I had an awesome workout this morning. Why was it so good? Because I focused on all the reasons I wanted to move my body instead of all the reasons I didn’t. I was able to push myself and see progress. Most importantly, I was having fun! Not only did this focus help me during today’s workout, but it’s actually helping me create positive momentum so that my next workout will be great, too. Most women feel like they HAVE to exercise or eat healthy. It feels like something they are being forced to do. They may spend most of their time dreading upcoming exercise and then complaining about it in their mind the whole time they are doing it. With chronic thoughts like that, is it any wonder dieting and exercise seem so hard? While you can’t go from hating to move your body to loving it in an instant (that just feels like a big fat lie) you can begin to focus on all the reasons you WANT to move your body and eat healthy foods rather than all the reasons you don’t. This will make a huge difference in creating the body you want. Here are some of the reasons I love moving my body and eating foods that feel healthy to me. I invite you to create a list of your own. I love moving myself towards optimal wellness. I love having fun moving my body. I love that moving my body is more like play than work. I love being out in the sunshine and fresh air, and how freeing that feels. I love the energy I generate by working out and eating well that carries me throughout my day. I love the clarity of mind I have […]
Stress Relieving Tips to Help You Have More Fun
While I’m off having fun with my family, I thought I would share this past blog on stressing less to have more fun. One of my clients was recently giving herself a hard time because a week after moving to a new state and a few days after starting a new job, she wasn’t relaxed. In fact, she was downright stressed. I call this the Super Woman Syndrome. This is the expectation that you can—and have to!—do everything while always being happy and relaxed. How reasonable is that? Particularly if you are going through some pretty significant life changes? Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t go through a move and job change feeling relaxed and happy, but regardless of how many people can do that, your reaction is your reaction. So here are 3 tips to help relieve stress and have more fun. 1—Ease up on yourself, particularly in the moment. Notice your reaction, but let go of the self-judgment as much as possible. Beating yourself up for your reaction—to any situation—is just adding negative fuel to stress fire. It just makes you feel worse and will prolong the stress. 2—Give yourself a little perspective. How much of your day do you feel stressed? Is it 100 percent of the time or were there just some significant moments of overwhelm that colored your perception of your day? Start paying attention to how many good moments you are having. Begin to track just how much of the time things are going well, you are making progress, you are coping, you are feeling relief, satisfaction, gratitude, and even joy. You might be surprised that there are more of those positive moments than you thought. 3—Give yourself a […]
The Fun Way to Get the Body You Want
While I’m off having fun with my family, I thought I’d leave you with one of my favorite blogs on the importance of having fun. “A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.” Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author As I sat down to write this blog on the importance of having fun, my first thoughts were that I should focus on the health benefits of laughter, such as how it can lower stress hormones, boost the immune system, and can even reverse disease. And then I realized that I was being serious about having fun. Doh! I, like so many people, decided pretty early that life is serious. People seemed to take me seriously when I was serious, and as a result I became very intensely serious. Whew. Just thinking about my seriousness makes my energy drop. Being overly serious is seriously no fun! And just like relaxing, laughing, and having fun is really good for your body, mind, and spirit (I could quote some science, but how fun is that?), taking life too seriously has some serious impacts on the body. So lighten up! Don’t just wait until the weekend to laugh and have fun. Play with your pets or kids. Spontaneously dance around the kitchen when you’re making dinner. Catch a funny movie with your favorite person. And most importantly, laugh at yourself when you’re taking life too seriously. Beyond all the reasons it’s good for you, it just feels good. Together we can do it! Did you receive value from this blog? If so, please leave a comment, send me an email, or share this with your friends.
How to Make Exercise Fun!
“I hate exercise.” That’s a sentiment that I hear often from my clients. But when they dig a little deeper, we discover it’s actually not true. Think back to when you were a little kid. Did you love to run and play? Do you remember the freedom you felt on the playground? Do you remember a time when moving your body felt good? What were you doing? Maybe it was riding your bike? Roller skating? Dancing? Somewhere along the way, you were forced to give up “play.” Responsibility got in the way; maybe school or your studies, getting a job, or starting a family. “Exercise” became something you “had to do” to lose weight. And being the responsible adult that you are, you may have picked responsible “exercise programs” that you didn’t enjoy. You forced yourself to do them. You took it like medicine because working out was “good for you.” Is it any wonder many people think they hate exercise? Who would want to take nasty tasting cough syrup every day? Certainly not me, and probably not you. What if you created a new “rule?” What if this “rule” was that moving your body should be fun. Having your movement be fun doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. Depending on what your goals are, there are many ways to achieve the results you’re looking for—and have fun! For instance, a fabulous reader told me yesterday that she’s gotten back into shape doing gymnastics and hula dancing! In addition to the old standbys, like walking, running, weight-training, yoga, tai chi, and Pilates, I know women who are in great shape who have achieved their goals by doing everything from fire-dancing, to boxing, jump-roping to hula-hooping. And […]
Love Your Workout?
I just had the most fun workout! Does having the words “fun” and “workout” in the same sentence seem like a contradiction to you? That’s one of those limiting beliefs that is resulting in your holding onto the weight! Who said working out had to be a drag? Or worse? And don’t think that just because my workout was fun that it means it was easy. An hour later and my face is still beat red and my metabolism revved. I definitely pushed it. And I loved every minute of it! While I will share what I was doing, the most important thing is to do is find the workout that you enjoy. That you find fun. That you kind-of-wish you were doing at other points in the day. The key to moving your body consistently is to enjoy it. And consistency is key to long-term success. A stumbling block for many women I work with is that they think they have to take up a form of exercise that they hate. Depending on what your goals are, there are many ways to achieve the results you’re looking for. For instance, I know women who are in great shape who have achieved their goals by doing everything from walking, to yoga, to tai chi. Others have done Pilates, dancing, boxing, jump-roping, and even hula-hooping. And there are many more options. Experiment until you find the workout you enjoy. So what was the workout I did this morning? If you follow my blog regularly, you know I love dance walking. But heading out in the dark and cold—not so much fun. A couple of months ago a fabulous reader and fellow blogger introduced me to dance cardio on the […]
Are You Having Fun?
For years, I was a semi-closeted dance walker and runner. Under the cover of pre-dawn darkness, I would feel so darn good during a workout that I would spontaneously burst into dance. Granted, I use the term “dance” loosely as it was really more lurching, lunging, hopping, and jumping my way down the road to the beat of a particularly bouncy song. But I felt the music in me and I just had to move. I publicly outed myself as a dance walker in an August 17, 2010, blog on transformation.com. But even at the peak of my dance-walking joy I would instantly resume a more traditional gait at the first sign of another human being because of the fear of judgment. While I was “caught” a number of times, the only person I felt comfortable enough to dance walk in front of was my husband, and even he let me know he thought it was a little weird. The thing is, any time we inhibit our joy, we are also decreasing our wellness and well-being. Think about this from an energetic standpoint. Positive emotions generate constructive anabolic energy that literally builds our bodies at the cellular level. And joy pretty much vibrates at the top levels of anabolic energy. If left alone, the natural anabolic state of our cells is optimal wellness. But when we introduce catabolic energy to our bodies through stress and negative thoughts and emotions, this begins a destructive process that is cumulative over time. The fear of what others may think is about as catabolic as it gets. So I absolutely loved it yesterday when a friend posted the link to Ben Aaron’s piece on dance walking. You can bet […]
We’re Having Fun Now!
When you think of having fun what comes to mind? Typically fun is associated with relaxation and recreation (re-creation). For most people, having fun means being on vacation, perhaps at the beach or on a cruise, or having a drink with friends, or being at a sporting event. Fun is defined by being kicked-back with nothing to do and no responsibilities. While this kind of re-creation is indeed fun and incredibly important for recharging our positive anabolic batteries, when fun is so narrowly defined, most of life is spent not having fun. What if you were to broaden and expand your definition of fun? What if you began to include what you’re doing? Fun is laughing so hard you cry, being with friends and family, and feeling free, but it’s also solving problems, achieving a goal, being engaged in the task at hand, and the satisfaction of a job well done. Fun is pushing yourself to and past your limits, knowing you gave something your all, reaching out to help another, and shifting how you think about a situation, person, or event. Fun is pursuing things you’re passionate about, embracing who you truly are, learning from experiences that many might call mistakes, and being aligned with your core values. Fun is taking responsibility for everything in your life, is quiet moments of meditation and appreciation, and is striving for excellence. Fun is repairing damaged relationships, admitting when you’re wrong or don’t have all the answers, and is striving to be the best possible version of you. Fun is taking life as it comes, focusing more on where you are than on your future destination, and making decisions that move you towards your ultimate goal. Fun […]
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