What Works for Me May Not Work for You

What works for me may not work for you. That's awesome! Why? Because we're all different people with differing strengths and weaknesses. Each of us should focus on the things we can do, and do our best not holding anything back.

Acceptance of who we are and celebrating our strengths is essential for health and fitness. I eliminate push-ups from my workout for example because they will aggravate my neck injury. Instead, I work hard on my chest press and it works for me.

It could be easy to sulk back into a corner and cry over my loss of certain athletic abilities, but what would that do for me?  Nothing. Life has given me a great purpose and a strong will to fight for my fitness. I have good and bad days just like you. Over several years of training, I have come to really enjoy what I can do through exercise modification and creative program development. I do what works for me and it's fabulous.

It's important to never give up hope and know you can achieve great things. Work hard to reach your goals and do whatever it takes to get there. We all have the ability to find our strong and put it to work literally. It doesn't matter how long it takes because life and fitness are all about the journey. The important thing is to put aside fear and doubt, let go of a failure attitude, and embrace who you are right now.

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I dedicate this Blog to my beautiful Australian shepherd Roxie who passed away 2 weeks ago at 3 years young. She was diagnosed with a rare, advanced heart disease (DCM) for her breed and age. I dearly miss her and she was truly my love bug companion. Always cherished and remembered my sweet girl.

I Miss My Roxie

             

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Looking Like Myself

What do I mean by looking like myself ?  Well, I have certain genetics and a lifestyle contributing to what I look like. I'm not supposed to look like anyone else including other fitness women in magazines.

Back in my competitive days, I do admit to more than admiring and felt I needed to look like them to win. I struggled with my body not responding the same way as another fitness competitor. It was an unrealistic way of thinking. The girls in the magazines don't even look like the girls in the magazine. Straight up the fitness truth.

I'm so happy to have learned through that insecure journey. I have come full circle with knowledge, age, and wisdom. I embrace who I am and what I look like. I strive to be my best me and not anyone else. It would be such a stressful life to constantly compare myself to all the beautiful women out there. Life is too short to think unrealistic thoughts or goals.

Did you know ALL images in magazines are photoshopped? The pictures are smoothed, cropped and colored for marketing appeal. The purpose is to create unreal images of women and men representing something they're not. Many of these models may be in great shape with a normal healthy body. What's missing is their natural lines, bumps, blemishes, rolls, bootie, and hips revised with a few strokes of a computer. Anyone can get a photoshopped 6-pack now and this isn't a joke. I'm not anti-photoshop, but if I need to go to the image credits just to recognize the person, that is simply not right. 

photoshopped

Some of my older modeling pictures are slightly photoshopped. I have to say it's an art of knowing just how much to shop an image and loved when some softness was needed. Overall, I prefer my untouched edgy images showing the real me.

I really enjoy taking self-portraits with no filters and proudly display those here and on my Instagram. Most are without makeup and sweaty from a workout showing the real over 50 me. 

It's important for me to want to look like myself and not someone else. This tells me that I accept, embrace, and honor who I am as Darla (woman, wife, mother, trainer, writer, daughter, sister, and friend). How could I even walk the shoes of helping people get healthy if I didn't believe in this. 

We all need to strive to become our best healthy self with the wonderful genetics we have. I'm no longer 20 something like my beautiful daughter who reminds me of my youth. However, I am over 50 and celebrate who I am today. I am pretty darn happy with that. Fitness is a journey and never a destination. 

not photoshopped

I embrace my fine lines earned from laughs, smiles, and a few frowns along the way. I believe aging is a privilege and an honor. Although there is no such thing as the fountain of youth, I feel fitness is darn close. I have kept my body and mind young living a healthy life.

Consistent exercise, healthy foods, plenty of rest, and balance of work and play have been my friend. My fit lifestyle not only keeps me feeling youthful but also decreases my risk of illness. I want to do my best to live a good long life. When it comes down to me and the mirror, there is acceptance. 

A journey of un-photoshopped images and proud to display the real me:

 

My Workout of the Day:

ARC Trainer: 30 minutes

Body Stuff: (light today…a bit tired) 1 minute intervals

Modified french press (repeated 4x in between legs)

1 set cross back step ups

1 set reverse lunges

1 set squat lateral lifts

STRETCH TIME

meal 3

Nutrition of the Day:

Coffee, one cup

1-1 Omega muffin

2-Post workout shake/ ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds

3-Shredded chicken, avocado spinach wrap

4-Small potato topped with n/f Greek yogurt

5-Ground turkey breast burger and grilled corn

6-Watermelon and homemade protein balls

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Love to be Real

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Satisfied with Fitness, Health and Life

Be Fabulous!

Satisfied is such a great word. I admit to being satisfied and happy with my life and fitness. I don't need to look for approval or contentment outside of myself. I stopped worrying about not being good enough years ago.

My younger self would run around trying to please everyone. I put my own feelings aside and didn't understand how to apply healthy boundaries. I am so happy to be older, wiser and definitely better.  

This journey called life has blessed me with many discoveries of positive growth. I understand all I have gone through as part of a learning process. 

How does satisfaction relate to my fitness?  I do take my health seriously and make fitness priority. I'm satisfied with the outward reflection of my lifestyle. This has nothing to do with vanity and everything to do with quality living and feeling my best.

I am content with my efforts and satisfied with my body. I don't need to be thinner, leaner, or even more muscular. I have complete satisfaction with the work I have done and the continued maintenance of my body. I can honestly say I am good. I know my limitations, understand myself on all levels and accept the person that is Darla. 

I have helped numerous people over the years. There are so many who remain unsatisfied even when they reach their fitness goals. They're living the lifestyle and it's still not good enough. This, of course, is a deeper issue. These are the feelings that haunt within and may stem from past events or even present circumstances. Regardless of how fit we are on the outside, if inner work is not exercised, true health and happiness won't happen. Time to stop fooling ourselves and work on whole body satisfaction. 

I am a positive advocate for counseling, therapy, and a woman of strong faith. I have no problem recommending inner work may be required. This is the time to visit the ghosts lurking in our minds and cluttering up our positive space. It's important to discover what the heck is going on to cause such unhappiness and nonacceptance of self. I have been there, done that, and greatly appreciative of all I have learned and having God on my side through the process.

Daughters are Fabulous

I look at myself and no longer see that 20 something gal now reflected in my beautiful daughter and stepdaughter. They are absolute peaches and cream beauties and I marvel in that for them. Being over 50 comes with laugh lines, stretched skin from having children, surgery scars, and the overall aging process.This is acceptance of the cycle of life and feeling blessed to have gone through and to be continuing the journey. This is satisfaction and happiness.

I may not be 20 anymore but will always work hard making health a priority to feel and look my best. Fitness is the fountain of youth and a way I honor myself in this beautiful life. I am trendy, not frumpy, and love to feel sexy. Being healthy satisfies all those things for me and my best is always the goal. 

I also believe in the word enough, and when it comes to my fitness, it's good enough. Satisfaction applies to so many things in my life. Contentment in being healthy is just a part of Darla.

I don't believe the grass is greener on the other side or having more is better. I do believe in the saying “I may not have the best of everything but I make the best of everything I have.” I enjoy less is more, love the simple things, not sweating the small stuff, and in daily miracles.

It's important for me to feel satisfaction, contentment, and value every moment. If I didn't do that, life wouldn't make sense. You may see Darla, the fitness expert, but let me introduce you to Darla, the satisfied person.   

enjoy some motivation

 

 

need a workout?

Try my recipes

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Be well and Stay Healthy

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