Top Tips for staying on track while on vacation.....

Sooooo you are on vacation.  I know, I know, you want to kick back, not worry about anything and eat with reckless abandon.  After all it is a VACATION right?

Here is why you shouldn't....Yes it takes 21 days to make a good habit, but you can derail that habit in 48 hours.  Sad but true.

1. Set some boundaries.  Yes have fun but DONT do anything that will make it hard for you to get back in healthy habits once you are home and regretting those 7lbs.  Decide ahead of time what you will allow and wont allow. My big tip here is just DONT do anything that has been known to cause to you binge.  For me this is sugar.  I dont eat it.  Not ever, not even on vacation.  The price I pay for it is TOOOO high.  ( Literally weeks and months of being off the wagon, so I abstain all the time).  For me, I eat bread rolls as a treat.  I know, life on the edge eh?!  It is a simple treat I dont allow myself daily.  When on vacation, I have crusty fresh bread.

2. Take the stairs.  As much as possible.  I will be on a cruise ship, sometimes I have to go up 10 decks, which would be 20 flights of stairs.  If I have time I will, but not always.  I dont EVER take an elevator to go down.  I always walk down the stairs.  The tip here is walk as much as you can.  Find as much fun physical stuff to do, and walk as much as you can :)

3. Remember EVERYTHING counts.  EVERYTHING adds up, good and bad, and no amount of relaxing and binge eating is worth the extra effort you will have to expend to fix things when you get home :)  This is easier when you have an over all mind set of food as fuel, not pleasure.  It used to be I couldn't fathom HOW people could get there mentally, but as I am not in that spot, I can tell you the FASTEST way there is to have solid goals that are TOTALLY unrelated to size and weight.  For example, I avoid sugar because I am an addict.  I avoid dairy because my joints hurt more when I eat it, I keep my nutrition quality high because I feel AMAZING and I love being able to do thing many 46 year old women cant do.  When I look at this 4 times a day on a cruise ship

THE thing that stops me from going in face first is focusing on how I love feeling amazing and healthy and strong and eating this will take that away.

Sooooo there you have it.  3 simple things you can do to minimize vacation damage.  :)

For more help getting fit, stop on by my FB page and message me if I can help you on your fitness journey.

https://www.facebook.com/fighththefluff

Progress....

So lets talk about progress this morning. You can never ever compare yourself to someone else. Even the tiniest thing is progress. This lesson has come back around a couple of time in the past weeks, for me. 

So I started learning Aerial Silks in September, with my 11 yr old. We were neck and neck for the first month and after that she took off and left me in the dust. One of the classes we took there was a girl closer to my age who had been going for a month. I don't get to work out with her as often, but when I did last week, she could totally scorch me on climbing ( which let me tell you is NO JOKE - I come down off those things breathing so hard you may think my lungs may fly out!!) BUT I can flip upside down as easily as blinking, and she cant....YET!! Different people, different areas of strength, different progress, BUT STILL PROGRESS!!!!!

We ALL progress at different rates, don't EVER be discouraged at what you do or don't see on the scales, on the tape measure, or you perceived progress. The truth is, the LITTLEST THINGS mean HUGE changes inside. 

Last night my gymnastics class was working on kicking to handstands on mini parallel bars. Even though 30 yrs ago I was a gymnast, 6 weeks ago, I could only kick up with a booster block AND a little leg push from a spotter. Last night, I only need the booster block!!!!! It is a SMALL step, but I CAN SEE PROGRESS!!! Even though I hadn't trained on that move in 6 weeks, my over all physical activity has increased my strength and kicking and I sailed up as easily as blinking....soooo here is what you can take from this....

1. Building strength, stamina, endurance, a stronger heart, a lower BP, etc...ALL HAPPENS as long as you KEEP GOING. While there are some things you have to train specifically for to get good at NEVER underestimate the power of just keeping on training and doing what you love smile emoticon CHANGES ARE HAPPENING STRENGTH IS BEING HARNESSED smile emoticon

2. The little things ADD UP!!! I don't hashtag EVERYTHING COUNTS for nothing, because it does EVERYTHING good and bad adds up. Start putting little marks on your GOOD side smile emoticon

3. Even if you don't think you see progress, or you think your progress is too small to mention, know that thinking is INACCURATE! You cant learn to run without walking, you cant learn to walk without standing, you cant learn to stand without MONTHS of falling, wobbling, leaning, being lead, cruising furniture. So JUST KEEP GOING!!! KEEEEP GOING!!! KEEEEEEEEP GOING!!!!!!!

4. You have nothing but time. Sure we would all like to push an easy button and wake up tomorrow an ideal size weight and fitness level. Sadly that doesn't happen....but the good news is, you don't have to be at X level by next Friday lunchtime! This is your world, YOUR STORY.... you write it!!!!

My daughter will pass her level one skills test in Aerial Silks in the next month or so, and in truth , it will probably take me until well into the summer or fall before I am ready. But it doesn't matter, I am having fun and INCHING (literally) forward and every time I do a move and fail I am getting a tiny bit stronger, a tiny bit fitter, a tiny bit closer.

The time IS GOING TO PASS, spend it making teeny steps of progress - it IS worth it and it ALL adds up