Walking is one of the simplest, yet most effective forms of exercise you can do, no matter your age or fitness level. Not only is it free, but it’s also very gentle on your joints, flexible to fit into any schedule, and can be done pretty much anywhere! If you’re looking to kickstart your fitness journey with a simple and enjoyable activity, or if you’re just aiming to get more active in your daily life, a walking challenge could be just the thing for you! My walking journey began when I adopted my first dog, Gigi. At first, our twice-daily walks were just a way to give her the exercise she needed, but the walks quickly became my favorite part of the day (and hers too!). Walking Gigi every day inspired me to push past my comfort zone, and before I knew it I had the endurance and confidence to begin running. What started as simple walks with my rescue pup led me to train for and successfully complete a half-marathon. This post contains affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. I receive a commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Why Walking? Before we dive into the […]
In a world obsessed with dieting and calorie counting, you may be surprised to learn that many healthy people don’t follow a strict diet at all. Instead, they adopt a lifestyle that promotes health, balance, and the enjoyment of food. So, let’s dive into the 3 simple things that healthy, non-dieting people do differently so that you can apply these habits to live your life without the stress of dieting. 1. They Listen to Their Bodies One of the most significant differences is that healthy people who don’t diet tend to have a very tuned-in approach to their bodies. They listen closely to their hunger and full cues and eat accordingly. This practice is commonly referred to as intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is about trusting your body to tell you when it’s hungry and when it’s full. It means eating when you feel hungry instead of waiting for a set meal time and stopping eating when your stomach feels satisfied. This might sound simple, but in a culture where we’re constantly blasted with messages about what, when, and how much to eat, learning to listen to your own body can be a challenge. Here’s how you can start: Listening to […]
Back when I was overweight (read about how I lost 100 pounds here) I would often wonder, what the hell were other people doing differently? What were they doing that they were healthy and fit, and I was obese and stuck? I spent forever following fit women on Instagram and pinning on Pinterest trying to figure out their healthy habits so that I could do the same. For most of my life, I blamed my genetics. I thought I was destined and designed to be overweight. And I know so many other women feel the same way. But it could not be further from the truth! I know now that I am designed to be active and fit. But it took me forever to figure out how to get there. This post contains affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own. Over a couple of years, I finally started to figure out the secret. Which really isn’t a secret at all, to be honest. Long term, large weight loss comes from developing strong healthy habits. And there are certain habits that all fit women do almost every day. It is these fit habits that helped me lose 100 […]
It’s been a couple of years since I did, P90X, my very first home workout program. And it was that first program that completely changed my life. And I do mean completely. But first, the backstory! Post may contain affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own. 3 years ago my life looked so different. I was over 100lbs heavier than I am now, I had two-year-old twins, my depression and anxiety weren’t being treated properly, and I was struggling to do just about anything. I was miserable and I felt trapped. Thankfully, I had friends who saw my struggles and suggested a solution. P90X. A friend had previously had great success losing weight (he lost 70lbs!) doing P90X. However, like many people, I thought that I wasn’t capable of success the way he was. I assumed he had better will power, better genetics and a host of other wrong ideas. I was full of excuses as to why P90X worked for everyone else but it wouldn’t for me. However, the day that the scale in my bathroom flashed 249lbs, I knew I had hit my rock bottom. I knew that if I went a pound over 250lbs, […]
Water is my jam. But believe it or not, I used to have a really hard time drinking water. I couldn’t drink a straight glass of clear water, I always felt the need to add water flavouring. Which isn’t healthy at all, let’s be honest. And I’m almost embarrassed to say how long that lasted. Let’s put it this way, I was a parent before my H2O habits changed. But when I finally decided to get serious about my health, I knew I needed to be drinking more water. And not just more H2O, but more clear and plain H2O. Now, weaning myself off of the sugary water “enhancers” was a separate (and difficult) task. And if you struggle with drinking enough water and think that adding water enhancers with help, I urge caution. Firstly, once you start using them, its a hard habit to break. Secondly, is drinking flavoured water better than soda or juice? Just barely. The truth is that these water flavours contain artificial sweeteners, colours and more, and there is not nearly enough research done to say whether they help or hinder weight-loss. There are other ways to add flavour to your water (if you feel […]
A food binge doesn’t need to be a game-ender. If you struggle with binge and emotional eating then this post is for you! I’ve talked about changing my relationship with food in another post but I only lightly touched the topic of emotional eating. Emotional eating was (and in many ways still is) the biggest hurdle in my health journey. My inability to control how I used food was always my downfall. And there was the terrible habit of letting a single food binge equal automatic failure. Post contains affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own. I used to think that a food binge meant that I had failed myself. I used it to berate myself about my lack of self-control, to call myself a gross loser, and to validate my feelings of worthlessness. Then I would let a single binge destroy any and all progress I had made. And the downward spiral would begin for the umpteenth time. Are you using food to fuel your body or abuse it? Answering this question honestly was one of the first steps toward healing my relationship with food. It’s kind of like the AA mantra, the first step toward […]
Post contains Affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own. There are so many reasons to start a home yoga practice. A home yoga practice is much cheaper, private, and time flexible. Those three reasons alone tend to be enough to get people interested in getting on their mat at home. But, especially to the uninitiated, yoga (even alone at home) can be intimidating. One of the biggest questions I get asked is, how do I get started? First and foremost, you need to change your expectations for what you imagine an at home practice to look like. Most likely, it is not going to have the same vibe and feel as a studio. It is not going to be all “om” and zen for the simple reason that you won’t have a yoga teacher guiding your practice and allowing you to “zone out”. But it is for this reason that a home yoga practice actually allows for a deeper connection to yourself. At home, you are guiding your practice, choosing the poses, the speed, length, and flow. Beginning your home yoga practice. At a yoga studio classes are anywhere from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. And let’s […]
Changing my relationship with food is an ongoing process. When I talk to other people about health and fitness, food is always the biggest pain point. Many of us who live in western culture tend to have a deformed relationship with food. Although when I think about it, even that statement isn’t entirely true. It’s more like we have bizarre relationships with food-like products. Because, when was the last time you heard someone talk about their out of control stir-fry addiction? And I’ve never heard anyone berate themselves because they went back for that second serving of sautéed vegetables. But if I replace the words stir-fry and vegetables with chips, candy, or anything covered in cheese and it’s a different story. It’s these food-like products that have us chained to an unhealthy lifestyle. And it’s our attachments to these foods (and the meanings we’ve assigned to them) that hold us back. Post contains Affiliate links #ads. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own. Convenience isn’t that convenient. You know that saying, ‘if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is’? Adults of the ’80s and ’90s should have held that in mind when the convenience food explosion […]
Fitness motivation is easy to find…at first. When you’re first starting your health journey finding fitness motivation is easy. You’re eager to go to the gym, you’re purchasing cute gear, and you’re feeling pumped! But, flash forward a couple of months down the road and those feelings aren’t nearly as strong. And that’s normal! But to be successful on your journey you need to be able to dig deep on those hard days. One of the easiest ways to maintain fitness motivation is to be prepared for the hard days ahead of time. First, you have to acknowledge that there will be hard times. Shake off the idea that you’re not allowed to struggle in your journey. Acknowledge that you will doubt and question yourself. But those hard times are not a reflection of your commitment to your health journey. They just are what they are, tough days. Post contains Affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own. Don’t mistake hard times for failure. When times get tough, a lot of people tend to give up. They ‘try their best’ but then call it quits. I can understand that line of thinking, I’ve done it myself many times […]
**This post contains affiliate ads. For more information please read the disclosures page.** Before you can set goals, you need to find your why. So last week I posted a condensed version of my background and a bit of my journey so far. And I was going to write about goal setting, but I realized something really important came before goals. And that’s the reason why you’re setting goals in the first place. You might be like, okay well, my goal is obviously to lose weight or get in shape. But I’ve learned your why needs to be much deeper than that. I was watching an episode of This Is Us yesterday where a line really resonated with me. It was something along the lines of, “what if you lose the weight and you’re still just you.” Too often, we think of weight loss as this magic life and self altering thing. And in some small ways it is. But for the most part, you are who you are regardless of your size. That’s why finding your why, that is more than a number, becomes so important. You need to have a deeper reason. Because once you lose the weight […]