\u201cI\u2019m going to run a half-marathon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n You\u2019re not gonna get anywhere if you\u2019re not lifting something. You need to do it. If you want to change your body, pick up something heavy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to get my high school body back.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n These are common goals \u2013 common enough that reading them here surprises no one \u2013 but what do they really represent? Change? Yes. But random change.<\/p>\n Maybe you could even call it shotgun change, in that your goal is scattered and unfocused. Maybe you hit it, and even if you do, what does it mean?<\/p>\n Think of it this way: losing 50 pounds is a nice accomplishment. Few people do it. But why not 54 pounds? 48? And that half-marathon. Hey, not many people can run 13 miles. It\u2019s awesome if you can do it \u2026 but then what? Are you now considered \u201cfit?\u201d By whose standard?<\/p>\n You start to see the problem. When we toss around fitness goals, they \u2013 like muscles hidden by flab — lack true definition. That\u2019s what Kristen Buter found out the hard way. Great intentions don\u2019t mean great results.<\/p>\n Buter found herself in the same situation millions of new moms find themselves \u2013 saddled with bundles of joy and a body that\u2019s beaten up from carrying those bundles around and finally pushing them out. Buter has two children. They bring her incredible joy, but also posed new challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to be very physically active before them,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I had two very rough pregnancies. When they\u2019re little, life is just crazy. You take a back seat and that first year it\u2019s so hard to get back to a normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n A few years ago, Buter and her husband found themselves talking just after Christmas. They realized on that holiday break that the kids had been well-behaved and more self-sufficient. And the proverbial lightbulb went off.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t do the New Year\u2019s resolution thing,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we were talking about things we wanted to do in the coming year. I thought,<\/p>\n I thought, You know what, you\u2019ve had such a great week with the kids and they\u2019re so much older now. There\u2019s no point going another year where you feel uncomfortable in your own skin<\/em>. So I decided this would be \u2018the year of Kristen\u2019 where I\u2019d get back to the old me.\u201d<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t know it, but Buter had just stepped in a fitness trap. \u201cGet back to the old me\u201d sounds so tempting, so empowering, so promising. But without a defined plan \u2013 a clear definition of what \u201cfitness\u201d meant to her \u2013 she had no clear path. And she soon realized it.<\/p>\n \u201cI started doing what I used to do and wasn\u2019t getting the results I got before,\u201d she says. That\u2019s when she sought out help. She found trainer Adam Bornstein from his online writing<\/a> and then his Twitter account<\/a>. Even though he was based in L.A., thousands of miles from her native Ontario, she signed on<\/a>. Bornstein\u2019s first question: What do you want to accomplish?<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s not an easy question when you are forced to really think about it. Buter had to admit that she really wasn\u2019t interested in dropping a brag-worthy amount of weight or run a half-marathon.<\/p>\n Once she thought about it, she realized she didn\u2019t really know what \u201cfitness\u201d meant to her. Here\u2019s what she discovered: \u201cIt\u2019s not so much about weight. It\u2019s about how I look and feel.\u201d That meant focusing on how to lose baby weight, but not hitting a random number goal or athletic accomplishment. It meant total body transformation.<\/p>\n Bornstein adjusted her exercise and eating plan. The biggest shock \u2013 and something she still can\u2019t believe \u2013 is the counterintuitive act of eating more<\/em> food to get leaner.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I compared what I had<\/em> been eating to what I should<\/em> be eating, the difference was huge. Even now, I\u2019m eating more than I ever have before, and I\u2019m smaller, leaner, and tighter than I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n The glitch? People sometimes forget \u2013 or never know \u2013 that when you work out, you have to eat to see results. You also have to eat the right things \u2013 a balance of protein, carbs, and fats \u2013 so a bag of chips doesn\u2019t qualify as \u201cmore.\u201d \u201cIt changes your mindset,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the last 10 years, I\u2019ve been eating pretty healthy. But I never ate based on whether I\u2019m training or not training. I never thought about the food and how it might affect my workout later. You\u2019re eating to enjoy it, but also for a reason. What is your fuel for?\u201d<\/p>\n This: She works out 4 times a week for about 45-60 minutes because that’s what works for her schedule. But when her schedule changed, it was a shift to 30-minute sessions. The length isn’t what’s important, but the flexibility.<\/p>\nHow to Lose Baby Weight (Or Achieve Any Weight Loss Goals)<\/h2>\n
![\"Kristen](\"https:\/\/www.bornfitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Butes.jpg\")
Weight Loss 101: Long-term Weight Loss is Not Starvation<\/h2>\n