Fitness is a Lifestyle Not a Temporary Condition

Adopting a healthy lifestyle and achieving fitness goals can provide a feeling of accomplishment in the beginning. We plug into our fitness apps, fit bits, eating right and motivated to exercise. We are in fitness euphoria and experiencing self-motivation at its peak. We are determined and feel nothing will get in the way of reaching our goals, right?

This is awesome but the struggle is usually not in starting but in the maintaining. We all need to start the process of getting healthy but even more important is being able to continue the lifestyle.

As we progress in our fitness journey, things often become less important. Our determined mental game starts to soften.

Week three of the start may not feel as good or exciting anymore. Other things start to take priority and somehow being too busy to exercise or eat right dampen our motivation.

Week four seems to be filled with obligations that are somehow more important than the promise we made to ourselves to get healthy.

Week five may involve a long vacation where fitness is set aside and anything goes with food that will surely expand the waistline. Exercise is also put on the back burner. I mean who wants to be active on vacation is the typical feedback.

In a short time, our goal to get healthy has taken a back seat and old patterns have returned. The struggle is real for many out there.

Processed foods have replaced the good carbohydrates that were there just a month ago. The menu includes pizza and burgers instead of lean proteins and healthy fats. Water intake is also not what it should be for optimal fitness. What happened?

Believe it or not, choices and behaviors like this happen all the time. It can cause feelings of failure, discouragement and many of us give up. None of us are immune to returning to poor eating habits and reasons not to exercise. We somehow think once we reach our goals, we can start slacking. We miss the point of getting in shape is staying in shape.

Fitness is a lifestyle and not a temporary condition. The truth is we are responsible for the choices causing us to return to unhealthy patterns. This will require getting back that motivation we felt so strongly in the beginning.

If you are unable to do it alone, hire a qualified personal trainer or find a workout partner. If you are sabotaged at home, start creating two separate meals to ensure that you're eating healthy.  If too busy seems to be a problem, it's time to review your priorities.

Now is the time to start achieving your fitness goals, but even more than that, learning how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

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Diets Really Have No Place in a Fitness Lifestyle

Getting fit has nothing to do with going on a diet. In fact, I came up with an acronym for the 'diet' word and how it affects us:

D: Depressing
I: Illogical
E: Extreme
T: Taxing

How many times have you heard someone say they are on a diet? Diet trends are numerous and marketed ad nauseam. Diets may have a place in clinical scenarios but really not something for us regular people who may be sedentary or even active adults wanting to get back in shape.

Nutrition does play the largest role in our health and fitness. This doesn't mean restricting our calories by means of a fad diet is the way to a fitter body. It simply means eating better food for our goals. Actually not eating enough can work against us causing our body to hold onto fat stores.

Diets are also not lifetime sustainable because they can be too restrictive and remove important macronutrients from our daily food intake. We function best eating all macronutrients including lean proteins, healthy fats, and good carbohydrates. Any nutrition plan asking you to eliminate vital nutrients to reach your goals quickly should be a red flag. It may be tempting, but remember if something sounds too good to be true - it is.

Reducing fat and gaining muscle is not about eating less just eating right. Consuming nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, nuts, and seeds will enable you to reach your goals without feeling deprived. It does mean reviewing your current nutrition plan and changing up the food you eat.

Nutritious foods contain fewer calories allowing us the freedom to eat more and not feel guilty. When we start filling our plates with mostly vegetables and an appropriate portion of lean meat, counting calories can even be removed from the equation. Remember, no one ever got fat eating kale.

A healthy lifestyle is meant to be enjoyed and not to feel like a burden. Contrarily, diets can cause us to feel deprived and frustrated. Who enjoys drinking special shakes all day instead of eating real food? We are meant to cook, eat and enjoy real food. This is also called eating to live and loving every minute of it.

When we stop looking for quick fixes and forget about fad diets is when we can really be on our way to getting fit and healthy.

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Listen to Your Body When it Comes to Fitness and Illness

Have you ever had a severe sinus infection? I have experienced a couple and they can really put me down for a few days. I couldn't believe how horrible the symptoms were and I sympathize with anyone who has suffered through it. Bad sinus infections can take a while to recover from similar to any severe illness. For those of us who rarely get sick, this is quite a humbling experience.

Symptoms can include a severe headache and I would say more like entire face pain. Also, the inability to breathe and high fever are typical signs of a sinus infection. Sleeping can feel impossible and eating is often limited as our appetite decreases. Sinus mucus coming out yellow, green or even brown are obvious infection markers. Fitness is pretty much out the window when an illness of this magnitude comes calling. This is the time to focus our energy on getting better.

Illness can happen and does and it's okay to relax with your fitness program. In fact, your body will recover faster if you take time off to rest allowing your antibodies to build and work to your benefit.

There will be things we don't want or like to do but are necessary to recover from illness. I had to take antibiotics for my sinus infection for example if I was going to get better.

Put workouts on hold. Our body is working hard to recover and taxing it with a training session is really not the best idea. I'm not talking about the sniffles here, but a severe illness requiring a few days of bed rest. If you're too sick to get out of bed, you have no business in the gym.

Listen to your body. If you have a fever, vomiting, unable to breathe, and find it an extreme effort to get out of bed, then stay there. Also, listening to your body means knowing when to see the doctor. Not all illness will go away without some assistance. Trying to tough it out for too long can actually work against you.

It's better to heir on the side of caution and let a doctor diagnose an infection or virus. A virus typically runs its course without medication but an infection usually requires antibiotics. If you just don't feel right, are feverish, and not performing at what feels like you, then you may want to get it checked out.

It's okay to chill out and miss days at the gym. Diehard gym rats will struggle with this. Missing my regular fitness routine is difficult for me as well, but recovering from an illness the right way is part of being fit and healthy.

You're not going to lose your fitness just because you got sick and missed a few workouts. Not allowing time to recover from illness or even returning to workouts too soon can cause our body to relapse. Relapse of an illness can occur by ignoring your need to rest and get well. Relapse is said to be ten times worse than the original bug. It's better to be down for a few days than several weeks, right?

Drinking plenty of water, and replenishing electrolytes are essential when recovering from illness. Consuming chicken soup and broth are old remedies studies show nourish our body and replace sodium lost through fluids.

The bottom line is to think realistically when it comes to fitness and illness. Taking time to recover will actually better prepare your body to return to the gym faster. Illness is something out of our control but we do have control over how we treat our body when it happens.

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How Fitness Can Be Lost With Two Little Words

How many times do we justify unhealthy choices using the 'it's only' intro? Whether it’s only five pounds more, a small bag of chips, or one missed workout, it's easy to keep going once we start. 

These two little words can be the start of losing our fitness. The occasional treat turns into daily choices leading us in the opposite direction of our fitness goals. The five pound gain turns into ten, two cookies are suddenly five, and several workouts somehow get missed. Two innocent words have suddenly derailed all our hard work. 

The 'it’s only' dilemma can happen at any time but appears to creep back into the picture once fitness results are achieved. What we thought wouldn't make a difference in our fitness has taken us back to an unhealthy lifestyle and body.

These two words are not as innocent as one might believe. Saying 'it's only' is only for those with a strong mental game who really mean it for one time.

Let’s look at the time it takes to break the cycle of sugar craving. This is approximately two weeks or twenty-one days. If a person is two days shy of that goal and decides to break the rules for its only one time, it could snowball into continued unhealthy eating. All that hard work down the drain. This is hypothetical but happens more often than not.

I am all about moderation but starting a healthy lifestyle requires structure and discipline. Success happens when we don't cave to thinking 'it's only' is acceptable. Why risk losing the accomplishments of several days/months of hard effort?

There's no denying two innocent words can take a person from success to digress in short order. Within a few weeks, we may stand in bewilderment wondering what happened. It happened because 'it’s only' became the tool used more consistently than healthy choices. 

Pay attention to that inner voice tempting you towards unhealthy food choices and skipped workouts. Be aware of friends and family who may sabotage your efforts with it's only for this one time. Besides, you deserve it, right? Wrong. What you deserve is making the best healthy choices for yourself.

Becoming aware of the two words (it's only) and how we use them to justify unhealthy choices is important to our fitness success. When we're able to identify the behavior, we can avoid setbacks in our fitness life. 

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Fight Frustration With Motivation and Keep Going

We have all experienced frustration and it's actually normal during our fitness journey. Nothing goes perfectly and results can take longer than we thought. When results are slower than expected, frustration can feel overwhelming. Staying motivated can be difficult during this time. Our feelings can move past frustration straight into pissed off and angry. 

Frustration causes many of us to consider giving up. We doubt our efforts and think nothing will work. We may even return to old unhealthy habits. Before the negative mental game stops you completely, consider fighting frustration with motivation.

The truth is we're all working toward the same fitness goal but at differing rates of progress. Health is a process of small steps taken over time that provide big results. Just know each positive step to improve our health is working. Our bodies know something good is happening, even when we're unable to see it. It's during times of the unseen we must have faith in the process. Be motivated by the good being done to become a healthy person. 

Throwing in the towel and going back to old habits will create nothing but further unhappiness and frustration. It will rob us of all the effort accomplished so far. This is not the time to quit, but to stand strong and kick frustration to the curb with motivation.  

Fighting frustration with motivation will require an inner strength we all possess. It will be a choice to love ourselves at this moment no matter what the scale says. It requires daily acknowledgment of our efforts like eating healthy, completing a workout, a daily goal, or whatever has been the most difficult struggle finally accomplished that day. 

Having a positive attitude will fight off frustration one motivation at a time. Patience and a consistent habit of healthy eating and exercise will produce results. Begin to focus not so much on the goal, but what can be achieved today. This will minimize frustration and promote feeling motivated. 

The stress of trying so hard will be replaced by an inner peace of doing our best each day. When we relax about getting fit, health falls into place. Adopting that healthy lifestyle will eventually feel as natural as breathing. 

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Change Happens When We Face Our Fitness Truth

Standing in our fitness truth can be a difficult thing and often times something we avoid altogether. Even as we stand in the mirror with our naked truth right in front of us, we can still be in denial of what is looking back at us. 

We believe working out and eating healthy for one week will provide some visible results. We look at ourselves with frustration unable to accept the truth about our fitness. It takes more than a week to get to an unhealthy state and yet we expect an instant miracle. Instead of continuing the fitness journey, we give up before really starting. 

If all of us truly took responsibility for our fitness truth, the world would be filled with healthy fit people. This is far from reality. More than 30 percent of Americans struggle with obesity or being overweight. 

The problem is the continual dishonesty with ourselves about how we're really living. Most of us aren't eating healthy and rarely get in a workout. Regardless of what we say, our body keeps a good record of what we're actually doing. 

We may talk a good fitness game in front of our friends, family, and even our trainer but within our private life, the truth remains a buried secret. Lying to ourselves does nothing to make us healthy people. When we continue to brag about eating healthy, our bodies are telling the true story of what's happening. 

Some medical conditions or medications may contribute to weight gain, but this doesn't apply to the majority of people. Denial of our fitness truth is the reason most of us are unhealthy, overweight and unfit. Until we're able to accept our responsibility for causing the problem, we won't be able to apply a solution. Achieving a healthy and fit body takes acceptance of where we are now and changing daily unhealthy habits. 

Keeping an accountability fitness and food journal really helps us stand in our fitness truth. The additional splurge meals, alcohol, and snacking can all be written down. Being honest about how many times we exercise can also be included in our journal. It's hard to deny what we're really doing or not doing looking at the facts in writing. 

If we don't write things down, we conveniently forget about off track items and only recall eating vegetables and salmon for dinner. Somehow if we don't write it down, it's not happening. We often become frustrated and in disbelief that anything we did could possibly cause us to gain weight or not hit our goals. Who is anyone trying to kid with this type of thinking and behavior.

When we face our fitness truth, positive results can happen. Our efforts to change will result in becoming a healthier, happier, and fit person. 

Not being honest with ourselves about our fitness can be difficult to accept. Completely normal feeling as we work through emotions. We all need to start somewhere. Beginning with the truth in all relationships including the one with ourselves is the basis of all trust. Do you trust yourself enough to stand in your fitness truth? Do you really want to experience a change in your life and experience good health and happiness? It will take work and you may even need help going through the process. The effort will be worth every positive step of acceptance and action to change. 

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How We Respond to Life Keeps Us Healthy

Being healthy is many things but I feel the biggest player in life is how we respond to it. We all face daily situations in our personal lives and even the workplace. How we respond to these circumstances can create a healthier, happier, and stronger person.

Being healthy includes more than the physical and nutritional. It also includes our emotional and spiritual health. If anything in our life is out of place, health is just not complete.

When a problem arises, we can choose to mishandle the situation or solve it in a healthy way. Many times issues are out of our control. The truth is the only thing fixable or controllable is yourself. We're not responsible for the actions or behavior of others, but what we do have is the actions and behaviors of ourselves. Life can be made to feel complicated and depressing or carefree and happier simply by how we respond to situations.

The same principle should be applied to how we take care of our body. Do we nourish it well, exercise it enough, and provide adequate rest for it?  What are your actions telling your body and how is it responding to you?  Are you getting great healthy feedback or receiving messages of fatigue, illness, weight gain, depression, and stress?

Our body is a good barometer of how we're living life. A healthy lifestyle reflects itself from the inside out. If we're doing a great job with eating right, working out, and emotional happiness then our body will feel pretty amazing.

If we choose not to listen to our body cues to get our act together, guess what? We will be hit with weight gain, stress, illness, and usually being pissed off at the world for our problems. It's up to each of us to listen to what our body, mind, and spirit are telling us and take appropriate action. It will be the responses in life that create our health.

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Why I Focus on Eating Healthy Not Counting Calories

I stopped counting calories years ago. I simply made my focus eating healthy quality food each day. One of my favorite nutrition motivations is “no one has ever gotten fat eating too much kale.” I don't feel the need to keep track of my calories when I eat primarily nutrient-dense foods. The food I eat keeps me strong, healthy and feeling good and that's what matters. When your food is healthy, it promotes healthiness and appropriate body weight. 

I keep my refrigerator and pantry stocked with plenty of organic vegetables, fruits, yogurts, raw nuts, grains, and lean meats. I graze throughout the day eating small healthy meals every three hours. This keeps me satisfied and well-fueled for work and physical training. 

Maintaining a healthy body is about living a quality life. This means being concerned about the quality of food consumed. There's a big difference choosing to eat a fast food meal compared to an organic chicken breast with mixed greens. Healthy food is nutrient dense, fewer calories, and provides health benefits. It even looks like you're eating more when eating healthy because you are. 

This is a great example of why I don't bother counting calories. As long as I am eating meals like organic chicken and greens, the need and stress behind counting calories are pointless. I eat for health and listen to the cues of my body that tell me to fuel up.

I also apply a strategy when buying groceries. I shop the perimeter of the store and steer clear of the center aisles full of processed foods. Most grocery store setups are the same, produce to the right or left, dairy to the back and the meat counter on the opposite side. 

Part of my grocery shopping also means sticking to a grocery list. This allows me to stay on track and on the budget. I really enjoy the local farmer’s markets and shop those for organic produce as much as possible. I also love the organics at Costco.

I believe in keeping my food intake simple. Eating healthy gets a slam for being complicated and this is really untrue. How is eating chicken and vegetables complicated? The problem is not with the food but how we feel about making changes to our lifestyle. Am I right? 

Eating an organic apple and peanut butter is healthy food at its simple best. Not complicated at all and something we can all manage. Grilling or baking a chicken breast is another basic way to eat healthily. Nothing difficult in the process. Again, the issue is believing healthy eating is a burden or somehow doesn't taste good. 

If we could just get back to the basics of eating to live, eating real food, and not stressing about it so much. Our fast paced processed society is creating unhealthy overweight people. We have really strayed from how eating right and working hard was a normal part of living. 

Think about our ancestors, what they ate, how it was provided, and prepared. They worked hard physically growing crops, raising cattle and dairy all from their own land. It was freshly picked, cooked and consumed throughout the day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner the way it should be. 

I realize many of us don't live on farms or even grow our own food. However, I do try to eat as close to farm to fork as I can. I eat to live and work hard for the food I eat. What I do count is quality when it comes to my calories and that works for me. 

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Waiting to Start a Fitness Program Means Never Reaching Our Goals

How many Mondays have gone by without starting a fitness program? What other things continue to take priority? We have good intentions, want to get in shape but follow through is lacking.

It's time to put a stop to the excuses that get in the way of our health and fitness. Health is our wealth and we couldn't live such a busy life without it. Think about that. Declining health equals no work, no social life, and no money. Not that money is or should be the most important thing in life.

Our priorities are skewed and our reasons to not get fit make no sense in the big scheme of life. Why are we waiting for illness to hit our life before taking action? Our lives require a priority overhaul. Don't you agree?

Living a life without good health is not a quality life at all. When the morning routine means taking pills for proper body function there is something wrong. This is referencing self-induced illness created by not taking care of ourselves. This shouldn't be an acceptable norm for society. This should piss us off and motivate change in our life.

Waiting for someday is no longer an acceptable excuse. Besides, someday doesn't qualify as a day of the week. Do you want to lose fat, look good naked, feel great, move better, and be more confident? Do you want to toss those pills prescribed from self-induced illness? Do you want to be healthy?

In order to improve our health and fitness, we need to make it a priority. Change takes a choice and we're all responsible for our health and fitness. Your busy lifestyle should include consistent workouts and healthy food.

Fitness takes good time management. For example, making gym time one of your social hours without canceling. Another way to improve our eating habits is being prepared with a packed cooler at the workplace. This will keep us out of the vending machines, break room junk food, or nearby restaurants.

You can achieve your goals by applying simple changes. It will be a progressive life-long journey. Life is meant to be enjoyed with a healthy, fit body. The choice is yours to make it happen. All in fitness love. Stay Healthy!

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Use Fitness to Work Through Emotional Upset

Life is not meant to be easy peasy and all wrapped in a pretty bow all the time. The truth about life is it can suck and be filled with very difficult emotional and even physical hardships. 

Emotional junk can weigh down our brains and bodies and cause us to retreat into a shell of self-defeat. When we're struggling with emotional upset from any life situation, it's important not to give up on you. During these times we tend to not take care of our health and fitness. We really can become our own worst enemy.

Emotional upset can happen at any given time and we can choose to handle it in a healthy or unhealthy way. It really comes down to us being responsible for our own physical and emotional health. This also includes maintaining our fitness and happiness. 

Emotional upset seeming to be the most painful occurs in close personal relationships with spouses, significant others, dearest friends, and family. It's also the most difficult to navigate feelings that may include anger and resentment. We can become so bitter it interferes with the quality of our life and health.  

We tend to walk around with unrealistic expectations of how things and life are supposed to be. We want to be in control of how people treat us and really expect others to be like us. Often times we create our own upset because things don't happen according to our own thought processes. 

These self-induced feelings can create an unhealthy person that we ourselves find hard to recognize. It can be difficult when we feel hurt, but it's also important to recognize if the hurt is real or created from unrealistic expectations. 

In the midst of emotional upset, it's important to exercise and release endorphins to help us feel better. Studies have shown exercise to be one of the best methods for stress reduction, decreased depression, and overall positive well-being. 

It would be wonderful if life had an easy button to simply remove all the drama causing us emotional pain. The closest thing we possess to make that happen is our response to what causes the upset. We can choose to walk around with a bad attitude or choose to be positive with a healthy response. A great workout can enhance our positive feelings even more.   

Having a healthy response to unhealthy situations takes learning and practice, but the reward is a healthier happier life. There is nothing worse than stewing inside and growing an emotional pimple until it bursts into ugliness. There are so many positive avenues to take care of the problem in a healthy way. Eating healthy and exercise are great ways to improve our mental and physical health. Other ways to work through emotional upset include meditation, prayer, or even reaching out to a licensed therapist.  

Life is similar to a classroom and we are students learning through each experience. Every circumstance is an opportunity to learn and grow in a positive way. With every upset, we can choose to become healthier people. Remember, life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how we respond to it. 

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Fitness is a Process You Achieve One Day at a Time

Believing anything happens quickly is not realistic. Fitness is a process of small changes creating large results over time. No magic wand to instantly provide a chiseled physique or bikini body. We may want that, but not how it works. Quick fix thoughts only set us up for frustration and failure.

Achieve fitness one day at a time. Biceps don't suddenly appear after your first day in the gym. What does occur when you apply fitness daily is progress. The muscle will show up but let it work, grow and build. It's like a fine wine or great simmering stew. The journey will be rewarding but patience is required.

One of the worst things you could do is to jump into a fad diet or take unregulated fat burning supplements thinking this is the answer. Read the small print on any of these pseudo-fitness deals. "Best results when accompanied with a healthy diet and exercise program" is what you'll find.

All that needs to happen is to follow the small print which is the best advice on those bottles. In fact, any results achieved comes from implementing a healthy nutrition plan and exercise. You're the one doing the work, not what's in those bottles.

Fitness done daily will take time and effort but the lifelong results are the reward. It's also a journey and not a destination. There's no need to feel rushed or stressed about getting fit. It's really a simple process often over-complicated. Find healthy foods and exercise you enjoy and this is what keeps you coming back for more.

Avoid jumping ahead in your mind to what you want now and focus on today. What are you doing today to reach your fitness goals? Did you exercise, eat healthily, and get plenty of rest? Awesome! Celebrate your daily achievements. Write them down if it helps. Stay positive even when things aren't showing up as fast as you think they should.



We're all different in how our bodies respond to change. Comparing to friends or people we see at the gym is the thief of joy. We're not here to be or look like someone else. Our job is to become our best healthy self through daily choices. Who cares if your friend lost 5lbs and you didn't reach that mark. Fitness is not about who is faster at achieving results.

The goal is getting fit and loving ourselves through the process. The days are going to pass anyway so focus on adopting a healthy lifestyle the right way. Today is what we have, tomorrow isn't promised and yesterday is gone. Be in the now with your fitness and you'll get there one day at a time.

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Reasons or Excuses are Both the Same When it Comes to Getting Fit

Let's be honest about how reasons affect our overall health, fitness and daily lifestyle. Reasons are often used to avoid a workout or eat healthy meals, agreed? They are really the same as excuses that keep us from getting fit.  

We want the fit and healthy body but come up with every reason in the book to avoid doing the work to achieve the goal. Why? What continues to get in the way of the thing we most want?  


We almost have a rebellious attitude toward health and fitness. We convince ourselves we can achieve our goals even with unhealthy eating and exercise habits. A negative attitude, excuses, and rebel behavior is definitely not going to achieve a healthy body or mind. We really need to change our mind in order to change our body. 


If getting fit were easy, everyone would be doing it. Health and fitness require effort and planning. Why is there such an issue with working for our goals? Everything in life worthy of anything takes work. Health is a gift and fitness is the action and our responsibility to maintain it. 

Why is the effort to adopt a healthy life considered a burden, and why are reasons used to avoid it? Most of us work hard in our careers, strive for material things but disregard health and fitness. Without our health, we wouldn't be able to achieve even those material goals. Things are really turned around in this life.

When are health and fitness going to become the priority? It's not like we have to scale the largest mountain peak in the world. We simply need to love ourselves enough to take care of our body. Fitness is meant to better our life not to be a burden. It's time we stop using excuses to avoid what should be high on our important list. 

Life is too short to let reasons get in the way of being our best healthy self. Convincing ourselves otherwise is absolutely crazy. 

We waste so much time coming up with reasons to not get healthy. The workout or healthy meal could have been done already. Time has become so mismanaged and our bodies are suffering the consequences. We know what we want and it's important to not give into the reasons holding us back. You can achieve your goals but it will take losing all the excuses. Start doing something today your future self will thank you for. 

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How I Maintain a Healthy Perspective About Fitness

I love eating healthy, being active and how I feel as a healthy woman. I adopted a healthy lifestyle years ago and never looked back. Today it's my state of being and natural existence.

My passion for health and fitness has become my occupation which is really a goal we should all have in life. When we do what we love, it really doesn't feel like work. It's a sharing and teaching of how I live my life. It feels awesome to be able to provide this gift to so many people.

I am realistic about health and fitness. I don't teach perfection but celebrate progress. Fitness is not about a restrictive lifestyle but a healthy balance of eating right 80 to 90 percent of the time and regular exercise.

I also don't believe in taking things to extremes where health would feel like a burden for me or anyone else. I encourage a strong and positive mental game and keeping health in perspective. When we enjoy our food intake and physical activity performed, it becomes a healthy happy life.

I am all about eating organic, non-GMO, and cooking at home. This allows me to be in control of what I'm eating and selective with cheat meals. Life and fitness are about balance and indulgence is part of the equation.

Being selective with splurges gives me the freedom to decide if my calories will go toward a favorite dessert or even an adult beverage. I certainly will not turn down a piece of my Mom's homemade lemon meringue pie. I also enjoy a nice glass of red wine during the week.

Workouts can be effective without being extreme and drawn out. I don't spend endless hours in the gym to maintain my body. I believe an effective workout can be completed in 60 minutes or less. I also feel my workouts are a healthy outlet and not a punishment for eating crappy. I make sure to get in 4-5 workouts per week with at least two recovery days. I would call my healthy lifestyle realistic, maintainable, and mentally positive.

I do my best to eat healthily and sometimes this means my food isn't always organic. Realistically, unless we're growing our own food in untainted soil, none of us are truly 100 percent organic consumers. We can get too complicated with food intake which is actually a problem with eating healthy today. As long as our focus is on doing the best we can, that is good enough.

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Gimmicks Don't Represent or Create Lasting Fitness

Fitness gimmicks are a billion dollar industry causing frustration for consumers not seeing the results of their promises. The truth is nothing exists in a bottle or package to create lasting fitness. I am a strong advocate to debunk food and fitness myths and their false guarantees to deliver a perfect body in 10 days or less.

I can really get on a soapbox about this subject and sometimes do. Today seems fitting to fling a little soap around and clean up the fitness myth mess created by dishonest marketing in the fitness world.

Most of America wants to get fit fast and companies are not dumb in knowing how to market that dream at top dollar. Store shelves and online sites are crammed with millions of miracle fitness makers. As consumers, we are responding to those scams and making supplement companies very rich indeed.

You are the target group these billion dollar companies have placed their focus and promising fitness in a bottle of wonder. Next time you open your wallet to buy a gimmick guaranteed to melt fat overnight and create instant muscle mass, please realize this is a fairy tale. You can either waste your time and money or get serious about getting fit the right way.

Supplements and herbs aren't FDA regulated. Companies can put anything on their bottles to sell the product, and that is exactly what they do. I am a hard sale when it comes to supplements or gimmicks and I refuse to believe anything not backed up by science. Take a close look at the small writing on most unregulated fitness supplements and you will read the following: should be combined with a healthy eating and exercise program for results.

Stop right there! Guess what, if you just start eating right and exercising you would see results without buying an expensive bottle of quick fix hype.   Most of our nutrients can be obtained through eating a wide variety of healthy foods.

Some foods can naturally boost metabolism getting rid of the need for any unhealthy stimulant fat burners. Getting fit and staying healthy takes a lifestyle that can't be purchased at the store. You are the secret to your success! Myths are for fiction story books and fairy tales.

FITNESS MYTH

It would be nice to simply snap our fingers and make our bodies the way we want them, but that's not life or reality. It's time to face the truth of what it takes to achieve fitness and get off the gimmick-go-round.

Getting fit will take a commitment to eating right, consistent exercise, lots of water, and plenty of rest. This lifestyle will provide the results you're looking for guaranteed by your daily choices. Doesn't that sound like a much better investment of time and money?

Stay Healthy Fitness Tips:

Believing food and fitness myths cause setbacks to reaching your fitness goals.

Fitness gimmicks cause yo-yo dieting and inability to stick to a real program.

Fitness in a bottle can be harmful to your health since the ingredients are unregulated.

Learn how to get fit by eating real healthy food and exercising at least 3-4 times per week.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

        

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Age is Just a Number Not a Definition of Our Fitness

Age is just a number. Some of us believe it holds a negative stigma as we get older. This is far from the truth and each day should be considered a gift and every age a celebration. Wear it proudly!

We are never too old to get fit and it really comes down to feeling our healthy best at every age. Honestly, I don't even think about my age unless someone makes a comment. Being fit and having a positive attitude makes me feel youthful and excited about living.

Each day is a new chance to make better choices physically, nutritionally, and mentally. How exciting is that! I like to start each day being thankful for the many blessings in my life. I have been through a tough journey and still standing, extremely happy, and going strong with my fitness.

Aging is really a state of mind. I refuse to get all hum-drum about getting older but focus on what I can do to improve my life through the aging process. What it comes down to is not my age but what I'm doing through the ages to make a positive difference.

I can sit around like a bump on a log, depressed, and seeing my life as half over or embrace that my life is more than half full. I choose the latter and enjoy the challenge of becoming stronger physically and mentally.

Sometimes aging holds a stigma of grandma wearing frumpy clothes shuffling along with hair always in a bun. Far from the truth speaking as a Nana. When not in the gym, I enjoy wearing trendy clothes, my hair down and even applying a little makeup. I do believe in less is more with makeup application. I prefer to wear a tinted moisturizer with sunscreen as my main makeup. Being fit at every age really allows us to feel good in our skin and confident about wearing what we want.

Older, wiser and definitely better is what comes with aging. It's an honor and privilege to live each day and being able to exercise is a gift. I believe in a quality life and in quality health. Eating healthy and exercise should be a natural extension of who we are as healthy people at every age. We also are more relaxed, don't sweat the small stuff and realize worry adds nothing to our day. Life is too short to entertain ugly mental stuff that doesn't nourish our soul in a positive way.

I will always be a strong motivator for all people and especially those over 50 who think getting fit is not possible. Becoming your best healthy self at every age is possible and it's a personal choice to make it happen.

Each of our journeys may differ but our goal to be fit and healthy a shared event. Life can be hard and it will be how we respond to every circumstance determining positive or negative growth.

When things feel hard is not the time to give up, eat like crap and not exercise. The result would only create an unhealthy and very unhappy person in the frump zone of life. Life is short and precious and not taking care of yourself is really wadding up your gift and throwing it on the floor.

Fighting for our fitness needs to happen at every age and regardless of our circumstances. Remember, age is just a number and doesn't define our fitness. What does define our fitness are the choices we make every day to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

            

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