Today is day one of a brand New Year and that means you get a fresh start on fitness and health.
I began day one of 2015 with a gorgeous Florida grapefruit, followed by a swim and then ate breakfast while contemplating my fresh start – my plan for 2015.
As with any New Year, musings of financial security, weight loss, gym memberships, falling in love and dream jobs may fill your early 2015 thoughts. I want to actually help some of you create success in the area of fitness and health this year and I have 5 winning ideas for you.
First of all, I’d just like to say that I do not make New Year resolutions. Most resolutions are doomed from the beginning because they lack planning and come with huge expectations – two sure ways to guarantee failure.
I am someone who gets things done and it’s NOT because I have super powers . I’m actually JUST LIKE YOU, except I’ve mastered the habit of daily exercise. For some of you, this habit isn’t yet consistent, but I’m here to teach you just how to achieve success in the area of fitness and health so you can have an AMAZING body for 2015.
Ideas for a fabulous body
If you follow these ideas for the next year, I believe you’ll fall in love with YOU!
Embrace your fatness. What ever you do this year, please do not take on the goal of weight loss. When losing weight is the goal, you are declaring that your body is not good enough and I don’t know how anyone can achieve success in fitness and health when starting out telling themselves they are fat and then make themselves wrong for being this way.
Some of you who desire to lose weight have subcutaneous fat (big bum fat) but not the dangerous fat (visceral – i.e. organ fat). People with subcutaneous fat live longer than skinny girls like me!
Sugar
If you don’t believe me, make sure you read Dr Robert Lustig’s book Fat Chance. Lustig will convince you that sugar is the real poison and get you embracing your subcutaneous fat.
If you really want to trim your body, cut out sugar and go back to fat. Dr Lustig tells us that sugar drives fat storage and makes the brain think it’s hungry. Choose fat not sugar!
What’s your why?
Find the real reason. Over 20 years ago I was working for The Sports Clubs of Canada in membership. I only worked there for one year but broke all of their sales records. My first month I sold 140% of my target sales.
Why was I so successful? At the time I thought it was luck. I just couldn’t really figure out why I won all their sales awards. I know now, the reason I sold so successfully is that I helped a perspective new gym member find the real reason they wanted to join the gym – their why – and it was never really to lose weight.
If you dig deep enough, you will discover your why. Maybe you want to be an amazing mum who is physically active with her children, or perhaps your parents died young and you literally want to live to see your kids grow up and have families.
If you don’t feel good in your body, you don’t feel good in life.
When I do not exercise daily, I feel gloomy. My ideas dry up and I become a total grump. I exercise because it makes me love life. Find the real reason you desire a healthy body.
Make it ridiculously simply
Make it ridiculously simple. I was in the gym last week (I rarely work out in a gym) and a man came in, got on the treadmill for under 10 minutes and then got off, turned to the man on the bike and said, “see you tomorrow.”
If commitment and exercise has always been a challenge, start so simple, you can not fail! I love that this man only did 10 minutes of exercise. At least he went to the gym and did something. Now that he took action, his motivation will grow and maybe tomorrow he’ll do 15 minutes!
Stop with the mega boot-camp goals and make it totally simple. Be ridiculous! If you are reading this now and haven’t exercised in a long time, I want you to do this right now: Stand up and march on the spot as fast as you can for 60 seconds (count out loud).
Did you do it? What ridiculously simple goal could you set for this week?
Permission to play
Give yourself permission to play. I remember one time talking to a friend of mine who lives in New York. I told him I don’t go to the gym and he looked dumb-founded. How do you exercise he asked. Hilarious!
Have we really become so uninspired that we can’t even think how to move our bodies without an expensive gym membership?
Several years ago I bought a Kickbike (City G4) and I love it. Think, scooter for big kids and that’s a Kickbike. If you’ve forgotten how to play, ask your kids for ideas; or better yet, play with them!
Further Resources: Balance Exercise for Beginners (full of playful exercises)
Failure
Allow failure. Let yourself off the hook. I’ve been helping my mum move out of her 4 story town-house into a condo and it has completely exhausted me. I’ve told her she better love the condo because she’s NEVER moving again (nice Paula)!
I also agreed to drive her to Florida – 24 hours later. I rolled into January 1st quite exhausted. No exercise for several days and I just allowed the laze of – I don’t feel like it – to take me over because I trust myself to stay on track with my exercise.
I’ve created a habit out of daily exercise and when I do take a day or two off, I know it won’t be long again, before I begin. I understand that my body occasionally needs to crash.
Further Resources: Posturecise (Level 1) – How to create a healthy posture habit for life
I allow myself to not be perfect and not have six pack abs! My fitness goals are more to do with thriving than vanity. Be kind to yourself.
Let your love handles be sexy and understand the real reason (your why) you exercise. Make it ridiculously simple, allow failure and remember to play!
Fun ways to exercise
Rocker Board – brilliant for balance and regaining excellent pelvic posture
Street Strider – I’m saving up for this one!
Pogo Stick – I bounced so much, I broke the spring on the one I owned as a child.
Hacky Sack – not easy, but lots of great how-to videos on Youtube.
Unicycle – How cool would it be to learn this?!
Can you suggest any others? I’m always looking for new toys!
