Monthly Archives: February 2015

Fitness, Goals, Health & wellness, Nutrition, Personal development, Weight loss

You’ve Gotta Move!

You have permission to sit down to read this post as it’s a little longer than usual, yet well worth your time. Then you need to get up and get going!

sedentary [sed-n-ter-ee]

adjective

  1. Accustomed to sit or rest a great deal, or to take little exercise.
  2. Characterized by or requiring a sitting posture: “a sedentary occupation.”
  3. Doing or involving a lot of sitting: not doing or involving much physical activity.

Sedentary - Fat Cat on a CouchIf you’re trying to lose weight, or want to enrich your physical condition, being sedentary is NOT the way to help your cause or improve your health. But you already knew that, right? So instead of simply stating the obvious, let’s clarify something. Unless you have a medical condition that requires you to be sedentary, or you’re rehabbing an injury, you have NO excuse!

Losing weight isn’t easy, so don’t make it harder on yourself by stacking the odds against you. On the flipside and with all due respect, losing weight isn’t hard (or doesn’t have to be difficult). You simply need a plan that you support with some new behaviors and better choices. And ultimately over time, your new healthy decisions will help you develop the habits & disciplines necessary to focus on your nutrition & exercise so you can get lean and stay fit.

If you’ve set a goal to leave the sedentary lifestyle behind so you can lose weight and improve your health, then walking would be a great start. But only after your doctor has given you the okay. As a disclaimer, I’d suggest that you consult your primary care physician before stepping up your activity level or starting an exercise regimen.

Researchers say you should aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise on all or most days. Dr. Mehmet Oz recommends 10,000 steps per day as a way to improve your health. And while I agree, I think it’s important to note that walking is only one element for improving your health & wellness.

When walking becomes part of your daily routine, your endurance & energy will improve in a short period of time. As you progress, you can increase the distance, along with your pace, your time, and the incline (or resistance).

Sedentary - Walking Shoes10,000 steps will take deliberate action and conscious planning. And not only is it doable, the upside includes improved health & wellness – but only if you want it and put in the effort. I personally prefer the oudoors for walking, but a treadmill is a great alternative for the times of year or when the weather isn’t cooperating.

Depending on your situation, you can quickly move into other aerobic (cardio) training after a few weeks, which will help you burn some significant calories. I would also recommend that you incorporate some basic anaerobic (strength) training exercises as well to start building lean muscle and contribute to your calorie burn. It really comes down to using some common sense, getting back to basics and challenging the boundaries of your comfort zone.

I was surprised to read in a recent article how leading a sedentary life can lead to so many debilitating diseases. This includes but is not limited to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure (hypertension), elevated triglycerides, abnormal cholesterol levels, insulin resistance, and obesity. Being sedentary can also affect memory, sleep, and feelings of anxiety & depression.

It’s mind boggling because these life-threatening conditions are SO avoidable and preventable. And it all starts with activity. YOU’VE GOTTA MOVE!!!

If you’re not sure what to do or need some guidance to break the inertia, you have many options. There are plenty of online resources. You can also hire a personal trainer or speak with fitness and nutrition professionals for ideas.

So seek out advice for burning calories and eating nutritiously. These professionals can provide ideas based on your goals and the latest science behind cardio and strength training. You should also find out if your gym offers group classes which can help you get started. Whatever you decide on, take the first step. You’ll feel great when you take action and start building momentum.

Keep in mind, you may need to try a variety of different things until you find a few exercises that you enjoy and can do for the long term. It’s for your own good, so make it a habit to exercise, even when you don’t feel like it. It’s a small price to pay with a huge payoff.

The second point I want to make here is that you need to move all the time. You want to become the exact opposite of an unhealthy, over-weight couch potato.

Sedentary - Laying Down with Remote on BellyYour 30-minute cardio or strength training sessions 3 to 5 days a week are essential for keeping your heart healthy, in addition to helping you achieve your weight-loss goal by burning a lot of calories. However, what’s often overlooked is what you’re doing (or not doing) outside of the gym.

Are you sitting for extended periods of time behind a desk? Or wasting hours on the couch in front of the TV? That’s the sedentary part I want to address.

For example, have you ever asked someone in another room to bring you something, like a glass of water or cup of coffee instead of getting off your butt to get it yourself? Or is there something upstairs that you need, but instead of getting it yourself you ask someone else to grab it for you? Or maybe you put it off until you finally make it upstairs hours later? C’mon, that’s just LAZY.

Nike said it best, “Just Do It!”. So why don’t you? You can do it. Remember those 10,000 daily steps? Well, they don’t just happen by accident or happen on the couch. You have to be deliberate and force yourself to move. And then it becomes a habit; part of your lifestyle.

25 steps to the kitchen isn’t going to burn any calories to speak of. But it’s the act of moving and staying active that results in the real benefit. Get the mail, take out the trash, walk the dog (longer than usual), take a stroll around the block a few times; whatever makes you happy and gets you up and about.

Hey, you can even walk to the store or walk to the gym instead of driving, as long as it’s safe and you have a path. Wouldn’t that be different and interesting? I started doing this after returning from a vacation to Europe where we did a ton of walking. Not many are doing it back here in America. Maybe you can start a new trend.

And if you want to start tracking your steps, there are plenty of app’s to choose from. I’ve been using the Breeze app (from FitnessKeeper, Inc.) on my iPhone for the past 6 months and it does the job pretty well. There are plenty to choose from including the old fashioned pedometer.

Here are a few additional resources to help you get moving. Check out:

Good luck in your quest to be healthy & fit!

Fitness, Goals, Health & wellness, Nutrition, Weight loss

Get Fed Up and Do Something About It!

In the last few posts we focused on the importance of setting goals. We looked at why determining exactly WHAT you want to accomplish is paramount to goal achieving.

Then we discovered that after deciding exactly what you want to achieve (your target), identifying WHY you want to accomplish the goal is the second-most important step. Without a strong WHY, daily distractions and other people’s agendas can derail you. You’ll find yourself dealing with the “urgent”, making it difficult to get to the “important”.

We also learned how “tracking” can help bring a moment to moment awareness to the many unconscious choices we make. These unconscious choices can sometimes sabotage your good intentions, which negatively impact your results.

Although we are all unique individuals, we have many similarities, thanks to evolution and how our brains are wired. In fact, we are all driven by a desire to gain pleasure and a need to avoid pain.

Pleasure & PainThese 2 powerful forces are involved in most, if not all of our decisions. They are major unconscious motivators and influences behind “why and when” we do things. So it’s important to recognize these forces so you can take control of your decisions by leveraging them to your advantage.

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” – Tony Robbins

Think about how you get yourself to do something that you really don’t want to do. What motivates you to take action? To get it done? The carrot or the stick?

We are all motivated by different things. Every decision we make is influenced by one of these two principles. And whichever of the 2 emotions is stronger in a given situation will usually determine our next step.

Pleasure or Pain ImageFor example, let’s say you plan to go to the gym in the morning. But when you wake up it’s dark, cold and rainy; and it’s so warm and comfortable under the covers. So you start negotiating with yourself (in the comfort of your bed).

You may try to rationalize that you’ve already worked out 4 days this week and missing a workout isn’t going to hurt. Or that you’ve been working long hours and could use an extra hour of sleep. How do I know? Been there, done that!

But if your WHY for going to the gym is stronger, then your feet will hit the floor and you’ll be on your way, rain or shine.

On the other hand, let’s say you’ve got a proposal to write that you’ve been putting off. And in that moment, you perceive that pain to be less than the intense workout you are now dreading. Maybe you’ll work on the proposal now and postpone your workout until this evening (’cause you want to mix up your routine, or something like that…).

See how it happens? There’s no right or wrong answer here. Only you can determine what’s best for YOU. And that could include taking in that extra hour of rest and blowing off your workout, without feeling guilty (as long as it doesn’t happen every day).

Sometimes you just need to slow down and listen to your body.

These are only a few examples. My point is to bring your awareness to these 2 forces and help you understand how they play a part in every area of your life. And once you become aware of how this desire to gain pleasure and need to avoid pain influences your choices and decisions, you can be better equipped to make more conscious, positive changes in your life.

This is a simple concept to understand in print, but not always so easy when you’re busy, stressed out or not consciously thinking about it. And that’s the point – to be more conscious and aware of your choices, habits and decisions.

If you want to lose those extra 30 pounds once and for all, and keep it off forever, it’s time to discover your pain & pleasure drivers. Understanding these 2 forces, and how they influence your choices & decisions adds another dimension to helping you succeed.

Let’s face it, we all have areas in our lives where we want to improve. But things like “life” can sometimes get in the way or take a priority over our own plans. Whether that means you’re spread a little thin, overwhelmed & stressed, or dealing w/struggles & setbacks, you have a number of tools and strategies for dealing with the hand you’re dealt.

I’m not sure who said it but it’s genius. “It doesn’t matter what happens to you. Stuff happens to everyone. What matters is what you do about what happens to you.” – Unknown.

The great John Wooden also said it well when he said “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out”. I love these 2 quotes.

Now go make something happen and let us know about it. To your success…