The adage that if you don’t use it, you lose it, I can assure you, applies to fitness. I confess I have lost it a few times. Happy to report that I also found it again. You do not have to lose it forever. I believe that once you have enjoyed a level of fitness allowing you to participate in desired activities, you may lose it temporarily when life happens, but you will find your way back. If you are like me, this might be a repeating pattern. One that I hope will stop now that I found it again at 62.
One of the benefits I gained from a dysfunctional ten-year relationship was a consistent fitness routine. For four days at home, I would stretch before cardio and for three days at the gym, I would alternate between chest and back, arms and shoulders and squatting my weight to work the quads and hamstrings. My fitness allowed me to hike mountains with a 40-pound pack, paddle a canoe into headwinds for five hours straight, and much more. My adult nieces will complain, “Slow down.” One describes me as pocket-sized with more energy than anyone has a right to have.
After that relationship ended, I lived with my sister in a small trailer. I lost my exercise signals, patterns, routines and gym access for three years. Humans are creatures of habit. Moving into my own house, I dedicated a room to exercise again. Donning my grungiest workout clothes, I refused to shower or change into presentable and fun clothes until I completed my yoga, stretching and a cardio routine. This tricked me into a consistent habit. Cardio then was my exercise bike or mini trampoline called a Cellerciser designed with NASA technology to prevent astronaut’s muscles from atrophying in zero gravity. It protects your knees and back with a high-quality design and materials. I have used that since 2006, and it is still my favourite way to take breaks from my desk and reach my daily goal of 10,000 steps. Barbara O'Neill's video "Muscle Knows No Age” speaks to the health benefits of rebounding. People have purportedly even had their eyesight improved.
Years later, after letting go of my two-story bungalow and exercise room, I landed in a one-bedroom apartment in The Hood (Alberta Avenue in Edmonton.) Exercise gear became a part of my living room decor. As my clients increased, my desk-jockey life meant more sitting, zooms, editing and writing, which meant exercise now had to be a multi-tasking activity. I adore a good movie while I bounce or swing some kettle balls. After several days with 3,500 steps or… gasp… even fewer steps, I told myself that anything I could do on my phone had to be on the rebounder. Once implemented consistently, I was up to 5,000 steps sometimes before 8:30 AM. It made it so easy!
When finding your way back to your desired fitness levels, choose good quality gear keeping safety and enjoyment in mind. Setting the phone down, I can use one finger on the balance bar of my trampoline to balance for higher jumps or bum kicks. It would sit in the corner of my living room, taunting me when my step count was low. My two-pound hula hoop sits on the edge over the springs, handy for some quick shimmies during a movie. I also used a blue Bosu ball that resided behind my trampoline.
On one long desk day, I moved the Bosu to interrupt my path to the kitchen. Just having to balance a bit, bouncing on and off wakes up my brain to realize I just needed a movement break. I am NOT hungry. Our brains dull like a citywide power outage after 30 minutes of sitting—a few minutes of walking or bouncing can light up our brains like fireworks. The Bosu also challenges me to maintain my ability to balance. As we age, we often experience a decrease in our ability to stabilize. With its sturdy flat bottom, this half ball has been great for training my muscles to keep me upright when something may make me stumble. In one of my “lost fitness” phases, I recall feeling irritated when my stride to step on, and off sidewalks was jerky, requiring a pause and concentration, even wavering to catch myself. That “loss of flow at a measly six-inch curb” served as a wake-up call sending me to find my routines again.
Now, having moved once again into an 8’x23’ tiny home, I am aware and on to the tricks of my comfortable habitual self. I need to build new habits. My son installed my chin-up bar, my yoga mat comes out every morning between my kitchen counter and table, and my trusty Bosu Ball sits at the foot of my bed.
Even more critical, our large leg muscles stabilize us when we lose our balance. One of the main reasons older people break hips is less due to fragile bones and more often due to weak quadriceps and hamstrings. Broken hips are the number one thing that robs people of their ability to remain in their homes and forces them prematurely into assisted living. One simple thing to do is squats. Start at any age; begin easy, and take it slow. I used to squat with weights equal to my body weight on a bar, and all through chemotherapy in 2003, I squatted 60 pounds to move those drugs to every cell in my body. My philosophy then was that if I were going to take those drugs, I would make sure the chemicals moved to every corner of my cells. There is nothing like squats to warm you up and pump your blood. An easy, safe way to integrate squats into your day is to take hold of your kitchen sink with both hands and lean back to sit on an invisible chair.
Day one, do one. Try two squats if your quadriceps and hamstrings are pain-free two days later. Build up until you’re confident enough to do a high wall squat, then build up your stamina to do lower wall squats by placing your back against the wall, and slide down until your thighs and shins are at right angles. Find a fitness professional if you want to test your balance strength, so they can help you safely try if your quads and hamstrings are rock hard or jiggly and soft. You want the rock-hard! Strong leg muscles go a long way to help you catch your balance, possibly protecting you from a broken hip, as discussed above.
In summer 2020, a Mount Carlyle guide took our group up the most scenic route. It also had the steepest altitude gain. Forced to admit I was not fit for this trip, my breathing was good from my trampoline, but my leg muscles were complaining that I had ignored squats far too long. I once again became motivated because I refused to give away thousands of dollars of hiking equipment just because of that trip. I am hiking this year. I only made it to Carlyle because Mac, whom my friend called donkey legs, would jog ahead, drop his pack, and jog back to take mine, relaying my gear up the steep inclines. If you are missing a former enjoyable activity, do not rush to give it up like me. Make a plan with a health and fitness coach to restore those muscles. Many studies show we do not need to accept aging. Check out bio-hacking research. In 2021, I was too slow with my commitment to fitness, and lockdowns were a hindrance. In December 2021, I committed to chin-ups, yoga, and push-ups and raised my step quota to 12,000. I have missed yoga three times since December 13. I started unable to do even one chin-up, and in a month, I could manage three in a row.
Push-ups started slow too, but I’m now up to 15 with excellent form. I follow Ben Greenfield for ideas and am planning this summer's hike to Ribbon Falls in Kananaskis and creating my plan for the more strenuous British Columbia’s Mount Robson hike next year. Take it slow, be safe and find exercise routines that appeal to you, work in your environment, make the time AND make it stare you in the face when you tiptoe to the fridge. Tripping over my Bosu Ball works for me. It holds the same taunting power as my trampoline. Even desk jockeys can maintain their fitness with some planning and dedication.
Reference links in the body of the story above
Cellerciser Link: https://bp321.isrefer.com/go/cell001/Spunky/
Barbara O’Neill Video Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIXOToHqUo
Bosu Ball Link: https://www.bosu.com/
Ben Greenfields’s 10 Top Hacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmroGxffMEM
Learn more about Rusti:
Rusti L Lehay, a global editor and book and writing coach, created over 40 articles guiding writers to authordom. Witnessing writers find and speak in their own voice to serve the real boss, the audience, not the editor, is one of Rusti’s greatest joys. She offers bi-monthly online writing STAY-Treats and monthly lounges and teaches weekly creative writing classes. Her primary mission is to inspire, provide value and make writing fun and easy.
Links: https://linktr.ee/rustilehay
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"Ding Ding!"
There it is. That reminder you set in your phone to workout! It's time!
But wait - you're still in bed, or in the thick of work at your computer. Your runners are under a pile of other shoes, and you're dreading that same YouTube workout you've already done a few times.
You hear that voice. The one that whispers: "skip today", and you respond: "I should. I've gotta get through all of these emails and I just don't have the time. Who was I kidding setting that alarm?"
Then you press delete on the notification...you've decided you're just not the workout kind of person - and then the whole guilt - action - inaction - guilt - action - inaction cycle starts again.
𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲, 𝟮𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. 𝗔𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲?
The thing is, I really wanted to be a person who loved fitness, and the biggest things that made that happen for me, had nothing to do with setting alarms.
Here are three things that helped me get to that place and I know they'll help you too.
𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗪𝗛𝗬 - Are you working out to have a six pack, lose the baby weight and have a "bikini body"? Or are you working out to feel strong, live healthy and be in a good mental state?
The first few reasons are based on your perception on what others think of you. The others are about what YOU think of you. It's the latter that will keep you inspired to keep moving.
𝟮. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 - Time and Money. Yes. If you looked at the hours and coin you dropped on something that IS successful in your life, I bet it wouldn't be a "when I have the time and/or money" situation.
As tempting as it is - wellness is not a thing you want to cheap out on. At the beginning of my journey - I joined a boutique fitness studio to get me on the right track. It was the most I had ever spent on my fitness, but it kept me accountable.
I knew that the regular membership type deal that I had done so many times before, wasn't enough to keep me in the zone. I needed more.
𝟯. 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁 𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 - Shift your mindset away from temporary fixes and toward lifestyle changes. Repeat after me: "I am a person that loves fitness, wellness and nutrition."
One small choice and habit at a time will get you closer to the lifestyle, state of mind and the wellness you envision.
When I coach people through my wellness program, we look at all sides. Nutrition, mindset and fitness. It's important to know that it's not just action that creates change. It's action fueled by emotion, feeling and passion. What is the life you want to be living? Let's focus on that.
Connect with me here if you'd like to explore this for yourself.
In Happiness & Health,
Natalie Colalillo
Founder & CEO Happy Healthy Women
Instagram: @happy_healthy_nat
Did you know that the average woman spends 17 years of her life on a diet?
That doesn’t include the time that we spend worrying about how we look or telling ourselves that we aren’t good enough.
The past year has taught us life is too short. Things we take for granted can be what we end up deeply craving when they’re gone.
The fitness and beauty industry want us to believe that the answer is: we just have to work harder and spend more money.
It’s all crap.
The research is overwhelming: diets DO NOT work. According to the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination, 95% of diets fail and more than half gain back any lost weight within 1-5 years.
So, if diets don’t work - what does?
Embracing Joyful Movement
Re-think how you see exercise and its role in your life.
We need to stop believing that the reasons we need to exercise are to burn calories, justify what we ate or punish our bodies into a smaller size.
Ask yourself: what else does movement do for me? How does it improve my life? Why else does it feel good to move my body?
A few examples: It reduces my anxiety. It’s relieves stress, helps me sleep and have more energy!
Or, here is a radical one: I have fun while I am doing it.
Seek out movement you ENJOY even if it doesn’t look like traditional exercise. What did you like doing as a kid? Did you dance? Bike rides? Baseball? Use that as your inspiration.
Mindful Eating - Healing your relationship with food
We’ve been taught to ignore our hunger cues and use food for emotional comfort.
Here are some questions to discover your “food story”:
Write out your answers. Highlight any patterns, recurring thoughts, or statements that aren’t objectively true or anything that was “passed onto you” by someone else (or by society!).
Write a new story by incorporating mindfulness into your eating routine.
Mindful Eating is all about slowing down and learning how to listen to your internal cues of hunger and satiety.
Embrace mindful eating by:
With these small steps, you can connect with your body in a new way!
Replace shame, guilt and self-blame with honouring your body, celebrating what it can do, its abilities, and how you FEEL in your body - rather than how it looks.
You aren’t broken - diet culture is.
If you want to learn more, get FREE access to our Self Love Formula Webinar so you can learn more about how to stop self-sabotage and build your confidence.
Courtney McCarthy is an ACE certified group fitness instructor, Mindset Coach, and Founder of Loyobo FIT. Loyobo FIT stands for Love Your Body Fitness, which is a hybrid body positive fitness community that helps women to ditch diet culture and use fitness as a foundation for confidence in every aspect of their lives.
Courtney is happy to be a Happy Healthy Women Guelph, ON Trailblazer.
Ladies, you may have heard that resistance training (aka strength training) helps you lose weight and won’t bulk you up like the hulk. It may sound counterintuitive - like why would I want to lift weights if I want to get smaller? Shouldn’t I just do cardio?
Yes, doing cardio alone can help you lose weight, however if you want to build lean muscle and turn your body into a calorie burning machine (even when you’re NOT exercising), you’ll need to lift some weights. Not to mention, if you want definition, strength training is the way to go! Think, marathoner vs sprinter.
Importantly, as women age, we tend to lose muscle mass more easily and our bones get weaker. So it’s even more necessary for us ladies to gain or maintain our lean muscle by strength training.
Lifting weights or other forms of resistance training will not only increase your muscle and bone strength, but will also increase your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the minimum level of energy required to maintain vital functions such as breathing, keeping your heart beating, digesting,etc. Over 70% of the oxygen and energy we expend each day goes toward your BMR! It takes a lot of work to keep us alive and functioning optimally.
The more muscle you have, the higher your resting energy expenditure, and it also means you’re burning more calories even at rest. BONUS! This is because muscle requires more energy to function than fat.
Aesthetically speaking, you want to build muscle and lose fat because muscle is more dense than fat. Five pounds of muscle takes up less space than five pounds of fat. This is another reason why the scale can be misleading if you’ve been strength training. The number on your scale can be higher if you built more muscle and lost fat. The best gauge is how you feel inside and in your clothes.
Strength training is not only good for the body, it’s also empowering for the mind and the soul. Getting stronger = getting better.
So ladies, don’t be afraid to pick up some dumbbells, exercise bands or just use your own body weight and get lifting!
Mimie Louie is a Certified Fitness and Nutrition Coach, Personal Trainer and founder of keepingitrealfit.com. She specializes in helping women who want to feel more empowered and free in their body. She helps women get lean and strong, and feel more confident. Her programs are designed to work with a busy woman’s schedule and lifestyle. She is a Trailblazer in our Etobicoke Branch. Feel free to reach out at mimie@keepingitrealfit.com
There are days that we get up bright-eyed, bushy tailed, and ready for a morning workout!
Then… there are days when time is of essence, yet you still want to squeeze in some exercise.
Tabata workouts are perfect for busy days. Tabata training (named after its developer Izumi Tabata) is designed to be efficient and effective. Tabata is a form of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It’s a timed interval method consisting of 20-seconds of maximum effort, followed by 10-seconds of recovery, repeated eight times for the ultimate exhaustive 4-minute workout. We all have four minutes don’t we?
HIIT is particularly amazing for:
losing body fat, yet retaining lean muscle;
strengthening the cardiovascular system;
developing a tolerance for high intensity capacity for longer;
challenging your mental resilience;
saving you time
Try this 4-minute Tabata workout that will be sure to wake your body up and have you feeling great throughout the day! Remember, for these workouts to be effective, you must go at your maximum effort during the “20-seconds on”.
Do each exercise for 20-seconds, then rest for 10-seconds before moving on to the next exercise. Repeat the routine for 2 rounds for a total of 4-minutes. If you’re up to it, repeat the workout to make it either an 8 or 12-minute routine. Be sure you do a warm-up and stretch to cool down. I suggest 1-2 minutes of jogging in place and jumping jacks to warm-up. Do a full body stretch to cool down.
Quick Feet (narrow then wide)
Start by running in place as fast as you can, landing lightly on the balls of your feet for 2-seconds. Pump your arms.
Then spread your feet to run in a wide stance as fast as you can for 2 seconds. Keep pumping your arms.
Repeat narrow then wide, narrow then wide.
Curtsy Side Lunge & Kicks
Start in a standing position. Then step the right leg back (into a curtsy), then kick that leg out to the right.
Switch sides by stepping the left leg back (into a curtsy), then kick that leg out to the left. Repeat sequence.
Plank Jacks
Get into a plank on your forearms - - elbows are under your shoulders, neck is in line with your back, core is tight to avoid rounding or dipping of the back or hips, tuck the pelvis slightly under, eyes looking about a foot in front of you.
Jump legs open and close, while staying in plank. Keep the buttocks low as you jump legs open and close.
Jump Rope
If you don’t have a jump rope, pretend you’re holding onto one. Start skipping with a standard jump (feet together and skip). Turn the rope with just your wrist. Jump as quickly as you can.
Mimie Louie is a Certified Fitness and Nutrition Coach, founder of keepingitrealfit.com. She specializes in helping women who want to feel more empowered and free in their body. She helps women get lean and strong, and feel more confident. Her programs are designed to work with a busy woman’s schedule and lifestyle. She is a Trailblazer in our Etobicoke Branch. Feel free to reach out at mimie@keepingitrealfit.com
Searching for your WHY...
Being at the office is more than just work deadlines. It is also numerous social events, the donuts that appear out of the blue at 3:00 PM, the happy hour drinks on Thursday or Friday night. All those situations can alter or interfere with our health and fitness goals.
When we are surrounded by people that are not in tune with our personal goals or with a health or fitness plan we have put together, it can be hard to maintain those goals and mindset every day.
The most important thing to consider is to be clear on what you want to achieve with your health program and how you want to feel. Your WHY…(it will help you to be in tune with thoughts and desires)
Below are some tips that can keep you on track and make you accountable for what you want to achieve:
Set your goal with a time base and a high priority: If your goal is to fit into your old favorite shorts for the summer, the time is set and it is your priority to choose food options and a movement program that will take you there. Even if it is walking more, or taking more stairs or to take that extra Pilates class.
Use sticky notes: Place your notes on your computer, or by your desk or by your drawer to remind you what you need to do, eat or focus on. Even a simple sticky note reminding you to take a break and breathe, can make a big difference
Plan and prep for your week: Making some Mason jar salads ahead of time will take some of the pressure off your shoulders.
What if you are Traveling for business: Traveling for work might require that you eat a lot in restaurants and finding less healthy alternatives can be a possibility. If this is your case, focus on low glycemic meals as much as possible and omit fried or package foods that come as an extra with your meal. Examples can be chips, cookies, French fries and pop. Opt for salads and lean meats or fish. Order water with a side of lemon and eat slowly.
Find an accountability partner: Talk to a co-worker to help you navigate the office temptations and to make you accountable when going to a happy hour, to a dinner party or afternoon coffee/snack time. When having a buddy system with someone on the same health path, life can become easier and you can count on a person with the same mindset and goals as yourself. You don’t have to do this alone :)
With planning, awareness, reminders and preparation, you can stay on track and achieve the health goals you set to yourself. Especially if it is food-related, you need the reminders and the resilience to choose what is healthy and nourishing. You don’t need to count calories in every meal you eat. Rather, choose nourishing foods that will make a difference in the long run.
