Today I was at the gym, chatting with some 10-Week Challengers about how others sometimes try to sabotage our new healthy lifestyle….. 

I’ve seen it for years: a woman starts exercising, cleans up her eating, loses weight and starts looking and feeling great, and pretty soon, others (usually women, sad, really), start uncercutting her efforts, ever-so-subtly, with little comments: ‘aren’t you finished with that program by now….you’re getting to skinny….you’re spending so much time away from your family’…or (this one is my favourite), ‘come on now, live a little, have some dessert, or a drink.’

In fact, I build this lesson into my programs, as I warn women about what could potentially happen when they get healthy. “Others may undercut you, and that’s ok. It’s part of the process.”

Why does this happen? Because when you get healthy, you act like a mirror for others to see just how unhealthy they are. You reflect back to them parts of themselves they don’t want to see or face.

This is where we need to respond with love: ‘Why don’t you come with me to the gym next time?’

Or we can let it go. For me, I learned to let it go. After so many years, no one tries to derail me anymore, because they know better. But more importantly, my ‘clan’ or tribe has changed…having worked the bar scene for a lot of years in Banff, I slowly moved away from that crowd because I was changing my lifestyle, and we simply drifted away. Now I live amongst people who take their health seriously, who enjoy exercise and good food, and whom I don’t have to explain my lifestyle to because we’re all on that same path.

So if you’re feeling resistance from loved ones, know that it’s because you are making inroads in your life, and others are starting to notice. The wise person would appreciate your efforts, and support you in your transformation. As for the others, well, pay it no mind. But remember it works both ways: we don’t appreciate them tryin gto undercut our healthy lifestyle choices, but us health-gals needn’t preach to them either. It’s their life, and we all deserve free choice. No one likes to be preached to.

Don’t stay small for anyone. It’s crazy to go back to an unhealthy lifestyle to appease others, to stay accepted by a tribe that you may no longer fit into. And that’s ok.

Live your live with energy, vitality, and pride. Know your worth. Work your bodies and your souls. Dare to expand yourselves.  You are sooo worth it!

karen

(Right: Challenger Graduate Joan Tocher works it at PAK Fitness in Sidney. She’s showing obvious signs of her new, healthy lifestyle! Lookin great Joan!

It’s always sad when I finish a class.

This past week, I completed my 6-week Women on Weights class at PAK Fitness in Sidney. Five amazing women met 3 times a week to lift, laugh and trade stories.

Each class is so different in who shows up, but what they all have in common is women wanting to better themselves physically, mentally and nutritionally. 

These women all put themselves first, if only for an hour a day, to strengthen their bodies and minds, despite their busy days. Because our ‘stuff’ never goes away, and we must move through it as best we can. And at times, moving through it as best we can is all we can do.

I know there were days when I certainly showed up to class tired and frustrated as I struggled to balance my own on-season training and dieting commitments with a busy business, family obligations and a special needs son whose special needs suddenly increased even moreso when he was faced with an ugly lung infection that had him bed-ridden and requiring round-the-clock care.

We all have a story, and as we trained and talked, we were reminded of this fact over and over again. We are all on a journey, and we simply must do the best we can. These women, like all women before them, have learned to go with the ebb and flow of it all, and they fit themselves in between the cracks somehow.

You ladies never missed a beat, and I thank you for your commitment, your focus, and in lifting ME up. I truly looked  forward to our morning classes that was like a breath of fresh air in a crazy world.

I will miss you all….my mornings just haven’t been the same without you! So Lesa, Colleen, Sherry, Patricia and Lori…keep on keepin’ on! You are soooo worth it!

See you at the gym!

karen

PS: Check out PAK Fitness’ Web site for FREE Gym training and Tanning coupons!

So many times I’m asked, “what kind of training should  I do?”

“Should I lift heavy weights? How many sets? Do cardio first or after a workout, and how much? How much protein should I eat? How many days should I train? How often should I change it up? Order of exercises, sets, reps? What about functional fitness? Cross fit? Zumba…..?”

And it’s truly the same with food (ah yes, that one area where we fall down the most!). You can’t look fantastic if you indulge in designer coffees and muffins. You MUST change your relationship (and how you see it) to food.

I always say that us lean people simply think differently…ask the 100+ women on my on-line programs….it is constant support and a slow move to the other side of eating, one where food builds your body, and it’s incredibly tasty, filling and life-affirming! And you truly don’t even desire or want for the ‘old’ way of eating. In time, you will look around at how the majority eats and think, “that’s weird. I wouldn’t think to eat like that…anymore.” Yep, then you know you’ve ‘arrived’. 🙂

See, it’s really simple…

What are your goals? What do you want?

How do you want to look and live? ( I leave out how do you want to feel because everyone wants to feel great).

For me, every day is crystal clear: as a woman over 50, I want tone, shape, strength. I want to do a fitness regime that challenges me, that allows me to change it up just enough, but not so much that I risk no progress. I want to see my body’s shape change with time. I want to be able to mold it accordingly, and to see it improve with age. And I DO NOT want to live the story that most over-50 women live…”I have middle-age spread because of my age / hormones / stress.” “My metabolism has changed since I’ve gotten older.” “It’s harder now to keep the weight off.” “I had to go on medication because of….(fill in the blanks….almost always due to a slow decrease in training, eating, living well).”

So define what you want, really. Leave the excuses at home, at the doctor’s office, at the shrink’s office, at work, and just decide today that you will live your life with YOU in mind. And affirm that you will open up to it, and do the work required. You will accept full responsibility for where you are now and move forward. No need to beat yourself up.

Step into your life. It’s waiting for you…!

karen

PS We start the 10-Week Best Shape of YOUR Life on Friday….I am so excited! Thanks to all the brave women who are choosing to step back into their lives! I will be with you every step of the way!