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Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts

FITNESS NEWS FLASH … WORK REQUIRED AND NEVER OPTIONAL

Life does not promise easy, fair, fun, happiness, or even health. In fact, life is hard and guess what, work is required and never an option. It is up to each one of us to create the lifestyle that we live and this is not going to be found in a jar, pill, powder, or shake. If popping a “fit pill” was the answer to all things magical and provided the body of our dreams inside and out, then I definitely would not need to write this blog. The facts are in and they have been for decades that the way to obtain a fit physique is through consistent healthy food intake, regular exercise, plenty of rest, water, and balance of life.

The “want it now” society tries every side-step method to achieve what can only be done through sweat producing work. There is not a pill or shake that is going to teach a person how to shop and select healthy foods for life and they will surely not sprout legs and exercise so that we consume the activity benefits. What usually does occur with quick fix programs is possibly some weight loss due to very low calorie diets and bodies that are running on empty experiencing negative side effects like dizziness, blood sugar and pressure issues, and nutrient deficiencies just to name a few. Frustration and discouragement typically follow as the program just does not feel good and studies have shown that any weight lost is put back on plus more.

Work goes with life, supplying our needs and wants. We want things so we work for them, and the same is true of our health. Health comes at the price of time, energy, and simply eating healthy food. The work is challenging and that is a great thing because it does change us, makes us stronger and better able to enjoy our body and life overall. We can no longer think that tricking health through gimmicks and potions is acceptable. That would be comparable to owning the golden goose and not having to put in our eight to five for a living. We are no strangers to what work feels like and it can be rewarding and provide an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. The results of hard work are being able to achieve and have what we want and desire in life, and is never optional. If having a healthy fit body is the desire, put in the work and see what happens.

Darla Leal, Fit at 50

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FIX YOUR FITNESS

We do not need anyone to tell us that we are unhealthy or that we need to fix our fitness, right? If you are unhappy with yourself, feeling like crap, have been told by the doctor to change your lifestyle, or have had your friends and family kindly give you hints, then guess what, you already know that you need to fix your fitness. Fitness goes beyond the physical and includes emotional and spiritual well-being as well. Don’t think we can walk around in physically pretty bodies and be all messed up emotionally, stressed out, overwhelmed and feeling like life is too big to handle. Fixing our fitness requires looking at our complete picture and making the choice to clean up our act.

It is not rocket science and requires nothing magic to fix our fitness, just our will, determination and follow-through to become healthy. The media would like us to believe that we need a bunch of expensive things, products, pills, and potions to obtain the body that we are looking for, but the truth of the matter is that we all possess the ability to create our fitness. The first step is admitting the areas we are unhealthy and putting forth a plan of action to get the process of adopting a fit lifestyle started. If being overweight and struggling with painful joints, lack of energy, low self-esteem, and frequent illness is the issue, a great start would be to look at daily nutritional intake and exercise. If emotional problems such as anger, high stress on the daily, inability to relax, and tension that sends your shoulders to the ears is a constant, a great start would be to look into what is causing these feelings through possibly a counselor or clergy member.

The important thing is to get on board with fixing your fitness. Procrastinating on this very important subject does nothing but waste what could be a healthier happier life. Being in denial about being unhealthy is also a thief of health and fitness. Changing our mental game and looking at ourselves with rose colored glasses off to expose all the unhealthy parts is what it will take to implement the changes needed to fix our fitness. It is a brave step in the right direction and today is always the right day to get to work.

Darla Leal, Fit at 50

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LIFTING WEIGHTS DOES NOT MAKE ME BULKY

For all the ladies who think you are going to lose your feminine looks by lifting weights, I am here to tell you that it is a myth. We simply do not have enough testosterone naturally to produce extreme muscle mass. We do benefit from a firm and tone look produced with weight resistance training and also taking into consideration genetics we were blessed with in combination with a healthy eating program. Our lean mass will provide more shape than anything else and does it show after years of commitment? The answer is yes, however it will not be substantial enough for us to dash into a phone booth ready to jump out sporting our muscular superwoman outfit. What will be noticed about a committed weight training program are shapely arms, butt, legs and overall fit look and side benefits of feeling great about the compliments received for those attributes.

I have been lifting weights close to thirty years and do sport a lean muscular physique but do not consider myself bulky. What allows my muscle to show more is maintaining a lower body fat percentage year round, however I keep that within a healthy range to not screw around with my hormones. As a woman entering menopause I understand the importance and health benefits of weight bearing exercise. I enjoy the visual results, but more important, I am making sure my bones remain dense and strong during the decline of estrogen from menopause. Weight training is prescribed to all women going through this phase and to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and/or osteopenia. I am genetically lean thanks to my Dad and that is just how I am built, but my body has also responded well to weight training. Some may think I look bulky, but if you met me in person, you would have a whole different opinion. Can I flex it up in images, well of course and I have got the back lash of “she is too muscular”, but bulky is not a word that can be used to describe my body.

The health benefits of weight training go beyond what is visible and includes improved bone and joint function, bone density, and increased muscle tendon and ligament strength. The more lean mass we have, the more efficient our bodies become with burning energy stores and maintaining a healthy weight. We become healthier overall, and our confidence is boosted when we feel our healthy best.

The look obtained from weight training is one that exemplifies a healthy lifestyle, not some sort of “she-man” that seems to be running around in everyone’s mind. The media is in the market for distortion of the truth in all areas of fitness with photo shop, air brushing, and the verbal word of weight lifting for girls equals turning into a man. This is so far from the truth and is laughable. I believe in being our own health and fitness advocates, putting in the research about subjects such as weight training and doing what is best for our bodies to become a healthier person. Our female hormones will allow for some increase and sculpting of beautiful muscle and the inward and outward benefits are not only beautiful but we as women should embrace weight training as a very important part of our health programs.

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DON'T FEAR THE WEIGHTS

Stay Healthy,
Darla

I COUNT QUALITY NOT CALORIES

I stopped counting calories years ago, and simply made my focus on eating healthy quality “real” food each day. I like that motivational poster that says “no one has ever gotten fat eating too much kale” and this is really true and can be applied to most of the healthy food choices out there. I do not feel the need to keep track of ingredients I know are providing health benefits and awesome nutrients that keep my body looking and feeling the way it does. I keep my refrigerator, pantry and counters stocked with plenty of organic vegetables, greens, fruits, yogurts, raw nuts, lean meats, and my list goes on and believe me, I am stuffing my face every three hours or less with a nutrient dense fiber rich food.

Maintaining a healthy body is about living a quality life and that means being concerned about the quality of food that I eat. There is a big difference in consuming a McDonald’s Big Mac and fries compared to an organic chicken breast with a sweet potato and mixed greens. The latter will be more nutrient dense, health beneficial and less calories, but to the eye will appear like more food. This is a great example of why I do not bother with counting calories. As long as I am eating meals like organic chicken and greens, the need and stress behind counting calories is pointless. I eat for health and listen to the cues of my body that tell me to fuel up.

When it comes to buying my groceries, I hit the perimeter of the store and steer clear of the aisles full of processed inflammation causing crap. Take into consideration your local grocery and how it is laid out, generally produce to the right or left, dairy to the back and following along to the meat counter on the opposite side. I stick to my list in hand and the only extras that I dash into the forbidden center would be for dark chocolate, red wine, or something organic like packaged Quinoa. I really enjoy the local farmer’s markets and stake those out for my produce as much as possible, and I adore the organics at Costco. I believe in keeping my healthy food intake simple as well. The food gets too much credit for being complicated when trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle and that is such an unfair assumption.

Take an organic apple for example, and appreciate the nutrient value and simplicity of this “fast food”. Now add natural organic peanut butter to that apple and a power fuel meal has been created. I do not find that difficult and I apply this type of philosophy to all my healthy foods. I am sure we all know how to prepare and cook an organic chicken breast and other than on the grill, one of my favorite methods is in the crock pot with some fabulous spices or salsa. I also enjoy sweet potatoes and will prepare those with an olive oil rub, and finish off this meal with a spinach salad topped with walnuts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I am talking about quality food to create a quality healthy body. Think about our ancestors, what they ate, and how it was created. It was the simplicity of organic lean meat, dairy and produce from the land eaten throughout a busy physical day and the thought of maintaining a healthy body was not even a thought. It was lived every day and that is what I think about when I am living my life as a healthy person and eating the way that I do. What I do count is quality when it comes to my calories and that works for me.

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Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list, or if you want to receive my free updates, use the button at the right to select your feed preference. I look forward to responding to your comments and appreciate your shares.

Stay Healthy!

Darla

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Having a plan is so important in our success in life and health. I think this quote says it well: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” When something is planned out and written down, not only is the motivation kicked up, but also the personal challenge to reach that goal increased. Besides, it is a written plan right in front of our face, and not something that we are only thinking about and may put into place someday. See the difference? If we are good stewards of our money for example, we are budgeting for expenses with our income and successfully paying our mortgages, rents, and overall bills. Without that budget plan in place, I am sure we can all agree a huge financial mess would be the result of our irresponsibility. Planning takes responsibility and a commitment to do what is best for our life and health. Failing to plan sets us up for failure.

Let’s get back to the plan and what it takes to put a health related goal into place. I highly recommend an accountability journal to plan out strategies for exercise scheduling and also a healthy food tracking area to record food intake daily. I also like to keep track of water intake, sleep and my overall mental game. Tracking your weight on a scale one time per week is also motivational to see your progress and to ensure that the plan is working. When the plan fails to function, it is never the goal that changes, but the plan or program. Finding what works for each of us is a trial, error and fine tuning of our plan until we see the results of our investments. Just as it is exciting to pay down debt with a responsible budget plan, it is equally or even more exciting to reduce our waist lines through our commitment to the plan of adopting a healthy lifestyle.

Everybody understands the need and importance of money to support our lives and my goal is to convey that our health banks are even more important. Imagine not balancing our checkbooks and leaving out transactions each day to the point of not knowing the balance. Accounts would be overdrawn, additional fees paid, collectors knocking at the door, and stress increased tenfold. That same analogy can be applied to our daily exercise and food intake. If we do not balance our food intake, write down what is consumed, or never record our exercise expenditure, we are setting ourselves up for weight gain, increased risk of disease and illness, increased stress, and eventually doctors knocking at the door. Looking at how important a plan is for success in these terms should motivate all of us to implement them today.

Living a healthy life is not a guessing game or a wish and we are only kidding ourselves when we run around without a plan. Success comes when daily habits of eating healthy and moving our bodies are made a planned priority. Do we sweep our money responsibilities under the rug? Well, I suppose some may but the outcome is always an unhealthy consequence in doing so. How much more important is our health and that so many people do just that, sweep it under the rug. Let’s turn the goals of obtaining a fit body into more than just a wish by starting today with a plan for adopting a healthy lifestyle.

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Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list, or if you want to receive my free updates, use the button at the right to select your feed preference. I look forward to responding to your comments and appreciate your shares.

Stay Healthy!

Darla

user of THE Herbal Face Food and proud to show my images without photo shop or airbrushing. I am 50 years young and celebrate Fit at 50!

THE FOOD JOURNAL DILEMMA

The dreaded food journal can be your best friend and accountability partner when it comes to implementing a healthy nutrition program. I have heard it all when it comes to fitness and food journals and the love/hate relationship that keeping track of food intake can cause. The problem is really not the food journal, but it is the issue of not being honest with ourselves. When life is going great and our program is on track, we gladly write down every healthy morsel placed in our face with a smile and will even share the exciting events that are producing the positive results.

On the other side of that coin is the need to hide or even toss our journals to the curb as temptations to go “off plan” creep into the program. It is almost as if we convince ourselves that being unhealthy is not happening if it is not written down in the journal. Believe me, you can run but your body will not hide the consequences of unhealthy choices. The fact is the food journal wants to know all the dirty little secrets whirling around in our heads: our thoughts, if we are having triggers, cycle approaching, crappy day, or anything else that may send us into an unhealthy eating pattern. Often times using the food journal as an emotional outlet helps to resolve behaviors that may occur, and allows us to get back on track sooner than later.

Giving our food journal the stink eye for poor food choices is not where that stare should be placed. Living a healthy lifestyle is a personal choice and responsibility that we all need to realize. If our fitness programs are off track that is on each of us and we need to own the consequences of those choices. Keeping secrets from our food journal does nothing to help in a positive way, and in fact will prevent us from reaching the goals of a healthy body.

We can come up with all kinds of reasons to not journal our food intake: pain in the ass, waste of time, it’s not working, controls me too much, refuse to feel micromanaged, and the list goes on. The food journal needs to stop getting the bad rap for our poor food choices, and the fact that it is not working is about the dishonesty that is occurring when we cheat on the journals. Studies have shown weight loss success and overall health improvement when food and fitness journals are in place. It is our unwillingness to take our health seriously that prevents us from reaching our goals. When we cheat on the food journal we only cheat ourselves and it is true “what we eat in private, we wear in public”. Also, we are walking bill boards of the type of life we live, healthy or unhealthy.

We have the choice to view the food journal as friend or foe, and that choice will determine how serious we want to reach our goals and live a healthy life. If we view the food journal as a friend that will always be there and never let us down, the success rate of weight loss and overall health improvement would increase by a great margin. I believe it is time to do what we can to be accountable to a healthy lifestyle and although it may be difficult to see the real stuff behind our choices when we journal, it is necessary to make the changes that will get us going in a healthy direction. Friends should be able to offer constructive criticism and have it be accepted in a positive way without defensiveness. The food journal is there to do that very thing: show you what has gone wrong, where you can improve, and ultimately help you make better choices for living a healthy lifestyle.

Heather Agnew Photography

Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list. If you are inspired, LIKE my entry, leave a comment and I look forward to responding!

Stay Healthy!

Darla

SABOTAGE STEALS SUCCESS

Sabotage is a strong word to describe the behavior that can sneak into our life and steal the success that healthy eating and exercise has provided our bodies. It can come in the form of our own thoughts, an unsupportive spouse, friend, and even co-workers. The important thing is to be on guard so that the forms of sabotage can be recognized and dealt with in a way that is healthy, and keeping us on track with our fitness goals. I am not addressing the occasional cheat meal or even day, I am talking about a chronic issue of falling into a trap of being swayed away from a healthy lifestyle, and allowing that to happen.

Living a healthy lifestyle takes mental strength and a loving commitment to maintain our best self through consistent healthy choices each day. Let’s address self-sabotage and how it can creep into our mind and try to convince that “just this once” or “just a few bites” can become part of the healthy plan. The issue with this type of sabotage is that it does not stop at the “just once or a few bites”. Often times, this mindset flows into several days, weeks, and even months, and before it is over, the weight loss achieved is back up to where it started, and possibly more than the initial weight. Convincing ourselves that eating crap on a regular basis is never a good thing for our bodies, and remaining on guard so that self-sabotage can be recognized and dealt with immediately is crucial to stay on track with our fitness and health goals. Keeping a daily fitness journal is a helpful accountability tool to keep us on track.

Another sabotage culprit is that wonderful person you live with until death do you part. Love has nothing to do with sabotage of this type and the non-supportive spouse may not get the whole new health thing or does and is struggling with acceptance of your new healthy lifestyle. There are many relationships like this and living a healthy lifestyle becomes difficult, as the processed foods and other temptations continue to hide in your pantry and refrigerator. Sometimes, a spouse turned healthy and leaving the other behind can cause friction in the relationship as guilt trips occur over the change in lifestyle. It is so important to realize that each person is ready when they are ready and force-feeding a new healthy lifestyle on your spouse will only drive a wedge in the relationship. As the one wanting to live a healthy lifestyle, model by example, and when the cupcakes come calling, politely say “no thank you” and grab a yogurt and piece of fruit to eat along with your partner. Mental strength has to be on overtime in these circumstances as there will be a daily guarantee of temptation. Keep that promise of creating your best healthy self and great positive attitude, and almost assuredly your spouse will eventually join you. Patience will be your best friend here.

Sabotage among friends exists and it can be ugly. Creating a healthy lifestyle will mean making hard choices and dismissing ourselves from possible temptations that will steal our accomplishments. Some friends may not understand that you no longer want to eat processed foods or drink alcohol all night long, and are happy to provide the peer pressure to get you to fold on your commitment to self. A strong mental game is definitely a requirement and sometimes a request of support from your friend will be necessary. A true friend will understand and come alongside of such an important decision and one that does not care will continue to sabotage your efforts. If you continue to hear that it is OK to let your hair down and relax with your program on a continual basis from a so-called friend, you may want to re-think the motives of this friend. It is unfortunate, but jealousy does exist and can rear an ugly head during such times, and some may not be able accept that your body is changing in beautiful positive ways. The important thing in this type of situation is to be true to you, regardless of what is said or pressure felt. Going out can be limited to a glass of wine and water in addition to healthy food selection. Continue to enjoy your life and implement the healthy choices and the rest will take care of itself.

It seems like there is no safe place for the healthy person to hide from the forms of sabotage and the workplace is no stranger to being involved. Do you have a break-room filled with daily temptation, or that co-worker who always brings the donuts and gladly sets one on your desk? Put up the mental defense when it comes to accepting sabotage at work because you do have more control here. Bringing a cooler filled with your healthy planned meals will keep your fingers off the bagels and cream cheese with a side of cookies. Be stronger than the saboteur and say “thanks but no thanks” to the invitation of work indulgence eating. If a strong mental game is not put into play, visiting the break-room can become a daily occurrence with the results showing up on the waist line, and a complete derail of the healthy lifestyle you want to implement.

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Stay Healthy!

Darla