For Things to Change it Requires a Change

We can all get stuck in a rut, feel funky, or backslide on our health and fitness programs.  Burnout and frustration are top reasons for giving up and returning to unhealthy habits. Rebelling to changes required for a healthy body and lifestyle is also a common behavior. 

We're all walking a different fitness path but with the same goals of being fit. We want the look and feel of good health but really aren't putting forth a change to experience change. That is the truth with all things in life: change requires change. If we're unhappy with our health, body, or life in general, a deliberate choice to change needs to happen.  

Sometimes it's a difficult process to implement necessary changes to better our health and life. Our rebel self can surface and try to sabotage our attempts to do something great which happens more often than not.

Getting mad about it doesn't bring about what needs to happen. Making a promise to ourselves to change and following through with that change is what will make the difference in our lives.

I suppose if anger was channeled into positive action and motivates the change, then getting mad temporarily could be an OK thing. However, anger often leads to bitterness and a give-up attitude. It's best to remain positive while making positive changes. 

Change takes a choice and patience. It's also a focus on progress and not perfection. As we strive to change our health and fitness, it's important to realize it will be a journey and a challenge. Remember challenges in life are what change us. They are the learning tools of becoming a healthy person physically and emotionally.

The saying “do what you have always done and you will get what you have always gotten” is true for life, fitness, and health. If we don't change what we do, we will remain in our same states of unhealthiness. We need to start owning the unhealthy parts of our life so we can figure out what needs to be done to change each area. 

Are you unhealthy, unhappy, stressed, anxious, angry or whatever question you want to add? Why and what needs to be done to change that? The goal for each of us is to implement the changes to create healthy change in our life. Once health is made a priority, you will start feeling better and stimulated to make even more positive changes. Improving our fitness and health reduces illness, enables us to handle stress, and creates a happier state of well-being. 

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It's About Time We Fix Our Fitness

Let's face it, we don't need anyone to tell us we're overweight or unhealthy. We are adults and know when we need to fix our fitness. When our body isn't healthy, we usually are unhappy, not feeling our best, and may have been told by the doctor to change our lifestyle. Our friends and family may also be giving us kind hints to take better care of ourselves.

If all the above is happening, then guess what, you already know something should be started to fix your fitness. Fitness goes beyond the physical and includes emotional and spiritual well-being as well. Fixing our fitness requires looking at our complete picture and making the choice to clean up our act. 

It's not rocket science and requires nothing magic to fix our fitness. We only need our will, determination, and follow-through to become healthy. The media would like us to believe we need a bunch of expensive things, products, pills, and potions to obtain a fit and healthy body. The truth is we all possess the ability to create our fitness.

The first step is admitting the areas we are unhealthy. Secondly, creating a plan of action to get the process of adopting a fit lifestyle started. If you're struggling with being overweight, have painful joints, low energy, frequent illness and low self-esteem, a great start would be to look at daily nutritional intake and exercise. If emotional problems such as anger, chronic stress, and tension are an issue, it will be important to identify the cause of these feelings. A qualified counselor or licensed clergy member could be helpful to start the healing process.

The important thing is to get on board with fixing your fitness. Procrastinating on this very important subject does nothing but waste what could be a healthier happier life. Being in denial about being unhealthy is also a thief of health and fitness. Changing our mental game and being honest with ourselves will be a necessary step to change for the healthier. 

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Don't Be Ashamed of Your Story

For some reason hiding behind our secrets seems to be the easy and almost normal thing to do in life. I'm not immune and in fact guilty of such past behavior. Years of life and wisdom have brought me full circle to being almost too transparent. Hiding is a tiresome process unfounded and stress producing. It feels good to be free and able to share my life and who I am. 

I have learned not to be ashamed of my story because it just might inspire or help someone going through the same things. Everyone will experience circumstances that may or may not be within our control. What we learn from these experiences helps to create who we are. 

Why do we get so caught up in what people think it causes us to hide our true self? Our struggles are left in the closet for fear of rejection. Not being accepted has become more important than sharing what is happening in our life. Fear takes over our ability to share deep struggles. We struggle silently even though we may need help or a listening ear. Sadly, fear of rejection cuts off any chance of gaining a support system through difficult times. The truth is we really don't want people in our life who would reject us for who we are. Life is about building real and meaningful relationships that are positive and supportive. 

In my lifetime, I have hidden the inability to set boundaries. I allowed myself to be mistreated in early marital and boyfriend relationships keeping it all inside. I have been a closet Christian, suffered alone with anxiety, hid my cervical dystonia condition, and in my competitive fitness hid behind a ripped body as being healthy. 

In hindsight, I now see my fear of rejection kept me from being me.  During the time I was unable to set boundaries, I cared more about what people would think or say than my own health. I never wanted to be considered a failure in the eyes of another. I am embarrassed to say at one point, I didn't confess to being a Christian, and just kept it between me and God. I tried to hide my cervical dystonia condition because of the tremor that can sometimes accompany the condition. Suffering from anxiety in my life had been another closet issue I thought others wouldn't understand. 

Years have passed and accepting myself, shedding fear and shame are probably my healthiest accomplishments. Sharing the real me without being guarded has been such a relief and freeing experience. It has allowed me to help so many others suffering in the same ways I once did. My road to self-acceptance wasn't easy or something that happened overnight. Once I learned to open up and gain a support system, it re-defined my life.

I am a firm believer in faith and a positive advocate for a great therapist to assist during difficult times. Learning to love yourself and share your story is not only a healing process, but also opens the door for others to feel comfortable enough to step toward you for help. When fear of rejection is no longer an issue, it opens doors for true contentment to flood your life. 

So many hide behind relationship problems, eating disorders, medical conditions, addictions, money problems, and the list continues. Hiding and handling things alone makes being happy impossible. The majority of us walk around living fake lives with fake smiles. We are so overcome by shame, embarrassment or fear it's no wonder many of us suffer from depression and stress. Hiding behind lies doesn't promote healing or positive growth in our lives. Until we learn how to share our stories with courage, we will not be able to be happy healthy people. We are required to own who we are and to become a better person than yesterday. This takes courage. Sharing your story is the first step. It will not only open the window to healing but also open many doors to inspiring others.   

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Wish, Want or Be a Doer to Achieve Fitness Success

All of us wish and want for a fit and healthy body. Sadly, not all of us follow through with the doing to make it happen. All too often something gets in the way of doing what needs to be done to make the wish a reality.

It doesn't matter how much web surfing, article reading, or fit people watching is happening. If what you're doing isn't motivating you to take action, it's nothing but wasted time. In fact, all that time surfing the web could be time used to complete a workout or meal prep.

I even have to catch myself and implement a certain amount of time for social media work. My life requires excellent time management to run my personal training business, writing obligations and maintain a healthy lifestyle. That means shutting down my computer and making the choice to exercise and prepare healthy meals for the week. 

It's fun to dream about reaching our fitness goals. I am the first to applaud and be motivated by a fit physique because I know the effort it takes and the lifestyle required. Wishing and wanting can turn ugly when the doing is not taking place. Somehow feelings of resentment and bitterness can appear toward self and others even when no action to fix anything is occurring.

We are adults responsible for our daily choices. We decide our day to day happiness, outward behaviors toward self and others, and ultimately taking care of our bodies. If the choice is not to do what it takes to get healthy, then all the wishing and wanting are merely thoughts.

Being a “doer” is how you will achieve a fit and healthy body. What we do determines the lifestyle we maintain. It doesn't even matter if we have limited time to workout. If twenty minutes is all you have, give it all you got with no excuses. All steps to improve our health regardless of the time are positive progress. 

We really need to move past the wishing and wanting, and into the doing. Taking action is what makes results happen. When we become doers, we feel accomplished, more confident, and overall in much better health.

Achieving the fit body we want and think about all the time takes responsibility, time, and effort on a consistent basis. This is true for all things in life: our jobs, education, relationships, and spiritual life for example. Sitting around thinking that things are just going to fall into our laps without effort is unrealistic. Some people really do believe that life works this way, are unmotivated, and feel they are owed a free ride. The truth is there are no free rides to fitness.

Life has never promised easy, and many times we make fitness much more difficult than it needs to be. This is no reason to fall into a wish and want pity party when the “doing” has never been attempted. Time to wake-up and smell the coffee and honestly ask ourselves why we're not doing what it takes to get healthy. Follow-through is the only way to fitness success and doing what it takes daily to create a healthy lifestyle.

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I Don't Use Supplements or Believe in Fitness Gimmicks

What I mean by supplements are those products promising a fit and healthy body simply by using whatever is in the bottle. I surely don't believe wrapping my mid-section with herbs will reduce my waist size either. I guess you could call me highly skeptical when it comes to fitness gimmicks. I really have to believe in a product to endorse or promote it and this is a rare occasion.

Products guaranteeing increased fat burning, muscle size and super powers receive a raised eyebrow from me. I say let's see the research to back up your claims. Supplements and pseudo-fitness products are unregulated so companies market with the lure to sell. Sadly, they lack adequate clinical studies so we are left in the dark regarding safety, purity, and effectiveness. Also, they can come with harmful side effects.

The next time you pick up a bottle of fitness magic, take a close look at the label. You will find in fine print the following: "results obtained when combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise program."  BAM! What is the point of wasting money? Once a healthy diet and exercise program are implemented results will follow. This will happen without taking whatever is in that bottle.

Of course any supplementation is a personal choice. I'm not a downer on all

things that could improve our health and wellness. In some instances, and if prescribed by a physician, supplements may be necessary for some people. I do indulge in the occasional protein shake, take vitamins fairly regularly, and use glucosamine for reduced joint pain. This is more for my general health and not something to enhance my appearance. I have also completed extensive research on all the products I take. I don't believe drinking a protein shake is going to create muscle without work for example. If I feel cold symptoms coming on, I will take additional vitamin C to boost my immunity system. 

The primary source of my nutrient intake comes from what I eat daily and not by using dietary supplements. Because I consume a wide variety of nutrient dense foods, I feel confident my required daily allowances are being met. I fuel my workouts with healthy carbs, recover my body with lean proteins, and protect my cellular function with healthy fats.  

I lift weights as part of my exercise program and don't feel I need an over abundance of protein to increase my lean muscle mass. I eat my share of chicken breast but stick to a regular portion size per meal. I don't drink several protein shakes each day thinking this is going to improve my body. That is just crazy and would do nothing but tax my organs and create a constipation issue.

The demands I place on my body through exercise do require more calories obtained from all macronutrients. I simply focus on eating healthy several times per day to satisfy those needs. There is nothing magic about that and in fact maintaining a healthy body is pretty simple. It just requires eating right and consistent exercise.

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Fitness is Not About Having All the Answers

Fitness is a process and an ongoing journey of learning. What works best for each of us is discovered through trial and error. There will frustrations and victories fine tuning our daily choices.  It's not about having all the answers because we never will. Our bodies will change and circumstances will happen. Through it all, the pursuit of health and fitness needs to continue no matter what. Quitting is never an option for us.

There is no free pass to fitness and it does come at a price. Many of us may think there is a quick answer to results. We gravitate toward pseudo-fitness believing the impossible and spend too much money on wasted gimmicks and unregulated supplements.

It's really OK to take things slow and enjoy the fitness ride along the way. We are works in progress striving to be better than yesterday. Mistakes are not seen as failures but opportunities to learn and grow. The mastery of adopting a healthy lifestyle stems from our mistakes and shows us the areas we need to change to reach our fitness goals.

We learn how to do adopt a healthy lifestyle through daily choices: what we eat and drink, how we exercise, time spent resting, and life balance. The opportunity is there for us and without excuse. Health and fitness come down to priorities and good time management.

Is your fitness taking a backseat to the busy going on in your life? How about negative self-talk keeping you from even trying?  Fitness is not about having all the answers. It does require you to want to change an unhealthy lifestyle. Something for you to think about.

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Be well and Stay Healthy!

             

Make Fitness a Lifestyle not a Temporary Resolution

We don't need a January or upcoming event to get fit. Life is the event and we're failing to make health and fitness a priority.

Why does a New Year motivate us to become a "new you"? Regardless of when it happens, we all desire self-improvement. This can mean different things to everyone.

Weight loss, toning and gaining muscle are always at the top of the wish list. Working in the fitness industry over 30 years, January is one of my busiest times. Although happy for the job security, I'm disenchanted about temporary resolutions. My wish is for fitness to be a year-round life long goal.

New fitness programs always begin with a gung-ho attitude but often run out of steam a month or two down the road. Sadly, a large percentage of people return to unhealthy habits after only a few weeks. Beginning a fitness plan can feel easy, fun and fabulous. The struggle seems to be in continuing the lifestyle. Typically, unrealistic goals are initially set making it impossible to adhere to the new changes. Disenchantment with overly strict healthy food changes and over-committed workouts cause many to give up.

The majority want to make changes but expect it to happen tomorrow. They fail to take into consideration years of living unhealthy. Patience and self-acceptance need to be part of the resolution decision and also going about it with realistic expectations.

If you have been overweight and without muscle definition most of your life, it's unreasonable to think a week of healthy eating and pumping iron is going to magically create results. Results take time. Lack of patience and frustration usually send people running to a quick fix pseudo-fitness plan. The only thing achieved here is spending tons of cash on unregulated pills and powders. Nothing is gained except a continued unhealthy body left without proper nutrition and exercise knowledge.

If you are serious about your fitness resolution, allow yourself to be a beginner and accept your current body. Progress slowly with choices you can live with, be happy about, and maintain for a lifetime. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will you. Focus on the now and be proud of each step taken toward your goals.

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Be well and Stay Healthy

             

My Journey through Menopause

My journey through menopause is more of an update of my "Mad at Menopause" blog post.  Head on over and read that before diving in here to get the full story of my symptoms, frustrations, and actions to resolve them.

Instead of being mad at menopause, I'm now calling it a journey through menopause. The drastic symptoms have softened thanks to research, talking with my doctors, and making treatment decisions that best fit my body. As women, we will all experience menopause and the havoc placed upon our bodies during this transition.

Menopause is part of life and health and not a subject to be hushed and brushed under the carpet. There is no shame or embarrassment discussing anything that relates to health and fitness. We have lived too long with our heads tucked between our tails and still thinking how dare we use the term "vagina" in public. Come on now, we're all grown women and men for that matter and this is an important issue for women and the men who support them.

Starting menopause, I was plagued with unbelievable hot flashes that tormented my days and nights. Fatigue was at an all time high. I felt irritable, experienced foggy thinking and inability to sleep. Vaginal dryness was insane, numerous urinary tract infections were intolerable and lastly, my libido tanked. I was completely frustrated and menopause absolutely consumed me.

I think menopause was at the forefront of every conversation with hubby back then. I thank God every day for such a supportive man. It didn't matter how physically fit I looked on the outside because my inside was so out of balance. I didn't feel confident sexually or as a woman. This weighed on me heavily and I was desperate to fight menopause with all I had.

This update comes two years into my menopause and happy to report, I feel fabulous. I no longer take OTC herbal blends and decided to give bio-identical hormone therapy a try.

I have been on bio-identical hormones for two years now and the improvement in menopause symptoms is remarkable. In addition, I have continued the low dose estrogen vaginal insert pill and very happy with the plumped up results. I also use natural coconut oil and vitamin E suppositories regularly for internal vaginal moisturizing. My hot flashes went away within 2-weeks of bio-identical therapy. As the months have gone by, I feel like my old self again. Emotionally and physically my body feels like it has been brought back into hormonal balance. I am now functioning at what I would call a normal level.

My confidence is renewed, my thinking is clear, and sex is great. My lifestyle of eating healthy and regular exercise continues to help residual menopause symptoms. My cycles have not made an appearance for over a year which is one of the indicators of being in full menopause.

I don't know how long I will require trans dermal bio-identical hormone therapy but am happy with the decision to go this route for my body. It has changed my frustration into stress-free days and I can better accept going through menopause. Not having a period feels like sweet freedom. I can wear white pants with confidence.

Sharing my journey through menopause is my way of supporting other women going through this process. However, we are all unique individuals who need to be our own health care advocates. It's important to make the best choices for ourselves through research and doctor discussions. What works for me may not be the best option for you. Be motivated there is hope to feeling better going through menopause and always be pro-active when it comes to your health.

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Be Fabulous at Every Age!