If you remember awhile back Callie Durbrow made a guest post for PMacStrong.  We had actually met on a shuttle that was headed back to the airport after a conference we both attended.  I think I was ranting on the phone about being on information overload to my boyfriend.  After I got off the phone we started up a quick conversation.  Ever since then, we’ve both been following each other online.

Take a look at what Callie has to say about her top reasons why you’re not loosing fat.  I must say, I agree.

11 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Fat

A fat loss training post by Callie Durbrow

Hey, Callie Durbrow here from UltimateAthleticFitness.com and I super excited to be here on Pamela’s blog. I’m a huge follower of all of Pamela’s videos and inspirational posts. We share a lot of the same views on strength training for women and I wanted to give you a little bit of insight on how to improve your training for ultimate fat loss.

I just got back from a super heavy strength training session this morning. It’s been a while since I lifted that heavy; I’ve been doing a lot of conditioning and higher volume work with the kettlebells and battling ropes. My strength work has been lots of single leg work and today felt great- all of that single leg work has really translated into increases in my overall strength.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. Why are you not losing fat? Well, I bet I could speak with 10 different people and they can tell me 10 different stories about their backgrounds and training experiences. Even though these are all individuals I can guarantee that they have a lot more in common than they think. The things they have in common are probably the mistakes they are making when it comes to their fat loss goals.

Think about what it means to lose fat. When you step on the scale, does that tell you anything? Nope.

The ultimate goal here is to lose fat and gain lean, toned muscle. These are two separate tissues and it’s very possible to have a high concentration of both fat and muscle if you don’t train and eat properly. So, our goal here is to lose the fat and gain muscle. This is what gives you that tight, lean and athletic look.

So, check this out. Here are the top 11 reasons why you’re not losing fat…..

1. You’re not performing enough strength training
2. You’re eating like you’re on a “diet” instead of supporting the hard training that you’re doing
3. You’re doing too much steady, long duration cardio
4. You’re not getting enough sleep
5. Your strength training consists of light weights (3-5lbs) and high reps (15-20)
6. You’re doing crunches in the hopes of creating a slim stomach
7. You’re skipping breakfast
8. You have no post-workout nutrition
9. You’ve never touched a kettlebell
10. Your training sessions have been the same for the last 2 years
11. You try a different “diet” or training plan every other week in the hopes of finding the magic bullet

I talk to tons of my new personal training clients every week and these are such common mistakes. Don’t feel bad because these are simple fixes. Losing fat and creating a lean, athletic body is not easy but it’s simple.

Here are the top 11 things to change if you want to lose fat effectively…..

1. Perform aggressive strength training sessions 2-4 times per week
2. Eat 5-6 small meals and snacks per day with a focus on protein, veggies, fruit, nuts and some whole grains
3. Avoid steady state cardio, instead perform sprint intervals (hills, bike, stadium stairs) for a fast, efficient and fun workout
4. Get at least 8 hours of sleep to avoid raising the cortisol levels in your body (stress hormones that can store body fat)
5. Lift heavy weights regularly with perfect form. Movements like squats, lunges, chin ups, push ups and kettlebell swings will rev up your metabolism and work all muscles in your body for a higher calorie burn
6. Avoid crunches and regular sit ups. Instead train your core with Turkish Get Ups, Plank variations, Kettlebell Windmills and full body training
7. Eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking and be sure to include high quality proteins and fruit
8. Have 8 ounces of low fat chocolate milk within 30 minutes after your training session. This helps to recover muscles and also keeps your metabolism up (burning calories!). This also eliminates the “eating everything in sight” when you get home
9. Train with kettlebells several times per week. These are one of the most versatile tools that help increase strength, stamina, core strength and mental toughness. Movements like swings, snatches, presses and Turkish get ups will challenge your entire body in a way that you can’t experience with dumbbells or barbells
10. Include variety in your training sessions. Your body adapts quickly so change up your workouts every 2-3 weeks after increasing the weight, volume or time of each exercise. This helps you to progress without hitting a physical or mental plateau
11. Stick with what works; supportive nutrition, strength training and interval/metabolic style cardio training

This type of training and eating is so much more fun than a restrictive diet with tons of boring cardio. Your workouts will be much shorter, more intense and best of all your results will come so much faster. The best motivator is seeing results, so give these small changes a try and have fun with it!

Callie Durbrow is the owner of a Cambridge personal training program focused on helping local residents burn fat fast, tone and tighten and boost their energy levels. For more fat burning and training tips check out her blog at http://www.ultimateathleticfitness.com

Tags: fat loss by Pamela
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One big misconception in strength training, for the average person, is that you do one set…stand around for five minutes…do a second set, and repeat.

Strength training doesn’t have to be this way. In fact unless, we’re talking about elite competition lifters, and good strength workout can have a nice cardiovascular component to it, but not one that leaves you feeling you just sprinted a half marathon.

In the video below I highlight 2 kettlebell exercises and 1 barbell exercise that I believe to be great strength exercises. When you combine all three of them together you have both a full body workout, and a highly effective strength workout.

Check it out…

This is quite possibly one of my favorite workout styles. Recently I dropped a few pounds and in the process I was worried about losing all of my strength. (Ok, so maybe not all of it.) I wanted to make sure I didn’t see a significant decrease in my strength though.

I decided to start incorporating strength workouts like this, that utilize specific strength exercises, but are not intentionally meant to be met con based. I’ve found them to be wonders for keeping my strength up while my weight stays lower.

Tags: fat loss, kettlebell training, womens strength training by Pamela
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This really is a true story, and for that I’m shocked. (I just couldn’t use real names.)

I have a friend who works in health care, at a relatively high profile hospital. He emailed me the other day to tell me that he HAD to get a flu shot for work. I was surprised by his emphasis on HAD, so I called him up to verify. As it turns out his high profile employer was mandating that all employees with face-to-face interaction with patients HAD to get a flu shot within a certain period of time or their employment would be terminated.

Is that even legal? I couldn’t believe it.

Then…

I get another email from the same friend. He’s at an all day meeting with his employer. Within the email is a photo of danishes, bagels, and muffins being served for breakfast during the meeting. No fruit to be seen, no protein anywhere, just sugar and flour. Later I get the lunch update, mayo based salads served as sandwiches, chips, and cookies. Not even an apple or a simple vegetable tray.

Seriously?

I think message is twisted. Mandate flu shots but serve crap for meals. This employer, and I’m sure many more, have a lot of evaluating to do.

Let’s at least try a little bit of this the next time you host an employee meeting (which like the flu shot is also mandatory!)

Tags: fat loss, healthcare, nutrition, pamela macelree by Pamela
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We all have our stories, and they’re all really different. At some point we’ve all had a big road block, where we’ve had to dig really deep to get to the next step.

I’d love to hear yours…

I’ll share mine with you as well.

As a kid, we played outside. Never were we allowed to sit a watch TV for hours on end. We also had chores that needed to be done. From about 11 to 17 I played sports. My favorite sport was swimming, I would swim lap after lap after lap until I had to get out of the pool. I was awesome at the backstroke, then one meet didn’t go so well, I counted the flags wrong I crashed head first into the wall, practically knocked myself out in the water, and well mentally couldn’t get over it, and never swam quite so well again.

I also played soccer, but we didn’t always have a girls team, a group of us got to play on the boys team for a year, but in terms of degrading us, they made a special period for us (that didn’t really count toward the game) That didn’t go over too well, and didn’t last more than a season. We finally got a girls team my senior year, we weren’t great but we were good enough for a first year team. That was a memorable experience, a charter member. After college I was a bartender for a bit, it was always strange mixing up a drink for my high school soccer coach.

Lastly, I was on the track and field team all through high school. I threw discus and ran 110 hurdles, that’s a combination of two events for sure. I wasn’t awesome but I was good enough.

When I got to college, swimming was always on my mind, but I never went after it, looking back I probably should have. Instead, I got a little lazy, and the most exercise I ever did was the 3 whole classes I had to take to fulfill my PE requirements. Reassuring I know, coming from someone who wants every woman to feel confident and empowered by their fitness capabilities.

After college, I battled with myself for about a year over some minor eating disorders, and my new addiction to running (perhaps this is why I dislike it so much now.) At my 5’10″ frame I was a whopping 155, anorexic and almost frail. I encountered some other problems along the way, but slowly and thankfully shifted out of that mindset and into a much healthier lifestyle. There were a lot of ups and downs to overcome and conquer, but once I realized the importance I knew I had to stick with it, that and I wanted to.

Enter real strength training for the first time in my life. (Because all the strength training I did in high school was bogus at best, with no program to follow and no goals in mind, I wasn’t educated at the time.)

I love this stuff, I would give up strength training for anything at this point in my life. When I finally started training the right way, I saw amazing transformations. I was strong, I was lean, I was realizing what it was really like to be fit as an adult. It wasn’t about crazy fad diets and long cardio.

Combination full body movements, paired with other combination full body movements, for effective and quick workouts that not only make me stronger and leaner, but also allow me to skip traditional cardio workouts. Have I mentioned that I love this stuff! (You will too if you don’t already, I promise.)

I didn’t get in to every detail but I will as time moves along, you’ll hear about all of my mistakes, what my workouts are like now, they crazy fad diets I’ve tried, the success of well balanced nutrition, the confidence that strength training brings to you, and so much more.

Tell me what your fitness story has been like.

What do you struggle with?

What has been the key to your current success?

Where do you want to improve?

Together, we’ll get there and stay there.

Tags: fat loss, pamela macelree, womens fitness, womens strength training by Pamela
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I’ve previously talked a lot about motivation. All the way from wanting to be the best that you can be, to being competitive, to just doing it because you can.

There comes a time in all training programs where you might start to doubt what you’re doing, whether you’ll actually reach you’re end goal, or if all the sacrifice is really worth it.

Are you kidding me? So my new friend and awesome Coach, Dos, grouped me into a group of Hot Fit Chicks Today. When you say it outloud, it sounds funny. When you think about it, we’re lifting heavy shit, we’re really fit, we’re still feminine, and it’s awesome!

If that isn’t motivation to keep at it, make point, and help to change the mentality of women’s strength training, well then I don’t know what it is.

I do know, that I spoke in great detail with Rachel Cosgrove a few weeks ago, in fact I’m doing a whole skinny jeans transformation challenge over at Urban Athlete because of it. I talk with Holly Rigsby, the Fit Yummy Mummy, on a regular basis. And I get emails and messages on a daily basis from women and men, telling me how great my strength is.

Part of me has wondered…

Then the other quickly stepped in. I’ve trained really hard (as have my friends and colleagues) this is not joke. It’s time for women to step up to the plate, to recognize their potential, to believe in themselves, to know that everything they do with their strength and conditioning program will directly effect their everyday life in a positive way.

I could speak about it, until I’m blue in the face. That’s not going to do it. You have to try this. You have to get out there, and you have to challenge yourself. You have to want to be able to get through every day just a little bit easier. You have know that it’s all within your potential.

I have my mentors, I have my role models, I have my coaches, yet each day the people that motivate me the most, are the people that I help to realize all this, the people I help to become stronger and notice their potential. Talk about motivation!

Realize your potential.

Be strong.

Put forth the effort.

Recognize the benefits.

Become who you are.

Be motivated to get the job done, challenge yourself to do it, and if you need a little nudge, you know just where to find it.

Tags: fat loss, holly rigsby, motivation, pamela macelree, rachel cosgrove, womens strength training by Pamela
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