By Mark Fisher as told to Shannon Clay Hey! My name is Mark Fisher and I’m 29-years-old from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Currently, I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been in my adult life! But that wasn’t always the case. A few years ago my life looked very different. I was unhealthy and miserable and I knew I needed a change. Overall, it took me roughly three years to lose 90 pounds. And I’ve kept that weight off for over two years! This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. I receive a small commission from Amazon purchases are no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Shannon Elizabeth Fitness! Why a change? The truth is, I just wasn’t happy with myself. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t like what I saw looking back at me. That wasn’t the person I knew myself to be. And I reached a point where I just didn’t want to feel like crap anymore. I knew I had to address my self-image if I wanted my life to be better. I realized that the only thing I can control in life is myself. Who I am and what I do is […]
Starting a fitness journey can feel like standing at the base of a gigantic mountain, looking up and wondering how you’ll ever make it to the top. Your goals seem large, distant, and maybe even a little scary. Believe me, I’ve been there! But here’s the thing—I eventually realized that reaching the top of the mountain isn’t about taking giant leaps; instead, it’s about one small step after another, mixed with a good dose of determination. My transformation didn’t happen overnight. It involved a lot of trial and error, learning from my mistakes, and, most importantly, figuring out that success in fitness is as much about building resilience and staying motivated as it is about the right exercises or diet. So, if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by your fitness goals or not sure where to begin, don’t worry! I’ve got you covered with some simple strategies that worked wonders for me—and I’m excited to share them so they can help you too! Struggle and Breakthrough: For so many years, I struggled with my weight loss goals. I tried again and again, but despite my best efforts, I always found myself falling short of my dreams. However, I finally found […]
Do you ever feel nervous or anxious about exercising in public? If that sounds like you, believe me, you’re not alone. For the longest time, I felt exactly the same way. Every time I thought about working out in public, all I could focus on was how uncomfortable I felt. I would notice every little movement of my body, and it held me back from enjoying my workouts or trying new things. I was afraid of what other people might think about how I looked and judge me. But guess what? I managed to overcome those fears, and today, I’m here to share how you can do the same and start feeling great about exercising anywhere! Step One: Dress to Impress Yourself! One of the simplest ways to boost your confidence is by wearing activewear that you love. This doesn’t mean you have to break the bank! Just picking the right outfit—like a pair of high-waisted leggings, a supportive sports bra, and a top in your favorite color—can make a huge difference. When you look good, you feel good, right? And here’s a little secret: everyone feels better when they think they look good. Choose colors that pop for you, […]
I’ve learned a lot about emotional eating over the years. It’s something that I’ve come to realize will always be a part of my life in some way. It’s something that will always keep me on my toes. For me, one of the hardest parts about emotional eating was the feeling of powerlessness that I always felt. I didn’t feel like I had control over my emotions or any control around food. Which is why I’m sharing some of my emotional eating tips to take back your power. Just a reminder that these are tips that have work for me. At the end of the day, if you feel you need extra help to deal with emotional eating therapy is a fabulous tool that I highly recommend. But if you want some emotional eating tips that you can start implementing right away then keep reading! This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. I receive a commission from Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you. Emotional Eating Tips To Take Back Your Power Sit With Your Negative Emotions For 5 Minutes For me, 9 times out of 10 if I’m feeling the urge to eat emotionally, it’s […]
I talk about how key mindset changes were a part of my huge weight loss in another blog post, but here I want to discuss the mindset changes that transformed me as a whole person. Changing your mindset is about taking ownership of how you experience the world around you. Choosing how you react to your own thoughts and feelings can be a very powerful practice. But it is important to remember that mindset is like a muscle and it needs to be exercised regularly to be effective. So what are some of the key mindset changes I made that completely transformed my life? Check them out below. This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. I make a small commission from Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you. Thoughts Aren’t Facts When I first read that thoughts aren’t facts I felt like I had been smacked in the face. It was like glass shattering in my brain. Honestly, I think my jaw fell open a little bit. It was so obvious and so simple yet not something I had really ever thought of before. Why do we automatically assume our thoughts are true? And that if […]
If you’re a regular reader of mine, or you follow me on Instagram, you know that the fitness lifestyle is still relatively new to me. I’ve only been exercising consistently for two years. Prior to that, I was 110 pounds heavier and had zero athletic background to speak of. So, how did I get from a sedentary lifestyle to one where I crave exercise? Honestly, it took a lot of hard work. But through the process of building the habits below, I taught myself to crave fitness to the point that now it’s a part of my everyday life. It’s important to remember that there is nothing special about me. Absolutely anyone can build these habits and create a fitness lifestyle for themselves. This post contains affiliate links #ads. See disclosure for details. I receive a commission from Amazon links at no cost to you. Exercise When You Don’t Feel Like It. I didn’t say any of these tips would be easy! So I’m starting with the hardest but most effective way to train your body to crave exercise. And that is to work out even when you don’t feel like it. Every single time you exercise when you would […]
If you’re a regular reader of mine, you know how much value I place on a healthy mindset. I truly believe that it was changing my mindset and how I viewed my life that helped me lose over 100 pounds. Changing how I viewed my problems and situations was what made my final weight loss journey truly stick. Prior to my weight loss, I had spent two decades dieting and trying anything to lose weight. I literally tried every diet you could imagine. And doing all these things with little to no results was soul-crushing. For many years, I was stuck in a very dark place. Unchecked, my depression and anxiety started to reach new depths. My mindset was stuck in a vicious cycle of self-loathing, being a victim, and low self-esteem. I would beat myself up, binge eat, and beat myself up again. If I exercised, it was always as a punishment or because I disliked my body. There was nothing positive about how I was treating myself and my health. So what changed? At one point, I remember looking in the mirror and just being tired of hating myself. I literally remember looking in the mirror and being […]
Yoga is an excellent way to get your body used to daily fitness. A few years and 100 pounds ago, it was 30-day yoga challenges and home fitness workouts that helped me build and establish the fitness routine that I have to this day. Daily yoga helped me get used to moving my body regularly and added to the foundation of my fitness lifestyle. Yoga challenges especially, had me trying a variety of different yoga poses and pushed me to try poses that were outside of my comfort zone. You might be thinking, but wait, isn’t yoga a relaxing activity? And yes, different types of yoga can be very relaxing. However, there are other types of yoga that will have you working up a sweat and burning some calories. Including yoga into your daily routine will help you to build lean muscle, improve flexibility, and overall, help you drop pounds. This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. I receive a small commission on Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you. Weight Loss and Yoga Yoga for fitness can have incredible effects on your mental health, as well as your physical health. Yoga is well-known for reducing […]
So, we’re living through a pandemic. And when you’re living through a pandemic it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the frequent changes, updates and the general unknown. Personally, I feel all over the map and its tough. But at the same time, that is just reality right now. There are going to be a lot of changes over the coming weeks and we’ll simply have to move through it. And I’m confident that we will. But in the meantime, it’s important that we focus on staying safe which means staying healthy. Right now, most of us are either practicing social distancing or are already self-isolated. It is super easy to fall into the habit of lazing around the house, watching Netflix, and eating food. This is a natural pattern for people to want to fall into especially when they’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed. However, it is during this time that we should take the opportunity to focus on our health. Not only is it important to our long-term health but being in your best health helps your body fight off colds, flus, and viruses. Which is super important right now. And if you’re over here wondering if it’s too late […]
Without trying to sound overly dramatic, Barre Blend has been a life-changing fitness program for me. I know, dramatic. But it came into my life at a point where, physically, I was really struggling. Just before the holidays in December 2019, I herniated a disc in my lower back. If you’ve herniated a disc before, you know it is nightmarishly painful. It was honestly one of the most painful experiences I have ever had, like up there with childbirth seriously. I spent 4 days on complete bed rest. Which meant 4 days wondering how I was ever going to exercise the way I was used too. As much as my injury was physically challenging, it was also very mentally challenging. If you’re new to my blog, you might not be familiar with my journey of losing 100 pounds. But you can read about that and how I did it in this post. So, not only did I have the fear of slipping backward in my journey but once my back started to heal, the fear of hurting it again was overwhelming. I knew that if I wanted to be exercising again quickly, it had to be super low impact and […]