COACH CYNDEE

 As a trainer people always tell me how they are eating and they don't know why they aren't losing weight.  Once I dig a little deeper by asking more questions they quickly realize when they are answering my questions what their problem might be.  Many people don't realize how much they are really eating.  Once you take the time to log your food in a calorie counting app for a few days you'll quickly realize you might be eating too much.  You probably didn't even realize those few chips you had the other day were 200 calories!  Or the few handfuls of almonds you had were 500 calories!  Not to say almonds aren't healthy but they are high in calories.  Things that could be sabotaging  your health and fitness goals are:  Eating portions that are too large. Eating processed foods instead of fresh foods. Not being prepared - grabbing things at last minute because you haven't gone to the store or meal prepped.  Not eating enough fiber. Not drinking enough

Are you that person that ALWAYS gets sick in the fall and spring?  Do you simply expect it will happen and have accepted it?  I refuse to accept the fact that fall and spring have to come with a cold or flu.  I don't rely on the flu shot and I rarely get sick.  I'm not saying people shouldn't get the flu shot but I am saying it's not for me.  As a massage therapist and personal trainer I come into close contact with people and germs everyday.  I am an athlete so I also run myself down and probably do more than I should between work and working out.  There are so many things you can do to protect yourself from getting sick.  I take vitamins regularly and some I take seasonally.  My daily vitamins include the following:  A general multiple vitamin Mezotrace multi-mineral Now PQQ Energy - Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (pqq), CoQ10 and B12 Iron - being vegan I need extra iron Zyflammend by New Chapter Vitamin D and K2 doTerra Acidophilus  Doctor's Best Phosphati

This year I haven't done much racing and it's been kind of nice just running and enjoying myself.  I did Two Oceans Ultra Marathon in South Africa in April.  For fun weekend getaway I signed up for a trail 50k in Lake Tahoe.  I am not much of a trail runner but I looked at race photo's and this didn't look like it was very technical.  Looks can be very deceiving because I did it last weekend and it was extremely technical.  A few months prior to the race I had a pretty bad fall on a trail and gashed my hand pretty bad.  Since I am a massage therapist it put me out of work for about a week.  I decided to stay away from trails and just run the road but still wanted to do the race in Tahoe.  I figured I had the fitness and if the trails were easy I would be OK . I trained on roads before for a 50 miler in San Francisco that was on mostly gravel trails.  This run in Tahoe turned out to have very technical trails with lots and lots of climbing and rocks and roots on the tr

As a massage therapist I have several tools that I use on myself after workouts and between workouts that help with recovery, injury prevention and help healing injuries.  There are so many tools you can use on yourself to help with recovery.   Some can be used for injuries and some can be used as a preventative. Some can even be used before workouts as part of a warm up.  Gua sha - Gua sha is the practice of using a tool to apply pressure and scrape the skin to relieve pain and tension. The name gua sha — pronounced gwahshah — comes from the Chinese word for scraping.  I have several Gua sha tools but the one I use the most is the Jade.  It's great because its small, not too painful and inexpensive.  You need to use a little bit of lubricant when using this.  I use it mostly on my foot and ankle when I start to get a little bit of pain from running.  I don't wait until anything gets really bad and I start using it at the first sign of any pain after or during running. If

You're watching your calories, carbs, fat, but you're still not losing weight.  Unfortunately there are so many factors that could be causing you to stagnate in your weight loss efforts.  Today I want to talk about two elements that people seem to forget about when they want to lose weight.  The two things I want to discuss today are your water intake and fiber intake.   Let's talk about fiber first: It is recommended to eat between 25-35 grams of fiber a day from a food source not a supplement source.  It is typically recommended for men to eat more than women.  Here are some of the major benefits of eating fiber:   Reduced risk for heart disease  Helps maintain good bowel health Aids in achieving a healthy body weight Helps control blood sugar levels Reduced risk for colon cancer Lose weight and maintain weight Healthier gut bacteria  Most people don't get enough fiber in their diet, in fact most people don't even think about how

Chapman's Peak My boyfriend wanted to do the Two Oceans 35 mile run in Cape Town South Africa this year.  He is from SA and it was a good trip for him to see his family and schedule a racecation.  The Two Oceans is a bucket list race because of the beauty and toughness of the course.  It was a long flight that included 3 planes and about 28 hours.  I arrived at night so I went straight to bed and I had a few days to get used to the time change before the race.  We had lots of sight seeing to do so I was busy in those few days but it was so much fun!  Cape Town is an amazing place to visit.  We saw seals, penguins, donkeys and shop dogs (dogs hanging out in their owners shops)  We visited several vineyards and drank lots of wine, beer, and coffee.  Thats not necessarily the best thing to do leading up to an ultra marathon but I was on vacation and I did travel a very long way to enjoy myself so I did drink and eat!  We drove part of the course and we got to see the really big h

Like everyone else I have days that I'm excited to go run and then I have days where its so hard to get motivated to go.  I'm training for an ultra marathon and Sunday I had an 18 mile run scheduled.  I was actually looking forward to it and had a route mapped out.  I struggled most of the run and ended it at 16 miles.  It was tough I felt very lethargic even though I had plenty of sleep.  I felt defeated by the end of the run and was disappointed.  I took the next day off from working out then was going to run on Tuesday.  Monday night I stayed up much later than normal because it was New Years Eve. Tuesday I had things to do in the morning so I decided to run in the afternoon and we were going to run 8 miles.  I didn't feel great and almost decided to tell my boyfriend I didn't want to run.  It was New Years Day and I just wanted to relax and I didn't feel that great.  I had a runny nose and was sneezing and wasn't sure if it was just allergies or the beginn