1. When you are on program and it’s challenging at least you are losing weight. Yes the temptation is there but you are losing and you feel good.
2. What is the alternative? You are off program – eating out of control and the whole time you keep thinking “I have to get back on program” meanwhile you are gaining the entire time you are contemplating going back on.
3. Let me ask you this – Why even put yourself through that? Why even put the people you love through that? If you think about it – it’s just so much easier to stay on program, it’s so much easier to do the right things and lose the weight. Because when you are not on all you want to do is be on. 
4. The food always taste so much better on Cheat Day when you are 110% all week. It’s a fact, if you want to enjoy all the foods you love then don’t eat them everyday! They are not special when you eat them every day. When it’s your Cheat Day and you have the foods you love and had to wait for you will enjoy them more.
5. You are just so much happier when you are in control and doing the right thing! Think about it. Even though it’s hard. Even though it’s challenging. Even though you have to talk yourself into making the right choices every day 6 days a week – it makes you so much happier when you do it. 

Since Halloween is on a Monday this year it is important to have a plan so that you can enjoy your cheat day, which ever day you choose, and then get right back on plan. Halloween day can easily end up being a 3 day party and candy filled weekend, so start preparing now so you won’t be unhappy with the scale next weekend. Here are some fun and healthy treats and snacks perfect for this weekend.

Cheese and Crackers

Use Halloween themed cookie cutters to cut cheese into your favorite Halloween shapes! Pair cheese with Ak Mak, Wasa or Vans crackers, or add them to a veggie or fruit platter. 

Veggies and Dip

Take a small pumpkin, wash it and hallow it out. Place a small bowl in the pumpkin and add hummus or guacamole. Cut up some fresh veggies for dipping and you are all set!

Fruity Pumpkin

For this one you will need blueberries or blackberries, strawberries or red grapes and oranges or tangerines. Using a round plate, arrange the fruit so that it looks like a pumpkin face. It’s so cute and your kids will want to enjoy it too!

Another option is to take small oranges or tangerines and draw Jack-O-Lantern faces on the skin of the fruit. It’s an easy snack or fun surprise for your kids to find in their lunch! 

Ghostly Cheese

Take a low fat cheese stick and draw ghost faces on the back. Easy and adorably spooky!

Halloween Fruit Kabobs

Take cubes of orange cantaloupe and black berries and place them on a skewer, alternating between the two for a fun black and orange Halloween treat. 

Remember, Halloween is one day. If you see treats to candy over the weekend, try saving it in a Halloween treat bag (like the ones below) to enjoy on your Cheat Day. That way you won’t miss out on anything but you also won’t indulge for three days straight. 

Another important tip is to get rid of Halloween candy as soon as possible. You can give it away at parties or make sure you only buy enough for Tricker or Treaters, or you can donate or give back Halloween candy to organizations like Operation Gratitude or participating dentists and businesses. 

Find our more, along with more recipes and tips on our previous blog post Halloween Tricks and Treats. 

Have a Fun and Safe Halloween!

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018

Our first week has come and gone and below are the first WEIGHT LOSS numbers of the Thanksgiving Challenge. Because of scheduling there are some clients who only weigh in every two weeks so they are marked as 0. It will catch up with their 2 week weigh in this coming weekend. But this gives us a good idea of where we are all moving into week 2. Whether you are doing the challenge or not, what I want you to realize and recognize more than anything is how fast the weeks fly by. Really think about it – if you are not losing then you are most likely maintaining or gaining. So if you are having a positive week it’s because that’s what you want and are working to have it. If you are having a negative week you are letting it in and letting the outside negative take control of you and what you really want. You are the only person who controls that. Yes, positives and negatives are everywhere but you are the only one who can let them in to your life and your body and your home. You need to set your mind to what you want and take control and do it. YOU have the control to make the right decisions and keep your life in a positive state. If you stay positive you are much more likely to lose weight. If you keep the negative in and around you then you will most likely go off program and gain weight. The choice is always yours – just remember everything you do doesn’t only affect you – it affects everyone around you. Especially those you love and love you.  

Harry:  10.3

Matt:  1.6

Rich:     0

Joseph:     4

Women:

Nicole:  6

Jessica:  1.6

Rhonda:  3.8

Heather:    0

Sue:    0

Marnie:    0

Tara: .   5

Kristy:   .6

Loretta:   1

Leslie:   3

Suzanne:   0

Julie: .  6

Mindy:  1.2

Jessica:   0

Danielle:  2.7

Leslie:  1.6

Deirdre:  .6

Michelle:  3.7

Dena:  2.5

Lauren:  0

Tracy:  .4

Rosa:  0

Kami:  2.2

Becky:  0

Jessica:  0

Margery:  1.8

Elizabeth:  3.8

Michelle:  0

Alyssa:  0

Donna:  1.6

Alyssa:  0

Corinna:  0

Robyn:  1

Stacey:  1.8

Tara:  1

Katherine:  0

Ginger:  1

Julie:  2.7

Carolyn:  .4

Stacey:  0

Jill:  0

Kathy:  4.4

Dawn:  5.2

Jill:  1.8

Michelle:  0

Alyssa:  0

Rosa:  0

Sherri:  .6

Jamie:  1

Jillian:  0

Ellie:  1

Debby:  0

JoAnn:  0

Maria:  .8

Linda:  0

Heather:  7.1

Valerie:  5.4

Valerie:  1.7

Theresa:  1.4

Debra:  1.2

Beth:  2.4

With cold and flu season upon us, these natural alternatives to popular treatments and remedies can help you recover in the healthiest way possible. 

Spices, Herbs and Plants 

Ginger

When faced with an upset stomach, a common response is to reach for ginger ale. The carbonation in ginger ale can help comfort your stomach, but the sugar and artificial ingredients that often come with it can be avoided. Try ginger tea (make sure it’s caffeine free) instead, or add fresh ginger while cooking to get its affects. Ginger will help you when you are not feeling well in many ways, the first being that it is an anti-inflammatory so it will help calm you insides when you are feeling nauseous, and it also helps with digestion so you can get relief from what is making your stomach upset. It also helps relax the intestinal tract which will give you even more relief. Ginger also helps you relax overall by easing tension in your muscles that might cause cramps and blockage. 

Garlic

If you can stomach it, fresh garlic has incredible benefits. You can also use it in cooking and still receive the benefits. It can help prevent sickness before it comes, and boost your immune system when you become ill. It has powerful antibacterial, antiviral and anti fungal properties.

Tumeric, cloves and cinnamon are also packed with antioxidants that help boost your immune system. 

Tea

Any type of tea, as long as it is caffeine free, is great for when we have a chill or are feeling under the weather. Tea flavored with lemon and ginger are most popular. Chamomile is also great, especially in the evening to help calm and bring on sleep. Peppermint is another great option known for helping to ease upset stomachs. Elderberry is a little less common, but is a strong natural remedy. Elderberry is known as an anti-inflammatory, and it is also said that it can help you fight off sickness faster. It has a positive affect on lung health so it is commonly used for people with severe cough and bronchitis. Lastly, it is a body cleanser that will help prevent disease and flush out toxins.

Sinus Relief Drink

This drink it great for opening up your sinuses and relieving many internal symptoms. The cayenne pepper is also a strong anti-inflammatory, and the spicy kick will clear you up just by smelling it. Apple cider vinegar is an amazing drink with a long list of benefits, one of the best in this situation being that it boosts your immune system to help you recover. Lemon also has a long list of benefits, the most important being that it will help with bloating and queasiness, and because of its high levels of vitamin C it will boost your immune system and it also has antiviral and antibacterial properties. Even just a normal glass of warm lemon water can help immensely with chest congestion, sore throat and cough – but these added ingredients will give you even more benefits. 

To make it, mix all ingredients in a mug:

1/4 cup hot water

1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar 

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

Soup 

Chicken soup is usually the first meal we think of when we are sick. It’s great because the broth helps soothe sore throats and helps us stay hydrated, and the chicken and vegetables give us protein, vitamins and minerals we need to get better. Any low sodium, broth based soup is great for cold and flu season. 

Remember to always drink plenty of fluids and get the rest and sleep you need when you are under the weather, and visit a doctor when needed. Always make your health a priority, but don’t use a runny nose or minor cough as an excuse to backtrack. Be strong, stay in control as much as you can and take care.

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018

– YOU HAVE TO USE THE SAME SCALE EVERY WEEK. Whether it’s your scale or ours it has to be the same scale every week.  
 
– YOU HAVE TO WEIGH IN OR BE WEIGHED EVERY WEEK. If you skip a week you will be eliminated 🙁 
 
– IF YOU ARE ONLINE SEND YOUR WEIGHT TO THEA and JOSEPHINE innovationthea@gmail.com and  innovationjosephine@gmail.com  or you can put us in a group text.  
 
– IF YOU ARE IN STUDIO and do not have a weekly appointment you must still weigh at the studio and your numbers will be forwarded to us.  
 
– IF YOU ARE going away then you will weigh before you leave. It doesn’t matter what day you weigh as long as we get a weight from you by the end of the week (Sunday marks the end of the week). So everyone in the contest should have a weigh in number to us no later than Sunday of each week.  
 
– EVERY MONDAY THE CONTESTANTS WEIGHT LOSSES WILL BE EMAILED: For example, this Monday I will email ONLY THE FIRST NAME of each contestant AND how much they lost each week (no last names and no weights will ever be posted).

– CHECK WITH THEA innovationthea@gmail.com MAKE SURE SHE HAS YOUR NAME AND STARTING WEIGHT.   
 
 
– THERE IS NO ADDITIONAL FEE TO JOIN THE CHALLENGE BUT YOU MUST BE AN ACTIVE CLIENT.  YOUR MEMBERSHIP MUST BE ACTIVE THE ENTIRE 5 WEEKS OF THE CHALLENGE.  IF YOUR MEMBERSHIP EXPIRES BEFORE THE 5 WEEKS YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED AND THE NEXT PERSON WILL RECEIVE THE PRIZE. 

• Your weight loss days have to be consecutive days. 6 straight days of weight loss
• If you throw a couple of maintain days in there then your number at the end of the week will be less of a weight loss or none at all
• Make sure your food combinations are on program

• SHARKS: For the next 5 weeks will lose the most weight by following 3 clean meals and 1 clean snack. You will follow 110% 6 days straight every week with one cheat day a week. That’s when you will see the very best weight loss numbers by Thanksgiving.  

• SNAILS: If you want to be a snail (we love our snails too) and you want to go a little slower but still see a nice loss then you will do 3 clean meals and 2-3 snacks a day. You will eat clean 6 consecutive days every week with 1 cheat day a week for the next 5 week. You will see at least 1 pound a week.