Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Help I’m Stuck!... Well while having people’s hands get stuck together is one of my favorite hypnosis demonstrations that would not be a practical way of writing this blog. So while I am not physically stuck right now I have been busy working with many clients on keeping them from getting stuck and abandoning their New Year’s Resolutions.

Statistically only about 45% of Americans still make a New Year’s Resolution and of those, about 29% have already abandoned the resolution all together and in 10 days that number will jump to 36%. Even more surprising is that by the end of the calendar year only 8% of people will have been successful in keeping their New Year’s Resolutions.

Ever since I lost 130 pounds, I've been trying to tighten my abs. Today, I had my first personal training session at the local YMCA. This workout routine will be completely different from what I've been used to.

As much as I have cut back on cardio, with the new training, I'll be cutting back on it even further. The focus is on strength and heavy lifting. It will take a while to get used to this routine.

I mentioned before New Years that I would post a picture of my progress. Click on the image above to see the full image.  In the first segment you will see what I was at 264.6 lbs when I started the weight-loss challenge. In the other two panels you will see me 40lbs lighter on New Years eve.  You can see the same orange shirt I wore fits much more loosley and is no longer pushing out from my body by my stomach. (Middle panel I pulled the shirt tight against my body to show the waistline of my old pants.)  My old pants were extremely tight on me (44's) I was just about to move up to 46's and then decided to join the weight-loss challenge.

I will post my eating regime, as promised in my last post, when I get another free moment to do so.

Many of you might be thinking about starting an exercise program to get in shape, It can be overwhelming for a beginner and many people end up getting discouraged and quitting after the first few weeks of exercise. I would like to encourage everyone to stick with an exercise program, so I thought it would be helpful to read what a fitness expert has to say on the subject. I'd like to thank Mat Montgomery, Health & Wellness Director at the Torrington branch of the Northwest CT YMCA, for providing answers to the following questions.

Somebody please remind me… why do we live in New England? I forgot the reason… maybe I don't remember why because it's like 0 degree temperatures outside right now. Maybe it's because we warm up for a day, go back to severe cold weather, then warm up again, then the snow melts, then we get extreme cold, then we get snow again, then it warms up again, then back to freezing cold! I guess there's a lot of good reasons to live in New England… I just can't think of them right now!

I thought I would offer some tips on shoveling snow and staying warm. Remember to take it easy when shoveling. Every now and then we hear of people having heart attacks while shoveling snow. According to the American Heart Association, those that are at risk are people who are in poor physical condition, or those with existing heart disease or a personal history of stroke. We also have the danger of the extreme cold weather.