Find an activity that
you ENJOY
Exercise no longer has to mean bouncing up and down in an
aerobics class or spending hours at the gym. I grew up on Jane Fonda and
Richard Simmons DVDs. While I have found a few DVD workouts I love (Bob
Harper's Inside Out Method series,
Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred…and
yes, I still enjoy a good Richard Simmons workout), they can be hard to stick
with. The first workout I actually enjoyed and stayed with was a cardio
kickboxing class at a local martial arts studio.
There are a number of activities out there that you can
enjoy and that will give you a great workout without feeing like you're working
out: martial arts, swimming, racquetball, volleyball, biking, skating, skiing, hiking,
etc. If a normal aerobics class bores you, try something like Zumba, PiYo, or
Insanity. Take a spin class. Sign up for a 5K. They're not just for serious
runners. I walked my first 5K (Color Me Rad) and had a blast.
They key is to find something you enjoy. You'll be more
likely to stick to something if you actually enjoy it. You may have to try a
few different things before finding what works, but you'll be thankful when you
do.
Find workout buddies!
When I first started on this journey, I was the lone ranger.
I enjoyed my kickboxing class but didn't really connect with anyone. Then I
went to meetup.com and joined an adventure club. I didn't know what would come
of it, if anything. Around this time I had found out about this
little thing called "mud runs." There was one coming to my area called
the Pittsburgh Ruckus that touted itself as "an adult playground" and
although I had no training under my belt, hadn't started running and was still
pretty much out of shape, I decided to register for it.
As it turns out, one of the ladies from the adventure club
was putting together a team for Ruckus, so I decided to join. The day of our
mud run we were complete strangers, but now I am proud to call many of them my
friends. I have continued to participate in 5k and mud runs with some of them
and we keep in contact via Facebook, encouraging one another on our fitness
journeys.
I have also become close with my MMA instructors and the
other students in my class. I consider them friends and occasionally we get
together at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the fights. They are always supporting
me and encouraging me in whatever crazy event I decide to sign up for. When I
was out for 2+ months with my vertigo, I would get texts and FB messages from some of them, asking me how I was doing and that they missed me. People like that
make working out fun. I actually look forward to going to class every week.
Surround yourself with people who will encourage you on your
journey. They don't necessarily have to be interested in fitness and health,
but they should be interested in YOU and any true friend will encourage you,
not drag you down.
Say NO! to crazy diet
fads
One of the biggest problems with diets is that they're
restrictive. That's why they don't work. If you "fall off the wagon"
and have a piece of cake, then suddenly you feel like a failure. When you go to
the extreme and completely cut something out of your life that you enjoy,
you're eventually going to give in and pig out on that one thing you cut out.
Start slow. Small changes will create big results. Some ideas:
add some fruits and veggies to your meals. Drink more water. Cut out soda.
Don't buy junk food to keep in your cupboard. Eat more lean meats like turkey
or chicken breast. You can find some easy, delicious, AND healthy recipes
online.
I was obsessed with Coke. I could/would buy a liter and
drink it all by myself in one day. No
wonder I had weight issues! So, one of
the first things I did is I stopped buying Coke and any other pop. I obviously had
self-control issues so the best way to control how much pop I drank was to stop
buying it. If I want a Coke now, I will go to a machine and get one Coke. I can
honestly say that in the past year I can only remember drinking pop a total of
3 times. It was hard at first but eventually you stop missing it.
I also don't buy potato chips or my personal favorite,
Doritos, because I know that I'll eat the whole bag myself in one or two
sittings. It's better to just not have it around.
Due to a family history of high blood pressure, I read food
labels and try to refrain from anything with added sugar and I look for
low-sodium foods.
While I don't keep junk food in my house, that doesn't mean
I never eat it. If I want chocolate, I'll buy a chocolate bar. If I crave ice
cream, I'll get an ice cream cone. I just can't keep a lot of it in my house
because I know how I am and I know that I won't be able to discipline myself to
eat just a little at a time.
I still eat pizza and fries and hamburgers…just not all the
time! It's unrealistic to think that you can go from one extreme to the other
overnight. Take baby steps. It's a lifestyle change. You're only sabotaging
yourself when you try to make all sorts of big or extreme changes all at once.
Accept that you WILL
have "failures"
Everything isn't going to go your way all the time. There
will be days when you are determined to eat healthy all day long, only to wind
up having a donut or two (for me this might happen within the first couple
hours of waking up, lol). There will be times when you will be determined to
walk or run a certain distance and not make it. You may have unexpected health
issues or family issues that will sideline you. You may have days or weeks when
you eat nothing but crap because you allowed your problems or circumstances to
get you down. You might go to a race determined to PR or to run at a certain
pace only to have things not go as planned.
Been there, done that. Life happens.
I was the kind of person who allowed set backs to keep me
back. I would get on the scale after working out and eating healthy, see that I
gained a pound and get depressed (one reason why I suggest saying bye-bye to
the scale). I allowed the numbers on the scale to determine the success of my
workout or eating routine. If I gained just a pound I took that as a sign that
I must be doing something wrong. Now I pay more attention to how my clothes fit
and most importantly, how I feel.
I went back to MMA after 2+ months of inactivity and could
have kicked myself over the fact that much of my technique seems to have gone
bye-bye and my push-ups stink….but instead, I am proud of myself for going back
and I am thrilled that I had the energy and stamina to get through the entire
class. I did much better at sparring than I expected to and I had fun. It felt
good to just feel normal again. Everything else will come back in time.
I choose to focus on the good. When things don't go as
planned, the best thing to do is to focus what went right (there is usually
something!) and if you can't find anything that went right, then use whatever
went wrong to push yourself to do better next time. Learn from your mistakes
and set backs. Everyone has them.
There are no shortcuts or easy roads to success. I don't
care what the advertisements say: you can not lose weight AND KEEP IT OFF by
taking some magic pill or drink. I'm appalled when I see commercials that say
you can lose weight without working out….all you have to do is take this pill!
I'm especially appalled by advertisers who tell you that you can lose an
extreme amount of weight in a short period of time. Even if that is possible,
the chances of keeping it off are slim to none. Advertisers promote quick fixes
because we have become a lazy, "microwave dinner" society that wants
to see changes NOW. We don't want to have to wait let alone work for anything.
If you want to lose weight or most importantly, become a
healthier YOU, it's going to take time, a change in choices, a change in
attitude, and a lot of hard work and patience.
You CAN do it.
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