It's been almost 3 weeks since I last blogged about my commitment to health and wellness. Oh, don't worry, I'm still committed. But, I seem less committed to blogging. Sorry about that.

Lately, I've been thinking about what inspires me to stay on this path. It's not the elite athlete. Don't get me wrong. I'm in awe of their talent and hard-work. But, what's more inspiring to me is watching people overcome. And, by overcome, I don't mean it has been be huge barriers to be considered inspiring. I'm inspired by the elderly woman who despite her age, I see walking on the bike path. I'm inspired by the middle-age man who despite his addiction to cigarettes, decides to take up cycling. I'm inspired by the woman, who despite living with cancer, continues her commitment to training for a 5K.

I don't have any of these barriers. Age is not a barrier, addiction is not a barrier and illness is not a barrier. I have it easy. My health is not to be taken for granted. Why would I waste this precious time I have being healthy and not continuing to enjoy the fruits of my fortune. If those around me who overcome in the face of their barriers, then I can continue to commitment to my daily investment in health and wellness. So when every I don't feel like taking that first step off of the couch and out the door, I think of them and get inspired.

And, if my words didn't inspire you, then check out the like I've posted the the website for "Athlete the Movie". It will do the trick.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqgpxmO_upQ />
Keep on, keeping on,

leah

What does learning to tolerate discomfort have to do with a continuous commitment to health and wellness? Well, it's a little tricky. I'm not asking for you to recalibrate your pain threshold. What I am asking of you is to check in with your ability to hang in there when something doesn't feel very good - physically or emotionally. Be honest with yourself - do you tend to avoid doing things that create discomfort? If so, it must be hard to commit to a healthy lifestyle over the long haul.

Come on - fitness is not always fun - actually, many, many times it's not fun at all until it's done. It kinda hurts: muscles burning, lungs burning, hard to breath, sweat in eyes, etc.

Making healthy food choices is also not always the most comfortable experience. Since our bodies are hard-wired to crave sugar, fat and salt we learn to work with these cravings and not follow their every whim. 

What would happen if we avoided feeling uncomfortable? We would most likely follow the path of least resistance in both fitness choices and food choices. For example - drive cars instead of walking, riding bikes; take elevators/escalators instead of stairs; have our shopping delivered to our doors via internet; grocery shopping instead of growing our own food; eating prepared foods or convenience foods instead of preparing meals and on and on and on.

So, the next time you have the opportunity to feel a little or a lot uncomfortable in the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, do it. Take the road less traveled, the path of more resistance not least. It may hurt a little more, but it will be worth it.

"Lazy" from wiktionary:

an Adjective

lazy (comparative lazier, superlative laziest)

1. Unwilling to do work or make an effort.

   Get out of bed, you lazy lout!

2. Requiring little or no effort.

   lazy port

3. Relaxed or leisurely.

   I love staying inside and reading on a lazy Sunday.

4. (optometry) Of an eye, squinting because of a weakness of the eye muscles.
5. (cattle brands) Turned so that the letter is horizontal instead of vertical.

[edit] Synonyms

• (unwilling to work): bone-idle, idle, indolent, slothful, work-shy

It's a pet peeve of mine to hear people say they are "lazy". "I'm just lazy, I guess." They refer to it like it's some "condition". As if it's not their fault they are lazy. And, better yet, now that I've posted the definition above, it appears they are not truly understanding the definition of the word. I'm going with definition number 1: "unwilling to do work or make an effort." How do you interpret this? Me? I take it at face value. It means UNWILLING TO WORK OR MAKE AN EFFORT. It would be powerful if that's what we said every time we wanted to use the word lazy. Say it for what it is - unwilling to work or make an effort.

Ok, ok, why am I harping on this point? Because it's so blindly obvious. The definition of lazy is all about taking responsibility for avoiding work. And, the work I'm speaking of is the work of committing to health and fitness each and every day. Lazy is being UNWILLING TO WORK. So, the deeper set of questions try to get to what's behind the unwillingness. What are the reasons?

The theme of this blog is all about commitment - working each and every day to make healthy choices. Sometimes it feels like a lot of work and sometimes it feels like a little work, but it is work. I've  opened up a little of my private life in hopes it might help others see that even some one like me, a "Health Professional, A Nutritionist, A Fitness Instructor" works at this daily commitment.

Thoughts?

Keep on keeping on.

Something dawned on me earlier this week while I was facilitating a group meeting to discuss committing to living a healthy lifestyle. Someone asked if this commitment to making healthy choices in food and fitness ever gets easy. And, that's when it dawned on me. "No", I replied. It just starts to feel a little less hard. And, some days it's just back to hard.

So, why do I even mention what appears to be semantics in word choice? Because, I'm thinking if we approach this commitment to lifestyle change with some sort of expectation that it will eventual get easy to do, we most certainly will feel let down, get frustrated, and throw in the towel. Instead, if you go into this lifestyle with the understanding that every day brings new challenges and detours to making the healthy choices in food and fitness, when the apparent road block appears you will have the patience to figure out how to go around it.

Some days present fewer road blocks than other days.

I often hear people describe their days as "good" or "bad". I ask them to please define. A "good" day includes exercising and eating small amounts of food throughout the day in meals and snacks which consist of healthy choices. A "bad" day is anything that deviates from a "good" day. And, the real issue is that a "bad" day or even a "bad" moment in a day often derails them. And, I mean really derails them. This is what it called in the biz as "black and white" thinking or "all or none". So, you eat the chocolate chip cookie. So? How does that make the day all of a sudden a "bad" day. And, better yet, why does eating the chocolate chip cookie become the reason you stop working on this whole lifestyle change all together?

Remember, if you really approach living a healthful life over the long haul, build into the process chocolate chip cookies. You get me drift. It doesn't ever get easy. It just gets a little less hard.....on some days.

Keep on keeping on....

Excuses, excuses.....I hear them a lot. I'm growing kinda weary of them. It's like there is an overpopulation problem with excuses. Let's commit to not making any more excuses about the reasons we don't exercise regularly or don't eat well or don't get enough sleep or don't manage our stress better. Instead, let's acknowledge the choices we make each day and learn to accept and commit to practice the change we want to see.

Easily said, huh? Much harder to do, I know. Here's the thing. What's the alternative? Stay stuck in the excuse trap or find the courage to accept factors, circumstances or whatever you can't change. Once that's done, focus on what you can change. Example? As far as I know, no one has yet to stop the aging process. Can't hide from aging. We all do it. Funny though how much energy we put towards slowing it or even trying to reverse it. And, it's those types of "we are desperate to change" areas in our lives that make us vulnerable to snake-oil peddlers (as I like to refer to them as). You  know, dieting programs, books, pills, promises. Anti-wrinkle creams. Supplements promising better performance on the bike or in bed for that  matter. Ugh. So sad.

So, what can you change in your life each and every day? Pick something - and preferably only 1 thing (it's easier to focus on 1 thing). Is it making sure you get to the grocery store so you have the healthy options to make a healthy dinner to bring a healthy lunch to work? Is it blocking out time to exercise? Is it getting to bed at a reasonable hour to ensure enough sleep? Is it taking at least 5 minutes to close your eyes and breath?

When you break it down, it doesn't seem all that impossible does it?

So, come on....stop making excuses and start making progress ...... every day.

Whew -

I'm back from my week of travel - literally driving across the country twice in 7 days. That's 3,600 miles in a car, on my butt, on the interstate with miles and miles of McDonald's, Arby's, Burger King and the occasional Subway to choose from. Oh, and Dairy Queen. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. Yeah, yeah, yeah....the obesity epidemic is running rampant.....I now have a much greater appreciation of the reasons for the phenomenon. Very little obviously healthy choices on the road. It took a lot of extra planning - more than I currently do - to ensure that I had healthy choices on this trip. And, if you read my earlier blog about my fitness challenge, you know how tough that was.

This experience tested my commitment to health and wellness. The path of least resistance would have been to eat crap and not exercise the entire week. And, believe me, there were numerous times I wanted to travel down that path. Now, I certainly did not eat as well as I usually do when I'm home, nor did I exercise like I usually do. However, I did commit to try my best to maintain some sort of normalcy. Packed a cooler of food and had to restock frequently....it took 2.5 days to get there and 4 days to get back. This cooler of food represented investing in my nutritional sanity (is there such a thing?). So, no matter where I was on I-80 or I-70 or I-64, I could eat some fruit, some veggies, a yogurt, a home-made sandwich...you get my drift. I packed nuts, crackers, energy bars. I had choices.....it felt good. It took time and forethought. It was hard to make it happen. It was worth it.

Exercise was a bit harder to figure out.....it made packing a cooler look easy. I mentioned in my earlier blog that it was 103 degrees with 105 heat index on the east coast (my ultimate destination). No exercise allowed outside. Besides, I was mostly in the car, somewhere on my journey across the country. Driving days ranged from 10-18 hours at a time. Does it sound like I'm making excuses? Because I am. So, I stopped making excuses and exercised instead. That took getting up extraordinarily early some days to squeeze it in before getting in the car. No matter how bad the hotel fitness facility appeared to be, I found a way to use my own body to get my heart rate up, strength train and break a sweat. None of it was ideal. The exercise bouts were short, cumbersome, uncomfortable, etc. But, hey, something is ALWAYS better than nothing.

This entire time, I kept telling myself that it's only a week and that's doable. Quit whining. You're lucky to have the capability to do what you do. Who cares if it's not easy to figure out....figure it out!

And, what I want to report from this whole epic journey is that it solidified for me how important it is to stop, think, plan, and execute those daily wellness tasks. Don't think/assume it's going to magically happen. Or, you'll do it when you find time....that goes for both eating healthfully and exercising. None of it is easy. But, it's worth it.

Keep on, keeping on.

I'm on the road and haven't kept up with my Blog about daily commitment to fitness. But, I have kept up with my daily commitment to fitness! Not easily, though.

This blurry photo is me "pumping" iron at the Quantico Marine Basic School. Sorry, no photos of marines. Gotta trust me on this one. I'm lifting weights instead of doing Sports Yoga because I was already creating a "stir" by being in this marines-only gym and really didn't want to draw any more attention to myself than I already had. But, believe me, I soooo wanted to drop down and do a few planks, upward dogs and Warrior Ones......

What's my point in blogging about this? Well, it's about the whole daily commitment thing. Where there is a will, there is a way. It's 103 degrees here with a heat-index of over 105 degrees and there is a severe heat advisory posted. What does that mean? Don't go outside unless you have to. I'm staying in a hotel with no fitness facility. No outdoor anything is possible. So, before I resorted to running the halls of this Holiday Inn, my brother (who works at the marine base) was able to get me in his gym.

Now, if that had not been an option. I would have run the halls of the Holiday Inn, done some push-ups, dips, sit-ups, planks, Sports Yoga in my room. Why? Where there is a will, there is a way. Why do I have the will? Because, I know that taking care of myself is not about whether or not it's convenient to do so. It's necessary - it's a priority.

Think about it. What's more important than self-care?

So, for those of you who travel a lot, who have kids with many demands, who have a life with many demands - I challenge you to find time, to make time to take care of you first. Find the will and there is a way.

Stay-tuned. I promise to keep up on my blog as I travel back from Virginia to Colorado....I may yet be running the stairs at my next hotel.

Well, it's been about a week since I last blogged (still getting used to blogging and saying the word "blogging"). If you were wondering...I didn't stop my "daily commitment to health and wellness"....I just went a little quiet on the "blog front".

During this past week, I found myself growing frustrated with my perceived limits. See how I used the word "limits"? They are my perception. Anyway, maybe because it's summer, the days are longer, the weather is awesome, I've been burning both ends of the fitness candle and I'm getting a little burned in the process. Too much exercise and not enough rest not only makes a bad combination but also a frustrating experience. And, on top of that, I started to dread the things I normally love doing. Now if that wasn't a warning sign to back off, then I'm not sure what is.

My remedy? Back off. And, have some fun with fitness. This fun factor has turned out to be the key ingredient for my "dread". At become fit, we've started the b'fit Sports and Social club or b'fit SSC for short. The focus is on the Social. This "club" has given me the opportunity to participate in some sort of fitness activity, with others while having FUN! Run Club, Hike Club, Group Ride and coming this Thursday, Kickball! Laughing with others has turned out to be the perfect antidote to my fitness burn-out.

Now, you may be wondering (or not) whether or not I'm having FUN teaching Spinning and Sports Yoga at become fit? Yes, I am and I'm passionate about it. And, I'm "in charge" and with that comes a certain level of responsibility and "being on" when I'm in front of the class. And, when I take class, I also have fun (with a little "f"). But, what I've realized this past week is that I can allow myself to have FUN (big "F", big "U", big "N")! I think it took giving myself permission in the b'fit SSC to laugh and play while becoming fit. I'm now going to do these 2 things much more often when I'm taking become fit classes.....I don't need to be "in charge" when I'm in class.

So, next time you are dreading exercise or are even in the middle of exercise and asking yourself, "am I having fun, yet?" Recognize the warning signs of burn-out. Look at your rest/recovery days - do you have any? And, ask yourself, "when is the last time I laughed or at least giggled a little while becoming fit?" If the answer turns out to be "a very long time" or "I don't remember", it's time to do something about it.

Remember when you were a kid and there was this thing called "recess"? Remember being told by your parents to go outside and play? Remember the games you played....like "tag"? I don't think I considered that exercise when I was 8 years old. It was called "playing" and having FUN!

It's time to reclaim RECESS. Have some fun today while you become fit.....I know I will.

Do you ever find yourself impatient on your journey of health and fitness? Kind of like taking a road trip, and somewhere in the middle of Kansas you're asking "are we there yet?".  You know - you have those moments when you swear you've been working out consistently, eating well, really focused and you catch a glimpse in the mirror and "darn-it-all" (or whatever version you might choose to say), your butt doesn't look any smaller (or bigger).

Ah, the fitness road trip is a lot like driving across Nebraska or Kansas (sorry to all those natives of these really beautiful states, nothing personal).

So, what happens when you don't notice those changes fast enough (or in my case, anymore)? Do you get bored? Lose focus? Drop out? All of the above?

Waiting for some endpoint is a bit of a slippery slope....what happens if you don't get there or you get there and it's not what you expected? Instead of going through the motions or hating every moment of the experience or distracting yourself so much just to get through it - notice all of it - be in the moment.

I've had many moments when I didn't want to be in that moment - mile 20 in a marathon, 20 mph headwinds up a mountain pass, driving across Nebraska. However, when you stay with it, face it, experience it - the rewards are rich. Mile 20 in the Chicago Marathon and I was struggling I wanted it over with - just then I saw a young woman running with her friend. I heard her say, "Come on - we can do this." She grabbed her hand and they continued on their way. Honestly, I remember that moment more vividly than the memory of crossing the finish line.

Next time you are feeling impatient, bored, distracted with your fitness...try coming back into the moment and notice....it will be worth it.

Ever have one of those training sessions that you just felt like hell? You know, the ones where you can't catch your breath, your legs feel like you are dragging them through wet cement and your stomach is not happy. Well, if you are committed to fitness for a lifetime, you have had at least one of these workouts (most likely many) and you will have more - that's a guarantee.

It's not the "I feel great" training sessions that I want to talk about today. It's the "wow, I feel like crap" workouts. Why? Because these experiences often derail our efforts to stay committed to our fitness plan. They leave a bad taste in our mouths, don't they? Why would we want to feel that again and any time soon? One bad day is just that - one bad day. Not training, not exercising, not working out to avoid the "it might hurt" feeling will give you immediate gratification of not hurting. But what are the other consequences? Most likely poor health outcomes - both physical and mental - maybe not today, but certainly in the future.

So, the next time you have one of those "bad" days, take it for what it is - one day in your lifetime of taking care of yourself. Don't let it derail you from your investment in self and in health. Tomorrow will be different - that is for sure......