Change The Way You Think...Green Mountain and My Personal Struggle

 Today...I open my heart to you! 

"Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace

It has taken me about one month to finally figure out what my New Year's Resolution will be for myself in the year 2012.  I believe Carina Round's song Down Slow speaks to me when she says," Slow Down."  I realize the song has nothing to do with that fact that my life needs to slow down but she says so many times throughout her song that I can't help but say it to myself.  Check it out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IfepMQ8EDI

I want inner peace with myself...the kind I feel when I breath in mountain air.  When I lived in Austin I almost suffocated not having access to mountain air.  I've also heard this from people who grow up by the ocean.  They need that ocean feel, ocean air!  I want the calm. To live by this quote:


 "The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh

I was lucky enough to be a fitness intern at Green Mountain at Fox Run for four months back in 2007.  I absolutely loved working there.  In fact, I've often dreamed of having my own health and wellness spa for women in the mountains of Colorado (Please feel free to donate money for this :-) It truly is a lifestyle change and at the core of this change is not restriction...it is the belief that you are free to make choices.  You can make the choice to eat what you want without guilt...move your body in a way that feels good for you.  It teaches you to enjoy the present moment rather than putting your life on hold until you achieve a certain weight or look. And in my industry, it is very easy to get caught up in this. 

I found two things to be true in my life, when I stopped trying so hard to find love, I found it.  The same applied with food.  Once I stopped stressing out about achieving a certain look, or I stopped letting food dictate my life, I found out I was much happier and the weight just feel off.  I was reminded of this over Christmas this last year.  Did I eat my mom's chocolate cover pretzels...HECK YES!  Did I feel the need to shove as many as possible down my throat in fear that I wouldn't get any until next Christmas...NO.  I was very aware that I wanted junk and ate it when I felt the need but I never over did it.  I also didn't feel people were judging my every move.  I actually lost 3lbs over Christmas by eating what I wanted and keeping up with my exercise.  I stopped fearing things in my life, slowed it down and guess what, I found pleasure in the moment.  As soon as I started back up my crazy rat race routine of working two jobs, trying to maintain my house, not sleeping (I average 5 hrs. unless I drug myself then I get 7-8 because psh...that is a healthy way to live your life), I squeeze in my own exercise to make my mind feel better (not my body) even though my body is saying STOP YOU CRAZY WOMAN, you've already taught two classes today, then oh yeah when you are filled with high anxiety, that is a great time to shove food into your mouth without thinking all while my dog stares at me hoping I will take her for some exercise or drop whatever I am eating onto the floor.  I stopped myself this week and asked WHAT AM I DOING?  I preach health and fitness to friends, family, and anyone that will listen but how well have you slowed down and taken some time to really work on you?  Have you ever asked yourself that?  I've noticed I've been asking myself that for 3 years.  However, I haven't been able to give myself a direct answer of slow down...remember what Green Mountain taught you?  Why aren't you going back to what you learned and practice some in the moment self love on yourself?  You tend to give self love and be there for everyone else, your clients, the members at work, co-workers, friends...and yet lower on the list does seem to be your family and YOU.  Which makes me shake my head but say AH-HA at the same time.  Show yourself some self-compassion, stop judging yourself and looking at yourself through a shattered mirror!

One valuable lesson I learned at Green Mountain was to think of your health and wellness as a 3 legged stool.  The legs represent fitness, nutrition, and behavior.  If you focus on only one aspect of your life, your stool is unbalanced and wobbly.  One area that is often overlooked is our behavior.  Our minds dictate so much of our success.  This is something I struggle with everyday of my life.  I live in this rat race of go go go as many of us do but often I find I break down because I don't stop, slow down, and let myself feel; let myself be in a non-judgmental place. 
Yoga is great for calming the mind down but I hate it because my mind likes to run and I feel the best running.  Yet Seth asked me a great question a few months back, "What are you running from that you always feel the need to run."  I said the normal worries of life.  I often wished I enjoyed doing yoga because I notice something when I take it, my breathing changes.  I take deep fuller breathes.  The kind I take when I'm standing in the mountains.  It is quite amazing but I still hate it...just like many people hate running.  Yet, I have found doing Yoga Journal's 30 minute home videos to be easy enough for me to do without hating so much and they are free!!!  My goal of being calm is easy on the weekends but the real test comes to the practice during the week.  Feel free to let me know how you handle your own inner peace.  I'm open to ideas. 


For some additional reading:

http://www.fitwoman.com/support/fitbriefings/changing-thinking/

HealthE Start

I've been busy at work promoting our HealthE Start program.  This six week program aims to help participants keep their New Year's Resolution by following the three E's...Education, Exercise, and Eating.  The participants do different activities worth different amount of points (5, 10, 15 points).  The goal is to be the person with the most points at the end of the program.  The activities are as small plan your exercises activities in your day planner to attend a group fitness class.  I thought it would be fun to share some tips and activities to help my friends stick with their health and fitness resolution goals. 

Tip #1 – Variety and Progression

 

The human body possesses an incredible ability to adapt to most stressors that are placed upon it, and this includes your activity levels. Once the body adapts to your regular exercise routine, it requires some sort of variation and progression to continue getting desired results. Most “fat loss” exercise programs require constant change every four to eight weeks depending upon the individual. Keep the mind and body guessing by incorporating the following recommendations for a long-term “fat loss” program:

• Incorporate interval training three days per week. Interval training is a short burst of work causing the heart rate to increase, like a sprint, followed immediately by recovery time. Your workouts can be progressed by: 
  • Increasing intensity of sprints (go from one minute to 30 second faster sprints)
  • Reducing recovery time between intervals (go from 1:30 seconds to 1 minute) 
  • Progressing the type of cardio (go from walking to running). Choose variety in the types of activity (try swimming, rowing machines, etc.) 
  • Adding intervals into one bout of activity (start out with four, and progress to eight or even twelve). 

• Incorporate strength training in a circuit-training format three days per week (non-consecutive days). Circuit training is setting up 8-12 exercises and moving from one exercise to another with very little rest between. After completing all exercises in one cycle (set), repeat another cycle starting with the first exercise again. Your workouts can be progressed by:
  • Overload – constantly strive to overload the muscles with increased resistance (weight) by starting out light and then moving toward heavy.
  • Reduce the duration of each exercise by allowing the repetitions to come down. Start out at 12 to 15 and progress by reducing reps to 8 to 12 (make sure you are increasing your weights with this recommendation). 
  • Exercise program – start out at a total body routine and then progress to a split routine such as lower body alternating with upper body. 
  • Equipment – start out using machines if comfortable and progress towards free weights such as barbells and dumbbells 
  • Positioning – start out with seated positions and gradually progress to strength training exercises that call for a standing position.

Tip #2 – Meal Planning Basics
Meal planning is deciding what meals you are going to eat for a given period of time (typically three to seven days) and then creating a shopping list based off of those meals. Meal planning: 

• Saves time, money, and waste
• Lets you have healthy meals and snacks that are ready-to-go 
• Allows you to better control meal choices and portion sizes 
• Provides fewer trips to the grocery store 
• Gives more variety in your diet 
• Decreases stress

Because you plan meals and snacks in advance, meal planning can also help maintain or achieve a healthy weight, provide energy and overall well-being, incorporate your cultural values into the meals you prepare for yourself and/or your family, and most importantly helps you stay within your food budget.

When deciding to plan a menu for yourself and/or your family for a few days or a week, take some of these tips into consideration: 

• Involve family members in food shopping/preparation/menu planning 
• Provide a variety of vegetables, both raw and cooked, at most meals 
• Enjoy fruit with meals or for dessert 
• Aim for balance, variety, and moderation every day 
• Think about and choose foods you and your family enjoy 
• Each meal and snack will ideally include: 
  • A source of protein 
  • Healthy carbohydrates
  • Fiber 
  • Healthy fats

Meal planning requires a time investment up front – maybe 30 minutes to an hour once a week to plan out meals and write out your shopping list. However, the time savings and all the other benefits are well worth it. It takes time to save time!

 

Tip #3 – Five Steps to Successful Meal Planning

#1: Make a list of your family's favorite meals

• Even better, have them sit with you and write down their favorites
• If they write it down, they will be more likely to eat it 
• It can also provide ideas for meals when you can’t think of what to eat

#2: Grab the grocery ads 

• Saves both time and money: start with the protein sources on sale as those are typically more expensive (ground turkey, beef, pork, chicken, fish, tofu) and build meals from there 
• Cut coupons 
• No paper? Check online – some grocery store websites will even give you meal ideas and shopping lists

#3: Check your calendar 

• These days, everybody is busy, especially if you have active youngsters. Before getting too far into your meal planning, check the schedules for the week. Late baseball game on Wednesday? Plan for a quick meal or leftovers.

#4: Take inventory 

• Take an inventory of what is in the fridge, freezer, and pantry so you don’t waste food and can build meals with what you already have 
• Waste less food because you buy only what you plan on eating that week

#5: Get ready to go 

• At this point, you are ready to write out the meals for the week
• Make a shopping list for the items you don’t have
• Post the “menu” on the fridge and hit the grocery store!

 Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and Happy New Year.  This is the fitness world's busiest time of the year so I apologize for my lack of postings. 

Many people start out the beginning of January with new goals and resolutions to get fit...healthy...lose weight etc.   The thing is, around the beginning of March, people vanish!  Many people set goals that fail because they have failed to plan and made vague goals at how they will successfully accomplish their goals.   I have found a couple of articles offering advice on how to set goals as well as one giving you guidance on losing weight.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/setting-realistic-weight-loss-goals

http://www.oma.ku.edu/soar/smartgoals.pdf


 Think about health as a journey instead of a destination. You don't magically arrive at "healthy" and then put it out of your mind—it's a daily promise to keep your body and your mind as happy as possible so you can enjoy life as long as possible." — Keelie Sherida