Sometimes, especially in the winter, all you want to do is spend the day in sweat pants and bake with Groundhog Day on TV in the background.  Although, this can easily put you in a dieter's remorse come Monday when you realize you didn't get to the gym and have eaten a whole cake to yourself.  Remorse no more... Using a good recipe base with some tweaks and other tactics, you can still fully indulge in one of these lazy baking days with majorly reduced guilt.

Use an Angel Food Cake Base

I found this remarkable recipe through Pininterest for Blue Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting.  The photo was enough for me to think there was no way I could make this and not gain 3 pounds overnight.  But after reading through the recipe, I noticed the lovely and talented blogger Eva Marie Kosmas made this recipe with an angel food cake base.  Sure I've had angel food cake, but I never thought about making it from scratch.  It's a remarkably good reduced guilt cake recipe! 

Don't be afraid to tweak aspects of a recipe

The cake itself is mostly made from whipped egg whites and the icing can be tweaked with less sugar and non or low fat cream cheese.  So last Sunday my good friend Jessica and I made this exact recipe except for the icing, where we used only 2 cups of powdered sugar, 8 TBPS of butter, low fat Neufchatel cream cheese, and I only used about 2/3 of it all when icing the cake.  It was remarkable.  And amazingly, each "wedding sized" slice was under 200 calories.

Don't keep the entire cake in your kitchen

Sure I had a nice well deserved, hearty slice of cake right after we iced it, but by the next day I only had about a quater of the whole cake left to ration throughout my week.  So think about it... Jessica and I had our first "we did an awesome job" slices, then I made her take a third of the cake home with her, and then I brought another third of what was left into my office.  Does that leave me with a quarter?  Well regardless of the math, I only had a very small fraction of the cake left to my disposal.  So, not only did my coworkers love the 3:37pm treat, but it automatically reduced my ability to over indulge in the cake throughout the week to come.

I also used this technique with the dozens of Christmas cookies my mom sent me back with after visiting home for the holidays.  While I absolutely adore them, I live by myself now and certainly didn't want to eat them all myself.  So I brought about half of them to my new downstairs neighbors that now every morning bring in my newspaper and put it upstairs at my front door.  It's a win-win!

 

So you see you really don't have to deprive yourself of all things awesome when you're trying to stay on track to weight loss goals or an overall healthier lifestyle.  With many challenges for healthy eating remember that you can make tweaks, keep it in proportion, and still have fun in your kitchen.

Do you have a recipe for a seemingly "bad food" that makes it reduced guilt?  Share them below so other readers and I can give them a shot too!

Known by many and noted from the great Dr. Oz, motivation is the biggest hurdle people face when on their weight loss journey, so having an app that can help you put your money where your mouth is when you first want to start your workout plan while motivation is high is monumental! 

Released just this month, the new tool GymPact allows you to put a monetary value to the workouts you make or miss at your local gym.  Their very simple interface allows you to pick a value (you can pick from $5-$50) for your "pact" on your weekly "pact plan" (you can pick from 1-7 workouts a week).  Then you download their phone app so you can check in to your gym and track these workouts.  You'll lose your weekly pact if you don't make all your workouts or you can gain money from all those people that lost their pact if you make yours.  Pretty awesome right?!

So I actually signed up for GymPact this week.  You can only start your pacts on Mondays so mine hasn't started just yet, but I already have a great idea on how it actually works.

How it works...

• Super simple and intuitive interface. It's really easy to get set up, go on an indefinite break (essentially their way to cancel), or edit any of your settings.
• In order for a workout to count, you must be at a location for 30 min straight.  This functions through your check in via the mobile app.
• You can't cheat the system and make your couch "Gym Elena".  They authenticate each gym location you submit overnight to ensure it's really a gym or workout center.

Overall, I think this is AWESOME.  When I was a trainer, I would always try to implement the same concept with my clients by utilizing their spouse, roommate, coworker, whomever, to hold them accountable monetarily or with other rewards for making their workouts.  This option is just that, but an app won't cave under severe sweet talking and won't forget about the pact either.

The caveats...

• This doesn't work for running outdoors.  Major bummer for me considering at least 3 out 5 workouts a week for me are outdoors on the run.  Although on their forum they say they're working on a work around for this as speak, so hopefully a solution for this will come shortly.
• Authenticating the gym locations makes it so you can't cheat, but that means it won't work for any at home workouts.  I doubt there's any work around possible with this one, so sorry P90x users.

Overall takeaway...

If you have a gym, Pilates or yoga studio, etc. membership and want to work on staying consistent and increase your motivation to stick to your workout plan (who isn't?!) then sign up for this immediately!  You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.  If you do your workouts on your own and outside (like me) then you'll need to stick to the classic tactics of having a workout buddy, journaling, making milestones with rewards and taping your goals/vision to the frig.

Has anyone else signed up and used this service?  Even though I workout outside mostly, I'll continue and try it with a low pact plan to hold me accountable for my yoga studio workouts and will keep everyone updated on how it goes.

In my experience, about 80% of people quit their diet and fitness program within the first 3 months. Of the 20% percent left, only about 5% of them will continue their program after 6 cumulative months. How will you make yourself be a part of that 5%?  Creating a SMART Health New Years Resolution in the way you would a with any business goal is one of the best tools you can give yourself if you truly want to achieve your resolution.

 

Specific

This means your goal needs to include the who, what, when, where, and how.

Example, Instead of "I will lose 15 pounds by June", it should be "I will lose 15 pounds by June by working out 5x per week through running out side and joining a yoga studio, as well as keeping my diet under 1500 calories 6 days a week."

Measurable

Establish the milestones that will measure your progress along the way and will show you when your goal has been fully achieved.  Without these, you'll certainly lose motivation before achieving your ultimate goal.

Example, To lose 15 pounds by June, I will weigh myself once a month and will have these milestones: 5 pounds lost by February, 8 cumulative pounds lost by March, 10 cumulative pounds lost by April, 12 cumulative pounds lost by May, 15 cumulative pounds lost by June!

Attainable

Understanding the attitudes, abilities, tools, and financial capacity to actually achieve your goal is integral to your success.  

Example, Losing 15 pounds in 3 months is unattainable due to my work schedule and amount of diet discipline that is maintainable for me.  I'll give myself 5 full months to lose the 15 pounds at a healthy and moderate pace that will make it easier to maintain long term.

Relevant

Your goal must be tailored to your body and health.  Remember, in order to lose just 1 pound a week, you need a caloric deficit of 500 calories per day for the entire week.  For me, 500 calories could be the equivalent to adding over an hour of jogging at a moderate pace, not adding the medium soda and bag of Doritos you added to my sandwich at lunch, an hour and a half yoga hot yoga class, or choosing the guacamole over the spinach and artichoke dip while at a bar with friends. Next time you're at the supermarket, pick up a pound of meat.  At pound is a lot of people!  Remember that as you set your goals!

Example, If you're obese, losing 15 pounds in 3 months could be realistic for you.  On the other hand if you're just slightly overweight, achieving your daily caloric deficit will be much more difficult can more realistically be met in 5 months. 

Timely

You must add urgency by adding time frame to your goal.  Without this anchor you'll never feel the daily push to work towards your goal.

Example, "I'll lose 15 pounds this year" should be grounded with a more specific time frame like "I'll lose 15 pounds by June 1st."

Don't forget the most important part when developing your goal!

Your Contingency Plan

Consider this my addition to the general SMART acronym to make it SMARTY.  So many times no one accepts upfront that they'll inevitably slip up and consider what they'll do when they do.  These slips are what turn that original 100% and widdle them down to the 5%. 

Examples, "If I go over my 1500 calories per day for 3 days in a week, I have to add a morning workout for 30 minutes to the next week."  "If I'm too busy at work to get my workout in, I'll only have a salad and lots of water for dinner."  "If I get sick, it's ok to simply rest and I'll get back on track when I'm feeling better."

 

Had you made a resolution before you read this post?  If so, do you need to add or tweak it at all now that you've read this?  Comment below!  I'd love to hear your resolutions and how you plan to tackle your foreseeable challenges ahead to achieve it.

If you need could use some additional help developing your own personalized 2012 goals and plan, don't hesitate to reach out!  Everyone (including myself!) can benefit from outside encouragement to stay on track 1, 3 or 6 months through your health resolutions.

With all of this holiday shopping, I'm finding myself battling the tempting smells of the mall food court with every shopping visit.  You can quickly find yourself in a slippery slope of with burgers, fries, lo mein, pizza, caesar salads, fried chicken and all other unhealthy options that will quickly put you hundreds of calories over your daily goal before 3pm.  But with a couple of healthy options in your back pocket, this fast food temptation doesn't have to ruin your whole week of solid discipline. So allow me to share these quick tips to conquer the dreaded mall food court:

Search for “grilled”

When you’re surrounded with tons of options and don’t know how you’ll possibly isolate the healthy options, go with the grilled chicken sandwich without any sauces, mayo, etc added.  If you hate a dry sandwich opt for mustard, a quarters worth of ketchup or bbq sauce, or my personal favorite, a touch of a salad vinaigrette.   Remember, just because the base of a sandwich or salad sounds healthy, what gets put on top of it can completely change how much calories are in it.

Health Bonus: A bare bones basic grilled chicken sandwich tends to run you around 300 to 400-ish calories.  Keep it as healthy as possible by not adding cheese, asking for an unbuttered bun, and saying no to sauces.

Bring out your inner child

If the temptation is just too much and you’re dying to splurge on a fast food favorite, I say go for it!  Just order a kids meal and you’ll automatically give yourself portion control and keep the calories from getting out of hand.  When they ask you which toy you want, just tell them to keep it for the next order :)

Health Bonus: Your kid’s meal will contain a beverage, entrée and a side.  To make your portioned option even better, try ensuring that at least one of those main components is a healthy option.  For example, trade in your soda option for a water or instead of a side of fries opt for the side salad with a
light dressing.

Avoid it all together!

Did you eat a super healthy meal before you left to try and avoid the whole food court temptation only to find yourself being drawn to the smells anyways??  Solution: pop in a piece a mint gum.  The minty fresh taste will subside your cravings while the chewing will also keep our mouth busy.

Another minty favorite cravings curber: dark chocolate dipped Altoids.  Or make yourself a yummy snack (like this low calorie one) and enjoy as you stroll through the food court with the peace of mind  that you're saving yourself hundreds of calories.

 

What's your biggest diet breaking temptation and how do you conquer it?? Comment below and let me know!

As the year is rolling down, I figured I'd recap to you all my favorite workout routines that I've found from free online resources.  I'm always a fan of super efficient, intense, fat-blasting exercises that you can do almost anywhere.  So what are you waiting for??

	Men's Health "The Spartacus Workout 2.0" Men and women alike can burn hundreds of calories in under 30 minutes with this workout, but it is critical that you keep yourself to the very short rest times to make the most of this workout.
	Tone It Up's Fat Blasting Stair Circuit This one is a killer interval workout that no one can have the excuse to not be able to execute.  These chicks are more then just a pretty face - they know their stuff.
	Fitness Magazine's Cross-Train Cardio Challenge Would you rather put on 4 layers of clothing and run outside in 20 degree weather than be confined to an indoors treadmill for 30 minutes?  If yes, this is the workout for you.  Even my workout ADD was able to stay interested with this routine, plus - I didn't have to almost loose my fingers to frostbite!
	Men's Health's Two Workouts in One It is my BIGGEST pet peeve to watch people strength train with long idle rests between sets.  Keep moving during these rests and you can double your calorie burn in the same amount of time!  The moves they suggest here are fantastic and are sure to increase your sweat factor.
	Women's Health Magazine's Om Alone: At-Home Yoga Workout Now that I'm on the yoga bandwagon I know that with my workout habits and naturally super tight muscles, I really shouldn't go a week without it.  I really wish they had this workout in a smoother format, but if you've ever practiced yoga before, this is a great at home alternative if you can't get into the studio.

Above all - remember to push yourself.  Again, you've already done the hard part of getting your gym clothes on and getting your butt out the door, now kick your butt!  You should be sweating through yout shirt, struggling for air at times, and feel legit tired when you're done.  If you're not, add some weight, do 5 more reps, go 60 seconds longer, shorten your rest periods, add another set...

Don't make excuses.  Get out of your comfort zone. 

I have to admit, some of the above workout routines aren't in the most ideal format.  If there are  any exercises in the above workouts you'd like a little more clarification on just comment below and I'll make an upcoming blog post dedicated to it!

Or go here  if you could use some help!