December Newsletter

“Healthy by Choice Not By Chance”

The site has been updated for December, so be sure to check out the new features at www.patspowerhour.com.

The last newsletter focused on goal setting, so I hope that you have been able to identify areas in your life that you would like to improve so that you may live a healthier, pain-free, and stress-free lifestyle. If you have already begun taking action, then I applaud you and encourage to be consistent and stay on course to accomplish your goal.

This is the time of year when you are probably getting ready to identify habits that you would like to kick, improve, or change by creating new year resolutions that will hopefully lead to a personal, financial and physical makeover. Setting goals for the new year are great for influencing the changes you desire to see. As a trainer and fitness consultant I want to encourage you to begin to incorporate NEW DAY resolutions into your life. You can only experience the conception of new year resolutions once every 365 days, while you can create small attainable resolutions everyday that can lead to more consistent behavior. This behavior can help you form new habits that you will fuel your progress.

NEW DAY RESOLUTION: Today, I Patrick Quinn resolve to run for 30 minutes.

So, what will your New Day’s Resolution be? I will update my site weekly with resolutions and follow-up with you to hear your progress. Be Inspired! Be Great! Be Fit!

Q&A: Share your thoughts with me and my wellness industry associates. We want to help you, help yourself.

¨ How will you make healthier choices today?

¨ What is holding you back from being more active?

¨ Who supports your physical goals?

Power Message: Begin NOW!! Don’t stop until you have reached your desired physical and mental condition. When you get there you must work just as hard to maintain the new you. Do not allow the holidays to be your excuse to over indulge at the dinner table. The food you eat will either help you get closer to your goal or move you further away from it. The choice is YOURS!

In January: I will be sharing tips and solutions for designing an exercise program the fitness beginner and busy individual. If you have you have questions now, please contact me.

Quote of the Month

“It never occurs to me that there are things that I can’t do” -Whoopi Goldberg

Wellness Tips

• Weight train. You’ll burn more calories with more muscle in your body
• Eat after you exercise. Have some protein and carbohydrates immediately after you workout to restore energy levels.
• Focus on people. Stand away from the food table and socialize.
• Brush your teeth early. You won’t want to eat again in the evening.
• Look forward to dessert. Treat yourself to dessert once a week as a reward for maintaining smart eating habits
• Inspirational reminders. Put up pictures and sayings of how you want to look and feel on your refrigerator, by the TV, on your mirror, to help keep you in the fitness groove so you’ll stick to your plan

Sample Meal Plan Suggestions

What has been working for you? I will post 5 responses on the website.

Meal #1 ???

Meal #2 ???

Meal #3 ???

Meal #4 ???

Meal #5 ???

Meal #6 ???

August Newsletter

We are focusing on goal setting. Verbalizing your goals is only the beginning to obtaining your desired results. We must treat our wellness goals like we treat our relationship, business, family or other personal goals by being focused and by developing a plan of action. So, grab your pen or pencil and begin writing what you want to accomplish. This month we have a great article on some do’s and don’ts for setting realistic and appropriate goals. Continue to imagine, write your vision and make it plain so you can physically do what you have envisioned yourself doing.

Remember: We have added a new Q & A section so, continue to send your questions on issues related to health, fitness and nutrition. We are also accepting new clients to take on The Power Challenge and The Herbalife Challenge. Sharing your experiences will help others to begin and/or continue on their journey. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing your results. Be Inspired! Be Great! Be Fit!

Quote of the Month

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” -Albert Einstein

Wellness Tips Set

• Get a hobby. Keep your hands and your mind busy and away from unhealthy foods.
• Eat enough calories. Eat enough to fuel your exercise so you can train harder, increase muscle and metabolic rate and then burn fat.
• Eliminate alcohol. It can slow or even halt your weight loss. Substitute with fruit juice spritzer (grape/cranberry juice with sparkling water).
• Eat small, frequent meals. This keeps your appetite under control and increases your metabolic rate.
• Diet with a buddy. A partner in the process can make a huge difference.

Sample Meal Plan for August

Meal #1 1 cup oatmeal with mixed berries, 1 cup green tea, 1 –2 cups

of water

Meal #2 Protein shake

Meal #3 5oz grilled chicken breast, spinach, shredded carrots and

whole grain wrap

Meal #4 1 cup stemmed broccoli and cauliflower, 1-2 cups water

Meal #5 5oz grilled chicken breast and 1/2 cup steamed veggies

Meal #6 1/2 cup mixed berries and 1 cup green tea

Feature Article

Do’s and Don’ts of Goal Setting

Key Pieces to the Puzzle

– By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer (SparkPeople)

Goal achievement, especially when it comes to health and fitness, can be a mystery. Most of us have no trouble with Step 1 (Setting the Goal). Setting a goal is the easy part, it’s those other steps that can be a puzzle. But you CAN turn achieving your goals into a science with the right strategies. Here are a few of our favorites:

DO create a plan. DON’T wait for “someday” to roll around.
Setting the goal is just the first step. Know where you’re going, what resources you’ll need, who can help and – most importantly – what Plan B is when life throws a monkey wrench into Plan A.

DO start small. DON’T focus on too many things at once.
Try focusing on one goal at a time. Use a small goal that you know you can do each day for the next two weeks, like getting up without the snooze or drinking eight  cups of water. Build that first habit to boost your confidence and pick up speed.

DO write it down. DON’T forget to give yourself a deadline.
Deadlines turn wishes into goals. The act of writing down your goal is powerful enough to keep you committed and focused. Better yet, find a visual that represents your goal or how your life will be different. Seeing it makes it seem more possible.

DO be specific. DON’T deal in absolutes.
Avoid the words ‘some’ and ‘more’, as in “I will get SOME exercise” or “I will eat MORE veggies.” It leaves too much wiggle-out room. Deal in measurable things that you have control over. And never say ‘never’ or ‘always.’ All or nothing is a common attitude that leads people back to bad habits.

DO leave room for failure. DON’T expect perfection.
Persistence is key. Accept the fact that you might not make it on the first try. In a recent study, only 40% of people who successfully followed New Year’s resolutions did it on the first try; 17% of resolution achievers took six or more tries before they got it right – but they did get it right.

DO track your progress. DON’T fool yourself into failure.
Memory can be pretty selective. It conveniently forgets that extra brownie while remembering activity that never happened. The only way to know for sure is to track goals regularly with a checklist or journal.

DO reward your success. DON’T beat yourself up over failure.
This is the step that trips up most people. Negative reinforcement is all around us, telling us every day what we’re doing wrong. This is not the approach to take to succeed with your goals. Why not focus on what you’re doing right instead? If you take a step back, learn from it and take two steps forward.

DO find a support system. DON’T try to do it alone.
A goal buddy can make all the difference this time. People that can help are all around you – on the SparkPeople support message boards, at work, even in your own family. Just add one person to your support group, and you double your motivation, double your energy, double your commitment – and double your FUN.