Mother Love is on

The date is right around the corner.. Second Annual Mother Love is starting soon. Sellwood is in it to win it this year. We have 6 of our girls committed to going for gold and all of our ladies will be there for the support. First month will be strength, 2nd flexibility assessments and 3rd month cardio challenge!! Stay tuned Feb 1st to May 1st at www.Motherlovesellwood.blogspot.com for up to date results from our gals. Will we win overall in the Nation? Will we have the MVP on our team??

Good Morning Baby Boot Camp Portland Oregon

A message to my Portland Mom's Group. There I am. Proof that this morning I obviously rolled out of bed to do the sprints I committed to for my challenge. It was beautiful out there today, misty and oh so peaceful. I could hear the planes taking off from PDX. Let me know if you have been following through with your fitness move more, burn more activity. It is never too late to start!!

Festive Wild Rice

Festive Wild Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain brown rice
• 1 cup wild rice
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 6 cups water/low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 block firm tofu, cubed
• 2 TBS low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp each basil, thyme and sea salt

fresh parsley for garnish

Preparation

1. Preheat oven 350. Wash and rinse rice.
   
2. Toast pinenuts over medium heat in frying pan. Til golden
   
3. Prepare casserole with non-fat cooking spray and place water and rice in casserole.
4. Arrange all other ingredients on top of rice. Don't mix them.
5. Cover and bake until water is absorbed 1 to 1 1/2 hours garnish with parsley
   

Working your abs

A common myth about flat abs

First, let’s dispel one of the biggest myths about how to achieve ripped abs: If you do a million ab exercises, you will have a flat stomach in no time. Obviously, practicing ab strengthening exercises helps; however, going overboard on abdominal exercises doesn’t do any good. It’s a simple fact that overtaxing your muscles doesn’t achieve results any faster than if you practice a balanced, quality exercise routine.

Tips for getting great abs

Achieving perfect abs may seem like an insurmountable task, but this goal can be accomplished by following some simple steps. Here are some tips about getting a flatter stomach:

1. Spot reducing doesn't work- you need to focus on the whole body

Unfortunately, spot reducing (target-burning body fat in one area only) is impossible, no matter what anyone tells you. To burn fat on your stomach, you must burn fat from your whole body, which means you must do cardiovascular exercises. Any type of aerobic activity that gets your heart rate beating at a moderate intensity will suffice. If you do aerobic exercises five days a week for 30 minutes at a time, your body will start using extra fat for energy. Eventually, your body fat percentage

will reduce, and you will have less stomach fat.

2. Don’t work your abs every day - they need rest too

Now that the body fat is disappearing, you need to strengthen the abdominal muscles so the area will be firm and flat. Abdominal muscles need to be treated like every other muscle group. This means you can’t work them everyday, despite popular opinion. After you work them out, they need to rest a day or two to recover. Focus on quality (not quantity). Pick two of your favorite ab exercises and do three or four sets with approximately 15-20 repetitions in each set. Some of my favorite exercises are the abdominal crunch, the reverse crunch, touching your opposite elbow to opposite knee (to hit your obliques or the sides), and toe reaches (sticking your legs straight up in the air while you lie on your back and reaching up to touch your toes).

3. Follow a balanced, reduced-calorie diet to help produce good abs

Finally, the big key to all of this is your diet. Chances are that a lack of exercise and a sloppy diet has contributed to your excess body fat in the first place. Because you are working hard to get rid of your fat and shape your stomach, you must also be vigilant about your diet, which can sabotage all your efforts if you’re not careful. Consume a low-fat/low-calorie diet with a good balance of proteins and carbohydrates. Avoid all processed foods-such as white breads, white pastas, and white rice-and replace them with 100% whole wheat products, fresh fruits and vegetables. When eating meat, select lean or low-fat cuts. Also, try to eat frequently throughout the day (five or six times is ideal). For low-fat/low-calorie diet advice, try eDiets Weight Loss Plan .

Ripped abs require discipline

By working hard, you can have a flatter stomach, but you must be disciplined. A lot of my female clients say they want a stomach like Janet Jackson. Obviously, Ms. Jackson has had her trials with weight fluctuations, but she has proven that when you combine hard work with a proper diet and exercise, you will get great results! Keep these tips in mind, be patient, and go out there and make everyone envious of your sexy, ripped abs!

Inspiration from Current Sellwood Baby Boot Campers

Share your stories....

Erika Plummer has joined our Saturday BBC classes for the last two months. Erika has very specific goals. One of her goals was to lose weight before her 40th Birthday. Last Monday she celebrated the BIG DAY and she also has lost over 7 pounds last month by working hard and eating well. One of her strategies is to keep a food journal to account for her daily calorie intake. She has reduced the amount of sugar in her day, has been making healthier choices when eating out and overall has upped her cardio and workouts to higher intensity. Well done Erika!!!

Katie Miller. Without announcing it to all Katie has decided to go cold turkey on sugar. She says she occasionally allows herself a small treat made of date sugar but has been off now for at least one month. I am still working on finding out how she did it but she references a book titled "Sugar Blues" (a book written in the 70's) which she has read and quite possibly could be a benefit to some of you as well. I know she wrote on facebook last week that she was into her skinny jeans. For all of us who have that pair of jeans we dream to get into...maybe Katie has something here. Keep up the Good Work.

Senna Pinney. If you have had a class with Senna you know that she is one of the hardest workers in Baby Boot Camp classes. And...oh yeah..she is now 32 weeks pregnant. She made a quick little announcement in class last Saturday that for this pregnancy she might possibly be 15 to 20 pounds lighter than her first. That is huge. When I took over BBC Sellwood I asked what everyone's goals were for themselves and how BBC could help. Senna wanted to have a healthier pregnancy, gain less, stay in shape and I believe she has surpassed her own expectations. Congrats.

All three of you are an inspiration and I want to have more Bootcampers share their own personal success stories. It is good to acknowledge out loud what we should be very proud of. What you do not share, we do not necessarily know.