Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Motivational Moments In An Otherwise Crazy Schedule

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Most days I stay busy from sun up to sun down. It’s not that I like to have such a crazy schedule, but there are so many things I want and feel the need to do each day that it’s hard to take it easy. I confess, I do take a restful day usually on Sunday, to enjoy time with family and friends because I believe one day of rest is needed to recharge and refresh. All throughout my busy days however, I find motivational moments that inspire and encourage me along the way.

Motivational moments are those tiny gusts of motivation that hit you for a minute and if you aren’t quick enough to grasp them they are gone like tiny sands in the wind. These tidbits of motivation come from various sources. I may look out the window and spot a butterfly moving from flower to flower, or see one neighbor helping another. I may watch a football game and feel motivated from the team spirit or listen to a heartfelt story of someone’s struggles that emulate my own challenges.

These motivational moments are not unique to my world and my life. Each and every one of us is blessed by these occurrences every day. It is how we use these occurrences that determine whether or not we are taking advantage of the motivational moments in our lives.

Motivational moments or any type of motivation is the key to sticking with your diet and exercise program. As a women’s fitness trainer, I have seen so many women who start out motivated to lose weight and they stay that way for about the first 30 to 45 days. During that time, they are full of enthusiasm and usually proud of the weight they are losing. However, around the 7th week or close to the 45-day period, the weight loss hits a plateau and they become discouraged because they aren’t experiencing the same euphoric success they felt in the beginning. These women are literally starving for some motivation to keep them going and when they don’t find it, many give up and return to a sedentary lifestyle.

Although I try to head off these low points and offer lots of encouragement to the women I work with, I know how hard it is to stay motivated in the face of low to no results. Women start to feel as if they are exercising more than ever and eating less than ever but still not achieving the weight loss goal that they have set for themselves. The good news is that if you switch to a healthy diet and combine that with an active lifestyle, you will do much more than drop a dress size. Every part of your body will benefit from these healthy changes.

Your motivational moments can turn into a motivated and purposeful life. Once you harness the power of self-motivation, you can be a motivational guru to those around you. People looking for motivation will see the enthusiasm that you have for life and will want to achieve the confidence and improved self-esteem that is apparent in everything that you do.

Journaling – The Best Kept Secret For Staying In Shape

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When asked what my secret is for staying in shape, my response varies. I could answer that it is my diet or that I exercise 6 days a week or that I truly believe that a fit body is a healthy body. The truth is that journaling is the real secret behind my success.

Journaling is the act of keeping a journal. While there are all sorts of journals, like work journals, travel journals, or personal journals much like diaries, the journaling I am referring to is a fitness journal. Within the pages of a fitness journal, I record everything that I eat and everything that I drink. I record my physical activities such as my strength training sessions and my cardio workouts. I make notes of the level and intensity of each exercise and write down how much time I spend walking, running and playing.

There are many advantages to keeping a fitness journal. It gives me a starting point and helps me to visualize my goals. The very act of writing these acts in a book, make them more of a reality than if I just keep it all in my head. When I am ready to take my workout to the next level, I write these goals in my journal and then form a plan to make them happen. It’s not always easy, it’s not always convenient, but I truly believe that it helps me.

It has been proven time and again, that people who keep a journal of every thing they consume and all the activities they do to burn off calories have a far better chance of success in losing weight and getting in shape than those who do not. It’s such an easy and rewarding activity and it really does help to validate your fitness goals.

You can purchase a journal with pages that can be removed or added or you can just use a composition notebook. In this digital age, many women prefer using their phones or computer to record their food consumption and workouts. I prefer the old school method of actually taking pen to paper and writing. I enjoy writing and the act of journaling both soothes and energizes me in so many ways.

The wonderful thing about writing down your goals, is reading them later and reflecting on how much hard work, commitment and dedication it takes to achieve the goals that you set for yourself. Begin journaling today and you can turn your dreams into reality.

Overcoming The Urge To Binge

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When you are trying to diet and have decided to eat healthy foods, you might find it hard to resist the urge to binge. Binges affect women differently, but more importantly is how we deal with these urges to “pig out” that has the biggest effect on our lives. Binging has many disadvantages especially when it means eating foods that are unhealthy or gobbling up an overabundance of food.

Eating unhealthy foods can cause stomach disorders, weight gain, bloating or cause blood pressure or sugar levels to rise. Overeating can result in a distended stomach and done repeatedly will cause your belly to grow larger and stretch to accommodate these occurrences. Prolonged binge eating can cause many other physical ailments but the underlying emotional damage is sometimes even more dangerous.

When you overeat, you are eating out of control. Anytime we aren’t totally in control of our lives, we can become emotionally distraught or depressed. Looking for the reasons behind the need to binge will help you to overcome these symptoms but if you have been suffering from this ailment for a while, you might want to consult a medical professional.

Binging as a result of dieting is something different than binging to fill an emotional void. In this article, I am referring to the urge to binge on foods that you are trying to avoid. Many times when starting a new diet, we find ourselves overcome with cravings for the very foods we have sworn to abstain from. If this happens, it’s better to give in a little than overcome with the need to binge.

A great way to overcome the urge to binge is by eating 5 meals a day instead of just 3. If you just add 2 snacks a day, you can keep your body satisfied and vary the types of food that you eat. Maybe you love a milk shake but have decided that the saturated fat content and calories are just too much to allow in your diet. Try substituting with yogurt and fruit for a fruit smoothie. Make it a smaller portion and enjoy it between meals for a healthy snack. This alternative will satisfy your emotional and physical needs when you are craving a comfort food that is sweet and creamy.

Be creative with your meals and plan them ahead of time. The less uncertainty there is in your diet the less chance you will fall to cravings and urges to binge. Hang your day or week meal plan on the refrigerator along side of a picture of what you want to look like. Little steps like this will help to keep you inspired and help to make your diet a success.

High Intensity Training … Is It Right For You?

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If you are looking for a new workout that delivers results trade out the 45-minute treadmill routine for some high intensity training that takes half the time.

High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, can be defined as a 10- to 20-minute workout that alternates short, intense bursts of activity with moderate-exertion recovery periods. It is one of the best ways to stimulate your hormones for a fat burning benefit that lasts for hours after the workout is completed. High-intensity training also strengthens your heart and helps you to build and sculpt muscles, while improving your overall women’s fitness.

Here’s what you can expect when beginning any high-intensity interval training class. A HIIT workout consists of a warm-up period of exercise, followed by six to ten repetitions of high intensity exercise, separated by medium intensity exercise, and ending with a period of cool down exercise. The high intensity exercise should be done at near maximum intensity. The medium exercise should be about 50% intensity. The number of repetitions and length of each depends on the exercise. The goal is to perform at least six exercises, and the entire HIIT workout should last about fifteen minutes but not more than twenty.

Workouts aren’t meant to be comfortable. Research shows that brief and intense workouts trump slow and steady. An exercise that is actually producing results should challenge your body to be better, stronger, leaner, and longer. If you are wondering if your workout is intense enough, you need only to look to your body for clues. Good indicators are sweating, increased heart rate, and lactic acid production during exercise. Lactic acid produces that burning feeling in your muscles. You really do need to feel the burn. Moderate muscle soreness for up to a few days post-workout is also a good sign, but not the kind of pain that results from an overstressed muscle.

For overall muscle health, stretch your muscles to strengthen them and improve flexibility. This will help to minimize injuries. Many times when women start a new exercise program they become overzealous and exercise so intensely that they end up hurting themselves. Injuries can then disrupt your otherwise healthy women’s fitness program, not to mention causing intense pain.

Now is the time to take your workout to the next level. Whether you choose to increase weights, prolong the amount of time you workout, or go for the gold and actually get it done this year, consider high intensity interval training as a way to take your body from great to fabulous. You just might lose some weight and will certainly boost your confidence.

Focus On The Positive

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I believe that affirmations are essential when you want to lose weight and make healthy changes for life. Affirmations super charge the brain and make the connection between body, mind and soul. When you focus on positive thoughts and actions, your brain picks up on these thoughts and sets about a path to make them happen. That’s why it is important to focus on positive thoughts and shut out the negative ones.

When you want to take your women’s fitness workout to the next level, you want to focus on your success. Each week, make a plan to increase an area of your workout and follow this with positive affirmations that confirm your accomplishment. For instance, if you have begun adding weights, your affirmation to focus on would be that you are getting stronger. Another affirmation could be that your arms are looking better or that your legs are looking leaner.

If you are trying to lose weight keep in mind that the number on the scale is not the only important factor. That number will change eventually. Other indicators to note are how your clothes are fitting—are they fitting better, looser? Do you feel stronger, sexier and prettier? Tell yourself these things. Focus on these positive aspects.

Affirmations have a power all of their own because they help your brain to focus on the positive. When you want to accomplish a task, it is important that your mind is in tune with your physical body because it is responsible for the hormones that control emotions and physical sensations such as hunger. It also has much to do with our strength and ability to win or lose in competition. If you think you can or if you think you can’t, your mind will believe you.

I am stronger.
I will work out today.
Today, I will walk an extra mile.
Today, I will run instead of walk.
I will lift an extra 5 pounds today.

Write down your affirmations and repeat them to yourself. Standing in front of a mirror will bring you face to face with yourself. Look deep into your eyes and repeat your affirmations with conviction. Remember to stick to the positive and stay away from the negative. Your mind has a tendency to take the easy road, so instead of saying I will lose weight, concentrate on being thin and skinny. Focus on the positive and train your brain to do your bidding.