Control is the key

Throughout my fitness journey I discovered that control is the key to success. When I took control if my life I was able to lose 80 pounds in six months. When I relinquished control of my fitness I gained 50 of those back. Yup — I am just like you! I am in it just like you are!

I know what you must be thinking: "Really? Everyone knows tha you have to have control!"

And you may be right. People do know that control is the key to success. Yet, taking control can require an enormous amount of determination. Why? Because it is easier to just go with the flow, letting the currents take us wherever they may want to. What are these currents? The advertisers that want to sell you "stuff" (things you do not need); the food industry that wants you to eat more (super size the whole thing, why don't you?) and drink more (sodas, that is — a super-high profit center); the parmaceutical industry that wants you to consume more pills to fight the effects of the food and drinks you ingest; the medical industry that wants you to spend more money on health care (including doctor visits, hospital stays, medications, surgeries) and health insurance (but not on healthy fitness).

I want you to take two points from this post:

1. The difference between success and failure is very small. Watch this video by Tony Robbins and you will see what I mean:

2. The only way I have found to gain control of fitness and health is to plan (and record) the three critical aspects of fitness: activity, nutrition, rest. Your first challenge is to make a plan of how you will spend you activity time, how you will invest in your nutrition, and how and when you will rest. Think about that until the next post.

Remember: when nothing seems to be working, simply stop and make a small change to move you in the direction of your goals.

Another fitness blog? Oh no!

Fit … Healthy … Alive!

Source: beliefnet.com

Greetings!

Yes, here comes another fitness blog! :-)

Hopefully, though, this blog will take a different direction than others out there. Entries in this blog will have three significant aspects:

• For beginners: we all start somewhere. And getting started is the hardest part of it all. In these entries I want to help those that are struggling to get started or that are just starting the journey. And becoming fit, indeed, is a journey, not a destination. I look forward to sharing the road with you!
• Minimalistic: over the last few years I have realized that you need very little to be fit. I will share the basic tools with you. For the most part, they are free or very inexpensive. 
• Balanced: my road to fitness involved a slow but significant re-balancing of various aspects of life. In short, fitness comes from balancing activity, nutrition, and rest. Without these three pillars fitness is impossible. That is why "diets" fail most of us: they only focus on one area (eating). You also cannot exercise your way into fitness if you continue eating poorly. Finally, our bodies need rest in order to be fit. We now know that not enough sleep (and other types of rest) will lead to disease.

Please remember the old saying: a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Fitness is the path to health and happiness for many. It definitely has been for me!