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Healthy Eating Tips and Tricks

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Healthy Eating tips girl eating watermelon

Summer is in the air bringing changes to weather, wardrobes and waistlines. With the holidays and cold weather months behind you and plans for summer vacations, pool time lounging and outdoor activities, this is the perfect time to focus on healthy eating.

In light of National Nutrition Month, now is the time to shake off the winter doldrums and make the transition to healthier eating habits.  Here are five nutrition tips and tricks to help you spring into action and transform your eating habits one step at a time.

Nutrition Tip #1: Don’t do it Alone

The most important step to successfully transitioning to healthier eating is to establish a strong network of support in preparation for your journey. Breaking old habits and making healthier lifestyle changes is a difficult task, so don’t be afraid to ask for help. By enlisting support from family, friends and a health and fitness professional, you will get started on the right path to continued nutrition success.

Nutrition Tip #2: You Bite It, You Write It

The simple act of writing down and keeping track of all food or beverages that enter your mouth will increase awareness of the amount and variety of foods you eat each day. Keeping an Accountability Food Journal is the best tool available to help increase your consciousness regarding the foods you eat. A journal also enables you to analyze the circumstances that contribute to making less healthy food choices. Journaling should be as specific as possible and include the date, time, amount of food, situation and hunger level. Your journal will not only help you keep track of your daily food consumption, but also serve as an insightful follow up tool.

Nutrition Tip #3: Take Baby Steps

Few people are successful with major lifestyle changes when they dive in head first. The best strategy to achieve major goals in life is to break the goal down into small doable steps. For instance, if your goal is to improve your eating habits and you have a problem eating too much high fat, high calorie fast food say, then it would probably not be realistic to cut it out completely. Instead, come up with a better plan, one that is doable for you such as cutting back on fast food consumption or even choosing healthier fare at fast food restaurants. Rome was not built in one day and neither should your transition to healthier eating.

Nutrition Tip #4: Focus on the Positive

Some people equate healthy eating with deprivation and eliminating favorite foods from your diet. To keep your nutrition transition from stalling before you take the first step, give yourself the gift of positive thinking and keep your momentum toward healthy eating moving strong. Instead of putting the sole focus on eliminating foods from your day, switch your mindset to a more positive approach…what healthy foods can you add into your day? For example, if you want to cut back on your red meat consumption, perhaps commit to Meatless Mondays; or reserve one day a week dedicated to trying different kinds of fish from around the world; Fish Fridays. Have fun with it and make your journey to healthy eating an adventure.

Nutrition Tip #5: Break it Down

A marathon is 26.2 miles, and is run one step at a time. Many people fail in making the transition to a healthier lifestyle when they take the all or nothing approach. The key to successfully making this transition is to embrace the opportunities, work through the challenges and learn from your mistakes during each step of the journey. By breaking your nutrition transition plan down into one step, one meal and one day at a time, you will cross that finish line healthier and happier.

For motivation to get started towards healthier eating, call us today! Fitness Together 619-794-0014. Also, join us on Facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills and follow our blog at BetterBodySanDiego.com.

 

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Spring is in the Air: Time to Get Moving and Get Fit!

May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Spring is in the air woman running in flowers

Spring is here, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing—the time of year for new beginnings. Now is also the time to shed your winter coat and seize the season as most likely, by now, your New Year’s resolutions have melted away just like the winter snow. Let the beauty of the weather, with its cool, clear, sunny days, not too cold and not too hot, inspire you to spring forward on your health and fitness commitments.

What’s the best strategy for getting back on track?

Make a commitment to yourself to slowly reincorporate both cardio and strength/resistance training exercises back into your schedule. Combine exercise with attention to your nutrition—don’t forget to take advantage of the glorious spring bounty of fruits and veggies—and you will be on your way to bathing suit season. Here are four scientifically proven lifestyle changes you can make that when combined together are the best way to help you get that spring training in gear.

Four Tips for Getting your Health and Fitness Back on Track. Make time in your schedule to make fitness happen.

#1 Accountability is one of the most important tools at your disposal for helping you make and keep health and fitness goals. The first step is to carve out time in your daily schedule for exercise. Once you pencil the exercise time in your calendar, then it’s easier if you treat the time as any other appointment such as a doctor’s visit. Make the appointment and keep the appointment!

#2 A nutritious, calorie-controlled diet. This begins with a high quality breakfast to jumpstart your day, AND your metabolism. Now is the time to change those unhealthy eating habits. Try to bump up your intake of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and good fats. If weight loss is your goal, then keeping track of what you eat on paper or electronically is essential for helping you to take control of your eating habits.

#3 Daily cardio exercise. You are probably already aware that regular cardio exercise is key for keeping your body lean and your cardiovascular system fit. Health professionals recommend daily cardio exercise such as walking, running, swimming or biking for at least thirty minutes a day. A brisk walk to take a break from the work day can do wonders for your mental outlook too.

#4 Strength Training. A regular program of strength training is essential for maintaining muscle mass as we age. The problem is that with every decade of life, we lose a considerable amount of muscle. We also tend to gain fat in its place. This leads to a condition called “sarcopenia,” the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength associated with aging. A decline in quality of life and loss of independence is associated with elderly who have this condition. For women the “double down” is the loss of bone mass. Bone loss for women and muscle loss for all; tend to accelerate as we move in to our 40’s. The best way to attenuate muscle loss and bone degeneration to help you both now, and in your golden years, is to strength/resistance train on a regular basis. Being “more golden” in the golden years is optimal.

Let us help you to get inspired to spring forward on your health and fitness goals today! Give us a call at Fitness Together 619-794-0014 for more information. Join us on facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills and follow our blog at BetterBodySanDiego.com.

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Fitness Saboteur “A LIST”

February 25, 2012 By
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!

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Start Somewhere

February 1, 2012 By
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.

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Application Makes All The Difference

November 9, 2011 By
application fitness attire

You’ve decided, “I’m going to get into shape”. You are motivated, you are determined; you are ready to get after it. There’s no stopping you, this time. A delicious ad for a treadmill appears, and “that’s it”, “I’ll buy a tread mill and use it everyday”. You execute your purchase, obtain delivery and set up your new “get fit now treadmill” and you are off to the races. But wait a minute, “I need some new “get fit clothes”. So, you go out and buy the newest whisk away sweat, svelte trendy outerwear. Heck, just trying on the stuff makes you feel tighter, and fit. “I feel good” you exclaim as you look in the mirror at your new fitness attire. At first you’re so excited because you’re going to get in shape! You get the chart out, you go on the internet, find the exercises and you get a routine and you get all that stuff prepared. You have the equipment and the clothes, but up to that point, are you any more fit or healthy? No. Because application makes all the difference!

Now, for some, your exercise equipment has evolved into, like, a clothes hanger hasn’t it? You’ve got clothes hanging on the rails of your treadmill, boxes on the tread, and dust in most places. Simply buying the exercise equipment was kind of a fitness experience. There was euphoria of “I’m going to get into shape”, but what you discovered was that owning exercise equipment doesn’t do it. Because, application makes all the difference. It’s in the doing, the consistent doing that gets one in shape.

Have you have ever purchased a book on a specific diet you plan to go on? You bought the diet book, you started reading and understanding and highlighting. You’re so excited, you have that feeling again of “I’m going to get into shape” and you go to your pantry and throw a bunch of stuff out. You might have even gone to a health food store and bought some healthy foods. You’re moving in the right direction, but having read the book and having cleaned out your pantry….have you made any REAL progress yet? No. Because, application makes all the difference. Buying the stuff, committing to the stuff, believing in the stuff, paying your bills for the stuff, intending to get into shape, telling your friends about your plans, doesn’t do any good, if you don’t apply it.

How do you beat “application blues”? Set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier to create needed “me time”. Make “fitness appointments” in your day planner just like any other important priority appointment you have. Use short term, daily and weekly goals as motivators. Write them down, place them somewhere visible and refer to them often. You told your friends about your plan, so have one of them hold you accountable to what you said you’d do. Weigh yourself once a week against your weight loss plan, and don’t get discouraged, it takes time. Create and receive self rewards along the journey, when key fitness goals are met. Laugh at you. You are not the only one with clothes, boxes and dust on your fitness stuff. Clean it all off, reinvigorate and get going. You can!

For help getting in the best shape of your life, call us today! 619-79Fitness Together 619-794-0014. Join us on Facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills for Fitness, Nutrition, Weight Loss & Health information.

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Banish Belly Fat

November 2, 2011 By
lose-belly-fat1

Are you doing crunches until you turn red in the face and still have belly fat?  Take a deep centered breath and keep in mind the culprit may be your diet or high stress lifestyle.  The truth is you need align your nutrition to go with your crunches to rid that belly jiggle.  In order to go from Flab Abs to FAB Abs pay attention to what’s going into your mouth and kick up the cardio.  Your belly will thank you later!

Bye Bye Belly Bloat!! Feeling sluggish and bloated can make you feel like a blimp vs. a babe.  Some ways to eliminate that belly bloat is to eat more fiber, fruits and veggies and avoid sugar and foods with gluten.  Fruits and veggies like bell pepper, cucumber, watermelon, and celery are high in water content and make great snacks.  Speaking of water, drink up!  Drinking water throughout the day will flush sodium out of your body to reduce bloat.  Aim for at least 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water daily.  And no, your morning grind of coffee doesn’t count as water intake and back away from that soda pop and no one will get hurt!

Kick the salt shaker habit! Choose fresh foods over processed or packaged which are loaded with sodium.  Read labels since many foods we consume already have sodium added in so there is no need to add more salt with our addiction to the salt shaker.  Reducing salt intake will not only decrease dreaded bloat, but can help prevent heart problems down the road.  The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium daily, which is less than a teaspoon of table salt.  Fresh basil and cilantro can be used to spice things up and are some of my favorites to add to any meal.  Try adding chili powder, chili flakes, cayenne, or ginger to a meal to up your metabolism and burn fat.

Alcohol = empty calories and beer belly bloat. Limit your alcohol intake to avoid consuming empty calories.  Keep in mind, moderation is your motivation.  If you know you have a special event coming up don’t deprive yourself from the beverages you enjoy.  Plan ahead and manage your calorie intake and add in extra cardio to your day to allow for that tasty treat you deserve.

Super Charged Cardio creates Shredded Abs. Remember abdominal exercises alone do not remove belly fat.  They build and tone the waistline.  In order to see the tone and definition effectively, it’s a must to eat clean and kick up the cardio.  Cardiovascular exercise will help to burn the layer of unwanted fat off your belly so that stellar abs can shine through.  If you already have a cardio plan kick up the intensity to power up your results.  Also mix it up to keep it fun and challenging.

Feel the burn.  Of course in order to get chiseled looking abs incorporate variations of crunches to work all angles of the abdominal muscles.  There are many modifications to the basic crunch or sit-up and you must mix things up to achieve the burn you love to hate on your abs.  Come in and learn a few new ab burning exercises to compliment your current repertoire, so you can better show off your efforts.  Intensity and variation are key.

Incorporating clean eating, limits on salt and alcohol, kicking up your cardio, and using a variety of ab exercises will have you saying “bye bye belly bloat” and “hello Stellar Abs of Steal.”  To get your abs back into shape, call Fitness Together of Mission Hills 619-794-0014 today to get better results faster. Join us on our Facebook page at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills.

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Are you Eating Enough to Lose Weight?

October 31, 2011 By
Are you eating enough woman with food around her

This seems like a ridiculous question to be asking, but in reality it is an important fact of healthy weight loss. For most of us, getting our heads around the notion of eating more to lose weight is a difficult concept to grasp. Eating healthy, eating light and eating often with a plan built around one’s individual metabolism, activities, and appropriate calorie intake, are the cornerstones of permanent weight reduction.

Everyone has a basic calorie intake need to exist in their present state of being, given their height, current weight, gender, age, lean weight and fat mass percentages, as well as their lifestyles, whether they are prone to the sedentary or to the active end of the activity spectrum. Variations in any, or all of these anatomical or lifestyle attributes, alter the equation for weight loss, or gain.

Your metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns calories. Burning more calories than consumed is the goal to lose weight. You burn calories to provide energy for three main functions:

Basil Metabolic Rate: This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive, even when you’re doing nothing. It accounts for approximately 60 percent of calories you burn.

Burning Calories for Activity: This is the energy used during movement- from lifting your arm to button your blouse to cleaning house. This accounts for approximately 30percent of the calories you burn.

Dietary Thermo Genesis: The calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using food accounts for approximately 10 percent of the calories you burn.

The real quandary in many cases is eating too little. Our body reacts to this, as it knows how it is being nourished, based on what it needs for survival. It recognizes high activity and too low of an intake of calories. When activity and intake are too far out of line, the body see’s this and slows itself metabolically to cope with this mismatch. “Too far out of line” being the key phrase here. This mismatch often results in the byproduct: “I can’t lose weight”. Dialing in your calorie intake, against your activity, such that you are about 500 calories under the required calorie intake goal that is appropriate for your activity level is extremely important.

All too often, we see people on a combination of the “starvation” plan, and or the “inconsistency” plan, neither of which are good ideas with respect to long term healthy weight maintenance. High calorie one day, low calorie another, skip breakfast today, skip lunch tomorrow, or not eat at all due to “work pressures”, won’t get you there. The fast fix crash plans through the unregulated supplement industry are not the way to go either. Long term healthy lasting fixes are eating healthy, eating light, and eating often within a science based calorie count for your current anatomical and metabolic circumstances, with balanced high quality, frequent, portion controlled meals and snacks targeted to your appropriate “activity level”. These are the locks and the keys to the “ideal body door”.

You too may be thinking “less is more”, eating less and less and finding yourself standing on the scale wondering why you can not lose the weight. Portion size and calorie control comes in to play with every food and beverage choice you are making. BUT, if you are not aware of your calorie needs based on your body composition and activity level, it will be more difficult for you to successfully navigate long term weight loss. For information on how to fine tune your calorie count and activity levels for long lasting results, call us at Fitness Together 619 794 0014.

Join us on Facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills.

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Tis the Season

October 26, 2011 By
Tis The Season referee w beer

It’s hard to say “no” to the coming invitations for party merriment in these next few weeks. The schedule gets loaded with events that can derail your progress if you’re not watchful. With a few “party moves” you can beat back holiday alcohol over dose and still party hardy. Be mindful that alcohol is a toxin. Though your body can “cope” with it, it’s really not ideal to consume it. Alcohol takes a lot of hydration to be converted to fatty acid to either be stored where you don’t want, or need it, or be burned off through exercise.

The simplest strategy is to pace yourself. Start your event with a full glass of water before you leave home. This gives you a sensation of fullness and kick starts hydration. A glass of water with a twist of lime or lemon at the event, alternating with your alcohol drinks can give you the party feel of a “glass in my hand”, while keeping alcohol on par with water intake.

Water based alcohol drinks are better for you, as opposed to the fruity high sugar based mixers which add sugar and calories. The calorie content of beer, wine and alcohol falls to the “useless” calorie line. It may feel and taste good; be in vogue at the event, “everybody’s doing it”, but in reality alcohol has nutritional consequence, not value. In the end, whether we drink or not, realize that alcohol was not meant to be in our systems, at least not if one seeks optimal health. Lastly, what ever you drink, keep the glass in your left hand, so that your handshake when saying “hello” is nice and warm, like you are. When the party is done and you are ready to hit the hay, drink one more glass of water. You’ll thank yourself tomorrow when hitting the gym to repay your party debts.

Call Fitness Together today 619-794-0014 to get started on your way to healthier holidays. Through the holidays and beyond! Join us on Facebook at Fitness Together San Diego-Mission Hills.

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What are YOU training FOR?

August 31, 2011 By
What Are You Training For Fawn w dumbells

As we all know life throws us curve balls. Most of the time when we least expect it. It’s not so much about what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you. Are you physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually ready to handle the cards you could be dealt?  Do you have faith, hope, and belief to aid you?  Is your body physically ready to conquer the obstacle and get to the other side?  Training your body and mind is important, not only for good health, but to help you get through life’s challenges.

Every curve ball or challenge we get faced with is a gift.  Even though in the moment we may curse, scream, cry, or maybe shout out “Why Me?”  Remember YOU WILL go through that valley you are faced with and YOU WILL rise above on the other side.  The power of fitness teaches this with every set, every rep, every session, every time.  Being physically fit not only helps you feel good on a day to day basis, it helps you through life’s obstacles through stronger mentality and stronger physicality.

It has been just shy of four months since I went through surgery to remove an 8cm malignant tumor along with 12 inch of my colon.  I am stronger than I have ever been and know that being physically fit and mentally fit made a huge difference in my outcome and will in yours.  The day I went into surgery I kept repeating to myself, “THIS is what I’ve trained for.”  I never knew the awesome power that being fit would provide in my recovery from colon cancer.

Fitness teaches valuable life lessons built around the “I can” principle. Because I am fit I can face this challenge. Because I am fit I can deal with the setbacks that accompany this challenge, and because I am fit I can come back from this challenge, whatever it may be. Because I am fit I can cope.  Because I am fit I can conquer. The mental edge fitness gives you through your workouts and self actualization in them, is undeniable. When you think you can…………..you can, and when you do, it empowers you to do even more, more than you ever thought possible.

Thanks to the power of positive thinking and to my dedication over time to the strengthening of my own body, I was walking the halls of the hospital the day after surgery. I realized as I glanced in other patients rooms that most of them were overweight and un-healthy.  This really got me thinking that if I was not physically and mentally fit, my recovery would have been a longer slower painful process.

At some point in time we will all be faced with a challenge that will knock us off of our feet.  Illness, injury, or sickness will occur in your life. Wouldn’t you rather have trained to maintain a healthy strong body, mind, and spirit to reduce your recovery time, or perhaps prevent an onset entirely? How amazing our bodies are if we train them to be strong. Only two months after surgery I was in the gym working out and outside running, longer, harder, and with more stamina than pre-surgery.

Just like you, I was never expecting to hear the words “you have cancer”. You never think it will happen to you. But, when I got cancer; I was fit to face it, I was fit to go through it, and I was fit to climb out of my valley.  I possessed the mental and physical edge that fitness teaches, and believed in myself with faith, that I WILL get through this.  It may seem funny to some that fitness teaches faith too; faith in one’s self, and faith that god gives nothing to us, which he can’t get something through us with.

It took me less than four months after surgery to be back to 100%.  Sometimes our life’s valleys seem like a curse when we are in them, but looking back after this life changing experience I now understand the  gift given in that valley. I am living proof that fitness is, in and of itself, a cure all for the majority of illnesses we face either via prevention, or through accelerated recovery processes. I am taking my gift with me to Boston as I am moving to be closer to family and to start a family of my own.  I will continue my passion for life and personal training along with the added inspiration of my own “valley” to motivate others through the power of fitness, faith, and positive thinking.   I wish you all the best in life and health, and if a valley comes your way, know that, YOU……….. CAN.

Fitness Together Mission Hills 619-794-0014. Join us on our Facebook page Fitness Together San Diego - Mission Hills.

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Mind Body Attitude Matters

August 8, 2011 By
Mind body attitude matters Brain and body

So, how are you feeling these days? Got energy for life, plenty of get up and go, feeling spry and light on your feet? Life has a lot to do with attitude and outlook. Challenges that come our way are meant for our good, growing our strength, growing our character, and molding us, much like what happens to our body when it is exercised. The challenge you throw at it, forces it to “adapt” to that stressor, and grow to handle it. The same is true for the mental side of life. If you think you can’t………..you won’t. If you think you can……….you will. Your life “adapts” to the journey. Funny how that works huh? Our attitudes determine our altitudes, and our “can do” spirit, determines what we can, in fact ………….do.

Let me give you another real life example of what I am talking about. Kris started her transformation in March of this year. Intermittent exercise throughout her life, but nothing consistent, she knew she had to do something due to the severe back pain she suffered after the birth of her daughter two years ago. She procrastinated, and lived with the pain for two years due to her new mother status, and a demanding job. Self-doubt about exercising can debilitate action and avoidance only serves to exacerbate problems. Gravity has a way of torqueing our body over time, and the pull of earth’s gravity, combined with an unexercised muscles tendency to atrophy, yet still be forced to deal with our height and weight……..one of which usually grows with age, tends to lead to pains gate.

Trying to fit in when you are tall as a youth can lead to longer-term adult postural problems. “We focused on school as kids and young adults, and the emphasis was on the academics, rather than the physical.” What we learn as kid’s, tracks with us to adulthood, yes even the physical. We all know what it’s like to want to “fit in”, be liked and be loved. It’s human nature. No one is harder on you, than you, in terms of self worth and what you perceive people’s thoughts to be, about you. If you were taller than your peers as a child, you too probably adjusted your posture to “fit in”. With out of balance posture, lack of exercise, a busy life, an arduous job, and gravitational influence taking its toll, Kris turned to us for help. That gravity thing is working on you too ya know?

Five months later, 30 pounds lighter, Kris is more flexible, much stronger in terms of total body, her postural issues are in check, circumference measurements are down, she has a new way of eating, and a mattress more fitting to her body needs, and now the pain is gone for this 41 year old. We dug deep here, as is our nature, and discovered that sleep was being affected by a mismatched mattress, and via a little detective work, “uncovered” a complimenting anecdote to her exercise and nutrition program.

“I am over the moon with how much progress I have made in only five months. My life is so much different from what it used to be. I feel I can do anything, mentally and physically. I am not as worried about debilitating health issues that come with age, as I feel I can stave off anything at this point. Gwen and Blake have changed my life, and I will be forever grateful to them for getting me on the path to optimum fitness.”

If you live life thinking; “I can’t”, “I don’t have the time”, “It’s hopeless”, “I will never be able to get out of this situation”……………..THINK AGAIN.

YOU CAN!

For more information call Fitness Together at 619-794-0014 today.

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