FREE ‘Love Yourself’ Fitness and Nutrition Program starts next Monday!

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Dear Clients, Friends and Family,

Next Monday is Valentine’s Day. In honor of this special day, I am going to launch a ‘Love Yourself’ fitness program. Every week, I will provide you with exercise and nutrition tips and live video clips that you can follow along with anywhere – home, work, hotel…

To help you mentally and physically prepare, here’s what I need you to do.

1st. Grab a sheet of paper and pen. If you’re not working out right now, ask yourself why it’s important that you start. What about your current situation are you not content with? How would your life be better if you were looking and feeling your best? Keep asking yourself why it’s important to you that you start taking better care of yourself. If you are currently exercising, ask yourself why you are ready to ramp things up a bit? Are you ready to take things to the next level? Finding the compelling reason to stick to an exercise and nutrition plan every day no matter what is the most important thing you can do as you launch a new program.

2nd: Go Shopping for Food – If you workout already consistently, achieving a lean physique is about 90% nutrition. So it’s time to get focused and serious about what you put in your body. So here are some good nutritious items to stock up on. Go through the list and pick up those items that you would enjoy eating regularly.

Whole Grains:

Oatmeal
Cold cereal – Cherrios, , Bran, Granola
100% whole grain bread or English muffins (or other bread products)
100% whole wheat pitas
100% whole wheat tortillas
100% whole wheat pizza shells
Brown Rice
100% whole wheat pasta

Meats (I will let you choose whether you include meat into your diet or not):

Skinless, boneless chicken breast halves and/or frozen cut-up chicken for stir-fries
Skinless salmon filets / 1 whole fish
Skinless turkey breasts
Sliced cooked salmon, turkey or chicken
White porkchops
Ground turkey or lean beef
Frozen chicken or vegetable meat patties

Dairy (Again, I will let you choose whether you include dairy or not):

Skim milk or low-fat soy/rice/oatbran milk fortified with vitamin D and calcium
Eggs
1 bag of part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
Container of feta-cheese
Low-fat probiotic Yogurt cups

Frozen Foods:

Bags of frozen veggies – green beans, peas, broccoli, corn, stir-fry
Bags of frozen fruit – blueberries, raspberries, strawberries
Frozen Meals – Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice – When you’re too tired to cook or in a hurry, these are life savers. They are low in salt, calories, fat and Trans-fats plus they’re actually quite yummy! Nothing better than the real thing though, however, this would be a better fast-food choice that a hamburger joint.

Canned/Jarred Foods:

Beans
Soups – look for low sodium
Tomato Sauce
Kalamata Olives
Sun-dried tomatos
Soy-nut peanut butter or all-natural peanut butter (no trans fat, no added sugar)

Drinks:

Bottled Water/Flavored Water
100% Orange with pulp/Cranberry/Grapefruit Juice (fortified with calcium, magnesium and Vit. D)
V-8 (low sodium)
Green Tea

Fresh Produce: Fruits/Vegetables

You’ve got complete freedom in this area. Buy what you love. Here’s some must haves…
3-5 bags of salad mix like Romaine, Spinach or Mixed Greens (make it easy to make salads everyday)
Bag of cut-up stir-fry veggies
Pre-cut and washed veggies – carrots, broccoli, sweet peas, cauliflower, celery, asparagus, mushrooms (make it easy to eat your veggies!)
Peppers – red, yellow, orange, green
Tomatos/Cucumbers/Onions
Apples/Pears/Grapes/Bananas/Oranges/Grapefruit/Tangerines – plus whatever is in season

Spices/Extras:

Olive oil
Salt/Pepper/Garlic
Soy sauce – low sodium
Balsamic vinegar
Salad dressing/Salad spritzers – vinaigrettes are a great choice
Marinara sauce
Cinnamon
Other favorite spices
Flaxseed
Psyliium

Snack-Foods:

Rice Cakes
Popcorn
Nuts – raw walnuts/almonds unsalted– don’t buy too much. And once you get them home, put them in mini-ziplock snack bags separated 10 to a bag
Dried fruits – apricots, cranberries, apples…
If you have a real sweet tooth and are looking for healthier options to prevent the 500 plus calorie dessert binges, try the following:
- Yogurt and granola
- Weight-watcher deserts – they typically keep them at 100 calories per serving
- Pudding cups – 60 calories per cup
- Gum/Small bag of hard candies – when you feel a craving coming on, chew on some gum or pop a hard candy and suck on it for a while. It will often do the trick.
- Frozen yogurt – but just buy the smaller cartons to prevent eating a whole gallon

Step 3: Buy some toys You are going to need some fitness equipment to follow along with the program. So head to your local fitness or sporting goods store (even Target stocks up on a lot of these items) and pick up the following items:

Set of handweights – you will need some light and heavy options. For me, I would pick up a set of 5, 10, 15 and 20 pound hand weights. If that’s not an option, chose 5 and 10 pound weights. If you are a guy, go with some heavier options.
A step/bench – we will use this a lot to step up onto, to use as a bench to lie on or sit on
A medicine ball – Go for a 5 – 8 pound ball
A kettlebell – Go for a 8-15 pound option
An elastic band exercise tube with handles – Go for a medium/hard resistance
A skipping rope
If you are going to be following along with the program on hard floors, pick up a mat. You won’t need a mat if you will be on carpet.

Note: I will provide options for any exercise if you don’t have any of the pieces of equipment listed above so don’t be detoured if you can’t find the time or money to pick up these items.

So take the next week to prepare and be ready for a “Love Yourself” kick-butt workout and nutrition plan. Keep in mind, it would be pretty awesome to Love your best friend, your spouse, your kids, your co-worker, your sister, your brother, your mom, dad, your neighbor and invite them to join in the program too!

Can’t wait to start! Catch you next week!

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan