The Model Body Fantasy!

Many of us have a passion for the things that we would like to do or to create.  This passion fills us with joy but we sit in our living room thinking that will never happen. Who would want to pay me or finance me?

Many people share their health dreams with me, with friends, with co-workers, with family and some just keep the dream to themselves.  And you know, if we don’t act on these health dreams or passions we will go to our death bed with many regrets and wish I would’ve…….

How many of us wish for these health dreams and hope that one day we will just wake up and be in the body you wish for? How many of us wish we could just play with children with out getting out breath? How many of us want to go walk in the park or woods but are afraid you won’t make it back to your car? How many of us avoid physical activities that we are invited to because you are afraid of slowing down the group? Well, you can sit there worrying or you can get up and do something about it!

Start experimenting with an open mind. Try a Yoga class at a local studio. Try a couple (or five) gyms in your area. Talk with various personal trainers or Pilates Instructors. Join a couple of sport groups at your local YMCA. Look, not all gyms, studios or fitness professionals are made the same. We don’t all have similar philosophies either and we all have different specialties.  You won’t know what will work for you until you pick up the phone, drag yourself to the location or class and do it.

I understand that not all clients are right for me. My philosophies are different because I don’t believe what’s out there is working.  Take a look around.  Do you think its working? I teach self-efficacy and don’t believe in beating up or punishing my clients into good health or a smaller size. Sometimes I get a client that wants that (and yes I could do it for them) but it takes a lot out of me and I know they won’t be successful in the long run. I want my clients to be with me for twenty one months (this is how long it takes to change a lifestyle) and then I want them to only come to me because they want to, not because they need me any more. I want to fill their tool box and teach them self-care tools so that they don’t need me.

Judy Hudson said this “Your body prior to Pilates is like a clump of clay. Pilates sculpts your entire form one Pilates execution at a time. Like a true artist you are never done with your art. You refine, fix, contemplate, experience set backs and move on. Your workout is always a work in progress.” Let’s face it! You may not even know what Pilates is (or given it an honest try) so how do you not know that it will inspire you and change your life. Again, Pilates instructors are not all made the same.  Some are actually teaching it and some are promising to try to teach it.

Once you awaken your body to movement, to the muscle control, to the lengthening of your spine, to connecting your mind and body, you have a new-found awareness of movement throughout your life. You will find strength and energy you didn’t even think was possible.

There is magic in the movement and movement done well is a feast for the eyes to watch.  Sloppy, strained, constricted movement is not pretty to watch and can hurt you. Everyone deserves (and should start with) some private sessions instead of muscling your way through sloppy calisthenics on your own. Just like you wouldn’t think of designing a bridge, a car or a submarine, the human body is no exception.  You need a good design of movement and you need a professional to help you accomplished what that might look like for you. We all have a starting point.  Like the three previous examples, there is an idea in your head of where to start and what the end result might look like.  We all need help with the middle.

I’m not a therapist I can’t help you figure our your fear or your hang up, but I can tell you it is time to get over it and get moving!

Things are Looking Up!

With last year being my twentieth class reunion I’ve learned a couple of things. First off, they always hold them on Thanksgiving weekend which never works for me to attend. I wish they held it during the summer when I could attend. But, thanks to the invention of social media I’ve been able to connect with some old classmates and I’m enjoying learning about their lives. One of my classmates lives in Alaska. I love going to his page and seeing the beauty of the landscape (going to Alaska is a dream of mine). He titled one picture “Things are looking up.” and the camera angle was as if you were lying down at the bottom of the trees and took the picture facing up to the sky. These trees had to be old because they went for what seemed like miles. They were graceful, majestic and wise.

“If you look up, there are no limits.” –Japanese Proverb

A lot of people fail at exercise because they don’t do the “thinking part” to exercise. They just rush right out to the action stage. However, there is a big thinking part to living a healthy lifestyle. You have to have some goals and an action plan to get to your goals. You have to know at what stage of change you are at. You need to know what obstacles might get in your way and plan for them to get in your way. You need to have a strong internal motivator or connection with the real you so that when things get tough you hang in there.

So, I met this guy this week that came into the studio and said “Kim I have to get healthy.”

I said “Great! Have you thought about what it might take to reach your goals? How it might help you and how it might hurt you?”

He said “No! But I want to live and my doctor said I need to start exercising and so the journey has begun.” 

You need to think about what outcome you want? How are you going to get there? What the process might look like? What are you really willing to do, rearrange, sacrifice to get you started on the journey? One lady shared with me that she was going to have to sacrifice eating out at McDonald’s every day in order to afford my services and that she’d have to put in the effort of planning and packing meals in order to do this. In my studio and through my global services that I offer, everyone always gets one free session; it’s just the way I do business. I do this because you need to try on that service to see what it feels like so that you can start believing that it’s possible to get healthy and that you are worth the effort. Not to mention… you may be surprised that with little effort you can actually afford services such as a fitness coach/ personal trainer, Pilates Apparatus classes, Yoga, etc. Don’t let your limiting beliefs slow you down!

I have written a free eBook which you can find at this link http://www.mindbodybalance.com/archive/Plan%20for%20Results%20Ebook.pdf  that goes into more detail of how to plan for success not failure. I hope that it inspires you to become a goal making machine and you start getting healthy today! You will be surprised at how much sooner you reach your ideal self when you have something specific to shoot for!

Are You Wishing or Doing?

I’ve discovered just recently that those clients that call up and say “Well, I can work out at 6 p.m. on Tuesday or 5 a.m. on Wednesday only” just aren’t ready to do what it takes to get healthy. I’ve learned that when I meet their narrow demand that they are surprised, plug along for a few sessions and then develop excuse after excuse until they have exhausted all of them. At that point, we either do some “thinking” work or we part ways and they are encouraged to come back when they are truly ready. Clients are always surprised that I don’t take everyone as a client or that I fire them if they don’t make an honest effort to keep consistency in their program. I don’t do this because I’m perfect or snobby; I do this because it doesn’t do either of us any good to waste each others time or their money if they aren’t ready. Deciding to become healthy is like deciding to go to AA.  You just aren’t ready until you (and only you) are ready to make that change. Your doctor, work schedule, personal trainer, slimming club etc. can’t do the work for you.  Ultimately it comes down to you doing the hard work with guidance and support from others.

Before this life as fitness professional I was a successful manger. With that success came some compromises, one of which was my health. I remember the first day that I was on my way to the gym to meet my personal trainer. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, so she suggested a run before my weight routine. On the way back from my grueling run, I said “I thought I’d only have to do this for 6 months but I’m going to have to do this for the rest of my life, aren’t I?” She smiled back and said “Yep!” Somehow, that task seemed overwhelming. I wasn’t prepared for heroic efforts daily, weekly, monthly, annually. So, I looked for a way that I could sustain a healthy lifestyle forever. For me it was accountability, quality of life and self-efficacy development. Yes, I still struggle. Yes, I still need a coach to make me see that I’m forgetting myself. But, I’m successful because slow and steady wins the race every time!

Are you sitting in your office chair wishing you were healthy? Are you changing your negative thinking to positive thinking by saying your affirmations but then not acting on them? Remember, you just can’t pull weight loss out of the air or find it in a magic pill. Use an affirmation to build positive energy and self esteem so that you feel as though you can start moving.  Create repetition with your workouts both physically and emotionally. The act of “doing movement” along with positive beliefs creates the magic in the movement!

Now I know you’re thinking “Well Sally doesn’t have to do anything and she’s beautiful, strong, thin, etc.” Well great for Sally! Call her up and ask her to be honest about her efforts because I’d love to know what she is really doing and how long it lasts for her.

It is time that you worried about you and only you and your self care. Are you really exercising consistently? Are you sitting down to a mindful meal that is balanced between carbs, protein and fat? Or are you wishing for something that will never come?

“If people only knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” — Michalangelo

Building Self Efficacy for your Fitness Goals is in the Phone!

I believe that my clients are intelligent and that with the World Wide Web they have a pretty good base of knowledge on what they need to do to get healthy. However, I believe the gap in actually accomplishing these goals starts with knowing how to apply this vast world of information to their lives. This is why I believe in Fitness Coaching.  I know you are wondering, “How do I get fit over the phone?”  It sounds a bit gimmicky, right?

Well, have you ever heard of a business coach or a life coach? It is very similar to this; only we are talking about fitness and well-being goals. We develop a personal health plan for you (one that fits your individual life) and helps you overcome your obstacles. The number one reason people are not successful with exercise is because they quit.  This system is designed to keep you motivated and moving, even when your life is busy. The secret is accountability (which most personal trainers don’t share with you).  By holding you accountable to someone other than yourself, the likelihood of sticking to your exercise program increases by over 2200% (yes, that’s really two thousand two hundred percent). Lack of motivation and commitment are the two main reasons why people drop out of an exercise program.

Stanford University has been studying this concept for over 24 years. If you’d like to learn more… Google “Telephone-Assisted Counseling for Physical Activity Cynthia M. Castro and Abby C. King” (Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, vol. 30(2), pp. 64-68, 2002).

Having a coach that holds you accountable to your goals is like gold. Your coach will guide you so that you don’t get distracted with life as easily. When you are healthy and fit you are energized, ready to lead life with vigor, you pay attention to your self-care. Currently, businesses are looking for ways to cut costs.  So do your part in keeping health care costs down. Start a conversation with your boss about low cost and no cost programs that can help inspire your co-workers to take better self-care steps. Who knows, you may just get healthy and secure your job all at once.

It is also not our doctor’s or healthcare provider’s responsibility to foot the bill to make us well. We need to be responsible for our own body and subsequent health. Did you know that 75% of diseases are preventable and are directly related to the lifestyle choices that we make? Here is a statistic that might be affecting your bottom line right now: obesity is associated with a 36% increase in healthcare spending (more than smoking or drinking). Private U.S. companies report that obesity costs them an estimated $45 billion annually in medical expenditures and work loss (Barrington & Rosen 2008).

Here is a link to a free e-book that I wrote.  Share it with the management at your place of employment:

http://www.mindbodybalance.com/archive/Healthy%20Business%20Next%20Exit%20Please.pdf

I teach my clients self-efficacy because we need to understand that our health is a personal responsibility and healthcare is there to help us in prevention and treatment of disease that we can’t prevent.

Try this affirmation on for size:

I keep a weekly phone call with my fitness coach because it improves my quality of health. My friends, family and co-workers are ringing my phone off the hook just to learn my secret to success.

Today is a Big Movement Day!

Movement can be physical movement and it can be psychological movement. Movement comes in many different forms. The first step is to think positive thoughts. These positive thoughts will help you lead a healthy life all around. But it isn’t enough to just sit there and think or dream of this healthy life.  You’ve got to take some action in order to get the job done.

“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” –Vance Havener

 

Okay, I love this quote. Have you ever started a workout video, decided “This is work.” and sat back down on the couch to watch the rest of it… snacking and thinking “Wow! That is hard.  Look at them work.  Well, good for them.” Or move that stationary bike or total gym into the house just for it to be a clothes rack or plant stand?  What about… Okay, you’ve gotten yourself to the gym parking lot and now you’re sitting there and fighting with yourself about walking in.  So you finally win the argument to walk in and then you are on the equipment for five minutes and decide you are getting off because you’ve had enough. Be honest.  You know you’ve experienced these scenarios or something similar. Oh! What about this one?  You exercise faithfully everyday, beating yourself up to the point that you can barely walk to your car because your muscles are so fatigued and you do this because you’re running away from facing a big emotion instead.

Look, you are going to try a lot of different steps to a healthy lifestyle.  Some of those items you try aren’t going to work. For example, you might get those new running shoes to take up running and find out you just die, you may start a walking program with some friends to find out that there has been a mutiny and they’ve left you at the park to go to lunch, you might be in the living room exercising to find that the little pirates of the home have commandeered the TV for video games. The point is that life happens and it isn’t a reason to stop all healthy lifestyle behaviors. Once you get into the habit of doing these healthy habits on a daily basis, even if you think some of them won’t be successful, you still need to build your confidence and be optimistic because every little bit does make a difference in your total well being. Tony Robbins in his book Awaken the Giant Within calls this “massive, positive, constructive action on a daily bases” You have to be ready to try different behaviors, plan to make mistakes, to create awareness without judgment and to seek the help that you need.  Once you are prepared you will find great success in your efforts!

“Health is a blessing that money cannot buy.” Izaak Walton

“Of all the knowledge, the one most worth having is knowledge about health! The first requisite of a good life is to be a healthy person.” –Herbert Spencer

Decide today that you’ve been needing to do more UP UNTIL NOW and start to change your (and your family’s) health!

Gratitude, Kindness, Happiness Lead to a Healthy Life

“Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor…let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile and kindness in your warm greeting.” — Mother Teresa

 

Our body was made to move. It wasn’t made to sit in front of a computer for hours on end or sit in front of the TV watching shows and playing games, and it certainly wasn’t made to sit in a car driving through a drive-through having food passed out through a window for us to sit there and eat it. (Really, if the food comes through a window is it really food?) We’ve become so lazy that we can’t even walk in for the instant gratification of food delivered to us in seconds across the counter. Stop and think about our behaviors a minute.  It is kind of funny when you think about it.

When you first start movement, start small. Consider just walking for 5-10 minutes after every meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and once you’ve mastered this then add in a 15-20 minute walk most days of the week.  As you take this walk, smile and be thankful that you’ve been given the gift to be mobile. Happiness is catchy! A gift of a smile to a loved one or stranger brings a smile to their face and day; and it didn’t cost you anything.  Instead, you are creating a link with yourself and others as a circle of abundance.

I thank God everyday for the abundant gifts he provides for me. He made us so that we could live an important plan of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual activity. If you can get the physical thing working, then the rest (mental, emotional and spiritual) will follow through. You only get one body, so feed it with healthy energizing food vs. junky, sluggish food. I say ALL FOODS FIT but there is a difference in the quality of your food so pay attention. Just as a little housekeeping goes a long way… well, so does a little movement. A little movement in your life goes a very long way.  A simple 10 minute walk after meals can help your body process the glucose in your system. Just a little weight loss of 5-10 pounds can significantly impact your blood panels.

This idea of health doesn’t have to be complicated if we don’t make it complicated.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease” –Thomas Edison

A wise Turkish saying is: “No matter how far you’ve gone down a wrong road, turn back and get on the right road!”

It isn’t too late to lead a healthy lifestyle.  You just need to find the right resources to help you along the journey.

Put Fear Behind YOU and Drive Health and Prosperity YOUR Way!

What we do today will set us steps apart from others that led a sedentary lifestyle today and miles apart in the years to come. We have a choice. There are two sides to a coin. We can choose; “FEAR”, negative attitude and thoughts, or “FUTURE/ HOPE”, positive attitude and thoughts. We have the ability to choose. What do you choose? My motto lately has been to “Overcome Fear, Choose Hope and Discover Personal Victory for my health, even if it is by the skin of my teeth!”

I know you’ve heard someone say “Look, just change your thinking, change your behavior or get some backbone.” Right? Well, the equation to staying healthy is simple but actually living it is difficult. So, you might be thinking “There is no hope for me. I’m past the point of return.” Or, “These things you’ve been suggesting in this blog don’t work for me.” I have a question for you: ARE YOU DOING THEM? Consistently? Everyday?

Look, I know from personal experience and through my clients that you probably aren’t and that you are filling your head with negative, self sabotaging, limiting beliefs. Do you clench at the fact that you are going to have to put that dress or suit on that made its way back to the far reaches of the closet? Do you have anxiety attacks because you have to go clothes shopping for a special event and you don’t know what size you’ll be in? I know those mirrors at the department store don’t seem to work like the mirrors at home right J Do you get all  envious at co workers, friends and family when they are talking about their personal health success, the pounds they lost, the energy they have, their latest blood work was great, etc. Well, you need to start reprogramming yourself. Put a different record on in your head.

It is time to dream and build your best self based on your values and principals. Forget about the past, forget about the future.  Neither exists and we have no control over them.  One has already happened and the other hasn’t happened yet. Each morning, when you wake up, focus on the now, that day. Ask yourself, “What are five steps I could take today, contributions, achievements, and results?” Focus on what you can do for that 24 hour period. In doing this, you will be creating a bright future. Look for:

• Opportunities to act on
• Value you can create
• Relationships you can build
• Dream and build your “best self” based on your values and principles
• Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude

 

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

 

–New York Times Writer Melodie Beattie

 Identify what fears are stopping you from moving forward, chose hope and focus on the now. Affirmations are a very powerful tool. They help us stop that negative mind chatter and to stay positive and focused. Sometimes, when we first make an affirmation, it makes no sense to us. An Affirmation is a positive statement affirming or asserting something to manifest. Think about the “Law of Attraction.” You get what you think about.  Your thoughts determine your destiny. If you can dream it, it honors your values, and you develop an action plan.  You can put on a “new record” and conquer success. My affirmations work for me whether I believe they do or not.

I Love To Get Healthy!

I’m amazed at how people talk and act when I’m in social settings. For one, whenever someone meets me at a networking event or something they immediately stop eating or start apologizing for eating certain food groups. Believe me!  If I want a dessert, I’m going to get one and not feel guilty about it. Especially since my motto is “All Foods Fit!”

Let’s think about this.  How much did you learn in school about nutrition and movement? What did you hear adults saying about nutrition and movement? What about your parents? These things that you heard, studied and read formed your opinion or perception about nutrition and movement.  How many of us have heard “No. You’ll spoil your appetite.”, “Your father will be home at 7 p.m. We’ll eat dinner then.” “There are children starving in Africa.  Clean your plate.” “You’re young.  Sit down and rest, you’ll have plenty of time to move later.” “Eat all the junk you want while your young.” The list goes on and on right!

What are you saying to yourself? How are you speaking to yourself? Are you saying “I hate my body, look at my face, I am fat.”?  When was the last time you said “I am beautiful and wonderful and my body just gets better as the days go by.”?  Remember.  If you think you are fat in your mind or that you’ll fail at being healthy, then, you know what?  Your mind will always win. You’ve got to make a choice to concentrate on the positive. “With every new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

 ~Eleanor Roosevelt

 

FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.  Jackie Brandt puts it beautifully “Our thinking naturally moves us in the direction of our goals. If we do not consciously choose goals, then our thinking usually moves us in the direction of our fears. The one thing bigger than fear is intention or goal, we have now taken any fear that we might naturally drift toward and we have  replaced it with something far more powerful.” What is your choice today? Is it to be fearful that you will fail at your weight loss attempts once again? Or is it that you will make an intention to collect information and act on it; changing your lifestyle? For example, you could call a fitness coach or personal trainer and gather information on what steps you should take to best reach your goal. You could find out what a healthy, realistic time span would be to reach those goals (6 months, 12 months or 21 months etc.). You shouldn’t have to go to heroic efforts of punishing your body into a healthy lifestyle to make a change. Small steps go a long way, just like a little house keeping goes a long way. “You alone decide whether to reach a dead end or live a healthy lifestyle for a long, healthy, happy, active life.” ~Paul Bragg  So take all those excuses and use these three little words “UP UNTIL NOW!”  “I can’t lose weight… Up Until Now!”  “I don’t have time to eat healthy… Up Until Now!”  You get the picture. Begin NOW!

Change your belief system about nutrition, health and movement and you’ll change your experience with nutrition, health and movement! I inspire people to movement!

Build Your Intention and Find Success

Have you ever been near someone and was amazed at their positive winning attitude about life? I bet you sat there thinking, Wow!  If only I had a thimble full of their energy.” Then, as time carried you on with this person, you probably started feeling inadequate about your own accomplishments and dismissed this person as annoying and over the top.

Is your intention and commitment not strong enough to prioritize your health both emotional and physically.  “Perfect health is above gold; a sound body before riches.”

 –Solomon

 

We need to understand that change has different stages and the first thing you need to do is find out why you won’t, or can’t, change to a healthy lifestyle. Is it because you need more information on the pros to making the change? Is it because you need more information to overcome your cons? Maybe you don’t think you have a problem that needs to change! Possibly you are just overwhelmed and feel like making change isn’t even an achievable task.

Well, the first step is to start doing some thinking. Yes, there is a thinking part to changing a lifestyle. You need to get in touch with and connect with your intrinsic motivator. Finding this intrinsic motivator will help you shift your ambivalence to commitment.

Take some time to think about how an exercise program or eating mindful meals will help you or hurt you in a sense of taking up your time, money and the obstacles in your path.  Make a list of pros and cons that might help you sort through your thinking and help you determine when to make the change if it is not right now! Sign up for Mind/ Body: Balance’s newsletter “Balancing Act” at www.mindbodybalance.com so that you can obtain information about a healthy lifestyle while you go through this process. Then, when something speaks to you, dig deeper.

Be an observer of those around you. Do you know someone who has declared (out loud) their success in adapting a healthy lifestyle? Observe how they do it, their determination, confidence, their ability to succeed and most importantly their attitude toward this healthy lifestyle! Now, don’t run right out and try to do their routine and think you can maintain it. They’ve been practicing this behavior for some time. Start small and build on that step by putting one step in front of the other.  Before you know it, you will have built a strong foundation on which to build your healthy lifestyle. Set yourself up for success! For example, start with just a 10 minute walk after lunch, then start doing a 10 minute walk after lunch and dinner, then start doing a 10 minute walk after every meal. Build consistence with these steps before moving on.

Visualize yourself being successful at each step before you actually set out to do it. Don’t focus on your fear of failure. Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real.  Chellie Campbell said “ Confidence sells –Fear Repels.” You are a winner, You will win and win big when you tackle your health and you deserve to have quality of health. Remember the three Rs: Respect yourself, Respect others, Responsible Living Today, tomorrow and always!

“Nothing transforms a person faster than changing from a negative to a positive attitude.” –Paul C. Bragg.  You have the ability to alter your life by choosing to change your attitude!

Change Your Attitude to a Winning Attitude!

“Sad facts: many people go throughout life, committing partial suicide –destroying their health, skin, heart, youth, beauty, talents, energies and creative qualities. Indeed, to learn how to be good to oneself is often more difficult than to learn how to be good to others.”  –Paul C. Bragg

A thought conceived over and over and over again becomes belief. Our thoughts then transmit or transfer a feeling in our body. This feeling then neurologically leads to a behavior. And the behavior leads to a result. Often times we’ve learned to get rid of a feeling by replacing it with food. Or, our thought of fear is bigger than reality which then leads us to the results we feel and see in our life. 87% of what we think about is made up, so why make our thoughts negative and self-destructing. If we can choose our thoughts, why not make them positive?  Let’s just go for the big pay off! The human brain fights everyday to be right. Your brain will fight to come up with ways to be right even if it’s made up.

Say you go into your favorite restaurant and you don’t know what you want to eat.  The server is standing there patiently waiting to take your order. Are you ordering a veggie omelet, side of fruit and some whole grain toast or are you ordering bacon, hash, eggs, pancakes and juice? Are you ordering shame, guilt, low self esteem, I’m worthless? Or are you ordering healthy, pride, and honor in your choice.

There is this thing called universal law or law of attraction. What you put your energy into you will receive. If you aren’t getting exactly what you want maybe you need to look at your thoughts. Maybe you need to change what you are ordering.

When a negative self defeating limiting belief thought pops up into your mind ask yourself these questions:

• “How does this thought honor you?
• What path does this honor?
• What payoff do you get?”

For example:

“I don’t see any evidence of physical problems, so my doctor must be wrong. The way I eat is not harmful to me.” Instead we could think: “I know mindless eating is not good for my body.  Although I was uncomfortable when my doctor pointed this out, I realize the impact unhealthy eating can have over the long run and I am aware of the consequences.”

“A strong body and a bright, happy or serene countenance can only result from the fine admittance of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity into the mind.”— James Allen

Today serve up exactly what you want!