If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might have noticed that I’ve been using the hashtag #simplesanesuccessful a lot. This simple hashtag packs a lot of punch as it describes my approach to all things nutrition and fitness.
We live in a world full of extremes especially when it comes to nutrition and exercise. We want results and we want them now and it seems like we would do anything to get the results we want, no matter how much stress it causes or how much we beat ourselves up along the way. But what would happen if we did the opposite? What if we took a totally different approach to nutrition and exercise and greatly improved our overall lifestyle? This is what #simplesanesuccessful is all about. I want to challenge you to try a much simpler approach to your healthy lifestyle and I’m going to show you how.
Simple
Keep Exercise Simple. Move often and move in a way that feels good for your body. Maybe you love boot camps and the thrill of the tough workout makes you feel like a million bucks. Maybe yoga is more your thing and you find it more nurturing. Maybe you love running, walking, lifting, cross-fit, whatever. Do what you love to do and do it often then experiment with this a bit. You might find that you love Zumba now and a year down the road you’ll love lifting. Or maybe you love lifting now but down the road your body will crave yoga. Don’t worry so much about getting in a certain number of lifting days or cardio days in. Don’t worry so much about how many calories you’re burning. Focus instead on moving your body in a way that makes you feel good, whatever that means for you!
Keep Nutrition Simple. I completely see how nutrition can be super confusing and overwhelming because of all the tips and tricks we read everywhere. What if we just went back to basics and stayed there for a while. Once you get the hang of it then you can make some tweaks along the way? The more rules and restrictions we place on nutrition the more complicated it gets. Here are six simple strategies you can implement asap for an overall healthy lifestyle:
- Get to the grocery store
- Drink lots of water
- Get enough sleep
- Build meals around a source of protein
- Eat a few servings of fruits and veggies each day
- Add in some treats throughout the week
Sane
Sanity surround nutrition and exercise?! Might sound like a foreign concept 🙂 but what if we just took all the “tricks” away? What if we just ate and exercised sensibly without the added stress of how many carbs we should eat, how many days we should lift or do cardio, what kind of cardio we should do or if you should be putting cream in your coffee or not. When we’re constantly overthinking it causes a whole lot of anxiety and unhappiness. Take it from me, Ms. Anxiety! There is already so much stress around work, family, friends and obligations that the last thing we need is to stress over nutrition and fitness when it can really be so straight forward.
More important than what we eat and how we exercise is getting our minds right. Showing gratitude, having a positive outlook and being kind to ourselves is SO freaking important. This is a struggle for so many of us but you can take small steps to get you going in the right direction. Whether it’s some kind of meditation, journaling, a long walk, reading, talking it out, whatever, do something for you every single day that will help you calm down a little bit. After all, if we’re running on overdrive and burning the candle at both ends we become stressed, burnt out and exhausted and how useful are we? Not very!
Successful
Of course success is relative, but to me in the world of health, success is living a lower stress, overall happier life. It’s doing what’s best for our bodies and minds and not staying in an unhealthy space physically or mentally. If you’ve been a chronic dieter or exerciser, getting to this point is not easy because we’ve been so conditioned to think rules, restrictions and fast results. Try just letting those things go. I think you’ll be very surprised with the outcome! At the end of the day, rules and restrictions will always be there. Those are always an option for you, although I urge you not to go down that road. #simplesanesuccessful just offers you another way to achieve a happier, healthier life while doing and eating the things you enjoy.
If you’ve been there done that with crazy fitness and nutrition fads, show me how you’re going to keep it #simplesanesuccessful with this hashtag! I wanna see what you’re up to! Get posting 🙂