I pulled out the big guns for this one, guys! I reached out to over 20 of my girls in the health and fitness industry to get their top fit tip and these ladies delivered! This article is featuring personal trainers, nutritionists, dieticians, life coaches, online coaches…I’m telling you. This article is a big deal! In this article my girls talk about all things nutrition, fitness and mindset. If you want to jump to a specific section click the links below, but I highly recommend sitting back, grabbing some wine (or coffee depending on the time of day) and get to reading each and every tip. It will be the best thing you do for yourself all day. If something resonates with you, click their name at the end of their tip to check out their sites. These women are doing amazing things and I’m honored and excited that they chimed in with their fit tips!!
Nutrition
What helped me to lose fat and keep it off was balancing out my meals by prioritizing protein, making sure about half of my plate is fiber-rich veggies and always including a little fat in each meal. I also include 1-2 small servings of starchy carbs a day but when I workout and by that I mean lifting heavy weights, I would increase the amount of starchy carbs before and after my workout. I strength train 3 days a week for about 30 min. I also leisure walk 4-5 nights a week. – Kristi Hargrove
Eating chocolate or some type of dessert every single day 🙂 I know that sounds totally counterintuitive, but it helps me to keep my cravings in check. After years of obsessively dieting throughout the week and allowing myself to have a cheat meal on Fridays (…which always wound up turning into a cheat day, then a cheat weekend). Ultimately, this cycle resulted in bloating extreme weight fluctuation. I’ve found that including a little bit of something I really love every single day is essential in breaking this cycle. Interestingly enough, when I started eating a little bit of dessert every day instead of just on the weekends I have actually maintained my weight for the past 3-4 years and have lost body fat. – Sadie Simpson
My top fit tip, and what I tell my coaching clients, is to not over-complicate nutrition. Most of us already know what it takes to lose fat–we just don’t know we know it! We get bogged down by all the “shoulds” instead of focusing on a few key behaviors that really move the dial in the right direction. These are my my Four Fat Loss Fundamentals: (1) We must be in a calorie deficit to lose fat (2) To lose fat, we have to know what and how much we’re eating (3) We create a calorie deficit with our diet, not with exercise! (4) No food–especially not our favorites!–should ever be off limits! See?! Fat loss nutrition can be broken down into its most basic, fundamental components. We don’t need another diet, cleanse, detox, jump start or anything: we just have to focus on the big rocks for big results! – Hilary Glaus
The best tip I can pass on to my clients regarding getting fit, lean & healthy is that nutrition has to be the key component to the wellness equation. That being said, your focus can not be on what you can’t or should not eat. Instead keep a positive attitude towards wellness & diet. Focus on what you need to fuel your body with. Have a game plan for each day with a list of the foods you want to consume (not what you want to avoid). Think about what each of these foods will do for you- the energy they provide, what macronutrients vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc these food choices provide. Above all, enjoy what you eat and drink and enjoy the way it nourishes your body! – Julie Tucci
I’ve found that what works for me is doing what works for me. It sounds goofy, but for years I forced myself to spend hours on Sundays prepping, chopping, baking, and roasting all kinds of food in order to have all my meals made for the entire week because I thought I “had” to in order to be lean. It was fine for a while, but after a few months I really resented it. Now, I typically throw lots of chicken in the slow cooker or on the grill and buy pre-made salads and there’s my meals. Easy, quick, zero stress. It took some trial and error and an open mind, but finding what worked for my lifestyle in the long-run has been pivotal in changing the fitness and nutrition game for me. It’s not about quick fixes, it’s about finding sustainable, small changes that lead to big results. – Courtney Light
My top tip for staying fit is to stay curious about our nutrition and how food effects us. I think curiosity is an often overlooked attribute of our diet that has the potential to help us blast past major roadblocks that keep tripping us up. I stay curious with my diet by asking myself this one simple question after I finish eating something: do I have more energy or less? If a meal or food gives me more energy then I know I am on the right track; if it gives me less energy then it requires a bit more tweaking, experimentation and diet detective work. By staying curious and continuously coming back to this one question I have been able to streamline my diet so it gives me plenty of energy for my workouts (and life!). It’s also super easy to stay consistent with how I eat because my diet is effortless and enjoyable so I’m not as tempted to overindulge. – Carolyn Banner
I’ve read a lot of articles that suggest keeping foods we can’t say ‘no’ to out of our house and avoid them at all costs. In theory this makes sense I suppose because it’s the path of least resistance- simply avoid what makes us uncomfortable and what makes us feel out of control. But do you really want to avoid peanut butter and chips forever? And is that even possible or do you end up bingeing the second you get a chance? Wouldn’t you rather live a life where you can be around any food and feel totally at ease? I think yes, so here’s how you can get there: (1) Intentionally buy a few things you consider a treat every single time you go to the grocery store. (2) Eat these foods as you want throughout the week being mindful that you can always have more if you want, there’s no need to finish it all immediately. (3) Know and accept that you might eat more than you think you should and if that happens, it’s just part of the process. Remember that the more we restrict the more likely we are to binge. Exposure is the new restriction. – Lauren Bradley
Fitness
“Schedule your workout, and be accountable to yourself! I am busy and if I were to push my workout to the bottom of my ‘to do’ list, it’d likely never happen! It’s easy to get caught up with life but without my health, I can’t be the best human being possible to my family. My health is important and so it’s a top priority.” – Melanie Knights
Don’t be afraid of that iron! Lift it up. Feel it’s strength and power. Feel it transfer that strength and power into you. It lets you know there is nothing you can’t do. It’s empowering– Nancy Sher
What works for me is making fitness fun. When I’m running, I love to listen to loud pop music or Latin music, and I’ve been known to stop and do a few dance steps when there’s nobody around. I live in a pretty rural area, so the only ones who get to see me bust a move are the deer. But when running starts to feel like a chore, I’ll throw some sprints in to get me out the rut or I’ll find a new route. When I’m not in the mood to lift in my garage gym, I’ll find a new playlist on Spotify–the cheesier and more teen pop-like the better–and warm up in my driveway with some lunges or air squats to the beat of a song. Meghan Trainor or Shakira usually does the trick! – Rachel Flanagan
My Top Fitness habit is a willingness to try new things, helping to avoid boredom. Working out can become pretty redundant if you are endlessly repeating the same comfortable program. I make it a commitment to try new forms of exercise (even if I look ridiculous): kickboxing classes, battle ropes, sleds and treadmill sprints, workouts on the beach etc. I try not to strictly define fitness and know the results will come if I keep having fun and trying new things.” – Sylvie Tetrault
Staying active in this crazy, busy world we live in can be a struggle. However, in my opinion, it doesn’t have to ruin your healthy intentions. My favorite way to stay fit is to change it up! Every week I choose a few different studios where I’ll workout at: CorePower Yoga, Btone Fitness, Complete Strength and Fitness (Malden). This prevents keeps my sweat sessions interesting and my body guessing. It’s the best combination … next to TRX Burpees 🙂 – Caroline Earle
My top tip for creating a fitness habit is to experiment until you find an activity (or activities) that you love. Life is too short to be made miserable by your fitness routine. Plus, let’s be real, anything that makes you suffer too much isn’t likely to last long-term and you’ll be right back where you started. I am an endurance athlete and a runner, but I haven’t always loved running. In fact, despite having raced several marathons, I would still categorize my relationship with running as love-hate. Some runs are great. Some are terrible (I have some stories for you J). At least 75% of the time I don’t really want to lace up and step out the door, but I do it because, for me, the good parts of running outweigh the bad. I love how I feel during a good workout and after a bad one. I enjoy making real, measurable progress, running farther and faster. And I have cultivated real relationships with running friends who I can train and chat with on easier runs. So, take some time to experiment with new forms of exercise and consider revisiting abandoned ones. – Kate Dugan
As a mompreneur, I have a lot going on in my world. So, I have to stay consistent with my workouts. Whether I have 5, 10, 15, 30, or 45 minutes (on a good day), I just be sure to get some kind of workout in for the day most days of the week. That way, I stay consistent and keep some of the focus for care on me! – Victoria Douglass Dosen
Mindset
Consistency. Being consistent is number one in the long run. Nothing happens overnight. Nothing is created overnight and nothing is destroyed overnight. So being patient with the process, while be consistent is a must. And being forgiving with yourself during ‘slips’, while being consistent is a must as well. It all comes back to what you do day in and day out. – Alissa Frazier
The minute I started approaching my health and fitness from a place of self-love instead of self-hate, things started changing. My body started changing and the goals that I was really trying to achieve were starting to be reached. I prioritize my nutrition but don’t obsess over it. As unsexy as it is, moderation is my 24/7 approach to food. I typically have the same or similar things for my breakfast and lunch throughout the week to keep it simple and then I’ll have fun with my weekend meals and dinners. I go to the gym and workout because that is the type of exercise I truly enjoy. But if I hated it, I wouldn’t be able to stick with it as consistently. Finding something you enjoy doing is key! – Melissa Staddon
Play the Long Game: When I first started my journey to reclaim my fit life I made one super common mistake I see with most of my clients. I went ALL in ALL at once. I went from not having hit the gym in a year to 6 days a week of bootcamp, spin & of course the hard core diet. 5 days later I was so sore I couldn’t move, so low on energy I hated my workouts & so down about myself I quit. Rinse & repeat. It’s easy to focus on the short goal of “lose 10lbs in 10 days” but that’s no good if you can’t maintain the results. My top tip is play the long game by building yourself up through fitness. Rack up small wins, create habits you are nailing consistently & challenge yourself over time. Most importantly embrace the process & enjoy the ride! – Emma Hammond
I think that there are 3 main components to becoming and staying fit. The first is your motivation. You must find what motivates you personally — keeping in mind that it may be totally different than what motivates your spouse or best friend. Finding your motivation factor is the key to pushing through when life tries to get in your way, and a great starting block to setting some realistic goals. That goes right into my second component, which are realistic and specific goals. Without knowing what you’re working towards, it’s hard to keep going when things get tough. And third, forget the scale. It can be easy to get frustrated when the scale doesn’t move like you want it to, and that frustration can cause major setbacks in your progress. Find other ways to monitor your progress — how your clothes fit, how much weight you can lift, how fast you can run a set distance — and you’ll see positive change even when the scale doesn’t budge! – Stephanie D’Orsay Rondeau
When it comes to getting and staying fit, I think the power of consistency gets overlooked far too often! A lot of people put so much emphasis on the end goal and obsess about an ideal body type or an ideal number on the scale that they forget that a lean physique is not created in one day, one week, or one month. Getting and staying lean is a result of constant small efforts and actions, day in and day out, and these actions need to be ones that are sustainable for the long haul instead of actions that fall into an all or nothing mentality. Never taking a rest day or never eating carbs are not the answers! I often remind my clients (and myself!) that one less than ideal meal or a skipped workout will not make or break our progress. When we “mess up” or things don’t go as planned, we don’t just suddenly wake up thirty pounds heavier. Instead small mess ups are an essential part of the process, journey, and self-discovery that will help us find what habits we ARE able to maintain consistently so we can be fit forever. – Athena Concannon
For years I operated by enrolling in some one-size-fits-all program and then following all the rules and conditions of said program. There was no reflection or deviation or room for life…only “on” or “off” or “allowed” and “not allowed.” When I began my own health changes in 2010 I was winging it and doing my own thing. I had no frickin’ clue what I was doing, but it didn’t suck and I was getting results so I kept doing it! 🙂 Here are three main things I was doing…and that I still do, for that matter! (1) Find What Works For You (WWFY)! If 5-6 small meals won’t work in your schedule, don’t force yourself to do that. If you like pop-tarts, don’t give them up! Instead, find a way to have them in a sustainable way that makes sense for your health. (2) Tackle one thing at a time. You can’t possibly change everything you are doing without being overwhelmed. Pick just one thing you actually WANT to change and work at it until it is comfortable. (3)Go small. If it feels like it’s too easy, that’s the place to start! You want to accumulate “wins” because that will build your confidence. Small wins over time creates a whole lotta progress and confidence. – Carrie Headley
One of the biggest issues in our society today is stress. We are constantly in “fight or flight mode.” Our body doesn’t know the difference between running from a lion and being stuck in traffic, it responds the same way. This stress causes us to crave processed sugary foods, to overeat, and causes us to accumulate belly fat. Identify your stress, and how you react to it. Then find something that you can do to take you out of that stress mode and do it daily. My second tip. Ditch the gremlin. That voice that speaks sabotaging words like “I should eat this because I had a hard day” or “I already blew my diet I may as well eat bad the rest of the day.” When we recognize these thoughts we can turn off the autopilot response and deal with our emotions without food. – Meredith Softic
All-encompassing fit tips
My fit habits that I live by ain’t sexy but they’re sustainable! For nutrition and fitness, keep it simple. There are no secrets to fitness and nutrition. Fitness and nutrition should enhance your life, not hinder it. To break it down a bit: Prioritize protein, don’t sweat the small stuff, enjoy all the foods in moderation, and eat plenty of veggies. Lift the things and lift heavy – aim to do 3 weight lifting sessions a week. Train compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, pushing and pulling exercises, and core exercises. For cardio, if you don’t like running, don’t do it. It’s not the only way. Sprint or do intervals a couple times a week – more bang for your buck! Lastly, sleep is as important as everything else as well. Rest and recover – don’t run yourself into the ground. – Candice Smith
When it comes to getting fit and staying lean, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that keep me moving towards my goals. 1) When it comes to workouts, I do what I enjoy. For me, that doesn’t include cardio. I lift all the weights, all the time because that is what keeps me motivated to workout. If you don’t enjoy your workouts, you’ll be hard pressed to stick to them in the long run. 2) I’m all about the convenience factor. As a member of Team Not a Cook, I like to buy pre-chopped, sliced, diced, cooked foods as much as possible to limit my time in the kitchen. It doesn’t mean I don’t eat a nutritious diet, it just means I leave the preparation to someone else. I’m also a huge fan of using the crockpot to bulk cook my favorite proteins. 3) My nutrition fits my lifestyle, not the other way around. This means that not one single food item is on the naughty list for me. All food is good because, hello, it’s food. I enjoy regular treats, such as gelato, and a daily Starbucks Americano with mocha syrup in it. These are my non-negotiables in life. Whatever nutrition “plan” you want to follow, make sure it is something you can stick with long term otherwise you’ll forever be trapped on the diet hamster wheel. – Michelle Rycroft
My tried and true formula for helping clients stay fit and lean focus on strengthening positive habits like nutrient dense eating and resistance training, rather than on “should nots” like eating processed carbs or not getting enough sleep. I recommends my clients aim for metabolism boosting meals that include lean protein, healthy complex carbs such as sweet potato and wild rice, an abundance of green vegetables and a tbsp. or two of healthy fat such as avocado, tahini or nuts to keep satiated and full. Add that to a twice weekly whole body resistance training program, plenty of water to hydrate and detoxify the body and self-care like massage or meditation to reduce stress for a body that is vibrant, happy and healthy! – Jenn Menzer
Get off the hamster wheel and stop doing mindless sets and reps in the gym. Quit worrying about how many calories you’re burning or how much time you spent this week on the Stairmaster. Stop exercising, and start practicing. Practice getting better at your lifts—whether that’s squats, deadlifts, push ups, pull ups, snatches… whatever it may be, treat your gym sessions as practice. Practice eating a better diet. Practice prioritizing protein at every meal. Practice will-power. Practice portion control. If you’re not good at something yet, that’s fine. Keep practicing. An athlete doesn’t think to themselves “Ugh that was such an awful practice, I’m terrible at this, I think I’m just going to quit now.” An athlete comes away from a hard practice knowing two things; first, the skills they practice will make them a better athlete, and second, a bad practice does not make a bad athlete. Start practicing lifting weights. Start practicing eating right. –Jenna Damron
The formula I use to stay fit and at a level of leanness that makes me happy is three-pronged, but simple. It’s also how I got to this fitness and leanness level: consistently strength train 3-4 times a week, make sure I eat protein and produce at every meal, and get adequate sleep. Not very flashy, right? The best tip I can give anyone is to cultivate what I like to refer to as The Unsexy Art of Consistency. It’s not a crazy secret magic trick. And it certainly is NOT about relying on your willpower at all times to white-knuckle yourself through punishing workouts or restrictive diets! Forget focusing on future goals: focus on now. Do the work as it is, as you stand today. And remember that by doing something deliberately, over and over, you get to groove the patterns that lead to new habits. –Fabienne Marier
We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ Right? I see this with my own goals over and over again. Planning is so important, it’s the first thing that I work on with each of my clients. When planning your schedule, you not only want to plan what you’re going to eat and when (and this doesn’t mean that you have to prepare all of your meals yourself, but rather have an action plan before you even walk in the door to the restaurant!). Also plan when you’ll go to sleep, wake up, when to exercise (pack up your gear the night before!), go to the grocery store, when to get your social needs met (friends, family or date night). Plan everything that is important to you. Plan when they’re going to fit into your life. Then, write it down in your calendar. And here’s why it works: We’re subjected to thousands upon thousands of decisions daily. At the end of the day we get ‘decision fatigue’ – also known as the Eff-Its. By creating a plan, the only thing you need to do is decide to follow the plan. Sure, it takes some mental effort at the beginning of the week, but think of it as setting yourself up for success, and it will really pay off as your decision fatigue sets in as the week progresses. – Elizabeth Sherman
My tips are geared toward busy Moms but they can really be used by anybody! (1) Meal prep- prepare food for the week ahead… freezing any extra. (2) If early morning is the only time you have to exercise, pack school lunch boxes and have your children’s clothes laid out the night before so you are not scrambling before heading out the door. (3) Be open to spontaneity… your gym workout may become a home workout; have a “go to” plan on hand. (4) Include cardio into your strength training regime… incorporate plyometric/high intensity exercises in between sets. This is a time saver! (5) Make fitness about family and include your kids into your journey whether it’s on the floor doing push-ups or in the stroller on a run; instilling positive habits in your children early on! – Johnna Holland
Want to get fit and stay fit? Live fit! If you figure out what being fit means to you (it might be different to you at different points in your life) AND you figure out why it’s important to you (this could change too) then you are ready to live fit. What does it mean to live fit? It means more than counting macros, avoiding certain foods, measuring miles, and maxing out. You can definitely still do any or all of those things and much, much more… BUT it also means that you consciously make choices (not sacrifices) every day that are in synch with your idea of fit. It means focusing just enough on how you want to feel in your body that you live in a way that supports that vision. I work with clients that LOVE exercise and some that are excellent menus planners/food prep-ers. I even have helped a few master habit change. What do you think they are doing when they aren’t working up a sweat, cooking, or tracking with their “food and mood logs”? They are living! I hope they are living fit. I work with them to be mindful of the little things. Sleeping well, hydrating, playing, enjoying hobbies (like shopping for new run gear?). Every move they make, you make, I make either edges us toward more fit or less fit. If I choose to stay up late I may choose to hit snooze. If I choose to skip lunch I might choose to binge later on. If I choose to eat too much sugar today I might choose to do it again tomorrow. If I choose to follow my meal plan I might feel super energized, have an incredible workout, get some great sleep, go grocery shopping with a great attitude and buy all my favorite healthy things, drop a few pounds and PR my next marathon? It seems to me that fitness is incredibly fluid. I’ve been lean, I’ve been fast, I’ve been pregnant twice, I’ve had a couple of pretty good injuries. But I can take charge of which direction I’m heading any minute of any day! Isn’t that a refreshing and motivating notion?! Since moving well has always felt pretty great to me I’ve always had some reasonably challenging performance related goals that tend to help me chose to live fit more often than not. Find what keeps you focused and live like the fit you you want to be! – Sara Alderfer
And there you have it! So…what resonated the most for you? Let me know in the comments 🙂
xo,
Lauren