Feel Better Fit

Feel Better Fit

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Follow Me to Fitness


I recently reached a pinnacle of life; my 50th birthday. But another pinnacle has been conquered. I can proudly say that I have not only given birth to 8 children, I survived 30 years of parenting them. My oldest turned 30 today. He said to me on the phone, "I guess I'm at the top of the hill now."

I chuckled, replying, "No son, I am and at 50, you KNOW you're heading down!"

His woeful, yet humorous response was, "As out-of-shape as I am, I'm going to be a wreck when I'm 50."

I reminded him, as any good trainer/mom should, "Don't worry son, you have an entire 20 years to shape up before the descent."

Since I am officially heading "downhill", I've decided to start the trip off right. I'm embarking on a new personal challenge. Once again, I'll be logging it here on FeelBetterFit Blog. It will be mingled with my trainer's knowledge, supported by professional references and delivered in faith because that's what I'm about. Use my entries to inspire and guide you to make positive changes toward a more healthful lifestyle.

Healthful Living has two components: Change & Maintenance

My plan is two fold.
1. Change
Set a goal and log my workouts and diet. I will utilize assessments to provide measurable results, working toward a specific goal of changing my current fitness level.

2. Maintain
Rather than stop upon reaching a desired outcome, I will share personally how I maintain good health by logging my maintenance plan: healthful living that is a way of life, not just training.

Why am I doing this?

Sharing the way I view life, health, exercise, diet and even temptation, I can arm others with tools to live life more "abundantly!" I learn always; change always; grow in grace always. I am not the person I was thirty, twenty, ten years ago. In fact, I'm not the person I was one year ago or even yesterday!

In life, as I approach obstacles, I tend to view them in a trainer's mindset. Physical training, spiritual training and even intellectual training have many similarities and shared elements. I believe that "practicing" overcoming obstacles in any area can help fit us for the others. In my entries about forming a habit, the concepts of the strengthening of will power and the scientific data backing it are explored. Take a look at these posts, if you haven't done so yet. Training in general, in any area of life will increase our capabilities and make us more useful while also changing who we are and how we think, act and preform everyday tasks. As we "practice" any behavior, it becomes a habit and requires much less effort. Life gets better! We have improved!

All training can be broken down into a series of choices. A student chooses to take a course; show up for class; listen to the professor, study the material, take the exam and hence receive the reward of understanding new concepts and possibly earning a certificate or degree. A child chooses to listen to a parent's instruction; follow it to their best ability; ask questions; take suggestions and eventually they become capable of preforming everyday duties with ease. If we make choices to push through any new activity everyday, it gets easier and we get better at the task. We receive the reward of growing and changing in positive ways. The process of training, although sometimes difficult is almost always rewarding and builds our confidence in our ability to improve who and what we are.

Each day circumstances present themselves and we are changed by them. The outcome of that change is a result of the choices we make. Those choices become stepping stones, or gravestones. Some we build monuments with. Others we mount as jewels. We may lay new paths, create havens, inspire with beautiful mosaics and design bridges that carry us over obstacles. Hopefully we never use them to cast at others. If we step back a bit and view the choices of our lives as stones, we will see an ever changing landscape we are building; a city with many gates and gardens.

In any "city" that a life of choices has built, there are many crooked paths, broken walls and poorly erected edifices. Mine is no different. I easily get discouraged when I see them but I have to focus on the repairs and new construction, and acknowledge that even my mistakes and failures are all a part of what has made me who and what I am. So, should you "Follow Me to Fitness", take the advice I gave my son, and start repairing things with a positive "Moving Forward" attitude. Refuse to give in to self-defeating thoughts. People change and you will be different next year than you are today. If good choices are included between now and then, what can you expect? Change is inevitable. The nature of that change is not!

Use the principles and examples I give to improve your fitness, your will power, your confidence and your spiritual life. Make your experience, one of personal growth, viewing your own life's "city" of choices and don't get too reliant on me, but develop yourself, always looking up!

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