Feeling Grateful Every Day

Memorial Day is a time for gratitude. We show our gratitude and respect for the soldiers who have risked, those that continue to risk, and those that have sacrificed their lives in order to protect us and our freedom.

There are other days and events that make us feel truly grateful for what we have—our family, friends, health, opportunities. But, more often than not, that feeling of gratitude is fleeting. When a health scare or accident occurs we make resolutions to not take people / things for granted, to take better care of ourselves / others, etc. We are focused for a short while, but then the stresses and annoyances of life get in the way and we lose sight of all that we have to be thankful for.

Oprah Winfrey said that starting her gratitude journal is the single most important thing she’s ever done in her life—and we all know how much she has accomplished! Each night, for almost 20 years, she’s written down 5 things she’s grateful for.

If you focus on what you have, you’ll have a feeling of having more and you’ll be happier.

Try it. Write down just 3 things you are grateful for each night. There ARE things to be grateful for each day—EVEN IF you had a really crappy day or are going through a difficult time. They can be the SMALLEST things or gestures, like someone holding the door open for you, a chat with a friend, or a sunny day.

Also, look at things that seem like negatives and try to find something positive that came out of them. For example, maybe your car broke down, but as a result, a friend picked you up, so you got to spend some quality time with her. 

Writing them down is key. It makes you really focus on the things. And, if you make it a habit to do this at the end of the day, you’ll be focused on noticing the positives in your life throughout the day.

When you start to “look on the bright side of things” that optimism will not only make you HAPPIER, but it will help you be better able to deal with setbacks and feel LESS STRESS—sounds good all around, doesn’t it? :)

Be Nice To Yourself

Negative self-talk increases stress, limits potential and causes negative effects to the brain. It actually creates a vibration that destroys brain cells. Crazy! I’ve been trying to be conscious of my negative self-talk recently. It’s quite alarming how often I’m guilty of it.

Any negative thoughts stimulate the release of destructive neurochemicals. Even saying something flippant like, “I’m an idiot” when I get home from the grocery store & realize I forgot something I needed is something to note. The more we engage in negativity, the more difficult it becomes to stop.

So, if you are prone to beating yourself up (like I am), you have some work to do. Join me and give yourself a break and focus on the positives. Once we do, we can enjoy the benefits of: less stress, better health, increased confidence, more happiness, and better coping skills—among other things. Sounds worth the effort, doesn’t it? :)

It's 4:00 pm, Do You Know Where Your Willpower Is?

Do you find it harder to resist treats later in the day? 

Do you find you are less motivated to keep to your workout routine as the day goes on?

It’s not just you. And, it’s not just your health & fitness that is affected as the day goes on.

Studies have shown that we have willpower in limited supply. And, that willpower is used all day long. You may have started using it the second your alarm clock went off —you really wanted to stay in bed, but you made yourself get up. You use it to fight distractions all day. You make yourself focus on work rather than surf the web all day. You pass on the donuts someone brought to the office or resist eating the cookies you made for your kids. Maybe you bite your tongue when someone says something that angers you.

By the time it’s 4:00 pm, you’re experiencing “decision fatigue”. The willpower you used was actually a choice you made that sapped your mental energy. Decision fatigue affects everyone. Studies have shown the negative effects on the decisions of judges, doctors, people on a diet & athletes as the day/game goes on. The more decisions we make, the more we deplete our “cognitive budget.” After a certain point, we go for the easy choice, rather than the best one.

Sound familiar? Think about the last day you spent a day shopping. You may not have been working on the national budget, but you were making choices all day. Were you exhausted? Did you make any purchases at the end of the day that you wouldn’t have made at the beginning?

Decision fatigue may be unavoidable, but there are things we can do to help ourselves out:

1. Schedule important meetings and workouts at the beginning of the day.
2. Don't schedule meetings back-to-back.
3. Create habits. When something is a habit, we don’t have to make a decision about it. Habits spare our mental energy. For example, every time you drive to your office/school you take the same route —you don’t decide what streets to turn on as you go. Each morning when your alarm goes off, you go to the bathroom & brush your teeth. We are already doing things that help save our cognitive budget. Think about what other things you can make habits. Exercise is always a good one! Don’t deicide day-by-day if you’ll workout & what you’ll do. Make a schedule and follow it—don't think about it, just do it. Spare your brainpower :)
4. If you do wind up having to make important decisions or motivate yourself later in the day, keep in mind that decision fatigue may be affecting you. 

Make better decisions by keeping the above in mind, focusing on what you need to do, and remembering why you’re doing it.

How Are Your New Year's Resolutions Going?

We're seven weeks into 2015. If you resolved to take steps to improve your health and fitness, you should being seeing results by now. It's been long enough to see body composition changes and to be feeling better & more energized.

If you've been consistently following a food &/or exercise plan and haven't seen the changes you were hoping for, then it's time to examine what you've been doing.

Did you start and give up?  If you pushed yourself too hard & were overwhelmed, start back slowly. The key is consistency. Get comfortable with lower intensity or less frequent workouts than you started with and work your way back up. If you couldn't stick to the strict diet you started, make small changes, one at a time—focus on drinking half your bodyweight in water for the first week, cut out desserts/soda the next, etc.

Are you pushing yourself enough? Your body needs to be challenged to change. For most people, walking is not going to change your body. If you can talk the whole time you're working out, you're wasting your time. You should be able to run faster &/or farther and lift heavier &/or go for more reps than you did seven weeks ago. Push yourself. Get uncomfortable!

Have you been doing the same thing over and over? Our bodies are efficient machines. They adapt and perform more efficiently the more we do something. This is great for perfecting a skill, but a challenge when trying to lose weight (more efficient = uses less energy = burns less calories) or get stronger. You need to mix it up! Take a new class; add more weight / reps / sets and different exercises to your strength program; use a different cardio machine; switch up the split times for your intervals.

Don't feel defeated if you didn't get off to a strong start. Make changes NOW. There's still plenty of time to achieve (& surpass!) your goals this year :)

We're All Role Models

We talk about whether certain athletes, actors, & singers are good or bad role models for our children. But, what about us? 

Are you: happy, exercising, eating well, getting enough sleep, spending quality time with family & friends, pursuing your passions, treating others with respect & love, taking steps to better yourself, encouraging others?

Or, are you: stressed, distracted, not taking care of your body & health, working late, missing family-time & plans with friends, gossiping, criticizing, spending hours watching tv or online? 

Do you want your children copying your behavior?

We are ALL role models. No one's perfect, but we can still be great role models by being conscious of the effects of ALL of our actions, and taking care of ourselves & those around us smile emoticon

Are You One of "Those People Who Don't Like to Exercise"?

I've been encouraging my mother to workout for years.  She once said to me, "Claire, I'm one of those  people who just doesn't like to exercise".  I'm pretty sure she thinks she's in the minority. I'm also pretty sure MOST people—probably 95% of people?—don't like to exercise. Some dread it; some won't even consider it.

I don't always like to exercise.  In fact, I just finished a workout that I HATED almost every minute of. (I'm actually still lying on the floor recovering, no joke—that's what got me thinking about this.) But, I LOVE the way working out makes me feel.

Exercising relieves stress and makes me feel: strong, fit, healthy, accomplished, and good about myself. I can't think of anything else that can do all of those things. And, you can do it for free! You can do it at home, with just your bodyweight, for even a short amount of time, and reap the rewards.

With all the benefits exercise provides, it should be a part of everyone's life. I encourage you to try to find exercise you enjoy. Think beyond the treadmill. Maybe it's a sport, group class, dance, or outdoor activity?

If you're having trouble thinking of something you'll "enjoy", just pick something that you're open to doing.  I often say, "no one ever regrets working out when they're done." The hardest part is often motivating yourself to start. Focus on how you're going to feel once you do it. Keep that focus to motivate you. Then, enjoy how you feel when you're done! Who knows, you may even grow to like it :)

Winter Warm Ups

A dynamic warm up is important. It prepares your body for the workout you're about to do by increasing your heart rate, respiratory rate, and tissue temperature. Among other things, this serves to increase blood flow to your muscles and your cardiorespiratory system's capacity to perform work.

During the cold weather some of us are experiencing now, it is even more important to warm up before your workout. We're cold and our muscles are tight!

Full body exercises will do a great job of getting you warmed up. Try these...
(If you're a beginner, you can also use this as your whole workout by doing a few sets.)

Do the following exercises for 30 seconds each:
1) Jumping Jacks
2) High Knees with Punches
3) Alternating Side Lunges with High Elbows Driving Back
4) Dynamic Lunges with Rotation
5) Straight Leg Front Kicks with Punches
6) Squat to Alternating Knee Raise
7) Jumping Jacks with Uppercuts
8) Full body Extension

Now that you're warmed up, have a great workout!