Whatever happens .. Just finish

So it was a blundering 25 degrees out. Why would anyone want to be running 6 plus miles? At 8:30 in the morning nonetheless! 

I already had to pee before the race started so I had to use port-a-pottys! Whoa gross! Someone already had their morning poo pre-race!

The trot began and my toes were numb for the first few miles! What's up with that? I already switched shoes. I think I might have a pinched nerve. I'll have to get that checked out. But I didn't stop to walk until after mile 4. This is good! Progress! I struggle with running. I always have. But even if you struggle, even if you walk part of the trot, guess what? You are outside kicking your own butt! I struggle with that question every time I run - I ask myself, "why am I doing this?! This is crazy!" I might not be able to answer this question on my run but I know that I place one foot in front of the other and then again other foot in front of the other because I want to get better!

I don't race to get medals, I don't race to show off to my husband (who beat me this year because he started working out with me!), I do it because the next time, hopefully, I'll be faster and stronger and a better version of me. Even if you walk the whole trot, the main thing is you finished! Even if you didn't beat your time, you got out here, put yourself out there, and finished something that you started. Which is more than I can say for a lot of people.

Even if your lungs burn, and your legs are ready to collapse, and after the race you feel like you're going to vomit, just know that you did it. You finished!

Oh by the way, I need a new goal because I beat my turkey trot time!

Readiness to learn/change

My boss at work just had a half hour conversation with his daughter who happens to also work at the same place. She had stubbed her toe getting out of the bathtub and the toe looks gray/black with her slightly limping. My boss wants her to go get it checked out directly after work but she wants to sleep and go after her 1pm class  (We are all working night shift and eating lunch at this moment). My boss talks in circles about how this needs to be done "now now now!", how she doesn't need to learn the hard way, and how she might have a broken or at least infected toe. His daughter is just as stubborn and will not budge.

I'm telling you this story because fitness can be the same way. You may want your spouse, partner, friend, family member(s) or even yourself to get in shape but until that person is truly ready to commit, then it will be an uphill battle.

A person needs a readiness of mind and body in order to commit to a fitness/lifestyle change in order for the weight loss or the change to be permanent. I'm not saying drop your day job and just workout! I'm saying there needs to be open mind to learning or re-learning what you have been doing in order to be successful in weight loss, or muscle building, or whatever your fitness goal may be.

If my husband only workouts when I nag him, what will happen when I'm on vacation without him? Will he workout on his own? Probably not. We need to realize that this might be why we are failing sometime. If the readiness is not there, we might be setting ourselves up for failure. Ask yourself, "Am I ready for some change?"

Let's not be another yo-yo diet or fitness fad. Let's commit to showing up each and every day, fully applying ourselves 110% in everything we do. This includes our workouts, our runs, our flow, our nutrition, even on the weekends when we think no one is looking. At work, I can educate a smoker until I am blue in the face, but until that person is ready to quit smoking for themselves, then I will not be an effective educator. Let's not be that smoker who tries to quit 10 times, OR that person with the infected toe because they weren't ready to learn from their father. Let's the be the change that we want to see in the world, as Ghandi beautifully put it.

Nutrition goal: Take the white stuff out

Think about it: what are foods that are white? 

- white rice

- cream cheese

- cheese

- flour

- sugar 

Of course, there are exceptions (egg whites are super healthy and nutrient packed). But this list is a really good start. To start working out, and working on that six pack abs, one must stay away from these white foods. Replace white rice with quinoa, or brown rice. Replace dairy with more leafy greens. Flour can sound healthy on the package label, but what "enriched white flour" really means is that the company, stripped the flour of nutrients, then added unnatural nutrients of its own, which is still not as healthy as whole wheat flour (or if the company just left the flour alone in the first place).

And of course, sugar. Our goal is to eat less than 10 grams of it, or none at all. That's pretty hard unless you have the time to cook everything yourself or have a personal chef. But just be cognizant when you read labels. A lot of things that seem healthy, have a lot of sugar in them: flavored yogurt (also white), canned spaghetti sauces, BBQ sauces, instant oatmeal, bottled teas, Gatorade, vitamin drinks, canned or packaged fruits, and the list goes on and on!

Read up on specific brands 

http://www.m.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/sugar-shockers-foods-surprisingly-high-in-sugar

http://www.everydayhealth.com/pictures/high-sugar-foods-youre-probably-eating-every-day/

So main point here: read your labels and try to stay away from white foods.

No shortcuts

What do we achieve when we take shortcuts in fitness? Not as much as when we take the time to master proper form of each exercise. Speeding through the workout not only hurts the outcome (not burning as much calories - hence not losing as much weight, or not creating as much strength/flexibility/power/etc.), it can also increase the risk for injury. So just a heads up: take your time to master your balance level. When you've done that, then take it up to strength level. When you don't hear your coaches correcting your form on either one of those, then take it up the Kaia level. We tend to see greater results when we don't take shortcuts!