So many people see things as black and white, all or nothing. It is this mentality that sets us up for failure if we are trying to lose weight or manage our weight for a lifetime.  Remember, anyone with a gun to their head will lose weight if they are forced to, but how many successfully manage it for years and years with just a normal, healthy 3-5 pound fluctuation? Don't you all agree, to catch a silent weight gain at 3 to 5 pounds is easier than ignoring it till it becomes 20-30 + pounds, right? Here is a personal example of the "gray" area in weight management for life....My birthday is this coming tuesday (yay! 41!) My husband was taking me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant last night for my birthday dinner.  I knew i wanted to eat and drink what i wanted, so....i hit the damage control button yesterday.  Here is what i did.  I ate just a bit lighter, and very healthy in the morning, took my dog Amber for a 2 mile walk. After a light lunch, I went myself on a 3 mile power walk.  So by dinnertime, i had walked 5 miles and had calories to spare so i could enjoy my dinner and 2 glasses of my favorite wine without guilt!  Yes, I had some of that great restaurant soft, warm white bread with butter, yes, i had a salad, and my seafood & zitti entree was delicious! Then I had a dessert, a decadent but slender flute of vanilla gelatto and fresh black cherries! Now today, phase 2 of damage control.....yes it continues.  Today I took again my dog Amber for her 2 mile walk to start in the morning.  Lunchtime I hit the gym and did 1 hour of weight training (legs and abs - that burns the most calories) and then jumped on the arc trainer for another 30 minutes of slow steady state cardio with very light resistance (i just trained my legs and did not want to overtrain them) i was aiming for the slow calorie burn.  So in all today, I walked 2 miles, did 1.5 hours of weights and cardio at the gym.  I did not count calories or points.  I did not give up and say "hey, its my birthday week coming up, i will just continue to eat everything I want since i blew it last night: (aka. the black/white all/nothing mentality which has sabotaged many a client) I knew I ate a lot last night and I enjoyed every bite. Tommorow, i will force myself to get up 1 hour earlier to hit my elliptical machine downstairs before breakfast...probably burning another 500 calories then.  THAT, my friends, is damage control.  I love to eat, and thank god i love to exercise, but that is the way i wont gain an ounce this week because i stay in the gray area, and MODERATE my exercise and eating habits when i know a "treat" day is coming up.  This is how successful weight management is done for a lifetime.   Now many of you may think, "I dont have time for all that", well, i decided to play, so i must pay, and i did.  Motto of Melanie's birthday week: MAKE TIME, NOT EXCUSES....i DID is 100 times more powerful than I will! Have a wonderful week! 

l overheard someone say to her friend, "Exercise is the best weapon against obesity".  Well, my friends, that is an incorrect MYTH! Millions of Americans continue to believe that if they just exercised more or hard enough, they will lose that last stubborn 10 -15 pounds.  At no time in history have Americans been so aware of the benefits of exercise, or had as many opportunities to workout.  And yet every year, we grow more obese.  FACT: Exercise, while great for your health, is only light artillery against obesity. Many factors control weight loss, not just exercise alone, and not just diet alone. The 1-2 knockout punch solution is exercise AND proper diet.Proper diet and cardio work will burn the fat, and resistance (weight training) will tighten, tone, and firm your muscles. Sorry cardio queens at the gym....you can do cardio till the cows come home, it ain't gonna tone your arms, flatten your belly and tone/firm up your legs and butt unless you get into the weight room & start a proper resistance training program.  Do you know where to start? How do you know if you are lifting enough weight? or not enough? How many reps/sets do you need to do for each muscle group? (not all groups have the same requirements) When do you need to change things up? How do you rotate your exercises/muscle groups so that you don't overtrain them and not see results? These answers....can easily be answered by your NCCA-accredited Personal Fitness Trainer.  If you are going to go for it this fall....get your body mapped out and ready to go...the RIGHT way! How many times are you going to quit, frustrated because you didn't see results or enough results by doing it on your own? Chew on that my friends....