Skinny DOES NOT EQUAL Healthy

Shocked by the headline??? Don't be...it's the truth! And I don't want to beat around the bush on this subject because I don't want people to be confused on the matter.  I hear people complain that they wish they could be as small as so-and-so because of how small that person is.  I also hear people say, "Oh well I'm skinny so I don't need to exercise".  FALSE!!! Please don't get it twisted, exercise and dietary changes are necessary for everyone and someone's body frame is not necessarily exemplary of their body composition! Let me clarify what this means...

Let's say we have a girl, we'll name her Susie.  She is 5'5 and she weighs 115 lbs, here's my example . She looks small and she fits within the BMI standards but is she really healthy?  On the outside she looks excellent, but what exactly is her body composition??? I'm not saying this is the case of my "example" but Susie could have a 40% body fat composition.  What does that mean? It means that 46 lbs of her 115 lbs is fat, which is not healthy.  Regardless of her age, a 40% body fat composition would NEED to change and be brought down to about 22-26% body fat assuming she's in her twenties.

Here's the thing, in our world and especially the United States, we are driven by physical appearance. Susie's friends and family may look at her and be envious but her inside does NOT match her outside appearance.  If Susie has a mindset that exercise or dietary changes are not necessary because "she looks good" or "I'm skinny", that would absolutely need to change.  She doesn't have to lose weight, but change her body composition and she'll look healthier and feel better about herself.

Whether or not you look like Susie, exercise and a proper diet ARE in your best interests.  You don't want your life to be one inundated with pills every 4-8 hrs  and dependency on your loved ones because you had the attitude that "You only live once" so may as well enjoy it stuffing your face with food.  Think about your choices on more than a "YOLO" thought process...because really, You Only Live Once.

Think about that...

Are You Doing Everything You Can???

As we go through life, no matter what stage we are in, we are always striving to attain something.  Part of being a human is setting goals. We are cultured to want and to accomplish.  From childhood, we want to buy toys and the response is "work for the money so you can pay for it yourself." We go to school and our goal is to get good grades. We go to college and create goals for adulthood. We work hard to get what we want while other goals seem to remain untouched. Yessss...you know what I'm speaking of, our health goals.

Somehow our health goals end up taking a backseat to the other goals we set in life, and before we know it, health problems seem to creep up on us.  Somehow we got bigger than we've ever been, developed high cholesterol or even diabetes.  The truth is that we've never really prioritized our health, but we expect our health to maintain itself.  We use excuses as to why we can't exercise. We choose the faster options for food because of our busy schedules yet we make time to watch Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, So You Think You Can Dance, etc.  These shows don't contribute much to our health.  In fact, sitting on our bottoms watching these programs actually diminish our health, as our lower backs get weaker from sitting on couches and reclining in beds. The truth is we have to make time for our exercise and overall health.

And to that I ask, are you doing everything you can to help achieve your health goals? Are you doing the minimum amount of cardio recommended by the government (2.5 hrs per week)? Have you made the change to your diet that will get you the results that you're striving for?Are you putting in an extra day of weights at the gym? If you haven't made any of these changes, what kind of results are you really expecting? How can you expect your BEST results? I'm not saying you have to go from 0-60 in one day, week or month...but as time increases you better believe that your yearning and willingness to achieve your goals better be increasing ESPECIALLY if you start to plateau and your change starts to slow down.

Let's stop talking about what we are going to do and rather...as Nike says it, JUST DO IT!!!

Feeling Guilty??? Don’t, Just Do Better!!!

The struggle of eating healthy is a real challenge for people who are striving to make changes in their diets.  It's nothing to laugh about and is far too real for some people to understand... myself included. One thing that I’ve learned is that when you make a choice you have to live with the consequences.  Whether the consequences are good or bad, we must take the time to think our actions through before making a final decision. And once a decision has been made, we must choose to be happy with it.  If you can see that one option will make you unhappy, then don’t do it.  If you are displeased, decide that you will do better for yourself.  Think about all who are to be affected by your decision.  For example, if you’re diabetic and you know that cookie will spike your glucose levels, please think about yourself, your family and your friends.  

You are more dynamic than you can imagine and people want to see you living life healthily as you continue to make a difference in the world.

Let's drop the guilt, and do better!