Discovering Your Wellness Journey
Wellness. These days what does it mean to be well? Between the quick fix powders, pills, diets, binge one type of food, eliminate another. It's the constant roller coaster of up and down, yo-yo dieting, eat this, take this supplement, train hard, and the chase for perfection.
I know it's exhausting! Believe me and I'm a wellness guru. It's exhausting and overwhelming for me too! Trying to keep up with what's in and out, what's working, what's not. Really it's all a head game. In reality you only need to know the basics and understand and listen to what your body needs. What works for your best friend is not always going to work for you. Discovering your wellness journey is a process, good and bad, things will work and some won't. But with a little patience and determination you should be well on your way!
With it being the beginning of a new year, we're all trying to live a little better. Make better food choices, find more movement in our day, sleep better, love more, turn off the electronics and live our lives to the fullest.
I'm kinda of lucky, I grew up with a Mom that owned her own gym for women. Fitness and sports were ingrained into my life. She was also very adamant about what my brothers and I ate. We never got sugar cereals, chips and cookies were on rare occasion, ice cream and cake were for birthdays and holidays. So I was never really exposed to a lot of junk and if I was, I never really wanted too much. (Now if you asked me as a 10 year old I may have told you that I wasn't really lucky.) :) Flash forward to my adult years, I still have a high level of fitness, owning and teaching in the Pilates studio. And the desire for junk food is still not there. Don't get me wrong if there's chocolate in the room, I'm going for it. But I can pass up ice cream, cake, doughnuts, etc without thinking twice.
We all have a journey for wellness. We all just need to look past the noise and find what works for YOU. So I thought I would give out some of my biggest pointers for how to jumpstart your wellness. Learning to make smaller changes will lead you to the biggest results!
Ways to Jumpstart Your Wellness
- Stop listening to everyone trying to sell you a powdered drink and a magic pill. There is no such thing! There is no quick fix! If you want to live well and stay well, unfortunately you have to put in the hard work, time and effort. Otherwise it's just a gimmick.
- Nutrition starts in the kitchen. The only way to really know what you're eating is if you're cooking it. Fats and sugars hide in foods when you eat out. (I'm not saying don't ever eat out, that's just not feasible. We all need nights without cooking and time to enjoy someone else's creations. Just learn to cut back.
- Modification not deprivation. I teach my clients the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time eat really well. The other 20% live it up and eat without guilt. Life is too short not to enjoy chocolate lava cake and boardwalk french fries, just find modification and only do it on occasion, not every day or week.
- Listen to your body. If Crossfit leaves you hurting, maybe it's time to rethink your workout regime. If you can't run 10 miles anymore, ride a bike or walk. Change things up. Take a HIIT class or try barre. Over Pilates Mat and Yoga classes. Try the reformer or aerial classes. You don't have to go to the gym to find movement.
- Water. Water. Water. No one drinks enough. You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight. So say you weigh 150 pounds. Cut that in half (75) and divide it by 8 oz=1 Cup. So in reality, a person weighing 150 pounds should drink 10 cups of water a day. I know! It sounds like a lot and you think you'll never be able to but trust me your skin and body will thank you for it!
- Sleep. Ahhhh. If we all could just sleep more! We all have reasons to get less, but try one day to go to bed earlier enough that you can get 8-9 hours of sleep. Turn off electronics at least and hour before bed. Read a book, listen to music, meditate, or journal to help you nod off faster.
Simple and easy ways to start you back on track towards complete wellness. Remember it's a journey for all of us, including ALL the models and actresses you see every where. Small steps lead to big results. You just need to write down goals and set your mind to achieving each one of them. Someone told me a long time ago, "if you don't have your health, then you have nothing." It's true!!!
Make sure to check back in March. I will be starting my new program, Live in Balance. I'll be guiding a group of like minded wellness people through a 2 week program of eating well, finding movement, setting goals, understanding what works for your body so you can see the results you desire. I'll post more details soon! If you're interested send me your email I'll make sure to add you to the list when the program gets announced. In the mean time I hope some of these ideas will give you a little jump start. If I can help in anyway feel free to ask questions too! Best of luck on your new wellness journey! I'll be here cheering you on!
