Showing posts with label emotional well-being. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emotional well-being. Show all posts

Monday, February 15, 2010

Most know about YO-YO Dieting, but do you know about YO-YO Exercising?

So we all know by now that YO-YO dieting has the reputation of adding pounds to your frame but did you know so can YO-YO exercising.  Besides adding pounds it can add excess stress to your heart and lungs by stopping and starting those intense exercise programs needed to lose the pounds.  I highly advocate going the distance and going all out with your exercise, but not at the expense of finding yourself back on the couch in 6 months packing on the winter weight again. 
And yes that is why the couch potatoes of the world are having heart attacks during these unusual boughts of winter blizzards.  Think about it most people have to remove the snow from their car, driveway, or even their sidewalk.  Whether they use a snow blower or a shovel it takes some exertion, and that exertion can be 3 x greater on the person who remains adverse to any consistent exercise program.  So next time you consider taking a few days off of working out or taking a break think about the potential consequences if you never go back.  You may need to move the snow off our sidewalk again, and it would be a real tragedy if you suffered a heart attack because you just didn't feel like working out for the last year or two.... 
So when you are deciding on what you should do to get started, think about this...Proven and sustaniable exercise programs can come in short bursts of energy which include cardiovascular and resistance (weight) training.  In order to maintain or improve your metabolism it is imperative to move with a little bit of resistance.  Without realizing it you can improve your overall health by increasing resistance and time incrementally.  One thing you need to remember is consistency, try starting a minimum of 3 days a week. Going all out when you haven't done anything in months or years, is like shoveling 18 inches of snow from a 1/4 mile driveway, just not a real good idea.  Make it a priority in your life and give up something that isn't so important, like watching 1hour of T.V.  Stop the cycle of YO-YO Exercising, stay on track,schedule your exercise into your daily calendar and make yourself a priority.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Personal Trainers own journey with getting healthy...join me today

So here we go, here is another person's story, why would anyone care?  I may not be famous but I have a story just like you have a story to tell.  I just turned 40 and realized that my life has only just begun. Yes I am a Personal Trainer and an Adventure Boot Camp owner, but I am still a person that has a story that I believe needs to be told....
I would like to invite you on my journey or my story of getting healthy.  Have I arrived today? Not at all... am I closer than I was a year ago, yes I believe I am.  Is this another story about a person who loses weight, runs a marathon, completes a triathlon, overcomes some major health crisis, or tragedy?  Well it could be if you choose to read and follow my own journey for the next year... See I have started a journey and I am inviting you to come along for the ride.  For years I have tried to connect with that one part of myself that I lost due to my own life experiences.  I am seeking peace in my own world of self turmoil.  I have been afraid to embrace that one side of myself that I felt has failed me... my spiritual side...As I embark on this new stage of my journey, I am putting my story out on a limb that hopefully you may connect or relate to your own journey.  So join me on this journey of spiritual self discovery and pay attention to my posts... give me your comments and your own stories that may relate. Believe me it can be very therapeutic to connect with others who have experienced life in a similar way...

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Hope the message of this holiday season

Well I heard a very powerful message this past weekend that impacted me to my inner core.  Now I am not talking about my muscle core but my soul core.  Hope is one of the gifts of this season.  Wow, I never really thought of hope being a gift.

The definition of hope is "A confident expectation and desire for something good in the future."

I can honestly embrace the true definition of hope today, yet my faith in hope was truly tested this past year.
This time last year my family and I were contemplating our hope in my brother's future. My brother had become it seemed hopeless, he was no longer the man we remembered him to be and everything about what we knew of him was different.  My parents, my three sisters and I witnessed my brother crash through a coffee table by simply trying to put on his shoes.  We all asked, was he drunk, was he on drugs, what could be the problem?  Maybe the past year of getting a divorce had a huge toll on him, maybe that is why he failed to take a shower, or couldn't remember to bring all of his children's clothes, why he always had a headache and was often dizzy.

See my brother is a man of great accomplishments (at least to me) my brother is my only brother. So when he graduated from West Point, got his Industrial Engineering Degree while still in the Army, then after he retired from the military he earned his law degree, I marveled at his intellect and perserverance. I aspired to be half of the person he had become.

At the age of 36 he married and proceeded to have 4 wonderful children. Although he and his wife divorced he seemed ready to take on the task of being a single parent. He wanted to be a father to his children whether he was married to their mother or not. Yet he seemed to be making mistakes that didn't seem like him.  He didn't show alot of emotion (what man really does) and looked very disheveled. So my brother was never one to be perfect however his military training taught him to be presentable.  So we knew when he fell through the table it had to be something more...

After a few Dr's appts and Psychologist evaluation, it was determined he was depressed and he was put on anti-depressants.  Things didn't seem to be get any better and he in the meantime lost custody of his children, to only get a few supervised visits.  This was definitely not the man we knew or loved, he would never do anything to lose the custody of his children, there had to be something more...

My sisters with the help of their husbands took my brother to the hospital where they committed him to a Psychiatric ward.  My brother's situation had become so dire that he was living in his own filth and no longer going to work.  No one could get in touch with him because his phone was shut off.  We knew something was wrong yet we didn't think he was going crazy, he was going through a hard time and needed help, that is what we thought.

After 2 weeks in the Psychiatric ward, they released him, yet he still was off balance and he was now vomiting at the drop of a hat.  We had all hoped that he would get better however we failed to really see the true signs of what was really happening.  My parents finally after much probing and prodding of the Dr's asked for my brother to get a CAT scan and low and behold there it was, he had a tumor taking up a large portion of his frontal lobe in his brain.

Within a few days my brother was taken to a Neurologist and it was determined the type of tumor he had was most likely a meningioma, which is usually non cancerous but can be just a dangerous depending on the size.  Surgery was then scheduled for less than a week and now our faith and hope in the Dr's came into play. 

I have found this time of year a time to reflect on the year's that have past and the year's to come.  How can I change myself for the better?  The only thing that can help me make those changes is my hope in my future. 
So any changes I have to make need to be backed by my confident expectation and desires for good in the future.  When one loses hope that is when you find you have lost your confidence in a good future.  You fail to see your desires in a positive way, you lack patience in the process. Often times the hopeless find themselves contemplating their existence and if there is any good in the future.

Just recently I found out a young man of only 31 committed suicide, just 1 week after Thanksgiving.  You would think he had all the hope in the world with a new wife and two beautiful children.  Yet he found no hope in his future and left his family to grieve his loss.  Is there still hope for those left behind?  What can those little girls learn from this horrific event?
How many times have you found yourself deciding to make a change for the better.  You will embark upon a new health and wellness regime to only lose hope that you will ever change.  What most of us forget on our journey is that it takes time and patience to see your desired results.  How many times have you lost focus and hope in your desire to be healthy?