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Published by spinchick on January 16, 2009 in helpful stuff. Closed

{Seven years ago I was so overweight I could not fit into a ride at Legoland. I had a bad back, sore feet, constant fatigue and no dreams. Since then I have LOST 80 POUNDS, become a certified personal trainer, Spinning® instructor and writer.

Helen RyanSo…how did I do it? By taking simple, consistent steps to improve myself. Follow this blog, sign up for my free e-zine. Learn more at about.me. And I’d love to hear your comments about posts, or questions you might have (connect through my Facebook page, too). Carry on – today really is the first day in the rest of your life Read on….}

Someday Is Not a Day of the Week

Published by spinchick on February 2, 2012 in motivation, tips and weight loss. 0 Comments

Someday I will lose weight“Someday is not a day of the week.” ~Unknown

We all say, “Someday.”

Someday we will lose weight. Someday we will take control of our lives. Someday we will get healthier, stop smoking, exercise, eat more veggies, play with our kids, go to the beach, ride our bikes.

“Someday” will never come unless you make it.

Will you make today your “someday?” Or will you wait?

~Onward

Quotables – What Are You Willing to Give Up to Lose Weight?

Published by spinchick on January 4, 2012 in Quotes and weight loss. 0 Comments

Quotes on losing weight“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” ~H. L. Hunt

What are you willing to give up to lose weight? Think about it for a second.

Are you willing to give up that second serving of food, the chocolate chip cookie, the extra glass of wine, the 15 minutes of sleep, or the 1 hour of television?

What is being fit and healthy worth to you?

There is no magic in weight loss. You can’t have your cake and be thin, too. You have to pick and choose – what you want and what you are willing to give up to get it. You don’t have to give up everything “fun,” but you’ll need to set priorities and decide what’s important. Otherwise, we go nowhere.

Onward.

~Helen

Weight Loss Resolutions – Do, Die or Cry

Published by spinchick on December 30, 2011 in Holiday Help, motivation and weight loss. 0 Comments

New Year's Weight Loss ResolutionsThe #1 New Year’s resolution? Probably to lose weight. January 1 always seems like a good time to start “fresh” and people, feeling bloated from ovedoing the Holidays, are desperately seeking a way to get those Holiday pounds off.

I, too, feel the bloat, so here are some of my previous blog posts on weight loss resolutions and staying with it. Time to read my own work, he he. Enjoy…and have a great, brand-spankin’ new year!

Sticking to Weight Loss Resolutions

Keeping Weight Loss Resolutions – The Beginning

Keeping Weight Loss Resolutions – Sticking With It

New Year’s Weight Loss Resolutions

Photo: ©Flickr Krissy Mayhew

Do You Want It Badly Enough?

Published by spinchick on December 13, 2011 in motivation, tips and weight loss. 0 Comments

How badly do you want to lose weight“You’ve got to say, ‘I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it.’ It’s called perseverance.” ~Lee Iacocca

The secret to weight loss is summed up by this one quote above: You’ve got to want it badly enough. Period.

This Holiday season is the perfect time to see how badly you really want it. Instead of eating with abandoned at every Holiday function, ask yourself one simple little question before you reach for that extra serving: “How badly do I want it?” If you take more cookies than you should, then you’ve learned a valuable truth: You don’t want it badly enough. And there’s nothing wrong with that. When you are ready, when you really want it more than anything else, you will succeed. That’s what happened to me – and how I lost 80 pounds. I wanted to be healthy and fit…more than anything else.

Do you?

Onward.

~Helen

How I Am Getting My Pants to Fit Better Again

Published by spinchick on December 8, 2011 in helpful stuff and weight loss. 0 Comments

Too fat to button pants

“So maybe tomorrow. I’ll find my way home…” ~Stereophonics

Four years ago I was a superfit 119 pounds (down from my original 200 pounds). At one point during the summer of 2005, I was down to 114 pounds – too thin by my standards (I am only 5 feet tall). Today – well, today I have no idea how much I weigh. I am going to guess about 128, judging from the fact that I can’t button most of my pants, or when I do, I have a terrible muffin top. (As an aside – I no longer weigh myself because I refuse to focus on a number.)

I way fell off the superfit weight loss wagon about three years ago when the stress of being a single mom with limited income drove me to eat too much chocolate and too many Ritz Crackers.

I still exercised and taught Spinning classes, but the calories I was snacking on were overtaking the calories I was expending.

Continue reading ‘How I Am Getting My Pants to Fit Better Again’

Quotable 12-5-11

Published by spinchick on December 5, 2011 in Quotes and laugh or cry. 0 Comments

Elayne Boosler Weight Loss Quote“We have women in the military, but they don’t put us in the front lines. They don’t know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can. All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, ‘You see the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms.” ~Elayne Boosler

Being Ready To Lose Weight

Published by spinchick on September 6, 2011 in motivation. 0 Comments

“It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.” ~James Gordon

Weight loss success is all about “being ready.” How many times have you tried – and failed – to lose weight? The only reason you have not succeeded is that you didn’t want it bad enough. In other words, you weren’t ready to make the sacrifices it takes to do it. Don’t beat yourself up over it, though. We are often not ready to make necessary changes in our lives. Think about it for a moment: You didn’t change jobs, get married, get divorced, went back to college, started a new hobby…until you were ready. Some day you will be ready – really ready – to lose weight. And then you will succeed.

Onward.

~Helen

Why We (Over)Eat Things We Don’t Even Like

Published by spinchick on July 24, 2011 in food, helpful stuff, motivation and weight loss. 0 Comments

Cheetos“I hate myself for loving you…”~Joan Jett

If you’re like me, sometimes you eat things you don’t even like.

Take Cheetos, for instance. I don’t like them. They taste like styrofoam and they make me puffy. And yet…when I am tired or stressed, I sometimes discover that my fingers are orange from eating my daughter’s Cheetos (Puffs).

The bummer with eating foods we don’t really like is that we waste calories on things that have nothing to do with pleasure or fun. If I am going to eat something fattening and pretty much useless, wouldn’t it be better to eat some expensive, delicious melt-in-my-mouth Belgian chocolate rather than Hershey’s (wax) chocolate?

In all reality, when I am “stress eating,” I am eating not for flavor or fun but to relieve some pressure in an overbooked and fatigued day.

I want salt, sugar, salt, sugar…and it doesn’t matter what form those ingredients come in. Just bring it.

I think the trick is for us to find other ways to relieve our stress and fatigue. In the past I have used exercise as a stress release and it works most excellently. Sleep is oftentimes out of the question, but what about yoga? Or reading a book, or watching a movie? Maybe snuggling with your child or significant other? Do these things really work, or are they poor substitutes for some good, old-fashioned carbs?

What do you think?

Onward….

~Helen

Photo Flickr ©vkareh

5 Easy Quick Steps to Your Best Summer Body

Published by spinchick on June 20, 2011 in excercise, metabolism, tips and weight loss. 0 Comments

Bikini body{This post was written my fitness column on LA’s the Place – “The Fit Life.” It gives you some quick and easy real life tips on getting in shape for the summer. . ~Helen}

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You’re standing in the fitting room filled with dread. The harsh overhead lights don’t do anything to ease your fear of the garment clutched in your hand. You slowly strip down, peel on the suit. And scream. Yup, it’s bathing suit season once more.

It may seem a daunting task to fit into that suit (or swim shorts), especially if you have more than a few pounds to lose. There is no quick hacks to safely losing weight, however, but there are some simple steps you can take to get you there faster.

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The Best Way to Manage PMS

Published by spinchick on June 3, 2011 in excercise and helpful stuff. 0 Comments

Solutions for PMS“I see a red door and I want it painted black, no colors anymore I want them to turn black.” ~Rolling Stones

I remember those days of ugly PMS clearly.

I was angry, tired, aggressive, my breasts hurt horribly and I was bloated.

The world was black, my life felt bleak, and it was nearly two weeks of hell.

Pre-menstrual syndrome might not seem like a topic for a weight loss blog, but this is more than a weight loss blog. It is a blog about improving your weight, your health and your life.

PMS doesn’t improve anyone’s life.

Continue reading ‘The Best Way to Manage PMS’