Weight Loss or Time Wasting?

Getting thin is the desire of eight among ten women. Maybe it’s second only to having a credit card with unlimited credit…

But jokes aside, obesity has become an epidemic disease in modern times, due to our lifestyle and lack of time.

Some years ago, we had a life that allowed walking, resting and playing sports, and enough safety to jog in a park.

Today we have more workload, student responsibilities and family affairs, all competing for our time. This produces an entire generation that doesn’t have time to exercise or eat properly and “suddenly” notice we became FAT.

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Basics of Creating Your Own Self-improvement Program

Self-improvement programs can be found almost anywhere for sale and can cover almost any area of life you want to improve in. Some are designed for general life improvement and others are very specific, like loosing weight or gaining confidence. They also vary widely in cost as well. One-way to get the specific program you want and at the cost you want is to design your own self-improvement program.

The first step in designing a self-improvement program is to decide what specifically you want to improve. Whether gaining confidence, loosing weight or gaining wealth, it is important to focus on one area for now. If you feel you need to improve in several areas, it is best to just focus on improving just one area of your life for now, and in three months or so, focus on another.

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We all get stressed. We have situations in life to deal with everyday that can put us in stressful situations from our jobs, our families, and even just driving in our cards. Stressful situations are all around us and it is how we deal with them that ultimately determines how they will affect us. Stress can be a killer. Heart attacks, strokes, and high blood pressure are just three medical maladies that can be the result of stress so practicing effective stress management is not only great to help us become more relaxed, it can also save your life as well.

Increases in emotional stress, such as those we feel when driving or facing deadlines at work, cause an increase in adrenaline into our bloodstream. These increases have shown to lead directly to increased blood clotting which can sometimes lead directly to heart attacks and even strokes. It is obvious then why the need for stress management is so vitally important to our health and well being. Below are a few tips you can use to help manage the stress you face in your everyday life to hopefully make you a healthier and happier person.

· Learn to assess situations realistically-one of the main things that leads to our being stressed is simply how WE view or perceive a particular situation. Let’s say someone pulls out in front of you while you are driving in a parking lot. Sure, that can scare you and cause your heart to beat a little faster, but what do you do afterwards? Do you scream, yell, and raise your middle finger? For some of us, this little incident can ruin our entire day. If you put it into perspective and view this as simply one of the normal occurrences of driving, you can learn to get past it quickly and not let it be a cause of undue stress.

· Stay in shape-This means to not only exercise, but focus on eating a healthy diet as well. Working out has been shown to be effective at not only reducing one’s reactions to outside stresses, but it makes the heart and circulatory system much stronger so that any stresses that are experienced by the body have little or no harmful impact. Regular intense exercise can do wonder for stress relief.

· Make a plan, and stick to it-If you have tasks to complete, simply follow the list you have made for yourself, checking off items as you complete them. This sense of accomplishment will allow you to realize the progress you are making and will help you to avoid focusing on the progress you have NOT made.

· Mediate-Individuals who mediate on a regular basis demonstrate MUCH lower levels of stress and when faced with it usually deal with it better than those who do not. Meditation allows our bodies and minds to be focused on one specific thing, thus pushing all other things out of our mind. The less you have on your mind, the less stress you will experience. Adding just 10 minutes of meditation to your daily routine can do wonders for the way you manage future stressful situations.

The above represent just a few of the many tips you can use to manage the stress you experience in your life. Working to add these into your life may just make you happier, healthier, and much more stress free.

Visualization-See your goals before you reach them

There is no question that goal setting is an incredibly important step when it comes to actually achieving the goals you set for yourself in life. You may know what you want in your mind, but by actually writing down specific goals on paper or on your computer, you help to make these goals even more real and you allow your mind to focus on getting there even more.

There is another trick that works perhaps even better for helping you achieve your goals and it is called Visualization. Visualization is pretty simple, you visualize yourself in your mind doing something and then you work to achieve that picture that you have created in your mind. You see, your mind can’t necessarily tell the difference between what is actually happening and what you are IMAGINING. So in effect, using the techniques of visualization alone can actually make you better at whatever it is that you do. A study conducted of college basketball players demonstrated this in details. In the 1980’s, a study was conducted that demonstrated the effects of a group of men actually practicing their basketball skills for 6 weeks versus another group who simply visualized going through the drills in their head. As it turned out, the group that merely visualized practicing showed as much or in some cases MORE improvement than the group that actually practiced the drills. While this was only on experiment and can’t be proof positive that this concept if foolproof, it does demonstrate that this concept may have some real merit.

One of the reasons why this exercise may prove effective for someone looking to improve a skill or reach a goal comes down to one simple thing…focus. When you are visualizing something, it can be much easier to focus on it than by actually doing it. Sounds like a weird concept, but here is an example. Imagine you are playing basketball yourself. You have to dribble the ball down the court and make a basket. When you are actually playing the game, you have the opponents to deal with, your teammates, the folks in the crowd, the sound of the buzzer and perhaps even other stimuli that can get in the way. It can be hard to focus on truly improving your game at that particular time. Even if you aren’t playing and are just practicing, your focus can be diminished by anything else that exists around you at the time. When you are visualizing, however, all your focus is on the skill you are trying to improve. You can spend time analyzing every detail of your moves…what works, what doesn’t, how to move your body in such a way to make you even more effective on the court. How to plant your feet before you make a shot and many other areas of the game you want to focus on. By visualizing, you increase your focus.

The key question is how do you do it? Visualization is easy, but first, rid yourself of distractions. You want a quiet room, but it doesn’t have to be completely dark or void of all noise. The goal is to focus, not go to sleep. Simply close your eyes, and picture yourself doing whatever it is that you want focus on. Perhaps you want to lose weight…then picture yourself thinner, or perhaps picture yourself running an extra mile every day. The more you can picture yourself doing or achieving whatever it is that you want, you will be much closer to actually getting there. The more specific and detailed your vision, the better your results.

No one is saying to stop actually DOING, but by adding the technique of visualization, you can help support your other efforts and you may just reach your goals much faster than ever before.

I was going to write an article today on procrastination, but I think I will go ahead and wait until tomorrow. I will probably have more ideas then anyways. Come to think of it, I have to make something for dinner later, so there is no way I could write it today anyways. Also, my hand kinda hurts…not good for typing…blah,blah.

Sound familiar? Most of us do it at some time or another. It is called Procrastination. We put off something we could do NOW until another time in the future. The reality is, that time in the future often never happens. Even if it does, we could have been much further toward reaching our goals if we had just started NOW.

There are many “reasons” why people procrastinate. I call them reasons, but make no mistake, they are almost always simply excuses. Let’s look at them now and see if we can try to see them from another angle as well:

1. We have better/more important things to do-Let’s take working out and getting in shape for example. I am always trying to motivate those who don’t make time for exercise and often I get the same excuse. “I will start a program soon, but I have too many important tasks on my plate.” If something is worth doing, it is worth doing NOW. If it is not important to you in your life, why even pretend you are going to do it? No one says you have to do it perfectly, or spend an inordinate amount of time on the activity, just get started! No matter what you have to do that is important, you can always make time for another activity that is important even if it is just 10 or 15 minutes.

2. We are not “ready” to begin-Some people get caught up in the “perfect preparation” mode. They put off doing something because they feel they are no prepared enough. The fact is, the only way to really prepare yourself for any activity is to get some practice at doing it. So often, the things we think are “necessary” for a particular task or activity are really superfluous and we could benefit by starting NOW with a slight modification. Take again the example of working out again, (hey, I AM Mr. Fat Loss…what did you expect?) Some people say they can’t get in shape because their gym membership expired, or they can’t find the right personal trainer, or they need to buy a new pair of running shoes to start jogging again…BS! Get on your chest and start doing pushups…NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE! This is an excuse…nothing more.

3. We are too busy-Last but not least, folks procrastinate because they are simply too busy. Again, I call BS. We are ALL busy. The difference is in the types of activities we are doing that is keeping us busy. If we practice effective time management, almost all of us could find the time necessary to begin the activities that we have been putting off. If we wait for a time where we have NOTHING to do before we start another task or project, this time may never come. There are always things to do, the key is how you organize your time. This excuse is similar to number one activities. To use the reason “too busy” usually means you have filled up your day with “stuff”. You had no time to start that new workout program because, you were at the movies, or you were at lunch with a friend, or you were, sitting on your butt on the couch. This is an excuse, not a reason.

Stop procrastinating and start DOING. By making a list of your daily activities, you can begin to include the ones you have been putting off FIRST to begin making them a part of your daily routine. If you know an activity is productive, don’t give a “reason” to procrastinate, create an OPPORTUNITY for yourself to begin doing it!

Perfectionism-Should we strive for Perfection, or just be happy with what we’ve got?

We have all heard the adage before, “Practice Makes Perfect.” Imagine, practicing something until you are actually perfect…without flaw in every way…supreme…is this possible? In a word, no. This ideology, if taken to heart, can lead one to a life of constant stress and undue worry and a complete and total lack of self satisfaction. You see, perfection is a concept that is nearly if not completely unattainable. Man, by nature, is not perfect. Add to that the fact that doing something “perfectly” certainly contains an air of subjectivity and you will quickly realize why trying to attain the status of being PERFECT is a true lesson in futility.

Let’s take, for instance, the state of your body and how it looks. Imagine that you are in fantastic shape (ok, I am sure you are, but pretend someone who is reading this is NOT…) You have about 8% body fat and your tummy is ripped. Your shoulders are rounded and chiseled and every line in your biceps and triceps is defined and your legs look like they belong on a statue. You have worked hard for this body and it is perfect…ALMOST. Most people that get their body to this level are never fully happy. They can always lose a bit more body fat, or get their arms just a bit bigger. The goal of becoming PERFECT is never ending and thus leads to a constant state of being “not quite there.” The closer you get to perfection, for some, the further you are. Now, most of us would LOVE to be in this situation. We would LOVE to have a ripped and skinny body and we would be happy with our bodies should we attain this high level of fitness. For those that are stuck in the state of needing to be perfect, however, this can lead to an unhealthy obsession. These individuals will go to incredible lengths to reach their goal. The trouble is, their goal, being PERFECT, may never be reached…at least in their minds. They may take steroids, diet pills, quit eating altogether, or any number of other unhealthy measures.

Now, let’s take a look at the other side of the coin. You are 250 lbs, not in very good shape, and personally, you are happy as a clam! You have no goal of getting the perfect body and are not really concerned with the whole health and fitness craze. Your body is ample, and you are proud of it. While this person may be happier and more satisfied than one who is striving for perfection, their state of mind may not be that desirable either. You see, life IS about progress. It IS about getting better, being more productive, and moving forward. This does not mean we have to focus every bit of our energy on being perfect, but it does mean that we should try to work on improving ourselves throughout our life. The person who is overweight and unhealthy and happy with themselves is not doing themselves a service. They are perhaps better off in their state of mind, but their state of body may be just as unhealthy as the person in our previous example. So, should we strive to be perfect, or just be happy with what we’ve got? How about somewhere in the middle…

If you work to improve yourself, and are happy with those improvements, then you can live a healthy and satisfied life no matter WHAT your goals are. Life is a process and if you are always trying to get better and you strive for PROGRESS versus PERFECTION, you stand a much better chance at being happy and satisfied with your life and where you are at any particular time. Be realistic, strive to better yourself and realize that if you are pushing yourself forward in a healthy and productive way then you already ARE perfect…

How to beat depression and come out a winner every time!

First of all, I want to start by saying that depression can be an incredibly serious illness. Nothing listed in this article is to take the place of the advice or medications as prescribed by a qualified physician. What we will attempt to do in this article is simply provide some things you can do yourself to hopefully overcome the symptoms of depression without having to resort to prescription drugs. If you cannot, do NOT feel like a failure…sometimes the illness of depression requires taking more serious action so heed your doctor’s advice at all times.

I think just about everyone feels depressed at one time or another. Perhaps you don’t get the promotion you were counting on at work, or you were struck down with an illness that makes you feel hopeless, or any of a number of other things derail you making you feel that life somehow just isn’t fair and you become sad and overall depressed. This is certainly common because of the events mentioned above, but for some of us, these symptoms come on suddenly often not even associated with any specific event at all. Depression can strike without warning and zap your interest in activities you used to love or even life in general. If you notice yourself not reacting positively to things you used to love and feeling like you just don’t want to do or become involved in anything at all, you may be feeling the symptoms of depression. If you notice these signs yourself, the thing you NEED to do is take action immediately. Below is a list of some things that may help you bounce back to your old self.

· Exercise-If you are down, then get up and get active! Physical exercise has shown to be incredibly effective at curing the symptoms of depression. Set a realistic goal for your workout and hit it and this sense of accomplishment will do wonders for your outlook.

· Check your diet-Unhealthy eating, especially a diet high in sugar and processed flour has actually been linked to depression in some folks. If your diet resembles the menu of a local bakery, it may be time for an eating overhaul.

· Skip the drink-Alcohol is a depressant not to mention it is toxic to your body. If you are looking to kick the blues, then start by kicking the booze!

· Give meditation a try-Sometimes the stresses of our daily life can be just too much too bear and if we just had a break to allow our mind to rest and relax, we could get rid of this negative energy that can often lead to a depressed. Meditation can be the perfect answer to help you relieve this stress.

· Get your 8 hours EVERY night-Sometimes we become sleep deprived and we don’t even know it. If your body has not had enough sleep, then you can bet it will catch up with you. Sometimes the symptoms you may be feeling that mimic depression may simply be because your body is exhausted. Try to make sure you get enough sleep every night as regularity is really the key here.

· Make a list of things to be grateful for-Listen, sometimes it is hard to see depending on what we have going on in our life, but there is always someone out there who has it worse than us. If you put down on paper the things you have in your life that you are grateful for it can help put your mindset into perspective. Your family, your job, maybe a skill that you posses, put it all down. Keep this list with you and refer to it whenever you are feeling down.

I want to reiterate how serious depression can be. The tips above can and do help some who put them to use. The key thing is to do SOMETHING. If you are proactive and take action at the first signs of depression, then you can overcome it and come out on top!

“But I don’t have time to workout!” – Effective Time Management for Fitness Minded Folks

None of us really have the time to do the things in life we really need to. Mow the lawn? Don’t have time. Clean the gutters? Don’t have time. Exercising and eating right to get in shape and live a longer healthier life? Don’t have time!

This is the excuse that so many of us give both to other people and to ourselves to excuse us for not doing the things in life that we really should be. Obviously the most important item on that list is getting in shape and becoming a healthier person. The fact is that to do this only requires a commitment of about 45 minutes a day. If you’re truly realistic and look at all the things you do during the day, I am certain that just about everyone in the world could find 45 minutes to do something extremely productive for their health and fitness.

Let’s just start with your daily activities. Making a list of every single thing you do during the day for about a week or so will be extremely illuminating. In fact, you will probably begin to change your habits after only doing the list once or twice out of sheer shame and guilt. If you truly list every single thing that you do during the day and include the time of how long you get it that will be extremely easy to locate the time you need to focus on more productive activities such as health and fitness. For instance, are you surfing on the Internet for an hour for no particular reason other than to pass the time or entertain yourself? Are you watching 90 minutes of a mind numbing reality television show or spending 20 minutes chatting with coworkers about nothing in particular? While all of these things provide distractions in our daily life are sometimes needed to break up the monotony of the day, they all have one thing in common: they are unproductive.

Simply rearranging your day to include an intense 45 minute workout will help remove the boredom and monotony of your regular workday while injecting an activity that is not only productive but could lead to a longer and healthier life. Below is a quick checklist that you can use as an exercise to help you manage your time more effectively and work to add more productive activities into your day such as focusing on exercise and your diet.

· Make a list of every activity you do during the day and the time it takes to complete each one (INCLUDE EVERYTHING, whether productive or not. Eating, sleeping, brushing your teeth, surfing on the internet, etc)

· Make a list of PRODUCTIVE activities that you would like to add into your daily activity and the time it would take to complete each one. (exercising, preparing healthy food, starting a book about personal development etc)

· List the specific goals you wish to hit for each of the productive activities above (lose 10 lbs, prepare a healthy breakfast and lunch vs. buying fast food, read 20 pages in your book each day, etc.)

· Finally, swap out unproductive things from your list one by one while adding the productive activities one by one until your daily plan contains more positive productive activities than negative unproductive ones.

Simply by breaking down these changes into a simple to follow list it is more likely that you will make these changes a regular part of your life and therefore benefit from the positive activities. Time management is all about being honest with yourself and the time you spend on all the activities you do throughout the day. Be honest, and if you truly wish to make your time more productive, the simple checklist above can help you get there.

List your daily activities. Set your goals. Make a to do list, EVERYDAY!

5 Tips to increase Focus and Concentration to help you reach your Fitness Goals

No matter what it is that you were trying to achieve in life, you must always possess two things in order to be successful… focus and concentration. Many of us have the best of intentions when starting a new project or endeavor but find ourselves distracted by the many things we have to deal with in life on an ongoing basis which help veer us off track and we end up losing sight of our goals and failing to make progress.

One area of our lives that can be extremely hard to reach your goals is the area of health and fitness. Reaching your goals in this area is extremely difficult and will often require the highest level of focus and concentration you can muster. Below are five simple tips to help you increase your focus and concentration when trying to reach your personal fitness goals.

1. Identify, then get rid of distractions-in trying to identify the distractions that prevent you from reaching your fitness goals, simply make a list of the different aspects of your life do you deal with on a daily basis. This could be your kids, your spouse, your job or anything else you do with a consistent basis. In addition, also list the things that you do with surrounding or involving your workout time. This might include listening to music, where you workout, your workout partner etc. You may not be able to a lemonades every distraction that you have in your life but if you work to reduce the ones that cause you the most distractions he can help you get back on target and focus on making progress with your goals.

2. Check your diet-research has shown that diets high in saturated fat and sugar help reduce your ability to concentrate. Monitoring your diet and reducing your intake of foods in these areas can certainly help to improve your concentration. In addition, keeping your body hydrated with plenty of water will help in this area as well. Your brain needs water to perform at an optimal level so give it what it needs and it will reward you with increased focus and concentration.

3. Give Meditation a try-if you have never tried meditation before, perhaps now is the time. Many definitions of the word meditation include the words focus and concentration as bad as the prime goal of this exercise. Taking time to yourself and clearing everything from your mind and working to focus on one specific thing can help bring a sense of relaxation to your body and help to de-stress yourself which will in turn allow your body to become more focused on whatever goals that you set for it.

4. Make your goals VISIBLE-it is extremely important to have specific goals you were trying to get in better shape toward better health. Just knowing what they are is not good enough but instead you must put these goals down on paper. Research has shown that simply by writing down your goals you will be many more times likely to actually achieve them. In addition, having these goals visible to you on a daily basis will help to increase your focus and concentration on achieving them.

5. Grab a partner who will keep you on track-One of the biggest distractions you can have in trying to achieve specific health and fitness goals is to have a partner or others around you that help distract you from your goal. Often times and their lack of focus and concentration spills over into your mindset is well and you find yourself talking about the latest TV show that you solve rather than concentrating on the workout that you’re doing. It may take a bit of trial and error to find a partner that is a good complement for you, but doing so maybe the best thing that you ever did to help increase your focus and concentration.

Mind over Matter – Goal Setting Life Change Transformation Product

How does anybody achieve success with their life and their personal health? Where do you begin, at the beginning or do you start at the end with the goal and develop a plan and go backwards from the goal? So you start where you are, look forward to the goal and just start making strides of what ever length and move in that direction? What should you do when an obstacle appears or occurs, how do you start back up if you stop?

These were the questions I wanted to answer as I began my personal quest for excellence and develop my 31 year (so far) fitness professional career. Did I set out with the intention of excellence? No, it’s just evolved as my understanding increased and interests have deepened along with my desire to quench my thirst for this endless goal.

The definition of mind/body connection is simple and complex at the same time but in its simplest form it’s the connection or resulting from the interrelationship between one’s physical health and the state of one’s mind or spirit and overall effect on one’s health.

“But I just want to get lean, drop some fat!” some of you are saying and you will…some of you. Some of you however will be trapped by the demons, monkeys, excuses or whatever term you want to give them that reside in your minds and will act as a gatekeeper forbidding your successes until you learn to manage the little trolls.

Historical perspective on mind and body connection

From the worlds shift and mankind’s evolution from old to the new world, the basic “software” of what it means to be human hasn’t changed, but the external world has definitely changed rapidly in comparison. We still feel, think and react to the same as we did thousands of years ago to external stressors.

From the Greeks and Romans, through the Renaissance period to early Colonial American humans are pretty much the same internally…same bones, same muscles and brain.

The changes externally going from an extreme need for physical survival skills and abilities have all been in recent times outsourced from the more prosperous in society to the lesser and knowledge work has replaced physical work. With this shift, a less physical body has evolved and an overstressed mind fueled with poorly engineered food has created the beginning of the end. Is this a possible shift back to the dark ages? Can we rebound? Some will…many will not.

This is what “Mind over Matter” is all about, developing the mental disciplines to handle life’s challenges while also juggling all the balls in the air without dropping them. Possibly having to have a life changing situation event occur usually does it for some…a death, a divorce, job loss, jail term, war, violent crime…puts them over the edge and nothing brings them back. Sometimes because the tools to do this or get back up after getting knocked down and dust one’s self off were never put in place. Do you want to discover how to get these tools or just “try” to figure it out on your own…how’s that been working out so far?

Managing to eat, sleep, work, train and have a fully functioning life with challenging accomplishments to help each of us achieve a level competency for a strong mind body connection with “Mind over Matter” disciplines can be taught, practiced, refined and learned.