DID YOU KNOW?

• There are only three times in a person's life when they actually make NEW fat cells: 1st year of life, puberty and pregnancy. So every time a woman gets pregnant, she actually produces more new fat.
• When people gain weight, they make their existing fat cells larger. As we age it becomes increasingly hard to shrink them back due to our slowing metabolism
• Women lose approximately 10% of their muscle mass every decade which works out to 0.5-1lb of muscle loss per year. We then gain this same amount in body fat. This is directly related to a reduction in physical activity over time. So.... if muscle burns fat, the less muscle you have, the harder it is to lose the fat.

So ladies, the stats are against us... but Samantha Monpetit-Huynh of Core Expectations says enough is enough and is going to give some tips on how to BUILD A M.O.M! = Master Of Muscle

How do we do that exactly? The key to Building a Mom is not to focus on weight loss. Samantha says the weight will come off, but it's strength and overall health that will help us run up and down the stairs 20 times a day, carry the car seat bucket with another kid in tow, keep the energy up for the multi-tasking that ensues, and of course make us a better overall mom.

Samantha would love to share with you, her tips for Building a M.O.M. - starting with changing one's thinking - it's about becoming strong NOT about the scale.

Tips at a glance:

1) Boost the metabolism (easy, fast everyday foods or things you can do to wake up your metabolism and battle the bulge)i.e. increase in proteins (eggs, nuts, beans). Drinking loads of water to initiate digestion. Veggies veggies veggies!! Eat 5-6 times per day. Waiting too long between meals can KILL your metabolism and put your body into a semi-starvation state and will hold onto your next meal not burning it as fuel.

2) New workout - what worked before may not work now - compound exercises, intervals and super-sets (changing it up is a good thing, it forces your body to work and for your muscles to think and act differently) (This is good!)

3) Nutritional strategies targeted to food intolerances, hormonal imbalances and digestive disorders (many people don't realize that bloating could be related to a food intolerance, hormonal imbalance or digestive disorder - ruling those out or learning coping strategies to stabilize those issues can dramatically affect your overall results) and significantly improve your chances of weight loss

4) Plan to make it easy. if you are not a morning person, honour that! If you are not a happy camper and take a while to get going in the morning, don't schedule a workout then as you'll be setting yourself up to make excuses not to do it. Plan a schedule in advance, make sure you have someone to look after the kids and start by giving yourself 30 minutes, three times a week. You'll see a difference soon and be more willing to make time for you. Put it into your calendar like any other appt. This way you wont schedule something else and use the excuse that you "didn't have time"