Sheer Balance

Starting with Thanksgiving, the holiday season gives us reason (or an excuse) to celebrate and indulge.  Some of us are great at managing the amount of celebrating we do, and some of us are not so good.  The worst, however, is waking up the day after New Year’s, dumbfounded as to how we gained ten [...]

I’m not a big believer in counting calories.  I do think that it is important to be MINDFUL of how you eat, but counting calories makes anyone trying to be healthy feel like they are on a diet.  Who wants to be on a diet?  No one.  Mindful eating, however, allows you to enjoy the [...]

Sometimes when I go to the gym, I have this urge to tell some of the most religious treadmill riders “Ma’am, Step away from the treadmill!” No matter how many articles and reports are written on the benefits of other than cardio, it never ceases to amaze me how many women (and men too…) relegate [...]

Many people looking to get into shape and lose weight choose walking as a way to do so.   It makes sense:  It is low-impact, pleasurable, and manageable for most fitness levels, making it far from intimidating.  Further,  it has been widely accepted that walking three times a week for 30 minutes each time can help [...]

Weighing yourself every day, let alone three or more times a day, in short, is obsessive.  Most nutritionists and dietitians will swear that it is mentally unhealthy and because of a lot of factors, a poor way of tracking your weight.  In reality, the best way to weigh yourself is once a week, on the [...]

When I started teaching aerobics classes in college, I mostly taught the then-popular typical classes of Step, Double Step, Hi/Lo Impact, Body Sculpting and Abdominal classes.  But after college, when I taught for Bally’s Total Fitness, I started teaching a class called Body Pump.
Body Pump went beyond body sculpting and incorporated strength training with REAL [...]

Give me a success story and I’ll break out into a huge smile, get tingly and may even shed a tear.  Seriously, I’m hooked.
My friend Eric has Crohn’s Disease…a gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that often results in a lack of absorption of proteins, calories, and vitamins. These deficiencies or malabsorption of nutrients means that diet is [...]

I admit it.  I’m lazy in the kitchen.  The idea of cooking something new every night for only one or two people seems like too much effort.  Sure, if I’m cooking for a big dinner party I’ll be motivated to cook up a storm, but for just me or me and my husband, the inspiration [...]

Last night, I was out with my friend Lindsay for drinks, and she was beaming.  She recently lost 7 pounds and she is convinced that those pounds are gone for good.  I could tell that her arms were a little leaner and her shirt was fitting a little better.  All in all…good stuff.
I asked her [...]

We have a close family friend who has struggled with her weight for a good portion of her life.  Brenda has “tried” a lot of things to slim down, but for some reason, never really has been successful.  This last go-round of attempts included an exercise program.  Brenda claimed that she went to the gym [...]