Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Are You Gonna be Frivolous or Fabulous?

Everyone wants to look great and be healthy when they reach 50 years and beyond right? And everyone’s heard the phrase “Fabulous at 50”! So why be frivolous with your health and fitness now! If you’re going to look great and feel great when you get into your older years, you have to start thinking about what you eat and how active you are now, regardless of if you’re in your thirty’s, forty’s, coming up on 50, or even if you’re already past. This goes for both men and women.

If you start now to eat healthier, leaner meals and snacks, and incorporate fitness, sports, or some kind of physical activity into your daily or weekly routine, you’ll definitely be on your way to becoming the fit, healthy and energetic person you can be, well into your older years!

You have no idea how many times I’ve heard people say “When you hit 40, it’s all downhill”! Well you know what... In most cases it’s true! You start to feel tired all the time, you seem to get sick often, your metabolism slows down and you start gaining weight. One day you just wake up, look in the mirror and think “Oh my God, what’s happening to me!” Then you start to panic, and all you can think about is “How am I going to fix this”!

Well it doesn’t have to be like that and fortunately you can fix things! But, by the time you think you need fixing, it’ll take a little longer to get there than if you had been working on it all along. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you have to be a fanatic about fitness, or even be a nutritionist, but, you do need to stop being frivolous with your eating habits now and start being smarter and more aware of how you eat, how much you eat, and how active you are in your daily life.

You can start by ditching the junk food, and stop being a couch potato! Get up and do something! What you should be eating, are smaller portions of healthier, leaner snacks and foods like fish and chicken, nuts and whole grains, make sure to include a variety of colorful fruits and veggies, and you should also add at least 30-45 minutes of some kind of physical activity to your daily routine, even if it’s just walking, riding your bike, or walking your dog… well, that is, if you have a dog! Make it a speed walk or a power walk!

Believe it or not, you don’t even need to have a Gym membership to get into physical shape either. With the economy the way it is today, and “Frugal being the New Cool”, everyone is trying to cut corners to save money. You can get yourself into great physical shape with little to no money! It’s true!

First of all, think about getting a Fitness DVD and working out in your living room, your bedroom or wherever you have a little space! They’re inexpensive and you can have your very own “Personal Trainer” right in your own home as often as you want, whenever you’re ready, at no extra charge! One that I can recommend and have used for years and find to be easy, fun, and with excellent results is Tank Top Arms, Bikini Belly, Boy Shorts Bottom,by Minna Lessig. It works out every part of your body and is designed to accommodate multiple fitness levels. This DVD Rocks!!

Another option is, why not join a Fitness Meetup Group in your area where you might be able to work-out or exercise for free, or for a very small fee, with others who have the same goals as you do. There’s no fee to become a member of Meetup, the events are really fun, offer a wide variety of groups from Yoga to Bootcamps and everything in between... and a lot of them are run by Certified Personal Trainers! I use Meetup’s for fitness and fun all the time and can highly recommend them.

Whatever it is that you decide to do, you need to start by making a plan, writing it down, staying focused and disciplining yourself. Figure out what you’re going to eat at each meal, at snack time, and what you’re daily physical activity is going to be and write it down in a planner or on whatever works for you. Work on coming up with some kind of a regular routine that you are comfortable with and stick with it! Be sure to change it up a little bit every now and then by adding new foods and activities, because your muscles have memory and they need a change too. It will also keep you from getting bored with the same ol' thing.

“You’ve gotta stop being Frivolous with your health and fitness NOW if you want to be Fabulous and happy later in life!” So, don’t procrastinate… go ahead and give yourself a challenge!! I know you can do it!! Push yourself just a little bit more every time and one day, you‘re gonna look in the mirror, regardless of what age you are, and think “Hey, I’m looking Fabulous and feeling Fine!” That’s when you’ll know that all of your efforts were well worth it!!

So what’s it gonna be? Frivilous or Fabulous… You decide!