Running Granny Green: Guest Blogger: Karli's Top 3 Tips for Fitness

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Guest Blogger: Karli's Top 3 Tips for Fitness

Karli is a stay-at-home mom and Health Coach with Take Shape for Life. She is currently expecting baby boy number four! I'm glad to have her back for her second Guest Blogger visit.Read her Top 3 Tips for getting and staying healthy!

The TOP THREE things I think are essential to be successful while getting and staying healthy are:

Preparation. First, it's important that you're properly prepared. I suggest starting with a list of goals. This is not something to take lightly. The best goals are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Write them down and put them somewhere you can see often. Take pictures and measurements, clean out cupboards, get rid of anything tempting, and tell the people closest to you what you're trying to accomplish. After you've started, be prepared by taking meals with you and be intentional about deciding what you’ll do before you get to an event so you’re not caught off guard. Be prepared.

Accountability. Answering to someone helps us make better choices, keeps us more conscious and aware of the things that we are doing, and encourages us to be honest with ourselves and the person we are reporting to. Another thing accountability helps us do is take responsibility for our actions. When I was in high school and college, I used to blame my weight issues on anything or anyone I could. It definitely wasn't my fault I was overweight. It was my situation, my circumstances, the world, etc. Blah, blah, blah. Seriously. Someone should have slapped me in the face! I finally learned and recognized the importance in taking responsibility for the things that were in my control. I was overweight because I ate too much. I was overweight because I loathed exercise and didn't want to get off my butt and move. It was MY fault. This thought may depress some, but for me it was a huge wake up call. If it was my fault, it was in my control. If I had caused it, I could undo it! I had the power to choose to change. I made the choice and have kept myself accountable to it ever since. Now, when I choose to make unhealthy choices for my body, I own them and realize I must also be willing to also take the consequences that come along with them. Be accountable.

Consistency. This one is vital. It doesn't just mean be consistent once, or until we reach our goals, its long term, pretty much fooorreevveerr. {sandlot reference}. I read something recently that said change is the combination of effort and time. {elna baker} This spoke to me because it's been my tendency in the past to be consistent until I get the thing I desire and then once the goal has been achieved, the consistency becomes less and less til suddenly, it's a rarity. For lasting change, we have to be consistent in our efforts over time. That might mean saying no to junk food more often than not. Maybe it’s choosing to exercise 5-6 days a week til it becomes a habit so tightly woven that we can't imagine not fitting it in. Or choosing sleep over an extra hour of Netflix because we value how great we feel when well rested. Being aware of the things we put into and do to our bodies because we recognize and realize its inherent beauty and value. I know that making these choices consistently over time will enable me to reach my fundamental goal, which is simply Freedom. Freedom from sickness and disease. Freedom from being controlled by food. Freedom to spend time with the people I love most. Be consistent.