I’ve had several people ask me to talk about what I do to stay in shape. It’s so funny because, a week ago, I was feeling very much in shape, working out 5 days a week with my trainer and enjoying my workouts! We left for Miami on Thursday and I had set the intention to work out in the fitness center there every day, but it just didn’t happen…not once. We had a packed schedule that included getting up early, creating content, meeting deadlines and staying up late for more of the same. Don’t get me wrong, we had a fabulous time and I loved every minute of it, but 6 nights later, too many glasses of wine, not enough sleep and not enough exercise have made me feel heavy, sluggish, and pretty bad about myself. It’s all so interesting and I think, something worth talking about. I don’t know about you, but my willpower, ability to stop putting bites of food in my mouth and the back and forth with my confidence when it comes to body image are so related to how fit I feel. In reality, I seriously doubt that I will be feeling this way 3 days from now, because I’ll get home and pull myself together, but travel is definitely hard on my body and on my mind. I think it’s the short trips that are the hardest. I’m a creature of habit and when I take a short trip, I barely have time to get there and get adjusted before it’s time to leave and I’ve probably eaten food that I normally wouldn’t and eaten more of it than I normally would. I do try to keep up my morning routine while I’m gone, but getting up at 5 am to meditate, work, check email, shower and be somewhere by 8:30 or 9 leaves little time for a good sweaty workout and if I don’t do it in the morning, it probably won’t happen.

Practicing self love and kindness isn’t always easy, but it’s always a place to come back to, even if it takes a while because it is good advice and it does work.

In my mind, I think it’s a problem with discipline, but it’s something I’ve struggled with for too long. I can envision a time when I eat what I want, but in moderation and never get too full. A time in my life when I always have time to work out and sleep, and my mind doesn’t take me out. It kind of drives me crazy that I can’t get in that place, and stay there, because you know it’s always about your mind. It’s time’s like these when I remember my own words and advice that I’ve been given… be present, the answers are found in the stillness of the present moment….Be kind to yourself, practice self love…, yayayayaya! It’s not always easy, but it’s always a place to come back to, even if it takes a while because it is good advice and it does work. I know that some people never are able to come back to the stillness, they simply don’t know how or even what stillness is and I’m very grateful that I do know Once you’ve learned the secrets of the Universe…that your thoughts really do create your reality and that all you need to do is change your thoughts., things are never the same. Once you know, then you know you’re beating yourself up and then you beat yourself up for beating yourself up…if can be a vicious cycle. When you finally decide to take some time to really get quiet and realize that the greatest blessing of life is that in every moment, you get to regroup and begin again!

This all leads me to my fitness journey. If I were lying, I would say…”when I was younger, I exercised to look better and be thin, but now I exercise so I’ll be healthy”. That’s only partly true for me. At this point in my life, I do want to stay healthy and fit. I want to have strong bones, a flexible body, a strong heart and reap all of the health benefits of exercise, but I also want to stay slim and look my best. When I exercise hard and consistently, I feel better, my head is in a better place, I feel that I’ve done something good for myself, my clothes fit better and I can eat more! There isn’t much downside to that.

I started working out in high school, doing aerobics and walking. After I graduated from high school, I got married and developed an eating disorder (read more here). At that point, I really started exercising a lot and it was a pretty unhealthy way to live in general. Looking back, it was a miracle of sorts that I was able to get pregnant with my first daughter because I was so thin, but when I found out I was pregnant, it was an excuse to eat and eat and eat. I gained over 60 pounds. After she was born, partly because I was 23 and partly because I started exercising again really quickly, the weight came off and I weighed what would be considered normal. I joined a gym and started going to aerobics classes again and started lifting weights. I met friends and it was a very positive thing for me. I met Baldy at that gym and we got married. Rebecca was born about a year later and I continued to work out and loved to cook and eat. Sarah was born about 4 years later and I was still going strong…mostly still doing fitness classes and rollerblading with a friend. I was probably in the best shape of my life at that point.

I don’t remember when the shift happened, but one day, I went into a little gym near our home because I was really interested in seriously learning about lifting weights. I met my trainer about 20 years ago and have been working out with him off and on since then. When our oldest daughter Lauren got married, I was so overwhelmed with life, that I took about a year off and felt pretty bad about myself for that. I’ve also taken breaks to learn yoga, get my teacher training in yoga and just breaks because of life events, but I don’t think I’ll ever completely stop working out. I am at times much more focused depending on whats happening in my life. Right now, I’m super focused, loving working out hard more than ever and really frustrated when I can’t make it happen. This thing I do called blogging, gets in the way of my life sometimes (hahaha)! I have wanted more than anything to be a “bad ass” blogger and be successful and busy and work with brands and have lots of followers and on and on, but now that it’s actually happening, I’m like…OMG I don’t know how I’m going to fit it all in! That’s something that I’ll constantly be working on, just as I’ll be working on keeping my head in a good place, but it’s all good. I already feel better since starting to write this (writing can be like a little pep talk)!

I keep saying I’ll talk about my fitness routine and I get sidetracked. That’s the thing. Exercise is part of life and life is messy, complicated, busy, confusing, and hard and easy and wonderful. Some days you are completely in love with yourself and your life and some days just suck. It would make sense that those would be the days when you should exercise, but oddly enough, when you’re feeling bad, sometimes exercise is that last thing you want to do…however, when you can make yourself get up and move, you always feel better.

I am blessed with good genes. I have my fathers body. He was never fat, even though he ate a lot, including peanut butter crackers every night before bed….it was his bedtime snack. My body responds well to exercise and I can get lean pretty easily. That’s the secret that really isn’t a secret. Some people can lift weights 4 times a week and see very little difference, and some people can lift weights 4 times a week and see a huge difference. I don’t think this is a reason to give up because there are still so many benefits to exercise. Eating well, eating less, exercising more and exercising hard are all things that will change the way you look and improve your overall health. My best recommendation would be to find a knowledgeable trainer. Get a fitness routine that works for your body and your fitness level, consult a nutritionist to find out the best eating plan for you and then do the best you can. The advice I give myself on the days that I’m giving myself good advice is…do your best and that’s all you can do. Sure, I would love for you to watch my fitness videos….my workouts are safe for most everyone and very doable, but find what works for you and do it as often as you can.

It’s really amazing how I start a post intending for it to be one thing and it turns into something else all together…I do hope this post serves you in some way and that you’ll begin or continue your fitness journey. It’s all part of life and life is a journey meant to be enjoyed.

I had a hard time finding appropriate pictures for this post, but really felt a need to get it out today for some reason…again, sometimes life is like that, but then again, maybe someone needs to read this post in the morning and the pictures don’t matter.