How much do you pay attention to the people around you? Do you know what’s really going on in the lives of people you care about? do you suspect something is wrong but don’t think you should ask?

September 15th is R U Ok? day. A wonderful cause which promotes connecting with others and showing you care.

Today I wanted to share a post with you from another blog which I enjoy reading  My Big Nutshell. Gemma shares with us her story, which is very moving and I can personally say it brought back some memories and feelings of my own; and may for you too. It’s a great read which makes you think, feel and reflect.

It doesn’t take much to connect with someone but it means a whole lot to be on the receiving end. I believe in the importance of health as a whole and that means mental and emotional health too. Good health means balance and the ability to enjoy your life and your health. That is why I will be supporting R U OK? day this Thursday.

I invite everyone to have a read of Gemma’s story and get involved in R U OK? day. You don’t know the positive difference you could make in someone elses life.

R U OK?

 

To show you care and support this cause spread the word by sharing this post, someone you know might find it helpful 🙂

 

 

“A goal without a deadline is just a dream….”

I has having a chat to a client of mine the other day and I discovered why she had hit a pleateu with her training. She just wasn’t ‘into’ her goals anymore.  My client – let’s call her Tania had previously achieved some great results, when we started training she was working hard to look good for her wedding, CHECK. Tania then wanted to shed a few more kilos for an upcoming holiday CHECK. Then after the holiday things went a bit downhill.

We tried our goal setting again but there was no passion in the goals.

“What do you want Tania?” I would ask her at our weekly weigh in

” I don’t know, lose weight”. I didn’t really believe her. Or rather I didn’t believe that she belived it.

It’s such a general goal, to really achieve it and any other goal we need to get specific and be able to measure when results are achieved. The most important thing though is that you have to have an emotional connection – WHY do you want to lose weight?

Have a think:

What do you want?
Why do you want it?
How are you going to make it happen?

How does one grow and learn if they don’t aim for something and achieve it.  Goals. How do you take a goal and achieve it?

Below are some tips that have helped with my clients and achieving their goals.

 

Be positive

Express your goals in a positive way. How often have you been excited to accomplish a goal that didn’t even sound good when you said it? If you are not comfortable or happy with the goals that you have set, the likelihood of you succeeding is pretty low.
If you want to express your goals in a positive way, you have to think of a goal that puts a smile on your face when you imagine it completed. Talk about your goals to others, put it out there and more often than not you will receive support in return.

 

Be specific

Set a specific goal that includes details to properly measure your achievement. i.e dates, time, amounts. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
Being specific makes the goal easier  as you can follow a step by step format.

 

Set priorities

When you have more than one goal, give each a specific priority.
This will keep you from feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones and follow them in order. Setting priorities will force you into the step-by-step format.

 

Write goals down

In writing your goals down, you are able to keep track of your accomplishments. It also helps you to remember each task that needs to be done and allows you to check them off as they are accomplished. Basically, you can keep track of what you are doing.

 

Break your goals down

Make sure you have short term, medium term and long term goals. Usually you start with the long term goal which is often the biggest or hardest to accomplish, break that down into what you achieve in medium term and then break that down even further into short term goals. By breaking it down you are making your big goal achievable. For example if my goal was to lose 20kg that is my long term goal. Obviously I can’t lose 20kg in a week so here is how i would break it down

Long term – have lost 20kilos and maintain it within 1 year

Medium term – have lost 10kg and maintaining healthy diet and training regularly 3-4 times per week

Short term –  over the next 2 weeks I am going to keep a food diary and increase my vegetable and water intake. I will go for a short walk 5 times a week and research gyms, trainers, exercise ideas to implement. I want to have lost at least 0.5kg

Set realistic goals

It is important to set goals that you can achieve.
All sorts of people (parents, media, and society) can set unrealistic goals for you which is almost a guarantee of failure. They will often do this in spite of your own desires and ambitions or flat out disinterest. Alternatively you may be naïve in setting very high goals. You might not consider either the obstacles in the way, or understand quite how many skills you must master to achieve a particular level of performance.
By being realistic you are increasing your chances of success.

 

Avoid setting goals too low

Just as it is important not to set goals unrealistically high, do not set them too low. People tend to do this where they are afraid of failure or where they simply don’t want to do anything. You should set goals so that they are slightly out of your immediate grasp, but not so far that there is no hope of achieving them. No one will put serious effort into achieving a goal that they believe is unattainable.

 

Get started now…

Have a think about what you would like to achieve. You don’t have to wait for New Year’s resolutions.

Start by writing your goals down and once you have done this share them with others. Make sure you have someone other than yourself keeping you accountable. This will keep you on track.

 

If you think someone else might benefit from reading this article then why not share the love by sharing this article using the share buttons below. It’s good karma! 🙂

 

So often I hear my clients tell me they want to look like someone else.

At some point most of us have probably felt that way I guess. I don’t know about you, but doing that has never really made me feel better about myself. I would get frustrated that I could never reach my goal – why couldn’t I look like her?

I would like to share with you a conversation I had with a new client last week, it is a typical example of this type of conversation I have had with other female clients at the gym. *Lucy* is new to exercise and wanting to lose weight for her wedding next year.

We are upstairs stretching out after a hard training session, leaning against the rail for a leg stretch Lucy looks down below on the first level at several women walking on the treadmills.

Lucy = See her, that girl in the grey shorts down there? I want to look like her.

Suzie = What do you mean you want to look like her?

Lucy = See how she is shapely but has small upper body and she has nice legs, I want a body like that.

Suzie = Lucy stop. Do you know how often I hear women say they want to look like other women? I bet you that girl down there has someone else that she wants to look like too.

Lucy = But could I look like her?

(I paused for a moment and tried to figure out how to explain to Lucy that even if she did lose her goal weight, it was unlikely she would look like the petite girl below, they were totally different builds)

Suzie = You can’t compare Lucy, all our bodies are made up differently. From body type, build, to fat distribution and height, we are all made up differently. I don’t mean to sound harsh Lucy, I just want to be honest with you.  I could not look like her either. Look at my frame, I have broad shoulders and rib cage, even when I lose weight my frame does not change, I go slimmer sideways but the width of my shoulders and ribcage will always be broad.  I do not believe it is healthy to look at other people as a reference (Lucy’s eyes drop in disappointment). I think you should look in the mirror and say ok this is my body, what is the best version of this body can I work towards.

 (Lucy gives a weak smile)

Lucy = I’ve been overweight for so long I can’t look at myself and imagine myself smaller. It’s hard.

Suzie =  I know it’s hard Lucy, but try again, have a look at yourself, find those features you like and imagine them 10 times better and more prominent. You can do this. It’s important for you to know that realistically it is going to take a while to get to your target weight, your body won’t change overnight. We also don’t know where your body will choose to lose weight from first or how it will change, but I promise you if you’re committed and work hard you can make those changes. And isn’t that exciting? You are going to look fantastic in your wedding dress, and you are going to look like YOU.

(Lucy gets a burst of excitement in her eyes and a broad smile on her face. She has forgotten about the girl in the grey shorts.)

Ever notice how music has such an impact on your mood?

I have my own personal collection of mood enhancers – playlists. I have different music for different occasions.

There are so many songs I love, but to keep it short here are my top faves:

When I want to chill out – What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong

When I want to be sad (yes I said that, sometimes a woman just likes a good cry) – I don’t believe youby Pink

When I want to get pumped up and feel confident –Crazy in love by Beyonce, it’s been the one for many years, never fails to get you feeling good and sometimes if the occasion calls for it strutting your stuff

The song guaranteed to put a smile on my face – The way you make me feel by Michael Jackson

When I don’t feel like exercising – I want you to want me by Chris Issak (I love cycling to this song, high intensity intervals in the chorus woohoo!)

When I want to be angry (yes when you’re frustrated and just WANT to be angry) – Helena (so long and good night)– My Chemical Romance.

And the ultimate song to get you crazy. I am talking head banging, body throwing, jumping up and down like you have springs in your feet. The adrenaline rushes and is my ultimate sprint song that I schedule right near the finish of a fun run, it gives me that last bit of OOOOOMMMMFFF to get my hurting body across the finish line. Parlez-vous-francais -by Art vs. Science.  In fact as I was writing this blog and listening to the chosen songs, I put it on and couldn’t help but go a little nutty.  You can honestly jump and bounce throughout the entire song.

I thought i’d share with you my crazy song, be sure to turn it up loud, get up off your seat and give the jumping around a go. I included the video clip in case you wanted to watch and felt like a bit of a giggle!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRZ-jLOrFfk

Considering the effect music has on your moods and emotion, if you think about it you have the power to change your state of mind. Should you find yourself stressed, sad or needing a pick me up, why suffer through it, without sounding too lame – why don’t you change the channel ?

In my book Empower – Lifestyle Upgrade we go through what I call Your life’s Soundtrack. How to use music to benefit your health.

What are your songs?