Strength in Numbers

 

The path to getting healthier can feel like a long one at times.  But like all big trips, it helps when you have good some company along for the ride.

No one is going to be more committed to your fitness journey than you, and maybe your personal trainer.  But after the session, or even after a long day at work, when we arrive home tired and wanting to unwind, that's when temptation can hit us the hardest.

And that's where the real work begins.

Here are some tips to create a support network for your training:

1) You don't need to tell the world, but tell a friend.

Have an accountability partner.  Someone who can understand the struggles you are facing and will work with you on your journey.  Maybe they can offer some support or can help you through some of the challenges you are facing.

2) Be selective with your team.

Not everyone will be happy for you when you start to take better care of yourself.  Some people will feel worse about themselves when they see your health and fitness reaching new levels.  They may unknowingly try to hold you back. 

3) Train with a group.

A group fitness class or boot camp can create a community atmosphere where members push each other to hit and surpass their goals.  That and a spirit of friendly competition always helps to boost the motivation! 

4) Celebrate the success of other people.

Congratulate others on their accomplishments.  The more you are able to encourage the success of others, the more confident you will feel about yourself and about reaching your own goals.

If you want to grow your dreams, you've got to grow your team!  Building a support network and being actively engaged in the support of others will make the process  of moving forward in your fitness far more effective and enjoyable!

Nutrition Myth Busters

There are a lot of options and opinions out there of what we should and shouldn't be eating.  However, food and nutrition research published by IDEA is shedding light on 4 grey areas.  

Here is a summary:

1) Raw Food is not always better than Cooked Food

Sometimes, it takes a little cooking to unlock the nutrients in a food.  Raw spinach, for example, is great - but if they are slightly cooked, phytonutrients are activated which make some of the health benefits more bioavailable.

2) A little processing is sometimes OK

Don't get me wrong; adding excessive sugars, fats and sodium is a problem.  Sometimes we need a little convenience in our lives to make a healthy diet more realistic. We need to be careful with processed foods, but if we learn how to read nutrition labels properly, we can make good choices and not have to spend the whole day preparing our meals.

3) Natural means NOTHING

It is a marketing term.  Natural foods don't have labels.  And anything in a package labelled "natural" may not be the most healthy choice.  Read the labels carefully :)


4) Reducing Sugar is great - Eliminating?  Not so much

Most of us really need to REDUCE our sugar intake - but let's not eliminate it altogether.  There are as many as 257 names for sugar.  They are not all created equal and some are meant to be in our foods.  So take it all in context :)


There is a lot of information out there but as a rule, balance is key.  If you like red meat - enjoy! - but just watch your portions and how often you eat it.  Taking a little time to research is an essential part of a total fitness plan!
 

Look in the Mirror

A client shared some of their struggles with weight and self-image with me earlier in the month.  I encouraged them to write about it.  This was posted with the permission of that client, who wants to remain anonymous, but would like to share their struggle in hopes that others can relate to what they are going through:   
     

I’m very proud of you!

Ro.

Look in the Mirror

Looking in the mirror, I didn’t recognize what I saw.  I don’t know how long it’s been going on for, but I guess I have always had an image in my mind about what I looked like to other people.  I thought I was in a good place with my fitness and my eating habits.

Until I was getting ready for a dinner and none of my good clothes fit. 

It used to make me laugh, thinking how useless it was to look at yourself in the mirror and feel bad about how you look.  I’ve more or less, had a good relationship with myself and a relatively positive self-image for most of my adult life.  But I think that I’ve turned a blind eye to things that have been creeping into my life that shouldn’t have ever been there.

My relationship with food has become the mirror.  It's become a mirror of my relationship with myself.

Now, I suppose I have a choice to make.  I can give up and sink further.  OR I can dig my feet in and start process of reclaiming lost ground.  

I refuse to give up.

Time and Time Again

Time waits for no one.  We end up waiting for time.  And too often, time fails to show up.

In terms of our mental health, we need to schedule time for ourselves.  We also need to schedule time for our workouts.  If the relentless pursuit of more time is not filtered through the discipline of time management, some of the most important parts of our lives can slip through the cracks.

Take home point:  Be deliberate about how you spend your time.

I challenge you to make three appointments for your physical fitness and three appointments for your mental health this week.

Put them in the calendar.  Honour these appointments as you would any other.  Make time work for you!

Happy Long Weekend,

Rochelle

The benefits of a slow start

My husband is a pilot, so I’ve had a chance to hear some flying analogies in the year we have been married.  I thought this one applied well to the world of fitness…

On takeoff, the engines of an airplane work tremendously hard even though the plane really isn’t moving that fast.  If you were to take a snap shot of the airplane just beginning to take off, you might think it may never get airborne.

But once the plane picks up enough speed to leave the ground and climbs to altitude, the engines throttle back and the airplane can cruise comfortably up where it belongs.

We belong in a state of health in our bodies, in our mind and in our spirit.  If we have allowed ourselves to stagnate, it can take a tremendous amount of energy to get going again.  With time and consistent effort, we can make that climb, and the effort to sustain our healthy state won’t be nearly as much when we started and seemed to be making very slow progress.

It’s a process, but ask someone who’s been through it.  Ask them if it was worth it - I’ll bet they’ll say it was.

Seth Godin on Taking a Short Cut

In this post, I am quoting a blog by Seth Godin.  We all like to save time - but in health and fitness, as it is with many things, the quick way is not always the best way...


All of us are willing to spend a little time and a little money looking for a shortcut now and then. A quicker, more effective way to lose weight, make friends, earn money and get clean, fresh breath. Sometimes, one of those shortcuts pays off and it reinforces our belief that there might just be a better way.

It seems, though, that those that spend the most effort in search of shortcuts are often the most disappointed and the least successful.

This entry was reposted from the blog of Seth Godin

Running My Own Race

Life can feel like a competition.  Sometimes we find ourselves wanting to climb over another person to get ahead.  And even though we only have our two feet to put in front of us, we often look over our shoulders to see who's chasing us, rather than keeping our eyes fixed on where we are going.

I love to run and I love to race.  But the more I think about it, the more I realize that when I train for a marathon, I'm not giving any thought about trying to beat someone else.  When I'm running with a friend or a race with 40,000 other people, the only person I have any say over is me.  And whether that person finishes in front, behind or beside me, I am still running my own race.

Life for some reason, can cause me to think differently at times.  Suddenly I care about what other people think, how they look, how they are doing and how I stack up next to them.

I have to remember that I am not better than someone else if I finish ahead of them - and I am not inferior to someone who finishes in front of me.  I am here to do I was put here to do and at the end of the race, I just have to know that I did my best.