Are you having fun with your fitness?

ARE YOU HAVING FUN WITH YOUR FITNESS?
This week focus on enjoying your exercise game plan. It is easy to get caught up in striving to accomplish your goals; however, if we are not having fun and we are pushing too hard, eventually we will experience burn out, exercise overload, injury, fatigue, and that hard to shake need to step away for a period of time. I speak from personal experience. We set goals to motivate. We set goals to test our limits. We train hard to accomplish what we desire to achieve. It's important to remember that goals, though helpful, are not beneficial when they begin to produce guilt, unhealthy habits, over training, food anxiety, stressful calorie counting, and an inability to rest and recover properly and adequately.

10 Things to pay attention to when you are working towards a goal:

1. Set realistic and rational goals.
2. Count calories only to improve your nutrition and educate yourself as to where your excess calories may be coming from.
3. Consume at least 1300 calories a day and eat to fuel your body for your particular activity level.
4. Do not workout because you are feeling guilty for consuming high fat foods.
5. Do not step on the scale more than once a week.
6. Take at least one day off from exercise a week.
7. Track your progress bi-weekly in order to continue seeing results and change your approach and plan when necessary.
8. Define what "health and fitness" is to you and direct your exercise game plan according to this definition.
9. Remember that there is no such thing as being perfect and there is no absolute in anything.
10. Consider this: You are not defined by what you look like. You are a precious and valuable person no matter what the number on the scale is, the size of your pants, the reflection in the mirror, and your athletic abilities.