Functional Fitness with Suzanne Andrews

I Want to Lose Weight, BUT my Significant Other Sabotages My Weight Loss!

by Suzanne Andrews

Break the Relationship, Break the Weight!

Pictures may say 1,000 words, but numbers speak volumes. Every sixty seconds a person dies from an obesity related cause. Studies show prolonged stress can actually cause you to gain weight and age much faster. I will never forget a life changing moment listening to my anatomy and physiology professor reveal the harmful effects of stress. In that instant, I knew my (now ex) husband was killing me. I lost 170 pounds in one day - by leaving him!

You probably didn't know how much a stressful relationship can cause you to gain and retain weight. However, the science shows this is exactly what happens when you are under stress from a toxic relationship. For example, did you know that a stressful situation can raise your sugar levels as much as eating a candy bar? This means your blood sugar can rise massively each time you hear a belittling comment from your significant other.

The stress in a toxic relationship also makes you crave comfort foods. This is a double blow to your weight loss goals. You will need to fight food cravings every time you have a negative experience with your partner. Additionally, a stressful home life with a partner often leads to insomnia. This lack of sleep will make food cravings difficult to avoid. It will also inhibit your body's ability to burn calories effectively.

All of these factors cause additional problems over time. Most alarmingly, the stress from an unhealthy relationship can lead to heart disease. It can also contribute to breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Yikes!

The answer is clear. You can lose weight by making a single choice in a single day. Break up with the heavy stress in your life today for a lighter life tomorrow.

Have you had a stressful relationship that sabotaged your weight loss?  Leave your questions and comments. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Healthiest blessings,

Suzanne Andrews

The Best Weight Loss Food to Stop Hunger

by Suzanne Andrews

Does your stomach call out to you with hunger pangs late at night making yesterday’s leftovers look like a five star meal for two eagerly awaiting to be devoured - alone? Does the whisper from your pantry turn into a loud-mouthed echo in your head repeatedly crying out for you to “just go take a little peak and see what’s in there” because you’re just so darned hungry? Stop a second before you have seconds and eat this to quiet the ‘but’ that can’t be ignored: ‘But’ I’m so hungry, I just have to eat!

Since the television adds ten pounds, I always look for ways to get rid of those ‘extra’ pounds before we begin taping my PBS TV series, Functional Fitness with Suzanne Andrews ®. Since being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease, (a thyroid disorder that slows the metabolism) getting the weight off has become quite a challenge. The hardest part is at night when I’ve eaten all of the allotted daily calories and I’m still hungry. Therefore, I always make sure to keep plenty of this filling, delicious and nutritious fruit in my fridge to stop hunger pangs.

Watermelon: Weight Loss Superfood!

1. One Cup = 46 Calories

2. Excellent source of Vitamin C and Potassium

3. Helps boost your immune system

4. Helps protects your body from harmful free radicals

5. Helps protect from heart disease

How to Lose Your Big Bad But!

Sometimes we become our own worst enemies when it comes to changing our lifestyles, eating healthy and losing weight. Consequently we accelerate our body’s internal clock aging us before our time. We start down an earnest path to achieve our fitness goals, and succumb to our big - bad – BUT! As time goes by our waistline and our ‘BUT’ gets bigger and bigger: I want to exercise ‘But’… I want to lose weight ‘But.’ I want to lose these love handles ‘But.’

Suzanne Andrews, PBS star of Functional Fitness, shares motivational tips in this sometimes funny and always factual blog with a no more excuses guide on cutting edge, non-surgical techniques to put passion back into your mind, youth back into your body, and vitality back into your spirit by reversing the effects of aging with medically proven techniques for middle age to seniors. Feel free to ask questions and comment!

Occupational Therapy Practitioner/L and creator of PBS TV’s popular Functional Fitness series, Suzanne Andrews specializes in increasing mid-life to senior’s quality of life through evidenced based functional fitness techniques with two to three fitness levels. Whether you need to decrease stiffness and pain caused from arthritis, improve your balance, increase bone density due to osteoporosis, Suzanne Andrews vast therapeutic exercise knowledge supercharges your health with a special consideration on safety and injury prevention in all of her DVDs offered right here at Collage Video!

New Exclusive: Functional Fitness Blog with Suzanne Andrews

Suzanne Andrews is the President at  Healthwise Exercise, LLC. Licensed Occupational Therapy Clinician, Suzanne Andrews is the founder of Functional Fitness airing to over 49 million on Public Television. Originally created in 2008 with it's first run on WDSC TV, the series has aired on over 113 Public Television stations. After sustaining back and neck injuries from a major car accident and bilateral shoulder injuries from a work accident, Suzanne regained full function through an integrative health plan that included functional fitness and sound nutrition. Now a rehab professional herself, Suzanne Andrews is constantly updating her medical knowledge to insure each exercise program demonstrates carefully researched and medically proven techniques. She has also contributed to numerous books, major magazines and written over 200 health and wellness articles for midlife to older adults.