Quickest Workout Ever: HIIT

As much as I’m sure you all love spending 3 hours a day in the gym, there’s a much faster way to gain the same cardiovascular benefits.

I’m talking 15 minutes fast.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is not an exercise, but rather a way of exercising that jam packs all the effort you’d normally use over 1-2 hours of working out into 15-30 minutes. It involves:

5 minute warm-up

15-60 seconds of going all-out, followed by

30-120 seconds of rest (e.g., if you’re sprinting, rest would be walking)

Repeat the exercise/rest cycle 6-8 times

5 minute cool down

That took, at most, 35 minutes. And I swear, you will feel crushed by the end of it (if you’re truly going all-out, that is).

Sprinting is a great HIIT exercise.

The Benefits

For one, this is a super fast workout. The above was 35 minutes, but you could easily get in a legitimate HIIT workout down to 15 minutes.

Another biggie is fat oxidation. HIIT significantly increased fatty acid oxidation (the use of stored fat for energy) in three separate studies.¹ That means that, when compared to continuous endurance training (exercising at the same pace for a considerable amount of time), HIIT burns more fat and fewer carbohydrates. Good for fat loss.

HIIT, like weight lifting, also increases your Excess Post-Exercise Consumption (EPOC).¹ 

That means that once you’re done with your workout, your body continues to burn calories in order to repair your muscle cells. Work out for less time, burn more fat and calories? I’m in!

For those concerned with cardiovascular health, HIIT has been shown to increase left ventricle heart mass and cardiac contractility at a comparable rate to continuous aerobic exercise. 

In addition, in a study comparing HIIT to continuous training, HIIT increased VO2max (maximal oxygen consumption, a clear indicator of cardiovascular health and function) by 15% compared to 9% in continuous training.¹ Boo yah.

Other benefits include increases in mitochondria (the energy factory of the cell), increased cardiac muscle mass and increased expression of fatigue-resistance slow twitch muscle fibers. 

All good things.

The Best Part

Anyone can do this with any exercise as long as they truly put all their effort into those 15-60 seconds of the exercise. This could be anything from walking quickly, to doing pushups, to kicking in the pool. Sprinting, swimming, biking, climbing stairs. You are shooting for whatever your maximum effort is. It doesn’t matter at all what other people do.

But for reference, my routine involves a warm-up of jogging.

Then I sprint on the treadmill at level 9.5-11, or better yet, outside on the pavement, for one minute.

Then I walk for one minute.

I repeat 5-8 times, then cool down by walking and stretching.

By the end of this, I’m pretty much of pile of useless sweat on the floor, and that’s how it should be.

HIIT is not meant to be a complete replacement of steady cardio. Rather, throw in 2-3 HIIT workouts a week, combined with 3-4 days of lifting and 1-2 steady cardio sessions. You’ll be a well-rounded athlete, and your body will thank you for it!

Questions? Concerns? Just want to chat? Hit me up at katy.hajzer@gmail.com. (Notice the change in email. That’s not a typo. We’re going all married name now!)

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.

1. https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/HIITvsCardio.html

Eating Clean During the Holidays

October through January is a difficult time of year for those trying to watch what they eat.

While the rest of humanity looks forward to indulging in Halloween candy, Thanksgiving stuffing, Christmas ham and New Years’ drinks, we dread having to stare down a cheesecake, wrestling with our thoughts. 



“It’s just once a year...” 


“But I worked so hard; I don’t want to undo everything.” 


“But Auntie Jenny made that appetizer specifically for me!”


“How many calories are in that??”



Is that beef wellington?? Well, la dee da for this family.

Honestly, this is why most people bulk during the holidays (me included). 

For me, the holidays are free days. I don’t count calories, I don’t keep macros in mind, and if I want a slice of my sister’s amazing cheesecake, then gosh darnit I’m having a slice of cheesecake!!

The only thing I keep in check is how much of everything I’m eating. I try to eat a little bit of everything, and make sure I’m not going to make myself sick. Like I said in my Cheat Days article, one day (or four holidays) won’t make much of a difference in the end.




But if bulking up is the furthest thing from your mind, and you’re determined to stay healthy and happy throughout the Winter, here are a few survival tips to avoid an upset stomach and a guilty conscience.



1) Have a game plan. You know what’s going to be there; at least in my family, we have staples that we make every year. Before you go, make a mental or written check list of what you really want to eat, and stick to it. Maybe even log it into MyFitnessPal for accountability. 


2) If you’ve going to drink, don’t use mixers. Sure, screwdrivers are delicious, but that’s because orange juice is super sugary. Have some red wine, or sip on some straight up liquor with a wedge of lime. This website, getdrunknotfat.com, is super helpful for this!



3) To avoid mindlessly snacking, always have water, and chew gum. It’s usually not the big meals that get you; it’s that giant spread of appetizers. Keep your hands busy holding a glass of water and your mouth busy with some minty gum so you don’t reach for that brie and mini hotdogs and chips and...



A fool-proof way to know if you ate too many cookies.
Or whole pies.

4) Avoid empty calories, like carbs. Unless you’re on a special diet, try to stick to meat and veggies. Turkey? Awesome. Roasted carrots? Great! Don’t grab 3 rolls, half a can of cranberry sauce and two cups of stuffing. Not only will they spike your blood sugar, but you’ll be super hungry later, making you want to eat even more food. Proteins, veggies, and healthy fats (I’m a fan of butter!) will satisfy you. 



5) Bring your own food. I’m not saying to pack a lunch and avoid everything else, but bring a side dish and/or appetizer you know is safe for you to eat. Cocktail shrimp, raw veggies with homemade dip, roasted vegetables, and even a bowl of fruit for dessert are all great, healthy options. 

A podcaster named Abel James has a great book of recipes: Fat Burning Chef. You should also check out his podcast, Fat-Burning Man; it's one of my favorites!

6) If you can handle yourself while you’re full, but not when you’re hungry, then eat before you go. Just like you wouldn’t go food shopping on an empty stomach, don’t wander into the valley of death when you could eat a horse. The only problem with this option is if you’re a muncher, and will eat things even when you’re not hungry. Then you’ll just have all the calories from what you ate before AND the holiday food!!



7) If you do decide to go the Cheat Day route, make sure it doesn’t transform into a Cheat Week. If you’re hosting, give away the food at the end of the night. If you’re a guest, don’t take the food home! Work out the morning after to start your day off right. Prepare your healthy food for the rest of the week the day before the Cheat, so you’ll have a bunch of good food waiting for you instead of pies and rolls. 



What do you do if people are bothering you about it? 

Smile, make a joke, and drop the subject. Don’t let other people force you to eat anything you don’t want to. Screw them. You’re strong, and what you eat has absolutely no effect on their lives. If it really gets to be a problem, say there’s chanting of “EAT IT. EAT IT.” involved, then you need a new group to join for Thanksgiving. Because seriously, your family and friends should support you in whatever you do. Remind them of that, and move on.

And the day after Thanksgiving,
I better see you all in the gym!!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Share with your friends; let's spread the sanity.

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.
Email me any questions, comments or suggestions!

Conquer This, and Conquer Anything

I’m a big fan of quotes. 

Maybe it’s the writer in me, but I appreciate when a complex idea can be simplified into a sentence or two. I came across a great one recently, and I’d like to share it with you.

“A woman asked me, ‘What are the blocks to my happiness?’ I said, ‘The belief that you have blocks.’” –Wayne Dyer

Your mind is an incredible thing. Inside your head is an infinite expanse of curiosity, exploration, fantasies and, above all, control. We only have to look at the success of the placebo effect to understand that our minds are insanely powerful, changing our attitudes and even our bodies without much effort at all. 

The powerhouse of humanity.

And yet so many people ignore this power, or worse, use it against themselves.

They create beliefs, or make up stories, about themselves and the world around them that have no basis in fact and reality, and then refuse to let those beliefs go, despite any evidence to the contrary. As if they would rather stay miserable, due to their own hell they’ve created, than have their beliefs be proven wrong.

For example, say Jane has a belief that she’s not very smart. 

Maybe someone in her childhood told her this, and she clung to the opinion (a harsh and heartless one) as truth. She grows up believing she isn’t very smart, and so she doesn’t do well in school. Until she hits college and begins taking courses she’s really interested in, and begins to excel. Even then, she chocks this up to “luck” or that her professors are changing her grades because they “feel bad” for her. And so Jane, who in reality is a smart, bright girl, even in the face of success, still finds a way to push herself down, all because she has a belief that she isn’t smart.

Drop the beliefs, and start harnessing the power of your mind for your own benefit. Reset your mindset, and what are you left with? A world that is far more open, welcoming, and unintimidating than you’ve ever seen it before.

There are no blocks.

Nothing says, “No, that’s not how it works. That’s not what you do. That’s not who you are.” Instead, it’s all just, “Sure, why not?”

Want to start your own business? Sure, why not? Want to lose some weight? Nothing is stopping you. Even smaller things, like just striking up a conversation with someone you may have previously “believed” to not like you, or be above you, are entirely possible now that you’ve torn down your own barriers.

Conquer your own mind, and you can conquer anything. 

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.

katy.widmer3@gmail.com

How Fitness Took Over My Life (And How It Can Take Yours, Too)

Everyone has a story. Here’s mine. 

I hope you’ll learn something from it and not repeat the same mistakes I made.

The Yo-Yo Years

From the ages of 14-19, I was what you’d call a “Yo-yo”er. I would be really into hitting the gym every day for about 2 or 3 months, and then the fire would fizzle out and I’d be back on the couch. And when I did work out, it was elliptical only. Which is really really really boring. (Perhaps that’s why the fitness never stuck.) 

Wow. Such exciting. Wow.

I wasn’t grossly overweight, per se; I think my highest adult weight was 137 (told you I'd be honest here!). But I wasn’t confident in my appearance. I wouldn’t look at my reflection and say, “Damn, girl!” unless this was immediately followed by, “You have to lay off the Oreos!” (I’d eat 7 at a time, by the way). Somehow, though, I managed to snag a boyfriend. The inevitable breakup from said boyfriend devastated me, and threw me into the next stage.

Run, Katy, Run!

I ran. I ran a lot. First I could only run a mile. Then I ran two miles. Then three. Four. Until I was up to running five miles a day. I ran to clear my head. I ran to be able to say I could. I ran just to feel like I had control over something.

Running occasionally, sure.
Running all the time and eating nothing? Nope.

And while I was running, I didn’t eat a lot. Maybe 1000 calories a day, which is not enough when my TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) was probably about 1800 with all that running.

I lost weight, sure. I think at my lowest I was down to 108. But I didn’t look good. I looked soft. And I was, because running does the exact opposite of building muscle; it burns it.

So. Much. Food.

When I met my now-husband, a man who, bless his heart, loved me regardless of my size, I dropped the running and took up mac n’ cheese and those pastrami sandwiches from QuickChek. Chinese food. Pizza. Ice cream. Bowls and bowls of pasta with homemade Alfredo sauce. We would buy a dozen donuts in the morning and eat them all within a few hours.

Sure, it was a magical time, until my clothes didn’t fit and I started to feel like absolute crap.

Something had to be done. 

Finding Lifting

Frustrated with my current appearance, and with how my body had responded when all I did was run, I looked into lifting. My aunt had been a bodybuilder, as had three of my uncles, and they spoke highly of it. So I thought, “Hey, it’s in my genes. Nothing else is working. I might as well try.”

Jamie Eason, my bodybuilding idol.

So I joined a gym that had a free weights area and bought a few lessons with a trainer. Who was absolutely useless. What kind of trainer hears you say, “I want to lift heavy,” and responds by telling you to throw a 6 pound medicine ball in the air 15 times? I knew I had to do my own research, so I did. Bodybuilding.com. Reddit.com/r/fitness. These were people who had done what I was trying to do and could teach me how to do it for free.

 Results and Goals

When you start lifting, you progress rather quickly. “Newbie gains,” if you will, are super encouraging. Each week I’d pick up something heavier than the week before, and I felt proud. Accomplished. Here was actual proof that what I was doing was working. My shoulders and arms leaned out and muscles began growing in places I didn’t even know had muscles. I set goals that were not, “Lose 5 pounds,” but rather, “Gain 5 pounds on my squat.”

Become more of myself, not less. Positive reinforcement is much more successful than negative.

I created goals. Small ones, like “70 lb benchpress” to big ones like “200 lb deadlift in 2 years” (which I still haven’t achieved, by the way). Goals kept me focused, and kept me going into the gym for years without losing steam. My goals are the reason I still work out, still track my macros, and still care about what goes into my body.

I absolutely love going to the gym. It’s my “me time,” and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Your Takeaways From My Story 

-Create positive goals, not negative ones. “Add another half mile to my daily run” is a much better goal then “Lose 5 pounds,” because you can always add another half mile. At a certain point, you can’t lose any more weight.

-Write down your goals. This applies to any part of life, not just fitness. Only 5% of people write down their goals, but of those 5%, 95% of them achieve them. That’s powerful stuff right there.

-Eat things that fuel you. Food (and water) is fuel for your body. You need vitamins from leafy greens. You need protein from animal products or beans. You need the fat from coconut, iron from nuts, carbohydrates from sweet potatoes. There’s a reason nature has provided a variety of foods; a mixture of them is necessary to sustain life.

-Find motivation from within yourself. I yo-yoed because I was trying to impress other people. I ran because I was trying to prove something to my exes. I only began getting serious about my fitness when I knew I wanted to do it for myself. Not to impress anyone, not to fit into a standard, but to give myself more confidence and self-worth. I didn’t care what anyone else thought of my lifting, and trust me, there are some haters.  

-Throw away your scale. I weigh more than I did in my running days, but I feel much better and look much better. Stop caring about gravity so much.

-Make your routine interesting. I never do the same thing two days in a row. There’s leg day, bench day, back day, HIIT day, walking day, cardio and abs day, rest day. No more elliptical day, elliptical day, elliptical day, until each day is sit-on-the-couch day.

So I told you my story. What's yours? Share in the comments below or email me at katy.widmer3@gmail.com. I would love to hear it!

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat. 

RealGirlFit's Top 9 Nutrition Tips

Over the past three years, I’ve amassed a lot of knowledge on nutrition. 

Some through research, some through trial and error, and some that I’ve gathered from other foodies. For your convenience, and as a topic for future discussion, I’ve put my top tricks into a neat little list for you! Hopefully some (or all!) of these nuggets will strike you as something you can incorporate into your daily lives. 

Without further ado, Real Girl Fit’s top nutrition and food tips!

1. Avoid canola /vegetable oil, and opt for coconut whenever possible. Vegetable oils are high in polyunsaturated fats, which contain a high ratio of Omega 6s to Omega 3s. Too much Omega6 can cause chronic inflammation and many health issues down the road. Coconut oil is full of MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) that your body can use for energy very efficiently. Plus, if you get the unrefined kind, it tastes like coconut. Coconut shrimp, anyone? Yes, please. Also, olive oil is good, but don’t cook with it. It’s really more of a finishing oil to add flavor and moisture to a completed dish.

Adds a tropical feel to any meal!

2. Salt and pepper are your friends. Simple, but it’s absolutely ridiculous how much flavor you can draw out of your food with just some fresh cracked black pepper and kosher salt. Remember: if you’re eating healthy, you’re probably eating less prepared foods, which means your sodium level has dropped dramatically. And as much as you don’t want high sodium, you don’t want low sodium, either; it pushes more water into the brain, causing it to swell, which results in headaches, fatigue, confusion and even more serious issues. So salt your food! It’s tasty and good for you.

3. Eat a giant salad every day for lunch. And when I say giant, I mean GIANT. This morning, I made a salad. It took me an hour to eat it today. My typical salad includes: A whole heart of romaine lettuce (spinach or kale is better if you can afford it), a whole cucumber, a whole slicing tomato, a cup of green cabbage, a cup of raw cauliflower, half an ounce of pecans, half an avocado, and 5 medium strawberries, sliced. Finished, of course, with salt and pepper. And all of that comes to around 350 calories (and a whole lot of fiber). You can throw in whatever else you want! That’s the best part of giant salads.

My salads are 10x bigger than this.

4. Eat egg yolks. They’re delicious. They have good-for-you fats, without which your hormones will go insane. An egg is 70 calories. Three eggs are 210 calories, 18 grams of protein, 12 grams of fat, and will keep you full and your hormones happy.

5. Calories count, but macros are more important. Sure, you’ll lose weight eating only 900 calories worth of Twinkies a day, but your internal organs will be dying. Macronutrients (macros), which are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, are where it’s at when it comes to really taking control of your health. MyFitnessPal.com is an excellent resource where you can set goals for your macros and calories and track them on a daily basis. A good rule of thumb: Set your protein for 0.8g/lb of bodyweight. Then you can tinker with your fat and carb ratios based on your individual goals. I found fat loss to be much easier when my carbohydrates were only around 15% of my total intake, but muscle building requires more around 40-50%.

6. Ditch all sugar-free, fat-free and low-fat things. First of all, anything that has a label like that is packaged, and really shouldn’t be in your pantry, anyway. Secondly, if they’ve removed the fat, or even sugar, they’ve compensated with chemicals, which are a no-no. Full-fat yogurt and dairies may be against everything you’ve ever been taught, but they are the real-deal, and are what nature intended. Ditch the guilt and enjoy how creamy Fage Total is.

So freaking creamy. 

7. If you need chocolate, get 90% Lindt or, even better, unsweetened cacao nibs. It’s super bitter because there’s very little sugar in it (and none in cacao nibs), but the intensity of the legitimate chocolate flavor is enough that you just need a few bites to satisfy your craving. 

8. Things I try to avoid: sugar, honey, agave, artificial sweeteners, canned soups, TV dinners, syrups, corn (including popcorn), wheat (bread and pasta), soy (including edamame), alcohol (minus the occasional glass of red wine), apples and other high-fructose fruits. 

It messes with your estrogen levels. 

9. Bulletproof coffee is a godsend. Brew black coffee. Put into a blender with a pinch of cinnamon and a tablespoon of unrefined coconut oil. Blend to creamy perfection. This superdrink, popularized by Bulletproof Executive podcaster Dave Asprey (an amazingly interesting man. Check out his website: bulletproofexec.com), mixes caffeine and MCT-filled fats that work with each other to give you the best of both worlds: sustained energy and a lack of hunger for hours on end. If you’re trying to ease into IF, try a cup of bulletproof coffee in lieu of breakfast in the morning. You’ll find you’re not hungry for real food for 3-4 hours after that, and your focus will be laser sharp.

Comment below with some of your own nutrition tips! I’d love to hear them.

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.


Like what you’re reading? Please share RealGirlFit with your friends! The more the merrier.

katy.widmer3@gmail.com

Change Your Habits, Change Your Life

Self-discipline and motivation are limited resources.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, or eat better, or maybe work harder towards a promotion, you know that all too well. 

There are only so many times you can pass on free pizza.

Self-discipline and motivation are excellent tools, don’t get me wrong! But they are tools to help you begin on a new road. They are the spark, the small kindling for the fire, not the wood.

Habits are the wood.

Awesome firewood upon which you can make s'mores.

Think about it: How many things do you do on a daily basis purely out of habit? Check Facebook every 15 minutes? Pick up your phone and browse Instagram? Have a glass of wine (or two) as soon as you get home from work? 

These are not things you consciously have to think about; they just happen, and they happen every single day. Habitually. As if they have become part of the framework of your life, even a part of your own identity.

So you know you have this power to create bad habits. But what about good ones?

Wouldn’t it be great to go to the gym, not even having thought about it as a “big deal”? To eat a salad every day because that’s just what you’ve always done? To read a novel, or inspirational business book every night before bed instead of blindly reaching for the TV remote?

Of course it’d be great, but maybe right now it sounds unrealistic. But it’s not. I do these things every day, and have done them for years. Motivation got me to do them, and habits made me continue.

How To Create A Habit

Baby steps are key here. Baby steps and a Nike-inspired “Just do it” attitude.

Let’s say you want to go to the gym every day for four days in a row. The first step is to lay out your gym clothes. That’s it. For the first two or three days, you don’t even have to put them on. But you must lay them out, and lay them out at the time you would be able to go to the gym.

The next couple of days, put your gym clothes on.

The next few days, drive to the gym. Again, you don’t have to work out. I just want you to drive there in your gym clothes.

After three days of this, go into the gym, and walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes. 5 minutes, that’s it. Then you can leave. Do that for another three days.

At this point, you’re probably not even thinking about laying out your gym clothes. It’s no longer something you have to remember. It just is. And that, my friends, it how we create a habit. 

Tips and Tricks

-I sleep in my gym clothes, so when I wake up, I have no excuse not to go to the gym.

-Create a schedule. I go to the gym, without fail, every other day. I feel strange if I don’t. 

-Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, make it impossible to ignore. Put your book on your pillow so you have to move it if you want to sleep. Set a timer on your phone that goes off every hour to remind you to get up and walk around. 

-If you’re trying to eat healthier, make a habit of prepping your food on Sundays. Hard-boil a dozen eggs, cook up 5 chicken breasts and a cup of brown rice, and bake some sweet potatoes. When you’re prepared, it’s easier to continue. 

-If you find yourself slipping out of your habit, then it’s time to tap back into that motivation. Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing. What is the end goal? (You did create goals, right? And write them down?)

Your habits become who you are. Stop being potato chips in front of bad late night television. 

Be healthy. Be well-read. Be successful. It takes just as much time to use 16 waking hours wisely as it does to mindlessly waste them away.

Want me to address a topic you’re struggling with? Leave me a comment, or email me at katy.widmer3@gmail.com

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.