COACH CYNDEE

When I speak to clients about their diet I always ask what percentages of  protein, fat and carbohydrates they're eating.  Most don't have a clue they just tell me they eat good.  I will ask them to start tracking their food intake and while most do not want to do this, the ones that do find it very eye opening.  People often think they are eating healthy but when you break it down to them it becomes clear that they are not eating good enough to achieve their goals.  Sure maybe they are eating better than the average person but a lot of times that won't get you to where you want to be.   I do all the shopping in our house and although I'm vegan I do have to buy meat for my boyfriend and my dogs.  My boyfriend likes turkey burgers and my dogs get raw ground beef and raw ground turkey.  I always look for lean choices for both of those.  The label on the ground turkey and turkey burgers I was buying said 93% lean and 7% fat.  Which at ...

Most people have a fitness watch of some sort that will track their activity and workouts.  Many jobs today require a lot of sitting at not much activity.  Having an activity tracker will give you daily goals to get moving.  Maybe it will inspire you to take a walk on your lunch break because even a short walk is something. If you have a goal (number of steps) each day then you can make small modifications to your daily habits to achieve these goals.  This adds up and if you make positive changes like this overtime you will see a difference.   If you start tracking your steps and immediately set a goal of 10,000 steps you may find it is hard to achieve.  That is usually equal to about 5-6 miles a day.  If you have a desk job and are currently not very active then possibly start with 5,000.  If you don't have a fitness watch but have a smart phone then you can still track your activity with your phone.  You just need to make sure you carr...

Let's face it when you're dedicated to your training you want to have things that you really like!  From gadgets to clothing and shoes we all have our favorite things.  Here are some products I  really like to use when I train and some things I use in between training.   Wahoo Kicker Bike and Element Computer I do a lot of my riding inside so I decided to invest in a good bike that I could adjust to fit me like my tri bike does. I have had the settings professionally measured by the person who fit my tri bike and I have the same saddle and peddles on the kicker bike and on my tri bike.  I also put tri bars on the kicker bike so I can ride indoors on this bike and have a set up very close to my tri bike.  I get all my metrics on the bike and by using the element computer I can download just about any route outdoors that I want to ride.  You could also choose to use any of the apps like Zwift.   Goodr Sunglasses I purchases a pair of these...

 It's that time of year when people are very busy with work, family, shopping, entertaining, attending parties and probably getting less sleep.  It's also that time of year when people get sick more frequently because it's cold outside and people are indoors more this time of year.  Here are some things you can do to stay healthy during the holiday season.   Eat healthy foods that are high in antioxidants like fruits and vegetables.  Use these foods to get much needed antioxidants to boost your immune system.   Limit your intake of alcoholic beverages.  Drinking alcoholic beverages can decrease your immune system and make you more susceptible to getting sick.  If you do have a few drinks it might be a good idea to take an extra b-complex vitamin and drink a little more water than you normally would. You could also try a product called Emergen-C that contains minerals and vitamin C.  Take immune boosting supplements.  I like to ...

If you have wanted to improve your health but have been struggling where to begin then you should read this!  You don't have to start by making huge changes that will be hard to adjust to. You can start simple and gradually increase each new habit overtime.  Here are some easy things you can start doing to improve your health. Move More This doesn't mean you have to do an hour of vigorous exercise each day.  If you currently are not doing anything then simply add a 10 minutes of movement into your daily routine.  You can start with a 10 minute walk, 10 minutes of resistance training, 10 minutes of elliptical even 10 minutes of dancing. Some other things you can do to move more is to park further away when you go to stores or use stairs if your appointment is only a few floors up.   Drink More Water So many people don't drink enough water.  If you fall into this category then make a conscious effort to drink more water.  If you are drinking soda tr...

Do you think you're eating healthy and wondering why you can't lose any weight?  When I talk to people about their diet they always say things like I eat really healthy.  Then I question them a little more and the things holding them back from their weight loss goals become clear.  It is important when you start making changes to your diet you make small changes.  It is much easier to make and stick with small changes.  Making drastic changes can make you feel like you are depriving yourself of things which can lead to binge eating.  Tracking your food is a great way to get a good idea of exactly how you are doing.  I am not saying you have to track your food forever but doing it for a few weeks will open your eyes to things like overall calories, sugar, fiber, and carb, protein and fat ratios.  Once you have an idea of how much you are eating you can make adjustments to make sure everything is more balanced.  While eating small meals through...

This was very my very slow longest run a month after getting sick It's been about 6 weeks since I did Ironman Des Moines and it's been really tough getting back to training.  I had a rough race and didn't plan to rush back into training because I didn't have anything scheduled after this race.  If you read my last blog post about my race recap then you know I got a little sick a few weeks before the race.  It wasn't COVID just a mild cold and I felt like I recovered pretty good.  I hadn't been sick for many years leading up to this cold and I never even got COVID!  Coming back from the race my boyfriend went to Peru the day after we got back.  He was only gone a few days but apparently he had COVID.  I had a very brief interaction with him for only a few seconds and apparently that was enough to give me COVID.  He was only sick a few days with COVID but I was in bed for about 5 days and felt terrible.  I didn't have much of a cough but boy th...