Stay Fit For Life!

You want to get fit and stay fit for life, right?



You’ve put it off for weeks, months, maybe even years, but now you’re ready to get started.



This is a big moment for you and with the decision to get started comes the pressure to actually get results. After all, you aren’t about to workout and change your eating to not get results.



The pressure may come from yourself, your friends, your family, your co-workers or even just from society’s ever growing standards of health and fitness.



You know it’s important to be healthy and you want to look and feel better, so you decide to change everything – you hit the gym hard for a few days and try out the latest diet and you think to yourself “This time will be different. This time I’ll stick to it. Nothing will stop me!”



Wouldn’t you know it, you make some progress! So you keep working out, keep dieting and see even more progress! You’re thinking “Wow, this is great!”, but you know what happens next.



A few weeks (Or even a few days) later you fall off the wagon completely and wonder how you got to this point. You were doing so well, weren’t you? Sure, you were sticking to an insane exercise routine and a strict diet, but it was working. Well, what happened?



Maybe you missed one workout which turned into two which turned into a whole month off.



Maybe you were stressed one day, got home late, devoured an entire cheese pizza and the next day, because you had already cheated your diet, decided to eat whatever you wanted again.



Maybe you went on vacation and didn’t exercise at all and ate and drank whatever you wanted and as much as you wanted.



Maybe all of these things happened in the same month! Lets face it, life happens, things are going to happen!



If any of this has happened to you or sounds familiar you should know this: There is another way!



If you want to stay fit for life you’ll need to approach things differently because 3 hours of exercise per day and a strict diet with no room for error is not maintainable. Sure, it may get you some results, but you’ll also be miserable and neglect many of the things that make life worth it. You know, things like family, friends and amazing bacon cheeseburgers and french fries.



You can be fit for the rest of your life when you make fitness a top priority. No matter how crazy or hectic life gets, make it a TOP priority. Set a goal of working out 3-5X per week, if you couldn’t make it to the gym today, make it a priority to make it tomorrow. Just like you breathe, eat, and sleep, make FITNESS a regular part of your schedule and make sure fitness has a firm footing in your life, then you will never have to worry about gaining weight again.



Most women, if they were active when they were young, weren’t plagued by sudden weight gain. But as we grow older, our metabolisms slow down, we become less active and as a result our bodies burn fewer calories. This leads to weight gain and makes it even harder for it to come off. However, we can turn back the clock and train our bodies to start burning calories again. EXERCISE is the key!



Plan ahead. This goes for exercise and especially nutrition. If you take nothing else away from this post know that planning ahead will get results. Meal prep for the week and plan ahead what you will be eating. If you know you will have a tight schedule this week, then make sure you some how fit in your work outs, even if you have to wake up a little early to get it in or pack your gym back to fit it in right after work. When you plan ahead, it makes it way easier to stick to the script!



Switch up your work out. If you keep doing the same exercise over and over again. Eventually, your body will get used to it and there will be no change. Keeping your muscles confused will help them to work harder. I never do the exact same work out routine for my clients. I’m constantly switching up the work outs, which is why they remain sore majority of the time lol. Between squat sets, do squat jumps or 100 jump rope. Instead of regular lunges, do backward lunges. Crank up your sprints onto an incline instead of running flat or add more weight and less reps to your strength training routine. Switching up your work outs will also keep you from getting bored with doing the same old thing over and over again.



Move more. Of course you’ll have your strength training and cardio work outs, but to stay fit for life it’s also important to simply move more – take the stairs, take a break to walk around at work, play pick-up soccer or basketball, walk your dog, dance or find other ways to sneak in exercise. You get the picture – Move more and you have a much better chance of staying fit for life.



Be creative with your eating. I always preach to my clients to be creative and find or make up healthy recipes. You may have a couple trial errors, but eventually you will find certain healthy recipes that you love! If you like something, you will definitely stick to it! Who wants to eat bland and boring all the time? Not me! I cook to be healthy and to actually like the food I’m eating. I can make some bomb turkey burgers and spaghetti squash and I’ve grown to really enjoy eating healthy!



Keep your eating 90 percent clean—or 85 percent. You don’t have to be a hard core dieter. This is basically impossible to stick to! Being on a crazy diet may make you lose weight fast at first, but you will also gain weight back super fast. The key is losing the weight and keeping it off. If you have a cheat meal at your favorite restaurant, or you miss a work out, its okay! You don’t have to throw in the towel just yet. No one is perfect, you are going to cheat every now and then and thats life! The KEY is sticking to a healthy LIFE STYLE!