Lifestyle Health Wellness Fitness

As you know, here at A Year From Today, we’re all about goal setting and making plans, getting organized and self improvement.

But I seem to have neglected the importance of health and fitness in my lifestyle.

This revelation only occurred to me today because I’ve had ‘a weekend off’. My sons have both been away for the weekend. I have had the house to myself, my bestie had other plans and I had the head space to think about my life. And I found something wasn’t quite right…

Maybe you’re reading this because you too are guilty of ignoring your health and wellness.

Life is so busy these days, and we all get so caught up with just “doing” our lives, what with juggling daily life, our families and friends, our careers, our projects, our plans and goals, it can be all too easy to ignore our health, wellness and fitness. Guilty as charged.

The Importance of health and fitness

I’m guilty of de-prioritizing my health, my wellness and my fitness. These have not been a focus for me. But, you may ask, how could I have just ignored this aspect of my life for so long? I could explain, but that will make this post too long. Maybe I’ll explore my reasons why I have ignored my health and wellness in another blog post in the future.

Well, the time has come for me to put more effort into my health, wellness and fitness. It’s time to work out how to embrace getting healthier, getting fitter and how I can fit these things into my day. No excuses, hey?

Exercise in a Sedentary Lifestyle

OK, so having been guilty of a sedentary lifestyle for so long, I’m not really sure where to start.

I’ve worked 40-60 hours a week for more than 34 years. On top of this I try to blog every day, so I sit on my butt quite a lot. What to do first may come naturally for you young folk, but I haven’t exercised for such a long time, I haven’t a clue where to start.

When I was younger and had more energy, breaking into a run was easy. Just because I could. But years on my butt in a desk job has made me unfit. There’s no spring in my step and I want to change that. I want to feel like breaking into a run whenever the urge takes me. I liked that feeling.

Sure, walking and stair climbing feature in my day. I always park the car much further away than the closest park to my destination. I take the train to the wrong station on purpose, so I can fit in a 1.5km walk. But that’s not really enough. I drink alcohol, I eat poorly and infrequently, I stay up too late, I sit for extended periods and when I stand I feel like a cripple. I have health problems I’m not helping by being so sedentary and I am carrying about 10kg more than I feel comfortable with. But where do I find the best type of activity that’s going to help me with getting and feeling healthier? Something that doesn’t take too much time, but makes me feel great.

Do I need a life coach? Or a Personal Trainer?

I don’t know what I need.

I only know I need to start somewhere. Being the researcher that I am, I need to find some health and fitness (or wellness) professionals that I align with and I can trust to guide me. Yeah, more time sitting on my butt researching. Don’t worry, I will formulate a plan and I will make it work, I just need to know where to start, what activities I can do to quickly improve my fitness and how I can incorporate wellness into my lifestyle.

I start my research with Health Wellness & Fitness Articles

This is where I started – Google. I read a lot of health, wellness and fitness articles. I was not going to jump on the bandwagon of all the articles you see plastered on the “big” websites like Buzzfeed. You know, the click-bait image-ads that link to an article about Brad and Angelina’s breakup and end up being a vehicle to pedal some hot new weight loss pill or nutritional extract.

A week after I started, I came across Tony Robbins. Yes, THE Tony Robbins. A great article on his website describes quite perfectly the way I’m feeling about my forward path:

“For many, the idea of achieving a peak state of health is too daunting,
or they simply have no idea where to start.
How many times have you made excuses for not working out?
How many times have you pushed off healthier diet choices to the next day?
Those who actively take charge with their bodies and their health haven’t found some new trend, fad or shortcut.
They’ve simply made the decision that they are going to do it.
Something just clicked inside their brains, where their “shoulds” became their “musts”
and better eating habits and enhanced physical activity became an imperative part of their day.”

This is me, I shout to the computer!

Yes, something has just clicked inside my brain…

There is a burning desire in me to take charge of my health, my wellness and my future!

Reading Tony Robbins’ website has reassured me that I want, want, want to be doing something, but I need, need, need HELP.

I need to find professional people who are living their own healthy lifestyle and can show me how to do the same. So I’ve been on the hunt for said individuals.

I found many Health and Fitness professionals who tell you that to live a lifestyle that’s healthy, you need to combine nutrition, wellness, fitness and clean living. But good health also relies on living a lifestyle you enjoy. See, I have to have fun with this life and any new thing I take part in needs to make me happy as well as healthy. It’s not going to feed my soul if my powdered greens taste like ****.

If you were looking for fitness & wellness articles, where would you go?
Do you have a guru or a favorite website?
Let me know in the comments, please.
I could use all the help I can get.

Anyway, in doing all this research, I came across some great websites and you-tubers publishing articles and videos on health and wellness and I’m going to share a few of them with you. These are the sites that I’ve found to be truly helpful.

Jeana Passy says “The truth is, as humans, we want immediate results but it’s impossible. If you set short term goals that assist you on your path to your long term goal(s) you are more likely to stay on track.” This appeals to me because I’m all about goal setting. I just never applied it to fitness. I like Jeana’s site because she has healthy vegan recipes, good intentions, motivational messages and she’s just a blogger blogging about her own journey. She’s not trying to sell me anything. I can find inspiration in her blog.

I’m definitely going to ignore the “Healthy Lifestyle “ads that Google serves up. I know they’re selling me something. You know the ones that come up at the beginning of your google search, as per the image below (they’re not ads – it’s just a screen shot of a google search):

I checked out Sam Wood, a regular contributor to the LifeStyle Channel, who has a video about a 7-Minute workout you can do anywhere. I like this concept because it’s only a short span of time. Is this the type of exercise that I would like? Really, I don’t think I’ve got the core body strength yet to even attempt those press-ups, lunges and planks! (OMG – squats – what was I thinking?).

Sam Wood 7 minute workout you can do anywhere (courtesy The Lifestyle Channel)

See the video here

Maybe I need to keep looking for health professionals’ recommendations for incorporating exercise into my day.

Greatist.com has led me to 63 great websites in three niches: “Fitness Blogs”, “Food and Nutrition Blogs” and “Health and Happiness” blogs. What a handy post this one was. It has led me down the rabbit hole and into a whole new world of fitness, wellness, happiness and healthiness. I’m feeling quite inspired.

That amazing post by Greatist led me to a message I love from Nia Shanks. Her incredible post is about being more and not being less. You know the concept the magazines and websites are always spruiking – “eat less”, “weigh less”. Here is a couple of dot points Nia suggests we should do instead of being less. You bet I’ve joined her newsletter.

INCREASE your self-confidence
Add MORE weight to the barbell
INCREASE your physical (and mental!) strength
GAIN a better body-image
BUILD UP your stamina and energy levels
ENHANCE your overall life

I really like this website, Nia gives me great ideas for what kind of small changes I can make that I can incorporate into my day without massively changing my timetable.

My wellness and fitness are challenging to me.

I know that my capabilities now are a little limited, but I can improve. I just need to start. I can probably find ways to fit exercise in to my life without me even noticing it.

Check out this quote from Nia:

And what if you truly can’t do something
because of an injury or other legitimate limitation?
You can still choose to focus on what you CAN do, |
and get better at those things instead.

OK, I am totally inspired.

Lindsey Reviews has given me 10 ways to exercise without trying. THIS is something I can totally rock! Love it. Hint:

1.Wash the car (oh dear, mine really needs it too)

2.Don’t push a shopping cart when you can carry a basket and get a workout

3.Spring clean every other weekend (this one works for me as I’m always looking for routines that will keep me organised.

4.Check out your local area with a group of friends (walk or bike)

5.Stairs. (I got this, I’m working on the 14th floor).

6.Get up and run on the spot, when the ad breaks are on TV

7.Posture – get those core muscles working when you’re sitting

8.Eek… do DIY around the house. Sanding, prep for painting, gardening, weeding, mowing – these are all things I need to do. Never thought of them as exercise!

9.For women only… If you’re stuck in traffic, do your pelvic floor exercises.

10.Mow the lawn.

These are such simple tips that have never occurred to me. Well the one about getting up during the ad breaks has occurred to me before. I try it about once a year. Start one night and get up 15 times, run on the spot for at least 100 steps… next day I forget! Surely (there’s that word again) I could remember to do this more than once every year? Sure I can. I just need to remind myself of this goal. A goal written down is half done, after all.

Now is time for me to set up a health & fitness plan. Something that starts small, (like the 10 ideas above) and moves up to a daily or twice-daily routine.

Creating a daily routine for fitness and wellness

You know, I’ve got a great idea. I should have another go at what worked for me in my younger years.

There was a time in my life when I was at my fittest. Gosh, I was 23 years old and miserably unhappy from being obese. But I turned my “should” into “must” and I committed to a routine.

I went from 117kg to 71kg by committing to a simple routine.

walking 7km home each day
riding the bike 5km around a beautiful scenic lake
at night, do a simple 17 minute workout (10 types of dumb bell exercises – 10 to 50 reps depending on the lift – with 100 running on the spot in between each set of repetitions). Surely I could start by doing that?

Achieving your fitness wellness health goals

What’s stopping me from starting? Is it the fact that the whole house wobbles when I exercise? (Floorboards in a 65 year old weatherboard house)! What’s stopping you from starting?

My life is now a whole lot different to that carefree unencumbered youthful woman. A whole lot of life has happened since then. I’ve put on weight and lost it again. I’ve had two babies, two partners, a whole lot of living.

And a whole lot of not living. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve ignored my health. I’ve experienced many enormous stresses. I’m sure you can relate.

We somehow manage to keep on going. But life isn’t just about “managing”. Life should be enormous. And fun, happy and healthy.

And if you ignore your health, wellness and fitness, your lifestyle, like mine, could suffer. From me to you, here’s a tip. Don’t become sedentary. Or if you already have, like me, get up off the couch and start introducing movement back into your life. Look back on a time when you were physically active. What did you do that made you feel fit and healthy. Remember how it made you feel to be active and moving.

And Finally, a health & fitness tip from me. Take it at a pace you enjoy. That’s not saying be lazy. On the contrary, be as energetic as you can be, push yourself till it hurts. But if you stop enjoying it, you’re doing something wrong. Exercise; walking, riding, weights, surfing, whatever you do; should be fun. Exercise produces endorphines which make us feel good and happy. So if you’re not enjoying your health & fitness routine, change it.

And remember that there are so many bloggers out there who are living the life and blogging about it – I’m sure you can find someone to inspire you to get moving now. Don’t spend too much time on your butt researching though.

Where to now? Pick a page!!!!

Spinrewriter – if you’re struggling to come up with your next blog post, ask SpinReWriter to do a quick re-write of something wonderful you’ve found online. Then you can edit it to your heart’s desire and put your own spin on what was mentioned. Spinning content isn’t underhanded, it’s a great way to re-use good internet articles and put your own individuality into the new article.