Don’t you just love the New Year? It’s full of new opportunities, new enthusiasm, and new commitments to change your life for the better. One common goal around the New Year is to get healthier through exercise. If starting a new exercise routine is part of your self-improvement plan this year, here are seven tips to help make it easier.

Setbacks happen to everyone. In fact, it is extremely improbable that you’re going to achieve any goals without a few setbacks. That’s fine! Here are three tips to help you handle the setbacks if and when they do occur. Tip #1: Acknowledge them. Stuffing the setback under the rug, so to speak, isn’t healthy. Along with the setback being repressed and ignored, there are likely feelings[...]

Journaling is a fantastic tool to track your progress. How you journal is highly personal. Here are some common journaling methods: 1. Track your day with details Many people don’t enjoy journaling their thoughts and feelings. If this is you, consider journaling the details of your goal instead. For example, you can track the following information: • What did you eat? • How long did[...]

Who says that the cold weather means you stay indoors? There is no reason why the winter can't be a fun time for family just like the summer. Here are some ideas for having fun in the winter air.

1. Go sledding. The big hill could be in your back yard or somewhere else in the neighborhood. Grab the sleds and head for the top. Sledding is one thing that adults can do and still feel like a kid. Everyone loves the feeling of their heart in their throat as they go speeding off towards the bottom of the hill. Hardware stores sell out of sleds so get yours early.

You've worked all year to get in shape. It could have been a New Year’s resolution that got you started. When winter hits, the weather gets cold and gloomy. Learn to ignore the gloom and doom and stay on track to better health. During the warmer weather, it is easy to get physical activity. We work in the garden, go for walks in the evening, bike ride[...]

Have you heard the saying, “We are what we eat?” It’s true enough. But, we also change how we feel according to what we eat. Here are some examples of five foods that can alter our moods—for the better. Eating comfort foods makes us feel better. Our brain releases endorphins as we enjoy every satisfying bite. Did you know that? Food makes us feel good.[...]

I'll let you in a little secret the diet companies absolutely do not want you to know: the bottom line is, it doesn't matter what diet plan you follow! Take just about any diet plan, figure out the calories in one of their typical meal plans and chances are you'll see a daily calorie count of around 1400 - 1800 calories for women and around 1800 - 2100 calories for men. That creates a nice moderate calorie deficit to lose weight for just about anybody.

Okay, before we start with the blueprint, I want everybody to keep this in mind: it's not "weight" you want to lose, but "fat." Everybody calls it "weight loss," but, believe me, you don't want to be losing muscle in your quest for a thinner body. I'll be using terms like weight loss and lose weight, but I really mean "fat loss" and "losing fat."

What I've got for you is a 5 step "blueprint" to lose weight by counting calories, covering how many calories you should eat in a day to lose to carb/protein/fat ratios, and more.

If you grab a pen and a piece of paper to write down numbers as you read along, you'll have a calorie counting plan by the end of it all.

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My mom makes the most amazing Christmas cake in the world; it's been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. First, she mixes up a light, fluffy, vanilla cake mix, pours it into the pans and then pops it in the oven. After it's been baked, she stacks the cake in two layers with whipped cream spread generously between each layer. She then pours on red and green Jell-O, which gets soaked up inside the cake. Next, whipped cream is smothered all the way around for frosting. And finally, she garnishes it with red and green sprinkles. A few red and green-striped candy canes are stuck in the top as the finishing touch, and off it goes to the refrigerator so it can be served chilled later.

Now let me tell you, as a bodybuilder, I have a lot of discipline. But when that moist, delicious, red and green, Jell-O-filled, whipped-cream covered cake is sitting on the table in front of me on December 25th, it takes every ounce of my willpower to keep from calling it a "VERY high carb day" and devouring numerous very large slices.

Despite the temptation, I don't "pig out" nor do I deprive myself. Instead, I'm content with eating my single piece, savoring every mouthwatering bite, all the while repeating my mantra, "Nothing tastes as good as being lean feels."

With the three pronged attack in place, you stand a much better chance than ever this year of avoiding holiday pounds. When the tree is back in the attic (or at the local dump) and we've all returned to work, wouldn't it be nice to look at yourself in the mirror and congratulate yourself on not putting on a single pound? It can happen, as long as you stick to[...]