For some reason I remembered the other about how sweat used to drop down my elbows every time I wore a t-shirt when I ran...weirdest thing, which got me to thinking about the 5 things on one told me about starting the healthy life.
1. A lot of people complain about sweat. I've actually had people tell me the reason why the avoid working out is because they don't like to get sweaty.
I LOVE sweating. It's weird. But I feel purged after a sweaty workout. My mind is always clearer and my whole body hums with peace.
That's not every person though. Some people use less sweaty workouts to stay in shape, which is great! The unfortunate thing is as much as I love sweating...it isn't always pretty. When I first started working out, sweat would drip down my arms from...God knows where and drip off my elbows. How weird is that?
And sometimes...this happens...luckily I wear predominately black pants while exercising, but be warned...grey will leave you with sweat stains.
'Signaling batman, anyone?'
2. You have to train your brain. Exercise your mind as well. I'll get into the science of exercising your mind in a later post, but for today, it's about tricking your mind. You have to be smarter then yourself sometimes. It's true. At night I will get ready, while I'm cooking dinner, for the next day. Last night I made lunches for the next two days. I have a specific place I put my vitamins so I know that I've taken them.
You even have to trick your brain into thinking exercise is not as long as it really is. As in while I'm running or starting to train I have to tell myself "I'm running 3.11 miles today. So at 1.5 I'm half way. That's not bad." (The math works, don't think about it) Or when I was training for my first half. I would tell myself around mile 3, "I'm half way to half way." Then on the back end "I'm half way done with half way!"
Or tonight I'm suppose to exercise for 30minutes, but if I warm up and cool down then it's really only like a 20 minute workout. Retraining your brain will go a long way towards helping you stay motivated.
3. Women's Health Mag has a great article 10 Things No One Tells You About Transforming Your Body. They listed number 7 as 'The Slower you begin, The faster the results'
It took me FOREVER to lose 80lbs. But in 6-7 years, I've kept most of it off. I slid back the last few months to gain around 10lb + or - a few, but even as I said the other day, overall in 2 years...I've only gained 6. In the article they bring up an amazing point about going to hard to fast and thinking your better then where you actually are. While you need confidence, you also need to know where you're at. I'm reigning in on my sugars and my carbs (Due to my PCOS) but knowing what it takes to get there, is time and patience goes a long way towards helping me stay focused on my goal.
4. Exercise is great but diet is important. Until I changed my diet, the weight didn't come off as easily. I walked my first race in September 2010, in 2013 I radically changed my diet. The picture above is a 2 year difference, before and after the diet change.
5. The gym is actually not that scary. Sure some people are meat heads, some people are runners, others are yogi's but 90% of the time no one is judging you. They are actually judging themselves. 'Why didn't I do this sooner? Why can't I be as muscly as that guy? I bet my butt wiggles when I walk., Everyone can see the wiggle in my butt, I'm sure of it.'
The gym is for getting healthy and staying healthy as much as church is for sinners to find Christ and develop a relationship with him.
Yes healthy people will use the gym. That's how they STAY in shape. That's how they GOT into shape. You are just them, a few months or years ago. Your journey is your journey don't let anyone at the gym OR the gym itself make you feel bad about it.
And most healthy people, are super, crazy encouraging and probably will keep you accountable for coming back!
Check out this awesome post over at Never Fear Failure '10 Things No One Tells You Before You Join a Gym'
Those are my 5 things I wish I had known when I first started my journey towards better health. I may come back later this year and post more...my last piece of advice. Don't be scared to try new things, if weight lifting isn't your thing, no big. If running isn't your thing, try yoga, try aquatics, try walking, try resistant bands. Just do something. Something that you like and will come back to time and time again.
Huffington Post also wrote about this same subject and covers it very well. I recommend giving the article a read.
Until then, thank you for stopping by
Muah!
Blessings,
A
1. A lot of people complain about sweat. I've actually had people tell me the reason why the avoid working out is because they don't like to get sweaty.I LOVE sweating. It's weird. But I feel purged after a sweaty workout. My mind is always clearer and my whole body hums with peace.
That's not every person though. Some people use less sweaty workouts to stay in shape, which is great! The unfortunate thing is as much as I love sweating...it isn't always pretty. When I first started working out, sweat would drip down my arms from...God knows where and drip off my elbows. How weird is that?
And sometimes...this happens...luckily I wear predominately black pants while exercising, but be warned...grey will leave you with sweat stains.
'Signaling batman, anyone?'
2. You have to train your brain. Exercise your mind as well. I'll get into the science of exercising your mind in a later post, but for today, it's about tricking your mind. You have to be smarter then yourself sometimes. It's true. At night I will get ready, while I'm cooking dinner, for the next day. Last night I made lunches for the next two days. I have a specific place I put my vitamins so I know that I've taken them.
You even have to trick your brain into thinking exercise is not as long as it really is. As in while I'm running or starting to train I have to tell myself "I'm running 3.11 miles today. So at 1.5 I'm half way. That's not bad." (The math works, don't think about it) Or when I was training for my first half. I would tell myself around mile 3, "I'm half way to half way." Then on the back end "I'm half way done with half way!"
Or tonight I'm suppose to exercise for 30minutes, but if I warm up and cool down then it's really only like a 20 minute workout. Retraining your brain will go a long way towards helping you stay motivated.
3. Women's Health Mag has a great article 10 Things No One Tells You About Transforming Your Body. They listed number 7 as 'The Slower you begin, The faster the results'
It took me FOREVER to lose 80lbs. But in 6-7 years, I've kept most of it off. I slid back the last few months to gain around 10lb + or - a few, but even as I said the other day, overall in 2 years...I've only gained 6. In the article they bring up an amazing point about going to hard to fast and thinking your better then where you actually are. While you need confidence, you also need to know where you're at. I'm reigning in on my sugars and my carbs (Due to my PCOS) but knowing what it takes to get there, is time and patience goes a long way towards helping me stay focused on my goal.4. Exercise is great but diet is important. Until I changed my diet, the weight didn't come off as easily. I walked my first race in September 2010, in 2013 I radically changed my diet. The picture above is a 2 year difference, before and after the diet change.
5. The gym is actually not that scary. Sure some people are meat heads, some people are runners, others are yogi's but 90% of the time no one is judging you. They are actually judging themselves. 'Why didn't I do this sooner? Why can't I be as muscly as that guy? I bet my butt wiggles when I walk., Everyone can see the wiggle in my butt, I'm sure of it.' The gym is for getting healthy and staying healthy as much as church is for sinners to find Christ and develop a relationship with him.
Yes healthy people will use the gym. That's how they STAY in shape. That's how they GOT into shape. You are just them, a few months or years ago. Your journey is your journey don't let anyone at the gym OR the gym itself make you feel bad about it.
And most healthy people, are super, crazy encouraging and probably will keep you accountable for coming back!
Check out this awesome post over at Never Fear Failure '10 Things No One Tells You Before You Join a Gym'
Those are my 5 things I wish I had known when I first started my journey towards better health. I may come back later this year and post more...my last piece of advice. Don't be scared to try new things, if weight lifting isn't your thing, no big. If running isn't your thing, try yoga, try aquatics, try walking, try resistant bands. Just do something. Something that you like and will come back to time and time again.
Huffington Post also wrote about this same subject and covers it very well. I recommend giving the article a read.
Until then, thank you for stopping by
Muah!
Blessings,
A
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