Monthly Archives

January 2018

Advice Column Health & Fitness Lifestyle

Fitness Journey ~ Tracking your Food

January 17, 2018

I am sure that many of you on your fitness journey get some crazy comments or questions. I frequently get.. “Why track your food?; that seems too much work. Plus, live a little, would ya? Like a hamburger is going to hurt you!

So, I pose questions to those individuals. Do you watch your bank accounts, your 401K, your IRA, your expenses or taxes deductions? Do you know what is being taken out your paychecks each pay period or with your investments?

Well, I consider myself an investment. Tracking my numbers allows me to have profits (muscle gain, fat loss, increase stamina, restful night sleep) and manage my losses (fat gain, muscle loss, fatigue or other medical issues). Fine tuning my food intake, understanding which food fuels me better and creating fitness challenges is like smart money management that yields a big return and enables you to pursue the retirement of your dreams.

Marcus Lemonis of the Profit believes in the three Ps; People, Process, and Product. I surround myself with like minded people that inspire me to keep my dream alive without judgment or criticism. The process is the hard work (watching your macros and working out) and the product is my health, my stamina, and how I feel in my mind, body and spirit.

Here is a few quotes from Marcus that I have on my vision board to remind me to keep going and trust the process.

“If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business.”

“If you’re not evolving, you’re dying.”

“At the end of the day, numbers don’t lie.”

“Performance is the best way to shut people up.”

If you are interested in how to start tracking your food, there are many food count apps that will help you. I use My FitnessPal.com, Carlorieking.com and all can be easily found on the internet or in your Apps locator on your phone or Ipad.

Want to find someone to help you understand and guide you through that process? There are many registered dietitians and nutritionists ready to help. I work with my personal trainer, Kandace Platts, who offers nutrition consulting through Diet Doc. Right now, I have challenged myself with Diet Doc’s 3 month program. I am learning quite a bit about planning my meals and knowing my numbers. To find out more about her services, you can connect with her through her website, http://thedietdochaverhill.com.

Note: I do not get any kick backs for my mentioning my trainer or the Diet Doc system. This is merely based on my experience.

Thank you for reading. Let me know how you feel about tracking your food or how your fitness journey is going! Comment below or send me an email. I would love to hear from ya.

 

 

 

 

Advice Column Household Lifestyle

How to start the New Year off right?

January 8, 2018

Around the world, everyone is wondering how they will begin 2018. They will reflect on all of their past resolutions that never happened, the 2017 elections, constant media of natural disasters, child neglect, animal abuse and much more.

For me, I try to focus new goals, look on how I can reduce my anxiety in my own mind and home along with giving back to my community even more. Here are a few things that I do to start my new year that might help you turn things around and begin this 2018 with a bang.

  1. Create a vision board. I create a vision board. One side has all the things that I want to accomplish. I cut out words, pictures or ideas and place them on the goal side. Once I have completed those goals, I moved them to the other side of the board, Accomplished! Then, at the end of the year, I have something tangible to look at; something, visually, that says I did so much.
  2. Purge. Purging your home of all the clutter will definitely help in feeling better and relaxed to accomplishing those goals. If you haven’t worn it or used it in six months or longer, please feel free to donate or throw it away. Also, purging doesn’t have to be exclusive to your home. You can clean out those emails, junk mail boxes, unsubscribe to all those digital subscriptions that you haven’t or don’t have time to read and unfriend, unfollow or unlike anything that might not be in tuned to your new goals.
  3. Financial Goals. While I purge and clean my home, I create better systems to ensure that I pay my bills on time. I make sure that my credit report is up-to-date and doesn’t have any errors. I can request a free credit report yearly. Yes, I know that you can purchase a credit report through many online credit reporting agencies and have monthly monitoring but why pay $40 dollars for something that you can get for free! Additionally, I review my expenses. If I am paying for any subscriptions electronically that automatically renew, I update my renew dates and modify any auto renew settings to ensure that I don’t forget. Many companies look forward to you forgetting about what is being charged on your credit card. Lastly, life hiccups can hit us at any time. That is why it is so important to have some type of emergency fund, a retirement fund or long term savings plan. I save to maximize my IRA contributions, be ready for that unexpected emergency and that day that I can retire in a new home on the beach. The new trend should be being in the black not the red; Debt free is the new BMW.
  4. Take care of yourself. The one thing that I have noticed about myself is that when I don’t take time for me; I become extremely distracted and unmotivated to accomplish anything. I make sure to incorporate time in my schedule for getting a haircut or my nails done, talking to life coach, scheduling those yearly checkups with my physician, going to the gym and even having a date night with my husband.  All of these little moments are what keeps me from becoming overwhelmed, so do what you need to do to take care of yourself and start your new year on the right foot!

Let me know how you start your new year. Please feel free to email or comment below.