Robyn Spurr

Personal Health and Weight Loss Coaching For Women

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Top Tips For Healthy Road Trips

 

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I love road trips! When I retire, you’ll find me criss-crossing this beautiful country for weeks and months at a time – perhaps Australia and New Zealand as well. There’s no better way to explore in my opinion. Must be in my DNA – Dad worked in the trucking industry for nearly 40 years.

This past weekend, my husband Brett and I took a quick trip from Denver to Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting (Brett is in the finance industry and I love to tag along and hear what Warren Buffet has to say). As I was preparing the cooler, this post started coming together in my head.

Just a few short years ago, road trips provided the perfect “excuse” to binge on all sorts of stuff I’d never eat while at home – burgers, fries, shakes, candy bars, Pop-Tarts – you name it. I’d return home with a bit more “baggage” than I left with.

With some good planning and smart packing, you can enjoy your adventure and continue to eat healthy by following a few simple tips.

1. Invest in a Good Cooler

Get yourself a quality cooler. I love our Coleman Extreme which keeps it’s contents cool for up to 5 days. We line the bottom with frozen Figi water bottles, which we reuse each time we travel.

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2. Fill Your Cooler

For our most recent trip, I packed our trusty Coleman with sandwiches (Ezekiel bread, turkey, avocado, hummus & spinach), pre-sliced apples & cheddar cheese, hard boiled eggs, baby carrots & hummus, greek yogurt and some leftover turkey meatloaf. Not once did I have to rely on fast food or gas stations for nourishment.

3. No Cooler?

No worries, if you need to stop at a gas station or fast food restaurant, you can still make decent choices.

Gas Stations:

Skip the Funyuns and Kit Kats and seek out yogurt, bananas, apples, milk or string cheese/cheese squares. If you’re in the middle of nowhere and fresh choices are limited, look for sunflower or pumpkin seeds, nuts, energy bars (Clif, Clif Builder, Balance, Luna, Larabar), jerky, dried fruit or cereals high in fiber.

Fast Food:

You’re likely to find a McDonalds in most off-highway towns. Here are my recommendations for best choices if the golden arches is your only option.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich – lettuce and tomato only

  • 300 calories
  • 27 grams protein
  • 3.5 grams fat
  • 41 grams carbs
  • 730 grams sodium

Premium McWrap Grilled Chicken & Ranch – hold the cheese and ranch sauce

  • 340 calories
  • 27 grams protein
  • 8 grams fat
  • 40 grams carbs
  • 950 grams sodium

Premium McWrap Sweet Chili Chicken (Grilled) – as is

  • 360 calories
  • 27 grams protein
  • 9 grams fat
  • 44 grams carbs
  • 1030 grams sodium (eek)

Angus Mushroom & Swiss Snack Wrap – hold the cheese and mayo

  • 320 calories
  • 17 grams protein
  • 16 grams fat
  • 25 grams carbs
  • 620 grams sodium

Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken – add Newman’s Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette, hold the tortilla strips and lime glaze

  • 240 calories
  • 26 grams protein
  • 7 grams fat
  • 19 grams carbs
  • 910 grams sodium

I don’t have to tell you to skip the soda, shakes and fries. Instead, add apple slices to your order for only 15 calories and and a whopping 94 grams (160%) of Vitamin C.

Another option is to zip by Taco Bell and try out their new Fresco Menu featuring 7 items with less than 350 calories and under 10 grams of fat.

4. Water

While I must confess that I drink more coffee than I should on the road, water is a must have. Save money by bringing along reusable water bottles and buying gallon jugs of water for refilling at gas stations.

5. Feed Your Head

All those hours on the road provide a perfect opportunity for learning. Keep your brain busy and download some podcasts (Radiolab is great and Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History is another favorite) or an audiobook – and I promise, the trip will fly by. My husband and I listened to Into Africa – The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone during our 16 hour roundtrip journey to Omaha. Highly recommend!

There you have it. No excuses – plan ahead, make smart choices and enjoy guilt free road-trips all summer long.

Robyn Spurr is a Certified Health Coach, Weight Loss Coach, Personal Trainer and founder of Chickadee Weight Loss. She helps women reach their healthy, natural weight and stay there without all the diet craziness.

For more information on Weight Loss Coaching, click here.

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Why Your Weight Loss Attitude Matters

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You’ve decided you really want to lose the weight. The scale has been dusted off, the stuff piled on the treadmill has been put away and the fridge and pantry have been cleaned out and restocked with healthy food. You’re ready to rock and roll, right?

Not exactly.

There’s one more choice to make – and it’s a biggie.

There are two types of wanting when it comes to losing weight – feel bad wanting and feel good wanting.

Huh?

Let me explain.

Let’s start with feel bad wanting – the approach most of us take. When the feel bad dieter thinks about the journey ahead it feels like – dread, overwhelm, desperation, sadness, frustration and deprivation – to name a few. Most feel bad dieters choose suffering – extreme diets, no pleasure and forced exercise.

Here’s a look inside the head of a feel bad wanter…

  • I hate my body.
  • I’m disgusting.
  • I’m miserable.
  • Once I lose the weight, then I can (feel good about myself, be lovable, go dancing, etc)
  • Here we go again.
  • Healthy food is gross.
  • It’s not fair.
  • This is overwhelming.
  • It’s too hard.
  • I’m stuck.
  • This isn’t working.
  • I don’t have time.
  • I’ll always be fat.
  • I’m doomed.
  • I can’t.
  • I won’t.

And then there’s what I call good wanting. How do you know? You’ll feel excited, hopeful, curious, positive, determined and in-control when you think about the road in front of you. You’ll watch your food intake, but won’t rule out the occasion treat. You’ll exercise in a way that feels good – not punishing. Your brain will be buzzing with thoughts like…

  • I’ve got this.
  • I’m worth it.
  • I want it.
  • I’m a work in progress.
  • One step at a time.
  • It’ll take as long as it takes.
  • Be patient.
  • Fall down, get back up.
  • I’ll learn from this.
  • I’ll find a way.
  • I’ll give it a try.
  • I can.
  • I will.

The only difference between bad wanting and good wanting is a choice we make. We’ve been conditioned to believe that losing weight is a process to be endured rather than embraced. Not true.

Our results are always tied to our thinking. In other words – what we think, we become.

  • It’s too hard = Losing weight will be a monumental struggle
  • I’ll always be fat = You’ll always be fat
  • I’ve got this = You bet you do!

If you’re on a weight loss journey or considering it, I challenge you choose your attitude wisely. I’ve been down this road myself and in the training and coaching arena long enough to know that it makes all the difference. Sometimes we need a little help – and that’s okay. If you’re trapped in the land of bad wanting – give me a call Chickadee.

Robyn Spurr is a Certified Health Coach, Weight Loss Coach, Personal Trainer and founder of Chickadee Weight Loss. She helps women reach their healthy, natural weight and stay there without all the diet craziness.

For more information on Weight Loss Coaching, click here.

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6 Simple Steps For Managing Your Emotions (without turning to food)

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I’m a pretty even-tempered chick. On a scale of 1 to 10 – Ice Princess being 1 and Drama Queen being 10, I’d say I’m around a 3 or 4. Over the years, I’ve learned how to keep my emotions in check…

…but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an occasional drama queen moment. Au contraire.

Last week, after a series of pesky annoyances, inconveniences and disappointments – one event finally pushed me over the edge. I found myself in front of the fridge stuffing down leftover grilled bison dogs with tears streaming down my face.

Yes, bison hot dogs. Clearly I don’t keep chips, cookies or ice cream around.

While devouring bison dog #2, I suddenly took a step back and thought – what the heck are you doing Robyn?

It’s been a long time since I found myself in the eye of an emotional eating hurricane. After backing away from the fridge, I walked straight to my office and got to work on properly dealing with the frustration and anger I was experiencing. I knew exactly what I needed to do.

Whenever my mind goes a little bonkers, I use the following method to pull myself out of Crazy Town and head back to Rational Land. Because scarfing down 250 or 500 or 2000 calories certainly isn’t going to fix the problem. Food can only fix one problem – HUNGER.

6 Steps For Turning Around Negative Emotions

1. Identify the dominant negative emotion you’re feeling (e.g. anger, frustration, overwhelm, shame).

2. Find a piece of paper and write the following words at the top – I am (insert negative emotion) because…

3. List every single thing you can think of that may have contributed to this emotion. Be careful not to filter or over-think, just write.

Example:

I am frustrated because…

I never get my way.
I always have to compromise.

Keep going and don’t stop until you’ve got it all out.

Note: In the heat of the moment, your thoughts will seem perfectly rational. Upon reflection you’ll realize your brain was temporarily taken over by aliens – and that’s okay.

4. Look at your list. Read each thought and ask yourself the following question – is this really true?

Example:

I’m frustrated because I never get my way.

Is this really true? Not a chance.

You’ll find that most of what you’ve written is what I like to call mind sludge – thoughts that aren’t really true and keep us stuck in our misery.

5. Determine if it’s possible to change the circumstance causing the negative feeling (I couldn’t). If not, decide how you want to feel about the situation. Clearly, the new emotion should feel better than the current one. Since frustration was cutting it, I decided on acceptance. Much better.

6. Find a thought that will give you this new, more positive feeling. My new thought was – it was meant to happen this way.

Negative emotions serve a powerful purpose. They can open our eyes to thinking and behaviors that are not supporting our greater good. Dig into those negative emotions and you’ll find a valuable lesson every time.

Once I arrived safely back in Rational Land, the lessons became clear…

  • I can’t control everything – and that’s okay
  • I can’t always have it my way – and that’s okay
  • I was one who needed to practice compromising

We can live our lives wallowing in mind sludge and negativity or we can make the most of what life hands us. We can yell and pout and cry and stuff our faces – or we can look for the lessons.

The choice is ours.

Robyn Spurr is a Certified Health Coach, Weight Loss Coach, Personal Trainer and founder of Chickadee Weight Loss. She helps women reach their healthy, natural weight and stay there without all the diet craziness.

For more information on Weight Loss Coaching, click here.

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Losing Weight From the Inside Out

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We’re all familiar with diets. A new expert arrives on the scene and says his or her program is the latest and greatest way to lose weight. It will melt off the pounds with ease. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever tried before. Yada, yada.

And even though we’ve already tried Low-Fat and Atkins and Paleo and Slim Fast with no long-term success, we go and buy the book, hoping that THIS is the magical weight loss solution we’ve been praying for.

We throw ourselves right back on the diet roller-coaster. A familiar ride that goes a little something like…

  1. I’m really going to do it this time!
  2. Just one cheat day won’t make a difference.
  3. I’m getting kind of bored with this diet.
  4. I don’t want to do this anymore.
  5. I can’t fail again (insert guilt and self-loathing).
  6. Screw it – I’ll never lose this weight.
  7. Ooh, Dr. Oz is promoting a new diet – think I’ll give it a try.

Why does this happen? Because the solution isn’t out there or in a diet book, it’s within us. Traditional diets ultimately fail because overeating is the symptom, not the problem. Diets are a band-aid approach to weight loss.

Until we shine a light on why we eat when we’re not physically hungry, we’ll continue to lose the weight and gain it back – over and over. We’ll continue to use diets to distract us instead of digging in, learning the lessons and doing the work.

Weight loss doesn’t suddenly create happiness, self-acceptance and worthiness. We need to create these feelings first. I call this inside-out weight loss.

It’s time to say GOODBYE to…

“Once I reach (insert magic number), then I’ll finally be happy, lovable and valuable.”

And say HELLO to…

“My body is trying to teach me something.”

Our extra pounds are there for a reason. And they won’t go away permanently until we’ve learned the lessons they are so desperately trying to teach us.

If you’re tired of dieting, depriving and hating your way thin, then maybe it’s time for a new approach. Weight Loss Coaching isn’t just another diet. It’s an inward journey that leads to a long-term solution.

Robyn Spurr is a Certified Health Coach, Weight Loss Coach, Personal Trainer and founder of Chickadee Weight Loss. She helps women reach their healthy, natural weight and stay there without all the diet craziness.

For more information on Weight Loss Coaching, click here.