Dan, I was an ACE certified personal trainer not long ago so this seems silly to ask. Fitness has always been fun, easy and important to me. After my divorce nearly 2 years ago, I have become a yo-yo exerciser. I know the way to train. I know how to eat right. Now the last six months have become worse. I have gained 15 pounds, lost motiation, and absolutely hate my body. I am not overweight by standards but much to heavy for mine. I would like to get back to the fitness lifestyle that made me feel so good physically and mentally. I seem to have forgotten all of the motivational skills I once had. How can I regain my motivation and create a positive self image. As I said, I used to be a personal trainer and know the basics. I guess I need to hear them again. Maybe having it pharased diferently or maybe you have new suggestions for me. Also, I am now 28, and working out doesn't produces results as quickly as it used to. I have never been a runner or jogger. I have always loved aerobics and my favorite the stairmaster but with my two boys, it seems that right now to remotivate, walking and outdoor jogging would be the most ideal. What would be a good way to begin training to loose 15 pounds and maybe start looking at amateur marathon/walkathon type events. I know there is more than one question here. If you have time to respond, I would greatly appriciate it. I need some major motivational help.

Hello, Believe it or not I get quite a few questions that are very similar to yours. Motivation, covering the basics of exercise, getting out of a rut, etc. are all very important questions. Here is a response that I have made to other people with your same concerns. Don't get too frustrated! Life can and will take many twists and turns on the road to attaining our goals. One thing I have found in successful people is that they never lose their focus and consistency in the face of hardship. And, the great thing about these positive attributes is that they can be learned. The best way to learn how to maintain this great focus and consistency is to actually persevere through one of life's bumpy roads. If you can make it through one, just one, of these difficult times you will gain the confidence and the experience of knowing what it takes to persevere and ultimately, to win! It sounds like you got pretty sick for those 2 weeks. This can be brutal especially when you were shooting for a specific goal in which you had roughly 12 weeks to accomplish. Right now you must re-focus, and set your sights on a new goal. Having something to shoot for makes the consistency of your training and dieting much easier to accomplish. Again, the focus and consistency will go hand in hand in helping to provide you with the specific goal you are trying to accomplish (reduced body fat, leaner and more muscular body etc). Now, once you are mentally prepared and ready to rock and roll we can start to talk about the practical side of accomplishing your goals. This, of course, is the actual training and dieting. Many people come to me for the first time and say exactly what you have said, "I feel like I have hit a wall" or "I feel like I have actually gone backwards the last 3 weeks". The first thing I mention to them is the possibility of overtraining. Doing too much for too long can bring on overtraining. It can also occur if there is a lack of training variation within a workout program. Training variation includes not just the type of exercises you are performing but the number of sets, reps, and weight that you use for these exercises. What was a good workout one month can be a bad workout the next if there is no variation. I personally feel that weekly variation is the key for long-term success! Check out the periodization chart at Fitrex.com and read the definition of what periodization is! Here are some signs of overtraining: If you are feeling lethargic in your workouts and feel slightly fatigued throughout the day. If your sleep patterns have changed and you don't feel rested even after 8 hours of sleep. If your one-minute resting heart rate, before you get out of bed, is elevated 4-6 beats above or 2-4 beats below normal. Of course you would have to know what normal is so I tell all of my clients to check this first thing every morning to establish a baseline. The second point I mention to my clients and athletes is that of proper hydration. Many people, actually most people walk around every day in a state of dehydration. This creates a lack of energy, migraine headaches, sub-par workouts, diminished recovery, and finally a lack of progress. A gallon of water a day is a minimum, more if you are active outside in a hot environment! The third point I mention is that of proper nutrition. This is a biggee! And, it's not that there is a magic number of calories you should be eating or some special balance of nutrients that is the key. You just need to eat "clean". Eating clean means minimizing processed foods (Burger King, chips, regular and diet sodas, and the dreaded low-fat snackwell crackers!) and reducing foods with high levels of saturated and transfatty acids (margarine, ice cream, certain cuts of red meat. You must try to stop eating sugar! Sugar creates cravings. These cravings are tough to beat from a willpower standpoint. Try to eat unprocessed foods (fresh fruits and vegetables) and high quality low-fat protein sources (fish, chicken, turkey, tofu, egg whites, low fat dairy products). Also, be aware of the body's need for quality essential fatty acid intake (almonds, avocados, flaxseed oil, and salmon). Supplement intake should include a quality multivitamin and mineral pack as a minimum. Quality performance supplements like the protein powders and essential fatty acid tablets from EAS are also very healthy and can help to make quality dieting easier for those of us with a hectic schedule! A great supplement to help in reducing your bodyfat levels and sugar cravings is a product called Pyruvex. This is a non-stimulant based fat burner so it is very safe. I feel it is a very important supplement for people who want to maximize fat and weight loss. Finally, make sure you are spreading your meals throughout the day. Try to eat 5-6 times per day as this will help you to maintain proper blood sugar levels, which will maximize your energy and recovery levels. We will be developing a more advanced nutritional module within Fitrex.com in the months to come! Please check it out when it's ready. I have researched nutrition and specific "systems" of dieting for many years. We will be creating a computerized nutrition engine that will give people everything they need to attain optimal health and physical performance. All of what I have been saying in the previous paragraphs is to get you back on track with the fundamentals of mental preparation and basic physiological guidelines. I would like to talk about another one of your specific concerns and that was of staying lean. Again, this is a frequently occurring concern with, well, everybody :-) On the surface, staying lean involves a very simple mathematical explanation: Eat 2,500 calories, burn 2,700 calories, lose fat. Ah, don't we wish it were this simple! Actually, if you did this you WOULD lose weight. If you simply burned more calories than you consumed this has to happen. But, being lean involves losing body fat not necessarily bodyweight! So, we come back to one of the two factors of successful people. Focus and Consistency! If you consistently train with weights and do your cardio work along with eating clean, you can't help but be successful. But, you must approach this with a positive attitude and energy (focus!). I would recommend that you begin a weight-training program such as one of the Get Lean Programs or the Metabolism Booster Programs from Fitrex.com. These are awesome programs that will definitely put a spark back in your exercise routine. If you completed this program for the full 12 weeks you will see and feel a difference. As always you will want to perform 30 minutes of cardio 4 times per week. You can alternate the intensity level of your aerobic workouts from continuous at 60-70% APMHR to interval based work at 65-85% APMHR. (Our cardio module is coming soon also!) Eat clean, sleep well, stay positive, be consistent, remain focused, HAVE FUN! Dan