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Showing posts from September, 2016

For Things to Change it Requires a Change

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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 thr...

Fear No Longer Gets in the Way of My Story and Helping Others

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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 liste...

I Don't Use Supplements or Believe in Fitness Gimmicks

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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 midsection 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...

Fitness is Not About Having All the Answers

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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 n...

Make Fitness a Lifestyle not a Temporary Resolution

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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 impossib...

My Journey through Menopause

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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 wh...