30-12-2008 - super mommyfittastic! begins

My mood while writing this blog: gearing up

now I shall tell you a secret. I am not a personal trainer I don't know everything but I did work in the Health Club industry for 5 years during which I soaked up some of the good health info we all need. Also last year I started an online motivational exercise group for about 6 women (mostly family but it counts! lol). we all had different goals and out of those 6 one has run 2 mini marathons and is training for a triathalon, one has pretty much renewed her life and is standing at a 25 pound weight loss and is still going and is training for a marathon, and another has danced herself slim. I say these things to remind us that it can be done! and we can do it!

so here is how it works:

simply go through the items below and answer them then let us know what your goals are and how you are planning to achieve it. every week or two weeks or month give us an update on how you are doing and if you have any tips or fitness ideas to share then go for it! also if you are struggling let us know we are here to help! (and I am pretty sure there are a few clever Personal Trainers and nutritionists out there who would be willing to share some of their hard earned info!)

anyways, here are your questions:

1) Each of us has our own personal goals so your first entry should be what those goals are. for example are you wanting to lose weight in a particular area? tone the muscles in a particular area? Become more flexible? improve your strength? improve endurance? train for a marathon? improve health?

2) what is your emotional motivation to do this? now you may not think this is an important one but I can tell you that this will be the thing you look to when you just can't bring yourself to put on those running shoes. what is driving you towards your goal? are you getting married and want to look fab in that dress? are you wanting to rebuild your self image? are you simply trying to change your lifestyle so it is healthy and happy? are you wanting to meet your new baby full of energy and able to run and run and run like he or she will? is it for your own health? diabetes? Pcos? fertility? heart? ...whatever it is dig deep within you and ask yourself what is it that will make both your mind and body work together towards this goal?

3) you then need to figure out how it is that you work best? are you a group exerciser? do you work best alone? what kind of time do you have in the day to do exercise? where will you do it? do you have the items you need? do you know how to safely exercise? (quiet often people go gung ho in the beginning and then they injure themselves and so have to stop or slow and this can effect the momentum)

4) Is your mind with you? over the years it has become very clear to me that our mental state of mind effects our physical well being. for example I was and still sometimes am a binge eater. I eat to fill the emotional holes in my soul because I have never truly learned how to release my emotions. lately I have worked on this but I know that my emotional state will indeed effect my exercise. my depression after losing Jonathan will also play highly on my ability to feel that I 'deserve' to have a healthy body.

where is your mind? is it ready to change your lifestyle? or along side the fitness part do you need to work out your mental state as well? (its a hard road but so worth it)

5) now you can start making the plan!

now I must remind everyone that this is not a crash diet, we will not deprive our bodies of the nutrients it needs. this is a lifestyle. we will build slowly and find a happy medium in our lives. this is about being healthy in mind, body and spirit, this is not about pretending we will be happier when we are thin, this is about being happy because we are who we are and working towards a healthy lifestyle will help make us even happier.

so what's the next step?

measuring your progress.

to start we need to know where we are now so that we can look back and see where we have progressed to.

so if you are planning to lose weight for sure you can go by the scale, but remember that as you exercise your fat turns to muscle and muscle is heavier than fat. so we highly recommend that you take measurements as well.

here is a list of what I usually measure (I am obsessed and like to see every little change in my body..lol)

neck

upper arm

shoulders

chest (above the bust)

bust

ribs

waist (you can do 2 inches above belly button and then at natural waist line as well if you want)

hips

butt max(at widest point)

lower butt (just underneath where your bum starts at your leg)

upper thigh

lower thigh (just above the knee)

mid calf

ok another way is to take whatever you wanted to improve and chart is so for example if you want to build endurance/cardio get on the tread mill and time how long you can run for at what speed. then do it again a week later and see if there is any improvement. simple as that!

right thats probably enough from my yappy mouth for now!! lol And I am sure I have forgotten things etc so if I have and if you have any suggestions PPALEASE just let us know!

I look forward to being healthy with you guys!!!