November 1, 2015
Why is it that our lifestyle choices seem to be so black and white sometimes? This cartoon made me ponder whether our tendencies to be black and white with our lifestyle choices are a direct reflection of our feelings towards our bodies and which comes first.
I was having a conversation with a fellow third grade mom the other day who was sharing that she had done a 21 day challenge that included clean eating and following the program’s “21 day” exercise regimen. She shared that she lost quite a few pounds, several inches, and toned up in 21 days but just could not keep it up so it was all lost. She said to me, “I don’t know how you do it, I just could not keep up the healthy cooking and exercising.” Well, the cooking can be tricky if you just do not enjoy cooking at all, but it can be done. It just depends on how badly you want to sustain the changes and asking for help from someone who seems to be able to manage what you would like to change. I can remember in my mid 20’s when I was running 35-40+ miles a week, every week, thinking that if I did not have time to run at least a five mile run, that it was a waste of my time. I would tell my 20-something year old self now that that is ridiculous! Why not go out for a 3 mile tempo run instead of running 5+ at an easy pace if that is all you have time for. Maybe take the time to build in alternatives in your workout routine so you don’t let yourself succumb to the all or nothing thinking trap. Do two 15 minute workouts in a day instead of one 30 minute workout. There are endless solutions to every excuse.
When you take a lifestyle challenge, my challenge to you is to not think about it as an “all or none” scenario, but rather think of it as an opportunity to make 1 or 2 small lifestyle changes that you can sustain. Reflect on what changes you made that really make a difference in how you feel day to day and then work out a plan to make 1 or 2 sustainable changes.
There was an interesting article in Fortune this week on the increasing rates of metabolic disease in the Silicon Valley due to the unhealthy lifestyle of working 24/7, stress, bad food choices in break rooms, little or no sleep day after day, you get the picture. Your mental and physical health is the foundation for which all other success can be built, once your bad lifestyle choices start to catch up with you, it will absolutely negatively impact your ability to be your best self.
Please, take the time to love your body for what it can do for you and honor it by treating it well.
Happy November 1st to you all! I look forward to seeing you in class this week. All class schedules are on www.stellfit.com (hit the “sign up” button to log into mindbody for the schedule).
Cheers!
Stella