Q. Dear Natasha, every time I start working out and eating healthy, I go strong for a few weeks and then I lose my motivation, or I get stressed with work and I give into temptations to feel better. Any advice on how I can fix this?

A. Motivation is not all that it's cracked up to be. Motivation is a feeling and feelings are fleeting. They change when your blood sugar changes, with the weather and with your hormonal changes. You need to make the decision to commit to getting in shape. You need to decide now that you will do whatever it takes to make this happen.

It's similar to a marriage. If we only stayed married for as long as we felt in love, the divorce rate would be 100%. I guarantee you there will be many bumps in the road. There will be times you will not feel like being married to this fitness program, but you stick with it because you know studies show those who exercise/married, live longer.

For the day to day, I suggest the following:

1. Don't bring foods that entice you to over eat into the house. If the only time you have willpower is when food shopping, that alone will take you far. If the food is not in the house, you can't eat it.
2. Water, water, water. It will keep you feeling full and you won't mistake thirst for hunger.
3. Sleep! When you don't sleep or get enough water, you need over eat to compensate.
4. Eating to feel better doesn't work. 20 minutes later you'll need to eat again to numb the pain. Feel the pain/stress and move on. Let it go. Distract yourself with a book, TV, a bubble bath, a phone call to a friend, or dare i say, work out!

7-8-20-30-6 Program!

I spent the day at a PT convention that consisted of 4 hours of lecture and 4 hours of working out. Once the soreness I expect will arrive tomorrow goes away, I'm inspired to kick my program up a notch. My inspiration is this photo of Jessica Biel.

My body type does not put on muscle or fat quickly. If I didn't workout, I would be skinny fat. Skinny fat is when you're thin with a high ratio of fat/muscle. Most hourglasses have a difficult time putting on muscle. To do so, my diet needs to be perfect going forward and some serious strength training is needed.

So, I will be on the 7-8-20-30-6 Program beginning tomorrow! Every 2 weeks I will take photos of me in a bikini and will post in the Clients Only area and the end of each month. Call me shy, but I dress for work each day because I'm a firm believer my co-workers do not need to see me in a bikini!

• 7 hours of sleep
• 8 glasses of water a day
• 20 minutes of HIIT cardio 3 days a week.
  
• 30 minutes of strength training 3 days a week.
  
• 6 small meals a day. Eating every 3 hours. I will have around 100g of protein each day (.08g per pound of body weight - I weigh 124)
  

I'm committed to looking my absolute best this summer. Time is on my side and I will not settle for less. Now it's your turn, are you in?

Touchy Feely Preachers

Day 1 of the March Madness pool and I'm already in trouble. I don't really understand the brackets, but I'm told I will not be passing go or collecting $200. All season long, I could not care less about college basketball, but put me in a pool and I'm as involved as the Coach. My pool ranking of 53 out of 70 confirms what your gut instincts are likely telling you regarding my coaching abilities; I suck. Puleeze, I'm lucky if I can remember what color shirts my team is wearing. It was so much easier back in the day when it was skins vs. shirts. Football on the other hand? Well, I don't want to be cocky but I must tell you I suck slightly less at that sport. Baseball lost me at hello up until the bottom of the 9th. Do they really need to play a trillion games a season with a whole 9 innings? We need one game a week and one inning with a top and a bottom, just like the makings of a good outfit minus the bling.

Enough about sports. Let's talk about motivation. Some touchy feely preacher once said change comes from a positive place. They have a point. You are unlikely to succeed in your quest to get in shape if your source of motivation is coming from a feeling of negativity. Here are some examples of positive and negative motivation:

Negative: I need to lose weight, else I'll never have a boyfriend/girlfriend/friend with benefits.
Positive: I'm so excited to lose the weight because it will bring in new opportunities for me.

Negative: I need to lose weight, else I will die.
Positive: Once I lose the weight, I'll be able to enjoy sports/swimming/dancing/walking...

Negative: I need to lose weight because I'm the worst on my b-ball team.
Positive: When I lose the weight my jump shots will kick a$$.

Do you see the difference? One generates the feeling of not being good enough, the other generates a feeling of excitement and anticipation. You're going for the latter.

Here's your homework. Identify 3 reasons for you to lose the weight and get in shape. Most likely you will think of negative reasons, your next task is to turn it into something positive. Get your number 2 pencil and begin now.

Summer is coming folks. I don't want you knocking on my door asking for a quick fix diet June 1st because you spent Spring on your sofa. You know you're going to want to look good in a swimsuit so act now.

Tick tock!