Questions from my Husband...

 “Which Are You?”, he asked.



“Nutrition Consultant? Personal Trainer? Motivational Coach? Pick one and become the best possible expert at that.”

“I don't wanna pick ONE. I can't”,  I said.


Those annoying and probing questions fortuitously shaped the next few years of my quest to become a fitness expert.


In the trifecta of weight loss, particularly fat loss, I needed to comprehend and convey all three.   It was (and still  is) the only way to set my clients up for success.



I see fat loss as a three step process ~ each step is an interwoven and integral piece of the process.



Mindset.



Nutrition.



Exercise.



Yes, All Three!



Mindset~In fat loss, you must first be ready and willing to push through any adversity that you may find along your way.  Often the fear of losing weight has us sabotaging our "best made plans".  Mind over matter is the only way to push past that sticky point and any other arising problems that stand in the way of you getting to your goal.



Nutrition~To maximize fat loss, you must eat correctly and you must eat “within the lines” 90% of the time. This means 6 small meals per day x 7 days=42 meals per week. You can eat 10% cheat meals (a.k.a-outside the lines); At 42 "meals"  that's only eating 4 cheats per week.  Make em big cheats because a skipped meal is considered a cheat.



Exercise~You must exercise in a fat burning way. Straight cardio routines are not going to get you to your goal, so push that outdated fitness theory out of your mind.   In order to burn fat, you must build muscle.  Strength training two to three times per week and doing an interval-cardio styled workouts two to three times a week will have you  fat-free in no time!



These are the universal rules of fat loss, successful weight management and an overall healthy life.



So, you see Mister, I couldn't pick just ONE and stick with it.



I'll continue to concentrate on being a  masterful expert at all three ;-) 


"What's that?  Write a book on what I learned?" 


"Huh.  Now maybe, just maybe, you have a good idea there!"

The New You Can't Weight in 2012!

Hello Readers!

Newer to writing I am., but age old message I bring. Time for a New Year. Auld Lang Syne. Out with the old, (Th)in with the New. Time for a NEW YOU! I have some suggestions to help you to start 2012 right:

1) Love yourself. Love yourself at your current weight. Self loathe is not a positive emotion and can hold you back from your ultimate goal. See yourself at your desired weight. To help you do this go to the website www.weightmirror.com

2) Don't DIE-t. Weight loss does not work in the long term. Instead, look at the food you eat as a fuel that your body needs. Look at eating as a lifestyle. Make it a game to see what fuel your body needs for the activity it is doing.

3) Nutrition is primary, Nutrition is primary. Exercise is a nose finish secondary. Investigate the “clean eating” philosophy. Basically, eat what comes from mother nature. If you can envision it as a natural source, you can eat it. If it is processed, keep it off your palate. Example-white bread vs. whole wheat bread. Whole wheat bread is the better choice because the white bread was processed to become white. One little known fact is that even food labels stating “no trans fat” may be a product that contains trans fat. This is because the item has less than .5 grams of trans fat and the manufacturer can claim “no trans fat” . To circumvent this, look at the list of ingredients. If the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” are on the label, it has trans fat. Avoid foods with any trans fat.

4) Seek out a personal trainer. This isn't necessary for everyone, but if you want to lose fat or learn how to exercise, I think that this should be a priority. Think about it. In the past, you may have purchased a lot of weight loss books that became shelf-help instead of self-help books. That is a lot of wasted money. Do yourself a favor, set yourself up for success. Bring in an expert who can guide you through the process of proper exercise and nutrition for your goals. I do believe that if you invest in yourself and your well-being, it motivates you and inspires you to continue to live a healthy lifestyle. Exercise does not have to be awful. I think that a good trainer is imperative to everyday health and happiness. Look for a certified trainer who incorporates corrective exercises in their exercise program.

5) Finally, some “tips” that everyone likes to see in these columns-I'll call these ”fat loss” tidbits. These tips do not work in a vacuum (see item 3 above), but, together with proper nutrition and exercise, they will help! ***

+ Eat multiple meals (at least 6) per day. Have a protein source at each meal.
+ Reduce Carb Intake.
+ Do Interval training combined with resistance training.
+ Add Omega 3 (cold water fish) and Omega 6 (nuts and seeds) to your diet.

6) If you fall down and miss a day of exercise, eat junk, don't rest or do something destructive on the the “New You Plan”, refer to item 1 above). Forgive yourself and move on. Don't give up!

Laura Clancy is a NPTI Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Nutritional Consultant who lives in Arlington, VA. She is currently a member of the prestigious Coaching Group of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita Valley, CA. She can be reached at jaclancy@aol.com or 703)209-3085. ***Always consult a physician before beginning a diet and exercise program.

I Went Back to Mayberry

(disclosure~written May 2010)

I went back to Mayberry this weekend.


I did not see Andy, Barney, Opie or even the beloved Aunt Bee.


I saw Lisa, Leslie, Chris, Sarah, Anna, Liz, Tim, Georgia, Ed, Stephanie, Stan the man, Carol, Liz, Scott and David. We ran/walked a 5 k in memory of our lost classmate, Susie. I saw her wonderful parents and her sisters.

For reunions or other related events we always gather in the town I will call the 'burg. It has become my co-ordinate 00. It is my Mayberry.


I always love going back to my Mayberry.

It recharges me.


It centers me.

It grows me.

I enjoy the drive down there. It is a moderately quiet 2 1/2-3 hour drive. I play eighties hits on the radio and pretend that I am cool and 22.


I anticipate the laughter I will have with a classmate over shared memories.

I probably smile the entire 150 miles.

These weekends are like three idioms in one for me. They are 1) a piece of cake, 2) selling like hotcakes and 3) icing on the cake.


Basically, for me, this semi-annual going “home” is like a sweet delicious processed carb. One that won't make me fat with weight, but burst at the seams with happiness and fulfillment.


I have heard a few past classmates who still live there lament that they “never left”. As if they just happened to stay. I disagree, they chose to live there, and they chose to live in a place where home and heart really do seem to be one and the same.


These good friends stayed and in my fortune they have kept the traditional 'burg the way it really is supposed to be...full of them! They should be proud and happy to have lived their lives there. They stayed at the foundation where I often long to be. They are grounded.

I tell them, truthfully, that I envy them. What bliss to stay in a place so warm and familiar. To “run into” each other and be at arm's length to another classmate.

That is over-simplifying their lives, but it's the idyllic way that I see living in that town. I know that they have had the good, the bad and the ugly that we all experience in a large city or a small town. But, somehow, life seems far more normal and nice there than in oft- icy Northern Virginia.

The 'burg is not at all like it was when I left it 27 years ago. NOT AT ALL.  

 My tact?  

 I just ignore that it's not the same and plan events at our past local haunts. For me, the “New Town” doesn't exist (okay, I was coerced to go there late Saturday night and to my chagrin, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.) But, it didn't have the feel of the Green Leaf, Sals or the Blue Rose.

I didn't want to see the town as it is now. I wanted the feeling I had when I was 13 or 18.

Everyone should take time out to get in touch with their inner teen (except of course, teenagers who are trying like hell to not be a teen). It is a gift that they can give themselves; one that most adults don't realize is such a powerful experience.

Driving home, exhausted, exulted and recharged, I heard the song Rumors by the Timex Social Club. 'Memba that song? Some words from that wonderfully wicked song are: “How do rumors get started, they're started by the jealous people and They get mad seein' somethin' they had and somebody else is holdin'.....Look at all these rumors surroundin' me every day I just need some time, some time to get away from From all these rumors, I can't take it no more ….Hear the one about Michael, some say he must be gay I try to argue, but they said if he was straight he wouldn't move that way......”


Perhaps my friends have lived wonderful and productive lives in a town sometimes full of hateful gossip and whisperings and maybe that was what was too difficult to deal with. Maybe the town felt too intrusive for those living there. I still come back to this ~ I would trade my (often) loneliness in NOVA for that intrusiveness many times...


I thought about everyone in my class and everyone from the 'burg that I knew. Any one of us may have been the center of some of those rumors over the last 27 years. Even those of us that moved away. No matter what the rumor, it didn't matter. I loved them all and loved being one of them. 

I loved every quick moving moment I spent there with very special people. I guess it proves that in the end......

You can take the girl out of Mayberry, but you can't take the Mayberry out of the woman (I have become).

J.A.A.P

You an take the Accountant outta her job title, but you can't take the humor outta the Accountant

I have HAVE have to write this.

Albeit short.

Many years ago, in a lifetime, far far away, I was an accountant. I dreamed of writing books about Auspicious Auditors, Flirtatious Financiers, and Bodacious Beancounters.

This may be in part because I am a great lover of alliteration, but also is because I wanted to shed favorable light on those lovable accountant types.

I worked in a large CPA firm, and those accountants were funny. After my necessary two year stint in a CPA firm, I went into corporate as well as non-profit accounting until I left to raise a family.

When my children got older, I did myself and my children a favor and went back to work doing something that I loved and was able to manage time-wise. I left ye old debits and credits behind.

No more puke green accountant paper in my life.

At this stage, I barely handle my own bills and financial statements, much less other people's.

Yesterday, though, I was confronted (confounded) by an accounting joke that I created.....and it cracked me up SO much that I wanted to share it with you and shout it out loud.

Many of you will not understand what the hell I am saying.

I don't care.

It's funny.

AND....it's what got us into a lot of financial binds that we are all dealing with now.

So, what is it, you ask?

Accountants are no longer adhering to G.A.A.P. (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).

They are now using (and have been using for some time) J.A.A.P. (my term for Jack Ass Accounting Principles. )

Aha....now you know....and perhaps, just perhaps a few of you are cracking up.....

You Got Injured Doing What?

Okay, now THIS is a funny story.....


Of course, it is funny in my mind....let's see if you think it's hysterical too......


I am not going to worry about dangling participles or the like in this writing.


Today, I have run outta time to really comb through and nit pick this blog. I won't get RID of grammatical errors...they will stay....


Here's the funny story.....brevity will WILL will prevail.....


I am preparing for another Power Lifting meet.


I have been preparing pretty hard for the last six weeks.


The competition is on October 29th in Orlando Florida, near the entrance to Sea World.


If it does not go well, I can always show up at Sea World in my beloved singlet and ask for a job. Fortunately, I do expect it to go well, so I plan to continue my permanent residency in Virginia.


Focus pocus: I'm back from my reverie......


In the last six weeks, I have: taken professional photos for my seminars/workshops and related book. I met with my mentors, Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove in Santa Clarita, California. I attended Christine Kane's Uplevel your Business Gold mastermind in Asheville, North Carolina.....


...and then there's the prosaic bits about cooking, cleaning and raising children.....


Boiling it down, I have been pleasantly busy.....


Last week, I drove to Asheville, N.C. With my friend and colleague, Dana Malon owner of Soulfit Women ™.


I have lived in Virginia a majority of my life. I have lived in both Southern (preferred) and Northern Virginia and often make the journey North to South to North.


Until last January, I had never made the Westward journey through Virginia.


Now I have, and I am here to report that it is a long-a__ way.......


Let's put it this way, Virginia is very bottom heavy and is rotund at the border with North Carolina.


I did the driving. Dana allowed me to drive her car.


The 7 hour and 15 minute drive to Asheville, NC was uneventful. We made two very quick stops.


The drive home, on Wednesday night, was unpleasant. The unending torrential rain made the driving conditions pretty difficult.


We stopped once. We got gas, used the restroom and bought a lottery ticket.


One stop in 7 hours and 45 minutes may not have been enough for me.


I woke up with a little pain in my right calf on Friday morning.


I don't normally have calf pain, so it bothered me (a little), but I pressed on.


I even did my last lower body workout before the big meet next Saturday.


On Saturday, I woke up hobbling.


On Sunday, I had more of a hobble and began to worry about DVT's. This is deep vein thrombosis, which I know I am genetically prone to have. I had a Pulmonary Embolism once, and have worked hard to prevent another one from stopping my life.


Later that afternoon, upon further reflection, I began really pushing my leg into the discomfort zone. Walking without a hobble and insisting on full knee extension. I told myself that I did not have a problem and that my leg was healed.....I was my own Ernest Angley....be healed!


It began immediately getting better.


Today, in a little bit of pain, I am still not completely sure what is wrong with my calf.


Here is what I am doing about it.... I have made two doctor's appointments (ART™ and Primary Care)


and perhaps more importantly, I am envisioning this complete recovery from.....


and this IS the funny part.


A injury obtained from driving a car from North Carolina to Virginia......


I drove for 7 hours and 45 minutes with my foot in a plantarflexed state and I got injured.


Folks, THAT'S funny.....


I lift heavy weights weekly. I bench over 130 lbs. I squat over 230 lbs. I deadlift at least 275 lbs.


….and I got injured driving.


Iron-nee this, batman ;-)

change

Forget: "Brother, can you spare a dime?"

Don't worry about women's lib and inflation: "Sister, can you spare a quarter?"

Think about this: Can you afford NOT to change?

Transitions

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes......

June is what I consider a transition month.

Out with school and in with summer break and living carefree light-long days.

In early June, many recitals, awards ceremonies, and graduation ceremonies are held.

This marks the culmination/celebration of all of the hard work children have incurred over the school year.

They've learned so much during those nine months, that it's time to polish that knowledge and show the world their shining talents.

All that is learned from September to June is wrapped up in Innisbrook wrapping paper, complete with bow.

This is an important transition. It is time to end this year's learning and begin anew next fall.

It occurred to me, this year in particular, that transitions are a necessary (and scary) occurrence.

Without transition, nothing is gained and life remains stagnant.

Transitions are SO difficult for me that I grump-a-lot with my (saintly) husband and (God-bless-them) children when I am on the cusp of a change.

I know that transitions are difficult for most people. That is why some people will stay in a despised relationship, job, [name your nemesis] rather than venture on into the great unknown. I am sure that you or a “friend of yours” has lived through the difficulty of that type of decision at least once.

It's June and my son just graduated from a school that he attended for 9 years.

Major life and minor life changes have happened to our family since the first day we began this 9 year journey.

Laugh lines have been formed.

Gray hairs have been concealed.

Beloved family members are no longer here.

What a bitter-sweet victory treat we parents ingested at the graduation ceremony.

Sweet to see the 27 kids say good-bye to each other, the faculty and the administration. Bitter(ly sad) to see the 27 kids say good-bye to each other and the faculty and the administration.

Perhaps Aristotle describes it best. "The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."

I (and he) will miss everything that he experienced at the school.

It was a wonderful experience.

I have watched him grow from a first day kindergartner to a rising high schooler.

A majority of his life and 20% of my life have been lived while attending Westminster School.

But, the time has come for all good girls and boys to go unafraid to their next life adventure.

This transition to High School reminded me so much of my own transition to college from a High School that still evokes very fond memories of experiences and friendships. You can imagine that I am mushy, gushy and slushy at this passage.

For some reason that move from High School to college was not too scary for me. I think that I didn't know to be afraid. I really missed my High School friends (none finer), but was ready to embrace the next faze (pun intented).

After that, change got a little scary. My first auditing job...daunting. My first corporate accounting job...confusing. My first day at a non-profit....boring.

I then ventured into the baby raising (sometimes hair raising) experiment. The outcome of that endeavor remains to be seen....stay posted.

Now, I am venturing into building my own business empire (waist).

It's all change.

It's all scary.

It's all good.

This month, I have another change. It's inevitable, too.

I add another year to my age.

That's a change that SHOULD BE scary.

But, like everything else.....I embrace the change.....welcome it.

Time may change me, but I can't trace time.....

Without change there can be no intellectual, spiritual, or emotional growth.

So, turn and face the strange (even if you are just looking in a mirror)....feel free to put on your dance shoes.....and remember there is nothing permanent in life but ch-ch-change.....