1. Buy a cute, expensive outfit a size too small…..then hang it where you can see it in your closet, or better yet, next to the fridge or treadmill. Oh, and lose the receipt. You don’t want an “out”.
2. Compete…..with your neighbor, your bff, your enemy, the checkout girl at Shop Rite. Competition works. My clients in NYC live for it!
3. Come clean and get accountable. Tell everyone about your new quest to get into shape. They’ll constantly ask you about it and you’ll feel guilty not following through.
4. Try on a bathing suit. I tell all of my clients when they’re feeling extra confidant in March, to go try on a bathing suit in a department store. The fluorescent lighting along with pale skin is enough to make you sprint to the nearest gym.
5. Get a cute new workout outfit or cool new sneaks. When you look good, you feel like working out! And nothing gets you motivated more than a new pair of springy kicks!
6. Get a boyfriend or girlfriend. I’ll say no more.
7. Sign up for a race. The training schedule will make you workout daily.
8. Host an event or accept an invitation to a party. Most of the people that I’ve trained love looking great and getting in shape for weddings, bar mitzvahs, communions, etc. You want to look awesome at these events!
9. Book a vacation. Get in shape just so you can show friends and co-workers the pictures from your trip.
10. Post photoshopped pictures of yourself on Facebook and then book a reunion event with your old school friends. You’ll work hard to live up to the photos of yourself!
Haha. This is a funny one. But whatever works for you!!!
Hope these gave you some ideas to get motivated (and gave you a chuckle on Monday morning).
Using less fat is just part of the picture when it comes to healthful eating. For a long time fats have been considered a “no-no” in a healthy lifestyle, but since the late ‘80s, views have been changing. Now monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, found in foods like salmon, avocados, many oils, and nuts, are considered healthful. When these types of fats replace unhealthy saturated and trans fats, they can help reduce harmful LDL cholesterol levels and may lower your risk of stroke and heart disease.
This week’s recipe is a quick and easy avocado salad that is light, bright and bursting with flavor. Use it as a side dish for your favorite grilled protein or eat it alone. Either way, you’ll be healthier just eating it.
Boston Lettuce Avocado Salad with Lime Dressing
For the salad:
2 small to medium heads Boston lettuce, discard any wilted leaves
1 Hass avocado, pitted
1 large bunch scallions, thinly sliced
Leaves from 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
For the dressing:
2 limes, juiced
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon honey
About 20 grinds fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
Directions:
Pull the lettuce leaves from the head, rinse gently under cold water, and lay out on clean towels to dry. Use a spoon to remove the flesh in 1 piece from each half of the avocado. Thinly slice the avocado flesh into thin wedges.
Whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
Arrange the lettuce leaves on a plate and top with the avocado wedges, scallion, and cilantro. Finish with a healthy drizzling of the dressing.
…is to strength train. It really is the Fountain of Youth! It’s so hard to achieve such long lasting, positive and permanent results with any other workout method that I insist that all of my clients do some form. It is the most efficient way to positively change your body. And it doesn’t matter how old or young you are!
For kids it builds strong bones, reduces injury, increases metabolism, increase body image, confidence and self esteem and makes them better at a sports.
For adults it does all of that plus more! It reduces your risk of CV disease and diabetes, it reduces risk of osteoporosis, increases balance and gross motor skills, reduces back pain, improves mood, and more!
I’ve found it to be essential for moms to weight train because extra muscle fills out and tones sagging skin caused by pregnancy. It also makes moms look proportionate. For example, after giving birth to my daughter I was 128 lbs and a size 8. I am now the same exact weight and a size 4. Strength training “sucks everything in” (if you will) and makes your body look strong and toned!
After age 40 your body starts to lose a certain percentage of muscle every year, which gets accelerated after age 50. The more muscle you lose, the lower your metabolism. Ever wonder why your 70 year old mom/friend eats practically nothing and complains about gaining weight? It’s because she has no muscle. Start strength training and watch your metabolism soar!
And the great thing about strength training is that it doesn’t take a whole lot of time–and you’ll experience some results almost immediately. To start all you really need is 10 minutes, 3 days a week. You all can spare that!
I’m gonna help you do it. Check out my “Fit in 4″ video blogs every Wednesday and do them 3 times a week. They work.
Hey Everyone! I’m so psyched to post my first video blog. Every week I’ll give you 4 exercises that’ll propel you on your quest for an awesome body by summer. You can do these exercises on the opposite days of your regular strength training routine or use them as your routine. The whole routine should take no more than 10 minutes! Try to do them every other day, 2-3 days a week. Post any questions that you may have. I’ll be happy to answer!
Join the Fit Generation Revolution! Larysa DiDio and co-author Missy Chase Lapine of Sneaky Fitness will be guest blogging for Parenting Magazine’s Fit Generation!
For the next 12 weeks, Larysa will be sharing her tips and expertise on tween/teen fitness with Parenting Magazine and Moms everywhere.
It takes on average, about 8 weeks to reach or be well on your way to reaching your fitness goals. So if you want to look good for the summer ya gotta start today!! I’m going to help you. Here are your tools for this week:
1. Take a before picture.
2. If you’d like, also take circumference measurements with a flexible tape measure. Here are the sites:
Measurement sites:
Pull tightly but comfortably around body part
Chest- around your back and middle of your chest
Thigh- around thickest part of the thigh (the inner thigh)
calf- around the belly or thickest part of the calf
hips- stand with feet together and around the widest part of the hips
abs- around waist at belly button
arms- around the belly of the bicep or mid arm
3. Start keeping a food/exercise log.
4. EVERYDAY this week do at least 10 minutes of cardio (you can do more but it has to be at least 10). I don’t care what it is as long as you time it and it is continuous. Walking, running, biking, ellyptical, dancing to music, jumping jacks. Whatever, as long as your heartrate is up for those 10 minutes.
5. On Wednesday you’re going to start strength training and I’ll give you the quickie program.
6. Replace one meal a day with a shake. I put a scoop of protein powder (I like the brand “Whey To Go”), 8 oz of skim or soy milk and 1 T of ground flax seeds with lots of ice. That’s my favorite. If you don’t have protein powder use 1 C of vanilla or plain or lemon or coffee yogurt. You can add 1/2 C of frozen berries if you’d like. I definitely recommend the flax seed though. Try to add it if you can. If you can’t make your own shake you can drink Myoplex Lite Ready to Drink shakes, Stonyfield Smoothie or Special K Protein Shakes. It doesn’t matter which meal you choose it for, just pick one!
I’ll be in touch. Good luck and post any questions!!
Welcome to the first installment of my weekly blog! It’s my hope to make your culinary and dietary lives a little easier and healthier. I’ll be providing quick recipes, cooking tips, and whatever else that I think will help you all on the foodie road of life. Now, on with the show…
Do you ever find yourself craving something crispy and salty, but don’t want to reach for that bag of potato chips or any other fried junk food? Well, the answer is kale. Kale chips to be exact. Kale is a member of the cabbage family that is highly nutritious with powerful anti-oxidant properties. It contains beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin , is reasonably rich in calcium, and is considered to be anti-inflammatory. With all these great properties, why wouldn’t you want to eat kale?
Following is a recipe for Baked Kale Chips. These chips make a great a great healthy snack option and will help you feel like you’re cheating when you’re not.
Baked Kale Chips
1 bunch Kale
Sea Salt
Cooking Spray Oil
1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. Strip the tender leaves of the kale from the fibrous center stalk. Rip these leaves into random sizes ranging from 1”-2” in diameter.
3. On a foil lined baking sheet, arrange the kale pieces so they don’t overlap each other.
4. Spray face-up side of kale pieces with a light coating of Cooking Spray and then sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Bake chips for 2-3 minutes on each side and remove from oven.
6. Using a spatula, flip pieces over, respray, and sprinkle with sea salt.
7. Bake for another 2-3 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
8. Remove from oven, let cool, and enjoy!
You can store the chips in a air-tight container for up to 3 days, but I doubt they’ll last that long. If the chips soften while being stored, place them in the over or toaster-oven for a minute or two to re-crisp them.
Make these delicious, fiber rich chips a staple in your dietary regimen and enjoy knowing you’re being health conscious and fit. And one step closer to your fitness goal.
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, your personal trainer all use it. It’s called accountability and it works. Studies have shown that diets and fitness regimes are much more successful when you’re held accountable to someone or something. How do you get accountable on your own? Start a journal! Health professionals and athletes swear by them. You can do it on your phone or computer or in a notebook. It’s simple. Write down everything you eat and drink and the time that you do it. Also write down the exercise that you do. Keep it for a least a week and peruse it at the end. You’ll start seeing a pattern of habits that may be sabotaging your quest to get healthy. In addition, my clients have reported that they’ve consumed less calories when they have to write it down, because they couldn’t bear to see it on paper! Here are two of the most popular iPhone apps: Lose It! (allows you to track your caloric intake) and Gym Buddy (allows you to log information for each exercise that you do). Or buy a small notebook that you can keep in your briefcase or purse. You can also download a journal from this site:
Feel free to post me any questions you may have!
The first and most essential part of your new fitness regime is to have proof that you in fact needed to embark on one. When the advertisements show you the “before” and “after” pics of a person who has tried their program or their product, they know what they’re doing. That’s not to say that their programs don’t work or they’re trying to falsify their claims (mine definitely work) but we going to try to highlight your achievements as best as possible. Of course we all want to look great in pics and it’s really hard to try to not to, but, alas, your before picture is no place for beauty or well grooming. Here are tips for taking the “best” before picture:
1. Use harsh lighting. Fluorescent is best
2. Wear little to no make up
3. Wear your most ill fitting bathing suit. A couple of sizes too small is best
4. Take 3 pictures: one straight on with feet slightly apart, a profile (no need to stand up straight), and a rear picture again with feet slightly apart
5. No tans necessary
6. Hair should be slightly messy and unadorned
7. Kind of smile but not really (you’re not happy with your body)
Now, you can choose to keep these pics in the privacy of your memory card or feel free to share them with me and my Facebook Fit Club. We’re all friends here! I love before pics and later on, especially the after ones!!!
Hey everyone! I’m so psyched to be starting my Facebook Fit Club. Over the past year I’ve received hundreds of emails on Facebook asking me fitness questions and advice on how to live a healthier life. I’m hoping that my site serves as a down to earth, palatable tool that will help you reach your goals. My tips are meant for real people not for professional athletes that have 8 hours a day to spend in the gym. I’ve been working with people for over 20 years and have so many helpful tips and suggestions that work and produce results! You’ll be meeting some of my real clients along the way! I’ll share my thoughts, ideas, motivation, and experience with you in your journey to get fit! I’m so excited for you to join my group and I look forward to hearing from you!
Yours in health and buffness,
Larysa
By the way, you can also catch me on Twitter @LarysaFit!
