Healthy Active Living And Weight Loss In this podcast episode, I discuss the unique differences between healthy active living and weight loss. The truth is, most people easily confuse the two. But in reality, healthy active living and weight loss are quite different from each other. Healthy living and weight loss are two sides of the same coin. You do many of the same activities, and you have many of the same mindsets, however, you don’t do things in the same order or with the same intensity. Healthy active living should be considered maintenance mode, “home base”, or the place you always return to. Weight loss mode is, of course, where you actively work to lose weight. Weight Loss Phase The weight loss phase is where you actually put in the true work. For example, healthy activing living activities such as walking, dancing by yourself, or hot yoga are great forms of body movement! These types of activities are great for being healthy and maintaining weight loss. But if you want to actually lose weight, you need to do consistent exercise that includes both strength training and cardio. The weight loss phase doesn’t have to be hard! It’s only hard […]
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Introducing my self-paced course, the Body Love Mindset Connection Method! This is the ULTIMATE self-love, body-positive, healing companion to any weight loss journey. Click HERE for details! Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m writing this. You see, almost 7 years ago I weighed in at roughly 250 pounds. And 4 years ago I celebrated accomplishing an over 100-pound weight loss. And I achieved this weight loss naturally without diets or surgery. I wrote a blog post about 3 years ago about this weight loss and some of the basic steps I took to get there. You can check out that post here. Anyway, 4 years later I’m still here maintaining my 100-pound weight loss! However, over the past year, my health journey (for real, a health journey is constantly ongoing) has started to change. You see, I’m not 30-years-old anymore. And my body has begun to respond differently to things compared to how it responded several years ago. It’s slowly beginning to age and I’m starting to slowly experience the effects of aging in different ways. And I know this part of my journey is just beginning. I talk about this change in my health journey and my health/life update […]
Like most people, I first started exercising to lose weight. At the time, I weighed just under 250 lbs and I was consumed with weight loss. Everything I did centered around losing weight or trying to lose weight. I had zero appreciation for my body or what it could do. So, when I picked up my first exercise program, weight loss was the primary goal. But even as I went into my first fitness program, I had my first big mindset shift. I promised myself that I would complete the entire program even if I didn’t lose a single pound. I told myself that my goal was to complete the program without quitting. If there was weight loss, great, if not, I would prove to the world that I could start and finish something without quitting. And shifting my mindset even slightly away from my body and weight loss put me on the path toward loving fitness and exercise. More Than Weight Loss When I committed to doing that fitness program and committed to completing it whether or not I saw “results”, my mindset began to shift away from weight loss for the first time ever. Over the course of […]
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 […]
I’ve learned a lot of things over the years when it comes to setting and reaching fitness goals. Firstly, one of the biggest things I learned was that reaching my goals didn’t have to be difficult. I struggled for many years to lose weight, and reach my health and fitness goals. Year after year I would fail no matter how hard I tried. But eventually, I did succeed! You can read my post about how I lost over 100 pounds here. And there were a few keys things I did that helped me to reach my goals This post contains affiliate links # ads. See Disclosure for details. I receive a commission on Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you. Get an accountability partner One of the most important things I did on my journey to achieving my goals was to get an accountability partner. An accountability partner is someone who knows about your goals and dreams and cares about you achieving them. This person is going to hold you to your word and encourage you when the times get tough. Your accountability partner doesn’t need to be on the same journey as you, however, it does help if […]
Do you struggle with feeling confident exercising in public? If so, I totally get it. For so many years, I didn’t feel confident exercising in public. I was so self-conscious. I was always hyper-aware of everything I was or was not doing. I could only ever focus on every little wiggle or jiggle. It stopped me from doing my best in my workouts, and from trying different things for fear of how I looked. But thankfully I learned how to get over all that! And I found ways to feel confident working out in public spaces. Once I learned how to feel more confident exercising in public, I started doing so many more things! I would swim, take yoga classes, and I even started running! It’s important not to let our fears hold us back from acting in our best interest. So use my tips below and start being your most confident self! This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for more details. I receive a commission from Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you. Feel Confident Exercising In Public Wear activewear that makes you feel good. One of the easiest ways to feel more confident when working […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. I receive a commission on Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you. Most people make some kind of New Year’s resolution whether they like to admit it or not. And most often, those resolutions are based around health and weight loss. In fact, in 2018 45% of Americans listed lose weight or get in shape as their weight loss goals. So needless to say, it’s a common resolution for many people. Unfortunately, not many people actually meet their New Year’s resolutions. Stats suggest that only 8% of people actually end up achieving their goals. But it doesn’t have to be that way! I truly believe that the percentage of people who meet their New Year’s resolutions can be much higher! And I think it comes down to proper planning, and setting detailed and realistic goals. Saying simply that you want to “get healthy” or “lose 20 lbs” doesn’t really say anything about how you plan to accomplish those goals. So that’s what I’m here to help with! I’m going to give you 10 weight loss goals that are realistic and achievable. Plus, I’m going to share how to get […]