Health is something that we all talk about. It is something that we all think about. Is it something that we all are doing something about? That is where things get a little less clear. We all want to be healthy. The difference between wanting to be healthy and being healthy is a finer line that most people think.
Let’s think about a healthy routine for a minute: you have to exercise, eat mindfully and take time for yourself to do these things on a daily basis. While everyone is busy wanting to live healthy, those that are living healthy are busy…living healthy.
What is the difference? Well, it’s not a matter of will or determination. It is not a matter of being stronger or being a healthy person or not. Living healthy comes down to the ability to keep going. The ability to get up when you’ve fallen down is the only way to live healthy.
The great baseball player, Babe Ruth once said: “It’s hard to beat someone that never gives up.”
This is true in all areas of life. Since we are talking health, let’s keep it focused on that area. How often does living healthy get difficult? That is a trick question, because living healthy is always difficult. The day to day can be a challenge and keeping it going week in and week out, month in and month out gets even more challenging.
The key is to keep going. When things get difficult, you have to find ways to overcome the challenge. When you get knocked down, and you will get knocked down, you have to do three things:
1. You have to decide that you are going to get up.
2. You have to figure out the best way to get up.
3. You have to decide where you are going to go when you get up.
Try it
When you set a goal, you are trying to do something. When you are simply thinking or talking about it, you haven’t tried anything yet. It may be take energy to focus on the goal even before you get started, but you haven’t gotten started yet. When you start trying, you will be putting in real energy and real time.
Get up and try again
This is a good start, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be set-backs. When you get started and start getting some progress made, there are going to be days that get difficult. There will be challenges that make you wonder if you can keep going or not. There are even going to be moments that make you feel like you can’t go on.
That’s right, there are going to be times that you have fallen and don’t know if you can get back up again. Guess what: you can get back up again.
Where will you be if you quit?
You have to keep going. You have to get up and you have to move on. Where will you be if you don’t get up and keep going? What will you have accomplished? Have you reached your goal? Are you going to be satisfied if you stop now? Probably not. That is why you have to keep going.
What progress DID you make?
It is one thing to say that you want to keep going. It is another thing all together to actually do it. That is where thinking and talking turn into doing. You have to look at where you were when you fell down. Did you get as far as you wanted to get? Probably not. Now it is time to think about what you need to do to keep going. You have to pick yourself up and get moving again. One way to do that is to look at the progress that you DID make. When you can look at your routine and realize that you made some progress, it is easier to start getting back on track because you are not starting from square one again. You don’t have to go back to the beginning.
What’s next?
Now that you have decided to get back up again, what are you going to do? What is the plan? The sooner you set a plan and get going on it. When you get your plan in motion, you are free to make choices and do what will make it work for you. If you run into challenges, you have to remember the reasons you started doing this in the first place. If you still want to reach your goals, why would you stop pursuing them? Why would you give up?
After all, if you don’t give up, you can’t lose. That is the beauty of health. The more you do, the more you get. As long as you get up and keep going, you get results.
When Babe Ruth was talking about not giving up, he was right. Baseball takes perseverance and determination. So does health, but in health, you are even more likely to succeed if you are willing to keep going. As long as you don’t give up, you can’t lose when it comes to health. In other words, it is hard to beat someone who never gives up.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Root vs. Fruit (Personal Wellness)
We like results. Results are what tell us that what we are doing is working. Results also tell us if what we are doing is not working. Either way, results are a measure of what we do. They are an outcome for us. The outcomes we are looking for come only from actions.
Actions are what bring you results. The actions you take are leading to outcomes. If you are doing things that lead to positive results, you must be taking the proper actions. If you are doing things that are leading to negative results, you must have some opportunities to change or improve your actions.
With our personal health and wellness, we get focused on the fruit. The fruit is just what it sounds like. It is the result of a healthy and well-nourished tree. When you set out to live healthy, you are looking for fruit. In order to make it turn out the way you want it to, you have some specific actions to take. A farmer planting a fruit tree needs to water the tree and give it time to mature. As it matures, the roots grow stronger and good fruit will be a result. The farmer doesn’t just stick a tiny apple tree in the ground and expect apples to grow.
In health and wellness, you actually have the same needs. You can’t simply focus on or hope for good results and get them. You have to put a plan into place, take time, find your motivation and have a certain amount of drive to carry out the actions needed to get the results you want.
Do you simply set a goal in hope it will happen? If so, how many goals do you reach? Likely, not many goals at all. That wouldn’t make much sense, would it? But in health, many people are doing just that. They want to lose weight and avoid long-term health problems, but are not doing anything to ensure that it will happen. Instead of taking action and working on the root of the issue, most people are simply making excuses and saying that they will start “next week” or “Monday”. This “strategy” is taking place all across the country. Everyone wants fruit. Everyone wants their health to be good and for their healthcare costs to be low. What they don’t want to do is invest in the root that will allow them to grow the fruit they so badly want and need.
Why does this happen? It happens because focusing on the fruit doesn’t get you anywhere without focus on the root.
When you focus on the root, good things happen. This works in all areas of life, but especially health. Take personal finance for example. You wouldn’t just hope that you had enough money to pay your mortgage. You wouldn’t assume that there would be enough and stop paying attention to your spending and saving on a day to day basis.
You have a budget and follow specific guidelines to make sure you don’t run out of money before the end of each month or worse, spend more than you have and can pay back. In this case, budgeting and guidelines are the root and having money to pay for your necessities like housing and food is the fruit. You can’t have one without the other. No matter how much you need a roof over your head and food on your table, without budgeting and planning, you will not be able to do it. Smart people know that focus on a budget and smart planning brings good results. In other words, they know that focus on the root leads to good fruit.
Personal wellness gives you that opportunity to focus on the root of your health. Without a strategy or a plan, there is only a mere hope and a prayer for health. If left to convenience, ease and general knowledge, most people in our society are seeing their health decline. It is getting worse by the day which means we are all paying more for health care.
Hope is not a strategy for health. The only way for you to get results is to take action. This is true in any are of life. Not only do you need to take action, but you need to take the right actions. When it comes to health and wellness there are many options to take. Unfortunately, most people know which options they should be taking, but have not found a way to make it work for them.
The fact is, any action is going to bring some results. The state of today’s healthcare environment is just what we’ve been hearing about: a crisis. This crisis is not due to insurance or other system flaws. It is due to health or lack of health. We are unhealthy and creating a larger problem by the day. A crisis is not the time to do nothing. When in crisis, shouldn’t action be taken? Any steps that help your personal wellness are the best actions you can take. Taking action is strengthening your root and that is the best way to get more fruit. If you want fruit, you have to focus on the root.
Actions are what bring you results. The actions you take are leading to outcomes. If you are doing things that lead to positive results, you must be taking the proper actions. If you are doing things that are leading to negative results, you must have some opportunities to change or improve your actions.
With our personal health and wellness, we get focused on the fruit. The fruit is just what it sounds like. It is the result of a healthy and well-nourished tree. When you set out to live healthy, you are looking for fruit. In order to make it turn out the way you want it to, you have some specific actions to take. A farmer planting a fruit tree needs to water the tree and give it time to mature. As it matures, the roots grow stronger and good fruit will be a result. The farmer doesn’t just stick a tiny apple tree in the ground and expect apples to grow.
In health and wellness, you actually have the same needs. You can’t simply focus on or hope for good results and get them. You have to put a plan into place, take time, find your motivation and have a certain amount of drive to carry out the actions needed to get the results you want.
Do you simply set a goal in hope it will happen? If so, how many goals do you reach? Likely, not many goals at all. That wouldn’t make much sense, would it? But in health, many people are doing just that. They want to lose weight and avoid long-term health problems, but are not doing anything to ensure that it will happen. Instead of taking action and working on the root of the issue, most people are simply making excuses and saying that they will start “next week” or “Monday”. This “strategy” is taking place all across the country. Everyone wants fruit. Everyone wants their health to be good and for their healthcare costs to be low. What they don’t want to do is invest in the root that will allow them to grow the fruit they so badly want and need.
Why does this happen? It happens because focusing on the fruit doesn’t get you anywhere without focus on the root.
When you focus on the root, good things happen. This works in all areas of life, but especially health. Take personal finance for example. You wouldn’t just hope that you had enough money to pay your mortgage. You wouldn’t assume that there would be enough and stop paying attention to your spending and saving on a day to day basis.
You have a budget and follow specific guidelines to make sure you don’t run out of money before the end of each month or worse, spend more than you have and can pay back. In this case, budgeting and guidelines are the root and having money to pay for your necessities like housing and food is the fruit. You can’t have one without the other. No matter how much you need a roof over your head and food on your table, without budgeting and planning, you will not be able to do it. Smart people know that focus on a budget and smart planning brings good results. In other words, they know that focus on the root leads to good fruit.
Personal wellness gives you that opportunity to focus on the root of your health. Without a strategy or a plan, there is only a mere hope and a prayer for health. If left to convenience, ease and general knowledge, most people in our society are seeing their health decline. It is getting worse by the day which means we are all paying more for health care.
Hope is not a strategy for health. The only way for you to get results is to take action. This is true in any are of life. Not only do you need to take action, but you need to take the right actions. When it comes to health and wellness there are many options to take. Unfortunately, most people know which options they should be taking, but have not found a way to make it work for them.
The fact is, any action is going to bring some results. The state of today’s healthcare environment is just what we’ve been hearing about: a crisis. This crisis is not due to insurance or other system flaws. It is due to health or lack of health. We are unhealthy and creating a larger problem by the day. A crisis is not the time to do nothing. When in crisis, shouldn’t action be taken? Any steps that help your personal wellness are the best actions you can take. Taking action is strengthening your root and that is the best way to get more fruit. If you want fruit, you have to focus on the root.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Find Your Way
When you look at your health routine, what do you see? Are you making time for yourself and living healthy? Or are you wishing you were making time for yourself and living healthy? Of course, there are many points in between these two extremes, but for many it feels like you are on one end or the other.
The reality is, most of us are somewhere in the middle. We make some time for ourselves and get some results. We may not be making as much time as we want and therefore not living quite as healthy as we want to be living, but if you are making SOME time, you are doing something right.
What are you doing right? Let’s start there. This is often the key to success. Obviously doing things right is important. However, the real value in this is not just doing something right, it is knowing what to do so that you can do it and most importantly, being able to understand why it works so you can keep doing it.
That is the difference between someone that can continue with a successful routine. It works in any area of life. When you look at a successful business person, they have a deliberate plan, a process in place that continues to give them the results they are looking for and they make time to keep that process going according to plan.
The same goes for a top-level athlete. They are talented, yes. They are able to do things that most others cannot. The reason that they are able to excel among others with similar abilities is their ability to focus on their strengths, keep practicing and perfect certain techniques. These techniques can include certain strategies that give them advantages over someone that simply “plays the game”. There is a difference between preparing to play and simply playing.
Health is nothing more than a skill-set. In fact, health is a skill-set that we all have. We can all eat healthy foods and move our bodies. We all learned how to do these things without even thinking about it. Our childhoods were filled with movement, play and other activities that kept us in great shape whether we knew it or not. The foods we ate were the foods that were in front of us. Sure, we all recall having to stomach something that wasn’t as fun, but for the most part, fruits and veggies are not magically introduced upon adulthood.
We have the skills do to the things that get us and keep us healthy. We are born with those or we learn them as part of everyday life. What we don’t have automatically is the routine to keep these things going or the plan to make them work when things get more challenging. That is why many of us are not getting the experience we want out of health.
What can you do to get the experience you want out of health? You have to find a way. There are ways to do it in every routine. I don’t care how much time you have or don’t have. I don’t care how busy you are. I don’t even care how much you dislike certain foods or exercise. You can find a way as long as you see the value for yourself.
If you want to do something, you will find a way to do it. If you want to do something, you will find YOUR way to do it. That is the key to success. It has to be your way, or it won’t work for you. Here are some steps you can take to find your way to good health:
Step 1- Think about the little things you can do to improve your health
Take a step, any step toward good health. You know what it means to be healthy and you know what you are doing or not doing in your routine. There is no excuse. Even a small step will lead to changes as long as you keep doing it.
Step 2- When you find a small step that works for you, cling to it and commit to keeping it going
No matter how small and insignificant you think something is, it will lead you in the right direction if it becomes part of your routine.
Step 3- Keep an eye on what is working…and what isn’t
The key to setting your routine in stone is making sure that it is working. Keep track of your schedule. You can do this with as much detail or effort as you see fit. Don’t over-complicate things, but if you know which days and times are requiring certain things, you can be sure to properly allocate your tasks.
This is just three steps and if you can do these you are not only off and running, but you are focusing on ways to keep going and you are positioned to make improvements along the way. It really is that simple: take a step by starting something…anything, keep it going if it works, change what you are doing if it doesn’t and keep a close eye on what is and isn’t working, so you can continue to adjust but keep the good parts moving in your routine.
Health is not about being perfect. No one is perfect and no one ever will be. Health is not about staying with some magic formula that you saw on TV or that your friend told you about. Health is about doing what works for you. Health is about finding your own way. If you want to live healthy, you have to find your routine. You have to find your way.
The reality is, most of us are somewhere in the middle. We make some time for ourselves and get some results. We may not be making as much time as we want and therefore not living quite as healthy as we want to be living, but if you are making SOME time, you are doing something right.
What are you doing right? Let’s start there. This is often the key to success. Obviously doing things right is important. However, the real value in this is not just doing something right, it is knowing what to do so that you can do it and most importantly, being able to understand why it works so you can keep doing it.
That is the difference between someone that can continue with a successful routine. It works in any area of life. When you look at a successful business person, they have a deliberate plan, a process in place that continues to give them the results they are looking for and they make time to keep that process going according to plan.
The same goes for a top-level athlete. They are talented, yes. They are able to do things that most others cannot. The reason that they are able to excel among others with similar abilities is their ability to focus on their strengths, keep practicing and perfect certain techniques. These techniques can include certain strategies that give them advantages over someone that simply “plays the game”. There is a difference between preparing to play and simply playing.
Health is nothing more than a skill-set. In fact, health is a skill-set that we all have. We can all eat healthy foods and move our bodies. We all learned how to do these things without even thinking about it. Our childhoods were filled with movement, play and other activities that kept us in great shape whether we knew it or not. The foods we ate were the foods that were in front of us. Sure, we all recall having to stomach something that wasn’t as fun, but for the most part, fruits and veggies are not magically introduced upon adulthood.
We have the skills do to the things that get us and keep us healthy. We are born with those or we learn them as part of everyday life. What we don’t have automatically is the routine to keep these things going or the plan to make them work when things get more challenging. That is why many of us are not getting the experience we want out of health.
What can you do to get the experience you want out of health? You have to find a way. There are ways to do it in every routine. I don’t care how much time you have or don’t have. I don’t care how busy you are. I don’t even care how much you dislike certain foods or exercise. You can find a way as long as you see the value for yourself.
If you want to do something, you will find a way to do it. If you want to do something, you will find YOUR way to do it. That is the key to success. It has to be your way, or it won’t work for you. Here are some steps you can take to find your way to good health:
Step 1- Think about the little things you can do to improve your health
Take a step, any step toward good health. You know what it means to be healthy and you know what you are doing or not doing in your routine. There is no excuse. Even a small step will lead to changes as long as you keep doing it.
Step 2- When you find a small step that works for you, cling to it and commit to keeping it going
No matter how small and insignificant you think something is, it will lead you in the right direction if it becomes part of your routine.
Step 3- Keep an eye on what is working…and what isn’t
The key to setting your routine in stone is making sure that it is working. Keep track of your schedule. You can do this with as much detail or effort as you see fit. Don’t over-complicate things, but if you know which days and times are requiring certain things, you can be sure to properly allocate your tasks.
This is just three steps and if you can do these you are not only off and running, but you are focusing on ways to keep going and you are positioned to make improvements along the way. It really is that simple: take a step by starting something…anything, keep it going if it works, change what you are doing if it doesn’t and keep a close eye on what is and isn’t working, so you can continue to adjust but keep the good parts moving in your routine.
Health is not about being perfect. No one is perfect and no one ever will be. Health is not about staying with some magic formula that you saw on TV or that your friend told you about. Health is about doing what works for you. Health is about finding your own way. If you want to live healthy, you have to find your routine. You have to find your way.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Immediate Action, Long-term Results
Everyone knows that health is a good thing. We all want to be healthy. No one woke up this morning and said: “I want to feel terrible.” Or “I want to be sick and have all sorts of health problems.” No one wants that. No matter how poorly someone takes care of themselves, they don’t want to be sick and out of health. They want to be healthy. Everyone wants to be healthy.
If everyone wants to be healthy, why are there so many people in poor health? Why are so many people overweight? Why is diabetes on the rise? All of these issues are due to lack of action. Or, a better way to look at it: The action that people are taking is the action that is leading to these results.
No matter what action you take, it will bring you results. If you practice healthy habits, you get healthy results. If you fall into unhealthy habits, you will see poor results. In other words, if you focus on actions that will bring you positive results, you get positive results. If you focus on actions that bring you negative results, you get just that, negative results.
That is easy to understand. That is why most people are at least trying to live healthy. Most people know that if they do something, they will get some results that they want out of their action. It’s true. They will get results based on what they are doing. This is no secret and is simple to understand.
What is not so simple to understand is the relation of today and tomorrow. The things that you do today are the results you get tomorrow. When I say today and tomorrow, I am speaking figuratively. That is part of the challenge. We all see it that way. When we are taking action today, we actually expect it to lead to results tomorrow. We expect things we do to yield instant results. When we do something positive that is. When we do something negative, that is a different story.
When we do something that leads to negative results, we not only expect it to lead to results in the distant future, we even talk ourselves into believing that they may not occur at all or that the results won’t be “as bad”. This is clearly a recipe for disaster when you consider that the results you get are directly related to the actions that you are taking. Good or bad, you get what you put in.
What does that mean? It means that what we do today, does lead to results tomorrow. The challenge lies in your definition of tomorrow. If tomorrow is literally the next day, you may not notice a drastic change from one day to another. This can be a difficult thing when you are taking positive actions for your health. This can be an easy, yet devastating thing if you are taking negative actions against your health.
The solution to this problem is simple. If you can think about your actions for what they are, you can justify taking them. They are what brings you your results.
Positive actions bring positive results. If you can stick with them, you know what you are going to get. Just don’t forget that. Keep in mind that tomorrow will be today when it comes around. If you did what you needed to do yesterday, you got what you wanted today. The more you do that, the easier it is to see the small results that add up to big results and allow you to keep each today focused on actions that lead to the tomorrow you want.
Negative actions bring negative results. If you can remember that the actions you are taking will lead to results, you can take a moment to make sure they are in line with what you want. Keep your eyes on the long-term results, because your immediate actions are bringing them to you. Like it or not, you are getting results based on your actions.
If everyone wants to be healthy, why are there so many people in poor health? Why are so many people overweight? Why is diabetes on the rise? All of these issues are due to lack of action. Or, a better way to look at it: The action that people are taking is the action that is leading to these results.
No matter what action you take, it will bring you results. If you practice healthy habits, you get healthy results. If you fall into unhealthy habits, you will see poor results. In other words, if you focus on actions that will bring you positive results, you get positive results. If you focus on actions that bring you negative results, you get just that, negative results.
That is easy to understand. That is why most people are at least trying to live healthy. Most people know that if they do something, they will get some results that they want out of their action. It’s true. They will get results based on what they are doing. This is no secret and is simple to understand.
What is not so simple to understand is the relation of today and tomorrow. The things that you do today are the results you get tomorrow. When I say today and tomorrow, I am speaking figuratively. That is part of the challenge. We all see it that way. When we are taking action today, we actually expect it to lead to results tomorrow. We expect things we do to yield instant results. When we do something positive that is. When we do something negative, that is a different story.
When we do something that leads to negative results, we not only expect it to lead to results in the distant future, we even talk ourselves into believing that they may not occur at all or that the results won’t be “as bad”. This is clearly a recipe for disaster when you consider that the results you get are directly related to the actions that you are taking. Good or bad, you get what you put in.
What does that mean? It means that what we do today, does lead to results tomorrow. The challenge lies in your definition of tomorrow. If tomorrow is literally the next day, you may not notice a drastic change from one day to another. This can be a difficult thing when you are taking positive actions for your health. This can be an easy, yet devastating thing if you are taking negative actions against your health.
The solution to this problem is simple. If you can think about your actions for what they are, you can justify taking them. They are what brings you your results.
Positive actions bring positive results. If you can stick with them, you know what you are going to get. Just don’t forget that. Keep in mind that tomorrow will be today when it comes around. If you did what you needed to do yesterday, you got what you wanted today. The more you do that, the easier it is to see the small results that add up to big results and allow you to keep each today focused on actions that lead to the tomorrow you want.
Negative actions bring negative results. If you can remember that the actions you are taking will lead to results, you can take a moment to make sure they are in line with what you want. Keep your eyes on the long-term results, because your immediate actions are bringing them to you. Like it or not, you are getting results based on your actions.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Your Results are Hiding Behind Your Excuses
When it comes to health, the results we want may be different from one person to another. The results we want differ based on our goals. Some people want to be skinny, others want to be big and muscular. Many want certain numbers that will tell them that their overall health is good. And many others just want to feel good from day to day. No matter what your results are, you have something that you want to achieve.
Whether you are achieving the results you want depends not only on your goals, but on how well you stick to them. If you stick to your goals, you will reach them and get the results you want. If you don’t stick with your goals you will not reach them and therefore, you will not get the results you want. There is no way around it. You can try to find a way around it, but you won’t. If you keep trying to find ways to get results without actually reaching your goals, you will always end up in the same place…failure.
The dreaded “f-word”. Failure is one of the worst words in the English language. No one wants to hear it. No one wants to be there at any point and time. When you set out to do something, the last thing you want to do is fail. In most cases, that is the worst case scenario. In health, it should feel even worse, but it doesn’t for most people. In fact, many have gotten used to failure in health. Many even expect it because they are so used to it.
Why do people fail so much in health? They fail because they are letting one thing get in their way. The various things that derail routines are not one thing, they are many different things that come up and various times. That is not the issue. The issue is that we allow these things to become one thing. This one thing is the dagger in the heart of any routine. This one thing is the killer of more routines, more goals and more successes than anything else.
What do the little hurdles turn into that allows them to get us off track? What is the one thing that can end any good routine? It is called an excuse. This is the one thing that can knock you off track. No matter what you are doing, no matter how long you have been doing it, if you allow yourself to make an excuse for something, it will end your successful run.
Why do we make excuses? I’m not sure what makes excuses so easy, but I know that we make them because it is the easiest thing to do. When something looks difficult, the easiest thing to do is allow it to truly be as difficult as it seems. You don’t have to do anything to make something difficult. In fact, when you do nothing, it becomes so difficult that it is impossible to achieve anything.
That is what is so dangerous about excuses. As soon as you make one, you are telling yourself that you can’t do something. Not only are you telling yourself that you can’t, you are actually reasoning and providing support for your argument that it can’t be done. Whatever it is, no matter how easy it may be, if you are able to come up with a good excuse, you not only won’t do it, you will actually believe that you can’t do it. Even if you want to do something, you can’t do it if you have an excuse not to.
That is where so many people are with their health. They have struggled to get into a good routine that brings the results they are looking for. This is the result they are getting now. That is not the problem, but just the product of the real problem.
The real problem is that people not reaching their health goals have found excuses for not doing it. They have found reasons that they can’t and they have decided that it is not possible. Even when they tell themselves they are going to do it or try again, they have gotten into the routine of finding that perfect excuse to fail.
Failure is a word that no one wants to hear when they are getting into a routine. Excuses are something that no goal wants to hear when it is being set. There is a reason that goals are difficult to achieve. It is not because they are too tough. It is because it is so easy to find an excuse. We make big excuses, we make small excuses and they are all just as impactful. Any excuse can shut us down at any time.
The key to beating excuses is not letting them exist. When you set a goal, sit down and think of the possible challenges. When you know the challenges that may come up, you can be prepared for them. You can find a way to overcome the challenge ahead of time, you will be able to put it into action when the time comes. If you can find an excuse to let it stop you, you will and it will stop you.
The fact is, when we fail it is not because we aren’t good enough strong enough or dedicated enough. We fail because we are too good at making excuses. If you look at the most successful people you know in any area, what do they have in common? They don’t make excuses. When they are choose to do something, they do it. They find ways to do it, they refuse to let anything stop them and they succeed. Look at someone in your life that is not successful in any area. What do they do? They make excuses. They find excuses to fail and they accomplish that.
Accomplishments are all subjective, so success is completely up to each of us in our own routines. Success to me means getting the results you set out to get. When you make excuses, you can’t get those results. When you are in the routine of making excuses, your results are never visible. They are hiding. Your results are hiding behind your excuses.
Whether you are achieving the results you want depends not only on your goals, but on how well you stick to them. If you stick to your goals, you will reach them and get the results you want. If you don’t stick with your goals you will not reach them and therefore, you will not get the results you want. There is no way around it. You can try to find a way around it, but you won’t. If you keep trying to find ways to get results without actually reaching your goals, you will always end up in the same place…failure.
The dreaded “f-word”. Failure is one of the worst words in the English language. No one wants to hear it. No one wants to be there at any point and time. When you set out to do something, the last thing you want to do is fail. In most cases, that is the worst case scenario. In health, it should feel even worse, but it doesn’t for most people. In fact, many have gotten used to failure in health. Many even expect it because they are so used to it.
Why do people fail so much in health? They fail because they are letting one thing get in their way. The various things that derail routines are not one thing, they are many different things that come up and various times. That is not the issue. The issue is that we allow these things to become one thing. This one thing is the dagger in the heart of any routine. This one thing is the killer of more routines, more goals and more successes than anything else.
What do the little hurdles turn into that allows them to get us off track? What is the one thing that can end any good routine? It is called an excuse. This is the one thing that can knock you off track. No matter what you are doing, no matter how long you have been doing it, if you allow yourself to make an excuse for something, it will end your successful run.
Why do we make excuses? I’m not sure what makes excuses so easy, but I know that we make them because it is the easiest thing to do. When something looks difficult, the easiest thing to do is allow it to truly be as difficult as it seems. You don’t have to do anything to make something difficult. In fact, when you do nothing, it becomes so difficult that it is impossible to achieve anything.
That is what is so dangerous about excuses. As soon as you make one, you are telling yourself that you can’t do something. Not only are you telling yourself that you can’t, you are actually reasoning and providing support for your argument that it can’t be done. Whatever it is, no matter how easy it may be, if you are able to come up with a good excuse, you not only won’t do it, you will actually believe that you can’t do it. Even if you want to do something, you can’t do it if you have an excuse not to.
That is where so many people are with their health. They have struggled to get into a good routine that brings the results they are looking for. This is the result they are getting now. That is not the problem, but just the product of the real problem.
The real problem is that people not reaching their health goals have found excuses for not doing it. They have found reasons that they can’t and they have decided that it is not possible. Even when they tell themselves they are going to do it or try again, they have gotten into the routine of finding that perfect excuse to fail.
Failure is a word that no one wants to hear when they are getting into a routine. Excuses are something that no goal wants to hear when it is being set. There is a reason that goals are difficult to achieve. It is not because they are too tough. It is because it is so easy to find an excuse. We make big excuses, we make small excuses and they are all just as impactful. Any excuse can shut us down at any time.
The key to beating excuses is not letting them exist. When you set a goal, sit down and think of the possible challenges. When you know the challenges that may come up, you can be prepared for them. You can find a way to overcome the challenge ahead of time, you will be able to put it into action when the time comes. If you can find an excuse to let it stop you, you will and it will stop you.
The fact is, when we fail it is not because we aren’t good enough strong enough or dedicated enough. We fail because we are too good at making excuses. If you look at the most successful people you know in any area, what do they have in common? They don’t make excuses. When they are choose to do something, they do it. They find ways to do it, they refuse to let anything stop them and they succeed. Look at someone in your life that is not successful in any area. What do they do? They make excuses. They find excuses to fail and they accomplish that.
Accomplishments are all subjective, so success is completely up to each of us in our own routines. Success to me means getting the results you set out to get. When you make excuses, you can’t get those results. When you are in the routine of making excuses, your results are never visible. They are hiding. Your results are hiding behind your excuses.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
What Are You Fighting?
When I ask someone about their health, there is a sense from them that I want to hear something positive. This is true to a point. Do I like hearing success stories? Of course I do. I like to hear about people doing things well and making positive changes to their health.
What I don’t like is to hear people tell me what they think I want to hear. There are so many ways to live healthy and so many reasons to do it, that I wonder why we aren’t all doing it. That doesn’t mean that I expect it to be easy. I know that living healthy is a challenge. Actually, it is a series of challenges.
The first challenge seems to be getting over the fight with yourself. When I talk to people about health for the first time, there is often a struggle for them to find a reason that things aren’t as good as they want them to be or as good as they would like to tell me they are. There is a strange need to please that people have causing them to want to give the best reports and share that they are “doing what they are supposed to do”.
Doing what you are supposed to do is challenging. It is hard to do and not many are very good at it. Doing what works for you is easier to do and will always be more fulfilling. The problem is that we have to figure out a few things:
1. What do you want to do?
2. Why do you want to do it?
3. How are you going to do it?
4. What is stopping me from doing it?
When it comes to health, you need to be able to focus. You need to know what you want to do, why you want to do it and how you are going to do it. If you don’t know any or all of these things, you are going to struggle. One of the reasons for people struggling is not being able to identify these options.
That seems to be the biggest reason people are off track. It’s not that they can’t do it. It’s not that they don’t want to do it. It’s more about not taking the time to set up a plan. We could talk about the importance of planning all day. We could talk about it until we knew our plan inside and out, but that wouldn’t help us get started.
What helps us get started? First you have to get over your hang-ups. What are your hang-ups? What are my hang-ups? They are likely different and that is the point. Everyone has their own reasons for not getting started. They want to get going. They know they should get going. They even know why they should get going, but they don’t know how they are going to do it and can’t get past their inner hang-ups that are keeping them from getting started.
Let’s walk through the steps:
1. What do you want to do?
Let’s talk about exercise. When you want to get more active, what do you have to do? You have to get more active. It sounds simple and even too good to be true. Well, it is too good to be true. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. You have to start by deciding exactly what you want to do. Do you want to run? Do you want to bike? Do you want to walk or hit the gym? There are countless options, but until you choose one of them, you can’t do any of them.
2. Why do you want to do it?
When it comes to exercise, there are many reasons to get started. There are health benefits, weight loss, looking good and many other reasons to do it. Until you identify those reasons, you can’t motivate yourself to do anything. You have to keep the reasons in mind when you get started so you can keep going when it gets tough.
3. How are you going to do it?
This sounds simple and even sarcastic, but I assure you that you need to mind this step. The way you are going to get active is important. The plan is even more important. For example: If you are going to go to the gym, you need to have a bag and a time set aside to go. If you are going to ride a bike, you need a bike. It doesn’t get any simpler than that, yet many struggle to establish the how before they try to get going.
4. What is stopping you from doing it?
This is where we fail. If you are not doing something, you are being stopped. Something is stopping you from doing it. The people that I talk to with excuses and stories about what has happened or not happened are being stopped. Who or what is stopping them? They are stopping themselves. There is a fight that we all have before starting something new. If have you haven’t gotten started, you are fighting yourself and losing.
Setting up your plan can mean the difference between success and failure. If you don’t do it, failure becomes far more likely. Failure is certain if you are fighting yourself. Health takes support and dedication. When met with a fight, health often loses. We can all put up a good fight and fend off a healthy routine. The world around us makes that easy.
But, what are we fighting? We are fighting a good healthy routine. We are fighting energy. We are fighting better sleep. We are fighting long-term health. We are fighting the look in the mirror that we can be proud of. In other words, we are fighting the things we want.
It doesn’t make sense, does it? Of course it doesn’t make sense. When we are asked, we tell ourselves and others that we want to be healthy. When it comes to the action, we often start that fight. If health brings such good things, why do we fight it?
It doesn’t make sense, but if you follow the steps and ask yourself 4 questions, you can win the fight. Ask yourself what you want to do, why you want to do it, how you are going to do it and you will be able to get started. You may want to ask yourself one more important question before you get too far: What are you fighting?
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Eliminate Quitting From Your List of Options
When it comes to health, everyone wants to be better. If you are feeling that you are in poor health, you want to get started with something. If you are in good health, you want to be in great health. Even if you are in great health, you strive to maintain it and even push yourself further. No matter where you are, you always want to see results and achieve more.
The best way to do that is simple: Do it. There is no way around it. If you do things that are good for your health, you will get healthy results. You will be healthy. If you don’t do these things, you won’t see the results. That is as simple as I can put it.
Why is everyone having trouble getting the results they want? Well, I don’t think that it is lack of awareness of what they need to do. We all know what healthy food looks like. We all know that moving is good for the body. There is no secret to health. The fact remains: When you do healthy things you are going to get healthy results.
The best part about health is that you have so many options. You can do anything to move your body and count it as exercise. You can eat a variety of foods that will bring you good nutrients and you can even eat the good foods that you have always eaten, in moderation. The problem is that there is one option that seems to be more powerful and enticing than all the others. There is an option that seems to be stronger than all of the others combined and often ends up being the one we choose.
This option is quitting. Quitting is something that we have all done in one area or another. We have all been in a situation where things looked difficult and we decided not to go forward. We have been there, we will likely be there again and there is no shame in it. Quitting is part of life. There are even times when quitting is the better option when you think about the results you are going to get.
In health, quitting is not a good option. In fact, it shouldn’t be an option at all. What are you saying when you quit? You are saying that you don’t care. You are saying that you don’t want the results you would get from going forward. What are you saying when you quit on your health? You are saying that you don’t want it and you don’t care about your own well-being. You are saying that you don’t want to be healthy. What’s worse is that you are saying “I don’t think I can be healthy.”
Quitting seems like an easier option. I think that is why we tend to jump to it so quickly. It is always easier to move backward. It is easier to picture yourself back where you started because you have already been there. There is a certain comfort in familiar territory. If you have seen it and know how it feels, it is much easier to accept.
That is actually the key to health. Quitting seems easier in the beginning. When failure and poor health are the norm, it is easy to go back there. The same is true for success and good health. When you are used to moving forward, you get comfortable with that and keep doing it.
Even small steps and small changes are positive. The healthiest people are not just fanatics that live and breathe exercise and grow their own food while shunning everything that “normal” people eat. The healthiest people are able to break their options down and choose one that works for them. They are able to do this day in and day out and that is why their results are what they are.
It’s not enough to want to be healthy. You have to live healthy to get healthy results. You have many options. Quitting is one of those options, but we know what it gets you. It gets you nothing. It actually gets you worse than nothing because each option you choose can become a habit. The more you choose an option, the more comfort you will feel with it and the easier it will be to do.
When it comes to health, many of us are looking for better results. There are many options to achieve these results. The best thing you can do is eliminate one of your options. Don’t let quitting be an option and you will see much different results.
The best way to do that is simple: Do it. There is no way around it. If you do things that are good for your health, you will get healthy results. You will be healthy. If you don’t do these things, you won’t see the results. That is as simple as I can put it.
Why is everyone having trouble getting the results they want? Well, I don’t think that it is lack of awareness of what they need to do. We all know what healthy food looks like. We all know that moving is good for the body. There is no secret to health. The fact remains: When you do healthy things you are going to get healthy results.
The best part about health is that you have so many options. You can do anything to move your body and count it as exercise. You can eat a variety of foods that will bring you good nutrients and you can even eat the good foods that you have always eaten, in moderation. The problem is that there is one option that seems to be more powerful and enticing than all the others. There is an option that seems to be stronger than all of the others combined and often ends up being the one we choose.
This option is quitting. Quitting is something that we have all done in one area or another. We have all been in a situation where things looked difficult and we decided not to go forward. We have been there, we will likely be there again and there is no shame in it. Quitting is part of life. There are even times when quitting is the better option when you think about the results you are going to get.
In health, quitting is not a good option. In fact, it shouldn’t be an option at all. What are you saying when you quit? You are saying that you don’t care. You are saying that you don’t want the results you would get from going forward. What are you saying when you quit on your health? You are saying that you don’t want it and you don’t care about your own well-being. You are saying that you don’t want to be healthy. What’s worse is that you are saying “I don’t think I can be healthy.”
Quitting seems like an easier option. I think that is why we tend to jump to it so quickly. It is always easier to move backward. It is easier to picture yourself back where you started because you have already been there. There is a certain comfort in familiar territory. If you have seen it and know how it feels, it is much easier to accept.
That is actually the key to health. Quitting seems easier in the beginning. When failure and poor health are the norm, it is easy to go back there. The same is true for success and good health. When you are used to moving forward, you get comfortable with that and keep doing it.
Even small steps and small changes are positive. The healthiest people are not just fanatics that live and breathe exercise and grow their own food while shunning everything that “normal” people eat. The healthiest people are able to break their options down and choose one that works for them. They are able to do this day in and day out and that is why their results are what they are.
It’s not enough to want to be healthy. You have to live healthy to get healthy results. You have many options. Quitting is one of those options, but we know what it gets you. It gets you nothing. It actually gets you worse than nothing because each option you choose can become a habit. The more you choose an option, the more comfort you will feel with it and the easier it will be to do.
When it comes to health, many of us are looking for better results. There are many options to achieve these results. The best thing you can do is eliminate one of your options. Don’t let quitting be an option and you will see much different results.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Fitting Exercise In: Next Steps
We all know how important exercise is. We all know that there are many benefits to exercising. Unfortunately, we also know how difficult it can be to fit exercise in. That is why I’ve written countless articles about why it is worth fitting it in despite the challenges. The difficulty you have fitting in exercise now pales in comparison to the difficulties you will face later in life.
Exercise isn’t just about weight loss. Exercise is about quality of life. And despite the stigma it gets among those that don’t want to do it or find it too hard to do, exercise is something that you will enjoy. Even if you don’t enjoy each and every session, I assure you that the results will be enjoyed. Think about the benefits of exercise for a moment. These benefits include:
1. Weight Control
When you burn calories, you lose weight. When you don’t burn them, you gain weight. It’s simple and we all know it.
2. Long-term Health
Exercise prevents many chronic conditions and helps you live a longer life. Certain risk factors (like heart disease, diabetes to name a few) can be dramatically reduced for a longer life and more healthy and enjoyable years.
3. Mood Boosting
Exercise is proven to boost mood and is even being used by therapists to treat depression.
4. Energy
Exercise wakes the body up and helps you get going. It works at any time of the day, so get moving for more energy.
5. Sleep Improvement
Exercise helps us regulate sleep patterns. By moving more during the day, we are better able to shut down at night.
Do any of the things on this list sound bad? Do any of them sound like things you should be avoiding? Of course not! They are all things we want every single day. We want to be healthy, feel good and have more energy. No matter who you are, I can guarantee that these are things you would like to have in your life.
Well, are they in your life? If so, you have realized the importance and started taking action. If not, why are they still not part of your life? Is it because you haven’t found a way to fit exercise in? This is not uncommon. In fact, it’s the norm. Most people are not active. About 30% of Americans don’t exercise at all.
Why is this? We know all of the good things that exercise brings, so why are we still not doing it? It’s simple: we are not finding ways to fit exercise in. It is simple to understand why exercise is good. It is also simple to understand why people are not able to get enough. We all have busy schedules, obligations and not enough time to complete them. That is no surprise.
It is not so simple to understand how to fit exercise in. That is a big reason that so many are not fitting it in. It takes planning, preparation, dedication and motivation. It takes what some think is too much. But, I don’t think it takes as much as everyone thinks. I think it takes one step on one day and a willingness to stick with it. Sticking with it doesn’t mean gritting your teeth and doing something you don’t like. It just means adjusting so that you can do something to keep it going.
We will get into that later. First, let’s take a look at some tips for fitting exercise in:
1. Know Your Schedule
Sit down and take a few minutes to determine what times would work for you. It is easy to say: “Oh, I’ll fit it in at some point.” How has that worked in the past? Exactly, if you don’t have time, you won’t do anything. You have to look for realistic times and realistic blocks of time.
2. Use Your Schedule
It’s not enough to say: “I’m going to start working out every morning.” You have to think about what makes sense for your schedule and your comfort level. Once you have don’t that, put those times on your calendar. The more formal you are with your schedule, the more likely you are to stick with it.
3. Own Your Schedule
Once something goes on your calendar, remember how it got there. You put it there! If you put it there, only you can take it off. If you have something important and beneficial to yourself on the calendar, there is only one reason to take it off. That one reason: If something is more important and more beneficial to you. I didn’t say “more urgent”, I said more important. There will always be urgent things that come about. These things are not important. They may scream for your attention, but unless we are talking about an actual emergency, urgent does NOT equal important. Put it on, don’t take it off. The little things can wait until you are done. In fact, they may even feel easier because you are energized.
4. Keep Your Schedule
It does you no good to hit it hard for a week and then quit. Don’t think that exercise is going to be something that you start and instantly perfect. It will take time to work your way into a routine. Many people do it without thinking about it, but many others still struggle to fit it in. The difference is the first 3 steps. The next factor is looking at those steps in a long-term view. You have to know that you are doing to do this for a long time. I even suggest thinking about what you want to do for the rest of your life. It sounds extreme, but how many days in a row are you going to do that fad workout program? How many times are you going to force yourself to go to the gym that is too far away just because got a deal?
You already know the reasons for fitting exercise in. You know that you want to do it and you know why you want to do it. These are really the next steps. Apply them and know that the more you try, the better it will work. The longer you can commit the more results you will get. The list of results is long and it makes no sense to fight it. The difference between success and failure is having a plan. These steps should be the first in your plan to fitting exercise in.
Exercise isn’t just about weight loss. Exercise is about quality of life. And despite the stigma it gets among those that don’t want to do it or find it too hard to do, exercise is something that you will enjoy. Even if you don’t enjoy each and every session, I assure you that the results will be enjoyed. Think about the benefits of exercise for a moment. These benefits include:
1. Weight Control
When you burn calories, you lose weight. When you don’t burn them, you gain weight. It’s simple and we all know it.
2. Long-term Health
Exercise prevents many chronic conditions and helps you live a longer life. Certain risk factors (like heart disease, diabetes to name a few) can be dramatically reduced for a longer life and more healthy and enjoyable years.
3. Mood Boosting
Exercise is proven to boost mood and is even being used by therapists to treat depression.
4. Energy
Exercise wakes the body up and helps you get going. It works at any time of the day, so get moving for more energy.
5. Sleep Improvement
Exercise helps us regulate sleep patterns. By moving more during the day, we are better able to shut down at night.
Do any of the things on this list sound bad? Do any of them sound like things you should be avoiding? Of course not! They are all things we want every single day. We want to be healthy, feel good and have more energy. No matter who you are, I can guarantee that these are things you would like to have in your life.
Well, are they in your life? If so, you have realized the importance and started taking action. If not, why are they still not part of your life? Is it because you haven’t found a way to fit exercise in? This is not uncommon. In fact, it’s the norm. Most people are not active. About 30% of Americans don’t exercise at all.
Why is this? We know all of the good things that exercise brings, so why are we still not doing it? It’s simple: we are not finding ways to fit exercise in. It is simple to understand why exercise is good. It is also simple to understand why people are not able to get enough. We all have busy schedules, obligations and not enough time to complete them. That is no surprise.
It is not so simple to understand how to fit exercise in. That is a big reason that so many are not fitting it in. It takes planning, preparation, dedication and motivation. It takes what some think is too much. But, I don’t think it takes as much as everyone thinks. I think it takes one step on one day and a willingness to stick with it. Sticking with it doesn’t mean gritting your teeth and doing something you don’t like. It just means adjusting so that you can do something to keep it going.
We will get into that later. First, let’s take a look at some tips for fitting exercise in:
1. Know Your Schedule
Sit down and take a few minutes to determine what times would work for you. It is easy to say: “Oh, I’ll fit it in at some point.” How has that worked in the past? Exactly, if you don’t have time, you won’t do anything. You have to look for realistic times and realistic blocks of time.
2. Use Your Schedule
It’s not enough to say: “I’m going to start working out every morning.” You have to think about what makes sense for your schedule and your comfort level. Once you have don’t that, put those times on your calendar. The more formal you are with your schedule, the more likely you are to stick with it.
3. Own Your Schedule
Once something goes on your calendar, remember how it got there. You put it there! If you put it there, only you can take it off. If you have something important and beneficial to yourself on the calendar, there is only one reason to take it off. That one reason: If something is more important and more beneficial to you. I didn’t say “more urgent”, I said more important. There will always be urgent things that come about. These things are not important. They may scream for your attention, but unless we are talking about an actual emergency, urgent does NOT equal important. Put it on, don’t take it off. The little things can wait until you are done. In fact, they may even feel easier because you are energized.
4. Keep Your Schedule
It does you no good to hit it hard for a week and then quit. Don’t think that exercise is going to be something that you start and instantly perfect. It will take time to work your way into a routine. Many people do it without thinking about it, but many others still struggle to fit it in. The difference is the first 3 steps. The next factor is looking at those steps in a long-term view. You have to know that you are doing to do this for a long time. I even suggest thinking about what you want to do for the rest of your life. It sounds extreme, but how many days in a row are you going to do that fad workout program? How many times are you going to force yourself to go to the gym that is too far away just because got a deal?
You already know the reasons for fitting exercise in. You know that you want to do it and you know why you want to do it. These are really the next steps. Apply them and know that the more you try, the better it will work. The longer you can commit the more results you will get. The list of results is long and it makes no sense to fight it. The difference between success and failure is having a plan. These steps should be the first in your plan to fitting exercise in.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Fitting Exercise In
Exercise is one of those things that we love. Exercise is also one of those things that we hate. Actually, I don’t know too many people that had exercise. I know a few, but most just hate trying to get exercise in. They hate the idea of changing the routine or the thoughts that come to mind when they think about the possibility
of squeezing exercise into their schedule.
Most people are talking about trying to fit in exercise, but very few are actually trying to fitting it in. What’s worse is that most people that are trying to fit it in are not even getting it. They are “trying” and not doing, so it doesn’t make a difference what they want to do until they do it, there is no exercise being fit in.
That is a problem for their health, their mood, their confidence, their sleep, their work, you name it and exercise (or lack of) is impacting the ability to perform. Let’s take a look at some of the positive impact that exercise has on your day to day life. Exercise gives us:
1. Weight Control
In case you’ve been living under a rock, I have a breaking story for you: Exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight. When you burn calories, you lose weight. When you don’t burn them, you gain weight. It’s simple and we all know it.
2. Long-term Health
Exercise prevents many chronic conditions and helps you live a longer life. When you exercise, there are certain risk factors (like heart disease, diabetes to name a few) that you can dramatically reduce. This means longer life and more healthy and enjoyable years throughout your life.
3. Mood Boosting
Have you ever tried working out to start your day? If you have, you likely swear by it and even feel off if you haven’t had your workout. What about the afternoon or evening? Have you ever felt tired and cranky? We have all been there. Exercise is proven to boost mood and is even being used by therapists to treat depression.
4. Energy
Those that workout in the morning know this to be true: Exercise gives you more energy. Not only will you have more stamina throughout each day, but after a workout you will actually have more immediate energy. It wakes the body up and helps you get going. It works at any time of the day, so get moving for more energy.
5. Sleep Improvement
Can’t sleep at night? Try exercising the next day and you will sleep like a baby the next night. Exercise helps us regulate sleep patterns. By moving more during the day, we are better able to shut down at night. It sounds too simple to be true, but it is. Burn more energy during the day and you will sleep better at night.
This is just 5 items on a list as long as your arm. Actually, it is longer than your arm and longer and continues to get longer every day. Scientists are still discovering new ways that exercise impacts our lives. We could talk about the benefits of exercise all day, but that wouldn’t help you see those benefits.
In order for exercise to impact your life, you have to do it. That is the only catch. It’s great to know how good it is and to learn about the benefits, but if you don’t do it, you don’t get any of those benefits. I don’t think people are forgetting the benefits. I don’t think that anyone would choose to deal with chronic conditions knowing that all they have to do is exercise to prevent them.
I think it’s more than that. It goes back to fitting it in. More importantly, it goes back to making it part of your day so that it gets fit in rather than becoming a thought that you simply gave up. We are constantly fitting other things in. We” make time”, “shuffle things around” and “try to get it done” when it comes to every other are of life. We don’t want to let anyone down when they ask a favor or want us to be somewhere. What we don’t do is fit exercise in.
I think the reason we don’t fit exercise in is that we are looking at it in the wrong way. We are looking at exercise as something that we are supposed to do or we should be doing. We also look at it as an extreme version of itself. When I ask someone if they exercised today, they immediately start with the excuses for not exercising and the disclaimers about how they are “not an athlete”, “a fitness nut” or “Superman”, so today, it “just didn’t happen”.
In many cases, they are being true to their routine. But in many other cases, they are short-changing themselves and being quite self-defeating. When you walk, you are exercising. When you take the stairs, you are exercising. When you move instead of standing still, you are exercising. When you stand instead of sitting, you are exercising. Any time you are doing something that requires more movement than an alternative; you are giving your body what it needs. That is the good news. So, what’s the bad news? You need to do more of it!
That doesn’t mean that you have to join a gym or go buy running shoes. It doesn’t mean that your intensity or dedication is lacking. It just means that life as we know it promotes inactivity. It is easier to sit all day. In many cases, it is actually required. It is easier to move less and sit more at home, at work, in public places and anywhere else you may go.
Exercise is not going to just happen for you. And yet, we discourage ourselves as if it is supposed to. We will spend the day working, taking care of kids, friends, going to meetings, feeding pets and all sort of other things. These are all good and important things to do. Don’t get me wrong. But at the end of a day full of these things, we still discourage ourselves because we didn’t go to the gym or go for a long run.
We need to stop thinking about exercise as the gym or a run. We need to start realizing that exercise is easier than that. You can exercise at your desk. You can exercise at home. You can exercise in the airport or the mall. It doesn’t matter where you are. As long as you are willing to fit it in, you can exercise. The problem is not lack of time or space. The problem is lack of creativity. Move your body in any way in any place that you can. That is fitting exercise in.
of squeezing exercise into their schedule.
Most people are talking about trying to fit in exercise, but very few are actually trying to fitting it in. What’s worse is that most people that are trying to fit it in are not even getting it. They are “trying” and not doing, so it doesn’t make a difference what they want to do until they do it, there is no exercise being fit in.
That is a problem for their health, their mood, their confidence, their sleep, their work, you name it and exercise (or lack of) is impacting the ability to perform. Let’s take a look at some of the positive impact that exercise has on your day to day life. Exercise gives us:
1. Weight Control
In case you’ve been living under a rock, I have a breaking story for you: Exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight. When you burn calories, you lose weight. When you don’t burn them, you gain weight. It’s simple and we all know it.
2. Long-term Health
Exercise prevents many chronic conditions and helps you live a longer life. When you exercise, there are certain risk factors (like heart disease, diabetes to name a few) that you can dramatically reduce. This means longer life and more healthy and enjoyable years throughout your life.
3. Mood Boosting
Have you ever tried working out to start your day? If you have, you likely swear by it and even feel off if you haven’t had your workout. What about the afternoon or evening? Have you ever felt tired and cranky? We have all been there. Exercise is proven to boost mood and is even being used by therapists to treat depression.
4. Energy
Those that workout in the morning know this to be true: Exercise gives you more energy. Not only will you have more stamina throughout each day, but after a workout you will actually have more immediate energy. It wakes the body up and helps you get going. It works at any time of the day, so get moving for more energy.
5. Sleep Improvement
Can’t sleep at night? Try exercising the next day and you will sleep like a baby the next night. Exercise helps us regulate sleep patterns. By moving more during the day, we are better able to shut down at night. It sounds too simple to be true, but it is. Burn more energy during the day and you will sleep better at night.
This is just 5 items on a list as long as your arm. Actually, it is longer than your arm and longer and continues to get longer every day. Scientists are still discovering new ways that exercise impacts our lives. We could talk about the benefits of exercise all day, but that wouldn’t help you see those benefits.
In order for exercise to impact your life, you have to do it. That is the only catch. It’s great to know how good it is and to learn about the benefits, but if you don’t do it, you don’t get any of those benefits. I don’t think people are forgetting the benefits. I don’t think that anyone would choose to deal with chronic conditions knowing that all they have to do is exercise to prevent them.
I think it’s more than that. It goes back to fitting it in. More importantly, it goes back to making it part of your day so that it gets fit in rather than becoming a thought that you simply gave up. We are constantly fitting other things in. We” make time”, “shuffle things around” and “try to get it done” when it comes to every other are of life. We don’t want to let anyone down when they ask a favor or want us to be somewhere. What we don’t do is fit exercise in.
I think the reason we don’t fit exercise in is that we are looking at it in the wrong way. We are looking at exercise as something that we are supposed to do or we should be doing. We also look at it as an extreme version of itself. When I ask someone if they exercised today, they immediately start with the excuses for not exercising and the disclaimers about how they are “not an athlete”, “a fitness nut” or “Superman”, so today, it “just didn’t happen”.
In many cases, they are being true to their routine. But in many other cases, they are short-changing themselves and being quite self-defeating. When you walk, you are exercising. When you take the stairs, you are exercising. When you move instead of standing still, you are exercising. When you stand instead of sitting, you are exercising. Any time you are doing something that requires more movement than an alternative; you are giving your body what it needs. That is the good news. So, what’s the bad news? You need to do more of it!
That doesn’t mean that you have to join a gym or go buy running shoes. It doesn’t mean that your intensity or dedication is lacking. It just means that life as we know it promotes inactivity. It is easier to sit all day. In many cases, it is actually required. It is easier to move less and sit more at home, at work, in public places and anywhere else you may go.
Exercise is not going to just happen for you. And yet, we discourage ourselves as if it is supposed to. We will spend the day working, taking care of kids, friends, going to meetings, feeding pets and all sort of other things. These are all good and important things to do. Don’t get me wrong. But at the end of a day full of these things, we still discourage ourselves because we didn’t go to the gym or go for a long run.
We need to stop thinking about exercise as the gym or a run. We need to start realizing that exercise is easier than that. You can exercise at your desk. You can exercise at home. You can exercise in the airport or the mall. It doesn’t matter where you are. As long as you are willing to fit it in, you can exercise. The problem is not lack of time or space. The problem is lack of creativity. Move your body in any way in any place that you can. That is fitting exercise in.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Stop Trying to Be Perfect
Have you ever heard the phrase: “Nobody’s perfect”? I’m sure you have heard this at one point or another. If you are anything like me, you believed it too. Most people do believe it because it makes sense. I know for a fact that I have made mistakes. I also know that everyone else I know has made mistakes.
Mistakes are part of being human. If you are human, you make mistakes. There are mistakes to be made in all areas of life. Anything you do that involves thinking, decisions or execution of a skill presents the opportunity for a mistake. That doesn’t sound like a very optimistic view, but it is true.
The optimistic view would say that any thought, decision or execution of a skill presents an opportunity for success. This is where I often see the importance of mistakes in our lives. That’s right, mistakes are important. Mistakes are what we learn from. Mistakes are what make us better. Without mistakes, we don’t improve.
More importantly, without the opportunity for mistakes, we have no opportunity for success. When it comes to sports, this is a no-brainer: if you don’t play the game, you can’t win. If you relate it to business: if you don’t call a prospect, you can’t make the sale. If you don’t show up to the meeting, you can’t contribute ideas. The list goes on and on and it’s the same in all areas of life. Without the opportunity for mistakes, there is no opportunity for success.
The bottom line is: if you are afraid to make mistakes, you will never succeed.
This is a lesson I learned a kid. Sports taught me this lesson. It took a few more lessons in the real world before I fully understood it and how it would work in the business world. Now that I get it, life and business are much easier. Do I see mistakes and failure? Of course I do. I experience them regularly. But I also see success daily. Some success comes from just trying again. Most of my success comes from the things I learned from the past mistakes.
When it comes to health, mistakes are also important. Yet, health is an area that people are afraid to make them. When discussing exercise routines with people, I hear far too often: “I can’t do it every day, so I’m not going to do it at all.” Or “I don’t have time to do it for an hour, so I won’t do it at all.”
These are excuses that I hear frequently. I hear them, not because these people are not good enough to get exercise, not because exercise is too hard for them. I hear these excuses because these people are afraid to make mistakes. It is easy to start a new routine. It is not easy to keep a new routine going. Each time you run into a challenge, it is difficult to overcome it.
Challenges will arise. Your plan to overcome these challenges is what will get you through. When you set out to do something new, you are bound to make a mistake or two. When you make those mistakes, you can do one of two things:
1. You can give up
2. You can learn from the mistake and try again
When you try again, you can either give a similar strategy another try or you can start over and try something new. Either way, you are deciding that you are not done and you are able keep going. When you keep going, you can succeed. When you quit, you can’t succeed.
In health, mistakes are not the end of your routine unless you quit. They are simply a roadblock that causes you to stop and think about what you are doing. You have a choice at every roadblock. You can choose to give up or you can choose to keep trying.
The choice is yours. When we were kids, we learned that nobody’s perfect. We learned that quitters never win and winners never quit. We learned all of these things and applied them to other areas of life. Socially, professionally and financially, we have chosen to keep going. In order to live healthy we need to make that same choice. You can try to be perfect, but it won’t happen.
Being perfect is an illusion. For some reason, we think that our health routines need to be perfect. The fact is, nobody is perfect in any area of life, including health. Healthy people are not healthy because they are perfect. They are healthy because they have learned from mistakes and keep trying to live healthy. Health is not about being perfect. Stop trying to be perfect and start doing something that you can do today. If you make a mistake, learn from it and do something differently until it works for you.
Mistakes are part of being human. If you are human, you make mistakes. There are mistakes to be made in all areas of life. Anything you do that involves thinking, decisions or execution of a skill presents the opportunity for a mistake. That doesn’t sound like a very optimistic view, but it is true.
The optimistic view would say that any thought, decision or execution of a skill presents an opportunity for success. This is where I often see the importance of mistakes in our lives. That’s right, mistakes are important. Mistakes are what we learn from. Mistakes are what make us better. Without mistakes, we don’t improve.
More importantly, without the opportunity for mistakes, we have no opportunity for success. When it comes to sports, this is a no-brainer: if you don’t play the game, you can’t win. If you relate it to business: if you don’t call a prospect, you can’t make the sale. If you don’t show up to the meeting, you can’t contribute ideas. The list goes on and on and it’s the same in all areas of life. Without the opportunity for mistakes, there is no opportunity for success.
The bottom line is: if you are afraid to make mistakes, you will never succeed.
This is a lesson I learned a kid. Sports taught me this lesson. It took a few more lessons in the real world before I fully understood it and how it would work in the business world. Now that I get it, life and business are much easier. Do I see mistakes and failure? Of course I do. I experience them regularly. But I also see success daily. Some success comes from just trying again. Most of my success comes from the things I learned from the past mistakes.
When it comes to health, mistakes are also important. Yet, health is an area that people are afraid to make them. When discussing exercise routines with people, I hear far too often: “I can’t do it every day, so I’m not going to do it at all.” Or “I don’t have time to do it for an hour, so I won’t do it at all.”
These are excuses that I hear frequently. I hear them, not because these people are not good enough to get exercise, not because exercise is too hard for them. I hear these excuses because these people are afraid to make mistakes. It is easy to start a new routine. It is not easy to keep a new routine going. Each time you run into a challenge, it is difficult to overcome it.
Challenges will arise. Your plan to overcome these challenges is what will get you through. When you set out to do something new, you are bound to make a mistake or two. When you make those mistakes, you can do one of two things:
1. You can give up
2. You can learn from the mistake and try again
When you try again, you can either give a similar strategy another try or you can start over and try something new. Either way, you are deciding that you are not done and you are able keep going. When you keep going, you can succeed. When you quit, you can’t succeed.
In health, mistakes are not the end of your routine unless you quit. They are simply a roadblock that causes you to stop and think about what you are doing. You have a choice at every roadblock. You can choose to give up or you can choose to keep trying.
The choice is yours. When we were kids, we learned that nobody’s perfect. We learned that quitters never win and winners never quit. We learned all of these things and applied them to other areas of life. Socially, professionally and financially, we have chosen to keep going. In order to live healthy we need to make that same choice. You can try to be perfect, but it won’t happen.
Being perfect is an illusion. For some reason, we think that our health routines need to be perfect. The fact is, nobody is perfect in any area of life, including health. Healthy people are not healthy because they are perfect. They are healthy because they have learned from mistakes and keep trying to live healthy. Health is not about being perfect. Stop trying to be perfect and start doing something that you can do today. If you make a mistake, learn from it and do something differently until it works for you.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Healthy Eating for Healthy Living
When it comes to eating, there are many choices to be made. Every day, we have to decide what we want to eat and what we don’t want to eat. It’s not always easy to make the best choices. Factors like time, access and knowledge can make it even more difficult to make healthy choices on a day to day basis.
I have some good news: It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can make better choices no matter where you go. Whether you get food at the grocery store or you are at a restaurant, you can always choose something that is better than other options. You can also find options that are far worse. There are two keys to making these choices:
1. Know the difference between bad, better and best
2. Trusting yourself to make healthy choices even if you have to compromise
The first key: Know the difference between bad, better and best. Here are some examples of what you can choose and how these choices impact your day to day health:
Quarter Pounder w/ cheese
Calories: 510
Fat: 26 grams (Saturated fat: 12 grams)
Sodium: 1190 milligrams
Better- Roast Beef Sandwich
Calories: 350
Fat: 13 g (Saturated fat: 4.5 g)
Sodium: 960 mg
Best- Roast Beef Sandwich (homemade)
Calories: 225
Fat: 5 g (saturated fat: 2 g)
Sodium: 300 mg
Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Calories: 430
Fat: 15 g (Saturated fat: 3 g)
Sodium: 1240 mg
Better- Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Calories: 300
Fat: 7 g (Saturated fat: 2 g)
Sodium: 740 mg
Best- Chicken Breast Sandwich (sliced/homemade)
Calories: 220
Fat: 2 g (saturated fat: less than 1 g)
Sodium: 260 mg
As you can see, the leaner the meat, the lower the calories and healthier the sandwich is for you. Making a sandwich at home is not only cheaper, but it is much healthier for you.
Other substitutes that can save you some calories:
No cheese: save 50-100 calories, No mayo: save 50-150 calories, No soda: save 150-500 calories!
Portion Control: take part of your food home or back to work. Even splitting a meal into smaller segments can give you a lower calorie total for each meal, but allow you to keep metabolism burning and keep hunger under control throughout the day.
The best options will always be found at the grocery store, but if you have to choose between bad and better, at least you will have some options. Try these tricks and see the benefits of eating healthier! And remember: You don’t have to be perfect to eat better.
I have some good news: It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can make better choices no matter where you go. Whether you get food at the grocery store or you are at a restaurant, you can always choose something that is better than other options. You can also find options that are far worse. There are two keys to making these choices:
1. Know the difference between bad, better and best
2. Trusting yourself to make healthy choices even if you have to compromise
The first key: Know the difference between bad, better and best. Here are some examples of what you can choose and how these choices impact your day to day health:
Quarter Pounder w/ cheese
Calories: 510
Fat: 26 grams (Saturated fat: 12 grams)
Sodium: 1190 milligrams
Better- Roast Beef Sandwich
Calories: 350
Fat: 13 g (Saturated fat: 4.5 g)
Sodium: 960 mg
Best- Roast Beef Sandwich (homemade)
Calories: 225
Fat: 5 g (saturated fat: 2 g)
Sodium: 300 mg
Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Calories: 430
Fat: 15 g (Saturated fat: 3 g)
Sodium: 1240 mg
Better- Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Calories: 300
Fat: 7 g (Saturated fat: 2 g)
Sodium: 740 mg
Best- Chicken Breast Sandwich (sliced/homemade)
Calories: 220
Fat: 2 g (saturated fat: less than 1 g)
Sodium: 260 mg
As you can see, the leaner the meat, the lower the calories and healthier the sandwich is for you. Making a sandwich at home is not only cheaper, but it is much healthier for you.
Other substitutes that can save you some calories:
No cheese: save 50-100 calories, No mayo: save 50-150 calories, No soda: save 150-500 calories!
Portion Control: take part of your food home or back to work. Even splitting a meal into smaller segments can give you a lower calorie total for each meal, but allow you to keep metabolism burning and keep hunger under control throughout the day.
The best options will always be found at the grocery store, but if you have to choose between bad and better, at least you will have some options. Try these tricks and see the benefits of eating healthier! And remember: You don’t have to be perfect to eat better.
Monday, June 18, 2012
The Best Time to Exercise
Exercise is something that we all want to do. Even if you are not doing it regularly, it is something that we all agree that we “should” be doing it. Well, you are right. You should be exercising, working out, or just finding a way to move.
No matter what you call it, you need it to live. You need it to be healthy. You needed it to feel good. You need it to have the energy you want. You needed it to ward off diseases. You needed to lose weight or you need it to maintain your weight. We get more benefits from exercise, but I think you get the picture.
The only way to get the benefits from exercise is to exercise. That’s right, if you don’t do it, you don’t get any of the results from it. You can think about it all you want, but until you do it, the body gets nothing out of exercise. This sounds sarcastic or even condescending, but it is reality. Many people that I talk to on a regular basis are saying that they are thinking about, trying, planning to, you name it and they are doing it. The only thing that they are not doing is exercise itself.
One of the questions that I keep hearing: “When is the best time to exercise?” The answer is not as complicated as you might think. In fact, the answer is as simple as it gets. The best time to exercise is the time that works for you. The best time to exercise is during the time that you have to do it, the time you like to do it the most or simply when you can do it.
This isn’t the answer a lot of people are expecting. You’ve heard from one source or another that claims that there are times that are better than others to exercise, but there really isn’t a difference between morning, afternoon or evening. The difference lies in your routine, your head and your preferences. If you like working out at a certain time, you will stick with it. Many don’t see “liking” exercise as a realistic option. Well, even if it just the time that you can fit it in and fight through it, you will stick with it.
I don’t recommend one time of day over another. When getting started, it is important to try multiple options to see which will work. Actually, before you even try to get started, I recommend sitting down to think about your schedule. It is easy to pick a time and say you are going to go. It is more difficult to actually make that work for a long period of time.
So, how do you know which time to try? Well, that can be simple too. Let’s take a look at some of the key points of morning, afternoon and evening exercise:
Morning Exercise
Getting up in the morning is easier for some than it is for others. It depends on your age, schedule and personal preference, but more importantly, it depends on how your body works. I love morning exercise. When I wake up in the morning, I generally feel pretty good. Am I tired? I am tired on many days, but others I am not. On the days that I feel tired, there is a bit of a struggle to get going. But once I get going, I have another level of energy that I cannot get anywhere else.
My morning exercise is what gets me where I need to be in order to start the day.
The other benefit of morning exercise is that the mornings are consistent. Depending on your schedule, you probably start work at a certain time each day. You probably leave your house around the same time and get to your destination at a certain time as well. We all have a routine that takes us through the process. If exercise fits into that, you can make the most of your morning by waking up and getting your workout out of the way. This not only gives you the benefits of exercise, but it also allows you a mental victory to start the day. When you’ve already taken care of exercise for the day, you don’t have to worry about when (or if) you are going to do it later. It’s done and you can get on with your day.
Afternoon Exercise
Exercising in the afternoon works well for many people. It allows you to have your morning routine. For some that morning routine is hectic enough. This way, you are not worried about that and you can sleep in a bit compared to the morning exercise schedule. One thing that you can’t do is control the afternoon schedule. Many people have meetings, calls and other obligations that move fluidly throughout the workday. As meetings start to move in and out of your schedule, it becomes difficult to set time aside for exercise.
One solution is to go after work is over. Many like to bring gym bags or other equipment to work in order to go right from work to their exercise destination. This works great if you have the energy after a long day of work. You also have to have the resolve to go despite the other options in front of you. There is TV, food, couch, family, more work and countless other things that creep into the afternoon. They all make it harder, but they can be overcome.
Evening Exercise
Many of the same challenges exist in the afternoon and evening. Evenings are treated like mornings in many situations. I talk to people that say that their evening is the only consistent time of the day. Their mornings are crazy, afternoons are the same, but evenings are the part of the day that they can control. Control is a good word to think about when it comes to exercise. We all have a certain degree of control. When you choose to make time for yourself, you are taking control of your schedule and putting what you want into it. If you are letting your schedule run you, you are likely not getting the exercise you need.
Evenings also have their drawbacks. For starters, many are ready to fall asleep shortly after work, making the evening a tough time to exercise. If you are awake and ready for action, the evening can be a great time to get your exercise. The only other caution with this time of day is the after-effects. Much like the morning exercisers feel a burst of energy after exercise, so do the evening exercisers. If this burst is enough to keep you awake at night, you make have problems with evening exercise.
As you can see, there are pros and cons to all times of the day. I’m not going to pretend that exercise is supposed to be this perfect activity that you love every single time and you can set aside a magical time of day that makes it easy. It is all about finding the most pros and the fewest cons. The best time to exercise is the time that has the most pros for you and the fewest cons. The best time to exercise is the time that works for you.
No matter what you call it, you need it to live. You need it to be healthy. You needed it to feel good. You need it to have the energy you want. You needed it to ward off diseases. You needed to lose weight or you need it to maintain your weight. We get more benefits from exercise, but I think you get the picture.
The only way to get the benefits from exercise is to exercise. That’s right, if you don’t do it, you don’t get any of the results from it. You can think about it all you want, but until you do it, the body gets nothing out of exercise. This sounds sarcastic or even condescending, but it is reality. Many people that I talk to on a regular basis are saying that they are thinking about, trying, planning to, you name it and they are doing it. The only thing that they are not doing is exercise itself.
One of the questions that I keep hearing: “When is the best time to exercise?” The answer is not as complicated as you might think. In fact, the answer is as simple as it gets. The best time to exercise is the time that works for you. The best time to exercise is during the time that you have to do it, the time you like to do it the most or simply when you can do it.
This isn’t the answer a lot of people are expecting. You’ve heard from one source or another that claims that there are times that are better than others to exercise, but there really isn’t a difference between morning, afternoon or evening. The difference lies in your routine, your head and your preferences. If you like working out at a certain time, you will stick with it. Many don’t see “liking” exercise as a realistic option. Well, even if it just the time that you can fit it in and fight through it, you will stick with it.
I don’t recommend one time of day over another. When getting started, it is important to try multiple options to see which will work. Actually, before you even try to get started, I recommend sitting down to think about your schedule. It is easy to pick a time and say you are going to go. It is more difficult to actually make that work for a long period of time.
So, how do you know which time to try? Well, that can be simple too. Let’s take a look at some of the key points of morning, afternoon and evening exercise:
Morning Exercise
Getting up in the morning is easier for some than it is for others. It depends on your age, schedule and personal preference, but more importantly, it depends on how your body works. I love morning exercise. When I wake up in the morning, I generally feel pretty good. Am I tired? I am tired on many days, but others I am not. On the days that I feel tired, there is a bit of a struggle to get going. But once I get going, I have another level of energy that I cannot get anywhere else.
My morning exercise is what gets me where I need to be in order to start the day.
The other benefit of morning exercise is that the mornings are consistent. Depending on your schedule, you probably start work at a certain time each day. You probably leave your house around the same time and get to your destination at a certain time as well. We all have a routine that takes us through the process. If exercise fits into that, you can make the most of your morning by waking up and getting your workout out of the way. This not only gives you the benefits of exercise, but it also allows you a mental victory to start the day. When you’ve already taken care of exercise for the day, you don’t have to worry about when (or if) you are going to do it later. It’s done and you can get on with your day.
Afternoon Exercise
Exercising in the afternoon works well for many people. It allows you to have your morning routine. For some that morning routine is hectic enough. This way, you are not worried about that and you can sleep in a bit compared to the morning exercise schedule. One thing that you can’t do is control the afternoon schedule. Many people have meetings, calls and other obligations that move fluidly throughout the workday. As meetings start to move in and out of your schedule, it becomes difficult to set time aside for exercise.
One solution is to go after work is over. Many like to bring gym bags or other equipment to work in order to go right from work to their exercise destination. This works great if you have the energy after a long day of work. You also have to have the resolve to go despite the other options in front of you. There is TV, food, couch, family, more work and countless other things that creep into the afternoon. They all make it harder, but they can be overcome.
Evening Exercise
Many of the same challenges exist in the afternoon and evening. Evenings are treated like mornings in many situations. I talk to people that say that their evening is the only consistent time of the day. Their mornings are crazy, afternoons are the same, but evenings are the part of the day that they can control. Control is a good word to think about when it comes to exercise. We all have a certain degree of control. When you choose to make time for yourself, you are taking control of your schedule and putting what you want into it. If you are letting your schedule run you, you are likely not getting the exercise you need.
Evenings also have their drawbacks. For starters, many are ready to fall asleep shortly after work, making the evening a tough time to exercise. If you are awake and ready for action, the evening can be a great time to get your exercise. The only other caution with this time of day is the after-effects. Much like the morning exercisers feel a burst of energy after exercise, so do the evening exercisers. If this burst is enough to keep you awake at night, you make have problems with evening exercise.
As you can see, there are pros and cons to all times of the day. I’m not going to pretend that exercise is supposed to be this perfect activity that you love every single time and you can set aside a magical time of day that makes it easy. It is all about finding the most pros and the fewest cons. The best time to exercise is the time that has the most pros for you and the fewest cons. The best time to exercise is the time that works for you.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Be a Good Friend to Yourself
Health is a serious matter. We all take it seriously. Even if you are struggling to get started, the matter at hand is serious: You want to do something to improve your life and it is important to you that it gets done. It can be frustrating when you run into challenges. Believe me, I’ve run into my share of challenges on my journey. I have also talked to countless people that are dealing with challenges on a day to day basis.
There is something that is more frustrating than the day to day challenges. There is something that is more frustrating than anything else. What’s worse is that your frustration is only equaled by you lack of progress and defeat. When you are dealing with this, it can be difficult to even continue on your plan.
I have a few questions for you relating to this issue:
- Have you ever had a friend that always told you that you were going to get together?
- Have you ever had that same friend change or cancel plans on you?
- How did that make you feel?
- Did you keep trying to make plans with this person?
These questions are answered by you and only you, so I am making no assumptions about you social life. The only assumptions that I am making are:
1. IF you were dealing with this, it was very frustrating and even hurtful.
2. You weren’t dealing with it very long before you simply quit trying.
It goes without saying that it hurts when someone chooses not to spend time with you. It frustrates us when someone doesn’t make time for you. A friend, family member, spouse, coworker or anyone in your life has the power to hurt us by disrespecting our time and company. They can cause you to feel down and question many things. A true friend wouldn’t do this to you, would they?
Well, are you your own friend? Have you been a good friend to yourself? This question may sound odd, but it is very important to ask it. It is very important for you to ask yourself if you have been a good friend to yourself. Obviously, it is also important to be a good friend to your friends and family, but that is easier than being a good friend to yourself. In fact, most people are ONLY good friends to their friends and continue to neglect themselves.
This brings us to the last question on that list: Did you keep trying to make plans with your friend that wouldn’t stick to your commitments?
Most people that I talk to about this, have said that they didn’t try very long before giving up, and they eventually gave up. Many people also tell me that it taught them a lesson. The lesson to them was that if someone isn’t willing to commit to them, they shouldn’t keep committing. If someone doesn’t have time for you, don’t make time for them.
I will ask again: Are you a good friend to yourself? More accurately, have you been a good friend to yourself? If not, you just went through the same situation with yourself that you did with that rude and disrespectful friend. You kept changing your mind and refusing to commit to take time for you, so eventually, you stopped committing the time and assumed that it wouldn’t happen anyway.
This is called quitting or giving up. It seems to be acceptable because we don’t think it’s hurting anyone else. In fact, in many ways it even feels better to let go and quit trying. Why does this feel good? It feels good because you don’t have to let yourself down anymore. Just as it felt good to take your power back and not let your friend stand you up anymore, it feels good to stop standing yourself up too.
There are two ways to stop standing yourself up:
1. Quit (not recommended)
2. Start being a better friend to yourself
Anyone can quit. Anyone can say that they give up and stop trying. Anyone can neglect themselves and pretend that it feels better. But eventually, you are going to want to get back out there and do it. Eventually, you will decide that you want to be friends again. It works with the other person or yourself. If a really close friend or a sibling changes and wants to start trying to build your relationship again, you are likely to give them another chance. Once you decide that you want to start building routine again, you will give yourself another chance.
At least I hope you will give yourself another chance. If you don’t, life will be long and painful. The benefits of health are numerous. You will live a better life with health, just as you will live a better life with friends and family that love you. No one can deny that it hurts to have someone that isn’t willing to commit to you.
That is why living an unhealthy lifestyle is hurting you. Not only are you missing the benefits a healthy lifestyle, but you are also treating yourself badly. You are mistreating yourself physically by not exercising or watching your eating habits. That is one thing. The more significant damage is done on the emotional side. You are mistreating yourself emotionally by refusing to commit.
Hurtful when it comes from a so-called friend: They are refusing to commit time with you. They are putting other things in front of you and your relationship. They are telling you that you are not important enough to spend a little time with.
More hurtful when it comes from you: You are refusing to commit time for yourself. You are putting other things in front of yourself. You are telling yourself that you are not important enough to spend a little time with.
I don’t see much difference between the two situations. The actions are the same.
The results are the same. If you don’t take time for someone, it hurts them. If you don’t take time for yourself, it hurts you. When you think about your health, think about your feelings. Think about how are treating yourself. Ask yourself: Would I tolerate this treatment from someone else? Are you being a good friend to yourself?
There is something that is more frustrating than the day to day challenges. There is something that is more frustrating than anything else. What’s worse is that your frustration is only equaled by you lack of progress and defeat. When you are dealing with this, it can be difficult to even continue on your plan.
I have a few questions for you relating to this issue:
- Have you ever had a friend that always told you that you were going to get together?
- Have you ever had that same friend change or cancel plans on you?
- How did that make you feel?
- Did you keep trying to make plans with this person?
These questions are answered by you and only you, so I am making no assumptions about you social life. The only assumptions that I am making are:
1. IF you were dealing with this, it was very frustrating and even hurtful.
2. You weren’t dealing with it very long before you simply quit trying.
It goes without saying that it hurts when someone chooses not to spend time with you. It frustrates us when someone doesn’t make time for you. A friend, family member, spouse, coworker or anyone in your life has the power to hurt us by disrespecting our time and company. They can cause you to feel down and question many things. A true friend wouldn’t do this to you, would they?
Well, are you your own friend? Have you been a good friend to yourself? This question may sound odd, but it is very important to ask it. It is very important for you to ask yourself if you have been a good friend to yourself. Obviously, it is also important to be a good friend to your friends and family, but that is easier than being a good friend to yourself. In fact, most people are ONLY good friends to their friends and continue to neglect themselves.
This brings us to the last question on that list: Did you keep trying to make plans with your friend that wouldn’t stick to your commitments?
Most people that I talk to about this, have said that they didn’t try very long before giving up, and they eventually gave up. Many people also tell me that it taught them a lesson. The lesson to them was that if someone isn’t willing to commit to them, they shouldn’t keep committing. If someone doesn’t have time for you, don’t make time for them.
I will ask again: Are you a good friend to yourself? More accurately, have you been a good friend to yourself? If not, you just went through the same situation with yourself that you did with that rude and disrespectful friend. You kept changing your mind and refusing to commit to take time for you, so eventually, you stopped committing the time and assumed that it wouldn’t happen anyway.
This is called quitting or giving up. It seems to be acceptable because we don’t think it’s hurting anyone else. In fact, in many ways it even feels better to let go and quit trying. Why does this feel good? It feels good because you don’t have to let yourself down anymore. Just as it felt good to take your power back and not let your friend stand you up anymore, it feels good to stop standing yourself up too.
There are two ways to stop standing yourself up:
1. Quit (not recommended)
2. Start being a better friend to yourself
Anyone can quit. Anyone can say that they give up and stop trying. Anyone can neglect themselves and pretend that it feels better. But eventually, you are going to want to get back out there and do it. Eventually, you will decide that you want to be friends again. It works with the other person or yourself. If a really close friend or a sibling changes and wants to start trying to build your relationship again, you are likely to give them another chance. Once you decide that you want to start building routine again, you will give yourself another chance.
At least I hope you will give yourself another chance. If you don’t, life will be long and painful. The benefits of health are numerous. You will live a better life with health, just as you will live a better life with friends and family that love you. No one can deny that it hurts to have someone that isn’t willing to commit to you.
That is why living an unhealthy lifestyle is hurting you. Not only are you missing the benefits a healthy lifestyle, but you are also treating yourself badly. You are mistreating yourself physically by not exercising or watching your eating habits. That is one thing. The more significant damage is done on the emotional side. You are mistreating yourself emotionally by refusing to commit.
Hurtful when it comes from a so-called friend: They are refusing to commit time with you. They are putting other things in front of you and your relationship. They are telling you that you are not important enough to spend a little time with.
More hurtful when it comes from you: You are refusing to commit time for yourself. You are putting other things in front of yourself. You are telling yourself that you are not important enough to spend a little time with.
I don’t see much difference between the two situations. The actions are the same.
The results are the same. If you don’t take time for someone, it hurts them. If you don’t take time for yourself, it hurts you. When you think about your health, think about your feelings. Think about how are treating yourself. Ask yourself: Would I tolerate this treatment from someone else? Are you being a good friend to yourself?
Monday, June 4, 2012
Right Time, Right Move
Exercise has become a very interesting part of our lives. Even if you are not getting as much exercise as you want, it is not actually a part of your routine, it will always be part of your life. Exercise is something that we need. We did it daily as kids, it got more challenging as we got older and for most people it became something that we never do as adults.
This is a sad story. Not just because of the issues that follow when we don’t make exercise part of the day. We all know that weight is increasing, disease is becoming more common and healthcare is costing more and more every year. This is no coincidence. We all know that exercise can mean the difference between continuing this trend and making it a thing of the past.
The choice is yours. That doesn’t make it easy. What makes exercise so difficult? I hear a lot of excuses for not getting enough into each day. The most common reason given when the question is asked is:
“I don’t have time to exercise.”
I’m not surprised when I hear this. Not only do I hear it from many people, but I also understand just how busy everyone is. I am that busy myself. There are not enough hours in the day for everything that we need to do in our lives, let alone enough time to do everything that we want to do. The needs are hard enough, so the wants are a significant challenge.
It is hard to “find time” for anything in our lives. When it comes to exercise, we are constantly battling within. There is the part of you that knows you should do it and the part that sees the rest of the schedule and thinks that it is not possible. The battle rages daily for many of us and unfortunately it is a lop-sided battle with one side winning far more frequently than the other.
What’s worse is that many of us give up the battle completely after a certain point. It becomes more and more difficult to make exercise part of the day, so we simply give up. We figure that it won’t happen, so why try? Well, trying is not the problem. Even when you are losing the battle internally, if you are having the battle, you are trying.
Trying is an important key to the success of any plan. You can’t just come up with a plan and expect it to happen. You have to try. You have to execute in order for anything to happen. What that being said, execution seems to be the main problem with exercise.
When you put these two terms together, it actually makes exercise even simpler:
1. Trying is the most important key to success (of any plan)
2. Execution is the main problem (with any plan)
If trying is the key to success, all you have to do is be willing to give it some effort. Any effort should be enough to get something going. Especially with exercise, it doesn’t take much. Just look at the recommendations: 30 minutes of exercise is recommended to maintain a healthy weight, lowering risk of heart disease (cuts risk in half!) and other factors. 30 minutes is the length of one sitcom. 30 minutes is a lunch break or half of a lunch break if you get an hour. 30 minutes is not very much time. We find 30 minutes to surf the web. We find 30 minutes to watch TV. We find 30 minutes to drive to and from fast food restaurants. We find 30minutes to do all kinds of things, but we can’t find 30 minutes to get a little exercise?
Trying does not mean waiting to find time, trying means making time. When it comes to exercise, if we don’t make time, it won’t get done. There is nothing more clear to me in my journey as the fact that if we don’t make time, it won’t get done. Trying simply means making time, setting time aside and getting SOME exercise in.
The rest of that equation involves execution. The big problem with execution is the fact that we think we have to do it all before we even get started. When it comes to execution of exercise, many people are arguing that what they have time for is not enough or what they have access to is not the right kind of exercise for the results they want. Not true.
If you try to fit exercise in and you execute a plan, you can live healthy. This sounds overly simple, but it is true. Trying: looking for time, making time to fit exercise in. Execution: doing something, anything that is physically more active than sitting in a chair all day.
What is the right time to exercise?
When you can
What is the right amount of exercise?
As much as you can get
What is the right move?
The move that you do
These questions are clear and the answers are even clearer. If you can make time, you can exercise. We all make time for things we are told to do. We all make time for things that we don’t want to do, but simply think that they have to be part of the day. Exercise is something that we all want. Health, the result of our exercise is something we really want.
Any time you can devote to something you want is time well-spent. Any move you make toward something you want is the right move, especially when you are talking about something as simple as exercise. Do something active today. It will be the right time and it will be the right move.
This is a sad story. Not just because of the issues that follow when we don’t make exercise part of the day. We all know that weight is increasing, disease is becoming more common and healthcare is costing more and more every year. This is no coincidence. We all know that exercise can mean the difference between continuing this trend and making it a thing of the past.
The choice is yours. That doesn’t make it easy. What makes exercise so difficult? I hear a lot of excuses for not getting enough into each day. The most common reason given when the question is asked is:
“I don’t have time to exercise.”
I’m not surprised when I hear this. Not only do I hear it from many people, but I also understand just how busy everyone is. I am that busy myself. There are not enough hours in the day for everything that we need to do in our lives, let alone enough time to do everything that we want to do. The needs are hard enough, so the wants are a significant challenge.
It is hard to “find time” for anything in our lives. When it comes to exercise, we are constantly battling within. There is the part of you that knows you should do it and the part that sees the rest of the schedule and thinks that it is not possible. The battle rages daily for many of us and unfortunately it is a lop-sided battle with one side winning far more frequently than the other.
What’s worse is that many of us give up the battle completely after a certain point. It becomes more and more difficult to make exercise part of the day, so we simply give up. We figure that it won’t happen, so why try? Well, trying is not the problem. Even when you are losing the battle internally, if you are having the battle, you are trying.
Trying is an important key to the success of any plan. You can’t just come up with a plan and expect it to happen. You have to try. You have to execute in order for anything to happen. What that being said, execution seems to be the main problem with exercise.
When you put these two terms together, it actually makes exercise even simpler:
1. Trying is the most important key to success (of any plan)
2. Execution is the main problem (with any plan)
If trying is the key to success, all you have to do is be willing to give it some effort. Any effort should be enough to get something going. Especially with exercise, it doesn’t take much. Just look at the recommendations: 30 minutes of exercise is recommended to maintain a healthy weight, lowering risk of heart disease (cuts risk in half!) and other factors. 30 minutes is the length of one sitcom. 30 minutes is a lunch break or half of a lunch break if you get an hour. 30 minutes is not very much time. We find 30 minutes to surf the web. We find 30 minutes to watch TV. We find 30 minutes to drive to and from fast food restaurants. We find 30minutes to do all kinds of things, but we can’t find 30 minutes to get a little exercise?
Trying does not mean waiting to find time, trying means making time. When it comes to exercise, if we don’t make time, it won’t get done. There is nothing more clear to me in my journey as the fact that if we don’t make time, it won’t get done. Trying simply means making time, setting time aside and getting SOME exercise in.
The rest of that equation involves execution. The big problem with execution is the fact that we think we have to do it all before we even get started. When it comes to execution of exercise, many people are arguing that what they have time for is not enough or what they have access to is not the right kind of exercise for the results they want. Not true.
If you try to fit exercise in and you execute a plan, you can live healthy. This sounds overly simple, but it is true. Trying: looking for time, making time to fit exercise in. Execution: doing something, anything that is physically more active than sitting in a chair all day.
What is the right time to exercise?
When you can
What is the right amount of exercise?
As much as you can get
What is the right move?
The move that you do
These questions are clear and the answers are even clearer. If you can make time, you can exercise. We all make time for things we are told to do. We all make time for things that we don’t want to do, but simply think that they have to be part of the day. Exercise is something that we all want. Health, the result of our exercise is something we really want.
Any time you can devote to something you want is time well-spent. Any move you make toward something you want is the right move, especially when you are talking about something as simple as exercise. Do something active today. It will be the right time and it will be the right move.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Steady for Success
You can turn on the TV and it won’t take more than a few minutes before you see a health-related commercial. There are so many options out there, it can make your head spin. They all promise to get your in shape quickly, easily and that they have the “difference that you need” to finally get healthy.
These promises are funny to me because they are appealing to someone that has not been on track and wants to not only get on track, but to see results instantly. There is something to be said for results and getting them quickly. I can’t blame anyone for wanting this, but there is a fatal flaw in this thinking.
When you start a new workout plan or change your diet, you are doing more than burning more calories and taking in fewer calories. You are creating new habits. As you create those habits, you are making the new behaviors part of your routine. As the routine becomes more normal for you, it gets easier.
The only way to make it easy is to do it for a long time. Practice makes perfect is a saying that comes to mind. You can’t just jump out and start doing something and expect to lose weight instantly and have no difficulty. It doesn’t work that way.
It never has and it never will.
The promises that you see on TV are always going to be there. These companies are trying to sell a product. They need you to try their product and they are competing with other products that are offering quick and easy results. That is the gimmick that has been working on people for decades.
Think about it:
These companies continue to find new twists on the same workouts and new machines to offer you new ways to do the same workouts that you’ve done in the past. The biggest problem is not the convenience of these movements. It is not the new trainer on the video you just bought. It’s not even the fact that you were trying to do things the hard way.
The problem is not that you didn’t have this new video or machine in your life. The problem is that you never stuck with the last thing you tried. News flash: If you don’t stick with this one, it won’t work either.
The marketing for new exercise products is funny to me because they are promising something that is completely true. If you do an exercise program, any exercise program consistently over a period of time, you will see results. If you work really hard for a really long time, you will see great results. The marketing is funny to me because they can promise that all day and never give you what you actually need to make it all work.
The motivation and planning to execute your routine over an extended period of time is what you need to make exercise work. You already know what to do. You already know how to do it. If exercise “hasn’t worked in the past” for you, it is because you stopped doing it. It is not because you were doing it wrong. It is not because you didn’t have the right technology. It wasn’t because you had yet to see some revolutionary system that would be “the end of your struggle”.
I’ll say it again. If a routine, any routine hasn’t worked for you, it is not because it wasn’t the right routine. It didn’t work because you stopped doing it. Any routine that you do regularly is going to yield good results. Any product that you use will work if you actually use it.
What is the real secret? The secret to success in health lies in one word. There are many ways to be healthy. There are many ways to lose weight, many ways to get in shape. If you want to be healthy than your routine has to work for you. If you want it to work, the one word that has to be part of your plan is: steady.
The more you do something, the more it works. This is true in health and in every other area of life. If you buy the best workout DVD’s, have the most knowledgeable trainer in the world, it won’t matter if you can’t do it consistently. You have to be steady and do something regularly if you want it to do anything for you.
“Slow and steady wins the race”. It’s true. If you do something regularly, even if it is simple and modest, you will see better results over the long-term than if you try a few flashy things sporadically every few years. We’ve all seen the before and after pictures of the people that got on track with the latest craze. The will show you what someone was able to accomplish in 30 days or 90 days. What they won’t show you is that same person 90 days after they took that picture. They won’t show you what that person looks like 6 months or a year later.
Why won’t they show you the person after that after picture? They won’t show you that because they don’t promise you that. They can promise you (with a disclaimer) that you will get results in 30 days, but they won’t promise you that you can stick with it long enough to make it part of your routine. They can’t promise you that.
Only you can do that. You are the only one that can change your routine. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you do it and are steady with it, you will see results.
It’s actually quite simple. Don’t let marketing or technology make you feel like you don’t understand it. Health is the same as it always was. Just because there are new ways to workout doesn’t mean that you are out of the loop. It just means that someone found new way to do the same thing and packaged it differently.
The key is not the next best thing. The key is to be steady and consistent. If your routine is steady, you will be healthy.
These promises are funny to me because they are appealing to someone that has not been on track and wants to not only get on track, but to see results instantly. There is something to be said for results and getting them quickly. I can’t blame anyone for wanting this, but there is a fatal flaw in this thinking.
When you start a new workout plan or change your diet, you are doing more than burning more calories and taking in fewer calories. You are creating new habits. As you create those habits, you are making the new behaviors part of your routine. As the routine becomes more normal for you, it gets easier.
The only way to make it easy is to do it for a long time. Practice makes perfect is a saying that comes to mind. You can’t just jump out and start doing something and expect to lose weight instantly and have no difficulty. It doesn’t work that way.
It never has and it never will.
The promises that you see on TV are always going to be there. These companies are trying to sell a product. They need you to try their product and they are competing with other products that are offering quick and easy results. That is the gimmick that has been working on people for decades.
Think about it:
These companies continue to find new twists on the same workouts and new machines to offer you new ways to do the same workouts that you’ve done in the past. The biggest problem is not the convenience of these movements. It is not the new trainer on the video you just bought. It’s not even the fact that you were trying to do things the hard way.
The problem is not that you didn’t have this new video or machine in your life. The problem is that you never stuck with the last thing you tried. News flash: If you don’t stick with this one, it won’t work either.
The marketing for new exercise products is funny to me because they are promising something that is completely true. If you do an exercise program, any exercise program consistently over a period of time, you will see results. If you work really hard for a really long time, you will see great results. The marketing is funny to me because they can promise that all day and never give you what you actually need to make it all work.
The motivation and planning to execute your routine over an extended period of time is what you need to make exercise work. You already know what to do. You already know how to do it. If exercise “hasn’t worked in the past” for you, it is because you stopped doing it. It is not because you were doing it wrong. It is not because you didn’t have the right technology. It wasn’t because you had yet to see some revolutionary system that would be “the end of your struggle”.
I’ll say it again. If a routine, any routine hasn’t worked for you, it is not because it wasn’t the right routine. It didn’t work because you stopped doing it. Any routine that you do regularly is going to yield good results. Any product that you use will work if you actually use it.
What is the real secret? The secret to success in health lies in one word. There are many ways to be healthy. There are many ways to lose weight, many ways to get in shape. If you want to be healthy than your routine has to work for you. If you want it to work, the one word that has to be part of your plan is: steady.
The more you do something, the more it works. This is true in health and in every other area of life. If you buy the best workout DVD’s, have the most knowledgeable trainer in the world, it won’t matter if you can’t do it consistently. You have to be steady and do something regularly if you want it to do anything for you.
“Slow and steady wins the race”. It’s true. If you do something regularly, even if it is simple and modest, you will see better results over the long-term than if you try a few flashy things sporadically every few years. We’ve all seen the before and after pictures of the people that got on track with the latest craze. The will show you what someone was able to accomplish in 30 days or 90 days. What they won’t show you is that same person 90 days after they took that picture. They won’t show you what that person looks like 6 months or a year later.
Why won’t they show you the person after that after picture? They won’t show you that because they don’t promise you that. They can promise you (with a disclaimer) that you will get results in 30 days, but they won’t promise you that you can stick with it long enough to make it part of your routine. They can’t promise you that.
Only you can do that. You are the only one that can change your routine. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you do it and are steady with it, you will see results.
It’s actually quite simple. Don’t let marketing or technology make you feel like you don’t understand it. Health is the same as it always was. Just because there are new ways to workout doesn’t mean that you are out of the loop. It just means that someone found new way to do the same thing and packaged it differently.
The key is not the next best thing. The key is to be steady and consistent. If your routine is steady, you will be healthy.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Weight Loss through Good Nutrition
Losing weight is important. Maintaining a healthy weight is more important. There are many plans out there that can help you lose weight. The main key to losing weight and keeping it off is creating a calorie deficit. This can be accomplished by eating fewer calories or burning more calories. In an ideal situation, you are able to do both. This will give you the greatest health benefit.
Health is also an important factor that often gets overlooked when it comes to weight loss. It’s strange, considering weight loss is usually driven, at least in part by health. Health needs to be considered for weight loss to be effective and sustainable.
Exercise can improve health while you lose weight and so can nutrition. You don't need to kill yourself in the gym or put on hundreds of miles on the trail to lose weight. In fact, many of the tools you have to lose weight are already in front of you. In some cases, leaving them alone is the key, but in others, simply including healthy choices can mean the difference between healthy and unhealthy.
Nutrition is more important than many people realize. The foods we eat (and don't eat) are making a significant impact on our health. It is easy to think only weight loss. It is easy to restrict ourselves and lose sight of a healthy body in favor of a thin body. But it is very important to live healthy in order to lose weight and keep weight where you want it. The best things you can do for nutritionally healthy weight loss:
Drink More Water
We always hear about how soda and other beverages are causing such problems. Drinking has become an issue. For many, the first step to losing weight is to drink less of the sugary drinks. The next step is to drink more. More water that is! Hydration keeps the body functioning properly, keeps energy up and allows you to do everything you need to support yourself.
Eat More
Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive, but eating more can actually help you. If you eat more good foods, you will be better off. Fruits, veggies, protein and whole grain are all good items to make sure you get more of. Healthy snacks can ward off cravings and keep your metabolism burning.
Eat Real Food
Sit down to good meals of foods that you enjoy so you can stick with it. Portion control is the most important factor is weight loss. Eating real foods that taste good and satisfy you will keep you going strong. If you can reduce the amount, you will still get enough to take you to the next meal, but also trim some calories out of your day.
These techniques can help you lose weight while improving your health and making it possible to sustain the routine for a long time. Here are the benefits to good nutrition to help your weight loss:
Energy
If you starve yourself, you won’t be able to function on a day to day basis. Keeping your energy up will not only give you better function and help you to take on more tasks, but it will also keep your body burning more and make weight loss and maintenance easier over time.
Health
Obviously, the healthier you are, the better life will be. You can lose weight for whatever reason you want, but the bottom line is that health is improved with weight loss…if it is done the right way.
Success
The longer you can do something, the better the results will be. The more you learn about how to live a normal life while practicing healthy habits, the more likely you are to stick with those healthy habits. Living healthy is more important than losing weight. Weight loss is simply a result of living healthy.
Set realistic goals around your eating and you will have more energy, see health improvements and as you progress, you will see more success. Losing weight with good nutrition leads to weight loss and good health.
Health is also an important factor that often gets overlooked when it comes to weight loss. It’s strange, considering weight loss is usually driven, at least in part by health. Health needs to be considered for weight loss to be effective and sustainable.
Exercise can improve health while you lose weight and so can nutrition. You don't need to kill yourself in the gym or put on hundreds of miles on the trail to lose weight. In fact, many of the tools you have to lose weight are already in front of you. In some cases, leaving them alone is the key, but in others, simply including healthy choices can mean the difference between healthy and unhealthy.
Nutrition is more important than many people realize. The foods we eat (and don't eat) are making a significant impact on our health. It is easy to think only weight loss. It is easy to restrict ourselves and lose sight of a healthy body in favor of a thin body. But it is very important to live healthy in order to lose weight and keep weight where you want it. The best things you can do for nutritionally healthy weight loss:
Drink More Water
We always hear about how soda and other beverages are causing such problems. Drinking has become an issue. For many, the first step to losing weight is to drink less of the sugary drinks. The next step is to drink more. More water that is! Hydration keeps the body functioning properly, keeps energy up and allows you to do everything you need to support yourself.
Eat More
Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive, but eating more can actually help you. If you eat more good foods, you will be better off. Fruits, veggies, protein and whole grain are all good items to make sure you get more of. Healthy snacks can ward off cravings and keep your metabolism burning.
Eat Real Food
Sit down to good meals of foods that you enjoy so you can stick with it. Portion control is the most important factor is weight loss. Eating real foods that taste good and satisfy you will keep you going strong. If you can reduce the amount, you will still get enough to take you to the next meal, but also trim some calories out of your day.
These techniques can help you lose weight while improving your health and making it possible to sustain the routine for a long time. Here are the benefits to good nutrition to help your weight loss:
Energy
If you starve yourself, you won’t be able to function on a day to day basis. Keeping your energy up will not only give you better function and help you to take on more tasks, but it will also keep your body burning more and make weight loss and maintenance easier over time.
Health
Obviously, the healthier you are, the better life will be. You can lose weight for whatever reason you want, but the bottom line is that health is improved with weight loss…if it is done the right way.
Success
The longer you can do something, the better the results will be. The more you learn about how to live a normal life while practicing healthy habits, the more likely you are to stick with those healthy habits. Living healthy is more important than losing weight. Weight loss is simply a result of living healthy.
Set realistic goals around your eating and you will have more energy, see health improvements and as you progress, you will see more success. Losing weight with good nutrition leads to weight loss and good health.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Benefits of Weight Loss
Losing weight is something we hear about daily. When you turn on the TV, you see commercials. When you listen to the radio, you hear ads and testimonials. When you open up the newspaper, you see articles about how important weight loss is. But, why is weight loss so important? We all want to look and feel good, but is there more to it than how we look and feel? Actually, there is much more. There are many health benefits to losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. Here are the most significant benefits:
Heart Health- Lower your risk for heart attack, stroke and other long-term complications from an unhealthy heart. Just a 5-10% reduction in body weight can mean the difference between healthy and unhealthy as you lower blood pressure, cholesterol and reverse the signs and symptoms of diabetes.
Joint Health- Help your joints feel better and avoid pain by lowering your weight. Again, that same 5-10% loss will relieve pressure, pain and improve function of all of your joints. For every 1 pound of excess body weight you carry, your knees and back have an extra 5-7 pounds of stress to handle. The body is designed to support itself, so the more weight you carry the more stress you put on the structure, leading to injuries and chronic pain.
Financial Health- your bank account will thank you when you are spending less money on medication, surgery and other care required to account for your poor health. Studies have shown that the average obese individual spends over $2,000-$4,000 more per year than a person at a normal weight.
By maintaining a healthy weight, you can avoid these problems altogether. According to recent studies, 90% of all diabetes, 80% of heart disease, and 60% of cancers are preventable with healthier lifestyles and normal body weights.Health is a good thing.
So is saving money and feeling good. Not to mention, living a long and happy life and enjoying the company of family and friends. Kids and grandkids are a great reason to get healthy, but you have to make the changes in order to be around for them.
The benefits above are clear. The path to reach them may be a bit cloudy, but if you take one step forward, you will be able to form a new habit. Keep taking steps and you will keep seeing results.
Heart Health- Lower your risk for heart attack, stroke and other long-term complications from an unhealthy heart. Just a 5-10% reduction in body weight can mean the difference between healthy and unhealthy as you lower blood pressure, cholesterol and reverse the signs and symptoms of diabetes.
Joint Health- Help your joints feel better and avoid pain by lowering your weight. Again, that same 5-10% loss will relieve pressure, pain and improve function of all of your joints. For every 1 pound of excess body weight you carry, your knees and back have an extra 5-7 pounds of stress to handle. The body is designed to support itself, so the more weight you carry the more stress you put on the structure, leading to injuries and chronic pain.
Financial Health- your bank account will thank you when you are spending less money on medication, surgery and other care required to account for your poor health. Studies have shown that the average obese individual spends over $2,000-$4,000 more per year than a person at a normal weight.
By maintaining a healthy weight, you can avoid these problems altogether. According to recent studies, 90% of all diabetes, 80% of heart disease, and 60% of cancers are preventable with healthier lifestyles and normal body weights.Health is a good thing.
So is saving money and feeling good. Not to mention, living a long and happy life and enjoying the company of family and friends. Kids and grandkids are a great reason to get healthy, but you have to make the changes in order to be around for them.
The benefits above are clear. The path to reach them may be a bit cloudy, but if you take one step forward, you will be able to form a new habit. Keep taking steps and you will keep seeing results.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Support Your Health
When you are doing something in life, you ask the people around you for support. When you accomplish goals, what do you say? You say that it was a result of those around you. You couldn’t have done it without their support. It is true and that is why support is one of the most important ingredients in any recipe that you want to be successful.
Support is not something we can do without. Support is vital to success in all areas. Health is no different. We have discussed the importance before, but let’s get into more detail about how support can be used and who can be your support system.
The reality is, anyone can be supportive. If they are in your life and interested in your success, anyone can support you. Let’s think about the roles that people can play in your life to help you succeed in health:
Family
Your family is the biggest support system available. They are there for you whether you like it or not. They are offering suggestions, asking how they can help and even participating with you on your journey through life. It doesn’t matter what your goals are. If family is aware of them, they will be there to help you reach them.
Using your family as a support system is the oldest and easiest way to get yourself on track. Telling them what you want to accomplish is a start. Helping them understand why you want to accomplish it will help them get on board and even help you along. Sharing the experience with them is the ultimate way to get on track and stay on track.
Friends
Your friends are like an extension of your family. In many cases, they are around more and are even closer to you and your goals. Friends are there for each other and health is something that requires this support in order for you to be successful.
Friends are the best way to come up with ideas for future plans. They are also a good way to evaluate those ideas before you have problems. Friends can have a way of asking what you are doing that will help shape the way you answer. If you are wanting to be active and you know your friend is going to ask you about your activity, you will work to make sure that you are able to tell them YES, you are indeed active. If not, you know that you are telling them one thing and doing another. Just as you are telling yourself one thing (I want to be active) and doing another (Not being active).
Co-Workers
No matter what company you work for, unless you are the only one in the company, you have a group of people that you spend a lot of time with. Coworkers have become even more important as we see ourselves at work and in offices for longer and longer days, weeks, months and years. Work is something that consumes a lot of time and energy.
The more time you spend with someone, the more support they can offer you. With as much time as we spend at work, we get to know our coworkers pretty well these days. Couple that with the fact that we are working on common goals and you can see how important they can be to your success in health. As health becomes part of these goals, you can really utilize the common bond to keep things moving in the right direction.
The moral of the story is: Your success in health depends greatly on the people around you. Without support, healthy habits are difficult to get started with and they are even more difficult to stick with. Support can be a workout partner. It can be a reminder from another person. Support can even be as simple as sharing an idea with someone so that they know what you are trying to do. When they know, they can help you. When you know that they know, you can use that to make sure you are sticking with it and not going against what you have told the people around you.
It’s funny how much easier it is to stick with something when others know what you are doing. If you don’t tell anyone, you are just letting yourself down. If you are telling others and still not doing something, you are letting them down too. No one wants to let anyone down. The people that are supporting you don’t want to let you down either. If you reach out and use the support around you, you will be successful in health. You will be supporting your own health by utilizing the people around you.
Support is not something we can do without. Support is vital to success in all areas. Health is no different. We have discussed the importance before, but let’s get into more detail about how support can be used and who can be your support system.
The reality is, anyone can be supportive. If they are in your life and interested in your success, anyone can support you. Let’s think about the roles that people can play in your life to help you succeed in health:
Family
Your family is the biggest support system available. They are there for you whether you like it or not. They are offering suggestions, asking how they can help and even participating with you on your journey through life. It doesn’t matter what your goals are. If family is aware of them, they will be there to help you reach them.
Using your family as a support system is the oldest and easiest way to get yourself on track. Telling them what you want to accomplish is a start. Helping them understand why you want to accomplish it will help them get on board and even help you along. Sharing the experience with them is the ultimate way to get on track and stay on track.
Friends
Your friends are like an extension of your family. In many cases, they are around more and are even closer to you and your goals. Friends are there for each other and health is something that requires this support in order for you to be successful.
Friends are the best way to come up with ideas for future plans. They are also a good way to evaluate those ideas before you have problems. Friends can have a way of asking what you are doing that will help shape the way you answer. If you are wanting to be active and you know your friend is going to ask you about your activity, you will work to make sure that you are able to tell them YES, you are indeed active. If not, you know that you are telling them one thing and doing another. Just as you are telling yourself one thing (I want to be active) and doing another (Not being active).
Co-Workers
No matter what company you work for, unless you are the only one in the company, you have a group of people that you spend a lot of time with. Coworkers have become even more important as we see ourselves at work and in offices for longer and longer days, weeks, months and years. Work is something that consumes a lot of time and energy.
The more time you spend with someone, the more support they can offer you. With as much time as we spend at work, we get to know our coworkers pretty well these days. Couple that with the fact that we are working on common goals and you can see how important they can be to your success in health. As health becomes part of these goals, you can really utilize the common bond to keep things moving in the right direction.
The moral of the story is: Your success in health depends greatly on the people around you. Without support, healthy habits are difficult to get started with and they are even more difficult to stick with. Support can be a workout partner. It can be a reminder from another person. Support can even be as simple as sharing an idea with someone so that they know what you are trying to do. When they know, they can help you. When you know that they know, you can use that to make sure you are sticking with it and not going against what you have told the people around you.
It’s funny how much easier it is to stick with something when others know what you are doing. If you don’t tell anyone, you are just letting yourself down. If you are telling others and still not doing something, you are letting them down too. No one wants to let anyone down. The people that are supporting you don’t want to let you down either. If you reach out and use the support around you, you will be successful in health. You will be supporting your own health by utilizing the people around you.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Fix Today
When you hear someone say that they are worried about the future or nervous about what may happen tomorrow, you usually see someone that is not prepared for what is coming. The worry actually makes sense. If you are not ready for tomorrow it will be difficult. The worry is not just about how scary tomorrow is. The worry is more about what they are not doing today to prepare for tomorrow.
Each day stands alone in terms of action. But each day has an impact on future days as well. If you do something today, it will put you in a better position for tomorrow. This is easy to see in the work environment. If you put off a project or a follow-up, it is still there tomorrow and you will have more work to do because of the other tasks that come with the job.
Unfortunately, it is not always as easy to see how one day impacts another when it comes to health. If you don’t work out today, there is technically nothing that will make tomorrow harder to work out or to get as much done as you want to. It just doesn’t work that way, so when we put off exercise on one day, we are in fact building the habit of not doing it and it becomes more difficult to get started when we finally want to do it.
“If only there was some way for you to make yourself do it.” I’ve heard people say this. I’ve heard people ask me if I can make them do it. I’ve yet to make anyone do anything. In fact, I’ve yet to see anyone make anyone else do anything that they didn’t want to do. Health has to be a choice and if it is something you want to do, you will find a way to do it. You may not be able to force yourself, but you can support yourself and find others to help support you. You can also plan and set your schedule so that it supports you. When you do that, health can fit in and become part of your routine.
If you don’t make health part of your regular routine, you will constantly be worried about what tomorrow looks like. You won’t know when you are going to get your workout in. You won’t know what you are going to eat or when you are going to eat it. You likely won’t have any goals. You may have a wish or two like: “Someday, I want to be healthier”, but it will be difficult to get started.
Tomorrow is something that we are trained to think about. We are trained to prepare for tomorrow. We are also taught to use today to make sure tomorrow is as we pictured. This is the concept that we need to apply to health to make sure that we are achieving it. What we do today makes tomorrow what it is…or isn’t. If you do what you set out to do, you will be reaching goals. If you do not do what you set out to do, you will not be reaching goals. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.
In order for tomorrow to look like you want it to look you have to do something today. You can look ahead all you want. You can try to think of the reasons that tomorrow will be a challenge. You can worry and you can sweat the details of tomorrow. If you do that, I can assure you that you will be right.
It may sound a bit contradictory to say that not thinking about tomorrow is a good strategy. How can you set goals today that impact tomorrow and say that tomorrow isn’t important? Well, I’m not saying that tomorrow isn’t important. What I’m saying is not as important as today is.
Tomorrow doesn’t matter until you get to it. Tomorrow may not even come. I don’t mean that as a doom and gloom outlook that suggests that we could all die today. It is more about the fact that tomorrow will look completely different in the way it plays out.
If you have a clear plan and can take action based on that plan, you have some control over your future. In fact, you have a great deal of control over your future. If you simply let today happen, tomorrow will keep changing on you and before you know it, you won’t know what to expect. How can you succeed when things are changing and unexpected? Well, it is very difficult.
That is why today is the only day that matters. We’ve talked about the importance of getting started today. Clearly, that is something that rings true. If you don’t start, you can’t move forward. If you don’t take a step today, when tomorrow comes, you won’t be anywhere but the same place you are now.
It all comes back to the day you are in. The only day you can control is today. You can’t control what happened yesterday. You can’t control what will happen tomorrow. Well, there is the gray area that can mean the difference between success and failure. If you don’t take action today, you are determining what tomorrow will look like. Likewise, if you are taking action, you are determining that tomorrow will be different based on the actions you are taking.
So, I guess you can actually control tomorrow. Short of developing super powers, the only way to be in control of tomorrow is to take control of today. By taking action today, you are taking the steps you want to take. That will lead you on your path toward the goals you’ve set. By planning today what you will do tomorrow, you are preventing unforeseen issues from derailing tomorrow’s actions. You can’t take tomorrow’s actions until tomorrow, but you can set yourself up to take them.
In other words, you can take today’s steps today and that gets you on the right track for a successful tomorrow. The only way to insure a successful tomorrow is to fix today.
Each day stands alone in terms of action. But each day has an impact on future days as well. If you do something today, it will put you in a better position for tomorrow. This is easy to see in the work environment. If you put off a project or a follow-up, it is still there tomorrow and you will have more work to do because of the other tasks that come with the job.
Unfortunately, it is not always as easy to see how one day impacts another when it comes to health. If you don’t work out today, there is technically nothing that will make tomorrow harder to work out or to get as much done as you want to. It just doesn’t work that way, so when we put off exercise on one day, we are in fact building the habit of not doing it and it becomes more difficult to get started when we finally want to do it.
“If only there was some way for you to make yourself do it.” I’ve heard people say this. I’ve heard people ask me if I can make them do it. I’ve yet to make anyone do anything. In fact, I’ve yet to see anyone make anyone else do anything that they didn’t want to do. Health has to be a choice and if it is something you want to do, you will find a way to do it. You may not be able to force yourself, but you can support yourself and find others to help support you. You can also plan and set your schedule so that it supports you. When you do that, health can fit in and become part of your routine.
If you don’t make health part of your regular routine, you will constantly be worried about what tomorrow looks like. You won’t know when you are going to get your workout in. You won’t know what you are going to eat or when you are going to eat it. You likely won’t have any goals. You may have a wish or two like: “Someday, I want to be healthier”, but it will be difficult to get started.
Tomorrow is something that we are trained to think about. We are trained to prepare for tomorrow. We are also taught to use today to make sure tomorrow is as we pictured. This is the concept that we need to apply to health to make sure that we are achieving it. What we do today makes tomorrow what it is…or isn’t. If you do what you set out to do, you will be reaching goals. If you do not do what you set out to do, you will not be reaching goals. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.
In order for tomorrow to look like you want it to look you have to do something today. You can look ahead all you want. You can try to think of the reasons that tomorrow will be a challenge. You can worry and you can sweat the details of tomorrow. If you do that, I can assure you that you will be right.
It may sound a bit contradictory to say that not thinking about tomorrow is a good strategy. How can you set goals today that impact tomorrow and say that tomorrow isn’t important? Well, I’m not saying that tomorrow isn’t important. What I’m saying is not as important as today is.
Tomorrow doesn’t matter until you get to it. Tomorrow may not even come. I don’t mean that as a doom and gloom outlook that suggests that we could all die today. It is more about the fact that tomorrow will look completely different in the way it plays out.
If you have a clear plan and can take action based on that plan, you have some control over your future. In fact, you have a great deal of control over your future. If you simply let today happen, tomorrow will keep changing on you and before you know it, you won’t know what to expect. How can you succeed when things are changing and unexpected? Well, it is very difficult.
That is why today is the only day that matters. We’ve talked about the importance of getting started today. Clearly, that is something that rings true. If you don’t start, you can’t move forward. If you don’t take a step today, when tomorrow comes, you won’t be anywhere but the same place you are now.
It all comes back to the day you are in. The only day you can control is today. You can’t control what happened yesterday. You can’t control what will happen tomorrow. Well, there is the gray area that can mean the difference between success and failure. If you don’t take action today, you are determining what tomorrow will look like. Likewise, if you are taking action, you are determining that tomorrow will be different based on the actions you are taking.
So, I guess you can actually control tomorrow. Short of developing super powers, the only way to be in control of tomorrow is to take control of today. By taking action today, you are taking the steps you want to take. That will lead you on your path toward the goals you’ve set. By planning today what you will do tomorrow, you are preventing unforeseen issues from derailing tomorrow’s actions. You can’t take tomorrow’s actions until tomorrow, but you can set yourself up to take them.
In other words, you can take today’s steps today and that gets you on the right track for a successful tomorrow. The only way to insure a successful tomorrow is to fix today.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Faith
When it comes to health, there is a lot to know. One thing that I have learned is that it doesn’t matter how much you know. I know this sounds odd, because I pride myself on educating people on health and ways for them to make it part of their lives. Well, I’m telling you now, that no matter how much you know, it means nothing if you don’t believe you can do it.
A recent holiday made me think a lot about faith. Faith is something that I don’t discuss very often. It seems that in the business world, we don’t seem to discuss it much. My personal life involves faith, but it is still not a conversation that I have very often. It is interesting how health and faith mix, but usually an emergency or it is too late. Either we are praying for someone to pull through or faith is a comforting thing to have on our side after we lose someone we love.
I’m not here to have a religious debate. In fact, I don’t even want to bring religion into this. I am talking about faith. Not faith in a higher power. Not faith in any particular religious practices. I am talking about faith in health. More specifically, I am talking about faith in one’s ability to create and maintain health.
When someone gets on a new routine to change their health, there are stages that they go through before they get to where they really want to be. They start by thinking about what they might do. They move one to talking about what they are going to do. Once they are able to get started, hopefully they are able to stick to it for a while. Once they have stuck with it for a while, they are likely to keep going.
Each of these stages takes a certain skill and a thought process that will help you get from one to another. The goal is obviously to progress through them until you are an experienced and confident person that will always do the things you have started doing on your new routine.
This is a nice thought, but unfortunately, many have not been able to do this. Most people don’t get from one stage to another on their first try. In fact, many are continually starting a new routine in the first stages and falling back to square one as they find that it just doesn’t work for them.
This is very common, but it doesn’t have to be. We have talked a lot about the stages of change.
The first stage is contemplation (thinking about doing something)
The second stage is preparation (talking about what you are going to and getting ready to do it)
The third stage is action (getting started)
The fourth stage is maintenance (maintaining after getting started and keeping it going)
(There is also a stage called pre-contemplation- before you are ready to do something)
Each of these stages has something that you need in order to make it successful and get on to the next stage. There is one thing that across all stages becomes the most important factor. Clearly, you need motivation. Clearly you need goals. Clearly you need resources around you to support your new habits in order to start them and keep them going. I have written many articles and had many conversations about these things.
The one thing that I have not talked about yet is the one thing that you need in order to get started. It is not only what you need to get started, but it is also needed to advance from one stage to another. In other words, there is one thing you need to get started and that same thing is also needed to keep you going.
What is that one thing? What do we need to get started, keep going and be successful in health? We need faith. We need to believe that we can do it. We need to believe that what we want to do is possible, what we are doing is going to work and what we have done is possible to do again…and again.
Faith is not often talked about when it comes to diet and exercise, but it is very important. Without faith, you won’t even get started. Think about it:
If you don’t think you can start running or start eating healthy foods, you won’t start doing it. If you think that you have a realistic possibility of doing something, you will believe that it is possible and therefore you will be likely to go for it.
While faith is not the only factor, if you don’t have it, you can’t move forward. Some people find it natural to have faith in what they are doing. These people are usually successful. They aren’t perfect. They still run into challenges and have off-days, but they are able to keep going because they trust that it will work out for them even when it is difficult.
If you are looking to get started, have a little faith in your ability. If you believe you can do it, you can. If you believe you can’t do it, well, you are right on that one too. In order to do healthy things, you have to see yourself doing them. You have to trust that you can make them happen. In other words: the more faith you have in yourself, the more health you will have in your life.
A recent holiday made me think a lot about faith. Faith is something that I don’t discuss very often. It seems that in the business world, we don’t seem to discuss it much. My personal life involves faith, but it is still not a conversation that I have very often. It is interesting how health and faith mix, but usually an emergency or it is too late. Either we are praying for someone to pull through or faith is a comforting thing to have on our side after we lose someone we love.
I’m not here to have a religious debate. In fact, I don’t even want to bring religion into this. I am talking about faith. Not faith in a higher power. Not faith in any particular religious practices. I am talking about faith in health. More specifically, I am talking about faith in one’s ability to create and maintain health.
When someone gets on a new routine to change their health, there are stages that they go through before they get to where they really want to be. They start by thinking about what they might do. They move one to talking about what they are going to do. Once they are able to get started, hopefully they are able to stick to it for a while. Once they have stuck with it for a while, they are likely to keep going.
Each of these stages takes a certain skill and a thought process that will help you get from one to another. The goal is obviously to progress through them until you are an experienced and confident person that will always do the things you have started doing on your new routine.
This is a nice thought, but unfortunately, many have not been able to do this. Most people don’t get from one stage to another on their first try. In fact, many are continually starting a new routine in the first stages and falling back to square one as they find that it just doesn’t work for them.
This is very common, but it doesn’t have to be. We have talked a lot about the stages of change.
The first stage is contemplation (thinking about doing something)
The second stage is preparation (talking about what you are going to and getting ready to do it)
The third stage is action (getting started)
The fourth stage is maintenance (maintaining after getting started and keeping it going)
(There is also a stage called pre-contemplation- before you are ready to do something)
Each of these stages has something that you need in order to make it successful and get on to the next stage. There is one thing that across all stages becomes the most important factor. Clearly, you need motivation. Clearly you need goals. Clearly you need resources around you to support your new habits in order to start them and keep them going. I have written many articles and had many conversations about these things.
The one thing that I have not talked about yet is the one thing that you need in order to get started. It is not only what you need to get started, but it is also needed to advance from one stage to another. In other words, there is one thing you need to get started and that same thing is also needed to keep you going.
What is that one thing? What do we need to get started, keep going and be successful in health? We need faith. We need to believe that we can do it. We need to believe that what we want to do is possible, what we are doing is going to work and what we have done is possible to do again…and again.
Faith is not often talked about when it comes to diet and exercise, but it is very important. Without faith, you won’t even get started. Think about it:
If you don’t think you can start running or start eating healthy foods, you won’t start doing it. If you think that you have a realistic possibility of doing something, you will believe that it is possible and therefore you will be likely to go for it.
While faith is not the only factor, if you don’t have it, you can’t move forward. Some people find it natural to have faith in what they are doing. These people are usually successful. They aren’t perfect. They still run into challenges and have off-days, but they are able to keep going because they trust that it will work out for them even when it is difficult.
If you are looking to get started, have a little faith in your ability. If you believe you can do it, you can. If you believe you can’t do it, well, you are right on that one too. In order to do healthy things, you have to see yourself doing them. You have to trust that you can make them happen. In other words: the more faith you have in yourself, the more health you will have in your life.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Health Shouldn’t Dependent on Disposable Income
Health is something that we need no matter what we do in life. Without health, life is not what it should be and in many cases, it ceases to exist all together. Health is important whether you are rich, poor or anywhere in between.
While health is important to the rich and to the poor alike, it shouldn’t depend on which category you fall into. There is no real connection between the amount of money you have and your health. At least there shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, many have let this factor become a reason for their health to take a back seat. Others have simply missed opportunities or simply didn’t have them in the first place due to their economic situation.
I’m not talking about those people. There is a problem in our country, and throughout the world for that matter, that has created more health issues for those with less. That is not something I am going to deny or even argue. What I will argue is that being healthy doesn’t have to cost more money.
I recently had a conversation with someone that was planning to change their health in the near future. Their plan was not to start exercising more or eating different foods. Their plan was to increase their financial standing by selling more of the products that they were paid to sell. The theory was that when they earned more, their diet and exercise would improve too.
The plan was as follows: once they earned enough, they could purchase a gym membership or even home equipment so that they could start exercising. They also said that once their budget was bigger, they would purchase healthier foods and stop eating fast food.
The theory was that they were not doing healthy things because they cost too much. The eating choices they made were based on price and their exercise was not regular because of the lack of resources they could afford. It makes sense, in theory, that they would be able to do these things if they had a budget for them. I get that, but I also get the fact that there are many options for many budgets.
Exercise
It doesn’t cost anything to go for a walk. It is free to walk down the sidewalk. You can even run if you want to. You can do push-ups, sit-ups and any number of exercises in your home or in your office as many of my clients have discovered.
Even if you have no money, there are exercises that can help you live healthy and feel better.
Nutrition
This is the tricky one. I constantly hear about how expensive it is to eat healthy. I also hear about how everyone would eat better if it didn’t costs so much. Honestly, this is one of the most frustrating conversations for me to have.
Food comes in many forms and is available in many places. Is it more expensive to have a private chef preparing natural meals for you every day than it is to eat fast food? Of course it is, but it is NOT cheaper to eat at a restaurant (fast-food or otherwise) than it is to prepare food at home. Grocery stores offer great deals on healthy foods and purchasing wisely can help you take your food dollar further and further the more you plan your meals.
You can buy food and prepare it for you and your family and spend less than you would by going to fast food restaurants every day.
Again, when it comes to global access and local availability, I see that economics does become a factor. If you live in a neighborhood that only has fast food and convenience stores it is more difficult and thus more expensive to get fruits and vegetables regularly. I also understand that if you can’t afford a membership, you can’t go to a gym. They won’t let you work out there without a membership and in many cases, there may not be an option near you if you live in a certain part of town.
These are all valid reasons for some of our health problems. These issues are being addressed by many at government, corporate and community levels. Hopefully we are on the right track to improving them with programs, education and awareness. These issues, while causing many problems are not causing all of the damage.
The damage of poor health habits is being caused more by excuses than by economics. Above we talked about ways you can exercise and eat better no matter what your financial situation looks like. Keep this in mind when you are thinking that eating healthy is expensive:
A bag of chips: $3.00 for a large bag of your average chip. This bag is going to provide you with enough calories to feed an elephant, but will barely provide you with any actual nutrition.
A loaf of whole-grain bread can cost you as little as $2.00. You can purchase lean meat for a few dollars a pound. Lettuce, a tomato and even some peppers can be purchased for a few dollars. How many sandwiches can you make for the cost of that $3.00 bag of chips? When you break it down, it is quite a few and each of these sandwiches provides you with real nourishment that takes you further than an entire bag of chips can…without the empty, excess calories.
When it comes to exercise, it is easy to say that if you had more money, you would work out more. That is the excuse I hear most, second only to “more time”. Sure, if we all had a live-in personal trainer, it would be easier to exercise. The point is, we don’t need that. The best exercise can come from the simplest and cheapest methods. Walking, running, playing with kids or doing calisthenics is all you need.
The problem in today’s society is not money. The problem is priority. The priority is not on health. We want to be healthy, but we are not making it a priority. A raise or a bonus will not help you make health a priority. On that same note, your current salary or title is not making you unhealthy. You are doing that on your own now and you will continue to do it no matter how much money you make.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If we can trade the excuses for actions, we can finally see that it is the excuses that cause health issues, not the economics. In fact, the lack of priority on health is actually causing economic issues, not the other way around.
If you think that your health routine is suffering because of money, do something that doesn’t cost anything. If you think it’s too expensive to change, ask yourself what it will cost you if you don’t change.
While health is important to the rich and to the poor alike, it shouldn’t depend on which category you fall into. There is no real connection between the amount of money you have and your health. At least there shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, many have let this factor become a reason for their health to take a back seat. Others have simply missed opportunities or simply didn’t have them in the first place due to their economic situation.
I’m not talking about those people. There is a problem in our country, and throughout the world for that matter, that has created more health issues for those with less. That is not something I am going to deny or even argue. What I will argue is that being healthy doesn’t have to cost more money.
I recently had a conversation with someone that was planning to change their health in the near future. Their plan was not to start exercising more or eating different foods. Their plan was to increase their financial standing by selling more of the products that they were paid to sell. The theory was that when they earned more, their diet and exercise would improve too.
The plan was as follows: once they earned enough, they could purchase a gym membership or even home equipment so that they could start exercising. They also said that once their budget was bigger, they would purchase healthier foods and stop eating fast food.
The theory was that they were not doing healthy things because they cost too much. The eating choices they made were based on price and their exercise was not regular because of the lack of resources they could afford. It makes sense, in theory, that they would be able to do these things if they had a budget for them. I get that, but I also get the fact that there are many options for many budgets.
Exercise
It doesn’t cost anything to go for a walk. It is free to walk down the sidewalk. You can even run if you want to. You can do push-ups, sit-ups and any number of exercises in your home or in your office as many of my clients have discovered.
Even if you have no money, there are exercises that can help you live healthy and feel better.
Nutrition
This is the tricky one. I constantly hear about how expensive it is to eat healthy. I also hear about how everyone would eat better if it didn’t costs so much. Honestly, this is one of the most frustrating conversations for me to have.
Food comes in many forms and is available in many places. Is it more expensive to have a private chef preparing natural meals for you every day than it is to eat fast food? Of course it is, but it is NOT cheaper to eat at a restaurant (fast-food or otherwise) than it is to prepare food at home. Grocery stores offer great deals on healthy foods and purchasing wisely can help you take your food dollar further and further the more you plan your meals.
You can buy food and prepare it for you and your family and spend less than you would by going to fast food restaurants every day.
Again, when it comes to global access and local availability, I see that economics does become a factor. If you live in a neighborhood that only has fast food and convenience stores it is more difficult and thus more expensive to get fruits and vegetables regularly. I also understand that if you can’t afford a membership, you can’t go to a gym. They won’t let you work out there without a membership and in many cases, there may not be an option near you if you live in a certain part of town.
These are all valid reasons for some of our health problems. These issues are being addressed by many at government, corporate and community levels. Hopefully we are on the right track to improving them with programs, education and awareness. These issues, while causing many problems are not causing all of the damage.
The damage of poor health habits is being caused more by excuses than by economics. Above we talked about ways you can exercise and eat better no matter what your financial situation looks like. Keep this in mind when you are thinking that eating healthy is expensive:
A bag of chips: $3.00 for a large bag of your average chip. This bag is going to provide you with enough calories to feed an elephant, but will barely provide you with any actual nutrition.
A loaf of whole-grain bread can cost you as little as $2.00. You can purchase lean meat for a few dollars a pound. Lettuce, a tomato and even some peppers can be purchased for a few dollars. How many sandwiches can you make for the cost of that $3.00 bag of chips? When you break it down, it is quite a few and each of these sandwiches provides you with real nourishment that takes you further than an entire bag of chips can…without the empty, excess calories.
When it comes to exercise, it is easy to say that if you had more money, you would work out more. That is the excuse I hear most, second only to “more time”. Sure, if we all had a live-in personal trainer, it would be easier to exercise. The point is, we don’t need that. The best exercise can come from the simplest and cheapest methods. Walking, running, playing with kids or doing calisthenics is all you need.
The problem in today’s society is not money. The problem is priority. The priority is not on health. We want to be healthy, but we are not making it a priority. A raise or a bonus will not help you make health a priority. On that same note, your current salary or title is not making you unhealthy. You are doing that on your own now and you will continue to do it no matter how much money you make.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If we can trade the excuses for actions, we can finally see that it is the excuses that cause health issues, not the economics. In fact, the lack of priority on health is actually causing economic issues, not the other way around.
If you think that your health routine is suffering because of money, do something that doesn’t cost anything. If you think it’s too expensive to change, ask yourself what it will cost you if you don’t change.
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