Less Weight and Less Popular?

Funny man and actor Seth Rogen feels as though he is selling out and letting down his fans by losing weight for an upcoming role.



Are you a mom that has lost weight and has faced criticism for it from other moms and people that you know? How do you deal with it?

Or do you feel pangs of jealousy when you see that your friends are losing weight while you are struggling to do so? And if so, how do you deal with that?

Let us know!

The First Hot Mama

...I mean, First Lady, works out every day with her husband, President Obama, first thing in the morning. That is what the Commander in Chief told 60 minutes in an interview that aired on March 22, 2009. They typically work out at 7 am, after the girls have gone to school and then have breakfast afterwards.

Having a workout partner is a good idea. Whether you choose your husband, coworker, friend, neighbor, sister or dog, a workout buddy will hold you accountable and help to motivate you to stick to your program. You are not likely to skip your morning jog if you know that your best friend is waiting for you at the corner.

Are you new in town or don't know how to find a workout partner? Try going to sites like Meetup or Craigslist (I personally believe that you can find anything your heart desires on Craigslist) to find a workout partner or group.

I recommend that everyone have a group or buddy that will help keep up your motivation.

The Expectant Yogi

Yoga has a lot of benefits for expectant mothers. But what if you have never done yoga before? Read my article "The Expectant Yogi" to find out the benefits that yoga has for both veteran and newbie yogis.

What's on TV?

Are you still having trouble finding time to workout? Here is a suggestion: do your exercise during the commercials of your favorite shows! While you are watching America's Next Top Model, Top Chef or Bridget's Sexiest Beaches (oh, don't act like you don't watch one of these shows...), you can do plank during one break, opposite arm/opposite leg during the next, jumping jacks during the following break, etc. This amount of exercise will add up and is good if you didn't get a chance to hit the gym that day.

Speaking of TV, many gyms now have tvs attached to their cardio machines now. So if you find doing 30 minutes on the elliptical mind-numbing,trying going to the gym during American Idol and see how fast 30 minutes goes by!

Go Low!

A few weeks ago, I talked about doing plank and how it is the single most important exercise to do. Plank is good for strengthening the transverse abdominal muscles. It is also very important to strengthen the muscles of the lower back, which oppose the abdominal muscles.

Expectant mothers often complain of lower back pain as a result of carrying a little extra weight and a shift in their center of gravity. New mothers will also often deal with lower back pain from having to lift heavy children, car seats, strollers, etc.

*Warning to new parents: make sure that the handles of your stroller are set to the right height for you. If the handles are too low, you will have to walk bent over to reach them, which causes lower back pain.

Most people don't realize this, but strengthening the lower back is often the best thing to do to prevent or get rid of lower back pain. When your lower back muscles are strong, they can handle weight gain, a shift in the center of gravity, and heavy lifting better.

Here is a simple exercise that you can do at home that will make the lower back stronger. It is called opposite arm/opposite leg:

1. Start on all fours with the wrists underneath the shoulders and the knees underneath the hips. The knees should not touch.

2. Engage the abdominal muscles.

3. Lift the right arm and the left leg and concentrate on squeezing the lower back muscles. Make sure your hips stay square to the ground.

4. Lower down (make sure the wrist is under the shoulder and the knee is under the hip).

5. Lift the left arm and the right leg and concentrate on squeezing the lower back muscles.

6. Repeat to do 12 on each side. Take a break and do 1 or 2 more sets.

You can do this exercise 3-4 times per week.

When you are done, stretch the lower back by doing cat and cow

Your children can even do this exercise with you!

Mom-Preneurs

This is a good article on Mom Entrepreneurs.

Marcia Cross Has No Time For Workouts

I wonder what moms think about Marcia Cross's comments.

I, of course, do not like this message....

Step by Step

In the last post, I talked about making healthier choices and gave some suggestions on how to do that. But, you still may need to find the motivation to make these changes.

Here is a suggestion: purchase and use a pedometer. Pedometers are sold almost every where now and are often times given away at health fairs and even in adult happy meals. (If you absolutely have to eat at McDonald's you might as well get a pedometer while you are there.) Some are pretty simple and just tell you how many steps you have taken. But you can also buy pedometers that tell you how many miles you have walked and how many calories you have burned.

It has been said that walking 10,000 steps per day helps to meet the Surgeon General's requirement of getting 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. This is a great goal to set for yourself. Put your pedometer on when you get up in the morning and wear it all day. At the end of the day, record how many steps you have taken. Expectant mamas can use this as a goal too.

Need more motivation? Promise yourself a trip to the spa after a week of walking 10,000 steps per day. Or you will buy yourself those wonderful red shoes you have been lusting after if you meet your goal at least 25 days out of the month. You will see that you will start to push yourself to meet the goal. It will motivate you to get up and take a walk during your lunch break, to walk to the store instead of driving and to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Now, I will warn you: if you are not currently active, it is a good idea to work up to 10,000 steps per day. For example, start off with 4000 steps as a goal for the first week. Once you have reached that goal on a consistent basis, you can increase it. It is good to have short term goals on the way to your long-term goal.

Ok, let's get to steppin!

News and Events at The Hot Mama Fitness Studio

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know about the exciting events that we have planned at The Hot Mama Fitness Studio.

We will be offering the following workshops:
-Partner Yoga-March 14, 4:30-6:00 pm
-Child and Infant CPR-March 15, 1:00-5:00 pm
-Pre-Natal Partner Yoga by Candlelight-March 20, 7:00 pm
-Belly Dance for Birth Preparation Workshop-March 21, 12:00 pm
-Women's Wellness Workshop:Strong Bodies, Strong Minds. Where are you on your to do list?-April 4, 1:00 pm

You can find details on our website: http://www.hotmamafitnessstudio.com/workshops.php

We have started classes in Capitol Hill for moms that live and work on that side of town: http://www.hotmamafitnessstudio.com/capitol_hill.php

And last but definitely not least, please save the dates for our Mother's and Father's Day events:
Celebrate Mother's Day the Hot Mama Way! May 2, 2009
Celebrate Father's Day at The Hot Mama Fitness Studio June 19-21, 2009

Hope to see you there!

Finding time for exercise

Being a personal trainer gives me the opportunity to speak with many women about fitness. When I ask women why they are not more active, most of the time they reply, "I don't have time!"

However, the choices that you make during the course of your day can help you to become more active. If you alter your behavior and thinking just a little bit, you will be able to squeeze more physical activity into your life and become healthier because of it.

Here are three healthy choices that can help you to squeeze a little more activity into your day:

1) Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator. You can burn a lot of calories this way. Take a break once an hour during the day to take a walk on the stairs.
2) When taking the bus or metro to and from work, get off a stop or two early and walk the rest of the way. If you drive, park far away from the building and walk the rest of the way. (This also applies to trips to the mall or grocery store.)
3) Schedule exercise time into your Blackberry like you would any other appointment. And be sure not to cancel!

These small changes to your thinking will help you to get more exercise during the day-even on days when you can not make it to the gym. And you are still keeping it simple!

Preparing your Abs for "The Main Event": Labor and Delivery

The single most important exercise you can do (ever) is the plank. Every client that I have, no matter what age or condition, does some variation of this exercise. It is the best exercise to strengthen the abdominal muscles. Everyone wants to focus on crunches, but crunches are not that important. They are also not good to do if you have diastasis recti (the separation of the abs that sometimes occurs during pregnancy). When you think of your abdominal muscles, you are probably thinking about the muscles that you associate with having a six-pack. The plank strengthens the layer of abdominal muscles underneath those that are responsible for giving you good posture, protecting your internal organs, controling incontinence, pushing out a baby, giving you good balance, etc.

To do the plank:

1) Start on all fours with your forearms on the floor, elbows directly under the shoulders.
2) Engage your abs. This means to act as though you are pulling your belly button in towards your spine.
3) Extend one leg all the way out and then the other. This can be a very difficult position to hold. Feel free to bring both knees to the ground without changing any other body position-keeping your shoulders above your elbows. If your back starts to hurt, this is normal. That will go away with time. Bring your knees to the floor.
4) Hold for as long as you can. Take a break and repeat one or two more times.

**Make sure you are breathing the entire time!

Set a goal to hold the position for 30 seconds. After you have mastered that, work your way up to 45 seconds and then 60 seconds.

This is a great exercise! If you don't make time for any other exercise during the day, make time for this one. It will only take about 5 minutes out of your day (max).

The full version looks like this:



But this is something to work towards. Don't worry about doing that now.

(pictures courtesy of babyfit.com and all-about-abs.com)

F-KIS (Fitness-Keep It Simple)

F-KIS (Fitness-Keep It Simple)-I have decided to dedicate this blog to keeping fitness simple during your pregnancy and afterwards for the next few weeks.

Pregnancy is an exciting time, and you know that you should keep up with your fitness routine. But with all the sleepless nights, doctor's appointments and trips to the furniture store, it seems like it is hard to find the time. This blog will give you a few, important exercises that can be done in your own home to make your pregnancy, labor and delivery a little easier.

Finding time (and energy) for exercise after having the baby is no piece of cake either. This blog will also highlight exercises that you can sneak in while your baby is napping and exercises that you can do together.