Category: Healthy Living - Form Fit

Happy New Year!

1/2/2020

Are you noticing a trend?
I'm seeing it and I can't be happier!

It's a New Year and instead of trying to change yourself, its time to surrender to who you are right now and begin to love that person.

Stop feeling like the New Year is a time when you need to make big changes. You have been through this before and you know that all of these plans and goals you are setting for yourself may start to fall to the wayside because life is busy, you made to many goals for yourself, or you are to hard on yourself and wanting to change the way you look/are for ALL the WRONG reasons.

Take a moment,

breathe,

now:

decide on one thing you can begin to do today for yourself or your family because you want to be happy and healthy and you love that you are able to move, eat, laugh, cry, play and be!

Once you have determined that one thing that you are going to do, I want you to be able to hold yourself accountable; so I would love for you to join our Mom's Healthy Living Group and let us know what is the one thing you are going to work on changing.

Make it something that pushes you a little but is reachable (maybe by setting some mini goals to help you get to your bigger goal). Understand that there will be some hiccups along the way; this doesn't mean that you give up and throw in the towel,

NO

this is what life is all about. Access the situation and decide how you are going to move forward. Believe in yourself and know that by making one simple change you can accomplish big things!

healthy holidays

12/12/2019

With all of the EXTRA things we have to do during the Holiday it can be really tough to get that workout in. I am not here to tell you to wake up an hour earlier during this time of year, because I get it; you may have been up late the night before wrapping presents or going to a Holiday event.

No, I'm here to help you find ways to make the most of the time you already have and get a little extra movement throughout your every day.

First tip: Keep moving! Try to move as much as possible throughout the day (this should come fairly easy if you are out buying gifts to put under the tree), get on the floor to wrap presents to change up the position your body is in, go for a walk around the neighborhood in the evening to look at all the Christmas lights. Take the kids to the mall to see Santa and try to park on the opposite end so you get some walking in that way as well.

Tip #2: Get in the holiday spirit and play that Christmas or seasonal music. It is so hard not to sway, move your hips, or have a little more pep in your step when holiday music is on. These little bouts of dancing around add up to big calorie burn (steps made) during the season.

Tip #3-Convenience is killing you! Do not rely on the convenience of packages delivered to your door and sitting in your car outside of Target while they conveniently bring your packages to you; unless of course you have little eyes in the back seat. I understand it is easier but think about all of the extra time you are just sitting in your car waiting for someone else to get their movement in while you wait. If you live an active life, than this is not a big deal; but for those that sit at a desk all day and then drive to and from work, and then have everything delivered so they can relax and watch Netflix, this is not helping you live your healthiest life.

Tip #4-Get together with family or a friend to workout with you. We always think about getting together for lunch or coffee with friends to catch up, but what if you asked to go for a walk instead? You get to catch up with a friend and get your exercise in. It's a win-win! Looking for other mom's in your area? Look into stroller friendly fitness classes to meet other moms. Working out with friends is always more fun!

Tip #5-Consistency is Key! Try to make it a daily habit to perform some sort of fitness regimen into your life. Even if you don't have a lot of time, most people have 5 minutes to devote to something. Do a Sun salutation at the beginning or end of your day, follow along with any of my 5 min workouts; the key is to set aside at least a little time each and every day for consistency and then it will become a habit. Once it becomes an every day thing, you will start to find more time to commit to it as you will probably start to see the positive effects it has on your life.

How are you getting in your exercise this holiday season?

Eat the rainbow

12/10/2019

Eat a rainbow of colors!

Your liver is designed to detoxify a lot of the chemicals that are now in our environment, but there are a few things you can do to help it.

-Give digestion a rest, you shouldn't be eating all day long; you can do this by doing some intermittent fasting or drink a smoothie in place of a meal each day since these are easily digestible.

-Listen to your body, take a lot of the higher inflammatory foods out of your diet so that you can determine what hinders your digestion.

-Take care of intestinal flora, avoid antibiotics and processed foods that can mess with the natural flora and bacteria in your intestines.

-Eat more fruits and vegetables and the more variability you have within your diet of these fruits and vegetables the more variability you will have in your flora and the more they will thrive.

-This variability of color helps the liver get the nutrients it needs to detoxify the body.

This information was gleaned from The Model Health Shows Podcast #386 if you want to hear more.

One way that I make sure to get the rainbow of color with fruits and veggies into my diet is through fruit and vegetables powders that have been encapsulated for ease and convenience. If you are interested in learning more, email me.

Have you thought about becoming vegetarian?

12/4/2019

So...

My husband watched The Game Changers on Netflix a few weeks ago and ever since then he has pretty much eaten a plant based diet, save for Thanksgiving dinner; which I must say has been interesting.

I am all for Plant based diets and I definitely am one to promote eating more veggies and fruits each and every day; but have found making meals completely vegetarian rather difficult and time consuming. The chopping and prepping has doubled, trying to figure out what dishes will taste good together, and then making sure the foods we are eating will satisfy us. So the meals have been a salad, some sort of flavorful vegetable main dish, a healthy starch which usually is some sort of wild rice or roasted potato/sweet potato but am noticing I'm really missing the animal meat on my plate.

So I have decided for my children and I, we will practice more of a flexitarian diet, which is eating mostly plant based and use meat as a garnish or have a few meatless meals and enjoy the meat from time to time-this makes more sense to us as a family. This ensures that we are getting our Iron as needed, since its imperative for us who workout and are growing. (Iron helps our muscles to take in oxygen from the bloodstream).

This is much more manageable and I have to say it has been fun to try a lot of new recipes this past month and these are some of my favorite places to go for delicious vegetarian options.

The Forest Feast-I have two of her cookbooks already and have asked for the other two for Christmas. They are absolutely beautiful and are worth looking at for just the pictures.

Pick up Limes- I have tried a few of her bowls and they are delicious; her YouTube videos are beautiful and I truly have gotten lost just watching her create these exquisite dishes.

Chloe Coscarelli-oh my goodness, she is the cutest thing and she has beautiful cookbooks as well that I love. My son loved her vegan meatballs, and said he might just become vegan after eating these

I would love to hear if you have ever tried going vegetarian and your thoughts on it; or did you determine a more flexitarian diet was the way to go? Any recommendations for vegetarian/vegan cookbooks or blogs would be greatly appreciated as well since I love to find different ideas for inspiration.

In health and wellness-Courtney

Consistency

1/29/2018

It is almost February and I can bet most of you didn't follow through with some (if not all) of the fitness goals you made for yourself at the New Year. Why is that? If you told yourself you were going to work out at least 3x a week and somehow didn't get it in, then maybe its not the lack of motivation that is your problem but rather consistency.

Want to workout more? Than you need to make it a habit. And habits are made by doing something every day; not this 2-3x a week mentality. Please don't go into why you can't do something every day, or how you are so busy and you don't even know what I do in a day talk! Guess what...

WE ARE ALL BUSY!

I don't mean to be rude, but rather, I'm hoping to jar you out of these thoughts that you continue to tell yourself to make excuses.

I can guess that you probably have sat around for 5 minutes looking at Facebook to pass the time. So if you have 5 minutes to do something that usually is going to make you feel like crap, than you have 5 minutes to also do something that is going to make you feel great and will provide you with enough time to create a habit of movement/exercise in your day. Stop looking at it like you have to do a 1 hour workout to make it worth it.

YOU DON'T!

Why not instead, work on working out 5 min every single day until it becomes a habit. If you decide after those 5 minutes you might as well keep going, then go for it! If you feel like crap or have a lot on your plate for that day, then move on to the next thing and be happy that you got 5 minutes in.

I want to encourage you to make exercise/movement a habit. This month concentrate on your consistency! Get 5 minutes in, each and every day, and let me know how you did below.

I also have a monthly calendar which provides you with daily workout videos, walks, quick movement exercises, or healthy nutrition habits to try and a group where we hold each other accountable. Let me know if you would like to join us!

water

1/6/2018

What is the #1 thing you can start doing today to help you live a healthier life?

Drink 1/2 your weight in ounces every single day!!

I'm sure you have heard it so often, but this truly is one of the most important things you can do for your health.

It will help you to:

feel more energy
eat less
feel younger
look younger
flush toxins out of your body
have less aches and pains

If you are looking to look and feel your best this year than take a moment and drink some water.

There are a couple of things you can do to help you get the recommended amount of water in, in a day.

Drink 8oz of water before you get out of bed
Drink a glass before each meal you eat
Always have some sort of water container with you at all times
When you feel the need to snack, start with some water (it may be your thirsty rather than hungry)
Try drinking with a straw
Try different flavored waters
whatever your drink of choice (say coffee or wine); you must drink a glass of water before you can enjoy your second cup or glass. It may keep you from consuming more calories

Have you increased your water intake recently? If so, I would love to hear how it has affected you in the comments below. If you are still struggling to get enough water in, feel free to join up for our monthly calendar as this month we are concentrating on drinking more water and getting our nutrients in.

Sign up for monthly calendar

Don't give up this holiday season!

11/22/2017

I know things can get tough during the Holidays. There are so many fun things to do, so many opportunities to indulge on delicious treats, so many family members to visit, and so much shopping that needs to be done. Who has time to workout?

YOU DO! You must, for your own SANITY!!!!

I'm not asking you to kick it into high gear this holiday season. What I'm asking you to do is stay consistent, take time for yourself so that you can give 110% to those around you.

I have always used this as a guideline

Workout 2-3x a week to maintain your current status
Workout 4-5x a week to lose weight

So, all you have to do this month is commit to working out 2-3x each week. Continue to make mostly healthy choices in your nutrition and you will be able to start off the New Year not feeling like you have to make all kinds of changes.

We here at Form Fit don't believe in Fad Diets and quick fixes. My goal is to help lead you on the healthiest (and happiest) path to wellness. Slowly working to create your best self, while enjoying each and every mile stone along the way.

Much health and happiness to you this Holiday Season! and don't forget to keep moving!!!

healthy habits tracker

6/11/2017

If you are looking for a way to track your fitness/health habits here is one that I created for my clients which goes over everything I encourage them to address for a healthier lifestyle.
We cover:

gratitude
food intake
how you feel that day
exercise routine
stretch or foam rolling
water intake
amount of sleep
how they are doing with their goals

If you are interested in receiving a pdf of this planner, please email me Subject line: PDF healthy planner and I will email it to you.

One word

1/20/2017

The past 2 years I have not made a resolution for the New Year, but decided to jump on board with the One Word theme this year. I have chosen Experience as my word! I am ready to live a more fulfilling life with less things and more experiences. I want to live more fully with my children, be more present with family and friends, and experience all that life has to offer. In a business sense, I want to gain more experience in my profession and take time to learn as much as I can over the next year.

I am excited for 2017 and look forward to sharing my experiences with you! Have you chosen a word for the year? If so, let me know in the comments below.