And maybe possibly this too...
And not this is not just OJ..
Haha just kidding, but come on no one ever runs for just a little bit ice-cream later? Honestly, sometimes I might be guilty of this. Seriously, though if you asked me a 1.5 years ago, truth be told I did, I ran to eat. Today,
I eat to run
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to eat good foods like ice-cream (and did I mention ice-cream). And I do enjoy eating an extra scoopful on marathon day, hey, I earned it and more importantly my body needs it!
Marathon Ice-cream the best kind!
BUT the difference between the me of today and the me of yesteryear is that the old Stephanie truly did run to eat. Like many of us, I struggled with my weight and felt that running would be the answer and that as long as I ran I could eat whatever I wanted, simple and easy. It was all about the weight. Take it from someone who has been there, this is not the weigh (yes I actually wrote weigh by mistake) to live a happy life. It actually sucked, big time! Now, don't get me wrong, exercise is important. Maintaining a healthy weight is just as imperative and I am not bashing that but I want to tell you about the other side of things. You know, the journey where when you start out on a fitness endeavor you do it for the right reasons - for fitness, friends and FUN! That is where I am today. It took me a long time to get me here, but now that I am, I could not be happier.
So when the FitFluential Family discussed writing about our path to fitness and 7 Tips to Give Newbies, I could not think of a better way to impart this on you all but by sharing my view on how to approach fitness. And my view is the same whether you need to gain or lose weight. Whether you want to get faster or become stronger, my advice is to do it for the right reasons -
Fitness Friends and Fun.
See this is fun...right?
In my mind anyway, if you do this, you won't go wrong (and that is just my opinion). No matter what your goals are, keeping these three things in mind will allow you to reach your goals with a happy, healthy smile on your face. With this as the base, my tips revolve will revolve around these initiatives...
If your focus is on (1) fitness for the right reasons and those reasons being (2) fitness, (3) friends and (4) fun, there are only three more tips I can impart...
5) Set a goal. Sure I gave you broad outline of what I thought were the right reasons but you may have different ones and those are ok. Set a realistic goal and be true to it - is it to run for 5 minutes or 5 miles. Is it to do a plank a day? Whatever it is, this will help you stay motivated
6) Be true to yourself. Set realistic goals. Don't do something because everyone else is doing it so you thing you "should." Do it because you want to. Because you LOVE it. This is YOUR goal after all.
7) Be gentle on yourself. Fitness is HARD. It is hard to bring fitness into your life schedule and it is hard to be motivated. If you "slip," and steer from your goal, be gentle with yourself. You are only human and tomorrow is a new day. This is supposed to be fun, remember?!?
So that's it. These are my tips...they may seem simple, but it has taken my a lifetime to figure them out. I hope they are helpful to you :)
20 mile run!!! It is fun and fitness :) Or as the husband says maybe I am just a...
Coming soon for sale men and women dri-fit matching shirts...whose excited?
What would your tips be? Do you eat to run or run to eat?
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