I do, however consider this a successful week.  Why?  I maintained my good eating and I still got 2 workouts in.

I also accomplished a HUGE goal!  I successfully moved all of my stuff into Anchorage:)

Not a minute too soon, either.  It was pouring rain in Girdwood on Sunday, and while it wasn’t sunny and beautiful, it was not raining in Anchorage and it was about 10 degrees warmer.

More importantly, I will now have about 12 extra hours added to my week that I won’t be spending on the road.

Just in the 24 hours I’ve been living here, I can already feel a tremendous difference in stress levels and my energy.

Getting up this morning, knowing I didn’t have to high-tail it into town allowed me to sleep in, have a leisurely morning and even have time to do some recreational reading…something I haven’t done in months.

What does all of this mean to you?  A few lessons to be learned.

1.  Being perfect is an illusion.  Yes, I’m in Bridal Boot Camp mode, but I don’t have to get my workout in EVERY day.  Focusing on what I accomplish (maintained healthy eating habits, got in two workouts) is much more motivating and keeps me in a positive state of mind.  This is a high-stress time in my life and I don’t need to add pressure where there’s already plenty.

2.  Don’t wait to make your life more efficient.  And by efficient, I don’t mean boring.  When I think about what I could have done with 12+ hours per week for the last 6 months…well, let’s just say it doesn’t make me happy.  Time is the ONLY thing we can’t buy, manufacture, create or save.  We have it and it’s gone and we never know how much of it we have, so budgeting doesn’t work either.  Simply creating short-cuts for tasks can add minutes, which add up to hours.  Look at your “regular” day and figure out where you can “add” time.  You won’t be sorry you did.

I’ve had a few folks ask me how they can join me for Bridal Boot Camp. The best option right now is to take advantage of our “Sizzlin’ Summer Deal!”  Get 3 months of Boot Camp (that’s all summer long) for $598 (that’s about $199 per month or $100 off each month, all summer long!)  The best way to take advantage, just give us a call at 783-1241 or Click here to find out more and to sign up.  This deal is only available until May 29.  Get yours now!

Happy Monday,
Ginny

P.S.  Got in plenty of sleep last night and made it to 10am Boot Camp today…it’s going to be a good week:)

P.P.S.  Join me for Boot Camp…just $598.  Call 783-1241 now or  Click here

Nothing worked…High Carb, Low Carb, the latest and greatest “2 week diet” in Cosmo.  She had tried them all.  Even gaining weight on plans that were supposed to help her lose weight.

She joined our Nutrition KickStart Program 6 weeks ago and has had fantastic results!

She has lost 6 pounds of body fat, gained 1.5 pounds of muscle, changed her body fat percentage by 2% points, and lost an amazing 11.5 inches!

For the first time in her life, she understands how to eat, when to eat and what to eat.

Click her video below and let her tell you all about it.

She has some insightful, real-life advice for you at the end of the video, so be sure to watch it all the way through.

Ready for your own transformation?
Get the started with the program DeAnna used by clicking the button below.

P.S.  Our KickStart is included in all of our Boot Camp and Small Group Training Programs.
We give you the only COMPLETE solution to reaching your health and fitness goals!

On Monday, I read a scary article in the Anchorage Daily News.

(The link to the article is at the end of this.)

It was also picked up and was run on the first page of the Anchorage  Daily News on Monday.

And it breaks my heart!

Kids and Diabetes.  It’s becoming epidemic in our society.  A full 30% of our kids are overweight and/or obese.  

“So what?” you say.

“It just means they’re not ‘pretty.” you scoff.

This issue is so much bigger than fitting in, being teased or having low self-esteem.

This is the reason that the next generation won’t live longer than their parents.

This article brings to light a whole host of issues that we, as adults, ignore.

–Type II Diabetes used to be so rare in children that it was called ”adult onset” diabetes.

What this means: The complications from Diabetes include heart disease, stroke, blindness and the eventual loss of fingers, toes, legs and arms.

Children won’t only live shorter lives, they will have smaller lives.  They won’t be able to pursue their dreams becasue their bodies won’t let them!

–Kids don’t do well with drugs.
The findings of the study indicate two things about the drugs doctors are prescribing for Diabetes.

1.  They don’t work on kids as they are on adults.  They are also not approved for use in children.

What this means:  Kids are being used as guinea pigs to test medications that are not approved for them in the undocumented hope that this will “cure” the problem.

Drugs will NEVER cure Diabetes.   Lifestyle change will. There are zero long-term studies done on children and the use of these drugs. There is no telling what the long-term side effects of taking tem will be.

2.  Kids don’t take their drugs regularly.  Kids are kids.  Routine and discipline do not come naturally to them.  (How many times have you asked your son/ daughter to take out the  rash or put their dishes in the sink or dishwasher?)

Even adults don’t take their meds when they should.  They forgot this morning, ran out and didn’t refill a script.

How can we possibly expect a kid to take their pills every day when the adults don’t do it?

What this means: Drugs are not the answer.  There is no way to “enforce” compliance with a medication regimen. And, I am not in any way advocating for a way to make this happen.

What I am advocating for is education, movement and fun.

Education:  Teach kids about their bodies.  How do they function?  What’s a calorie?  Why does it matter if you’re eating too much sugar?  What’s the difference between processed food and natural food?

The overwhelming majority of kids have no idea what they’re eating or why.  This means they are incapable of making healthy choices for themselves.

Movement: Not every kid is an athlete.  But every kid can feel good by making their body move.

Maybe they like to walk, maybe it’s running, or Zumba, or playing tag.  Maybe it’s just playing.
Let them run around. Get them outside to play. Teach them how they can get movement into their day all day long and then let them choose what they like to do best.

Fun:  Kids can play together and learn together and have fun.

Let’s face it.  After a certain age, kids go from thinking mom & dad are the coolest people in the world to thinking, “Mom and Dad don’t know anything.”

This is where we can help!

AlaskaFit is holding a “For Girls Only” (ages 14-16) Boot Camp.  (We are planning a for Boys only camp later this summer).

It’s FREE and it addresses all of the issues in this article.

This article is also why it’s FREE!  Too many kids are suffering and will be dying waaaaaay too young.  If I can help just one girl to make healthier lifestyle choices…it’s all worth it!

We are only taking 10 girls into the program and we’ve already filled 4 spaces.

To find out more or to apply, call us at 783-1241.

Deadline to apply is Friday (that’s the day after tomorrow!)

Help us to save a child from disaster!

Cheers,
Ginny

P.S.  To read the article, click here.

P.P.S.  Call 783-1241 to enroll your daughter, niece, friend. They can have a better life and you can be the one to give it to them!

This morning, I dropped my car off at Continental Volvo for the semi-annual tire change and less frequent than recommended oil change.  They very kindly dropped me off at my office via the shuttle and I realized that they are only about 2 miles from AlaskaFit.

They called this afternoon to let me know the car was done and I did what any good trainer would do.  I ran to pick up my car.

True, it wasn’t a long run (proud to say I got there in 16 minutes), but it sure felt good to get out in the sunshine in the late afternoon (car exhaust notwithstanding) and stretch my legs and lungs.

You can make any day and any mundane chore into a workout…just think about what you would do if you had no transportation.  How would you get from point A to point B?

Or, if there were no elevators or escalators…the extra two minutes you take to climb the stairs could, in the long run, save your life.

More great stuff tomorrow.  Tune in!

Marq and I registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond (BBB) on Saturday. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be thanks to Megan, our bridal shopper. She was wonderful and very helpful, but I didn’t envy her taking us through the store.

The conversation went something like this, “Do you need a pasta pot?”

“We have 2 of those.”

“What about a roasting pan?”

” Just bought one here last year.”

“Set of pots?”

“We have 3.”

We found plenty of other fun stuff to register for, but if she was used to dealing with 20-somethings, we were a challenge.

Our shopping trip is not the point of this blog. It’s about commitment and time management.

One of the things that BBB does is give you a logon so you can update your registry at any time. I logged into BBB last night and was greeted with a giant banner that read “66 days til your wedding!” What?! I had calculated 68 days!

Either way, there’s no escaping that time is tick, tick, ticking. Every time I log in I’ll be greeted with the countdown.

Life has been pretty chaotic since opening our new space. I’m loving the adventure of it all, but I’ve been feeling less and less in control of my life. Time is flying (as I’ll now be reminded) and my work/life balance is definitely askew. As a Libra, this imbalance makes me mighty unhappy.

In the midst of the wedding and the new business, I am also moving from Girdwood to Anchorage. This means I’m currently looking for an apartment for Marq and me to live in until we decide where we want to live and where we can buy a home.

Seeing the handwriting on the wall (or the timer on the laptop screen), I have decided that it’s time to regain control of my life and my time.

Last night I made a long list of “all” of the things I need to do. I’m now working on my calendar…blocking time, committing to a schedule of events, protecting my work time and scheduling in free time.

Then, I did it. I took my first baby step towards control.

I packed one box.

I was getting ready to go to bed and realized that I was about to renege on the brand new commitment I made to myself to pack at least one box each day.

My move to town is going to happen pretty quickly once I find a place and I want to be prepared. So, just before turning in, I turned away from the comfort of my bed and packed my first box. It was easy…I started with the mountains of books that I have. Books are the easiest, fastest thing to pack. Five minutes later, I was taking out my sharpie, labeling the box and calling it a day.

The moral of the story is that we can all do it. And it’s especially important when time and life are overwhelming us. Small steps we can take to control our environment can make a tremendous difference in our stress levels and in how we relate to each other and ourselves.

What are you doing today to change your life and take control? It can be as simple as taking 1 minute to close your eyes and breathe.

Find your control and please feel free to share.

If you need help gaining control of your health and your fitness, we would love to see you. Stop in for a free class, call us at 783-1241 or just complete the info above for a free consultation. You and I will sit down and figure out what the best plan is for you.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my plea:)

I’ve got leads on cakes and got some fantastic suggestions for how to feed 60 people on a budget.  You are fantastic!

The apartment search is a little daunting, but doable.  I looked at a place on Friday and another yesterday…I’ve got a third viewing this morning.  The market is tight, but not as bad as I originally thought.  It just takes a little time to sort through everything on Criagslist.

Today brings another big step forward…I’m going to start packing…Yikes!  I have a TON of books in my little home in Girdwood.  Some fiction, but mostly books on marketing and how to run my business better.  There are stacks and stacks of them.  And, they are the easiest thing to pack, so today I am dedicating an hour to getting them into boxes.  I figure if I spend just one hour per day on packing, I’ll be very ready to move when the time comes.

Other big things going on:

• The Heart Run is Saturday!  Our AlaskaFit Fanatics team is assembled (there’s still time to join us, just visit HeartRun.com to sign up) and we’ve raised almost $1,000!  To be fair, the overwhelming majority of that comes from one of our runners...Sherri Normand has raised $750!!  If she can do it, we all can do it.  She’s a rock star boot camper and she’s going to do fantastic on Saturday.  She just changed her status to “timed.”  Can’t wait to see how she does!!There has been some confusion about when/where to pick up our bibs.  I’m in touch with the Heart Association and they’re trying to figure it all out.  They think I have our team’s bibs…I think they have our bibs.  I should have a definite answer today.
• Your Best Body Contest is in Week 4!  We have 3 workouts left.  Remember, you can either come to Boot Camp this Saturday or join us for the Heart Run.  And, for our Challengers, remember to complete your “mid-way” essay!  You’ll need it complete to compete for prizes in a few weeks!
• Girls Only Summer Program.  We are thrilled to announce a summer program for girls only.  ”It’s MY Life!”™ Boot Camp for Girls ages 14-16.  We are taking just 10 girls into the program.  It begins on Tuesday, May 22.  Girls will meet at AlaskaFit on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for 4 weeks at 2pm.

  They will learn skills to make good, healthy decisions about their lifestyle.  We will focus on fitness and nutrition, answer questions like, “What’s a calorie?”  ”How do I read a food label?” “How do I exercise and stay fit as an adult?” “How do I shop for food in the supermarket?”

  This program is FREE because I think this information is critical for girls to know.  Learning how to make healthy decisions at a time when they are starting to make real-life decisions for themselves can change the course of their entire life!

  If you know a girls who might be interested, please call (or have her call) our office at 783-1241 between 6am – 2pm and ask for Bobbi Jo or Jade.

Off and running for the day:)

P.S.  Our 1-acre lot on the Kenai is still for sale.  Click here to view the info.

Wow!

Here’s today’s Yahoo! “News, “The K-E Diet: Brides-to-Be Using Feeding Tubes to Rapidly Shed Pounds.”

Really?!  

Here’s the scoop.

Brides who need to shed the final 10-15 pounds to fit into their wedding dresses are now foregoing food in favor of a tube inserted up their nose.  The tube tracks down to their stomach, where they “ingest” a mixture of fat and protein (no carbs at all) for up to 10 days.  The mixture contains about 800 calories.  It’s “medically supervised” and costs $1,500 for 10 days.

Really?!

The “medical community” is encouraging brides (who are already stressed due to unrealistic expectations and pressures for their wedding day) to starve themselves in the days before the wedding?!

This kind of nonsense makes me crazy!

Here’s my favorite part of the article.  The one bride that they spoke to about this says she, “felt tired,” while on the “diet.”

Really?!

At 800 calories a day of goo being ingested through your nose?  You were tired?

But wait, it gets even better. 

The article goes on to say she lost 10 pounds and is looking forward to her wedding this summer!

She’s going to maintain a 10-pound crash-diet weight loss until summer?

Really?!

More likely, she will gain 15 pounds between now and her undisclosed wedding date and then attempt to do the diet again in the days leading up to the wedding (dropping another $1,500).

She also did it because, “”I don’t have all of the time on the planet just to focus an hour and a half a day to exercise…”

So instead, she, and I’m sure thousands just like her, drop $1,500 at a doctor’s office, insert a tube up their nose and simply don’t eat (that’s not stressful?) for up to 10 days.

It was, “emotionally stressful,” not eating and walking around with a tube up her nose, explaining to people she wasn’t sick…just dieting.

Ummm, exercise reduces stress, gives you more energy and helps you lose body fat…just sayin’.  

And you don’t have to explain to everyone what you’re doing.

Has the “medical community” (I use quotes because I don’t think that doctors who advocate crash diets can be considered medical professionals) completely forgotten that this kind of crash dieting has long-term consequences?

By feeding our “now, now, now!” mentality, they are setting these women up for long-term disaster.

Drastically cutting calories for the short-term inevitably leads to a backlash of ingesting additional calories, leading to more weight gain.

These women are being set up for a binge-purge cycle…especially if they have a history of Anorexia or Bulimia.

I would love to see the follow up report of her actual wedding (and, if her wedding isn’t til summer, she has plenty of time to drop 10 pounds in a healthy manner and keep it off after the wedding!)

For women jumping on this bandwagon just before their wedding, they are likely to:

1.  Pass out while walking down the aisle because they’ve been starving themselves for 10 days.
2.  Binge at the wedding and during the honeymoon, resulting in gaining back the weight they lost plus at least another 5 pounds, if not more.

Do brides really need something else to add to the stress of creating, “the best day of their life?”

Not eating, taking in only 800 calories and upping the wedding budget by $1,500.

To me, it’s a prescription for disaster, not glamour.

Please, please, please, if you are a bride, take a moment to consider your long-term health.  You’re already planning thousands of details.

Remember to plan for yourself.  If you’re like most, you’re taking at least a year to plan this event…plenty of time to be good to yourself and take care of your long-term health.

You deserve better!

Really!

P.S.  We can help you with a meal plan that is tailored to your goals (and includes real food) and an exercise plan to help you handle the stress of the wedding and set yourself up for long-term success!  Call us at 783-1241 for a FREE Consultation.  You deserve better!  Really!

Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Tune in each week for updates and to watch our Challengers’ progress.

For now, here’s what you missed…

Thank you to everyone who came out to try out our Boot Camp classes, meet our Your Best Body Challenge Winners and have an all around great time!

Below is a quick video of how it all went. (Watch the video to get a sneak peek at how we do things here at AlaskaFit).

We also gave away some fabulous prizes at our event.  Congratulations to:

Ruby Ketola, Jacque Peterson and Marilyn Terador each won a gift certificate to Alaska Dinner Factory (where they can pick up their “AlaskaFit-approved” Meals).
Amy Miller and Ginger Marshall each won a 30-minute massage with Karie Tieszen, LMT
And, Kaye Tuia won 1 month of Boot Camp ($299 value)

If you missed our Grand Opening, don’t despair!  You may not have a chance to win our fabulous prizes anymore (that was just on Saturday), but I will offer you a great deal!  Come in for a FREE consultation this week (click here to schedule) and you will get 10% off your 6-month or 12-month Upgraded or VIP Program.

This offer is only available to the first 5 people who schedule their consultation by Friday, March 30.

Join in on our Grand Opening Celebration and enjoy the savings.