"Keep it Going"

smartpassiveincome.com

It could happen to the best of us. The holidays arrive, the parties begin. And before you know it, your priorities start to shift. Suddenly, it seems so much more important to meet up with your girlfriends for an indulgent lunch than to haul your butt to the gym. Or better yet, it’s bang in the middle of the year with no reasons for celebrations whatsoever. You have been through a plethora of different kinds of exercises since the year began. Yet, after just two weeks of that hip-hop aerobics class, you literally find yourself making any excuse not to make it (my desk needs to be re-arranged??!).


News Flash! Working out only works when you make it a permanent part of your life. Don’t freak out. I am not saying you need to live in your gym clothes and exercise eight hours a day. What I am saying if you are looking to stop being a workout quitter (start,stop,start,stop – you get the picture), you need to find a way to make exercise a part of your normal life.



Cut out the pity fest - First things first, you need to stop playing the victim. “I’m already so fat, so what’s the point?” “I’ll never be skinny like those salad-eating waifs, so let me just drown my anger in a bowl of ice-cream instead! If you want things to change, you can’t keep waiting around for some miracle. It’s up to you to make it happen. So get your hand out of that bag of chips, get off the sofa, and do something about it.



Wake up to reality - Figure out what will really work for you. Which means take a look at your life, your job, your schedule, and think about what kind of work out would truly suit your current life. That way, you can find a way to incorporate your workout times into your life, rather than trying to change your entire life around to make some 6pm class on the other end of town!



Enjoy what you do – Personally, i think this is the golden ticket girls and boys. Discover what you love. Trust me, it’s out there. Something that makes your blood pump, your heart race, and always puts a big, fat smile on your face.



Make it stick – Once you have found that special something (think running, swimming, yoga, cycling, kickboxing, dancing, basketball, soccer, the list is endless!) hold onto it with your life. Realize that this is something that adds to the quality of your life. And stay with it. The rest is easy... :)

"The Power of Three"

blog.kir.com

Find your perfect blend of diet, exercise, and lifestyle!

Managing your weight in a healthy way is more complicated than it looks. It comprises of a balanced mix of three elements: diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices. And while some people like to pick just one of these elements and focus on it to get healthy, that never really works. Just focusing on diet without doing any exercise or resting may well give you results when it comes to weight loss, but this is rarely sustainable. More often than not, the minute the diet is over, the weight comes back.


Then there are those who like to concentrate on just intense working out. While that may result in burning calories and building some muscle, it’s really a waste of time if those gymaholics are chomping down cheeseburgers and pizzas right after their workouts. Even those who try to live a clean lifestyle cutting out the alcohol and late nights are not really gaining any health benefits if they are leading a sedentary lifestyle with no restrictions on diet at all.

When it comes to getting it right it is vitally important to remember that it’s the whole package that matters. That means you need to think about all three aspects of your life when you want to get the best results. For instance eating right is not simply about going on a binge diet every few months during which time you starve yourself in order to fit into that killer dress. Instead, one needs to evaluate the way we make our food choices on a daily basis. Homemade meals versus those meals eaten out, the kind of preparation we use to cook our foods (frying, steaming, raw), and even the mix of grains, meats, fruits, vegetables, and sugars we consume. Looking at food through this multi-angled lens then allows you to be more aware of what and how you are eating.

In the same way, as long as exercise is a “chore” or something you dread, it will never be a permanent part of your life. For that to happen, you need to figure out some physical activity that you truly enjoy doing. Dancing, swimming, running, yoga, soccer, weights, pilates, kickboxing, squash, the list of choices is limitless. Just find what you love, and do it. The calorie burning, muscle power, and strengthening will all follow naturally.

Finally, the pyramid of three gets perfected once you are able to balance your lifestyle choices to complement the exercise and diet you like.