Tag: New Year

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Where I Am Going From Here

Well here we are New Years Day. I was looking at the stats for this little fitness tips blog and see that last year I had over 2 million page views and over 1 million visitors. That was amazing and I want to thank you for having such trust in me and my message of how to get fit.

Here I am on a Saturday afternoon, the first of the year. And I am thinking about honesty and direction. Where my life is leading me and where and what I will be focussing on this year.

My family and I stayed up last night until midnight watching a movie, having a fondue and just reveling in spending time together.  But now the new year is upon us

What have I been up to?

Last week I sent three emails to the list of people that have signed up for the 10 days of fitness program/newsletter (you can sign up on the sidebar to the right here). Anyway in these emails I tried to come up with a good way of making goals, new years resolutions, that will work well and not be thrown out by the end of the month.

Also last week I set up a poll asking what people are looking for in the way of articles here on the blog. The winner of that poll was Weight loss, followed by exercise and then eating tips. Following further behind in the poll were productivity and muscle gain articles.

I am never sure how clear I am about this but my top priority is to make sure that I am serving and helping as many people as I can. The trouble is that I can give advice, I can poke and prod, I can help answer excuses, but in the end it is YOU that has to watch the food and water in and the exercise out.

What is The Fitness Tips Blog for 2011?

So here I was last week wondering what I should do next on this blog. I am in the process of writing up a weight loss book and that should help us all to understand what it takes from another perspective. More importantly though is thinking of the new posts and the new ways that I can be of help to you.

This year I want to make sure that I open up a lot more of myself to you. I have in the past written about what I am eating and how I am working out but the trouble is that a lot of the ”Weight Loss Gurus” and writers of books and TV show people seem to live this perfect life of no urges, no breakdowns, no cheating on eating , and no laziness. This is not me

I want to open up about the chocolate, missed workouts and fighting with the thoughts in my head telling me to do one thing and really doing the other. Let’s share ourselves and our successes as well as looking for support in our failures.

So I know that I will continue giving you the news, and articles on weight loss and fitness but more often I will try to tell you about those other bloggers that are writing really cool articles and more about me and my family. Did you know that my wife suffers from weight issues? And that with all the help I can give she still will not listen to me but lets me know when I am full of crap with my own eating? Yes more of those kinds of stories.

So lets buckle up and have a great year. We all have a lot to look forward to and I hope that this year we can have even more sharing than we have in the last couple.

Thanks

Bill

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Exercise Excuses

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for awhile now and figured that since the new year is in full swing, I’d humor myself.

In 2010 I exercised, but not a lot. On a good week, I was moving about 3 times a week. Yet, it seemed most weeks I was making an effort only once. But why? Excuses! I’m really good at rationalizing and this year I want to face my excuses head-on. Admittedly, there were many days that my excess sugar consumption kept me from physically being able to exercise- bloat, upset stomach, lethargy, and depression all kicked in and helped make the couch look super comfortable.

Now that I’m having a sugar-free year I hope to avoid some of these excuses, but I know there will be new ones cropping up.

Here are some of my most frequent excuses:

I’m too tired. Here’s what happens: I’ll have every intention to exercise, but I’ll get caught up in doing everything else under the sun. Oh! Looks like I need to clean out the refrigerator! And more often than not I am genuinely busy and wait and wait and wait until I’m just too tired to exercise.

Solution: Schedule exercise for a time of day when I don’t feel too busy or too tired. That sounds easy enough? Probably not for all of us. I don’t have to be at work at a certain time and most of my days are spent at home working, but there are a lot of folks that leave for work at 7am and get home around 5 or even 6, then they have other chores to tend to. What is the solution? Make exercise a priority (I’m speaking for myself here too) wake up 45 minutes early and go to the gym, do an exercise dvd or dance to your favorite playlist. For me, I like to exercise with my husband who is a late sleeper, so I need to schedule exercise at 4 or 5 pm on most weekdays. I need to write it down and stick with it.

I can’t find any workout clothes. Okay, I’m probably alone on this one, but I always feel like every component of my workout gear is in some state of being cleaned, under a pile of clothes, or in the hamper. I need workout pants, t-shirt, shoes, sports bra, socks and ipod (if I’m lucky) to get motivated to exercise. Sometimes I get unmotivated just by knowing it will take 30 minutes to find something.

Solution: Dedicating a drawer to just exercise clothes. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time and know it could help me a lot. Having all of these items together in one spot would be very beneficial to my sanity and my exercise schedule.

I’m too busy. I’ve been guilty of this excuse, mostly because on the days that I am pumped up to exercise, I’m also pumped up to do everything else. And on other days I just have a lot to do, I’m sure I’m not alone.

Solution: Facing facts. In 2010 I managed to watch the entire series of lost, six feet under, and pushing daisies. I also watched three seasons of mad men, several episodes of jeopardy and countless movies on Netflix. I also found time to create 300 pieces of jewelry, cook many delicious meals, read 10 books, put makeup on, get dressed up, work on this blog and so many other things that I simply made time for. To say that I was “too busy to exercise” is simply not true.

Waiting for the perfect situation. There have been points in my life that I needed perfect weather, the perfect workout shoes, the perfect time slot, a perfect feel-good easy day to exercise. Guess what?

Solution: That day does not exist. How we feel now in this moment about exercise is probably how we’ll always feel. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve mapped out my road to weight loss only to fall short waiting for it to feel right. Waiting for life to be stress-free and slow. In my mind, there was going to be a day when the clouds parted, the angels sang and I’d turn into this super healthy person that bound out of bed at the mere mention of exercise. And all I have to say to myself is “honey child, that day will never come. you either do it now or not at all”.

What are some of your exercise excuses?

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

New Year, New Look

Welcome to 2011! I have to say I’m so excited for the new year. I don’t specifically know why, but I have a lot of energy and excitement about new adventures and opportunities this year. 2010 was so good to me, and I just feel very good about the direction I’m headed in.

You may notice a new header on my blog. The last one bugged me from the very first day. I wanted something new and threw that one together very quickly. I liked the type and colors, but needed something a little cleaner and focused on my blog goals. So here it is. A photo of me from my Wear it Well Fall 2010 ecourse, a photo of my favorite meal, and a photo of my first 5k bib. Food, Fashion and Fitness.

I’ve also updated my “About” page, which I hope you will check out. It was lonnng overdue. I think I last updated it two years ago. I needed a new mission statement of sorts because I feel like I’ve finally figured out what I want this blog to be and where I want it to take me. I wanted it to explain who I am and where I stand with my health and weight loss efforts as of today. My biggest blogging struggle came from comments expecting me to be like other healthy living bloggers.

And I don’t see myself in that category, at all. I see myself as someone still on this journey. A lot of the healthful lifestyle bloggers are about women who gained some weight during college and then lost it. They also blog about everything they eat. I admire their discipline and hard work and am not at all knocking what they do, but that is not who I am. If you’re looking for those bloggers check out my “inspirational blogs” list and you will find many. They inspire me and I aspire to be more disciplined.

I’m someone who needs to lose 150 lbs to be considered “average weight”, I have been overweight or obese my whole life, I struggle with food addiction and binge eating disorder. I also enjoy  a whole range of foods, I enjoy cooking, shopping locally and organically. AND I love pizza, indian food, mexican food and a whole host of other food items that just aren’t traditional “diet” fare. My goal in the coming year is moderation, not elimination (except for sugar). And I will get there, this is just my journey. I’m not an advocate for anyone or any way of living.

My deepest wish for my blog is that I can inspire other women more like me, who have a lot of weight to lose, who have pain (emotional and physical) when they exercise, who deal with binge eating, who are afraid of who they have become, who fear what they could become. That we can do this, that it is hard, that we can have a wonderful life in the meantime, and that we can love and nurture ourselves the way we truly deserve.

I also wanted to mention that I now have a Facebook (centered around this blog) for anyone that wants to be friends and communicate that way. And I can be found on twitter: @lorriefenn.

And finally, thank you for reading. Thank you for being here for the past four years, commenting and emailing. Sharing your stories with me and rooting me on through this journey. Your kindness and time here are not lost on me and the effort I put into my blog. I hope to bring more of myself to this space this year and am very excited to share with you.