Twitter topic of the day: Do you rely on someone else to keep you on track with your diet & exercise?

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionoftheday is do you rely on someone else to keep you on track with your diet and exercise?

Sometimes relying on yourself is too hard. You've failed time and again to be consistent with your diet & exercise. It's not easy I know! But who says you have to do it alone? There's no rule that says you have to go through your diet & exercise program alone! In fact, having someone to push you and hold you accountable can usually be the breakthrough you need! Face it, we all know enablers and detractors who will not help us reach our goals no matter how much we'd like to count on them. You start dieting & exercising, they tell you that you don't need it or shouldn't be doing that. They take up your time. Tempt you with food. They very well may have good intentions but it is not in line with your goals so you need to move away from those that aren't helping you. If you can do it yourself, excellent! But if you need help to stay motivated & on track, do yourself a favor & find someone who will do that. It could be the best thing you do for yourself. Together with your new support system, you can work as a team towards your goals. Find someone you can trust & above all is reliable. You need someone who will motivate you and keep you on track so look for that. Don't just look for someone to hang out with or pass time with, you are looking for a person with the purpose of helping you. Stay focused. If they know something about dieting/exercise, then even better. In fact that's preferable so they can help you with plateaus & expectations. Together with your training partner, you two can work on mutual goals or goals that one of you has set. Work as a team. Work hard. Now you are relying on someone else so make sure that person has your goals in mind and holds you accountable and pushes you towards them. When you can't do it alone and those around you can't or won't help, then it's time to enlist help. No shame in that. Quite the opposite! At the end of the day, you are trying to better yourself, your self-confidence, your fitness and your health. No shame in that. EVER.

#Quote of the day: Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

Twitter topic of the day: What motivates you to diet & exercise?

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionoftheday is what motivates you to #diet & #exercise?

Having something that motivates you along your diet and exercise journey is important. Whether it's a dress or pants that you want to fit into or even something so simple as being able to go up stairs without breathing hard... You have to have that motivating factor that you can set your sights on to keep you focused along the way. Right now, list your motivating factors & take a good look at them. Isolate the ones that are for you and your health. Give those priority. The motivating factors u do for you are the ones that will keep u going. You may want to do it for family, kids, etc. but do it for you 1st. Give yourself no reasons to fail. If your motivation to diet & exercise is for someone else then you may resent it. You have to do it for u. If you fail then you have no one to blame but yourself! Are you going to let yourself down? I sure hope not. Remove the motivating factors that are for the wrong reasons and replace them with the ones that will give you the most benefits. Then go out there and WORK!! Give it your best effort. Continuously evaluate and adjust your motivating factors as you progress. That is the only way to keep progressing with your goals. Find those things that motivate u and when they no longer motivate u, replace it! Find your motivators and then MOTIVATE and GET TO WORK!! If u find that you can't motivate yourself then do yourself a favor & find someone who can! There are no excuses other than the ones u make.

#Quote of the day: The most important thing about motivation is goal setting. You should always have a goal. - Francie Larrieu Smith

Twitter Q&A

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

Today is Q&A Friday!! {cue the applause} so ask me your #diet & #exercise questions!

Q: Do I need weights to workout? A: No. Weights help but there are other forms of resistance u can use-bands, yoga/pilates balls, your body.

Q: What's the best cardio I can do? A: Any cardio is good cardio. Find what best fits you & wll keep you coming back then do it consistently.

Q: Best way to overcome plateau? A: Be consistent & push harder to force your body past its current comfort level. Up the intensity.

Q: How do you train someone online? A: Innovative online training system lets me train you & get your feedback to keep progress coming.

Q: What do you train with? A: I train with different methods at different times with P90X, weights, cardio & martial arts.

Q: How do I stay motivated? A: You have to stay focused on your goals and you have to WANT it. Keep your eye on the prize. Tunnel vision!

Q: I lost 10 pounds and gained most of it back. What did I do wrong? A: You did the actions but didn't adopt them as habits, so reverted.

Q: What is your top tip? A: Be consistent! You have to show up & work! Even if u think u aren't making progress, you are... on the inside.

Twitter topic of the day: Holidays, weekends & exercising

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionoftheday is are you on holiday or using the holiday or weekend or other excuse to take off from your diet & exercise program?

With the holiday season coming upon us, now is the time to buckle down on your diet & exercise program! If you allow yourself to continue to slack off & not establish good new habits then you know what's going to happen come the holidays right? You're going to eat all that good holiday cooking, gain weight, feel guilty & miserable at the weight gain & make a new year's resolution. Then you know what happens after that New Year's resolution right? You make a committment that you keep for about 2 weeks before the cycle begins all over again and another year of fat & excuses rolls on. NOW is the time to make that committment to yourself. BEFORE the holiday season starts & all your ready made excuses start. NOW is the time to learn what foods are good for you to eat so you can eat well during the holidays and not gain weight. NOW is the time to learn discipline yourself into also exercising consistently so that if you do eat more holiday food, you can work it off. You have to start sometime and the truth is that there will always be some ready made EXCUSE for you not to begin. Stop the excuses! Time is ticking. The time is right to discipline yourself before the holidays. There's enough time to build good habits before then. Don't wait until the holidays are upon you to try to start because you know that hasn't worked out for you before. You CAN make it through the holidays without weight gain and you CAN even make progress with your weight loss & fitness goals.

#Quote of the day: Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can. - unknown

Twitter Q&A

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness


Today is Q&A Friday! That means you get to ask me your #diet & #exercise questions for the next 20 minutes or so! Go! ;)

Q: What is your #1 motivation tip? A: You have to decide that YOU want it & want to change. If you want it you will be & stay motivated!

Q: How can I eat better at work? Everything around here is fast food. A: That's easy! Prepare your food at home & bring it with you to work!

Q: How long have you been training people? A: Informally for over 20 years! Formally for about the past 5 years.

Q: Can I train at home as well as I would at a gym? A: The gym has more equipment but you can train very well at home with little equipment.

Q: How can I lose my stomach fat? A: Belly fat is stubborn fat. It will take effort & patience. Do cardio to burn calories. Restrict carbs.

#Quote of the day: If you only have one smile in you, give it to the people you love. - Maya Angelou

Twitter topic of the day: Do you shy away from exercise because of the soreness?

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionoftheday is do you shy away from exercise because of the killer soreness you get from it?

A lot of people shy away from working out because of the pain. They feel they can't take the soreness but they don't understand what it means. The soreness comes from muscles that are being pushed. Muscles that haven't been pushed in a while or pushed beyond the normal. The burn that comes during the workout is a result of lactic acid buildup. That is different from the soreness felt the next day(s) later. The workout burn goes away within seconds after stopping an exercise. Given enough time between sets you can use it to your benefit. But that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the soreness you feel the next day the minute you try to get out of bed. Here's what that soreness should tell you- you had a good workout!! You pushed yourself. You gave your muscles a wakeup call. As long as it's just exercise soreness that you're feeling then you should look at it as positive feedback from your body on your workout. Do you take a day off because you're sore? NO! Work through it. With a proper warmup, the soreness will go away as blood rushes into muscles. The way to get your body past the soreness phase is by powering through. Soreness can last from a day to a few days but it does go away. Do you know what you have after the soreness goes away? Besides relief, you will have stronger muscles. You have to keep at it. Your muscles rebuild and build more / tone up as you rest so the soreness tells you to rest the muscle. This is why sleep & recuperation is so important. Your body tears itself down while exercising and builds itself back up during rest. Don't shy away from the soreness. Don't shy away from the effort. Your health is at stake. Power through and just get it done. Make soreness a friend and use it to learn about your muscles and how your body reacts to exercise. No soreness? You're taking it too easy! Go get it! Challenge yourself! Push yourself and embrace the soreness as a sign of a job well done. Make sure you're smart about it. You want to push yourself but not to the point of injuring yourself. If you are sore for more than 2-3 days, then u pushed too much in your last workout for that sore bodypart. Pull back in your next workout. You can learn a lot about your body and exercise through how sore you are. Your body will let you know. ;)

#Exercise tip: Warmup & stretch before your workout. Warmup first with light cardio, then stretch the bodyparts you will be working on.

#Quote of the day: The pride you gain is worth the pain. - Dennis Ogilvie

Twitter topic of the day: Don't psyche yourself out of dieting & exercising

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionfortheday is do you psych yourself out of dieting and exercising?

Get out of your own way! Dieting and exercising is hard. It's not easy or fun to lose weight. It's true but you knew that already so now go from there. Don't make excuses to slack off on your diet or not do it all, same for exercise. One day off will become two, etc. Stop the cycle! You know it's going to be work to diet and work off the pounds that took you months & even years to pack on. So dig down deep & attack it. Find motivation in the mirror, your clothes, whatever it takes to get the job done day after day. Eventually the motivation will come! You have to allow yourself the time to get to that point where you can start results that will feed your motivation! Be patient. Unrealistic expectations are the detours to your success. You are getting fitter & healthier just by dieting & exercising. Don't psych yourself out from dieting & exercising, psych yourself up instead to get it done. You can do it! if you can't do it on your own, then do what you need to do to find someone who can psych you up and motivate you from day to day! Finding someone to help hold you accountable to your dieting & working out can sometimes be the difference between success or failure. Just make sure you find someone who is not going to derail your diet and exercise program and that will always push you forward. Go for it! No excuses. Excuses when it comes to #diet & #exercise will just keep you in the same present you are now. Embrace your future!

#Quote of the day: Self-trust is the first secret of success. - Ralph Waldo Emerson