Choosing JOY: The Power of a Fitness Mantra
he words you speak matter. Whether you say them aloud or not. Yup. Because YOU’RE listening. All. The. Time. I want to talk about choosing your words mindfully – and with intention. And just how POWERFUL it can be!
Embracing the Healthy Lifestyle Shades of Grey
Want to know the BIGGEST pitfall I see people stumbling over with their health and fitness? Hands down… Viewing their health and fitness as black and white. It’s viewing health as this binary thing. Something you’re either ROCKING or NOT. It’s really just wagon talk (you know, on the wagon in January, or Monday, or at the beginning of a new month…fall off said wagon when….LIFE happens?!). It’s all so counterproductive to being successful long term! What if you embraced the shades of grey?
Does your healthy lifestyle spark joy?
In the KonMari Method you “keep only those things that speak to the heart,” and donate, discard or give away items that “no longer spark joy.” One more thing I love about this method….before you give them the heave ho, you thank them for their service. How lovely is that? It got me to thinking…what if we used this Method in other areas of our lives?
Craft a Unique Plan: Find Your Fit
If you’re just getting started with more focus on movement, I highly recommend simply focusing on just moving your body in ways you enjoy. Don’t over-complicate things with complex plans and detailed exercise regimens. You don’t need to hit the gym or do HIIT (unless you love them). Start with a plan to simply MOVE your body for 10 minutes daily. With time build that time to 20 or even 30 minutes daily. Walk, swim, dance, clean – do things that you enjoy (ok, so maybe not clean) that get your heart pumping and your muscles working. This will help you develop a great base of functional fitness AND build and engrain a habit of movement into your lifestyle! #winning
Once you have that base of healthy movement the conversation can begin to shift to more specific fitness outcomes. #cool
Lasting Change Takes Time: Be Consistent
I know…we’re almost 2 weeks into the “new regimes” and you’re already feeling a little “done” with it. Here’s the thing. Lasting change…it takes time. So if you’re finding yourself with a case of the “I don’t wanna’s” and it’s not that you’re just lacking a little mojo today (more like every day)…consider that maybe, just maybe, you’re taking the wrong approach for you.
Lead with Love
I need you to hear this: You are awesome. Most health and fitness marketing this time of year is centred around picking apart all the things you DON’T love about yourself. They prey on your insecurities and reinforce the broken paradigm of fitness (the one grounded in an unrealistic “image” of health that only 1% of people on this planet will ever achieve). Don’t let that BS into your heart! YOU are awesome. You are not defined by your body shape, size or whether you have a little more jiggle in your wiggle.
Lace Up Your Shoes to Success!
It all begins with a single step. It seems a bit simple, but it’s so true! Whether you’re just getting started with a walking program, headed to the gym for the first time or getting started on a big goal like running your first 10k or marathon – it all starts with ONE single step.
We tend to over-complicate things in fitness. We feel like we need a whole be plan all mapped out to know what we’ll do and when, but here’s the thing. Big complicated plans aren’t actually the key to success in many cases. In fact, sometimes they do more harm than good.
Walk Your Own Path to Health and Fitness
I get it. The literal plethora of information out there about health, fitness and nutrition is absolutely dumbfounding (emphasis on the first half of that word). By pure volume alone it’s overwhelming…but the even greater challenge is that so much of it is conflicting and hard to understand. It’s no wonder we’re all floundering.
NEWSFLASH: 80% of Canadians struggle to be consistent with their health habits. #truth
So that feeling you get from the highlight reel of social media…that leads you to believe everyone else is ROCKING it with their sweaty selfies and gorgeous healthy food pics….it’s not accurate…Please here me when I say this: you are NOT the only “not getting it.”
Find Food and Fitness Freedom with Self-Compassion
Here’s the thing about self-criticism.
It’s an internal attack and it triggers the stress response. This internal response served us when we needed to fight or flee a sabre tooth tiger…but not so much when we just need to harness the inner mean girl.
Build Fitness + Food Routines and Create Freedom!
You can't possibly be motivated, inspired and "on" all the time. It's not possible. As humans we are innately looking for the easiest way to do things at all times. To minimize our energy output and still accomplish the greatest reward. I'm not saying your lazy...ok,...