wearing a B! I'll be the first to say I was bummed. I miss my cleavage some days, but I don't miss everything else that came with it.

And don't get me on my booty. You see it!

Now it's waaay smaller. I've lost over 15 inches from there alone. Yeah. Believe it.

But before you get all bummed out - you can target those areas, by building the muscles - not holding onto fat. For the last few months I have been targeting my glutes. I wasn't ignoring all my other muscle groups, just hitting them a little harder and more often, to help them develop quicker.

My workouts consisted of a lot of squats & lunges to work on my butt. I was building the muscle, so that area"sits up." Some people do arm workouts because they want the appearance of muscles in their arms. The tricky part is that you have to lose fat in order for muscles to be visible and you can't really control where your body loses fat from first. .

So, unfortunately, my friends, you will have to lose fat from all over & genetics will decide where you lose it first and where you lose it last.

What's the best way to lose fat all over? Combining nutrition, cardio & strength training. Cardio helps to burn the fat, while strength training develops muscle and proper nutrition helps with fat loss and muscle development.

Nutrition, cardio and strength training are the keys for losing fat and gaining the muscle definition that you want.  

I really hope this was helpful! If it was, please share it with your friends, family & social networks. 

If you are interested in having me as your health & fitness coach, or if you are interested in what I do as a coach, email jamar.paige@gmail.com.

I would love to work with you to help you achieve your fitness & health goals or your personal & financial goals!

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3 Tips for Changing your Eating Habits

What you eat plays a HUGE roll in your health, your weight loss efforts and even your attempts to build muscle. It's also one of the areas that people struggle with the most on there fitness journeys. As you learn more about nutrition and as you learn more about your own body, it gets easier. But I see so many people on Facebook & Instagram who are getting started & seem to need a little help getting started. 

To help, here are my top 3 tips for changing your eating habits. 

1. Keep track of what you eat

2. Portion control 

3. Focus on eating more of the "good foods"

Number One: Keep Track of What You Eat 

This is important for so many reasons. One, if you are trying to lose weight, you have to create a calorie deficit. This just means you need to burn more calories than you eat/drink. The easiest way to guarantee that is to be aware of the calories you are eating. It's also important that you are eating enough calories because your body needs them. Apps like MyFitness Pal and LoseIt! take the guesswork out of tracking your food. They tell you how much you should be eating and help you reach those targets. 

Number Two: Portion Control

A lot of people completely cut out food groups when they want to lose weight. It isn't necessary though. You can still eat some of the foods you enjoy. It is important to learn portion control. The problem is usually that we eat way too much. If you learn portion control, you can still enjoy a variety of foods.

This might help: 

Number Three: Focus on Eating More of the "Good Foods" 

Now of course your diet cannot consist of a lot of pizza, hot wings, fried foods and sweets if you are wanting to be healthier or lose weight. But rather than dwelling on what you can't eat, think of all the things that you can eat. Build your eating habits around "good foods" and occasionally indulge in the less healthy foods. 

What are "good foods?" Meats that don't have a lot of visible fat, whole grains (wheat bread, brown rice, oats, etc), vegetables, fruit, yogurt, healthy fats (nuts, nut butter, olive oil, avocado, etc)

This might help:

I really hope this helps someone! If it did, please share it with your friends, family & social networks. 

If you are interested in having me as your health & fitness coach, email jamar.paige@gmail.com.

I would love to work with you to help you achieve your fitness and health goals!

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