How to Make Fitness a Priority - Day 9 New Year, New You

Many of us fail to make fitness a priority and wonder why results aren't happening. Do you fall into this category? If you want to make a change in your body and life, it will take evaluating the way you're living now.

Where do you see yourself:

1. Sedentary, not living a healthy lifestyle.
2. Sorta living a healthy lifestyle, but not really committed.
3. Living a healthy lifestyle.

Once you have determined your category, you will be able to move forward with positive changes. The goal for all of you would be living a healthy lifestyle. Understanding how to go from an unhealthy to a healthy lifestyle is an important step in the process. It will be one of the most significant decisions you will make for your life and health.

Fixing the Problem

The problem remains that fitness is not made a priority. Excuses or reasons still get in the way of making healthy choices. Instead of using reasons to validate living unhealthy, you will need to start evaluating your priorities to make healthy your lifestyle. 

Living a healthy lifestyle is the only way you will achieve the body you want and the quality life you desire. It does require time, effort, planning, and discipline. It is a commitment to loving yourself the best you can. The following guidelines will help you make fitness a priority and on your way to achieving results:

• Get out your calendar and review your current schedule.
• What is unnecessary? (be honest - overtime, social, tv, social media, etc) 
• Avoid filling up all your time with busy stuff. This includes good stuff (donating time, socializing, etc). Even too much of doing good can add stress to your life. 
• Remove things causing stress and not beneficial to your health.

Once you have removed all the clutter and reasons from your calendar, now you will have room to do the following:

• Schedule at least 3-5 workouts per week. (don't cancel this appointment)
• Maintain a healthy grocery list and pick the best time to go shopping.
• Plan one of your days off to meal prep/cook healthy for the week.
• Pack your cooler daily with healthy food for work.
• Plan quality quiet time for meditation, reflection, prayer 2-3 times/week (even 10 minutes is helpful)
• Spend more time outside and away from computer/social media.

Remember, creating healthy habits take time. Implementing these steps will be a progressive process but one of the most rewarding. 

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Be well and Stay Healthy

 

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Cleaning Up Your Nutrition For Results - Day 6 New Year, New You

Achieving fitness results the right way will require taking a look at your nutrition. Nutrition does play the largest role in getting fit and maintaining your health. Welcome to Day 6 of New Year, New You in 365 Days!

Eating right for results is not complicated as many believe. This has much to do with unnecessary fitness products and supplements being marketed as the only way to lose weight, get fit, and increase muscle size. Let's put these myths aside and take a simple look at what really is required nutritionally.

Food Journals:

It may be helpful to use a food journal for a short time until you have adopted how to eat right. Food journals are shown to keep you on track and enable you to repeat healthy weeks. This part may sound like a burden to start, but it really is quite simple. Forget about charting calories, grams, weighing food, etc for now and probably won't be necessary later. Keep your journal simple and you will enjoy the process of learning. As long as you're eating healthy throughout the day to support your body and physical activity is the goal. Your journal may look something like this:

• Water intake for the day: 2 quarts
• Meal 1: 1 slice seeded toast, 1/4 to 1/2 avocado, 1 boiled egg
• Meal 2: large greens and fruit blended shake  
• Meal 3: large green salad topped with grilled chicken breast, balsamic vinegar
• Meal 4: sliced apple with 2 tbsp peanut butter
• Meal 5: grilled salmon with lots of veggies
• Meal 6: yogurt topped with raw nuts

Dump the Junk Food

Eating right will require cleaning out the junk food. This is difficult especially if you struggle with tossing out food. If it helps, box it all up and donate to a food kitchen or church. You can do this!

Take a day and go through your refrigerator and pantry. Remove all processed, packaged, frozen dinners, pastries, white products, etc. Unhealthy food products contain a lot of trans fats, high-sodium, and chemicals you really don't want to be ingesting. A short list includes:

• sugary drinks, sodas, and some sport drinks
• white bread
• refined vegetable oils (corn, soybean, cottonseed, canola)
• margarine
• pastries, cakes, cookies
• boxed crackers and chips
• low-carb meals and bars
• yogurt high in sugar and chemicals
• processed gluten-free products
• ice cream, candy, candy bars, and some protein bars
• processed meats (salami, pastrami, deli meats, hot dogs, etc)
• processed cheese (American, cheese in a can, etc)

Eat Clean for Results, Fitness, and Health

Getting fit for life requires eating cleaner which is just another way of saying you are eating healthy. You have taken the steps to remove all processed foods from your house and now ready to replace those with real whole foods. 

Let's go shopping! The best way to stay on track at the grocery store is to first eat a healthy meal, and stick to your written list of items. Having healthy food at home will also reduce eating at restaurants and fast food chains. This keeps you in control of your food intake and is the goal of adopting a healthy lifestyle.

We all differ in nutritional likes and that is great because there is a wide-variety of nutrient-dense food for everyone. You will want to include all the macros in your nutrition which just means eating a balance of lean proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. The following short list includes healthy selections from each category and also takes into consideration vegetarian/vegan preferences:

Proteins:

• B/S chicken and turkey breast
• Salmon, halibut, tilapia, albacore tuna
• Lean beef  (90% lean)
• Greek yogurt (natural, no sugar added)
• Cottage cheese
• Eggs
• Milk (2%), almond milk, coconut milk, low-fat chocolate milk
• Lentils, dried beans, navy beans, no to low-sodium canned beans
• Peanut butter (natural, no-sugar-added), almond butter
• Raw mixed nuts
• Tofu
• Edamame
• Quinoa

Carbohydrates:

• Vegetables (broccoli, peppers, squash, asparagus, etc) 
• Leafy greens (spinach, chard, kale, etc)
• Fruits (apples, berries, mango, cherries, etc)
• Legumes (lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans)
• Quinoa, kamut, barley, buckwheat, flax meal
• Brown rice (white rice for some athletes)
• Whole wheat, whole grain bread
• Steel cut oats
• Sweet potatoes
• White and red potatoes (baked not fried)

Fats:

• Avocados
• Chickpeas (hummus)
• Walnuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, pecans, etc (raw-unsalted, not roasted)
• Olive oil
• Salmon (Omega-3 fatty acids)
• Nut and seed butter (natural, no sugar added)
• Ground flaxseed or flax meal
• Chia seeds

You Can Do It!

Eating better is typically the biggest struggle with adopting a healthy lifestyle. I believe in keeping nutrition simple and fun. When eating right is enjoyable, you will repeat it for life. That is the goal working together over this year and I know you can do it! 

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Be well and Stay Healthy

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How to Set Realistic Fitness Goals - Day 4 New Year, New You

We are starting Day 4 discussing another very important part of achieving the body you want. How to set realistic fitness goals will be the start of a successful program and adopting a healthy lifestyle. It is essential to begin your journey of getting fit with a realistic mindset.

Many of us can jump too far ahead wanting instant results. Unrealistic expectations can derail how you feel about yourself and your fitness program. The goal is to avoid frustration and maintain staying positive and motivated.

So, let's slow this down and allow yourself to be a beginner. If you have reached your goals and fallen back into unhealthy habits, this is for you as well. Recovering from injury will also require being patient with you.

Fitness takes time and consistent effort. Achieving your goals is a life-long progressive program. We are always a work in progress. As we enter into working together for a full year, the following tips on how to set realistic fitness goals will be helpful:

• Allow yourself to be a beginner.
• Adopt the mindset of fitness is a life-long journey.
• Results don't happen fast so be patient with your progress.
• It's ok not to know everything at once.
• Start where you are and enjoy the process.
• Take one day at a time and avoid jumping too far ahead.
• Healthy weight loss is 1lb to no more than 3lbs per week.
• Muscle takes time to build, be patient.
• It will feel hard and that is normal, keep going.
• Maintain a fitness journal and repeat healthy weeks.
• Baby steps create big results.
• Avoid quick-fix diets and fitness gimmicks.
• Workout 3-5 days per week for at least 30 minutes. (this is doable)
• Drink more water, eliminate soda, decrease alcohol. (you can do it)
• Focus on today and making healthy choices.
• Don't expect to lose 20lbs in one week - stay realistic.
• Avoid comparing yourself to others.
• Each day you will become healthier, stronger, and better.
• Start by making 3 healthy changes per day and repeat until it's a habit.
• You can do it!

Watch the Day 1 video for motivation!

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New Year, New You in 365 Days - Day 2 - Mental Game

Hi Everyone,

I hope you enjoyed the video covering day 1 of the New Year, New You in 365 Days. No worries if you missed it. I will include it in this blog post and as a refresher.

For new followers motivated to adopt a healthy lifestyle the right way, so happy you're here. It will be helpful for you to read all about our year-long journey of health and fitness improvement.

As I shared in my introduction to the program, I will be covering several important components of getting fit. I will accomplish this goal using several media outlets including my Instagram, Facebook, and mostly here on my Blog. It will be beneficial for you to become a follower of each to not miss daily motivation.

Day 2 of the program - Mental Game

How is your mental game? Day 2 of the New Year, New You in 365 Days covers this very important part of your health and fitness. From beginner to seasoned athlete, we can be hard on ourselves, doubt our ability to succeed, and just feel unhappy about life. 

What you think and believe about yourself plays a large role in who you are and what you accomplish. The body really does achieve what the mind believes. Positivity is a choice and it requires a mental reset of unhealthy thought patterns. Self-bashing, negative thoughts and self-sabotage will need to be replaced with believing you CAN achieve success.

Changing your attitude and thoughts happen one day at a time. Each day you will love yourself more and eventually adopt a healthy mindset necessary for your life and health. The following tips will be helpful to improve your mental game:

• Believe in yourself.
• Choose to be positive.
• Avoid bashing yourself to you and others.
• See obstacles as learning/growing opportunities.
• Take one day at a time.
• Be proud of yourself.
• Celebrate small daily accomplishments.
• Don't feel guilty for eating off track occasionally (this is human not failing).
• Allow yourself to be a beginner.
• You're not being judged.
• You can do it!

Day 1 Video - Core Strength, Posture, and Water Intake

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New Year, New You in 365 Days

The New Year is almost upon us and often includes resolutions to get in shape for many of you. Are you thinking about it? What I have been contemplating is the best way to help motivate you to accomplish this goal. Resolutions can be a great start, but what I want for you is a lifestyle of health and fitness, not a few months of gym rush.

Getting healthy and fit takes time so I would like to start a campaign of motivation, support, and encouragement lasting one year starting January 1st. I am still putting together all the details of the best way to implement the program. I want you to feel motivated, encouraged, and supported on your journey to getting fit. Are you excited?

I would love your feedback and ideas for blog posts, videos, images, or live feeds you would like to see or hear. This will truly be a year of working together and learning from each other. What works for one may not work for another, and thankfully fitness is individual and not universal. This campaign will provide a genuine and real place to become the best version of you. I will prepare content based on your needs, goals and specific concerns. This is your time to speak up and our time to grow together as a fitness family.

The media outlets that will be used to accomplish the New Year, New You in 365 Days are my Stay Healthy Fitness Blog, Instagram, and Facebook. I may also consider creating an event page on Facebook and will keep you posted on that.

The New Year, New You in 365 days will be considered a guided motivational self-help program where you are responsible for your individual health and fitness. I also advise seeking clearance from your physician before starting any fitness program.

The goal is to implement realistic and life sustainable strategies to get fit through tips, motivation, and expert guidance. The areas essential to adopting a healthy lifestyle may include:

• How to set realistic fitness goals.
• Making fitness a priority.
• Eating for individual fitness goals and improved health.
• How to implement cheat meals.
• What does it mean to eat clean?
• The best exercise that fits your lifestyle.
• Reducing stress.
• Balancing life and health.
• Having fun with fitness.
• How to stay motivated and disciplined.
• Enjoying the fitness journey.
• Breaking through plateaus.
• Exercise modification.

Another important goal is to enjoy the process of getting fit. You will be doing all the work, but I will be with you all the way. I look forward to hearing from you and starting this journey together.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

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Being Told You're Unhealthy Isn't Necessary But What Next?

Let's face it, we don't need anyone to tell us we're overweight or unhealthy. We are adults, wear big boy and girl pants, and know when we need to fix our fitness.

When your body isn't healthy, we can feel sick, fatigued, and unhappy. On top of that, you may have have been told by the doctor to change your lifestyle. Concerned friends and family may also be giving you kind hints to take better care of yourself. 

If all the above is happening, you already know something should be started to get healthy. Fitness includes so many areas of health - physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Fixing your fitness will require evaluating all these areas and making healthy choices to improve your life.  

It's not rocket science and requires nothing magic to improve your fitness. You only need motivation, determination, and follow-through to become healthy. Companies marketing fitness gimmicks would like you to believe a bunch of expensive things, products, and pills are required to obtain a fit and healthy body. The true story is you all possess the ability to achieve good health and fitness without all that fluff.

The first step is admitting the areas of your life that are unhealthy. Secondly, create a plan of action to start the process of adopting a fit lifestyle. If you're struggling with being overweight, have painful joints, low energy, frequent illness and low self-esteem, a great start would be to look at daily nutritional intake and exercise.

If emotional problems such as anger, chronic stress, and tension are an issue, it will be important to identify the cause of these feelings. A qualified counselor or licensed clergy member could be helpful to start the healing process.

The important thing is to get on board with fixing your fitness. Procrastinating on this very important subject does nothing but waste what could be a healthier happier life. Being in denial about being unhealthy not only puts off the work but puts off the results you desire. Changing your mental game and being honest with yourself will be a necessary step to change for the healthier. 

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Be well and Stay Healthy

             

What You Eat In Private You Wear In Public

The truth about health and fitness is we either want it or we don’t. Let’s face it, many of us come up with reasons not to exercise or eat healthy. We even sound pretty convincing. Unfortunately, all the reasons in the world eventually catch up to you in the form of illness or injury.

What we often fail to realize is how much our lifestyle impacts our health. The food you eat, being physically active, and rest is truly your medicine. Many of us continue to walk around in an unhealthy body and come to accept this existence. Living this way causes you to miss out on how good you're supposed to feel and look. The true story of health is your body reflects your lifestyle.

I want to believe all of us have a strong desire to be healthy people. Working in the health and fitness industry, I certainly hear this loud and clear. We talk about wanting to feel and look better, but what continues to be lacking is the action required to make this happen. More often than not, healthy living isn't a priority.

Living a life of excuses will not change your health or appearance. It only guarantees you not to feel your best and is often accompanied by unhappiness. Change takes changing your daily habits. The body you have is determined by what you do. I'm sure we can all agree with that statement.

Let me clarify my reference is to the general population who have the ability to get healthy. Some medical conditions and illness are out of our control, but I have seen those who struggle to live the healthiest lives. Another true story.

The first step to change your body for the better is owning your current lifestyle. This includes admitting you are making excuses not to eat healthy, exercise, sleep more, reduce stress and the list goes on. It's important to understand why health is not a priority.

Admitting your part in creating an unhealthy body can piss us off and it should. It's in that frustrated moment you can really be honest about your life and body. That proverbial slap in the face is often the beginning of getting serious about a healthy lifestyle. Think about these things:

• You are responsible for replacing reasons/excuses with action. 
• You are capable of taking care of your health and making it a priority.
• Having a fit body can happen at every age and it's never too late to start.
• You control what your body looks like. 
• What you eat in private you wear in public.

Being healthy and having a fit body is achievable for all of us and should be your life goal. Dependence on prescribed drugs for self-imposed health conditions continues to increase and becoming an epidemic problem. Let me clarify certain medications are required for a small percentage of Americans but not for the general population who can get healthy. Many cholesterol lowering and blood pressure medications can be discontinued when weight is lost and body composition improved.

The problem continues to be accommodating an unhealthy lifestyle justifying it with reasons that really can't be validated. A healthy lifestyle is not an occasional event and requires full-time effort. Life is the event you need to be fit for and you only get one chance to do it right.

The bottom line is results can and will happen, but the choice is up to you.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

Why is Being Unhealthy the Acceptable Norm?

Have you been feeling unhealthy and just not right for some time? This can be physically or emotionally. Yet, we continue to accommodate and even accept the situation. Your body and mind can only take so much before it breaks. We often ignore the signs until we are lying face down in our own hopelessness.

Why do we continue to accept how unhealthy we are and how bad we feel but continue to tough it out day after day? Instead of making changes to create a better situation, you simply accept unhealthy as your normal way of life. Sad but true. Many of us don't even realize how good we're supposed to feel. Big contributors to this problem are continuing to eat processed foods, refraining from exercise, and living under a cloud of stress.

How often do you take inventory of your life?  Are you accommodating joint pain and illness from eating unhealthy foods leading to being overweight?  Are life's circumstances so stressful to the point of causing depression and anxiety? What's going on at home in your personal relationships?  Is your home a peaceful sanctuary or a war zone?  How about the job? Are you happy and doing what you've always envisioned or burdened by the thought?

We are meant to live a happy, healthy life. The unfortunate truth is many of you choose to accommodate being unhealthy. We eat and drink things we shouldn't, become couch potatoes, and drown in our own self-pity.

Isn't it time to stop accommodating unhealthy and start fixing the problem?  If you don't know where to begin, ask for help. No shame or stigma about needing assistance sometimes. We've all been there. Society puts shaming on every human topic ad nauseam. If seeking help from a professional gets you on the right track, then go for it. I suggest an expert in the area of your struggle.

If you want to adopt a healthy lifestyle, consult with a qualified personal trainer, nutritionist, or registered dietician. Making a doctor's appointment to discuss your stress and seeing a licensed counselor or therapist may be helpful. Check out your local church and talk to a pastor. If the marriage is suffering, sometimes all you need is a little help from a licensed marriage and family counselor. The great news is you have options!

What it boils down to is changing your life for the better. It requires recognition of the problem and a willingness to fix it. There is nothing healthy about accommodating unhealthy. You can either sit and wallow where you are or put on a fix-it attitude. Wishing you health and happiness!

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Be Well and Stay Healthy 

I Maintain a Fit Body Eating Lots of Carbs

To this day I dislike being called skinny. I have had my share of teasing as a kid and even into adulthood. Body shaming goes both ways in this life.

What's important is loving yourself right where you are while working toward your goals. It wasn't until discovering how to build curves with resistance training that my life changed for the better.

I was blessed with my Dad's genetics and thankful, but it has been a challenge to put on weight including muscle. I'm also constantly hungry and seem to burn up energy faster than the average person. I turn to healthy carbs to fuel my body and feel good throughout the day. I can feel lightheaded if I go too long without eating, especially carbs. Some of the carbs I eat on a regular basis include:

• oats
• quinoa
• seeded whole grain bread
• whole grain tortillas
• sweet and white potatoes
• brown rice
• veggies and fruits
• 100% juice (pomegranate, green juice)

My metabolism seems to work faster than I can fuel and it can be frustrating. Some say they can just look at food and gain 5lbs whereas if I look at food, my body says let's burn it up. I will not exercise if I feel hungry and prefer to down a healthy meal before hitting the weights. I'm definitely not a candidate for fasting to improve athletic performance or to reduce body fat.

I just so happen to be one of those people on the other side of the spectrum that works hard to gain weight. This doesn't mean I want to gain by eating lots of crap to achieve skinny fat. My goal is to maintain or increase lean muscle mass by eating quality healthy carbs, lean proteins, and healthy fats.

Genetics do play a small role in your physical appearance, but you absolutely have the power to change things by what you eat and how you challenge your body. I work hard and eat to support my goals. I don't believe in diets nor do I teach that in my personal training practice.

Genetics may predispose some of us to obesity but that doesn't mean we're to accept it and not try to be a healthy person. The same goes for lean genetics like mine. We're all on this fitness journey together with differing body types and how they function.

Regardless of your body makeup, it's important to put up a fight for what you want and not give up.

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Be Well and Stay Healthy!

Why It Takes Work to Get Fit the Right Way

Life doesn't promise easy, fair, happiness, or even health. In fact, life is hard and work is required and never an option. It's up to you to create the lifestyle that you want to live. Agreed?

This won't be found in a jar, pill, powder, or shake. If popping a 'fit pill' provided the body of your dreams, I certainly wouldn't be writing a health blog. Quick fixes are not the way to getting fit the right way.

Sound evidence has supported the best way to achieve a fit body is through a healthy lifestyle. You may be aware of some of the requirements of how to get fit but a short list is below:

• consistent healthy food intake
• regular exercise
• plenty of rest
• drinking lots of water
• balancing life

Sounds like a great plan and very doable. The problem is many of you still aren't willing to put in the work. Nothing tastes better than healthy feels, remember? So, what gives?

Great marketing has convinced many of you there's a quick fix to fitness. This strong belief in false guarantees has taken away the drive and motivation to get fit the right way. False claims only provide false hope, take your money, and cause frustration.

The only way to achieve health and fitness is eating right and sweat producing work. Trendy diets and pills don't teach you how to shop for healthy foods, cook the stuff, and meal plan. They surely don't sprout legs and exercise so that you absorb the activity benefits.

What usually occurs with quick-fix programs is some initial weight loss because of being so calorically restrictive and unrealistic. Your body is running on an empty tank and experiencing typical negative side effects like dizziness, headache, and nutrient deficiencies. Your energy can become low and frustration high struggling through a program that just doesn't feel good.

Studies show restrictive fad diets are unable to be sustained and any weight lost is put back on plus more. When the focus shifts to eating healthy and not dieting, realistic results can be achieved. This is where the work comes in. 

Fitness takes work. You get up and go to a job each day to supply your needs and wants, right? The same applies to improving your health. Getting fit requires time, energy, and eating healthy food. The work is challenging but the results rewarding. It changes you, makes you stronger, and able to enjoy your body and life overall. 

Believing you can become healthy through gimmicks can no longer be an option. That would be comparable to owning the golden goose and not having to put in your eight to five for a living. Not realistic and not going to happen.

You are no stranger to what work feels like. It can be rewarding and provide an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. The results of hard work are being able to achieve and have what you want and desire in life. Work is never optional and something you have to do to succeed.

The bottom line is having a fit body requires work but you must be willing to put in the time and actions to achieve your goals.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

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Achieving a Hot Body Is More About Health Than Vanity

Do you want a hot body? Of course, and there's nothing wrong with that. Who doesn't want to feel good about their outward appearance after working so hard to get in shape? Looking fit on the outside says a lot about how you're living. Fitness is a lifestyle and being healthy has nothing to do with vanity. 

Getting fit and achieving the body you want is a goal that will look different for everyone. Some may want to get lean and tone, while others may want more muscle definition. Whatever your body goals, they are achievable at every age.

As you age, you should feel especially proud of maintaining a hot body. Personally, I feel honored to be over 50 with a youthful attitude. Age is just a number and not a definition of fitness. Getting older doesn't mean you become frumpy or even old. Fitness is really about having a positive attitude and maintaining your health at every stage in life. 

Making health a priority certainly helps you achieve a nice body. One of the top fitness goals is to be able to wear whatever you want plus look good naked. 

Being healthy and fit feels great, fun, and sexy. When you stand in front of a mirror, you should like what you see and feel confident with your body. However, many of us bash our bodies always finding something we think needs fixing. There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your physical fitness but chronic feelings of not liking yourself aren't considered a healthy mindset. 

Goals to achieve a hot body are awesome and healthy. This is part of becoming a better person than you were yesterday. It doesn't matter your age or circumstance, improved fitness makes your life better. Maintaining a good body helps you feel better about your life and self. It creates and promotes a quality life physically and emotionally. 

Healthy lifestyles create healthy bodies. Maintaining your body has so many health, self, and relationship benefits. Besides looking good naked, you also feel healthy, less stress, decreased illness, more confident, and even improved sex life. All these have nothing to do with vanity but just wanting to feel good about yourself. 

Achieving a hot body also improves your confidence, well-being, and feelings of accomplishment. It's just one result of living a healthy lifestyle reflected outwardly. There is a sense of pride that goes along with the fruits of fitness labor. These benefits help keep you motivated to take care of yourself. 

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Be well and Stay Healthy

How to Reach and Maintain Your Fitness Goals

Once we reach our fitness goals, are they really done? I hope the answer for all of you is a resounding -  NO. Staying fit by maintaining a healthy life is the real goal. 

Without maintaining your fitness, what was all the hard work for? Life is the event deserving of your best healthy self. Sure, you may be motivated by a special occasion, or to fit into a swimsuit, but those are only short-term goals. 

Staying fit through maintenance means you're in this for the long haul. You have made a personal commitment to a healthy lifestyle and enjoying a quality life through the process. 

Living healthily is a continual process of eating right, regular exercise, and plenty of rest. When you work hard to lose weight, reduce body fat, and gain muscle, just letting all that go doesn't make sense. For example, it has taken me decades to develop mature muscle. Without continual challenging workouts and proper fuel, I could easily lose it to atrophy. Did you know deconditioning of your muscle begins after two weeks of not exercising according to some studies? 

Staying fit also means being happy and comfortable with your new lifestyle. You are in a good place physically and mentally. It allows you to enjoy the fruits of your fitness accomplishments. Sometimes your confidence can be boosted to the point of self-challenge with fitness competitions or marathons. This can be awesome and rewarding. Most of us just want to feel really good about our body and health.

  

Drawbacks

Unfortunately, many individuals fail to maintain fitness once goals are reached and return to unhealthy habits. This is probably one of the hardest things to see as a trainer and can be difficult for the individual who worked hard to achieve so much. What happened? 

People are looking for temporary fixes instead of lifelong results is what happened. Fitness is considered a burden eliminating fun foods and adding uncomfortable workouts to life. This mindset isn't ready to see fitness as an enjoyable and beneficial lifestyle. Wearing that bikini felt great for a minute, but once the winter months arrive, all that fad fitness is tossed aside. Unhealthy habits return along with an unhealthy body. 

How to Stay Fit

In order to stay fit, it requires living healthy full-time. Your body achieves and maintains what the mind believes is the new motto. Falling in love with the process of taking care of your body exemplifies the best of fitness maintenance. It's important to move beyond short-term goals and into the full-time maintenance of your healthy body. This is done by following healthy guidelines used to reach and maintain your goals including:

• Eat healthy or clean 80-90 percent of the time. 
• Consume a wide variety of healthy macronutrients. 
• Consume a mostly plant-based diet (60% of food intake should come from plant foods) 
• Exercise at least 3 days per week (5 is optimal).
• Strength train at least 2 times weekly.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Maintain flexibility by stretching post-workout, or as part of relaxation technique.
• Get plenty of sleep (6-8 hours).
• Reduce stress by balancing your priorities and enjoying more free time.
• Meditation/prayer is helpful.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

How to Turn Intentions Into Action to Achieve Your Goals

We all have good intentions and dream about fulfilling them. Somehow they get pushed aside and forgotten. Well, not really forgotten, because they continue to dance across the pages of your thoughts. At least this is the case for me. Can you relate?

Are you guilty of not following through on good intentions to make something happen? Have you started that fitness program or kept your promise to eat healthier? If not, why?

Research indicates individuals who make a plan are the most successful. In order to turn those intentions into action and achieve your goals, consider trying this approach:

1. Write down your goals - be specific and honest. I want to lose fat, gain muscle, feel better, be healthier, look good naked, become more flexible, reduce chronic pain. These are just a few examples. 
2. Plan how to achieve those goals - re-arrange priorities, better time management, keep a fitness journal, eat healthier, exercise 4-5 times per week, get more sleep.
3. Turn your plans into action - focus on your health, follow-through on scheduled workouts, toss the junk food, cook healthy food at home, write down daily achievements, limit alcohol intake, get to bed earlier, drink more water. 

Looks simple when you see it on paper. It actually does make the process easier when you think about it as directions to a healthy life. Following a plan helps you stay on track and feel less overwhelmed.

Moving from intention to action takes good planning. It can be applied to most everything in life from painting the house, spending more time with family, to adopting a healthy lifestyle. It helps you stay true to taking care of the important things.

What has helped me is setting up challenge systems where I complete three goals of intention for that day. For example, today I plan to get in a morning workout, take my ailing father to the doctor, and cook a healthy dinner. Setting realistic daily goals is a great way to feel accomplished. It also provides motivation to repeat the process.

The Bottom Line

Having good intentions are great but remain thoughts until you put them into action. Goals to improve your health and fitness won't happen without effort. Follow-through is what will create better health, a fit body, and overall improved quality of life.

Those things you think about all the time must come to the forefront of your actions. Has a family member or friend been on your mind to call?  Pick up the phone. Has date night with your spouse been put off for months? Time to bring on the romance. Are the intentions to exercise four times a week not happening? Get your calendar, schedule your workouts, and don't cancel. Do you want to eat better at home and reduce dining out? Write a healthy food list and head to the store.

Every active step made is a step closer to fulfilling your goals and taking your intentions further than your mind. It's important not to get stuck in the 'thinking about it' process without any action. Good intentions only go so far and although they may sound good, living it out through your actions is what really counts.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

                                                

Doing What I Can With What I Got is Good Enough

Life can have a way of making you feel not good enough. Whether from past circumstances or negative self-talk, it can really be a continual upsetting existence. If you let it...

I have struggled with the feelings of not being good enough to understand how destructive it can be to your confidence and well-being. I decided years ago this was no longer going to define me. It was probably one of my healthiest life-changing decisions.

Health and fitness require acceptance of who you are now in order to make the changes to become a better you. Your journey can't be about what everyone else is doing and worrying about what they're thinking. What matters is what you're doing to improve your life and how you feel about you. With me?

When it comes to fitness and especially workouts, I make them my own. I do what works best for my body and life. My About Me section explains why certain medical issues require modifications to some of my exercises. I worked through lots of emotional and physical stuff to an amazing place of acceptance of who I am.

Life is not meant for any of us to understand why things happen, but handling it the best you can when hard times come calling. Giving up and being angry would be easy but what good does that serve ... nothing.

In my case, accepting the new injured me and working hard on what I could do became the focus. Maintaining all my hard earned muscle took some creative program planning. I saw it as a positive challenge and not an obstacle. I had to discover through trial and error what worked best for me.

I am in tune and listen to what my body is telling me. There's a difference between exercise that feels good and not right. If anything twinges in the not right direction, I put on the brakes and immediately modify and do something else. I don't believe in pushing past something that will hurt my body and land me flat on my back or worse. I appreciate the gift of what I can do and will not fudge this up.

Do I miss certain things ... yes. I get so excited watching others perform what I used to do. I want to jump in and do it with them. That is just my inner athlete still alive and well. She is super cool, but my outer athlete is now the boss of what I can do now. That girl is still pretty tough.

Exercise is about being smart and creating a quality life. I understand the importance of feeling good and not accommodating chronic pain. My goal is to maintain lean mass while decreasing or eliminating discomfort. I know what it feels like to be in severe pain and how hard I have worked to achieve being pain-free.

My fitness journey is not about doing what others can do, but doing the best at what I can do. It's about acceptance of my body and the thoughts surrounding it that belong to me. I believe in adopting a healthy lifestyle to create a quality life. I walk and teach this motto daily. It's about doing what I can with what I got and that's good enough.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

             

Turn Your Brain Back On and Stop Mindless Eating

Mindless eating is ugly and what it does to your body is even worse. Many of us walk around with brains turned off and grab whatever food items are in our grazing path. No rhyme or reason but doing an auto-pilot action of putting something in your face.

You know the glazed over look watching TV and mowing through a whole bag of chips. How about the work break room goodies brought back to the desk as you plug away at your computer. Often times, we're not hungry, not thinking, and eating out of boredom or habit. This continued pattern isn't good for you or your expanding waistline.

What the heck is going on and why?  It's no wonder America is plagued with the highest obesity rate and enormous doctor bills for self-induced illness. Mindless eating is a topic that should be at the forefront of your eating habits. Each time you eat something is an opportunity to better your health and fitness. We have really dropped the ball not thinking before eating. Are you stressed, emotionally upset, bored, or whatever? Unhealthy food isn't the answer to make you feel better. 

Emotions can play a role in mindless eating and it's recommended to address these issues in a healthy way. There is no amount of tasty donuts or pizza fixing an emotional problem. What it will do is add fat to your body and another reason to be stressed. Why not look into professional help, go to a counselor, see a minister, or talk to a trusted friend.

Most of the time, mindless eating is done out of habit and convenience. If it's there, put it in your face and so on. We're the true 'Walking Dead' feasting on gross things doing gross things to your body. It's time to turn your brain back on and start breaking these unhealthy habits. Don't you agree?

Start the process of mindful eating by taking food and behavior inventory:

• Toss the junk food in the frig and pantry and replace it with healthy "real" food.  
• Get off your butt and start working out instead of sitting on it so much. 
• Stop blaming your spouse, significant other, friends or circumstances for mindless eating. 
• Just because someone in your home brings in crap food doesn't mean you have to eat it.  
• Start packing healthy snacks for work and stay out of the break room.
• Drink water if you feel the urge to eat without thinking.
• Ask yourself if what you're eating is helping or hurting your health.
• Be mindful of alcohol intake. Are you really having only one drink?
• Make a plan to eat healthily and stick to it.
• Keep a food journal and be honest with yourself.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

             

How to Lose Those Stubborn Last 10 Pounds

The last ten pounds can be a struggle. The scale stops budging and frustration has taken over. The stress of it all is putting the adrenal glands into overdrive. A cortisol rush is the last thing your body needs when trying to lose the last ten pounds. Studies show chronic stress can hinder your ability to lose weight.

Plateaus are normal for all of us living a healthy lifestyle. Many don't realize food intake and exercise programming require constant review and change. If the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal. 

Remain positive and progressive with your fitness regardless of what the scale says. Many factors are at play when the body stops showing results. Usually, a simple review and program change are all that's required to gets things moving again. 

Things to consider: 

• Are you eating enough? The body knows when it's not getting enough fuel. If you restrict too many calories, your body will refuse to give up any fat stores. The body sees stored fat as energy necessary for life and exercise.  

• Are you being true to your nutrition program? Many fall back into unhealthy eating habits and are even in denial about it. Your body knows what you're eating and will respond with weight gain.  

• Are you exercising less? Reducing exercise will significantly affect your ability to lose weight. Energy out needs to be more than energy in to experience a caloric deficit resulting in weight loss. Take time to review your priorities and determine if exercise has taken a backseat. 

• Are you burned out? This is normal and happens to most of us living a healthy lifestyle. Adding variety to workout programs and healthy foods is important to keep you motivated. 

The last ten pounds can be a challenge but also a learning opportunity. You can become frustrated and throw in the towel, or change your strategy and get back on track.

It's important to take one day and one pound at a time. Feel proud of daily efforts taking you closer to your fitness goals. The last ten pounds will respond to what you're willing to do to be rid of it, or keep it. It still comes down to choices and changes.

Recharging the mental battery is a great way to stay motivated to keep going. You can do it!  

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Be well and Stay Healthy!

12 Things Not To Do If You Want to Get Fit

There are plenty of articles telling you how to get fit, but what about things you shouldn’t be doing to accomplish this goal? Healthy and fit individuals follow certain strategies to achieve results and maintain their bodies. What exactly are they not doing that you can learn from to get fit?

1. Procrastinate
Waiting wastes your time and negatively affects your health. If you want to get fit, it will take action starting now and not tomorrow. Fit individuals don’t wait around for things to happen, they make fitness results happen.

2. Make Excuses
Excuses don’t burn calories or improve your health. You want to improve your fitness but keep coming up with reasons not to do the work. Fit people understand the importance of their health and make it a priority.

3. Go on a Diet
Going on a diet only provides short-term results and lots of frustration. Weight loss may happen initially but returns, plus some, when the diet is over. Getting fit requires a nutrition lifestyle change and this means eating right, not eating less.

4. Bash Yourself
Negative self-talk and body shaming aren't beneficial to you or your fitness. You desire to look good but aren’t able to accept who you are now while working on the body you want. Getting healthy requires a positive attitude and self-acceptance every step of the fitness journey.

5. Avoid Making Health and Fitness a Priority
Not making fitness a priority is a big reason you’re not seeing results. You want to be fit but not willing to take the time to eat right, exercise, and get plenty of rest. There is always something more important than you. Fit individuals see the value of health improvement and make the time to live a healthy lifestyle.

6. Compare Your Progress
Your fitness results will differ from another. Constantly comparing your body and fitness program with your friend or whoever can lead to frustration, disappointment, and even quitting. Fit people focus on their own body, progress, and do what works best for them.

7. Get Fit for Others
Getting fit to please someone else is not really taking care of you for you. Others can disappoint you and even make you feel bad about fitness efforts. The reason to get fit and feel good is a decision fit people make for themselves for their own happiness and health.

8. Expect Instant Results
Fitness results take some time but you’re not willing to wait for realistic results. You continue to get upset and jump from program to program believing false guarantees. Fit individuals maintain a relaxed mindset, trust the process, and realize getting healthy is a consistent process that requires patience.

9. Focus on Slipups
You are more focused on slipups like eating a cookie instead of celebrating daily fitness efforts. You’re unable to accept slipups are part of the program. You put yourself through so much food guilt, enjoying a fit lifestyle can feel like a burden. Those who live a fit lifestyle understand it’s not perfect, do their best each day, focus on the positive, and enjoy cheat meals as part of a balanced healthy life.

10. Fear Trying New Things
Doubt and fear steal more dreams than failure ever will. You want to get fit but fear the gym environment, being around new people, and trying new things in general. This becomes your scapegoat or excuse for not getting involved in a fitness program. Fit people will try new things even if they feel scared or intimidated because they understand the health benefits gained are life-long compared to a temporary feeling.

11. Sabotage Your Program
Your fitness program is easily sabotaged by your own choices or the influence of others. Skipping workouts becomes more frequent, and eating healthy, not consistent. You started strong but are really not taking your fitness seriously. Those maintaining fit and healthy bodies keep their exercise appointments and eat healthy at least 80% of the time.

12. Give Up
If you stop now, what was it all for in the first place? You are unhappy about lots of things including not seeing results, exercise, and probably a restrictive diet. Instead of trying a better strategy, your choice is to return to unhealthy habits. Giving up is not respecting your body or your health. Fit people never give up and if something isn’t working, they keep trying until they find what does work.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

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