Five Alarm Fitness

Bloomington, Illinois

Leah Wheeler

Taking Charge of Your Nutrition During #shelterinplace

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I’m sure by this point you’ve seen the meme’s on social media about weight gain during the “Shelter In Place” order. You know the ones I’m talking about right? On the left we see your favorite fitness influencer all jacked and tan (and clearly resembling your current physique) while on the right we see your after picture, an image that more closely resembles the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. 

But let’s be honest, while it’s funny to look at those, none of us wants it to be our reality. Sure we might not actually look like our favorite fitness influencer, but we don’t need to backtrack just because we can’t get out. This time isn’t an excuse to let our nutrition fall to the wayside. In fact, I think it’s an opportunity for us to really dial it in. 

Why you might ask? Well, how many times did you go to work last month and have a food day? I’m sure it was more than once or twice. What about that friendly coworker who brought in donuts for the whole department “just because?” Maybe you had a birthday party, a happy hour, and a date night all in one weekend. Sound familiar? 

In our current situation, those things aren’t our reality. We have the ability to grab our eating habits by the horns and really focus on improvement. It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul, but by building small, sustainable habits a little at a time you’ll be making big changes to your life long term. 

So what are some ways you can take charge of your nutrition during this time? Here are 3 tips to help you get started. 

  1. Create a menu for the week. Write down all the ingredients you’ll need for each meal so you don’t need to make unnecessary trips to the store throughout the week. This can be a great strategy any time but it’s especially important when you’re trying to #stayathome and only venture out when necessary. 
  2. Only buy what’s on the list. Now that you know what you need, don’t get distracted. Only buy the items you’ve written down and avoid venturing down the aisles that cause you to mindlessly put things in your cart. 
  3. Prepare what you can ahead of time. Leave any meat you’ll use in the next 2-3 days in your refrigerator so it doesn’t need to thaw and cut up your veggies before putting them away so you lessen your prep time the day of. It might seem like more work up front but you’ll be glad you did it when it comes time to cook. 

If you utilize these tips, we’d love to see! Share your menus, your shopping experiences, and/or your meal prep for the week to social media and be sure to tag us @fivealarmcf. 

Consistency Is Key

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We all want to see results. Maybe there’s a skill you’ve been chasing in the gym for awhile, or you’d like to lose 10lbs, or you want to become an avid reader, or earn the big promotion at work. Whatever that looks like for you, there’s an area in your life you’re wanting to see progress. The thing about results though, is that they don’t just magically happen. There is work that has to be done in order for us to achieve them and, for most, that achievement comes through consistency over time. Consistency might not be easy, but it is the key to long term progress and seeing those results. 

Since we’re in the fitness industry, let’s use the example of losing weight. In January, you set a goal for yourself to lose 10 lbs by March 1. You start off the new year with drive and determination. You’re working out 6 days/week and your nutrition game is on point. You’re food prepping every Sunday, eating all your veggies, you’re crushing it. Three weeks in, you wake up a little sore on Tuesday and decide to skip the gym. Wednesday night the kids have an event that doesn’t allow you to come in at your normal time so you don’t workout that night either. You tell yourself it’s not a big deal, you’ll get back in the gym on Thursday. And you do. Over the next month and a half though, your progress stalls. You’re no longer hitting the gym 5-6 days/week but rather 2-3 times. Your nutrition isn’t as good as it was but hey, you’re not eating at McDonalds either. When March 1 rolls around, you’re disappointed in what the scale says. How could you have only lost 3 pounds?? 

Now this might sound extreme but it happens to a lot of well intentioned people. We all want to see results. The big question becomes, are we invested enough in those outcomes to put in the consistency required to achieve them? Life is messy and our schedules are chaotic. Even our best laid plans sometimes fall apart and we have to adjust on the fly (something I’m personally not so good at). But how important is that goal? Is it important enough to come to the gym at 5am when you know you can’t get there after work? To walk past the cake at your coworkers anniversary party because it’s the 3rd one this week? Now don’t get me wrong, life isn’t all serious business either. I’m not suggesting we never take a rest day or never partake in social events that revolve around food (gosh, that sounds awful). I am, however, suggesting that you change the frequency of how much you partake in those things if you’re serious about achieving your goals. You must make better choices more consistently in order to see the desired results.

So how do you become more consistent? It starts with one decision and building small habits over time. Maybe you’re the person who works out twice a week and wants to add consistency but man, 6 days a week is hard! Start with adding in a third day. When that becomes a habit, add in a fourth. Do you find yourself sore on that fourth day? Talk to your coach and let them know what you’re trying to do but that you’re feeling beat up. Let them help you adjust the workout to a more active recovery day. Maybe you just can’t say no when there’s a food day at work. Say it once. Turn down that dessert one time that day. Then do it again the next day. Pretty soon, saying no starts to get a little bit easier. The results won’t happen without the work but if you take small strides each day to become more consistent, you will eventually get there. We believe in you. Are you ready to be more consistent? 

New Year, New Goals

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It’s officially 2020, the start of a new year and a new decade. For many, the New Year is a time of resolutions and fresh starts. It’s a time where we are more motivated than ever to make changes to our lives in an effort to have our #bestyearever. But what happens when the New Year motivation dies down? What about when work starts to get stressful or our kids game gets rescheduled and we miss the gym? How about when our new diet falls apart because of the food day for Susie’s birthday? What then? We’ve got 3 tips to help make sustaining your goals for the year a little easier.

  1. Start with small, sustainable changes. We are all well intentioned about wanting to improve our lives but it’s important to keep in mind that we don’t have to do it all at once. Pick one or two changes to start with. Once you’ve built habits with these small items, add another one or two and build from there. Remember, lots of small changes add up to big ones over the course of a lifetime. 
  2. Try again. You’re not perfect, none of us are, and you’re bound to mess things up. When that happens, remember that you have a choice. A choice to beat yourself up over it and a choice to try again. Nutrition choices are a great example for this one. If you weren’t prepared on January 1 and ended up ordering carry out for dinner (full disclosure, this was us), will you scrap your entire plan? I sure hope not! Instead, try again beginning with breakfast the next morning.
  3. Get a support system. Find a friend, family member, or coach and share your goals with them. Ask them to hold you accountable and check in with them periodically. It’s a lot harder to find excuses when you’re answering to somebody else. If you need a place to start, schedule a complimentary goal setting session with one of our coaches HERE. We’d love to hear what you’re working on this year and want to help you succeed however we can. 

So what are you waiting for? 2020 is your year. Let’s crush it together!

** For more help on setting goals, check out James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits.” 

Why You Need to Fail

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Winston Churchill once said, “Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.” 

In this quote, Churchill indicates that failure isn’t a bad thing, like so many perceive it to be. Take our daughter Audrey, for example. She’s 16 months old and every day is filled with failure. She falls down countless times, misses her mouth with her fork, and diligently works to figure out the right way to get all of her puzzle pieces in the correct place. But she never gives up and she never feels sorry for herself. She just tries again, relentlessly, until she’s accomplished what she’s trying to do.

Failing at something doesn’t mean that we are failures. Our failures do not define us. What defines us is our reaction to these situations and what we do after them. It’s important that we learn something from these experiences. That we shake off the dust, get back up, and try again. 

It’s also important to not fear failure. If we make decisions out of our fear of failing, we’ll miss out on a lot of positive opportunities & learning experiences. Had Michael Jordan done this, he never would have played another game of basketball after being cut from his high school team. Instead he used his failure as motivation to practice harder and eventually became the greatest player in the history of the game. 

It’s this trying again mentality that really shows a person’s true colors. 

So the next time you fail a lift, that presentation doesn’t go as planned, or you completely bomb your test, brush off the dust, get back up, and try again. Take risks and don’t be afraid to fail. Because without failure, there is no growth. 

The Rest of the Story

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By: Coach Leah

If you’ve driven down Veteran’s Parkway in Bloomington, IL recently, you may have noticed a certain company’s billboard comparing the protein content of one of their bagels to that of eggs. This billboard proudly touts their bagel has more and leaves the consumer potentially questioning their breakfast choice. While this billboard is a great marketing tool by the company, it is also very misleading if taken at face value. **Pssst….that’s what they want**

Now, they’re not entirely wrong. One 9-Grain bagel DOES have more protein than 2 eggs (13g vs 12g). So, if that’s the case, then what makes this advertisement, and many others like it, so deceiving? After all, it sounds like the bagel might actually be MORE healthy than the eggs (cha-ching)! 

Let’s take a deeper look at each of those foods. 

The macronutrient breakdown for 2 eggs is simple; 12g Protein, 10g Fat, 0g Carbs for a total of 140 calories. It also has only one ingredient: eggs.

Now let’s take a look at that bagel……

The 9 grain bagel has 13g of Protein, 4g of Fat (without cream cheese or butter), and a whopping 51g of carbs. There are also 8g of Sugar in there. How about the ingredients? I mean, it’s got 9 grains so it has to be healthy, right? Wrong. This specific bagel has 36 ingredients in it including 4 different kinds of sugar (honey, sugar, dextrose, and brown sugar) and 440mg of Sodium. The total calorie count on this bad boy comes to 280 (again, without cream cheese or other spread). 

Wow! That’s a lot of information that was missing, right? Right. The truth is, it’s missing for a reason. The food business is a multi billion dollar industry and these companies have one thing on their agenda: to make more money. Advertisements like the example above are meant to get us to buy their products by making them seem appealing in some way. 

When it comes to food, we have to be our own advocate. So the next time you’re at the grocery store doing your weekly shopping or find yourself questioning if that sandwich from the fast food joint really meets your protein requirement for the day, dig deeper. Do some research on the products you’re buying. Look at the nutrition label and, maybe more importantly, the ingredient list before making your purchase. Otherwise, you may never know….the rest of the story.