One Year of Fitness

Wow. It has been one year since I decided to get on track with my health and fitness.

One year since I came to the realization that my health was only getting worse, and that I had to face the facts and do something about it. That meant working out and eating better, which were two really foreign things in my life at the time.

What a difference one year can make!

Over thirty pounds lost, countless inches also lost, energy gained, friends gained, and my life and health given back. And the best part? It's not even close to being over. This is a journey, and I'm in it for the long haul.

Getting starting on your journey to health can be a scary thing. It's overwhelming to think of all the changes you have to make, it's intimidating trying to figure out what's going to work for your body. It's scary trying to imagine how you will do a workout when you feel afraid of being out of breath.

But one thing I can tell you from this past year, is that it is absolutely and completely worth it. So I want to share my top five lessons from this past year of getting in to health and fitness, and encourage those of you that may just have started, are on the fence about your health, or even those that have been maintaining their health for a long time.

1. You are not alone. I think one of the big things that I came to realize is that I am not alone in my struggle. It can feel like it sometimes, because it's our tendency to compare our journey to others that are farther along than we are. But you are not alone. Reach out to those around you, and share your story. You might be surprised at what you find out!

2. Get accountability. This ties into my first point. I would never have stuck with this if I didn't have the accountability of my husband for my first program, and then the accountability of my challengers the rest of the year. This has been the absolute KEY to keeping me on track for an entire year (more than I have ever consistently worked out for in my life). Staying accountable to someone helps you stay with it longer, and eventually, it becomes a habit!

3. Create a space in your schedule for your health. Don't just leave it up to chance to figure out when you are going to fit your workouts in for the week, or wing it at the grocery store. Planning is crucial to getting your foundation started in health and fitness, and in helping you stick with it. So many times we find excuses about our schedule and time. But we make time for what is important to us, so write down your workout schedule and your meal planning times in your calendar, and guard that time.

4. It's so much more than the physical journey.  This was a big lesson this year. As I began to work on my health and fitness, and I started seeing results, I noticed that because I had more energy in general, I was putting more into every area of my life. My marriage, my friendships, my faith, my creative pursuits, everything. When you get your health in line, that discipline starts to spill over into other areas of your life and in the best way possible!

5. Progress, not perfection. Another huge lesson. My weight was not gained overnight. It was the result of bad eating and exercise habits that I had built over YEARS. So will all of that weight come off overnight? NO! And neither will yours. You have to stay consistent, and you have to take it one day at a time. Look at the progress you make all along the way, and focus on the little victories along with the big. It's those little wins that add up over time and before you know it, you see a whole new healthy version of you in the mirror!

No matter where you are at in your journey, I want to tell you that you can do this. If I can stick with this for a whole year now- the girl who never worked out, was the chronic quitter with anything health related, and the girl who had almost resigned herself to just staying in the bad health that she was- you can do this. Trust me.

Is it easy? No. Are there hard days? Absolutely.

But is it worth it? EVERY TIME.

Take it one day at a time, stay consistent, and make time for your health. I promise you, it is worth it.
I would love to hear what your greatest lesson from health and fitness has been so far in your life! Be sure to leave your comment below!

Time Management Tips

“He’s making a list, checking it twice! Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.”

While Santa may still be getting his list ready for Christmas time, he isn’t the only one who should have a list and check it twice. Today we are going to talk about how keeping a list is going to help you with time management.

Do you ever feel like you just have too much to do at the end of each day, or every task you thought you were going to do got piled on at the end of the week? I know I have gone through seasons of disorganization where I let life happen to me instead of taking just a minute to sort out my priorities.

When I started my fitness journey, I was a busy person. I had just recently gotten married, was working, and keeping up with daily life in general. It was absolutely hard to carve out the time to workout and make my health a priority. I had to make a new routine.

Then in April I started coaching with Beachbody while still working my regular job. I didn’t drop any duties, but picked up something new. Now it wasn’t something that I have gone into lightly, and I have actually found that my time is more organized now than it was before I started my journey.

How is that possible? A list, my friends. A list.

Every week I create a list of tasks that I need to get accomplished. They range from simple, like grocery shopping and cleaning, to more complex tasks that have to do with my business.

Let’s try a simple activity, shall we? Grab a piece of paper (or if you are more technologically inclined, open up a notepad on your phone), and write out all the tasks you need to accomplish this coming week. This could be chores, appointments, projects, etc.

For me, I put down things like: meal plan, meal prep, grocery shop, write three blogs, vacuum, clean the bathroom, clean the kitchen, do laundry, call three people, create a new curriculum, and send someone an encouraging note, plan a surprise for my husband.

These tasks are actually fairly regular tasks in my week, and are things that must be done outside of my regular daily routine (quiet time, working out, spending time with my husband, working my business, etc). Now, imagine if you had let all of these tasks slip by until your weekend. You would feel overwhelmed, wouldn’t you? I know I would, and have!

Now, your next step is to break it down over your entire week. When you divide and conquer and make each day have it’s own goals, I have found that a lot more can be accomplished.

What I do is grab a piece of notebook paper and put seven small post it notes across the paper, each representing a different day. I take the tasks from my list and divide it up, and usually end up with about 2-4 tasks per day, depending on the week.

This simple exercise allows you to have a plan and a goal for how you want your week to go, and what you want to accomplish. Now don’t get hung up on the list. Life will happen, and some things may need to be switched around. But at least you have a plan, and you know written in front of you what you want to accomplish every single day.

Every day I check my list in the morning so I know what my intentions need to be set to, and I check it at night to make sure I finished what I needed to. I encourage you to give it a try for a full week and see what happens!

What are some of your regular tasks for the week? Let’s hear them below!