The Basic, Foolproof Components of a Healthy Lifestyle

Well guys, so far our summer has been crazy!

I’m not a fan, but I’m hoping the next few weeks won’t be quite so crazy so I can catch my breath a bit.  Oy.

I really hope ya’ll know that although I am a mother of many who has a passion for health and fitness, who tries to live a healthy-ish lifestyle and sorta kinda tries to write a blog about healthy life and mom life….I STRUGGLE!

Please don’t ever think that I got it all figured out, that healthy living comes easy for me, that I’m a perfect mom and my children are angels.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

I assure you, that is not the case!  I AM a happy, motivated person that for some reason tries to cram a bunch of crap into my life, BUT my life is not easy!  I’m also very grateful and feel very blessed every single day for the people in my life and the things I’ve been blessed with, but MAN, I’m just trying to survive and juggle all the many things that we all juggle in life.  It’s nuts.

Soooo, when this little blog gets neglected (more often than not lately), just know it’s because I am only one lady who can’t keep up with all of the to-do’s of life! 🙂  But I just keep pluggin’ along doing the best I can, because after all, that’s all we can do!

Carry on!

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Sooooo, today I just wanted to talk a bit about health and fitness in general.  I know life is nuts for all of us and most of us out there would just like to find a way to lose weight, get fit, stay healthy, have energy…but we don’t know where to start and don’t have a lot of time to figure it out!

I also know it can be so overwhelming because there is SO MUCH information out there about the “best” diet, the “best” way to lose weight, the “best” way to build muscle, the “best” way to exercise, the “best” foods, foods you should never eat, etc. etc. etc.

It can be so confusing and overwhelming!

It can also be especially frustrating as we hear things like:

• Our metabolisms slow down as we age
• If we don’t eat enough, our bodies will go into “starvation mode” and we can damage our metabolism
• If your parents are overweight, you are always going to be overweight
• Low carb diets help us lose weight
• Low carb diets mess up our hormones
• You need to eat a lot of protein
• If you eat too much protein, your body will suffer
• If we eat the wrong foods, we can develop a hormonal imbalance
• If we don’t eat the right ratio of carbs/fat/protein, we will struggle to lose weight

The list goes on and on and on.

It’s enough to make anyone lose hope with weight loss and give up on healthy living entirely!

I also know it can be overwhelming as I (and many other people out there) talk about things like carb cycling, macro counting, calorie cycling, intermittent fasting, nutrient timing, reverse dieting, etc.

I love to learn about this stuff and experiment with this stuff because I love it!  I’ve always been curious about science, medical stuff and how the body works, so this kind of stuff fascinates me.

However, I think a lot of people out there don’t care to learn about all of these different confusing concepts.  Most people just want to lose weight, have more energy and be healthier….in the simplest way possible.

Sooooo, today I just want to talk about just that.  How to lose weight, have more energy and be healthier….in the simplest, least confusing ways…ways that always, always work!

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First off, I want to tell you guys something that I think about quite often.

The lifestyle you are living right now (the foods you are eating, the exercise you are doing/not doing, the sleep you are getting/not getting, the stress level you are living, etc.) equals the body, the weight, the energy level and the level of health you are at right now.

So, if you are happy with your body, your weight and your overall health or if you are seeing positive results and trending in the right direction….awesome!  You are doing something right!  Keep on going!

If you are not happy with your body, health or weight…then you HAVE to change something (or several somethings) in your life if you ever want to see changes!

This has always been one of my favorite quotes…

Sooooo, whenever I feel frustrated with my current level of health, I always remind myself that it is UP TO ME to change it!

I know a lot of people think they need to follow a crazy diet plan or some complicated regimen to see positive results.

I’m here to say that YOU DO NOT.

In fact, usually those crazy diet plans or extreme weight loss endeavors are exactly what cause people to throw in the towel, get frustrated and give up on trying to lose weight/improve their health altogether!

I’ve learned time and time and time and time again that the KEY to weight loss and to healthy living is to make positive, livable, sustainable choices that support good health….and make those choices a part of your life!

In other words, you have to find a sustainable healthy living lifestyle that you can COMMIT TO and LIVE WITH day in and day out…forever.

Now, I know how life goes, there are times when you will just struggle and have a hard time.  There will be times when you just won’t have as much motivation.  There will be times when life gets busy, we get sick or other things get in the way.

This is life and this is normal.

However, another KEY to success to to quickly GET BACK to that long-term, sustainable healthy living lifestyle that you know helps you to feel your best!  Make that “healthy lifestyle” your “norm” and the “struggle/fall off the wagon times” your “few and far between.”

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Sooooo, today I want to talk about those basics that make up a sustainable healthy lifestyle.  These are the things that I try to do in my life all the time.  Of course, I struggle sometimes.  Sometimes life gets crazy and I find myself out of whack, gaining weight, feeling sluggish, unmotivated and just not feeling well….but if I can “get back to these basics,” then I always feel better, lose weight, have more energy and have a happier, more fulfilling life overall!

I’m also here to tell y’all that healthy living does NOT need to be complicated.  In fact, it shouldn’t be!  Do not overthink it!  I promise you that if you take a long hard look at your life, are very honest with yourself, identify the areas you can improve in and then have the courage to make some permanent changes…you WILL see results!

You will LOVE how you look and how you feel!

I should mention that there are a few people out there (very, very few) who do have some underlying health issues that can make it harder for them to lose weight.  If you think this might be you, I would encourage you to go to a doctor and find out!  Or, if you know you have a health issue that is making it hard for you to lose weight/feel your best….just do the best you can!  Try not to get discouraged and remind yourself that making healthy lifestyle choices will still help you, even though you might not see it on the scale.

Sooooo, here are the basics.

#1  Eat more real food.  Eat less crap.

I know this sounds like a no brainer, but this really is the most important factor in living a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a healthy weight, having energy and feeling awesome.  You are what you eat!!!  That’s why I listed this as NUMBER ONE!

I’ve also learned that if I am not actively trying to do this, then I will end up eating less real food and more crap.  It’s human nature.  Simple as that.  Eating well, eating whole food and cutting out a lot of the crap is a deliberate choice that you have to make and re-make every single day.

I also feel a need to mention that it’s important to find the balance.  You do not need to eat perfectly.  I actually think it’s “healthier” to indulge a little bit here and there.  However, it’s important to remember that those indulgences should be deliberate and eaten with some level of control.  If you’re counting macros or calories, they should fit within the allotted amounts….most of the time.  Again, perfection is not the goal.  Consistency is.

I used to be an “all or nothing” kind of person.  I am not that way anymore and I never want to be that way again!  The “all or nothing” mentality will get you nowhere….you will just keep going around in circles and be frustrated.

I’ve learned that as I eat more healthy, wholesome food, my body starts to crave it.  It tastes better to me and is more satisfying.  When I eat less junk, my cravings go way down and the junk just doesn’t sound as good to me!  On the flip-side, when I start to eat more junk food, healthy food doesn’t seem as appealing.  My cravings go up, my appetite goes up and it makes it very hard to eat well!

I PROMISE, as you eat a healthy diet for an extended period of time (I start to notice small changes after a week and bigger changes after about 3 weeks), it will get so much easier and you will be surprised at how much better your body feels and functions!

Just always remember that a healthy diet is always THEE #1 most important factor in healthy living and weight loss.

#2 Get your sleep!

This one is a very close second to a healthy diet.  When you don’t get enough sleep, it is very very hard for your body to lose weight and lose fat!

When you’re sleep deprived, your hunger and fullness hormones, ghrelin and leptin get all out of whack.  They basically send signals to your brain that make you feel more hungry and less satisfied when you do eat.  It increases your cravings, especially cravings for junk food (i.e. quick sugar, quick energy type foods) and just makes it very hard for you to want to eat well.

Also, when you’re sleep deprived it’s a lot harder to exercise because you’re too tired!  It zaps your motivation and strength.  So, you essentially end up eating more and exercising less.

Aaaaand, even if you have crazy awesome willpower and can somehow power through the increased appetite and low energy and still eat a healthy diet and exercise well, your body will still have a hard time losing weight because the sleep deprivation puts a lot of stress on your body!  This stress increases cortisol (a stress hormone) production and makes you less sensitive to insulin; both of which will cause your body to hang onto fat.

Basically, sleep deprivation wreaks havoc on the body and pretty much negates all of your healthy efforts.  Soooooo, even if you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, you won’t see a lot of positive changes if you’re not getting enough sleep!

That suuuuuuuuucks!

It is recommended that most people get 7-9 hours of sleep every night.  This is not a suggestion, it is a necessity.  Soooooo, if you are regularly skimping on sleep, your whole life will suffer.  Your mood, your health, your weight, your happiness, your goals in life, your parenting, your career, your responsibilities….all of these things won’t be as good as they could be if you made sleep a priority!

I promise, getting adequate sleep is HUGE!  I have learned this time and time again in my life….for better or worse.  I know it’s especially hard for mothers to get enough sleep because we are trying to juggle EVERYTHING, but we NEED to make it a priority.

Remember, sleep is NOT a luxury.  It is necessary for quality of life.

#3 Exercise regularly, especially weight lifting

This is also a no brainer, but it is so important!

Exercise burns calories, builds muscle (which increases metabolism), improves mood, lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, strengthens the heart, reduces the risk of chronic disease, strengthens bones, increases our energy, improves mental health, helps us sleep better….the list goes on and on and on!

Yes, it might be hard to find the time to exercise, but the benefits come back to us tenfold!  It really does make our entire quality of life better.

The best advice I could give about how to fit regular exercise into your life is to:

1. Find a form of exercise that you actually like and can stick to.  If you don’t like the form of exercise you’re doing, you won’t stick with it.  Simple as that.
2. Make time in your schedule for exercise.  We are all busy and it’s hard for all of us to fit exercise in!  The only way to do it is the make the time and then actually DO IT!  Write it in your calendar, treat it like an appointment and then make sure to stick with it!
3. Find a time of day to exercise that you can commit to.  If you are not a morning person, do not think you have to work out in the morning!  If you are a morning person, make sure to fit exercise in earlier in the day because you’ll probably be too tired to fit it in at night.  Our bodies are all different and there is no “right time to exercise!”  Just fit it in when you will be most likely to get it done!
4. Make sure you get adequate sleep or you will not have the energy to exercise!

Also, I really feel like everyone could benefit from weight training.  It really is the key to changing the body and body composition.  Weight training strengthens the bones and builds muscle, which helps to burn more calories every day…just from existing.  I promise if you add some consistent weight training to your life, making sure the weights are heavy enough and challenge you, you will love the results you see!

#4 Manage your stress

Managing stress levels is another thing that is easier said than done, but it is vital to success with weight loss and healthy living!  Life is stressful, but we have to control how we manage that stress.

Just like when we don’t get enough sleep, when we are chronically stressed, our bodies produce more cortisol and become less sensitive to insulin…..leading to weight gain and increased fat.  It’s basically a recipe for disaster and will negate all of our healthy efforts.  It will also make it much harder for us to cope with life and will just make life a whole lot crappier in general.

One of the best ways to manage stress is to make sure to get enough sleep.  Sleep really is the key to healthy living and helps our bodies to manage stress more efficiently.  The amount of sleep we get and our level of stress go hand in hand.

It’s also very important that we find some down time and time to ourselves every day or at least most days.  This is especially hard to do as a mother, but it is sooooo important!  I used to feel a little guilty when I would take time to relax or take some time to myself because there’s always so many things to get done and so many things I could be doing with my kids.  I’ve since learned to NOT feel guilty when I take some time to myself.  I know it makes me a healthier, happier person and definitely a better mother.

Exercise can also be a great stress reliever, especially things like yoga .  You can kill two birds with one stone; fit your exercise in and manage your stress at the same time!  I do want to mention that it’s important to not overexercise!  It’s important to listen to our bodies and exercise in a way to strengthen and support our bodies.  When we exercise too much, especially when the body is already worn out and overworked, we actually tear the body down, increase stress, increase cortisol and it doesn’t contribute to good health!

Just listen to your body.  Our bodies have so many ways to let us know when things are helping or hurting our bodies…we just have to learn to listen.

Meditation is also a huge way to reduce stress and become more in-tune with our bodies.  There are so many different ways to meditate.  If you Google it, you’ll find way more information than you probably care to know….but there are so many good tips and ideas out there about meditation.

Prayer and faith are also huge ways to reduce stress.  I’m a very spiritual person and I can’t tell you how important my faith and my religion are to me.  My faith supports me in all aspects of my life and helps me to cope and even thrive when life decides to throw crap my way.

#5 Love yourself, believe in yourself and have faith in the process!

K, so a healthy diet, adequate sleep, regular exercise and stress management really are the basics that make up a healthy lifestyle.  It definitely takes time, effort and commitment to fit these things into our daily lives, but the rewards and benefits are so worth it!

Sometimes it’s hard to stay focused and committed because we may not see or feel the results as quickly or as obviously as we would like to.  We might think that it’s not worth all of the effort.  It’s also so easy to get frustrated when the scale doesn’t move or even goes up, when we fall off the wagon or when we just randomly gain weight for seemingly no reason.  It is tough!

The key is to love yourself and accept yourself through it all!  Be grateful for a healthy, able body.  Remind yourself that even though you might not see the results happening or you might reach a plateau….stick with it anyway because you love yourself and want to take care of your body.

Have faith in the process and have faith in yourself.  It is so much more than just weight loss.  Yes, weight loss and liking the way your body looks is a huge motivator, but there are obviously so many more benefits….life changing, life improving and live prolonging benefits!

I’ve had to lose weight many, many times in my life.  My pregnancies were not easy.  I seriously gained 5 pounds the moment I found out I was pregnant.  I’ve learned that my body is very sensitive to hormones and it seemed like the moment those “pregnancy hormones” kicked in, I poofed right up, gained weight easily and clung onto fat despite my healthy efforts to eat well and exercise.  My body also hung onto that poof until I stopped breastfeeding…..and I nursed most of my babies until they were a year old.

It was tough and I never felt like a cute pregnant lady!  It’s a’ight though because it was a small sacrifice to pay.  Regardless, I always had plenty of weight to lose after having each of my babies.

I thought I’d share a few pics….

That pic on the left of me on the treadmill was taken shortly after baby #6.  This was my first official run after having him, about 6 weeks after he was born.  I remember this run felt so hard!  I ran very slow and didn’t go too far.  I was surprised by how sluggish and out of shape I felt, but I was just happy to run again!

It took me about a year to lose all the weight I wanted to lose, but I didn’t quit.  It was so hard to feel so out of shape, overweight and uncomfortable in my own body, but I just kept pluggin’ along.

That cheesy pic on the right of me flexing was taken about 18 months after baby #6.  I had been working really hard in the gym and was following Jessie Hilgenberg’s Bikini Body program.  I wasn’t sure if I was seeing any progress, so I took that quick progress picture in the mirror.  I was happy to see that I could see progress and my hard work was paying off!

I’ve learned that progress pictures, even cheesy selfie pictures, are one of the best ways to see progress.  The scale is usually not the best indicator; pictures and how your clothes fit are!

Here are a couple more pictures…

The picture on the left was taken when my last baby was about 3 months old.  I remember I still felt very chubby, but I was so happy to have a little bit of a shape again.  I still had a long way to go and quite a bit more weight to lose, but I celebrated my success along the way!

That pic on the right was taken last summer while I was doing the Oxygen Magazine Challenge.

I took that picture to show my new workout leggings that I’d been loving, but I was also happy to see some progress from the hard work I’d been putting into that challenge!  The progress was slow, but steady; just the way it should be!

I felt great during and after that challenge and was so glad I did it.  Again, I’m grateful I take progress pictures every so often so I can measure my progress for better or worse!

Health and fitness is a journey.  There will be times you’ll be doing great and will love how you feel and there will be times you will struggle and might be disappointed or even ashamed with where you are.  It’s okay!

It’s life.  It’s human nature.

The key is to keep picking yourself up, keep working hard, keep learning from your mistakes and successes and love yourself along the way!

If you’re not loving the way your body looks and feels right now, you can change it!  If you’re not loving the lifestyle you’re living and know you need to change some things, change them!  We only get one body and we’re not getting any younger. 😉

Well, I think that’s all I will say today!  Go out and LIVE your life and MAKE it what YOU want it to BE!!! xoxo

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