A New Year

It is a new year.  People can be in three places with regard to fitness and health as the year begins.  They may plan to 1) keep the progress and motivation, 2) change and make some progress or 3) continue to ignore that progress needs to be made.

I am not going to take much of your time today and I am not going to give you many hints about exercise and food as people far more influential than I are busy doing just that.  (and that is what I do every day anyways)

I think the most important thing I have to say today and the "wisdom" I want you to keep is this, "temporary actions bring temporary results." 

Please do not start 2011 with the last great diet.  Start it with the intention of eating well and exercising every day - and 2011 will pass - one day at a time.

I am an extremist.  This is true for all aspects of my life - I don't run neutral (ha).  I do not suggest that anyone be as focused as I, but that everyone be focused.  I have been the same weight (give or take a pound) for ten years now.  I know what I like. I know what is nutritious and what is not.  I work around it all so that at the end of any day I am comfortable with my choices and my body.   

You must be consistent.

Do set goals for yourself.  A goal for living.  A goal for a long active life.  Goals for the year, for the month, for each week.  Most importantly a goal for tomorrow. 

Planning is important.

Have you seen those yogurt commercials where someone is declining an offer for some junk food because they have "red velvet cake" or "black forest cake."  The cake turns out to be a tasty, but low calorie snack?  I think that is the advice I should give you today. 

 On most days, plan your meals (eating small but often) and arrange to eat foods that you enjoy, that you want to eat, and when someone offers you a treat, smile and decline because you actually WANT what is in your lunch bag.  You are in control of what you eat.

My other advice is for exercise. Start where you are and move forward - key word, MOVE.  Ten minutes of walking today and take it from there.

Lastly, I use a web based activity tracker that is associated with my Garmin GPS.  You may have seen some of my runs from the link on the left.  I try to upload or add ALL my activity, however, things do get left off.  That being said, today I looked at my 365 day report and was very proud of myself.  The summary below is NOT all that I did - I'd say at least 20% is missing.

I think that I can add the picture here.  I do so in the hopes that you might take inspiration and start your activity log today.  You can find an interactive log on line.  You may wish to try the MyPyramid website.



Look at ALL those miles and calories burned!!