July's Challenge: " New You by the New Year" challenge

 

 

Starting this month: New You by the New Year and I am not just talking fitness goals.

 More details on the challenge will be posted next Monday but here's YOUR ASSIGMENT FOR THIS FIRST WEEK.! ( Yes you have homework to do).

To get started: take before picture, weight yourself and take your measurements then do some planning.

 This first week your assignment is to PLAN: plan plan plan plan
-Plan what you want to accomplish in every areas of your life for the rest of this year.
-Plan your weeks,  month
-Plan your daily actions items that would help you reach your goals. ( Things like prayer time, walking, reading time, food prepping, playing with the children or time with spouse, budgeting, balancing checkbook, setting clothes asides for workouts...whatever will help you be more efficient)
-Divide your plans in two sets of 90 days to keep you focused on your goals. You will review your progress in 90 days.
-Establish your core values. If you don't know what you truly value you will be going through the motion and you will easily sabotage yourself along the way or allow unnecessary things to distract you.
-Write WHY you want to accomplish your chosen goals. Having a written WHY makes it easier to really believe and focus on making things happen. WHY are the goals you chose so important to you?


You will need:
-Time alone to think
-Time to discuss with your family members living with you so that you can decide what you want to accomplish collectively, share your personal goals so that they can hold you accountable etc..
-3 journals, ( planning, gratitude and positivity journal, daily fitness and food log journal, vision/motivation journal)
  -Magazines,  art supplies like markers glue and scissors if you want to really have fun. You will use a journal and create a dream book clipping images of places to visit, fun things to do solo or with your loved ones, fitness motivation, healthy food to eat .You can do the same with a vision board. The journal is more fun because it can also be carried in your purse and you can browse through anywhere anytime ...

Ready?

You still have to eat clean and exercise this week and pick a couple of books you will be reading this month. Yes, reading at least a book or two is part of the deal like we did the months before! More details to come soon but for now...PLAN PLAN PLAN!!!! Write your vision and make it plain and plan the costs so to speak, before you start building the foundations for a brand new you!

 

 

Fitness Challenges:

 

Join us on FB if you are on your weight loss journey or just taking your fitness goals and other areas of your life to the next level!

 

 

Day 1 of my 2013 New You by the New Year. With a comparison of my picture from last July 1st.

Thank God It's Wednesday # 2 STOP: How to stop sabotaging yourself and move forward with confidence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this second edition of Thank God It's Wednesday. Today I am using a familiar sign to motivate you to make progress and encourage you to be consistent patient and persistent.

 

Why Thank God It's Wednesday? Wednesday are probably the day where many of us are feeling somewhat burnt out , discouraged by some of the challenges of the week and looking forward to the week-end as an escape. This is a way of regaining a mental boost that will help us to push strong...

 

 

 

STOP :
Stop making excuses
Stop procrastinating
Stop doubting yourself because the truth of the matter is you are very capable. There are many situations & areas of your life that prove that you are capable of achieving goals when you make up your mind to.
Stop wasting so much time on worthless things. Do you watch too much TV? Do you watch shows that actually pollute your mind? Do you spend more time complaining than you do counting your blessings? Do you spend more time gossiping than you do building others up?
If on  a weight loss journey: Stop thinking about losing weight and think more about "improving your health & your body"
Stop complaining about not getting results when you know that you would be further away if you stay consistent, patient and persistent no matter how slow you go.
Stop comparing yourself to others especially and start recognizing and exploiting your own potentials
Stop talking so negative to yourself and others because each word you speak vocally or mentally create a world for you. Switch your words and your attitude and you will switch your life.

THINK
Think about what you have to gain when you follow through with actions that will gratify you
Think about the momentum you create when you get things done on a timely fashion.
Think about all the times you surprised yourself, succeeded at something. There are many more occasions that you might realize.
Think about the things you could be doing instead of wasting your time on things that have no lasting reward. Reading more, listening to more uplifting materials, volunteering or mentoring, exercising or simply prepping your food, or getting your home more organized...

OBSERVE
Observe your daily, weekly, monthly, yearly patterns.
Observe what you have been doing that only create more frustration for you.
Observe what create more gratification.
Observe what are some patterns that make you successful in some areas and how you can apply the same patterns to make you successful in reaching your fitness goals or taking your life to the next level.
Observe how you tend to sabotage yourself at times or how you tend to motivate yourself at other occasions and learn from it.
Observe ( best done by keeping a journal) what you eat/ do daily that contribute or hinder your goals.
Observe how you feel when you do what's best for your health (life). Take notes on how great you feel after a workout or after you spend time counting your blessings instead of complaining how powerful it feels to edify others instead of gossiping or pulling them down. How great it feels to put your energy in reading, organizing your space or whatever instead of wasting time watching too much TV or whatever

PROCEED
After all doing all the above, proceed with a plan.
Proceed by mapping in writing where you want to be in a week, in a month, in a year and beyond
Proceed by writing the habits you want to replace.
Proceed with a written to do list that prioritize the activities that will help you reach you goals.
Proceed by creating a system that will allow you to stay motivated when the going get tough.  One thing that helps me stay motivated is to listen every single day, to motivational messages or preaching by would boost my moral, reprogram & renew my mind on a daily basis. I am not motivated to be healthy I am committed to be healthy but I am motivated to do my very best each day. I consider this to be mental conditioning and to me success in reaching my health and fitness goals or any other goals, is more mental than anything. I believe in training my mind!
Proceed by carefully avoiding the people and situations that will hinder your progress. For example, if you know you want to start running but friends invite you to hang out, learn to say no. Go on your run or go to the gym instead of hanging out. If you want to be mindful of what you eat avoid eating out at lot. Learn to cook at home or pack some healthy snacks to curb your appetite when you eat out. Avoid watching too much TV and do a little bit more research on fitness and nutrition or other subjects that will help you improve the quality of your life.
Proceed with consistency, patience & Persistence.

I pray this message helps and encourage you. Thanks for reading and let me know how applying these things benefitted you!
For more encouragement check our previous posts!

Copyrights N'nako @ Healthy Can Be Done! Natural Fit Life. All rights reserved 2013.

Thanks for stopping by, sharing your comments, Following , Liking the FB page, subscribing by email, sharing with your friends and all those good stuffs...(smiles) Until next time have a better and healthier life... N'na

Thank God It's Wednesday. How to stay motivated: 9 ways to stay motivated

"Thank God It's Wednesday!" : How to stay motivated to exercise & eat clean

Hi you all! Thanks for stopping by. I am starting this new series " Thanks God It's Wednesday!" and today I am starting with a few tips on how to stay motivated to exercises & eat clean.
It's easy to tell ourselves on Monday mornings that we will start fresh and strong but come hump day everyone is counting the days to the week-ends and sometimes, based on how the previous days went, people lose their motivation and their focus. Well, I am here to help you change this because I feel that way too at times.

 1)Don't always depend on outside sources to motivate you. Learn to motivate yourself.  I have a system in place to make myself do things when I don't feel like it. One of them is to watch motivational videos every single day. I have programmed myself to do this. I first started by writing it down as a to do list and now it's as natural as getting dressed in the morning.  I play motivational messages every single day and the positivity fuels me to ACT and GET IT DONE! Some of my other tricks are shared below.

 2)If you are new to your fitness journey consider creating a nice wardrobe that would motivate you to take your fitness goals more seriously.
Don't dress sloppy just because you will be sweaty.  Just like you would shop for new clothes for a new job you are excited to start, dress the part for your health. Dressing like an athlete will motivate to act more like one.
You don't have to spend a fortune. Look for clothes on sales or on clearance. If you are in your weight loss journey, you plan on shrinking anyways, so don't put too much money in active wears. Buy a couple of items in a smaller size to motivate you. But do invest in a good pair of running or training shoes and motivate yourself to get better apparels when you reach certain goals.

3) Don't worry about the gym so much. You don't need a membership if you are a on budget or are concerned that you might not have much time. Workout at home and outdoors it will not just save you time and money it will be enjoyable because it's a more natural setting. Use the nice parks surrounding you or even your driveway. I like to tell people that they are tax payers so they might as well take advantage of their surroundings.

4) Collect small workouts equipment you can use at home. If you have the space for a treadmill, a bike or an elliptical invest in one. Consider investing in small things like a jumprope, a stability ball, some free weights and other things that can help you tone up. Keep all your items organized and it will be easy to reach them, use them or even carry them with you. I carry my jumprope in my bag when I know I will be out for long hours.

5) Always prep some food, even if it's done on a very small scale. It will motivate you to eat healthy as you will always have something ready to snack or blend. I love to prep my fruits and veggies for snacking or smoothies.

6) You know snack time doesn't have to include junk food. Reprogram yourself. Some raw fruits, a smoothie, can satisfy a craving for sweets, give you the energy you need to recharge in the middle of the day and nourish you physically and mentally.

7) Enjoy more simple and healthy things that do wonders for your body. Good nutrition doesn't have to be complicated.  Things like 2 cups of green tea a day, adding a spoon of apple cider to your daily diet, sprinkling herbs like cayenne pepper, cinnamon, oregano, ginger etc on your food can impact the quality of your health.

8) Never leave the house without food. I always have at least an apple wrapped in a napkin that I keep in my purse. I generally pack a lunch bag no matter how long I plan on being out. I would snack on an apple before stepping in a store or even before eating out. It calms me to snack on something healthy. And if you have 4 children like I do, it's important to have some healthy snacks with you for yourself and for your little crew.

9) Last but not least: DO IT NOW!!!!

Hello!!!! Don't wait to motivate yourself. Do it now! It's simple really stop putting it off and stop making it so complicated.

More tips to come but join us on Facebook. Check the many albums we have there to serve you for illustration and for motivation. Healthy Can Be Done!
Thanks for reading! This is your girl N.B! See you on Facebook or around here. Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page and let us know how you are doing or how we can help you out!

June's Challenge

Are you on Facebook? Join us and other challengers on our Facebook page.


Thanks for stopping by, sharing your comments, Following , Liking the FB page, subscribing by email, sharing with your friends and all those good stuffs...(smiles)
Until next time have a better and healthier life... N'na

Weight Loss Motivation: Giving Up Is Not An Option

 I love art and hanging in museums and galleries or just watching artists at work in their labs, and yesterday while working out in my garage,

 

I had this "artistic" understanding of fitness. What sort of triggered it was the motivational videos I was watching while working out and I realized the following:

1) transformation really takes time. Those body and fitness competitors we admire spend years working on their craft = shaping their bodies.

2) we expect our bodies to change overnight when we have spent years neglecting and abusing them with our less than healthy choices


3) It takes discipline, lots of discipline, diligence & hard work and to succeed you have to show up. Show up everyday. You can't show up strong for 3 days and go missing for 60. You're in you're in.
Then I thought about how amazing it is that the body can be shaped and transformed from fat, average, to sculpted and stoning and it made me think of how artists have to invest into they art. The dedication, the concentration, the mindset that unless you put the time in and use the tools you just won't get to your finished piece.
Then I thought about this: Do artist give up on sculpting just because the material they are working with is raw, time consuming and challenging?

They get in their zone, in their own mental & physical world and they get at it!!! And guess what? They don't get the finished product in one session. They set their tools down and come back again, and again and again, chiseling here, chiseling there, melting this, melting that, switching tools, because each tool does a specific task just like with fitness equipment right? Anyway...I just started thinking of my time working out as an artist in a lab.

 

 

 Of course it's my body that I am sculpting and I tell you what, I don't care how long it takes me!!!!

 I will keep going and keep going. One healthy meal at a time, one drop of sweat at a time, one smart choice at a time and I absolutely don't care about the scale simply because I know I ain't done!!!!! I am on a mission to sculpt my mind and my body and the scale for me is like an artist looking at its art in a mirror and getting mad if it doesn't look yet like he wants. No, art is to be appreciated and every artist know that the beauty is in the creative process. So...enjoy the journey and don't limit yourself to a scale or whatever. Your body, our bodies, are an amazing, amazing, amazing machine.

 I mean you look at yoga photos, Olympics videos, fitness competitor and you just shake your head thinking about what our bodies can do when our minds are strong. I don't know what's in your mind but I am furiously strengthening mind and I am enjoying this amazing journey because I know that a year from now, 2 years from now, 10 years from now ( God willing) I will reap amazing results because I am in it for the long haul. Giving up just isn't an option, getting discouraged is not an option, stressing over immediate results is just not an option. No baby I am in it for the looooonnng haul! What about you? ~ N'na

 

Thanks for stopping by, sharing your comments, Following , Liking the FB page, subscribing by email, sharing with your friends and all those good stuffs...(smiles) Until next time have a better and healthier life... N.B

"How Running Saved My Mind" A True Story.

"How running saved my Mind plus some". A True Story..
As I was putting together the collage for the previous post ( on Facebook), I came across some old pictures that held a painful story to me. It's so easy to just focus on the fact that I am some pounds lighter and think that the transformation is just physical or could just benefit my confidence but...oh there is so much more.

We hear a lot that " eyes" don't lie, but looking at many before and after pictures, of myself and others, I have discovered that even smiles hold a lot of meaning in themselves.
 I came across some pictures from last April and I cried not because of the weight I used to be and have and lost but because of the 'dead weights' I used to carry...and lost...the pounds I dropped since last year are so far from being just physical. I could be here all night trying to explain how I gave birth to my 4 th child just before  my birthday and the day that was expected to be like any other C-section for me, ( I had 3 before) turned out to be a fateful day for both of us.

 Doctors took extra hours keeping me on this earth and just as soon as I was in the recovery room many hours behind schedule, I was told that only some miracles would allow me to return home with her. Four days later we were finally out of the Nicu but not done with many doctors' visits...I am still praising God for the miracles.

 This is the part my weight loss journey can't never tell based on pictures. On one picture I am with my college best friend. She visited last April with her family and teased how I used to be so small in college, me a size zero, she explained how she used to wonder how I could fit in skirts so small.

 Hard to swallow that I am now next to her on a couch and I was so big that my knee-long dress almost looked like a mini when I sat down.
We were saying our goodbyes and I smiled for the camera. But while holding the baby and smiling with her I was wondering..." should I tell her what the doctors said..."?
 I never did tell her. I kept my faith or fears to myself and just wondered how I would survive mentally. I was falling apart inside but holding strong outside! Does this sound familiar?

  When my patient and loving husband  insisted that I finally accompany him running, I was so drained, so tired of explaining why I can't or won't that I did it! I used to say that I wasn't a runner, that I could only run on a treadmill, that I couldn't run outdoors because I was big and people would laugh, .... Sometimes you get so low that it doesn't matter anymore what others think. I hated my " big short figure" in the new tight and tank top I had bought a month ago...but I did it anyway!

The rest....the rest is history like they say...but it's the story I rarely share! Fitness is not always about losing weight. You have to " occupy" till He comes. Sometimes it's in the midst of you stepping forward in faith that your miracle happens like Moses who had to step in the Red sea before it split. Not a moment before.

I am sharing this because I need to just be authentic. Yes I wanted to lose weight, yes it feels great to be smaller but the reason why I started running was to keep me alive on the inside....running outdoors has blessed me  so much. It allowed me to bond with my husband at a time my health and the baby's health was consuming me and draining me.
It allowed me  to worship God in a new way at a time when I was getting too drained to even pray for myself. Being in nature is such a gift when you are a Believer because it makes it impossible not to feel God's presence.
 It helped me to dig deep within at a time when I was doubting myself more than ever....how could I raise 4 kids, be a good mom and a good wife when I didn't know what the future held for my baby girl?  Running saved my mind...the physical weight loss is only a positive side effect! This is my true story!

My name is Nako, I am a mother of four, a Believer, a Runner and Running saved My Mind!
If you are already part of our Facebook community please let me know how this story spoke to you.
If you are not yet part of our Facebook community please join us on there and give us the pleasure of meeting you.
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HOW TO HELP OVERWEIGHT KIDS LOSE WEIGHTS: Tips to help children be healthy

Tips to keep your children healthy.
* I have received some requests on my Facebook page to share those tips  so I hope in help others. Please met us on our Facebook page for great healthy tips!
Either you have a child that's overweight or you want to raise the bar for your already healthy children here are a few things to consider NUTRITION & ACTIVITY

NUTRITION

1) Remove all the junk food and temptation from your home.
2) In teaching your children to eat healthier have them involved in the process, cooking, grocery shopping, actively learning the health benefits of the food they are eating.
3) To make some more serious change in their nutrition increase the consumption of their healthy favorite and gradually add some of the least favorite by using very creative ways of cooking. Smoothies or blending veggies before adding them to soups or meat dishes can play the trick.
4) Pack their school lunch and always pack a healthy snack when you are on the go. Never give them or yourself a reason to stop at a drive thru or at the grocery store for processed food.
5) Think more in terms of fresh and more food that do not come in a box or in a wrap. True healthy food really doesn't have a lot of packaging or labeling.

ACTIVITY

6) Turn the games, get off the couch get a bike, a jumprope, some balls ( basketball, soccer, football) or just go on a walk but GET YOUR CHILD OUT OF THE HOUSE to throw ball, play catch,...
7) If the school is close by WALK TO & FROM SCHOOL.
8) More walking less driving
9) More family times outdoors enjoying nature, walking, fishing, swimming, discovering new areas around less time seating on couch or on social media
10) Always offer intellectual stimulation, curiosity and a passion for learning give everyone a silent desire to live better. Go to outdoor concerts, to the museums...make learning fun & interactive.
11) If you should stay home and play games make sure that the games force you & your children to move. There are great fitness games available.
Seat together at the table for meals. It allows for more quality time, time to talk and bond and ideal to maintain healthy eating and emotional habits!
Adopt this healthy lifestyle with your children, doing things as a team is more powerful and by practicing what you preach you will be more impactful.
Enlist the people around you to support your endeavors. Let them know what your strategy is, learn from theirs if they have some suggestions and Make it happen.
All those suggestions will come naturally with time as there are very doable and 'natural'!


FRENCH TRANSLATION
TRADUCTION EN FRANCAIS

NUTRITION
1) Retirer de votre cuisine toute nourriture qui n'est pas bonne pour la santé ou tentation.
2) Pour enseigner a vos enfants a mieux se nourrir, impliquez les dans le processus quand vous cuisinez, faites le course au marche, et apprenez facons active les bienfaits des aliments que vous consommez.
3) Augmentez la consummation de leur aliments sains favoris et ajoutez de maniere croissante les aliments qu'ils aiment le moins, Avec de l'astuce et de la creativite vous pourrez rajouter ses aliments aux smoothies ou les brouiller pour les rajouter a vos soups ou a vos sauces.
4) Faite de gouter d'ecole de vos enfants et assurez vous que vous avez toujours de bon aliments comme goute meme les jours ou il n'y a pas d'ecole.
5) En faisant les achats pensez plus aux aliments frais et a ceux qui ne viennent pas en boite ou avec beaucoup d'emballage. Les frais aliments sains et nutritifs n'ont pas besoin de beaucoup d'emballage, ni de beaucoup d'etiquettes.