Inside and Out

A few weeks ago (beginning of January), a friend of mine posted on Facebook this post:

"My chest was hurting and I just checked my blood pressure. It said 174/100... so, uh what does that mean???"

Quickly, many people told him he needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.  Now seeing those statistics you would think he was overweight and probably believe he led a sedentary lifestyle, but this friend of mine plays basketball twice a week, is 5'11" and weighs 165 lbs.  He should NOT have these symptoms at age 31.  It was brought to my attention that his diet was his main issue, as is with the majority of America.  I reminded him that he has a family to take care of and that the inside of his body is just as important, if not more, as his physical appearance.  

Same goes to you, the reader, please be mindful of what you're putting in your body.  Eating a balanced diet is very important to your general health and especially to your weight loss journey.  Your internal bio tell a bigger story of your lifestyle, and how you're treating your body than what your external bio says.  I borrowed this image from Harvard's Med School and a healthy diet should look something like this:

If it doesn't and you are working on living a healthier lifestyle, this is something to aspire to.  To be honest, there are no limits to how many fruits and veggies one can eat as the calories to serving size is easily rewarding.  Aim to eat the foods that will help build your body stronger, externally and internally.  

Life is stressful enough that you don't need to add the stress of your health to the list of stresses that are occur on a daily basis.  

2014 Yearly Goals...Aim High

A new year is here and its that time of the year in which we set "resolutions".  We say, "I'm going to do this..." and "I'm going to do that..." and by year's end we probably don't remember what we've done versus what we said we were going to do.  While this is a fitness blog, goal-setting is a life application and what will be said here, can definitely be used on an every day basis as well as for your fitness goals.

With goal setting, there are a few keys to successfully achieving them.  

• Think about what you want to accomplish, why you want to accomplish it, how and when you want to accomplish your goals.  Often times we think about what it is we want to achieve but don't really have a reasoning or set a reasonable timeline to achieving said goal.  We don't come up with a plan to accomplish the goals we set forth and so our goals end up being realistic because we didn't think of a plan to truly achieve our goal. 
• Write out your goals.  Putting your goals on paper holds you accountable to yourself and what you said you wanted to achieve.  Having it on paper also allows you not to forget what you said you would do.  Write or type it up and post it in different places around the house (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, etc), in your car, at work, and anywhere else you frequent so that you have a firm reminder of the things you want to achieve.  
• Believe and Execute your goals on your list. Simplifying a yearly goal and breaking it down to a monthly goal can help make something that seems monumental seem miniscule, especially  after consecutive months of achievement.  Even if you're unable to mark off every goal you put on your list, you will be surprised at how many you actually complete and the amount of time it takes for you to achieve them.  You may find ultimate success and pleasure in knowing that you actually exceed expectations of some goals.   

We will set a few goals for everyone who reads this blog...we want you to push yourself to being better from a health perspective.  Better than when you started the year 2014 to December 31, 2014.  So here are a list of goals we want for you to achieve:

1. Walk/Run 100 miles (Bronze honors)
2. Walk/Run 150 miles (Silver honors)
3. Walk/Run 200 miles (Gold honors)
4. Walk/Run 250 miles (Platinum honors)
5. Run a 5k

For those trying to lose weight, here are a few simple goals to aim for:

1. Lose 12 lbs this year (1 lb per month)
2. Lose 18 lbs this year (1.5 lbs per month)
3. Lose 24 lbs this year (2 lbs per month)
4. Lose 30 lbs this year (2.5 lbs per month)

Nobody said this would be easy, but aim your sights high...you'll be surprised at what you're actually capable of doing!