Hi Miz, I’m a newish reader and had two quick questions I was hoping you would answer: have you ever been overweight and what are some short, easy fitness tips? I want to get lean and got a little overwhelmed by all the information in Tuesday’s post. Thanks.

Judging by the comments/emails/tweets I received this person wasnt alone either.

(perhaps that’s why this guy frequently encourages bloggers to do series posts?)

Today? The short version (**cue mass applause**).

My three step process for getting & staying lean (I shed 40lbs of fluff & have maintained this loss for 16+ years):

Step two:

Step three:

There you have it.

My 3-step Get Lean program:

• Set yourself up for success with yer groceries.
• Resistance training/cardio.
• Eat aforementioned success-foods.
  

Short, concise, & straighttothepoint.

Who knew I had it in me?

(This post is neither sponsored by nor endorsed by AllWhites®.  There is, in fact, a rather large chance the entire company is mildly horrified at my BlogPostOfLove.  You’ll have that…)

OK, People. Im passionate enough about this exercise that Im willing to put my misfit heart on the line and admit Im really hoping  lots of you choose to join in.

You may choose to do it the way that I did.

You may choose to do option two below.

I just hope you choose to do it.  Ive done it a few times in my life— with myriad situations—and each time it has served to both challenge and refocus me.

What is this “it” you ask?

I give you the No Excuses! tee shirt exercise (part one).

What you’ll need:

• A plain white tee (if youre me & have lottsa excuses I recommend a largelarge tee)
• At least one Sharpie
• A close friend (for option one anyway)
• To be ready to be brutally honest with yourself & prepared to experience some raw uncensored honesty as well.

Option one:

For the sake of this blog-post the No Excuses! exercise will focus on what is holding us back from our exercise goals?

(If you click on my picture you’ll see the tee I did this weekend addresses a different subject matter.  I urge you—-should working out NOT be something with which you’re currently struggling—-try this exercise with anything that’s currently a life-challenge for you.)

Call a close friend/partner/family member/spouse (really close as this gets kinda intimate) & invite them over.  Choose someone you’ve found to be a cheerleader in your life as you work on carving your healthy living path.

Hand this supportive-person your Sharpie(s) & ask him/her to scrawl on the tee all the excuses/rationalizations she’s heard you make over the daysweeksmonthsyears with regards to why you ‘cant’  to stick to your exercise habits/healthy living goals.

Ask her to be loving but honest (this is repeatedly the most difficult part for me.  Ive never had an excuse written I didnt know—deep down— I was making, yet seeing my words in print is still never easy).

Option 2:

I know at times I’m  not in a place of wanting to hear what other people think (Sorry Ren Man) or not feeling strong enough to see reflected in writing what others hear me saying (When I feel this way I define it as “feeling fragile”  as in “Ren Man I cant hear what you’re thinking about XYZ right now. I.Fragile”).

If youre in that place I still urge you to try this exercise.

There’s something powerful to me about placing pen to paper Sharpie to cloth.

My excuses feel simultaneously less daunting and more real.

I encourage you to make some YOUtime, grab your tee & pens, & scrawl as many reasons as you can think of why you arent currently achieving *your* exercise goals.  Dont stop. Dont self-edit. Dont over-think.  JUST WRITE.

Whichever approach you choose after you’re done spend a few moments looking over your teeshirtcreation (and remember this is only our first part).

Are you surprised by what you see (if you chose option one: by how others hear what you say)?

Are you encouraged (do your excuses seem pretty d*mn conquerable now that you’ve written em down?) or discouraged (be honest. are you now thinking “HOLY CRAP IM MORE FRUSTRATED THAN EVER! IVE COVERED BOTH SIDES OF MY TEE!” Ive so been there…)?

Are you thinking: MizFit.Crazy. There’s no way in hell Im ruining a perfectly good white tee.

Please to hit us all up in the comments (and please to mark your calendar for part two of our tee’perience on 4.26)

This whole endeavor has been an experience in trying to shed my Im NOT a runner! mentality & yesterday was no different.

Life conspired against me and, as a result, I was treadmill-relegated for my ten miler.

(I wont lie to you, People, this is my longest run.  I may not be the smartest half-marathon trainer but Im the half-runner who didnt let recent life events entirely derail her which counts for something!)

Treadmill-relegated *and* needed to be at the gym at 5a (on a Saturday!) in order to get the run done and not have it intrude on my family-day.

I did it.

One episode of Millionaire Matchmaker, one episode of Real Housewives, some cursing staring into space & I was done.

And Im woman enough to say Im so flipping proud of myself.

For me this was a huge huge step forward.  Not so much in the realm of fitness but in the arena of mental fortitude (which is where this misfit can, some days, be sorely lacking).

I longed to get off the treadmill.

I even had ready-made excuses to get off (please to see need-to-pee & cross reference under itouch-flying-across-gym) but I didnt.

It doesnt matter if for others a 10 mile run is a drop in their daily running bucket—-for me this is a tremendous accomplishment & Im thisclose to tearing a rotatorcuff as I pat myself on the back.

Recently Ive been asked quite frequently for tips on how not to compare oneself to others.

For suggestions on how not to examine one’s accomplishments, feel GREAT, then read a blog entry where the writer has done precisely what youve done and THEN SOME & let your accomplishments lose their luster.

My tip?  Celebrate you. Your accomplishments. Make your barometer/goal to be better than YOU WERE last time.

Celebrate other people’s successes *with them* but remember that we all carve out our unique path in fitness and in life.

Some of us may take longer to run down that path (*raises hand*) but the important thing is we choose, daily, to stay on/or climb on the healthy-living path.

Yes this is in the gym bathroom.  I was trying to avoid the “why is that woman taking her own pic?!” reaction on the gym floor.

Im over here yammering waxing eloquently about fitting exercise in to busy (mama or no mama) schedules.

Im up in herre talking to Dr Fitness & the Fat Guy about everything from tattoos to twitter (the link is to my segment only.  The entirety of the podcast is available on itunes).

And you can find me here chatting with Molly Wigand of Hallmark cards while I was at Blissdom.

Please to enjoy.

(translation: preempted is my post titled What I learned at Blissdom & Why I think conferences are so important. That’s coming next week.)

This post focuses on a concept which has been on my mind since I met this woman & was once again brought to the forefront after some AMAZING company interactions while in Nashville.

Do the companies you love—-love you back?

When Sally first asked me this question my answer was unequivocally NO.

I loved/and gave blog love to Chipper jerky continually and, as evidenced by their lack of customer service, they did not love me back.

I promoted these tank-tops freely (100% because they exemplify what I strive to live. I had *zero* desire for anything beyond a “hey that’s cool you love our stuff!” in response to my emails) with nary a notice.

Back then the lamentation-list went on and on (& it bears pointing out that I choose NOT to do affiliate programs. I want to be able to review, share my love & have no fear anyone will even slightly assume I share the love for profit).

Yet, back then, I couldnt clearly identify HOW companies could have shown their love for me/bloggers in any clear or concise fashion.

Which brings me back to the point of this post (and pretty d*mn quickly for once I might add):

Im asking for your help in creating a list.

Im seeking your time & wanting your braincells to help me generate some thoughts on how the companies we love (bloggers or not) could love us back.

I rarely ask you to comment—-but today I am.

Even if your thoughts are ones *you percieve* to be muddled musings you might spark an idea in someone else.

Do the companies you love—-love you back?

Right now my answer would be sometimes.

And, the more I live with this notion as a backdrop, I find Im choosing to throw my MizFitDollars behind companies who’ve demonstrated they love their consumers back in some sort of fashion.

How do I know when they love me back?

• They listen. They seek my opinion & value what I have to say whether it is complimentary or not.

• They value me. They recognize I may not be a 2.97 billion dollar company but my time/efforts are quite valuable & they treat it as such.

• They recognize that, like it or not, Im part of their demographic & they include me in their advertising, marketing & sizing (For me this means a 40 year old, inseam-challenged, rapidly-wrinkling, frugal, Jewish misfit residing in TX).

There are myriad companies with whom Ive worked (in my dayjob, in blogging, & in life!) who entirely fit the description above and then some.

That’s how I know that they love me back.

Now you.

Please to put on your blogger-bandanna, your consumer-beret, or your parent-partyhat & think for a moment.

Do the companies you <3 love you back?

If not–how do you know?

If YES–same query.

Ill be joining you in the comments…

They answered some in Part One.

Please to enjoy Part Two.

Kristen asked: “My husband always tells me to switch up my cardio routine. He said that even though I run a lot I will eventually stop losing weight because my body will get used to that type of exercise… Can your body get used to your same ol’ routine like using the elliptical?”

Ron followed that question up with a similar request: “Does your body really get used to your exercise routine therefore not benefiting you?”

Have any of you ever changed a habit such as taking the stairs at your office building instead of the elevator? Perhaps the stairs made you winded the first few times, but after a while you could make it to your destination without needing a break, right? Your body does get used to any exercise you do repeatedly. If you work the same muscles over and over again they get stronger and more efficient at completing the same activity; however, does that mean you aren’t benefiting from using those muscles in the same way?  Definitely not.

Variety in exercise is key to staying committed to your workout and moving your muscles in different ways. By adding variety (even if it’s simply using different tempos in your running, stepping up the intensity of your aerobics class, or cross-training with a few different activities each week), you will regularly exercise different muscle groups and prevent your body from settling into an efficiency with the same workout day in and day out.  This will also help maximize your calorie burn for weight management.

Though your body can acclimate to the same repeated workout, you are still benefiting from the exercise itself in a variety of health-related ways.  You may not be burning as many calories, though, and that is why changing it up can be a good thing.

A few readers wanted to know more about meal structure: “Dinner seems to be the hardest meal for me to eat right during, so what I do to make up for this is to eat a very tiny breakfast and very tiny lunch. That way I don’t have to worry too terribly much about my dinner choice and I still have some food intake during the day. Is this okay? I hear some people say 6 small meals to keep the metabolism going, others say eat a large breakfast, medium lunch, tiny dinner, and then some others say that its the overall calorie count for the day that matters most.”

Good question about meal structure. Dinner is often the hardest meal for many people to manage. The reasons why vary. One reason may be related to the size of your earlier meals. Eating smaller meals earlier in the day will give you more wiggle room for calories in the evening. The downside is that it also sets you up to be overly hungry when dinner time rolls around. While your goal is to not worry about what you can eat for dinner, this plan may backfire in that your appetite will overrule reasonable food intake.

Other challenges about dinnertime arise from it being the end of the day—we’re often tired and stressed from the events of the day and the evening becomes a time of release. We let down our guard and often use food as a tension reliever. My recommendation would be to balance your calorie intake across the day more evenly with regular meals (and snacks if needed to keep from going more than 4-5 hours without eating something).

If your current routine is working for you, you are happy with it, feeling energized and managing a healthy weight, that’s great. But if you are struggling with excess weight and/or not enough energy throughout the day, analyzing your meal structure and timing would be a great place to start.

Another reader asked about vitamins: “What is the optimum amount of vitamin D? How much does a person get from the sun and from food? Should we all be taking supplements and, if so, how much?”

Vitamin D is the media’s superstar nutrient right now, largely because recent research suggests that many people are deficient. You can get vitamin D through your diet (dairy products and other fortified foods). Sun exposure also allows the body to make vitamin D, but the amount is influenced by where you live and how much sun you get, as well as your skin pigmentation.

So, how much do you need? The jury’s still out. The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) current recommendations are between 200-600 IU’s of vitamin D, depending on age. A committee was established in 2008 to reconsider these numbers based on current research and new recommendations are expected in 2010.

What we do know is that older adults, people with limited sun exposure, people with darker skin, and obese people are at greater risk for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D supplementation is now recommended for many individuals, but recommended levels vary. Doctors are now testing vitamin D levels and encouraging supplementation for deficient individuals. The current safe upper limit of vitamin D intake, according to IOM, is 2,000 IUs. However, we may see this limit change when the 2010 report is published.

POD asked for more background about the numbers behind Vtrim: “What is the percentage of folks who gain their weight back after following this program and what criteria do you consider when saying folks are successful at your program?”

In a similar follow-up question, Gretchen replied: “When every diet/lifestyle change I know about doesn’t meet the gold standard for measuring such programs, which is that a significant (more than 5-10%) number of the participants need to keep off a significant (more than 10 lbs or so on average) amount of weight for more than 5 years, what’s different about Vtrim?”

POD and Gretchen, we’re glad you asked! When it comes to weight loss, you aren’t willing to accept any old advertisement or gimmick that comes along. You are well-informed and do your homework about the resources and programs available to you. We advise everyone to follow suit!

Vtrim is a university-based weight loss program used in obesity trials completed through the University of Vermont’s Behavioral Weight Management Program. We call our program Vtrim, though the protocol we use exists at other obesity research institutions.  This methodology is what researchers use to determine best practices for weight management. It has been studied extensively and refined since the early 1970s.  Vtrim Online brings makes research-based weight loss program available to the general public. Otherwise, participants would have to qualify for one of our research studies.

Because Vtrim is the clinical gold standard treatment, we expect participants to lose an average of 9kg (19.8 lbs) at six months.  That number represents the average weight loss of participants in a research study. Remember, in research we are looking at means, or averages, of a group.  Some people lose more than 9kg; some lose less. Once you have an average, you can compare it to other programs that put their protocol through rigorous randomized controlled trials.  This kind of data is sparse when it comes to commercially available weight loss programs. Based on what is published, Vtrim achieves a higher weight loss at six months. Most participants who lose 9kg have entered the clinically-meaningful range of a 5-10 percent weight loss. Eighty-three percent of our graduates achieve at least a five percent weight loss.

Vtrim has not tracked participants five years out; however, because we use the same protocol used in other obesity research studies that have answered this question, we can apply those findings to our program. Recent data shows that a six-month behavioral weight loss program should achieve an average weight loss of 9kg at six months, with one-third gained back after one year.  At five years, people are still at a weight four percent less than their start weight. Please realize that this speaks to the average when comparing groups in research. Many people do succeed at weight loss. A protocol such as Vtrim gives you the best chance of sustainable, long-term success.

Wow, People.

That’s a lot of info. & a lot of time spent answering the questions WE asked.

Whether you agree. Whether they answered the questioncomment you left. Please to give Vtrim some thank you love in below.

Want some MizFit for your Wednesday? Come join me.  Im hanging over here.

They answered.

Please to enjoy.

Hi MizFit Online Readers!

It’s Beth and Heather, Registered Dietitians from Vtrim Online, and we’re here with answers to your wonderful questions from MizFit’s 12/9 blog post.

We were excited to see so many great questions that showed us you do not take your health for granted. Especially at the holidays, we all should give thanks for the gift of health! It’s the gift that truly keeps on giving, right?

At Vtrim, we value credible, scientific information – no gimmicks! So with that in mind, we narrowed your questions down to nine questions that were timely and applicable to many people. We merged a few questions into one response to get more of your questions answered. And we have made note of several of your questions that we will answer on the Vtrim blog (www.vtrimblog.org) over the next couple of weeks. You are always welcome to visit us at our blog and post your questions and thoughts. We’d welcome a conversation with you.

Yours,
Beth & Heather, Vtrim Online

1. Rebecca asked: “Carbs/Cals Carbs/Cals – what’s your take on what’s more important?” and Joanna commented: “I’d love for you to talk about nutrient combo’s…Do you think Protein/Fat/Carbs belong in the same meal or broken down into P/F and P/C meals?”

Calories trump carbs, fat and protein. The calorie is king. It doesn’t matter what source your calories come from—if you consume more calories than your body needs, you will gain weight. Case in point: the second our society deems a nutrient bad for you, the food market creates products to match the rage (Think low-fat cookies, fat-free ice cream, low-carb bread, for example). Beware these claims! Just because the package claims it is “healthy,” doesn’t mean you can eat as much as you want. The key to managing your weight is monitoring the calories you consume and the calories you expend in exercise.  For better appetite control, eating meals balanced with protein, carbs, and heart-healthy fats is best. There’s no danger in combining fats and carbs together in a meal, especially when they are healthier carb/fat sources (think whole grains, olive oil, fish, or nuts).

2. Cindie asked: “I am a Weight Watchers member, where the points formula basically gives you credit for more fiber. So many foods these days seem to have added fiber, which makes me skeptical. A 100 calorie Hostess cupcake pack with 4 grams of fiber essentially becomes 1 point instead of 2 because of the fiber. Seems like cheating to me! What’s your take on added fiber?”

We always appreciate a skeptical consumer. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This applies to Cindie’s example. Sure, the Hostess cupcake has some added fiber, but you probably aren’t eating that cupcake because you’re looking to add fiber to your diet. You’re typically eating the cupcakes because you want a treat. The strategy of pre-packaged portion-controlled treats is a good one if it helps you satisfy that craving without overeating; however, the reality is, you want to learn to eat a healthier diet overall. Even though the fiber is lowering the WW point value, it’s not taking away the high-calorie, low-nutrient quality of the cupcake. Added fiber in food can be a good thing, but it depends on how it’s played out. A lower point value doesn’t truly mean it is a healthier food choice. You still have to be a smart consumer and make healthy choices within your calorie goal, or in this case your points allotment.

3. Sagan asked: “Is it a good idea to eat first thing in the morning and at regular intervals throughout the day and a couple hours before bed, even if you’re not that hungry? Is it okay to let longer periods of time go by?”

Paying attention to WHEN you eat is a very valuable assessment. A key part of our Vtrim philosophy is this little maxim: it isn’t just WHAT you eat, but HOW you eat as well. What are your eating routines, triggers, etc, and how do they play a role in your total calorie intake, or your exercise habits? Eating regularly is a helpful strategy to keep you from becoming ravenous, thus, triggering overeating. In fact, research shows that people who skip meals tend to eat as many, if not more, calories than people who eat regular meals and/or snacks.

Paying attention to hunger cues and eating mindfully is also important. People who skip meals and go long hours between meals tend to have a harder time recognizing and responding to hunger cues appropriately. I’d recommend using a hunger scale to help guide your eating intervals throughout the day (On a scale of 1-10, 1 being starving, 10 being “totally overdid it”). Avoid the extremes at each end of the hunger scale. Aim to eat when your hunger level is between 3-4 (beginning to feel a little hungry or feeling uncomfortable and ready to eat), and to stop eating between 5-6 (comfortable and could only eat a little more or satisfied and feeling comfortable and full). As you keep track of your food choices and timing of meals each day, consider how your level of hunger impacts the quality and quantity of what you eat.  By paying attention to your hunger cues, you will determine which eating patterns work best for you.

4. Kristy asked: “How to decide if the sleep is going to be more beneficial than the morning workout? I.E. Get 7 hours of sleep instead of 6 or take the 6 hours of sleep and do a 30 minute cardio session before work?”

Sleep or exercise? Exercise or sleep? It’s a tough spot to be because both are critical for good health and weight management. Research shows the impact sleep (or lack thereof) has on our bodies’ chemical/hormone balances, stress levels, and overall health, but there is also solid evidence explaining how exercise affects these same things too. It is ideal to make both work for you—enough sleep and exercise. The million dollar question is how will you find more time? Ask yourself the following questions:
**Are there activities you can eliminate (TV time) in order to exercise?
**Can you workout while doing something else (treadmill and TV, a walk to get an errand done, lunch break walks with a coworker)?

Research shows that breaking exercise up into several shorter bouts throughout the day (at least 10 minutes of continuous exercise at a moderate pace) can be as effective or more effective in completing your exercise for the week.  This approach can seem more manageable than finding the time for 3-4 long workouts when sleep becomes a precious commodity.  This also might be more realistic than getting out of bed an hour earlier.  On the flip side, fatigue from sleep issues often stem from staying up too late rather than getting up too early. Can you use your time more efficiently in the evening and get to bed earlier to log more snoozing hours? If you try, you can look for and find ways to fit exercise into your regular daily routines and still hit the pillow at night in a timely manner.

5. Nikki asked about unintentional weight loss. She said: “I’m not trying to lose weight, and I do eat smaller meals throughout the day….Should I see a doc? Should I be putting some more weight on & what can I do to put on a little weight without bulking up my mid section which always seems to be the case?”

Being overweight or underweight can present health problems.  Unintentional weight loss can be an indicator of other health issues, so anytime you’re losing weight without explanation warrants a visit to your doctor.  As far as putting on weight without bulking up in the mid-section?

Unfortunately, we tend to put on weight in the places our bodies are genetically predisposed to storing fat (i.e., the classic apple shape vs. pear shape).  You can’t control where you will store fat just as you can’t spot reduce fat either. The best bet is to make sure you are balancing calorie intake with your activity level. Make exercise a regular part of your week, including strength training to keep muscles toned and defined to work on your mid-section, focus your exercise activities on abdominal muscles if that is your trouble spot?

Stay tuned for part 2 of Your Questions Answered on January 20th.

There.Are.No.Words.

Please to enjoy hers as she joins US in the Exposed movement.

First of all, a gigungous thank you to MizFit for inviting me over to her place.

Can’t even TELL you what a big fan I’ve become of that hot ass in a very short time; I just love the whole fitfunnyhealthprincessparty vibe over here. So, when she asked me to guest post, I immediately thought to myself, EXPOSED!

Because she did it, and it was badass, and others have done it, and it’s was badass, and I heard Miz asking around to see if anyone else would join in on the badassedness, because it was just so badass to get out there and love on ourselves for who we are.

And when I asked her what she’d like me to write today, her only requirement was that my post be air quote dripping with my voice end air quote.   Since my brand of ‘voice’ is pretty raw and of the tell-it-like-it-is variety, I just figured why the heck not.

I mean, I can tell stories about sharting, admit to having queefed in a yoga class, discuss the ebb and flow of my libido whilst referring to myself as a Dancing Monkey and whip my pants off for all the blogosphere to see in order to send them to a shrinking dieter in need so what the eff is so difficult about taking a picture of myself in my underwear and appreciating the hotness that is my body? I mean, right?

Well, let’s just say I may have found my Achilles heel.

Words are easy for me to whip up. I love ‘em more than my luggage. I’ve never been good at drawing or sculpting or pottery. Not one for staying in the lines when I’m coloring. Even my penmanship is pretty horrible. But give me a laptop and a dictionary? I will stay busy for days pouring my soul into wordtastical works of art.

But after snapping the first set of pictures of me in the semi-nude and sitting down to decide what I wanted to say about my fabulous self, I found that I was actually speechless. Speechless! And not in a good way! Because all of the stuff about me that I actually kind of like, I couldn’t see in the pictures! I mean, WTF? Where was the snark and the wit that makes up my ‘voice’? Or that audacity that allows me to publicly use words like fingerbang or dickpunch? Where was that uncanny ability to make inappropriate jokes at inopportune moments? All that stuff that kind of defines me! Why can’t I see that in the photo?

It must be because I took the first round of snaps when I was bloated. I mean, who takes semi-nude pics a few days before TOM flows into town? Must be covering up the good stuff. So I waited a few days and tried again.

And again, I searched for me. Where was the passion for cooking shows and bad reality television?  The devoted and homesick BFF? The hopeless romantic that loves chick lit and fancies herself to be one heluva fantastic lover? Where’s the absent-minded, tail-chasing, mediocre on the best of days momwife who feeds her kids chicken nuggets and Fruit Loops for breakfast? (I’m just kidding on that last one. I don’t really do that.)

AND WHO THE HELL IS THAT SQUISHY CHICK WEARING MY MISMATCHED UNDERWEAR?

Yeah. Apparently photos make me a little squeamish.

But I had to ask myself the question: Will the real Mrs. Fatass please stand up?

Because, when I’m hanging out at my blog, creating all this honest reality with my word art, yammering on and on about being comfortable with who I am, hangups and all, am I really exposing the real me? Or am I just deflecting attention from her with all the jokes and four letter words? Am I really the crass and sassy badass I like to SAY I am, or is that person just a character I created? Shouldn’t I somehow be able to connect the dots between what I write and who I see in the photograph?

So, you guessed it. Round Three. This time I vowed I’d use the photo. Now, while I realize I have already pranced around in my undies on the occasional Bloggerhood of the Traveling Not So Fat Pants vlog, really? The last time somebody in person saw me this scantily clad for the first time, it was before age and stress and babies and also there was beer. And that’s what this feels like. Like you’re seeing me in person. Because there’s no act to put on, no character to assume. It’s just you, me, and my uh, exposure.

And when I look at a photo of myself, I just don’t know how not to criticize.

But I guess it’s time to find out a bit about the me I see from the outside, with my eyes.

I had to kind of ease in to it. So the first one is me exposed, yet fully clothed.

Yep. That’s about right.

Okay. Off with the shirt. Kind of like freshman year of college, having to undress and shower in the community bathroom. No problem.

And the whole shebang.

So, still making a few nervous jokes, but also revealing a few real things about me, this is who I am, living in the body I am striving to love and am working hard to take better care of. Inside and out.

Thanks so much for the hospitality, MizFit. Next time let’s do it over at my place, shall we?

(Yes, yes we shall.)

Vermont was just named the healthiest state in the nation by America’s Health Rankings. So we have some health experts from the University of Vermont’s Vtrim Online Weight Management Program to answer ANY of your nutrition and weight management questions.

This week Heather Leonard and Beth Casey Gold , both Registered Dietitians, directors at the Vtrim Weight Management Program, and health bloggers are here to give insight to questions related to your diet (MizFit note: they mean food plan, People. We are not talking dietdiet here) and weight management!

Please post your question here as a comment to Heather and/or Beth and they will answer them for you in the from of a MizFit guest post.

One lucky commenter will receive a free copy of the Eating Well Diet book, a self-help version of the Vtrim program done in collaboration with Eating Well Magazine.,

Who are Heather and Beth, and what is Vtrim? Vtrim is an online weight management program researched and developed by Jean Harvey-Berino, PhD,RD at the University of Vermont for 17 years.

Heather is Vtrim’s Director of Online Instruction. She manages Vtrim’s Certified Facilitators and coordinates the Vtrim Facilitator training program and continuing education. As a Registered Dietitian, Heather has vast experience in group and individual counseling for weight management, cardiovascular disease, and other health risk factors. Heather has also been a facilitator for weight management research studies at UVM for the past 9 years.

Beth is responsible for sales and business development for Vtrim. She also coordinated all research studies conducted at the University of Vermont’s Behavioral Weight Management Program for nine years, including research on the Vtrim Program. As a Registered Dietitian, she has counseled people extensively on weight management in both an in-person and online setting.

So have at it! Any question will do. And, remember, the only silly question is the one not asked.

Winner announced  December 11. USA only.

I saw your tweet about drawing boundaries and saying no. I’m terrible at this and end up angry and resentful about all my commitments. I know this isn’t a workout question but wondered if you could email me back?

My entire reason for starting this blog was the hope that, through sharing my experiences, I could save you (the royal) from making the mistakes Id made along my healthy-living way.

Things like lifting the same body parts day after day after day or eating 100% fat free (oops. on both counts).

It’s that reason why I decided not to just email our reader back but use her question for a blog post.

For me my entire world shifted when I finally realized that NO is not a four letter word.

I used to be Suzie SaysYes to everything.

Sometimes it was simply because I really wanted to say yes (even though I had too much on my plate) and other times it was because I didn’t know how to say no without hurting someones feelings or causing resentment.

As a result, I spent my 20′s frazzled because I was overcommitted and irritated because I really wasnt interested in doing half of the tasks which filled my days.

And then I had my own little AH HA! moment.

I realized that not only was I doing a lot—and none of it well—-it was a disservice to others if I wasnt carrying out a commitment or favor with a joyous heart.

As the emailer mentioned I, too, was growing resentful and I wasnt hiding it too well either.

I was grumping my way through my days and, for the most part, the people to whom Id said yes either had no idea or didnt care (why should they have cared? I said yes—they didnt force me into anything).

The answer to changing my predicament took a while to find but, when I did, it turned out to be an obvious one:

I never ever say yes to anything in the moment. EVER.

Does an opportunity sound amazingfantastic (Wanna go to Vegas next weekend all expenses paid?)?

My response is always:

Im not sure—let me check my calendar.

Does an opportunity should like something I should probably do just to be nice (Can you pick up little Jennie from daycare next Friday?)?

My response is always:

Im not sure—let me check my calendar.

Does an opportunity sound like a stick-in-the-eye but I know I should probably should say yes since Im as poor as the proverbial mo’ fo’ (Do you wanna write about the political process in Mongolia)?

Im not sure—let me check my calendar.

This approach has allowed me to never feel in-the-moment pressured and agree to things which upon reflection I know I can not do.

Yes (it is still difficult to say no). Yes (I still frequently say yes to things out of a sense of ‘do unto others’ but its done with a joyous heart now) Yes (I sometimes use the Oprah trick of “I prayed on it and decided I cannot.” She’s right. No one can argue with that one.) it can be a challenge to say NO—-but it can be done & the self-care which results is invaluable.

AWKWARD SEGUE & FLASHBACK TO FREEBIE

Remember this post about the KURU shoes?

please to enjoy this visual reminder:

Im  happy to announce that Kuru is back and wants to give one of you yer very own pair (cue applause).

One reader will win a pair of Kuru’s slip-ons (Rapids, Slipstream or the Draft) & you can be entered to win for the low low price of a comment below.

Click to the Kuru website and share (how you have learned to say NO in your own life and) which Kuru model/style is your fave!

USA & Canada only. Winner announced 11.16