A Nutrition and Training post for busy individuals

Today I wanted to hook you up with a couple of really healthy, really fast lunch ideas.

I was talking to a client about how sometimes you just can’t sit down and eat lunch. A salad with chicken is not always feasible if you’re someone who’s in the field at their job or you’re running from meeting to meeting. Even if you’re on a conference call you don’t want to be shoving lettuce into your mouth as you’re trying to sound professional.

You want to keep eating healthy though, right?

Sandwiches are often convenient and portable but they are nutrition killers.

The thing to remember is that lunch doesn’t always have to be a sit-down kinda thing.

A lot of times I throw together kind of a mish-mash (is that a word that makes sense to anyone else besides me?) of stuff just because I don’t want to do a lot of prep work.

Here are some things you can easily pack on-the-go and still get great nutritional value.

1. 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 cup of blueberries, sliced red peppers, sliced turkey or chicken breast (roast the bird over the weekend and cut it up into servings for the week)

2. 1 cup of non-fat cottage cheese mixed with 1/2 cup of chocolate protein powder (sounds weird but it’s good), sliced veggies, 1 cup of berries

3. 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced veggies, 1 cup of berries, 1 Quest Bar

*Quest Protein Bars are by far my favorite bars. They are actually low carb, lots of protein and fiber and they taste great. My favorites are the Chocolate/Peanut Butter and the Cinnamon Roll. You can order these directly on the site or on Amazon.

I just got Amazon Prime so the 2 day free shipping is pretty sweet

4. Blend up a smoothie in the morning and pack it with you in a cooler. 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, handful of your choice of frozen berries, handful of spinach, 1 scoop of whey protein powder (chocolate or vanilla), 1 tablespoon of almond butter

Give these healthy alternatives a try and remember to plan ahead for your busy days. Pack your food for the day and that will help you stay away from the killers like sandwiches, vending machine snacks and bagels.

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A Look at Intermittent Fasting and Why It’s Amazing for Fat Loss

In a post last week I talked about 5 things that I did to help me lose 13 pounds of body fat while maintaining muscle and actually having more energy.

—>Check this post out to see the 5 things

Today I wanted to elaborate on one aspect of the lifestyle that helped me tremendously. I recently did a nutrition seminar for our clients and got some great feedback on this so I wanted to be sure to hook you up with all of the information.

So…WTF is IF?

Well first of all, what is IF? When I use those two capital letters together what I’m referring to is Intermittent Fasting. The easiest way to explain this is that it’s specific periods of fasting (no food at all) followed by specific periods of eating. There are literally dozens of ways to program an IF lifestyle but the easiest one to start out with and the one that I currently use is the 16/8 method.

This means that I’m fasting for 16 hours and eating for 8 hours each day. For 1/2 of the fasting period I am in fact sleeping, so that’s pretty cool.

This by no means is meant to come off as a dogmatic blog post, I hate that crap. I will never say that IF is the ONLY way to eat but I have found amazing results using this for myself and several of my clients. It’s a means to an end but I encourage you to check it out.

In the video I explain exactly why this method works, why it’s so cool for busy people, why it keeps the fat off and the one thing that helped me get away from feeling like a “slave” to food.

Check out the video and be sure to click “Like” above this post to share it with others on Facebook.

A Deeper Look at Training and Carb Cycling

Uh oh, I said carbs….this post is gonna be evil….

Are you confused about what to eat? Are carbs still bad for you?

Yes.

No.

Confused again?

The key with carbohydrates is that you have to maximize the timing and the type. You don’t want to avoid them all together but you can’t be shoveling down white rice for dinner on a regular basis just because it tastes good with your stir fry veggies.

I know you’re probably already confused so I don’t want to make it any worse. I want to introduce to you a process called carbohydrate cycling. This is something that I use personally and many of our clients utilize with great success.

I made a video for you which outlines exactly why this works and how you should do it but here’s a quick breakdown.

Carb cycling is essentially manipulating the amount of carbs that you take in on specific days. You want to take in higher amounts on the days that you do some type of strength training and lower amounts on conditioning or rest days.

The best time to take in carbs is in that 2 hour window after your training session.

The best types of carbs for these occasions are berries, sweet potatoes and my favorite post workout drink which is right here.

In a video that I did a few weeks ago I talked about 4 foods you should avoid. Coincidentally they are all carb-type foods so check those out…..

—>4 Foods You Should Avoid if You Want to Lose Fat

There are several reasons for cycling your carbs:

1. Improve insulin sensitivity (your ability to process carbs)

2. Regulate hormones

3. Carbohydrates fuel the body so post-training ingestion is critical for recovery and muscle development

4. It helps to avoid dramatic dips in energy levels

Check out the video below and see how you can implement this strategy into your own fat loss and training plan. It seems kinda tricky but it’s really not tough at all. See how I break it all down.

I’d really appreciate if you just click “Like” above this post if you found it helpful. Pass it along to others on Facebook!

A fat loss post by Cambridge personal trainer Callie Durbrow

A few months ago I realized I needed to make a change. My training sessions and workouts were starting to feel stagnant and I wasn’t seeing the results that I knew I should.

Yes it’s true, everyone goes through this. You can’t do the same stuff forever and every once and a while you need to shake it up.

I was looking to drop some body fat and lean out a bit so I took a long look at my goals and started to evaluate what I really wanted.

I wanted to share with you some of the things that I did to increase my results. You don’t have to change all 5 things, but if you do even 1 or 2 you’ll see incredible results, I can promise you that.

You may even be surprised to learn that I hired a personal trainer for myself. Yes, I AM a trainer but you’ll see why I did that too….

If you want to see more about my trainer experience then check this out…..

http://ultimateathleticfitness.com/why-i-hired-a-personal-trainer

If you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about when I mention Intermittent Fasting then read this….(remember there are many ways to do this)

—>Cambridge personal trainer’s experience with intermittent fasting

And if you’re ready to get accountable to someone, have some kick-ass training workouts and learn what it means to burn fat and keep it off, then click below….

—>Cambridge personal training 21 days for $21

Go ahead and click “Like” at the top of this page to share this valuable information with your friends!

A fat loss post by Cambridge personal trainer Callie Durbrow

What’s up! Callie Durbrow back here again from Durbrow Performance Training and I wanted to share with you some food tips that you can implement right away into your nutrition plan.

I hate the word “diet” because I think it brings to mind starvation and limiting yourself. The thing is though, if you want to really lose fat and seriously look great you MUST make changes. There are some foods you really should avoid (except on your cheat meals or cheat days, obviously) if you want to lose fat.

The reason is that these foods are loaded with sugar. This will lead to high insulin spikes and when your body doesn’t burn all the sugar it stores it as….fat….we don’t want that.

Here in this video I describe the four foods you should avoid and what you should eat instead….

If you enjoyed this video or you’d like to share it with your friends just click the “Like” button at the top of this blog post.

Hey what’s up, Callie Durbrow back here from Durbrow Performance Training. Last week with the beautiful weather I started adding hill sprint workouts back into my routine.

This is one of the best ways to lose fat and no matter what fitness level you’re at, you can rock these out. Here’s why hill sprints are cool….

1. They burn a ton of calories

2. The training sessions are extremely short

3. There’s a really low tendency for injury because of the angle of your body going up a hill

4. You can do them anywhere

Check out this video that I made for you where I describe exactly how to do this workout and also a few tips on why it’s awesome

If you want to share this with your friends just click “Like” at the top of the page and let’s get as many people as possible away from the traditional cardio training workouts and onto more efficient stuff.

Happy Sunday and welcome to our latest edition of our Cambridge Training Spotlight Sunday. Today we’re hearing from Rebecca who has been training with us since January of 2012. She came in a little bit quiet in the first few workouts but after just a few weeks her confidence boosted dramatically. I could tell right away she was an athlete- she was coordinated, competitive and driven. That’s a great combination and she’s embraced it 100%. Rebecca has had serious and consistent fat loss over the last 4 months. She has consistently lost 3-5 pounds of fat at every measurement and she’s not done yet. Check out Rebecca’s story here…

I was fortunate to have had an amazing childhood. I grew up in a great neighborhood and more importantly, I lived on the best street ever! My block was awesome because there were enough kids to be able to organize some intense games. We played the normal games like street hockey, soccer, some killer manhunt, etc. but we didn’t stop there. We would even host our own Olympics. Brixton Road Olympics were insane! They included everything from races, soccer, croquet, we even hosted swimming events at our town pool, a lot of times a race to the pool was included in the list of events. Needless to say, I was a pretty active kid. When I wasn’t getting my butt kicked by the 100 boys on my street, I was out playing team sports. Summers were the best when I would go to a different sport camp every week, basketball, soccer, tennis, you name it I was there.

Despite being so active, I can’t say I remember ever being very trim. It is possible I was for a time since I was so active, but my affinity for sweets, fast food, and all things bad for me caught up quickly. My best guess is that my weight took a turn for the worst around middle school, by then Brixton Road Olympics, and our other organized games, were mostly a thing of the past. I remained active in sports throughout high school but my unhealthy eating habits were really kicking my butt.

I wasn’t comfortable with my body, I was self-conscious, and hadn’t yet recognized how insanely awesome I am.  I was uncomfortable with myself and I finally decided to do something about it around the end of my sophomore year in high school.  I joined weight watchers with my dad.  I lost around 20lbs, and I did it pretty quickly. Having the support from my dad and family was a huge help.

The problem was, I didn’t do it by eating healthy and working out. I lost weight by sticking to my point range.  I remember eating very little during the day then just eating ice cream and snacks at night until I was out of points. Sure this worked; I felt great and was finally happy with my body.

I think this is when my self-confidence took a turn for the best, and besides being comfortable with my body at that time, I most importantly was comfortable with myself. I’m happy to say that hasn’t changed, and regardless of what the scale says or how I look I remain confident in myself.

The problem with losing weight the way I did, meant it was very easy to gain it back once I got off the weight watchers plan. Fast forward to freshman year of college, the same eating habits but with larger portions and throw in countless nights of, just in case mom and dad are reading this I’m going to say, responsible drinking, the weight came back fast. And not only did the weight come back, so did who knows how many more lbs.

I would occasionally hit the gym but that was rare, for most of my college career I wasn’t very active. Every once in a while, when I would get a burst of motivation I would devote myself to working out and eating healthy. I would make some progress but I would get bored, lazy, unmotivated. I didn’t know how to work out effectively and see the results I was looking for, also running on a treadmill for 45 minutes sucked, and lifting weights was scary. 

After college I was a little more active, but basically the same old story of getting motivated and quickly losing that motivation. I wanted to get into good shape, but I didn’t want to put in the work. I would fall back on my standard excuse of not wanting an obsession with my body and my looks to take over my life. My body shape doesn’t define me, I may be overweight, but I am still pretty damn awesome. I believe that, but still, deep down I did/do want to be fit and in shape. Finally, I found a place that is helping me get on the right track.

Everyone who knows me knows I love a good deal. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be good, just a deal will do. So naturally, when I saw a daily deal for Durbrow Performance Training I was interested.

I will admit, I was a little nervous after reading Callie’s site, because she doesn’t bs you and pretend it will be a cake walk.  She makes it clear you need to put in the hard work to get the results. But, she does promise if you put in the work you will see amazing results. Callie was right, I couldn’t believe after 3 weeks I had lost inches from my body. Sure, sore became my body’s normal, but it is worth it!

There are so many things about Durbrow Performance that I love. I love that I’ve finally found a workout that I genuinely enjoy and want to go too. And sure, some days I don’t feel like getting my butt out of bed or hitting the gym after a tough day of work, but you know what, I ALWAYS do it anyway. I know once I’m there I’ll be happy.

Another thing I love, are the people I work out with at the gym. I can honestly say I enjoy the company of every person I work out with, we encourage and motivate each other and have a great time pushing ourselves in class, many times they are the reason I make it on those days I’m feeling lazy. I also love that I happened to find the gym with the two best trainers around.

Callie and Emily are amazing, they are knowledgeable and don’t mind when I ask millions of questions about exercise and nutrition. When I think I’m pushing myself hard, they push me harder, and as much as I don’t like to admit it, they are always right, I can do more.

As I said, I genuinely enjoy the workouts. There are plenty of exercises that I claim to hate, but when it comes down to it, I want to do them because I love seeing myself get better and improving.

I love the fact that I can crank out a good number of solid pushups, sometimes even with those beastly chains around my neck. I love pushing Emily on the prowler. And I love when I can push through the pain of the ropes and rock out a solid 30 seconds or so.  I love that I’m getting stronger and able to push myself through some tough workouts.

I must say some of my proudest moments have been being able to keep up with my brother, a former Marine, when we work out together back home.

I’m still working on that nutrition thing, I know the mantra – you can’t out train a bad diet, and I believe it.

Although I’ve seen results with a moderate diet, when I’ve actually locked it down and ate well the results I saw were amazing – I’m talking down 6lbs of fat in 5 weeks. Nutrition has been my biggest obstacle and I know not eating well has, at times, hindered my progress, but I’m thankful to have the support of the Durbrow team behind me. I know with their support I will eventually get that nutrition piece down too – at which point, be careful, cause I’m going to be unstoppable!

Welcome back to another edition of our fitness Spotlight Sunday. Today we’re featuring one of our most awesome evening clients, Kelly Chronley. Kelly has been training at Durbrow Performance since 2010 and has made some of the best transformations that we’ve seen.

Kelly was sedentary, tired and sluggish….now she’s totally revamped her nutrition, eating healthy food that’s actually tasty and not depriving herself and she’s kicking serious ass in the gym as well. In the last 2 months Kelly has lost over 12 pounds of fat and 11 inches. She’s even doing the Tough Mudder in May of this year. Check out Kelly’s story….

Before I joined Durbrow Performance Training, I had just landed my first office job about a year prior (therefore quitting my job as a waitress) and my body was constantly expanding, much like the universe.

I would work long hard days in a cube, grab some takeout, get into bed, and eat until I fell asleep and do it all over the next day.  I would go to the gym once a week and walk on the treadmill for an hour, only because I didn’t have cable and was REALLY into Lost!  I already needed to buy new clothes for work because the ones I had bought a year before didn’t fit anymore.

I was going through a tough breakup, my sleeping/eating schedule was erratic (I would be up at 3am watching Netflix and eating cold pizza), I was tired all the time, I was unhappy…I would even go as far as to say I was depressed….Then I met Callie.

About a month ago we had something hilarious happen at the training studio.

Some of the girls decided they wanted to have a Flash Mob during a workout session. They were practicing for a few nights after every one left, perfecting their moves and making sure they were ready.

It took a while to organize everyone but it finally happened. They wanted to do it to LMFAO I’m Sexy and I Know It. Obviously…..

I happened to be at the studio that night doing some measurements and I just had to catch it on video. Check it out….

Did you ever read the book by Lance Armstrong, It’s Not About the Bike?

I read that years ago and loved it. Such a great story of an American icon overcoming crazy adversity and becoming one of the greatest athletes in history. It also goes into his background and his life as he was growing up.

For Lance it was about the bike, but it wasn’t. The bike was what he did but it wasn’t why. 

The bike was simply the mode in which things happened. The bike was success, determination, stress, anger, joy, life’s struggles. It was love, hate, adrenaline during a good ride, sluggish legs during a tough ride. It was everything that defined Lance, but it didn’t define him.

I was recently listening to an audio interview with Dean Jackson, one of the foremost experts in sales and marketing. The interview was about something totally not related to Lance Armstrong, but he was speaking about how everyone has “the bike” in their life.

Everyone has that thing that represents them and all of their life adventures, successes and failures. But that thing doesn’t define them.

I started thinking about this for me. Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is the gym. For Lance Armstrong it’s not about the bike. For me, it’s not about the gym.

The gym is my place. It really does represent all of those success moments, failure moments, dreams of owning my own business, playing by my own rules and being around only the people that I want to be around.

It also represents conquering obstacles. That’s where it becomes about you. 

Are you showing up every day for your workouts with a purpose?

Are you looking to get better- physically and mentally, every day?

Are you looking to push yourself to be just a little bit better than you were yesterday?

If not then you’ve got some work to do. I’m not blaming you for this because most people don’t even think about that.

I think about it because I can’t stand to waste time. I can’t stand to go through the motions. I won’t let anyone or anything prevent me from having the lifestyle that I want and that includes having the body that I want.

Life is too short. I know that sounds cliche but it’s true. Why go into the gym and screw around for an hour and not get any better?

I’m all for having fun, and we certainly do that in our training groups….but you better be working your ass off in between dancing and laughing

I hope for you some day it’s NOT about the gym. The gym is not the act of working out to just work out, to sculpt your muscles a little bit that day. 

Nope, it’s bigger than that. It’s the physical challenge of getting better. It’s the mental challenge of pushing yourself to do more, to lift heavier weight, to sprint faster. It’s the scary-as-hell challenge to walk into that studio and sign up for a training program when you haven’t exercised in 3 years.

Those things are all scary. But people do them. And once they do that they realize it’s really NOT about the gym. It’s about changing your life. Being a better person. Being more caring to the people around you because you care more about yourself now.

So what are you going to do today, tomorrow or the next day to make yourself better? To make the gym simply the vehicle to a better life?

Leave me a comment below or on Facebook telling me what you’re going to change. Go ahead and click “Like” above this post, I’d really appreciate it.