THE LATE NIGHT COOKIE MONSTER!

To my amazing clients,

Hope you all had a fantastic week. My goal is to write a blog to you every other week. Sometimes, you will hear from me more often. I would love for you all to use my email to send me questions on topics you want to hear about. For example: Dear Brian, How do I focus on loosing the hanging bat wings from my arms? It grosses me out! I would then answer: Dear Bat wings... Ha You get the point.
  Today I want to talk about late night cravings and different ways to tackle them. "Om nom nom nom" Its been a long day and we get home, eat our dinner planned and then we have the insatiable urge to continue eating for the rest of the night. We sit in front of the T.V. and eat a whole bag of Doritos or a sleeve of Oreo cookies, half a carton of ice cream so on an so forth. I've been there and still have to focus on not overeating at night. Like the cookie monster I want cookies! One girl scout cookie at this time can turn into a WHOLE BOX!! Not only does that ruin our workout but also negates the good choices we might have made through the whole day! Then we sleep restlessly and then wake up with a sugar hangover and start the process all over again. If our body is a million dollar plus machine as I believe it to be then that's a terrible way to fuel it day in and day out.
Their are multiple reasons and theories to why we have this urge at night. One goes back to our ancestors and the need to overeat to store fat for upcoming droughts of food and long periods of famine. Now it's just plain unhealthy for us. Others is to relieve stress of the hard day. One is just plain boredom. We eat to have something to do. Another is the lack of healthy meals throughout the day. Whatever your reason it is I want to give you a few ways to tackle this urge at night and before it even hits us.
Take Home points:
1.) Eat a healthy breakfast every day! Starting your day off with breakfast starts the domino effect of making good choices the rest of the day.
2.) Don't skip meals! Skipping meals leads to binge eating when we do finally get to eat. Make eating healthy throughout the day a #1 priority!
3.)Healthy sleep patterns. Have a time you go to bed and a time you wake up everyday! We've all binged watched Netflix or stalked our favorite people on Facebook all night with that bag of junk food. It's unhealthy and unproductive to the goals we have for ourselves. Having erratic sleep patterns messes with our circadian clock and that will have an impact on our self control.
4.) Stay busy! Distract yourself after you eat your dinner. I eat then shower and get ready for the next day. Then I have given my brain and stomach time to catch up with each other and I realize I'm no longer hungry.
5.) Cravings could be a sign of a lack of vitamins or minerals. Eat plenty of colorful fruits and veggies every day!
6.) Eat a high protein and high fiber dinner. Insoluble fiber keeps you feeling full longer. Lots of leafy greens. I like to suggest some form of salad every day. I'm like Popeye I love me some Spinach. 7.) Brush your teeth immediately after dinner! Brian, you've lost your mind. No, I'm serious this works great for me. After I brush my teeth I hate eating again! So in return it helps me from overeating.
8.) Drink lots of water daily. At least 64 ounces but I wouldn't complain if you doubled that daily.

That's all for today but lets remember to LIVE AND BE HEALTHY on a daily basis. I love you all and I'm here for you. MAKE GOOD CHOICES TODAY THAT WILL LEAD TO GOOD CHOICES TOMORROW AND SO ON...
A couple side notes. If you haven't been measured and want to be measured this week. Please remind me. I want us to stay focused on our goals. And send me questions that you want to read about in future blogs.
TRAINER BRIAN
trainerbrian.blogspot.com
bcoxptrainer@gmail.com

GO BRONCOS!

To all my amazing clients,

Distractions at times are much needed. I hope those of you that watch the game tonight enjoy it. I honestly didn't want to write the blog this week. I missed last week because of my move and lack of a laptop. I have no excuses though. I bought a new laptop today. This week has been a difficult week for me. So this blog might not have any real focus. Ha DO they ever Brian? I hear it now.  Keeping focused on doing the right thing has been hard. It's real easy to be positive when life is full of roses and rainbows. Unfortunately, life is full of peak and valleys. Is it unfortunate? Or is is a chance to grow stronger? I am going to choose to use it as a chance to go stronger. Most times when people complain to me about a situation in their life I come back with. What do you have in your life to be Thankful for? Honestly, I'm using today as a platform to help myself by focusing on what I have to be thankful for. Here are the 2 most important things.
1.) I have the very rare opportunity to do what I love day in and day out. IF you know what you absolutely love doing but are afraid to take the risk and the chance. I tell you know. It is totally worth living your life doing what you love. Its fulfilling and full of blessings. I'm blessed.
2.) I have family and friends that love and care about me. I have received such an outpouring of support and encouragement this week. Help moving and stocking up the new place or sweet texts saying I'm in your thoughts. I don't consider you all just clients I consider you all my close friends. I learn from you day in and day out more then I can ever give back. Thank You.

Before I hit on my next point. I'm sad, but not anywhere close to what I'm about to talk about next. Don't worry about me I just feel this needs to be said. Not a month passes that we don't hear about someone famous or know of a loved one that commits suicide. This past week a famous bmx rider took his own life. Life is lonely at times but let me tell you this. Don't be PRIDEFUL! Let your loved ones help. Reach out to those down and around you today. Pride cometh before a fall! One of the greatest lessons I've ever learned is to ask for help or accept help when offered. I get prideful and want to do it all on my own. That has never worked out very well. We are a team like these TWO great teams playing this evening. We help encourage each other. We lift each other up!

I heard from a pulpit years ago something I will never forget. The character of a woman or man is not what he does when every one is watching. Its the choices they make when no one is watching. I'm using today as a platform to help myself today. I also want this to help you. Make daily choices that you stand by and feel good about. Be true to yourself.
But Brian! What does this have to do with fitness and training??? Nothing. LOL Honestly the choices we make with exercise and eating help us feel better. When we feel better about ourselves we can help motivate others. When we motivate others we fuel our own fire of motivation. Stay healthy, stay happy and stay focused on making good decisions. NEXT WEEK should be more focused. Or maybe not... LOVE you all.  Trainer Brian  By the way. Go BRONCOS!