New Year, New Attitude, No Stress, New Body

Getting back into the swing of things getting you down?  It’s been a nice break for a while, but now it’s back to the old grind stone – right? Yuck, what an awful thought. Why not take a holiday from that attitude? Take a break from looking at life as a chore rather than a joy. It is possible to see the glass ½ full rather than ½ empty and live comfortably, peacefully, with little or no stress, feeling happy most of the time.

Weight gain is largely related to stress. We overeat to numb out feelings that we haven’t learned how to deal with. So many people live with discomfort (from known and unknown sources) and a low (or high) grade perpetual anxiety. Food becomes ‘the relief that gives us the most pain’. It is a difficult cycle to break, you have to do more than change your behavior with food and exercise - but changing the behavior is a good place to start.

Here are a few simple things that you can do to reduce your stress, become fitter, and ultimately become healthier all around.

#1. Exercise helps relieve stress greatly. Walking, in particular is a great stress reliever - it allows us to engage in cardiovascular and weight bearing exercise while not working out too hard. Of course you want to walk with purpose, and enough intensity to break a sweat, but with walking you can also enjoy your surroundings, and your walking partners (if you chose to walk with others), and process whatever is on your mind – better yet, try to walk in a meditative state with no thoughts other than what you are experiencing right in the moment. Walking truly is a remarkable remedy for everything from weight gain to sleepless nights.
Try this: walk purposefully (strong enough so that you are breathing deeply and you are sure to break a sweat, but not so hard that it feels strenuous or isn’t enjoyable) everyday for a minimum of 30 minutes.

*If you are interested in taking your walking workouts to a new level, go to www.walkvest.com and check out my weighted walking vest. WALKVEST will help you burn excess calories, condition your core and build bone density while walking to professionally-coached, motivating, walking workouts on CD.

#2. Don’t stress about post holiday weight gain, we all consume much more than usual during the holidays, so we all have it! I am sure you have lots of great ideas about how to quickly (no, immediately) get rid of that extra little puff you are wearing around your middle or on your hips like: not eating until dinner, eating 500 calories a day, or grapefruit for breakfast lunch and dinner. But I highly recommend finding normalcy in your diet again rather than going to the opposite extreme. Boring right? I know, but it is true that just eating less, you know, regular size meals, and only one dinner, lunch and breakfast, will get you closer to where you want to be for good.

Here are a couple of good ways to rein it in:
a. Write down your meals, or, better yet, make a meal commitment to someone you trust. For example: I am going to have a Turkey Cobb, ½ baked potato, and 2 cookies for dinner. Then stick to it – and if you don’t – own up to it. Tell your friend what you ate so you take secrecy and control out of the equation.

b. Stop grazing. Cut out snacking all together, at least for 3 or 4 weeks. Reset your body and your habits by eating in a more clean and measured way. We’ve all had a few weeks of freewheeling eating and now it’s time to bring back healthy boundaries and responsible eating habits. This is not about deprivation - do not misconstrue these changes. This is about acting like a responsible adult, one that doesn’t want to worry about health issues or feel fat all year long. Be the one who feels fabulous because you have changed your eating and exercise habits, your stress is disapperaing, and you are looking FABULOUS.

#3. Before you act, think, will this make me happy? In many cases when I am confused about the right thing to do, if I ask myself that question – I usually know exactly the right thing to do. This may or may not have anything to do with your food or exercise. In your life, when you make a decision, decide on doing the things that instantly make you feel good, calm, serene - not hyped up and overexcited, that is like the beginning feeling of love, it goes away quickly and the real feelings emerge. Taking actions that lead to the pain or unhappiness of others will not make you feel good - it will weigh on you mentally and physically.
 
Peace and Happy Trails -
Debbie Rocker
www.debbierocker.com
www.walkvest.com