The important ingredients for a successful healthy life!

I wanted to touch on the things that are important to live a healthy lifestyle. The first thing is believing in yourself. If you do not believe you can accomplish the task, you will never start. You then have to have the dedication to see it through. Another aspect to that is to have the will power to push yourself when your head and body are telling you it is to hard. It is "hard" but it not "impossible". Next, if you like me make sure you have a support system in place to help encourage you and celebrate your triumphs. Also, I need someone to be accountable to. As we know, hiring a personal trainer is very expensive so I recruited my boyfriend. I send him pictures of the treadmill and the gym. So if your like me, then find someone who could help you.

Realize that we will all fall off the bandwagon at times. Life has a funny way of creeping up on you and getting in the way. Do not beat yourself up. Just realize what happened and move on. It even happens to trainers. It's okay. Know that the number on the scale is not what's important. It is how you feel and how satisfied you are with how you look, as long as it is not affecting your health. Another rule I must abide by is no junk or unhealthy food in the house because I have no self control. I try before I eat anything to think about how the food I'm eating is benefiting my body. That helps me to make better choices.

If you are a woman, make sure you take the time to take care of yourself (men as well). I just find that as women we are always worried about everyone else and put ourselves last. When I first got back into training after I had my son, it took me awhile to not feel guilty about the hour, hour and half I would leave him in nursery to workout (I stay home with my son). Especially us Moms, we need to make time for it. Again, I found myself being a better mother and more attentive because I had more energy and felt better. It goes full circle.

Lastly, do not let what other people think define what you do. I ran into a lot of opinions and my own thoughts when I decided to start eating clean. The first came from the restriction I put on what could feed to my son. I got a lot of backlash because I don't want him to have cookies, candy, fruit drinks, etc. I was actually told once "You would deprive your son of that". My response was "By depriving my son, do you mean depriving him of juvenile diabetes, obesity, sleeping problems, or anything of the other problems that come along with eating unhealthy. Why yes I will deprive my son of all of that and there is nothing you can do about it because he is my son".  It is amazing how intrenched in our society it is to think that by not allowing your son to eat those things you are depriving them. I also ran into problems with my own thoughts. I often thought about people being opposed to the meals I had to offer them, then worrying about if I would have to cater to their eating habits, and I realized my house, my meals. If they wanted something else, they could eat before or bring their own food.

I do not mean that mean. There are many ways to cook the same food we eat every day, in a more healthy way. I would never think to go to someone's house and demand they cook healthier because I was there so I do not expect anyone to do the same to me. Like anything else, you just have to stand up for what you believe in and not other people's opinions or thoughts affect that.

Here's to a happy, healthy, productive life for all!!!


Here is my reason to live a healthy lifestyle!

Just some motivation!!

Eating clean for beginners!

                                                            
When I hired my personal trainer after having my son, I never heard of clean eating. I learned very quickly what clean eating was about. This is a great video to get you started on the path to clean eating. Do not get discouraged. I learned that you should always take one day and ONE meal, NOT THE WHOLE DAY, ONE MEAL, and eat what you would like. The key is to stay away from anything processed so anything that is frozen, in a can, or in a box. Eat as natural as possible. In most average grocery stores, this is mainly the front of the store. I can you from my own personal experience I had more energy, had an improved attitude, and better sleep because I providing my body with the right nutrients. I have also provided a link that gives you a good overall list of food to include and avoid!!


http://www.livestrong.com/article/347013-eat-clean-guide/

Myths about women and working out!

I am going to list some myths about working out. Most of them pertain to women.

Myth 1

The amount of calories burned is displayed on the treadmill. WRONG. Some tredmills will ask you for your weight, height, sex, and age and others will not. All of these factor into how many calories you will burn. Also, your body fat index factors into how much you will burn.

Myth 2

If a woman lifts weights, she will bulk up. WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS! The reason it is so hard for women to bulk up is that we produce a lot of estrogen. It is much easier for men to bulk because they produce more testosterone. For a women to really bulk up, she would have to take a lot of supplements and spend 4-5 hours a day strength training.

This is what most women think they will look like if they lift weights.

 

This is what you have the possibility of looking like if you lift weights, however you have to follow a very strict diet to look like this. (This is my personal trainer I hired. She emphasizes eating clean and working out with taking any supplements).

Myth 3

Going to the gym and working out hard allows you to eat whatever you want. WRONG. No amount of exercise can compensate for what you put into your body. When you work out, your results rely almost 80% on what you feed your body. 

Myth 4

Strecthing before exercising is helpful. WRONG. It has been shown that static strecthing (bending over and touching your toes or brining your ankle to your hip) does not help performance. In fact, if done longer than a minute it can hinder performance. Stretching that athletes do is okay because practice dynamic stretching (the move when stretching).  

Myth 5

You can workout your abs and you will get a six pack. WRONG. In order to get rid of the overlying fat, you must do CARDIO, CARDIO, CARDIO, and CARDIO. That applies for any body part as a matter of fact.