Baby Steps

1 Corinthians 3:16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
This scripture reminds me that Heavenly Father has given each of us an amazing gift, our physical bodies. We are each responsible to care for our body or temple spiritually, mentally, and physically. Taking care of ourselves physically can increase our capacity to serve others and serve the Lord. It keeps our minds strong and our spirits free from the debilitating effects of depression and addiction. But how do we go about improving our physical bodies?
Start small with a concept I like to call baby steps.
Begin with one change at a time. Little differences can add up to big results. Taking care of yourself doesn’t have to rule or completely alter your lifestyle. By starting small you won't feel completely overwhelmed and give up. Baby steps are the key to making lifelong changes. Instead of losing weight with a crash diet – which always comes back on – or starting an ambitious exercise program and getting injured or burned out, take it slow and change one thing at a time.
One change a month is a great goal. Twenty-one days will form a habit (good or bad). If you stick with a goal for a month you can be certain of making it into a long-term habit and if you concentrate on one goal a month you won't become frustrated and quit, but will instead make a positive change.
For example:
January - make a goal to eat five servings of fruits/veggies a day. Reward yourself with a treat on Saturday night if you keep your goal.
February - outline a plan to lift weights twice a week. Write on your calendar which days and times you're going to strength train or program it into your cell phone (the reminder feature could be very helpful).
March – decide to use only child-sized plates and bowls, it will force you to eat smaller portions.
April - convince your family to go for an after dinner bike ride or walk every weekday. If this is too overwhelming with busy schedules aim for a couple of nights a week.
May - trade white bread for high fiber bread.
Our main goal should be healthy and fit for life not just a desire to lose weight because we have an exotic vacation or a best friend's wedding coming up. So go write on your calendar what your next month’s goal is going to be. I write my monthly goals on my desk calendar then I’m reminded of them many times a day. My latest goal - walking at least 20,000 steps a day. It's a tough one but I'm amazed how those steps add up when pacing with a baby, dancing with my preschooler, or going on bike rides with my older boys (we put the pedometer on our shoe so it counts rotations, hope that's not cheating!).
The difference between a normal weight person and an overweight person is a hundred calories a day. An extra hundred calories a day adds up to ten pounds of weight gain in one year. Can you believe that? A hundred calories is half a Twix bar.
It's amazing how seemingly insignificant choices (baby steps) can make a big difference in our health. The choices you make today not only affect you but your family now and in the future. Because my son has a blood disorder the doctors have instructed me to eat extra healthy for him. Now that's amazing motivation. If you're struggling think about how your choices will affect your family, it makes it a lot easier to choose wisely.
Change your diet slowly and the healthy food will become tastier to you than the junk. I still haven't given up a few chocolate splurges each week (I don’t believe any woman should!), but I can hardly stand greasy food anymore. It takes time to change your diet and exercise habits. Decide on one area and do it today. I promise you will like the long-term results.

Positive Thoughts

Yesterday, the yoga instructor challenged each of us to write something positive about ourselves every day this week and stick it on our fridge or mirror.
Why is that tougher than it should be?
Here's my thought for yesterday - I'm a very loving mom. I think my boys are wonderful and I enjoy being a Mom more than I thought possible.
Today I'm struggling. I finally decided to go with - I'm a service-oriented person, I usually put other's needs before mine and look for ways to help.

What about you? Care to share something positive about yourself? It can be physical, mental, intellectual, spiritual. I'd love to hear what you love about you!

Diets

Have you ever been on a diet?
I constantly preach against fad diets, but I'm as guilty of anyone of "going on a diet" when I need to lose a few pounds. The sad thing about diets (besides how miserable they are) is that 95% of people put the weight they lose back on. Not great odds. It's just too hard to maintain a diet and it also messes with your metabolism. Best just to stick with good old healthy eating and effective exercise to stay at a good weight for life.
How about you? What's the craziest diet you've been on? When you've lost weight dieting have you kept it off?

Posture

Good posture not only helps you look ten pounds lighter it's also been proven to make you more confident and successful. I've noticed how poor my posture is lately, holding cute baby all day and never standing up straight. A few tips to help:
Strengthen the upper back with seated rows, bent-over rows, and reverse flies
Stretch the chest - I like putting both hands on a door frame and then leaning through the door with the chest
Push your tongue against the spot where the roof of your mouth and the back of your upper teeth meet, it will automatically straighten you up
Tilt your pelvis and tuck in those abs - this will also help train your abs to stay flat, works better than crunches and is much easier (if I can just remember)

Starting Over

Don't you love crisp autumn air? There's a feeling of starting fresh, becoming organized, finishing up those projects it was too hot to do all summer, eating homegrown produce, getting on a schedule, and hopefully fitting an exercise routine into that schedule.

As most of you know I had a baby last month. Being on a schedule is still a bit out of reach for me, but once I hit that six week postpartum mark it's time to at least attempt some semblance of organization, revisit my former life and hopefully someday fit in those old jeans (it is horrid to still be wearing maternity clothes after the baby is born).

But getting back into an exercise routine is not easy. I've been shocked by how painful it is. When you're in shape and exercise vigorously it hurts but it's a productive, feel-good kind of hurt. When you're out of shape and/or recovering from injury or pregnancy this exercise-induced hurt is a miserable, I want to sit down on the side of the road, have a good cry, then call my husband to come get me kind of hurt. I keep promising myself and I want to promise any of you who are just starting out that it will get easier. Someday it will feel good to push myself again. But how to get to that point?

Motivation - First of all we need the motivation. That part seems easy to me. I'm very motivated to lose the pregnancy weight, to fit into my clothes again, to feel good, to be healthy for myself and my children (most especially my baby who gets all his nutrients from Mom right now). There are plenty of reasons or motivators to get into shape and eat healthy, but if you're like me I'm gungho in the morning but by mid-afternoon I'm justifying why I need some ice cream or dark chocolate (dairy in the ice cream and mono-unsaturated fat in the dark chocolate, how can you turn down health food like that?). In my case the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). So how do we keep that motivation strong in our minds and get through the tough times when exercise hurts or we don't have time to fit it in or we really, really need a slice of chocolate pound cake?

Day by day - take it one day at a time. Every morning I tell myself that this is a new start, a new chance to be healthy. Don't start telling yourself that you'll never eat chocolate again, the depression will overwhelm you and if you're like me you'll go on a chocolate binge. Focus on the healthy choices you're going to make today, worry about tomorrow later.

Promises - I make promises to myself. If I workout four days a week I get to sit down on Friday afternoon and read a good book (if I can talk the boys into it). If I hit my water goal every day I can get a specialty lemonade on my Saturday night date. If I eat five fruits and veggies each day I can have a treat (because if I say absolutely no treats the entire family suffers).

Deals - Another thing that really helps me is to make deals with other people. Promise your friend that you'll meet at the gym or go on a walk each morning, if one of you flakes you have to take your friend to lunch or she has to babysit your toddler for a few hours. Husbands work great for deals. When I hit my "normal" weight my husband has money set aside for me to go shopping for new clothes. (Now if I could just figure out where he hid it. )

Help - Turn to the source who cares about you in all aspects of your life. It's not wrong to pray for help and strength to be healthy. The Lord wants us to take care of ourselves and feel good, doing so means we can serve and love others more.

I hope we can all enjoy starting fresh this beautiful time of year and use some positive motivation to improve our health in some way.

Will this pregnancy ever end?

Sorry, friends. I've been neglectful with my blogging. I'm huge, miserable, and ornery. I've got a week and a half until my due date and we're doing everything to get this baby here. The other night I sat on an exercise ball to try and make the baby descend. When I got off my back seized up and I had to crawl to the bathtub!
But the baby's growing great, I love feeling her (or him) move, and we're thrilled to be almost there.
I hope you're all having a wonderful, healthy summer. Someday soon I'll have some brain power return, be able to write fitness articles, and get excited about being fit again.

Exercise Through the Hard Times

I usually enjoy exercise. I love pushing myself through a hard workout. I love getting sweaty and having a reason to shower. I love knowing that my muscles are strong and I can keep up with my wild boys.

At my current state, I consider vacuuming a challenging cardiovascular exercise. How did I regress from running marathons to absolute slothfulness? I decided I needed another angel in my life and am expecting my fourth baby in August.

There are times in all of our lives that fitness has to take a backseat – sickness of a child, taking care of an elderly parent, overload at work, a new baby. I’m sure you all have a list of your own. The ironic thing is at these times we need exercise more than ever. Why?

• Exercise decreases stress by increasing your health and overall sense of well-being.
• Exercise is meditation in motion – you can forget some stresses as you exercise and often be able to focus better on the problem later. I also find that solutions come to me as I’m out on a run or bike ride.
• Exercise increases the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Anything that gets you moving quickly can give you that “runner’s-high.” I often get sluggish and tired in the afternoon, but if I go on a short walk or dance with my kids I feel much better and can usually avoid crashing on the couch. (I said usually, sometimes the nap is a necessity!)
• Exercise improves your mood – Regular exercise can increase self-confidence and lower the symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety.
• Exercise helps you to sleep better – people who exercise have lower cases of insomnia and sleep is improved because you experience smoother transitions between sleep cycles and you stay in the stage four (deepest sleep) cycle longer.

But what do you do when life is on overload and you barely have energy to get dressed each day? I suggest you employ the normal tricks to help you fit in fitness:

• Make a workout date with yourself on your calendar.
• Lay your exercise clothes out the night before. (I always feel so guilty when I have to put them away clean.)
• Place the alarm clock across the room so you have to get up.
• Find an exercise buddy who motivates you.
• If possible ride a bike or walk instead of driving.
• Chores count too – yard work, housework, cleaning the car, anything that gets you moving will burn calories and help you feel better (guess I shouldn’t joke about vacuuming being exercise).
• Park at the end of the parking lot and take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Sign up for an exercise class or a triathlon to get yourself motivated (If I pay for something I’m guaranteed to do it because I hate to waste money).
• Do little spurts of exercise – dancing with your children, lifting weights while you watch television, walking or doing calf raises while you talk on the phone. Every little bit counts and a few minutes here and there can add up to great results.

Use all of these tricks and any others that work for you, but also realize that you are going through a hard or busy time and give yourself a break. If you don’t get to the gym on a morning you promised yourself to go, remind yourself that you probably needed sleep or some snuggle time with your child. Don’t beat yourself up. Focus on the positive and recommit to getting out of bed tomorrow.

Yes, I can barely waddle around the block, but soon I’ll have a gorgeous baby. The prize is well worth the pain. Every one of us is going to go through trials (many worse than the discomforts of pregnancy). If we focus on the positive, try to take care of our health, and rely on the Lord we can use these hard times to make ourselves a better person, we can come out smiling on the other side.

(i) Exercise: Rev up your routine to reduce stress by Mayo Clinic Staff

(ii) How does exercise improve sleep by Scott White

(iii) How to fit exercise into your busy schedule by Ehow Staff Writer