Hello there!
Thanks for the great discussion on HIIT. I loved reading about all of you who incorporate HIIT into your weekly exercise routine! Who knew there were so many of you?! Awesome. I am so excited to play around with the training. The possibilities are really endless. And let me tell you, I have never had a runner’s high like that (in 28 minutes to boot!).
Now, as promised…
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This week I will be sharing some of my favourite health tips that have worked well for me on my road to health. I thought it would be a great way to open up dialogue and get each other inspired to have a kick-butt Spring season (and beyond!).
Health Tip #1: Have Fun With Your Health!
For years, I did not nurture my health. I did not have fun with food, exercise, or my health. I basically succeeded at making myself miserable. I struggled with disordered eating and rarely took pleasure in food because everything about my diet was so strict, regimented, and rigid. All I ever thought about was how many calories or fat grams I had left to eat for that meal or day. Some days I would ‘succeed’ and some days I would ‘lose’, but regardless, every day was essentially the same- a battle against myself.
The same was true for exercise. It was all about squeezing in the most exercise I could in a day. I would walk at lunch, walk home from school, hit the gym, and attend softball practice at night. I have always loved being active and participating in sports throughout childhood, but somewhere along the line I lost the carefree joy that I got out of it. No longer could I just rollerblade for fun- I had to be thinking about how many calories I burned and how long I would make myself go for. I would do endless circles around the cul-de-sac on our street. Where I was going? I just don’t know…
After years of this, I finally figured out that this way of life was not sustainable long-term. I decided that I wanted to take pleasure in my health and stop this cloud of negativity that surrounded me.
I wanted my health, diet, and fitness to be FUN!
I wanted to bound out of bed in the morning and be excited about taking care of myself and my health. I wanted goals…positive ones.
It was not easy to just start to have fun with my health, do not be fooled. After years of fighting my body, I honestly didn’t know how to have fun with it. I had to learn how to ride my bike with training wheels again. I decided to put on some rose-coloured glasses and fake it ‘til I made it.
Over time, I discovered a passion for health and nutrition and I started to look at it in a new light.
I. HAD. FUN.
Here are a few things I started to do:
- Experiment with recipes and new foods
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2. A lot of reading and research in the health field. Any chance I got in my undergraduate and master’s programs I chose health research!
3. I asked myself what types of exercise I enjoyed and I started to do those more.
4. I stopped counting how many calories I burned while working out and I focused on how exercise made me feel (amazing, proud, strong!) and what benefits it had on my daily life (tons!).
5. I read inspiring blogs and discovered that there were so many people out there who had a passion for health, just like me. So many people who overcame a lot and were now happy.
6. I found surrounding myself with inspiring and positive people made all the difference in my recovery and my passion for life.
It has now been about 3-4 years since I decided to have fun with my health. There are so many things I want to try that I haven’t done before! I want to run more races (my next half marathon is on May 30th!), climb a mountain, skydive, scuba dive, and so much more. All it took was reframing the negative into something positive and seeing my health in a new way.
Is food, fitness, and health fun in YOUR life? What do you do to keep it fun?
Was there a time in your life when food and fitness was NOT fun?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how YOU make health fun in your life! I think that positivity is really contagious and through our dialogue we can keep each other inspired!
Coming up on Health Tip Week, I tell you what I eat once daily that keeps me on track (and no, I’m not talking about Green Monsters!)
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“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”
– Martha Washington
Yes, Health is so fun for me! Involving others (helping them, eating with them, exercising with them) makes it a thousand times more fun. That is why I am so happy to have started my blog.
Yes, it did not used to be fun. There was a long time where I was so unhappy and there were so many problems in my life, I did not even have time to worry about health. Also, if you hate yourself you don’t want to be healthy. You need to love yourself at least a little bit…to really care about your health.
I am so glad I am in such a good place now! :)
GREAT POST! Love your blog! You are the queen of blogging.
BTW after you posted about one of my articles, my stats skyrocketed! There is this nice spike now in my graph and every time I look at it I think: Oh yes, this is when Angela blogged about me! hahaha
Oh, boy. There was DEFINITELY a time in my life when food and fitness were not fun (and by “a time” I mean five years).
The most important thing I do NOW to make it fun? Reading blogs like this one. (Corny, but I’m serious.) I would honestly say blogs (reading them, and later writing one) were, and are, the biggest factor in my recovery from an eating disorder.
I find running races really fun and FINALLY enjoy running. Now if I could just get my body to stop crapping out on me.
:(