Secret "Cookie Diet" of the Stars!

All these years I’ve coached clients and seminar participants on the benefits of supportive eating and proper nutrition for optimal fat lose and the real secret is in the cookies!

Apparently this has been a secret of the Hollywood stars for years, but is now available to rest of us.

So, here’s the scoop on this weight loss superstar!

The box recommends 4 cookies per day.

“Eat 1 cookie for Breakfast, 1 for a Mid-Morning snack, 1 for Lunch and 1 for a Mid-Afternoon Snack and a “Sensible” Dinner.

(I love when marketers use the word ‘sensible’, because this whole cookie diet makes NO SENSE!)

Note – If you remember, the old “Slim Fast shake commercials, their claim had the same wording. “Drink a Slim Fast shake for breakfast, another one for lunch and a “sensible” dinner.”

This makes sense... yeah, right!?!?

Now, for the let down…

I’m sorry to say that yes, this product is a bunch of crap!

Will you lose weight?

You sure will, but it’s not the weight you want to lose. Most of us want to lose fat in order to gain that toned sexy look, right?

If you use this diet for that purpose, you will ultimately fail to achieve your goal, fail to get into the dress size you desire and fail to build self-confidence.

Why?

This approach is considered a calorie restrictive diet. In short, the fewer calories you take in the less energy your body has to use for proper daily functioning.

Your vital systems, including your digestive system, cardiovascular system, which governs the daily functions of blood flow, heart and lung activity, are compromised due to the lack of proper nutrition.

All these organs and systems work without you consciously thinking about them, but they still need energy to operate… They need Calories!

Excessively restricting your caloric intake leaves your body with only muscle to burn and use as fuel.

This will ultimately decrease muscle tissue, slow metabolism and your body will increase its fat storage as a means of survival.

Plus, when your body begins to get too hungry, your Will-Power weakens, and you give in to the temptation for some sugary sweets. This will cause you to not only gain back the weight you lost; you will also gain additional weight.  This extra weight gain is due to the body’s defense against the calorie restrictions you placed on it earlier.

Your body doesn’t know when it will receive another “supportive” meal, so it holds on to as many carbs and fats as possible in hopes to survive the next diet you try!

The best way to lose weight, burn fat and increase metabolism is to eat “supportively”.  What does that mean?

To keep it brief for now, here are some simple guidelines to eating supportively…

• Eat a starchy carbohydrate, fibrous carbohydrate and a lean protein with every meal. AKA, Trinity’s “Rule of Three”

• Eat every three to three and half hours

• Avoid or at the worst limit saturated fats

• Avoid, or at least limit sugar. (ALL SUGAR)

• Drink plenty of water.

If you are interested in additional information on Trinity’s “Rule of Three” here are some references to assist you.

Trinity’s “FIT EATS!” cook books

Trinity’s TAKE 21 – 21 Day Total Transformation Program

Ashley Nationals 2010

In January I started out knowing the bare essentials of competitive fighting and now, in June, I have watched myself grow into *ahem* a bit of a badass. Whereas I would have never considered myself an aggressive, competitive, or athletic person in the past, I see myself growing into someone who is gradually gaining more confidence and realizing that I can be whoever I want to be with some hard work and focus. I knew that joining the Trinity TKD team would push me further physically than I have ever been pushed before and even though I might have been nervous or afraid (especially given some of my team mates more athletic backgrounds) I knew it would be a great test to find out  just what I could do.

In competing at Nationals this week with my team mates I have accomplished just what I have set out to do by becoming a fighter. I had two fights this week and even though the  girls I fought were bigger than I was and may have had more experience,  I never backed down. Although I still have a lot to learn I am noticing big changes in my skill level with each fight.  I am becoming less nervous, more skilled in my movements, and more aggressive.  I am proud to be bringing home two silver medals  for the Trinity team and I feel they truly represent how far I’ve come in the last 6 months. I know they are just a jumping off point for the person I hope to become in the future. I have come to love my team mates as sisters and Nathan as a great friend and supporter. I  could not have made it this far without their love and support.

The last week has been an amazing experience and I’m looking forward to watching Nathan compete tomorrow (you’re going to be awesome by the way) and celebrating with the rest of the Trinity family when we return home.

Rachael 2010 Nationals

One of the biggest goals I had for myself when I joined the team was to get back to a healthy weight.  I have lost 30lbs since January and am now fitting into clothes I haven’t worn since college.  Being slimmer has helped my speed and endurance in the ring.  In these last two fights at Nationals, I also was able to get in several kicks to the head on taller girls, something that we’ve worked very hard on in practice.  Additionally, I feel like things have finally begun to slow down in the ring.  Being mostly an endurance athlete, I have had a hard time adjusting to the frenzy of 1 or 1:30 minute rounds and getting the most out of every second.  In my fights here at Nationals I felt the most control over seeing the fights unfold and the strategy behind each particular match.  Finally, the hours of training and practice leading up to Nationals have taught me about focus, intensity, setting goals, and pushing towards something you decide is worth accomplishing.  There will always be new fights and new goals, so I now look forward to the journey ahead.

I am thankful for all the hard work my coach and teammates have put into these last several months and am proud of everyone’s successes here at Nationals.  This is an amazing group of ladies and they make spending long hours in the gym just a little easier.  Thank you to everyone at Trinity who has helped us along the way, many of you encouraging us on our most tired days.  We return with medals, stories, camaraderie, and even a few seashells.

It’s been a busy week here in Florida, and after Nathan’s big day tomorrow, we look forward to getting home and back to all the things we’ve been neglecting during the last few weeks of training… maybe getting a few extra hours of sleep as well.  But the one thing we quickly learned about this group of ladies is that we don’t sit still for long and coach has a hard time keeping us out of the gym.  We look forward to seeing all our friends back in at the gym very soon!

National Champs!

Rachel is the brain of the group and a solid rock to lean on, Stace is the glue and kinda team mom, Susie is kind of a momma herself and she definitely adds a lot of color and excitement to the group. Ashley is a brain too and she comes out of nowhere with the most hilarious comments….good timing and delivery, just like her kicks! Nathan is obviously our coach and gets to boss us around and keep us in line as we expect him to.  He can also get pretty silly with us and be a fabulous buddy. God knows the boy loves pizza. These guys have become a second fam. and I regard them all very highly. I hope that I get to to it all again with them next year!

We did get a little time to relax, a little beach and a little pool, but I will definitely be ready to celebrate tomorrow night after we are all done fighting. I am looking forward to pizza and a couple of beers for sure!

Thanks N for taking us on a great journey and I am very happy to bring home two gold medals to add to the Trinity collection!!

AAU + USAT TKD National Gold Medal Champions!

After learning of the lack of participants in my division at AAU, I was faced with the decision to either accept a guaranteed Gold medal handed to me just for showing up as the only fighter in the Flyweight division, or forfeit my Gold, and join the heavy weight division, which was the only other red belt division with participants, and try my skills against ladies 55-90 pounds heavier than myself.  After reflecting on all the hard work and training that I had put in, and with Nathan’s support, I quickly decided that I had come to fight, and simply being handed the Gold would not have been a satisfying victory.

I must admit the night before the fight was filled with a rage of nerves which were slightly subsided by strategically planning for the fights.  I knew that I would have to fight defensively and capitalize on my advantages of speed and endurance to get me through the power and height advantages of my opponents.  Fortunately, this worked in my favor. My first fight was against a very large 200 lb female, who was much slower than me, and I was able to get in and score without her countering and won the fight 10-3.

The second fight was a much tougher experience. The girl had a significant height advantage, and after watching my first match, she was going for my head every time.  I knew she was coming, so I mostly stayed on the defense, and tried countering her kicks to the backside, however I wasn’t getting points for my efforts.  After she landed 2 head kicks on me (2 pts each), I was down 4-0, and getting extremely frustrated.  Nathan yelled to me that I only had 30 seconds left in the match, and I knew that I had to go big.  Realizing that fighting defensively wasn’t working, I decided to go in and attack, and leave it all on the mat.  I was either going to lose standing there trying to evade her kicks or lose fighting with everything I had.  The next 20 seconds of the fight was a whirl wind, I threw as many kicks as I could, and finally peeked at the score to see a score of 8-5, it was such a significant change in score from the last time I looked when it was 4-0, for a second I couldn’t remember what color I was fighting to know who was winning, and if I should go back in and keep kicking.  Luckily I quickly realized I was miraculously ahead, and I just needed to  ride out the last 5 seconds for the Gold. I don’t think my opponent knew what had just happened, she thought she had the Gold in her pocket, my attack was completely unexpected and she was too exhausted to defend.  Needless to say the victory was exhilarating.

With only a day of rest between AAU and USAT, we were all a little sore and bruised going into USAT.  After my AAU experience, I was excited to fight an opponent my own size. At USAT they use electronic chest protectors for scoring, which we had never used before, so I was a little nervous about the new equipment.  My opponent was from Alaska, and she was a few inches shorter than me, so my plan was to go for the head.  The fight was a much faster pace than the AAU fights, however I was able maintain my endurance and speed, and came out with a victory of 9-2, landing 2 head kicks to help get me the win.

The entire trip has been an amazing experience, something I will cherish forever.  The support from Nathan and my teammates has been remarkable, they will always be apart of me. We  now look forward to watching Nathan bring home a Gold, accompanied by a seat at the Olympic Trials, tomorrow!

To compete at the national level in Tae Kwon Do is not something that everyone can or will attempt to accomplish.

This is the first time in the teams history that we had the team compete in two Nationals. For those competitions to be back to back made the task even more challenging. If there was ever a team that was up for the challange it was Trinity’s 2010 TKD Team!

These ladies came to fight and fight they did!

Our final medal count.

6 Gold

2 Silver

1 Bronze

2010 AAU Nationals

Susie was up first to lead the team to it’s first Gold medal. She had 5 pounds to drop the day before weigh-ins. That’s a pretty big deal since she had already cut a significant amount of weight. She weighed in at 128! Susie used  a great strategy of setting her opponent up, getting her to move in for a kick and countering her attack. Susie dominated her fight with a crushing win of 8-0 in the first 49 seconds of the first round to stop the fight by point gap. (point gap is a 7 point spread over your opponent) The computer was supposed to shut off before the 8th point scored, but Susie was racking up points 6,7 and 8 so fast that she was able to score again before the computer could register.

Erika was up next and fought two tough matches but clearly showed dominance by staying ahead of each opponent throughout the fights. Her Gold medal match was decided by a TKO. Erika’s opponent gave up after being kicked repeatedly to the chest. (If you’ve ever seen Erika kick or felt the pain she inflicts you’d want to run too) Erika’s win brought Trinity it’s second Gold medal of the day!

Third in the line up were Rachael and Ashley. They were in the same division.

Rachael fought hard and was able to keep the score really close. She moved up in the score after she kicked her opponent in the head with an awesome back leg round kick that made the crowd gasp in awe. Rachael and I formulated an simple but effective game plan of pushing the action. She was able to score effectively and keep her opponent from scoring. Her opponent came back to win by two points. Although she didn’t win her fight, she brought home a Bronze medal.

Ashley was up next and took the fight to her opponent for the entire match. She set up her kicks with great checks and was also able to keep her score close. We kept to a basic fight plan because it worked well in the first round. She was faster than her opponent and Ashley was scoring well with a right leg round kick. Her opponent, being a little taller used her longer reach to fight off the kicks. Ashley brings home a Silver medal.

The big match up today was in Stacy’s division. After weighing in at 109, we were told by officals that there were no fighters any where near her weight for her to compete with. Our only two options were walk home with a Gold, but no fights or forfeit our gauranteed win and fight in the heavy weight division!

The 3 girls that made up the heavy weights were 152, 165 and 200 pounds. Remember, Stacy weighed in at 109.

Her first fight was against the 200 pound girl. Stacy used her speed and quick reflexes to avoid any damage from the heavy kicks and score quick. She point gapped the first opponent in the second round 10-3. Her gold medal match was with a strong 165 pound fighter from Colorado. (her coach was an Olympian from the 2000 Olympics) After watching Stacy’s first fight, they came up with a very effective plan to shut down Stacy’s speed and kick her so hard it would prevent her from scoring. The plan (from their perpsective) was working. Stacy sat at the end of the first round and a minute into the second round down 4-0. However, we had a plan of our own. It was to move and make them kick so much that they’d out kick themselves. With only 30 seconds left in the match, Stacy scored 8 points, finishing the match 8-5. The opposing coach and player had no idea what happen and had no game plan for what they saw coming at them. (remember, it’s not over until it’s over!) Stacy brought back Trinity’s 3rd National Championship Gold.

2010 Trinity Tae Kwon Do Team

I am super satisified with how the team trained troughout the last six months leading up to this event and it was awesome having a ringside seat watching these ladies compete and put it all on the line!

But, it’s not over…we leave tomorrow (Friday) morning for Orlando. Saturday, the girls fight again to add more medals to our count and then Sunday I will competing for a spot at the Olympic trials for the 2012 team. Stay tuned for more facebook and blog posts as the weekend unfolds.

It’s after 12am, I’m tired and going to bed!

Good night!

The whole team finally made it in after a few flight delays and we’re settling in nicely. It’s not too hard when you’re a block from the beach and it’s warm and sunny!

All these super bad ass ladies will be fighting on Thursday.

Susie is cutting weight, hard to make the under 129 weight class. When she first started with the team she was 142. She has a few pounds to go before the Wednesday weigh-ins, but we’re sure she can make it! After training at my coach’s school, Sunday, he decided to not have me fight at the AAU Nationals and put all our efforts into preparing for USA Nationals on Sunday.

The first 2 spots qualify for the 2012 Olympic trials and the first 4 spots qualify for Pan Am team trials and the 2011 National team.

AAU Nationals would have been great to compete in but, doesn’t get you closer to the Olympics whether you win Nationals or make the AAU team.

We will have pictures up shortly… having trouble with finding internet service and downtime to load everything up.

Talk to you tomorrow.

GOLD MEDAL DREAMIN’

Just so you can put names and faces together, here’s the the team…

Nathan Nowak - Black Belt

Stacy Wyman - Red Belt

Ashley Regan - Green Belt

Rachael Aubert - Green Belt

Susie Spivey - Green Belt

Erika Morgan - Green Belt

As we enjoy time with family and friends at parties and cookouts, we have to remember and be thankful for our freedom!

It’s hundreds of men and women that serve in the U.S. Armed Forces that allow us to have the freedoms we do, to speak freely and create lives of health, wealth and abundance.

I want to thank all of our service men and women for the sacrifices you make and continue to make to ensure our freedoms and liberty is intact.

It’s easy to forget how good we really have it.

With terrorism, the economy and anything else, negative, we can focus our attention on; it’s easy to have worry, doubt and fear.

We must remember why we do what we do, why our freedoms are important and why we continue to prevail time and time again to make a better, stronger nation.

Much of this strength comes from those who fought and died to keep us safe and protect us from harm.

Steven Carter- Trinity Fitness Instructor, TKD Team member

For those of you close to Trinity and/or members, you know that several of our current and former staff members are active in the military.

Steven Carter U.S. Air Force and Jonathan Fennell U.S. Army are both proudly serving our country.

Thank you boys for your continued service!

I want to thank all of our service men and women for the sacrifices you make and continue to make to ensure our freedoms and liberty are intact.

Unfortunately, spring and summertime are prime seasons for attackers and rapists.

Why?

As the temperatures rise, we spend more time outside, and we shed the bulky jeans and sweaters for tight running shorts and tops.

The first tip to staying safe is where and when you run.

If you run early in the morning or late at night, find a running partner.  If that’s not an option, a dog is a great deterrent. If you still decide to go it alone, be aware of your surroundings at all times and leave the head phones at home.

Second, be careful using head phones.

A lot of runners and walkers wear head phones because listening to music passes the time and keeps runners motivated. When the music is blaring in your ears, however, you can’t hear the person next to you, let alone an attacker on your heels. Rather than putting both ear pieces in, leave one out so you can hear everything around you, including cars and other traffic hazards.

The next tip is to have a partner.

A running or biking partner can help on those days when you feel little motivation.  They provide support and often make the activity much more enjoyable.  Most importantly, a partner can keep you safer on trails where there aren’t too many people around.  

Keep in mind attackers want easy targets.  While it’s true that desperation can cause an attacker to approach a group, this seldom happens.  You have a greater chance of being avoided if there is someone with you.

Also, always carry a cell phone.

What would we do without cell phones?  Don’t talk on your cell phone unless it’s an emergency!  Cell phones are equipped with a form of GPS, and they can give the police and other emergency personnel your exact location.

The final tip for this newsletter is even when you’re heading back to your car, don’t put your guard down until you’re in your car, with your doors locked and driving away safely. Make sure you’re aware of everyone and everything around your vehicle.

*These are excerpts from week 3 of Trinity’s self-defense course, Are You Prepared?

All of these tips are for avoiding potentially dangerous situations before they happen. However, what do you do if you are approached and the only option is to fight back? We cover all physical aspects of self-defense in Trinity’s 5 week course, Are You Prepared? If you’re interested in taking the course, please call the gym at 404.966.KICK or go to Are You Prepared? for more information.