May 19, 2012

Fitness Saboteur “A LIST”

Fitness Saboteur A List person in sunset

Attitude

You are worthy of having the best life, the best health and the best future, but you do have to will it in to existence by working at it consistently, thinking you can. When the voice of self doubt talks to you along the journey, cast it to the curb and think thoughts that propel you. “I am strong, I am able, I am getting better/stronger each day, I will do it, and I can do it. I must do it.” Where your mind goes, your body follows.

Listen, fitness is a journey, it is not a destination. Destination fitness is finite in that it has an end. “I’m going to lose weight for the reunion” has an end date…………the reunion, the wedding, the birthday, the vacation, the whatever, all are finite. Once it hits, the goal attained, caution is thrown to the wind, game over. Fitness takes consistent effort over time, over one’s life time. Take it one day, one week, and one year at a time living fitness as lifestyle, using significant events as “incentives” for an extra push along the way.  

 

Alcohol

Remind yourself that alcohol is poison to your system. That’s how our body reacts to it, jumping to hyper drive to cleanse the blood and defog our brains. If you are trying to be calorie conscious, alcohol is the super saboteur. It has calories in and of itself, and when you drink, say, before a meal as an example, it dulls your senses and impairs decision making regarding portion sizing and quality of foods. Drink more, eat more is the end result along with pay more, both at the diner and in the morning. Recovering from alcohol is a physical process that takes time and does not tend to make one “raring to go” to the gym. Getting fit and maintaining it is hard enough in its own right. Adding alcohol to the equation makes getting to the gym and getting results nearly impossible. If you are serious about your fitness journey, abstain. One can act crazy, and have fun with a water, lemon/lime wedge and a straw, then tell em, “the water made me do it”.

Acquaintances

Yes your friends, in a myriad of ways, can unintentionally and some times intentionally sabotage your fitness journey. First and foremost is how they live, and what they eat and drink. We are all social creatures and social grouping is a way of life, but peer pressure can lead one astray.  The pressures to drink, drink more, or eat, eat more of the things that hamper your journey, are usually, always there in group settings. If alcohol is in the mix, it becomes even more pervasive. When it is easier to give in, than stand your ground, consider other social plans. When we get on a fitness health minded journey, some of our relationships are bound to change, and NEED to change. This becomes readily discernable and an easier choice when you get serious about your fitness and health. It is not so much about you not being part of the “in crowd”. It’s the fact that you are a crowd of your own. If they can’t, won’t, or don’t join you, perhaps another crowd beckons.

 

Apathy

Once you let apathy in, blowing off workouts, tends to take on a mind of its own. Miss a few workouts and the next step is you are finding reasons to blow off workouts for other day timer seemingly important “things”. Your sense of care about you and your fitness health journey fades. Getting back on course is so difficult, and then you look up with regret wondering what happened. Your fitness must be top priority as it is about you, your care, and your longevity. There is no one to care more about you, than you. If you don’t keep you in the top spot on the priority list, YOU slide down a list of things, that yes, may need to be done, but most of which can get done, at other times outside of your fitness “me time”. Keep fitness first as it pays the highest long term dividends in your self care, health care program, as compared to your laundry list of to do’s.

For help on “saboteur list” management contact us at Fitness Together 619 794 0014. Join us on Facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills. Summer is just around the corner.  Now is the time to get started!

Start Somewhere

nice abs breakfast

Still not a breakfast eater are ya? Mom was right in that breakfast IS the most important of all meals. It is the meal that kick starts your day and should be the highest calorie meal of your day. I know I know, you don’t have time, you never have eaten breakfast, you hate eggs, you’re not hungry, you grab n go coffee. I get it. But start somewhere. Your body as it slept last night repaired itself from all of the damages you laid in to it yesterday and prepared itself for the next round today. But it takes work to fix you. IT IS hungry. Your last calorie intake was when? What? Yep that’s right it was last night sometime, early or late, good or bad content. So your body works all night for YOU, in reality burning the midnight oil to get you lined up to take on today. Breakfast is about breaking the fast of not eating over the time period in which you slept, and your body continued its’ toiling over your repair and preparedness. Do with out a “break the fast” meal, and the body slows down metabolically working at a less than optimum pace, robbing you of restorative calorie input to get the most from your body.

Look, start simple but start somewhere. How about a meal replacement shake to begin the day’s journey? It is simple, easily obtained from a variety of sources and can provide balanced nutrients and calories. It’s a start yes? Get in the habit of at least this. In a few days or perhaps a week or two you’ll find that you ARE hungry when you awaken, and you can then add a cereal, oatmeal or bagel to the line up and then pretty soon you’ll be a full fledged breakfast eater. Your body learns and adapts to what you teach it in the gym or at the table. Do the same things in the gym, teach your body just that, and get no results. Teach it to go hungry by not eating breakfast, it learns to live with it. “Learns to live with it” does not mean it likes to live with it. Want to live better? Want to train smarter and get better results faster? Eat breakfast! For more information call us today! Fitness Together 619-794-0014 and join us on Facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills.