Beauty Never Fades Tour teams with High Schools across DFW to educate them on Breast Cancer Awareness.
Join speakers that bring awareness and enlightenment to young students in the area
of breast cancer awareness, higher education, fitness, and leadership!
Thanks to everyone who has supported the tour and my fitness tips.
Here is a little bit about me in action!
Scales LIE!!!
So throw yours away!!!
… or at least put it in the back of the closest, and only use is monthly.
Trade in the old scale “big fat” lies & give body composition a try. Here are a few methods for understanding what is really going on with your body fat & fitness progress: body fat, skinny jeans, & the “long time no see” friends’ scale.
Body fat is a great way to know what is going on in your body and to put it in numbers. You will know what you weigh, what percentage of your body is fat, and what percentage of your body is muscle. Then you can set goals and see how you are changing. Are you losing the right kind of weight (losing fat and maintaining or gaining muscle)? Avoid getting discouraged by small scale changes. (My weight hasn’t changed but my closes are bigger) etc. When doing body-fat testing, to get the most accurate measurements: use the same tester, same time of day, and don’t work out first, otherwise you may skew your results.
Use your clothes as a gauge, they won’t lie. Take a pair of jeans that are tight or a belt that you barely fit and put them on. If you use the jeans, just pay attention to how they fit, then take them off and put them away. (You must put them away though, because washing your jeans may depress you, they often shrink.) If you use a belt, put a mark on where it notches, then put it away. In 3 weeks to a month, take them out and compare. If they are getting a little big on you, you are losing body-fat, no matter what the scale says. Do this for a little while, keep up on your healthy lifestyle changes, and your retired clothes will move back to the front of your closest. Once they are baggy, you will have to find a new measurement tool!
Long time no see… you’ve lost weight haven’t you? It is hard to see changes when you look at something everyday, you get use to things as they gradually happen. So, don’t be discouraged if you don’t “think you look that different” or if your spouse “doesn’t seem to notice.” Think of this as the difference between video and snapshots, in a video, changes are gradual and you get watch them unfold, so they seem natural because you become accustomed to the changes little by little. Conversely, when you look at two pictures with a time gap in between, the changes are obvious and drastic… i.e. the “wow factor”.
You are much more likely to get the “WOW factor” from people you don’t see everyday. All of the sudden, you will start getting compliments from extended family and acquaintances. People, who have only two snapshots of you in their mind, then and now, will be able to realize how much you have changed. Listen to them, they are telling you the truth.
In order to be successful in your health quest, whatever the goal, you need to make fitness a part of your life. I promise, by avoiding the traps that people usually fall into, and taking control, by setting attainable goals with healthy guidelines to follow. Before you know it, you will be feeling better mentally and physically, so you will have to go shopping and buy outfits that show off your progress.
“Scales lie.”
I am not kidding, they lie. I do not get on them, ever, if I can avoid it. I have had clients who would literally step on scales several times a day, and the number on the scale would determine how their moods, up ½ pound = bad mood and self doubt, down ½ pound = excitement and confidence. Small fluctuations in weight throughout the day are normal for everyone, and if you let those fluctuations determine your mood you are always at the mercy of an object which cannot and will not give you all the information. In other words, Scales lie, because they can not tell you what is really going on in your body. Let me explain how:
Lie #1 Water
Did you know your weight can change 4-6 pounds/ day from water alone? It can, so if that is true do I weigh ____ or ____ or somewhere in the middle? Have I lost ____ or gained ____?
Lie #2 The Government’s height weight chart
Have you ever taken a look at the standard “height/ weight” chart in your doctor’s office? If you have I am sure you wondered how you placed on the continuum. Well I have, and on their chart, I am obese. Even though I wear a small size in clothes, I am an athlete, and I happen to have a lot of muscle. But unfortunately, I am considered obese because the number on the chart does not consider body composition.
The Dr.’s chart tells you nothing about how in shape you are because it does not take into account muscle vs. fat, all pounds are created equal. So the next time you are tempted, don’t look, and if he tells you that you are over/ underweight ask him what your body-fat is. Educate him, if he is going to make judgments on someone’s “health.” He needs to have a healthy measure for it, body-fat percentages!!!
Lie #3 All pounds are the same!
Muscle is denser than fat. Real world translation: If you lost 5 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle, your clothes would be baggier, and your body would look more toned.
“The BUTT trap”
I want to get in shape, but…
I should eat better, but…
I should workout, but…
All these statements are what I call the BUTT trap. Listen, it is really easy to talk yourself out of what you should do or what you want to do,you can always find a BUT. However, here is the danger of always finding a but… if you always have a but… you will stay on your BUTT!!!
Drop the but…. and get off yours!!!
“I want it all and I want it now”
Americans are the worst we want it super-sized, we want it in pill form, and we want it yesterday. However, the truth is, when it comes to working out: super-sized, pill form, and wanting it done yesterday, don’t work. If getting fit really came in pill form or could happen overnight, everyone would do it.
If you are currently out of shape, it took you a long time to get there. It takes a long time to form habits, bad ones and good ones. Rather than expecting overnight success through one quick fix or another, keep things in perspective. Set yourself up for success by realizing that getting fit will take time and it will take work, but you can do it.
Enjoy each workout. Enjoy each small change. Enjoy every bit of your energy and your life. Keep enjoying these things, and you will keep motivated. Focus on the feeling better part of fitness, learn to love the journey rather than only living for the destination. In truth, you ultimately want fitness to become a part of your life and a part of who you are, rather than a distant image which you are running towards on the treadmill.
“I am on a diet”
Going back to my last point. If you are on a diet, eventually you will be off a diet. Diets are good foods and bad foods. Diets either succeed or fail. Diets are a black or white decision. Diets are a right or wrong answer. Diets are a good or bad person.
Do I sound flawed in my logic? Diets aren’t a good or bad person… Okay well then why do we feel guilty when we “cheat on our diet”? We cheat on things in our life that are considered morally wrong, cheating on spouses, cheating on tests, cheating in sports… the list goes on. So then, how can you cheat on a diet? You can cheat on a diet only if you place a judgment on it. I feel so guilty for “cheating on my diet.” This is a bad food, so I am a bad person for eating it. Oh, I feel so guilty about eating this bad food and because I failed on my diet. I am a bad person for not being “perfect”. Since I’m not perfect, I quit!
Slow down, take a breath, relax, and instead make a permanent change. Change your lifestyle. Instead of changing what you are doing, change what you do. A lifestyle is a part of you, an overall way that you do things. You choose to eat better because you feel better. When you choose to indulge, INDULGE. Do not feel guilty about it. Satisfy your craving, then get back to normal. It is not about “bad foods” and “good foods;” a lifestyle is about being a little bit better each day.
Fitness: “It’s all or nothing baby!!!!”
Why do diets fail, why do we get burnt out, why do we give up, why do we quit…. Why, because perfection is impossible to maintain and most people make eating and exercise an all or nothing experience. I am either dieting or not dieting. I go to the gym for 2 hours or I don’t go at all. I am a “workout” person or I am not.
Yikes, no one is perfect all the time. I am not perfect all the time and I consider myself a “workout person.” The trick is finding a balance. If I can’t …. Then I will be a little bit better about…. If I can’t workout today, I will be a little bit better about my eating. If there is no gym near me, I will go for a walk. If I have a couple of glasses of wine, I will do an extra 30 minutes of cardio this week. The way I think about it… your goals are long term, in the short term you are going to have good days and bad days, good meals and bad meals, what we want to do is minimize the difference between the good days and the bad days. I promise, the closer you start getting to your goal, the better you start feeling, the higher your motivation, the less likely you will be to be worried about the tiny bumps in the road.
You may be wondering… what are wishy washy wishy? Well, it’s something like… “I just want to be in better shape”. While I am sure this really is a wish, there is nothing concrete here. You really haven’t set a goal. It is so easy to get lost, frustrated, and eventually quit when there is no real end in sight.
Here’s the thing, a wish is a vague idea… and it is a first step… to get what you want, you have to get specific.
Once you have your wish, then you can define your goal, determine your level of success. You answer your personal question… what does it mean to be in better shape?
Obviously, one way to measure fitness goals is in inches and pounds. However, do not limit yourself… Being in better shape can also mean: I want to have more energy to play with my wonderful dogs, I want to have more stamina to be able to keep up with my child and play soccer, I want to lose a notch on my belt, or even I want to work out to feel less stressed. All are valid measures of fitness because fitness is both mental and physical, you just have to have goals set, so that you can make sure you are on track and keep motivated.
People make resolutions and set goals all the time, in fact, I bet you can’t list one person, who is not already fit, who mentioned wanting to lose weight or get in better shape. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, “I so need to start going to the gym, I need to loose weight, I wish I could build some muscle… and the list goes on and on.”
Many times people set goals, many times they start programs, many times they succeed, and yet, so many people never get started and many more never reach their goals.
If you have ever wondered why so many resolutions fail, then I encourage you to stay with me, as we look at some common thought traps that can detour even the most enthusiastic intentions:
1) “Wishy washy wishes”
2) “It’s all or nothing baby!”
3) “I am on a diet”
4) “I want it all… and I want it now!!!”
5) “The BUTT Trap”
6) “Scales LIE!!!!”
