I'm excited so many of you are up for joining the 4QL July Plank Party!

Here's what we are doing. For the month of July, we are doing a plank a day. What's a plank? It's a great way to tone your abdominals, back, glutes, and shoulders.

Set the goal to do planks at least 5 days a week. If you want to be an overachiever, you can do it everyday, but for those just starting out, I would recommend taking a day or two off—at least in the first few weeks. I'm committing to planking Monday through Friday.

You will have greatest success if you join the party with a friend. I have a group text message set up with my friends, Julie and Christy. We text every day and say "done" just to hold ourselves accountable. If you can't find a planking buddy, you have the 4QL community to cheer you along. Just post your successes on this page below in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

We will be doing 5 minutes of planking.

1. Elbow plank

2. Side plank

3. Elbow plank

4. (Other) Side plank

5. Straight arm plank

In the beginning, you will likely not actually be in plank position for the full 5 minutes, unless you have been doing planks for a while. Just try to hold the plank for as long as you can during the minute. If you can only hold it for 10 seconds to start with, that's perfectly okay. Rest for a few seconds and then try again until the minute is up. You can also do a modified plank by putting your knees on the floor. You will still feel your abdominals working.

In between minutes, take about 20-30 seconds to regroup (or more if you need) and then start your next minute. If you prefer to break up your 5 one-minute sets of planks throughout the day, that's okay too. Perhaps you do a one-minute plank in the morning, another at lunch, and so on. The idea is to just do it. However works best for you is the right way to do it.

Planking with the correct form is essential. We don't want you to get injured doing this. Be very careful about not sagging when you do it because that puts strain on your lower back. Concentrate on tilting your pelvis and contracting your abs and glutes.

Elbow Plank

• Lie face down on the floor (mat, carpet, or grass) resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
• Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows. Your elbows should be in line with your shoulders.
• Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
• Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle. Contract your abs by imagining someone is about to punch you in the gut. Hold for 60 seconds. If you can't make it to 60 seconds, hold for 5 to 10 seconds and rest for 5; continue for 1 minute. Modify by placing your knees on the floor.

Side Plank

• Lie on your right side with your legs straight.
• Prop yourself up with your right forearm so your body forms a diagonal line.
• Rest your left hand on your hip.
• Brace your abs and hold for 60 seconds. If you can't make it to 60 seconds, hold for 5 to 10 seconds and rest for 5; continue for 1 minute. Be sure your hips and knees stay off the floor.

Straight Arm Plank

Same as elbow plank in form, but your hands, rather than forearms are on the mat. Arms are straight.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Just post your questions below.

Okay, who's in? Chime in below and sign on for the 4QL July Plank Party! Tell a friend to join the fun!

Be sure to get your free eBook to find out how you are doing in each of the four quadrants, plus get practical tips including 5 Steps to Mindfulness, 12 Tips for Fad-Free Eating, 6 Ways to Closer Connections, and 9 Ideas to Detox Your Home. Sign up in the box at the upper right of this page.

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Dina Colman, MA, MBA is an author, healthy living coach, and founder of Four Quadrant Living. Dina has a private practice helping clients live healthier and happier lives. Her book, Four Quadrant Living: Making Healthy Living Your New Way of Life, guides readers to make healthy living a part of their daily lives, leading to greater health, vitality, and happiness. Contact Dina at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Less than half of Americans make resolutions and just eight percent of them are successful in keeping them. That's why this year it's time to try something new, the 2-0-1-3 plan! The plan is about starting off the New Year with intention, motivation, and accountability for health. Forward this on to your friends and family and let's see how many people we can get on board to join in. Be sure to write your plan in the comments section below. Here's how it works.

2  Come up with TWO actionable and doable healthy living ideas. Be specific. Make them very customized for you. Think about your weakness areas. How do you do in the areas of stress management, having fun, sleeping well, eating healthy, exercising, having nurturing relationships, and living in a nontoxic environment (this can be related to your emotional or physical environment)? Are you pretty good about working out, but don't take any time for stress management? If so, don't put exercise on your list, but rather, put something that will reduce your stress. Commit to work on the areas that receive less of your focus. You will see in the examples below that the ideas are both manageable and quantifiable. Try to be as specific as you can, and don't overcommit. You can always overdeliver.

Here are a few ideas:

• Meditate for five minutes three days a week first thing in the morning to start the day grounded.
• Spend less time with those people in your life who make you feel worse about yourself (you can be specific with names, if you want).
• Do not drink alcohol during the week, only on Friday and Saturday nights.
• Get 7,500 to 10,000 steps at least four days a week (wear a pedometer to track it).
• Go to bed by 11pm every night so that you get at least 7 hours of sleep.
• Make one fun plan a week that makes you happy.

0  Commit to doing the ZERO "do it now" item. What is the one thing that has been on your list for years to do that you know would benefit you in some way—career, health, relationships, personal—but you just have never done it? Commit to it to do it this year.

Here are a few ideas:

• Get out of a toxic relationship that has been bringing you down.
• Make a change in your job if you feel miserable every day. (Sometimes this may not be possible due to financial constraints, but oftentimes even if we believe this to be the case, we do have choices that we have not allowed ourselves to believe in. Now's the time to believe in them and explore them.)
• Go on the trip you've been talking about taking for years. If your spouse doesn't want to join you, go with a friend, by yourself, or an organized group.
• Hire a health coach and lose the weight for good.
• Find a workout regime you like so that you look forward to exercise rather than see it as a chore. For some ideas, read Movement by Gypsy.
• Join a support group (e.g. AA, Al-Anon, loss, cancer). If you need help, there are groups out there for you. Sharing your pain with others does help.
• Write your memoir.
• Volunteer.
• Take classes.

1  Choose ONE word for the year. Come up with one word that you want to represent you in 2013. Give it some thought because you want it to really encompass what you want for the year. When you have decided on your word, write it out in big letters and put it somewhere you will see it everyday. Put it on your bathroom mirror, by your computer, on your vision board, at work, in your wallet. When I turned 40, my word was "authenticity" because I decided it was time to accept me for who I was at my core and be true to that self. The great thing about having a word for a year is that it becomes a part of who you are for life.

Here are a few ideas: faith, love, forgiveness, dream, health, peace, strength, hope, play, truth, trust, imagine, and share.

3  Write THREE items a day in your gratitude journal. I've read about gratitude journals for years and have never done one. I'm pretty good about being grateful in my life, but have never actually taken the time to write them down regularly because I wasn't sure what it would give me (and it seemed like one more "to-do"). I started doing it a week ago, and I'm actually enjoying doing it and am getting a lot out of it. I have a little spiral notebook that sits right on my desk near my computer. Every day, I write down 3 things I'm grateful for. Go find a pad of paper or extra journal and put it somewhere handy. This could be near the entryway, in the kitchen, by your bed, in your office. I write my items toward the end of the day, but find the routine that works for you. You can even make it a family gratitude journal and have everyone write in their entries, or get a separate journal for each person. Your gratitude entries can be both large (e.g. grateful for love in your life) or small (e.g. grateful for the warmth of a fire).

In keeping my journal, I've noticed that my husband pops up on my gratitude list daily. I never would have consciously appreciated these little things, but having to think about what I am grateful in a day makes me mindful of all that he does for me. We've been together over 25 years, so I sometimes forget to be grateful for him. It's the little things that have made the list this past week like "having a husband who always secretly fills up my gas tank," "having a husband who exercises," "having a husband who goes out at 10pm to the market to buy feminine products because I'm not feeling up to it and just realized I'm out." See if any patterns emerge for you in your gratitude list and let us know.

Changing your perspective is a huge factor in happiness and stress management, and a gratitude journal helps with this. It's hard to hold on to anger, resentment, and unhappiness when you are writing down things you are grateful for. I like having gratitude in the forefront of my mind because it sets a positive tone for the day since I'm always on the lookout for what will make the list.

2-0-1-3  Take some time this week and think about your 2-0-1-3 plan. Be sure to comment below and let us know. It is helpful to share it with others to make it more real and to help hold you accountable. I've shared my 2-0-1-3 plan in the comments below. I look forward to hearing from you. Let's make 2013 a year filled with health, happiness, and ... (insert your word here!).

And, of course, if you need help with making any part of your 2-0-1-3 plan happen, 4QL can help you!

Update: You can see other 4QL Fans' 2-0-1-3 Plans in the Comments section below and their pictured One Word here. Be sure to post your plan below and send us your One Word photo so it can get posted to our website too.

Be sure to get your free 47 page Getting Started Guide: Taking Your First Step on the 4QL Journey by signing up for our newsletter at the top right of this page. It is filled with a 4 quadrant health assessment as well as health tips for each quadrant including 5 Steps to Mindfulness, 12 Tips for Fad-Free Eating, 6 Ways to Closer Connections, and 9 Ideas to Detox Your Home.

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Dina Colman, MA, MBA is an author, healthy living coach, and founder of Four Quadrant Living. Dina has a private practice helping clients live healthier and happier lives. Her book, Four Quadrant Living: Making Healthy Living Your New Way of Life, guides readers to make healthy living a part of their daily lives, leading to greater health, vitality, and happiness. Contact Dina at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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There is no doubt that the stress of the holidays and the availability of unhealthy food can be a challenge to our healthy eating plan. Cookies, cakes, and candy are everywhere we go. Dinner tables are filled with dishes high in sugar, fat, and carbs. By all means, enjoy! Just do so in moderation so that your waist line doesn't expand too much as you enter the New Year.

 Here are seven ideas for not overeating during the holidays.

1. Eat before you go. Headed to a holiday party? Eat a healthy meal before you go so hunger will not drive the temptation to overeat when you are at the party. Be sure to have a meal with protein (lean meats, eggs, beans) and long-acting carbs (brown rice, sweet potato, oatmeal) to fill you up. If you don't have time for a full meal, even just eating a handful of nuts before you can help you eat less while you are there.

2. Go small. Use smaller serving plates to keep portions under control. We consume an average of 92% of what we put on our plate, so it is worth paying attention to what we feed ourselves. A two inch difference in plate diameter—from 12" to 10" plates—results in 22% fewer calories being served. Assuming a typical dinner has 800 calories, a smaller plate would lead to weight loss of approximately 18 pounds per year for an average size adult. If it is a buffet and you have the choice, opt for a smaller plate to put your food on.

3. Switch it up. Eat with your non-dominant hand to slow down your eating. If you are too uncoordinated to do this successfully at the dinner table with others, just pay attention to the rate at which you are consuming food and slow it down. (Or perhaps it could be something that you get the entire table to do so you all dine slowly, with a few laughs to boot).

4. Leave it. Decide that it is okay to leave food on your plate if you are full. Believe me, I am one of those people that cleans my plate regardless of my fullness meter, but this is an important one for not overeating.

5. Wait before you get seconds. If you are still hungry after finishing your first plate of food, allow a few minutes before reaching for seconds. It takes 20 minutes for the fullness in our stomach to reach our brains which is why we can reach the point of being stuffed. Waiting before you go in for seconds may give you enough time to realize that you are not hungry anymore.

6. Stay sober. By all means, have a drink and be merry, if you choose. Just recognize that the more you drink, the more you lose your resolve to eat well. The drinks add up the calories too.

7. Eat mindfully and enjoy. Part of health is pleasure. If we deprive ourselves of our favorite foods or feel we cannot (or should not) join in with special meal sharing with our friends and family, it affects our health in other ways. Stressing about eating is counterproductive to our health. Give yourself permission to enjoy the holiday meals. Just enjoy them fully and mindfully.

The holidays do not need to mean the choice between weight gain or deprivation. Find the middle ground and enjoy your favorite foods this holiday season.

What are your tips and tricks for healthy eating during the holiday season?
 ________

Dina Colman, MA, MBA is an author, healthy living coach, and founder of Four Quadrant Living. Dina has a private practice helping clients live healthier and happier lives. Her book, Four Quadrant Living: Making Healthy Living Your New Way of Life, guides readers to make healthy living a part of their daily lives, leading to greater health, vitality, and happiness. Contact Dina at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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