health – Page 6 – sassyfitnesschick

The All Or Nothing Approach

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So as I eagerly shared with you in my last post, I have jumped more into the world of cycling with the purchase of my first professional cycling bike ( I wanted to sleep with it after I brought it home. Put it outside?? haha)

In the week that I’ve had it we’ve been getting acquainted with one another. I have to take a little time to do that.

Being on a new bike is like buying a new car.

You simply have to spend some time with it to see how it responds, and how it handles under you. You learn how much you can push it and how fast you can stop when you do push it. You learn how fast you can go on curves 😉

Actually, I’m being good and haven’t really pushed the speed a lot yet.

There is also time for your body to adjust to the differences as well. Being on a bike that is sized and adjusted to my body, obviously positions me very differently from my other bike that I had adjusted as much as possible for my arms and legs.

Therefore, I’m feeling it in different ways after a ride. As much as I’ve wanted to take off and go ….for miles…. in this week I’ve kept the rides short… usually between 8-10 miles. It gives me enough time to settle in and adjust but not so much that I’m uncomfortable later.

It’s hard mentally knowing what I can do, but keeping it in check to allow myself time to adapt to the changes with the new bike. If I jumped in and took off on my usual route which hits somewhere between 20-25 miles…. I might not be feeling so great the next day and left feeling like I wanted to do nothing because I hurt.

I cannot take an all or nothing approach to conditioning myself for new athletic adventures.

To continue strong in my training means being practical to my approach in training if I want to make consistent progress.

Yet… so often when I’m talking with people about health and weight loss there is an “all or nothing” approach to it.

I must give up everything to be successful. No fun. Nothing good. Lots of exercise. Rice cakes and celery sticks, here I come.

I will just eat whatever. Exercise doesn’t matter so much. I’m ok the way I am. I’ll get to it…someday… maybe… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it.

An all or nothing approach to weight loss and fitness never works either.

In fact, it’s designed to fail.

For instance, things that make me cringe. You’ve seen those “30 Day Challenges”? You know, something like get up to 3,000 squats by the end of the month or a zillion pushups?

Ok, I might be slightly exaggerating but the effects would be the same. If you crawled off the sofa and just started pushing your body hard with activities it wasn’t used to, well, most likely by day 2 you’re gonna be so sore you’ll be using that challenge chart to start a fire.

Maybe you just decide you’re going to go start running and try a few miles.. and you haven’t even done walking miles yet. It could be anything.

When you just throw yourself into it with no preparation, your body will let you know it’s not happy about it.

You had that crazy moment of going after it “all” approach… and now you are paying for it… which is when you decide the “nothing” approach is probably better.

What a vicious cycle! No wonder so many give up frustrated and discouraged with the process and quit.

What if, you built a plan, that was gradual, consistent and sustainable? A plan that allowed your body to adapt to the changes you were putting it through?

Much like I cannot just get up and run a marathon without months of training or do a really long ride on a brand new bike without some adjustment, you cannot just jump in to extremes and expect long term success.

Beginning with a few days a week, alternating days with low intensity exercise will allow your body to adapt and prevent extreme soreness with will sideline you. Each week you can add a little more to what you do.

Learning to slowly make daily dietary changes will keep you from feeling deprived and then later binging because you’ve restricted yourself so much. A slow steady approach adding in new healthier choices, cutting back on not so healthy choices, learning to eat enough to satisfy your appetite, but not to much, as well as learning to eat when you’re truly hungry are all positive habits to building nutritional success.

Implementing these things gradually and consistently will take away the “all or nothing” approach, which will lead you to permanent and long term success.

Tell me… have you done that in your quest to lose weight or develop an exercise regime? Have you taken on an all or nothing approach? Did that work?

Snacks, Treats, And Weight Loss

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Peanut M&M’s. French fries. Homemade chocolate cake. BBQ potato chips. Homemade sugar cookies with powdered sugar frosting. Apple pie. Sweettarts.

Kinda sounds like a menu for PMS, doesn’t it ?

Actually, those are some of my most favorite treats.

I remember sharing in a Facebook post one time about my craving and subsequent consumption of some Peanut M&M’s and someone commented they were so happy I was “normal” and that I had shared that. Meaning I didn’t live off of a steady diet of nothing but veggies and nuts 😉

Yes, I’m a fit woman, and yes, I still enjoy treats.

I think that’s one of the things that’s really important when you start working on losing weight and getting into a healthier lifestyle… that you don’t set yourself up for deprivation and serious restriction from all things you love.

Now hold on… I’m not saying freely indulge in treats whenever…it’s about learning balance.

I think that’s what allowed me to be successful in my weight loss journey. Well, there’s a few things but this specific one we’re talking about today is treats.. things we love… and things by darn, we wanna have when the mood hits us.

As I developed my own plan to successfully lose weight one thing I mentally determined was that nothing was “forbidden”, “bad” or “off limits”.

Now you might be thinking… “whoa… like then you’d go off the deep end and eat everything!”

No. ‘Cause I’m not dumb.

But it did remove ( for me) all power of food. If nothing was forbidden, it had no tempting power. It knew all food was available (IF) I wanted something.

It was important to me that I could still enjoy celebrations and those things that make life…enjoyable. I wasn’t going to be one of those poor people at a family gathering looking miserable in a corner not having what everyone else was because I was “dieting”.

No way.

So I began my slow journey. Some nights, I desperately wanted something chocolate. I found a few Hershey Kisses, savored, met that need but didn’t sink the work of my day.

If there was a birthday party I allowed myself a small piece of cake. If I didn’t want the cake, I took some ice cream. Sometimes, a little of both.

If I wanted a burger and fries, I had them.

Mind you, this wasn’t often, but when I did want it I had it.

My mental mantra looking at foods, especially treats, was “does this support my health and fitness goals?”

I learned to find balance on my journey to get leaner.

I also learned to be super selective about what I would put in my mouth. As in… “Do I REALLY love this? Or is something that doesn’t do so much for me?”

Learning to really assess what’s important to you is a huge step to controlling the random “treats” you might consume.

For me it works like this…

Things I can pass up and/or don’t tempt me:

Store bought sheet cakes with that greasy frosting.

Pretty much any store bought cookie.

Cakes made with a mix.

Cokes.

Almost anything sold in a gas station.

Things that are totally worthy of eating:

My homemade three layer chocolate cake

Ice cream with nuts.

Amazing sugar cookies I make during the holidays that have butter and cream cheese in the dough.

Homemade cinnamon rolls.

French fries.

Obviously, there are other things on both lists. What I want you to begin to do is really think about your own list of “things not worth eating” and “things worth eating”. When you begin to get really selective about what matters to you, and what doesn’t, you are making forward progress.

Not everything out there needs consumption. And really, if you totally don’t love it, why eat it ? Don’t mindless shove whatever is around in your mouth… especially if it’s something not so important.

Those treats, whether they are things we eat or drink can wreak havoc on our attempts to lose weight. Being aware is crucial to your success. It’s entirely easy to go through a day and think you really don’t have that many “extras”. But if you’re having trouble making the scale move, a serious assessment of those other foods will help see where the weak places are in your day and week.

Writing down all extra snacks and food will give a look at your snacking habits. This isn’t to beat you up or make you feel bad, but to help you gain awareness of where extra calories come in that are hindering your weight loss progress.

Have a handful of chips? Write it down. Glass of wine? Yep, write it down. A couple Reeses Peanut Butter cups? Creamer in your coffee? Sugar?

Write everything.

You’ve got it. No matter how big or small, write it down. Do it for 2 weeks. Be honest. This is all about awareness.

At the end you might be able to see habits or patterns you need to work on. Then, you can begin to also have your list of “worthy to eat snacks” and ” not so worthy to eat snacks”

Doing this, and getting real with yourself in this area will have positive long term benefits for your health and fitness journey.

And you’ll find you really can have your cake and eat it too 😉

Have you made intentional choices on being picky with your favorite snacks or treats? How has that effected your weight loss?

Cardio Fitness And Running Mountains

I talk a lot about the importance of building your body to make it strong so you are capable of handling all the tasks that come with daily living… and so hopefully when you get old you’ll have strength to continue to do things for yourself.

You must work and use your body now. If you don’t, you will lose your strength and abilities to lift, carry and work hard.

I love seeing women getting into weights not just for what it can do for them physically, but how it also empowers and builds confidence in them.

Ok, guys too. I like when people start to “get it”.

I’m just down for anyone getting stronger and able to handle whatever things they have come at them in life. Let’s face it, we’ve got a lot to deal with in our days long after we’ve finished off our workout, right ?

But now I want to put this at you. Do you ever consider the muscles inside your body and how you strengthen them each time you work out? These aren’t visible, but oh so important.

I’m talking about our heart and lungs. Our entire cardiovascular system.

Even if you aren’t crazy about exercise, do you ever consider the importance it has on those oh so vital organs ? Or how good, consistent exercise can lower blood pressure? Lower your resting heart rate?

None of these things are visible like outward muscles but they are trained and strengthened right along with your glutes and arms.

How do you know? You’ll see it in daily activities. Physical work is just easier for you.

Can you quickly take a flight of stairs without being out of breath?

Can you easily run across the yard with your kids and not have your heart pounding out of your chest?

Could you hop on a bike a pedal like crazy around the block and not be huffing and puffing?

There are ways your body tells you your cardio system is out of shape, just like you can tell your “outer” body is out of shape.

This is the reason why so many people hate cardio activities… it’s when they really know and declare they are “out of shape”. They don’t like the winded, gasping for air, heart beating out of their chest, hot sweaty flushed feelings that go along with it.

I really got to thinking about that this weekend when I was with my husband and finally got to hike up and down this mountain I’d been eyeing for awhile. It’s on my list to do some trail running so needless to say, this has frequently been calling to me 😉 I wanted to see what it felt like scaling something beyond a usual “hill”.

And really, I wanted to see what I had in me too. I wanted to see how it felt in a cardio type of way to do it ( have I ever mentioned I like challenges? 😉

Below is a photo I took at the bottom before I headed back up… I left my husband watching guard over my trek back and forth 😛

20160522_102512 (1).jpg — Can you spot my husband on top? You can see part of the path winding up the mountain…

I took off down the path not moving super fast since there was a lot of loose rocks and gravel, not to mention cactus and other prickly things. The trek down wasn’t hard and my legs which are used to hill running responded to what they’ve been trained to do. Once I was at the bottom I took a few minutes to check out the view from below, and of course, take necessary photos 😉

Going up it was easy to move at a good pace but I had to really watch my foot placement with all the loose rock. It didn’t take to long to scale back up and my husband even commented as such.

What I loved? besides feeling good about having done it… was the fact that after finishing that climb, although I was breathing deeply, it didn’t take long for my heart rate and breathing to drop back to completely normal.

This (for me) is a good indicator of my cardio fitness and those things inside I don’t see.

Although those activities I put myself through ( running, cycling, rowing, boxing) all add up to cardio fitness that carries over to powering up a mountain and hardly being out of breath.

So I’ll challenge you… remind you… maybe you view exercise in the light that you should do it to “look good” or “to lose weight”… and exercise does help with those things… but don’t forget exercise has huge and important benefits to those unseen, yet most important parts of you 🙂

As a final reminder… cardio work benefits your heart, lungs, blood pressure, as well as helping to drop your resting and normal heart rate. A lower heart rate means your heart doesn’t have to work as hard =)

And a few other benefits…

Increase in exercise tolerance,

Reduction in body weight

Reduction in blood pressure

Reduction in bad (LDL and total) cholesterol

Increase in good (HDL) cholesterol

Increase in insulin sensitivity

Yes, in the beginning it can be hard and uncomfortable. But in time, your internal muscles get stronger and more fit and you’ll see results when you do activities and aren’t left out of breath with a heart pounding out of your chest.

Now what are you waiting for? Find your favorite cardio activity and get after it!

What is your favorite exercise to get your heart rate up and make you breathe hard?

Committed Or Just Interested ?

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Habits.

I talk a lot about habits mainly because in the context of successful weight loss and making a lifestyle change, developing new ones to replace negative ones are key to a permanent change.

Habits are often ingrained in us from a life time, whether they are good or bad. When it comes to our eating behaviors and exercise a firm hand often has to be taken to those habits if we want to move into more positive choices.

WHY is it so hard? That topic comes up often with people I talk with and most recently with my client.

In discussing her week and some of the difficulties she had her response was “I know what to do in my head, why do I go back and do what I know I shouldn’t do?”

Oh indeed. Why do any of us ? Why are we pulled back into a poor choice when we ( intellectually) know better and have even been doing better with more positive habits, yet, in a moment, we seemingly skip right back to what we know.

Why? Because it’s comfortable and familiar to us. Because it’s easy, it requires no effort to bounce back to the old and familiar. And once there, it can almost be a sandpit to crawl out of again and begin our forward progress. The key thing is to crawl out and keep moving forward, not give up and allow ourselves to be sucked back into the negative habits we seek to change.

I can say that because there are times I can still do the same things. I understand what that’s like. I do get those struggles.

To change negative habits requires a willingness to commit to the journey. To own it. To allow ourselves not to make excuses to go back to old ways. Yeah, we will slip, but there must be a determination and ownership to want that change and not stay where we are.

I read this today and it’s just so true. I’ve never thought of it quite like this, but it’s true.

Are you “interested” in a healthy lifestyle? Or “committed” to having a healthy lifestyle ?

Yeah. Just think about that for a moment.

When you’re interested in doing something you only do it when it’s convenient.

When you’re committed to something you accept no excuses, only results. You follow your established rules and get it done.

The difference between interested and committed is a big jump to permanent success.

If you approach weight loss and your health journey in the light of when it’s comfortably convenient, you can see where you will encounter constant setbacks.

You must make a commitment that takes you beyond just being “interested.”

Committed means being willing to be honest with yourself, where you are and addressing what needs to be done.

It means not justifying reasons why you allow yourself to keep eating or drinking things that don’t contribute or lead to your goals

It means not finding other things that are “more important” to do than purposeful exercise. Or coming up with reasons to not do it.

I’m NOT saying you’re going to take it and get it immediately. You won’t.

Habits take time to change. If you have a lifetime of doing the same things, they won’t change over night. It will require a consistent commitment to making it happen. That means in good days and bad days you keep going with the intention of improvement.

Those habits you’ve developed of going through a drive thru for fast food? or buying coke and candy at a gas station? Or eating seconds even when you aren’t hungry? Or procrastinating on getting some exercise in? Or watching tv with a bag of chips or whatever treat ? Spending that hour or more in front of the tv or computer?

You’ve trained yourself to do those things and you can train yourself to do new things. Really.

I recently went on a road trip. It’s about 4 hours of driving. I usually take a little bag with a few healthy snacks and some bottled water. As I was grabbing the water I saw a carton of blackberries that I decided to toss in too.

A couple hours down the road I was nibbling those and washing them down with water. This isn’t how I used to do trips. I might make a run in to a convenience store for some chips or candy. It’s been a work in progress that my thinking is different now… I made a commitment to wanting to live healthier and that has carried through in lots of areas of my life.

I just don’t want to do that anymore. I feel better about myself making good choices.

This has taken time.. and a reshaping of negative habits for improved ones…. and a commitment to being the strongest and healthiest I can be.

If you get with it and stay with it each day you will make progress. Understand tough times will come and you will feel discouraged. Hang in there and stay strong.

Commit to the process, don’t just be interested in it.

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Have you truly committed to wanting to live a healthier lifestyle through activity and good nutrition? Or are you interested in the idea of it ?

The Powerhouse Of Protein

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So it’s been a few days and I figured I’d better churn out something before my readers thought I’d fallen off the face of the earth 😉

Ah well, it’s been a busy weekend, and Mothers Day AND a celebration of my 32nd wedding anniversary to a really amazing dude who has loved and encouraged me, supported me in all my crazy adventures and has been an overall wonderful, awesome husband for over half my life now … 😛

But the weekend is over and I now… must make an attempt… at being productive…

I want to talk to you about some of the benefits of eating protein and having an adequate amount of it in your daily nutrition plan.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few years on my own health and fitness journey, protein, is this cool, wonderful thing that seems to do lots of great things in my body. Through trial and error I’ve learned when I eat enough of it I don’t get hungry between meals, I’m less likely to want snacks, I feel “balanced” ( this means no crazy spikes of blood sugar that can give you those weird feelings or make you feel sluggish) it helps build my body and supplies me with energy. It’s how I learned that eating eggs and veggies does a much better job of keeping me feeling great, than a bowl of cereal.

One awesome thing about protein? eating an adequate amount of it in your daily diet will keep your blood sugar stable.

I think if I see one more ad for a “health” product that touts it “keeps your blood sugar levels steady” my eyes will simply roll out of my head.

You don’t need to spend an obscene amount of money on some drink or “health” product to keep your blood sugar levels steady through the day! If you feed your body quality protein, in reasonable amounts, at each meal, you should have no problem with your blood sugar spiking giving you that “crashing” feeling or the need to have something to pick you up.

Eating an adequate amount of protein at each meal will also ward off hunger keeping you from feeling like you need to reach for snacks between meals.

Adequate protein will also support your metabolism and contributes toward weight loss and weight maintenance.

It’s best to eat small amounts of protein throughout the day instead of a very large serving only once or twice. This gives your body the right amount of protein it needs at any given time, since only so much can be utilized at once (the rest will be stored as fat or eliminated).

We all need a different level of protein based on our exact needs. For example, your body weight, gender, age, and level of activity or exercise all determine how much protein is best for you.

Protein is an important component of every cell in the body. Hair and nails are mostly made of protein. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. You also use protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood.

Do you also know that as you age you lose muscle? Along with doing strength training and weight bearing exercises, a daily diet with a good amount of healthy protein can help prevent age related muscle loss.

Can you see the importance of having adequate amounts of protein at each meal every day?

So how much is enough? A simple formula is to take your body weight and multiple it by .5 the result is the amount of grams you should have each day. A woman who weighs 150 pounds would aim for about 75 grams a day, balanced out between your meals.

Adequate protein can help with weight loss, help build muscles (with strength training) curb hunger which prevents snacking and overeating, and keep blood sugar levels steady.

Protein is seriously something you need to consider in your daily diet. What kind do you get? Is it adequate? Also, depending on your lifestyle and your physical activity, you might need a bit more than someone who isn’t as active.

What are good protein sources ?

Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans and peas, eggs, nuts, and seeds. Greek yogurt ( one of my favorite) a cup of plain will give you 23 grams of quality protein! Cottage cheese is an excellent source as well, an dairy will offer protein to you. Just read your labels!

And let’s give some veggies a nod in the protein department… eat these to add more protein and lots of other good health benefits to your daily nutrition plan..

Peas, spinach, kale, broccoli, sprouts, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, artichokes, asparagus, and corn all offer protein benefits.

veggie protein

Protein is a nutritional powerhouse for health, wellness, over helping towards weight loss and maintaining weight.

Strive to make about 30% of each meal a good source of protein and see how you start feeling. With a good serving of protein you can minimize other things on your plate.

Do you struggle with feeling sluggish or are you “crashing” mid-afternoon? Or do you feel like you get a sufficient supply of protein through out your day to keep you feeling energetic and balanced?

What are your favorite protein sources?

Small Steps And New Habits

weeks of fitness

Habit:

a usual way of behaving : something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way.

Hello beautiful people!

Habits. If there’s one thing I’ve talked a lot about is habits. Overall it could safely be said our life is driven by habits… things we do in regular, predictable ways. We eat, shower, go to sleep at a set time and wake up most likely the same way. You may have regular ways you get dressed and prepare for your day or how you take your coffee.

In a soothing way our habits can be a comfortable and normal part of our life.

We can also have negative habits in our lives that we want to get rid of. These obviously, vary individual but we would all likely agree that negative habits are best replaced by something more positive.

When it comes down to eating or exercise I frequently hear from people that these are things they “want to do” or “get better at doing”.

What they are essentially saying is they want to build some new positive habits into their life.

That… is often easier said than done.

Usually what happens is that the person decides it’s an all or nothing approach and dives right in.

Exercise? They take on to much to soon and hurt…so they quit determining it’s not worth it…it’s to hard.. they got to sweaty….they’re breathing hard with a pounding heart… don’t see any results.. (results take time and consistency people)
Food ? They immediately go on a drastic and restrictive eating plan that leaves them hungry, moody, and wanting to eat everything they now believe they are not “supposed ” to eat. Ultimately, they just give in, hungry and feeling deprived and go back to old ways determining it’s to hard and nothing is happening anyway.

New habits take time to build. They require a determination to take it one small step at a time and a desire to keep building on it each and every day.

It requires a tenaciousness to keep on even when we might not feel like we nailed it for that day to get up and keep moving forward.

You see small things we do will become habits. …which will lead to bigger things.

We just don’t view small things as mattering so much… we look for the big, grand, instant fix and it’s just not really like that in the context of health, fitness and an overall lifestyle change.

In that context, slow, small and steady win the long term race..

What if instead of drastically altering your diet you just started focusing on one thing you wanted to change?

Soda drinker? Maybe you want to try to replace one or two a day with water instead.

Fast food junkie who can’t pass a drive thru? why not plan and pack a few healthy things in your car if you just can’t make it home to get something to eat ( hint: you really won’t starve to death before you get home. I’ve applied this theory many times now 😉

Over eat at meals? learn to eat slower, take a little less, learn to really taste and savor what you are eating. Learn to stop when you are comfortably satisfied… and that might mean you leave food on your plate.

Sugar junkie? learn to be selective of the sweets you eat. Try to wean yourself a little at a time.

Not a big veggie or fruit eater? Work to add one or two new ones a week. In time try to increase your daily intake.

Exercise… if you’re moving from the couch to outside taking it easy in the beginning is your number one priority. You don’t want to get to enthusiastic and then hurt the next day so you can’t hardly move around.

The key is to find the thing you enjoy and gradually, skillfully work into it. Your body requires time to adapt and adjust to the new demands being put on it.

Good news… your body is an amazing instrument that can adapt and change and get stronger! You just need to pace yourself accordingly to let your body do what it’s made to do.

Set small, realistic goals for yourself in the beginning. As you give yourself time to adjust to physical demands, you can then slowly add a little more to your exercise regime.

Be patient with yourself. Changes in your body do take time. Your cardiovascular strength as well as your muscular strength need consistent work but it will come.

I was in the store yesterday looking through magazines when the lady stocking them asked me what I was looking for. I told her I was after one called “Strong” but didn’t know if the new copy was out yet.

She looked at my bare arms and said… “well, you look really strong!”

And now days, I guess I do, but that has been a slow and steady process. I wanted to tell her several years ago my arms were just…arms… with no visible muscles at all. No definition, no cuts, no nothing. Just chubby looking, undefined arms.

I didn’t get “strong” over night.

You know what it was? Small things I did that led to regular habits in my life. Habits of exercise and eating better. Habits of moving my body longer and farther. Habits of learning to lift heavier things not just to get muscles, but to kick butt in daily life.

Those small things lead ultimately to bigger changes in me.

Weight loss. Better lab numbers. Smaller clothes. More energy. Better mental clarity. Confidence and empowerment. Better nutrition. Healthy looking body.

None of it happened overnight. All of it was built on the simple truth that I just did consistent small things that lead to new positive habits.

Do I have bad days? you bet I do. Have I learned by now that I just need to keep on with small steps, always moving forward? Absolutely.

So, my suggestion for you, if you’re wanting to make changes, to get into a healthy lifestyle.. one that’s permanent…

Focus on small changes at a time. It will be more lasting, easier to accomplish and not leave you feeling deprived, exhausted, starving or wanting to throw in the towel.

And remember, it’s not instant gratification, you’re in it for life. Be patient and don’t give up on yourself.

Have you struggled getting started on a healthy lifestyle path? What has hindered you? Do you think the idea of small things to build new positive habits is something you can easily do or is more attainable?

process

The Numbers Game

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Numbers. We can’t move through life without encountering them, can we ? In school I really had a not so good relationship with math. I just didn’t get why the alphabet needed to be added in to confuse things. Thank goodness for a patient teacher who worked with me to get me through my final year in high school.

Why can’t numbers be as much fun as words!?

Words tell stories and paint pictures. You can visually set pictures in someone’s mind with words and artistically create with them.

Numbers are a slow form of torture to me… but nonetheless they are a part of life. I do have a good working relationship with them now… but I still prefer words 😉

Of course we deal with them in practical ways in life. We handle money, work with finances, deal with time, and for some, their jobs might heavily involve numbers and epic number skills.

There are other numbers we deal with too… on a health and wellness level we deal with the numbers on a scale, the measurements of our bodies, numbers from lab work and the numbers of our blood pressure and heart rate, to the sizes of clothes we wear.

Now I’ve written several posts on the scale and how that shouldn’t dominate our life or determine our worth. And it’s true… it shouldn’t. I’ve talked about keeping your focus on being healthy and loving yourself. A scale is only a single tool in our health journey, and definitely not the only one. Nor does it determine our overall health.

Let me be perfectly clear… I knew exactly when I was carrying to much fat and what those numbers on the scale meant. As adults, we know when we’re overweight, and need to change that for our own continued good health. When I talk about not being defined by numbers I am not encouraging you to stay in a place of not being the best “healthy you” that you can be. Excess fat contributes to many preventable health issues and I will always encourage you to move in a direction that will lessen that on your body.

I trust you will take the necessary steps to get to your healthy weight zone and we all have what is considered a healthy weight zone. By that I mean a 5 lb balance in either direction of our ideal weight.

When I was on my journey to lose weight I accepted where I was at for that moment. I just focused on loving myself right where I was as I moved towards my goal of getting fat gone.

Today, whereas I’m not focused on those numbers, I am aware of them. I am aware of the numbers on scale even though I don’t weigh in often.

I am aware of my sizes ( yes, I say sizes because most women have a couple they can land between) I have jeans that I consider to be perfect for me so as long as they are fitting well I’m good. And yeah, I can still get excited when my hard work is revealed in smaller pants.

Shallow? Maybe. Or just a reward for hard work, discipline and eventual success for my labor?

I’m aware of my measurements.

I know because of my body composition now, I’m measured more by body fat percentage, than a BMI number.

I’m aware of my heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, resting heart rate and what my lab numbers are.

I’m aware of these things because I know they all play a part together in all of who I am.

These things don’t define me… or give me worth… but they are important for me to have an awareness of for my overall health and well being.

So I want to encourage you, if you’re on a journey to lose weight and get fit, awesome!

Keep in mind the importance and awareness of knowing your “numbers” but don’t lose sight of the fact you are moving closer to being healthy and strong, not just for you, but for those who love you too.

No matter what stage we are in on our journeys it’s important to keep in mind these are tools that help us be aware of our health and fitness levels.

Remember though, as those numbers change, the overall physical benefits will be loss of fat, more energy, strength, mental clarity, less aches and pains on our body from carrying excess weight, possible reversing of some health issues and…well… maybe a new pair of jeans 😉

Tell me… do you practice an awareness of your numbers? Not an unhealthy focus, but simply an awareness for the purpose of maintaining your health.

The Weekend Mentality

weekend

Hello Monday! And that’s a wrap on the weekend….

Ahh the weekend. It’s a break from the grind and can give us a reprieve from the usual day in and day out activities… if we’re lucky.

Sometimes we still have all the expected responsibilities that come along with life, but the weekend can often be a time to chill out and do things that we’ve put off during the week or maybe it’s just an opportunity to relax and do a whole lot of nothing…

Either way…. it can often signify a change from our normal routine…

and in that it can also mean, perhaps an attitude, that says it’s the weekend and we let our eating habits slip, or we decide since it’s the weekend we “deserve” to eat whatever.

The weekend mentality……

Hold on…..I’m not saying you can’t have that brownie or a burger out…..

I enjoy a good weekend breakfast with my husband ( wellll a lot of times it can almost be brunch ’cause he’s a good sport and let’s me get my workout in and clean up first;) but by then I really am ready to put the food away.. and I enjoy that breakfast… which will almost hold me till dinner….

I just don’t want you to throw away the hard work you’ve invested in the week by going overboard and eating a lot of stuff that will not help your goals, but also might just make you feel not so great as well.

I guess this kinda goes along with my post I did on cheat days.

I think (personally) a practical daily balance not only keeps us sane and gets us to our goals, but allows us to enjoy life along the way without feeling deprived

Drinks out with a friend? Family birthday celebration? You just want some ice cream? A burger and fries has been wooing you for days?

Factor that in to your weekend, but don’t allow an all or nothing approach. You can enjoy those special things and still keep on track.

Personally, I’ve found that as my body has adjusted more to having healthy food the majority of the time, it’s not so crazy about those foods I used to look forward to indulging in periodically so it kinda keeps me in check.

But I still like chocolate cake… a lot…. so on those celebratory moments… I arm wrestle the kids for it 😉

Just a reminder for you… as you get to the weekends… live life… but don’t go crazy…..

Come Monday… you’ll be happy you’re still on the same forward movement towards success =)

What about you? Do you let weekends be a time to indulge more? Or do you keep on track with your normal eating habits?

To Exercise Or Not To Exercise

I exercise

Ever have a morning where you wake up and you know right away, you’re just not gonna be on your game that day?

That’s where I was yesterday morning. And by that I mean I woke up not feeling “bad” just not feeling awesome.

My tummy was growling for food, but I wasn’t sure if I should give it food ( know what I mean?) I kinda felt like someone was just in my stomach stirring it. I didn’t feel super energetic and eek… coffee… made me feel a little queasy.

I know things aren’t going well if coffee makes me queasy… that is just so very…wrong….

Anyway, as I was waking up and determining what exactly the deal was and why I wasn’t feeling a 100% impressive, I was also weighing out this….

“Am I on for my workout? Is what’s going on enough to call it a rest day or is it something that I can stomp down and plow through?”

I’ve always been really in touch with my body and listening to it. In the past few years, as an athlete, I’ve become more aware and conscious of it. Running has taught me a head to toe awareness when I’m on the road… a constant assessment of all systems.

On rare occasions when I didn’t feel something was right, I’d cut my run shorter.

So here I was this morning doing the mental assessment. I didn’t honestly “feel” like it but if I listened to my feelings there would be a lot of times I didn’t get out there. I was trying to listen to my body and determine….

was I trying to make an excuse to not workout ( hey, you could make today a “rest” day) it seemed like a good morning to just put my feet up…sip on coffee that was making me queasy…. OR…

get my gear on and head out for a little and see how things went. I convinced myself I could go try 30 minutes on the rowing machine and if I wanted to do more, I could. If not, I’d wrap it at 30 minutes. I can do anything for that short length of time.

I grabbed the weights thinking I’d do a short session with them first before the rower. That was my first clue… they felt so…heavy. Now I hear you… “aren’t they supposed to be?” but you see there is the heavy I’m accustomed to and prepare to engage with and then there’s the “it feels heavy ’cause I don’t feel so strong this morning” feeling.

After a few minutes with them, I left that behind ( no weights today) and moved to the rower. Again, 10 minutes in I was feeling warm but not the usual way I feel when my body is getting fired up from a workout.

I finished out my 30 minutes (cause I’m stubborn like that and knew I wasn’t going to die for doing it)

I headed in and feed the body a protein breakfast with some veggies which it handled fine.

And you know what? Mentally I just felt better for having done something. It’s crazy but I feel so “off” when I don’t get a workout in.

I knew I wasn’t totally on my game so I adjusted my plans. A little bit was better than nothing.

Don’t get me wrong or hear me wrong…. if I’m really sick I won’t work out. That’s just paying attention to my body and listening and honoring it.

But I’ve learned that I have to discern sometimes between my mind and body connection and fight down things that come to all of us.

Do I have a valid issue for not working out? Or am I leaning into the “being lazy” zone?

I’m no different than you. There are days I want to make excuses to not get up and get out there and do it. Trust me… I’ve had those thoughts. It’s just way easier for me to stomp them down and keep moving and not listen to the voices that are encouraging me to be lazy ( because that’s what it is for me).

I know that my workouts empower me and make me feel strong and energetic for my day. I feel worse not doing them. I feel out of sorts and not myself. These reasons are exactly why I push through the ideas suggesting I not workout.

Maybe you struggle with similar things. Perhaps you have been in places of assessing if your workout needs to go on, or if it’s a time for you to rest and come back stronger for the next one.

I want to encourage you to listen to your body and do what you need to maintain your health, but also be mindful of those lurking excuses that might keep you from doing what you need to do.

Tell me… do you listen to your body when it comes to working out? How do you call a workout? Are you able to see excuses over valid health concerns?

Food Management

food

Food. Amazing, delicious, tasty, life sustaining food. We wouldn’t get to far without it, would we? Food is essential for life and when we eat properly it gives us energy and keeps us healthy and well.

We also have exclusive control over the foods we put in our bodies and how much of it we consume.

This is one area in life that we have power over. We have power over the choices we make, how much we take in ( or how little if it swings to an eating disorder) what kinds of foods we choose to eat etc.

As I’ve worked with my client one thing I’m really excited about for her is seeing how she’s understanding that she has control over foods and the choices she makes. She is learning that just because it’s “there” doesn’t mean she has to eat it. She is learning to think and be selective about her food choices… meaning she’s thinking… “is this something I REALLY like? Is it worth it to eat it?” and if she can’t answer yes, she leaves it alone.

I’m really proud of her efforts in having to deal with so many parties and cooking foods and treats for them and still managing to have the scale slowly move backwards.

I love how she’s allowed herself certain treats and then taken time to savor and enjoy them. She has also made smart moves by simply tossing things in the trash she knew would be temptations.

It’s ok to do that. I’m always blown away when people say things like… ” I got rid of it by eating it all” or they feel they need to eat a lot because it won’t be there again.

Listen… there will always be tasty foods…things that we enjoy…. a lot. You don’t have to be the trash can to dispose of it.

Learning to think about what we eat is a huge step to building new habits and a healthy lifestyle.

Do you ever stop and think about how much mindless eating you might do? And really, yours truly has been there too. By that I mean food that we just put in our mouths without thought or hunger…. it’s just something to do… mindless.

Eating “just” to eat is a not so positive habit many of us have, but one that can be reshaped with some practice.

So a few tips…..

Be aware of what you’re doing. There are times I find that I have wandered into the kitchen …trolling… and fully knowing I’m not hungry. If you find yourself there and you don’t really need food… leave.

Don’t think you have to eat the last of something to “get rid” of it. There is a trash can, use it. Better yet, don’t fall into that mentality of thinking you’re doing yourself a favor by polishing off the last half of the ice cream.

Allow yourself treats but become extremely selective about what you eat. Not all foods are created equal nor are they often that great. Learn to leave behind things that just aren’t worth the calories.

If you are at a buffet or party select only the items you really enjoy. If something isn’t that great, don’t feel bad to leave it behind.

Know that each time you make a positive choice, it will set you up for future good moves. It’s empowering when you realize you can make intentional food choices that can leave you satisfied and in control.

Tell me, do you have any food management strategies you use to help you eat intentionally?