About Me

I have been a teacher of fitness and health for thirty years. In 1989 I was certified for personal training with the National Acadamy of Sports Medicine. I had a gym in Santa Barbara for eight years. Co-owned and created a spinning bike company which manufactured bikes for five years. Also I have worked with nutrition companies for twenty years. Along with many wonderful non famous people I have trained many celebrities, and members of the Royal Family. My own athletic past consists of long distance running, long distance cycling, cross country skiing, down hill skiing, rollerblading, hiking, sand running, track work, and weight training. I have authored two fitness columns in local papers, and have been writing this blog since January 2010.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Making Your Health the Number One Priority


In all of the years that I have been working with individuals with their fitness needs, I have heard it all when it comes to the reasons, or excuses, why someone does not have the time to get their exercise done.




Its not that I don't understand that many people have a full plate, and the stresses and demands on most of us do not leave us with much time at all. I do understand, but I also know that if you do not have your health, you can't attend to all of those things that are on that plate.



I was having a conversation with my daughter just the other day about this subject. My daughter has a very full plate, she has a two hour a day commute to get to her job and back, a house to take care of, two puppies that need to be walked and require quite a bit of attention, and she has a relationship that also requires a lot of attention. This does not leave her much time to attend to herself.




At only 31 years old she is experiencing aches, pains, and some health issues. If she does not take care of her health by getting some exercise, and good nutrition, these issues will only escalate and new ones will appear. If she becomes unhealthy from all that she has to get done, and the stress that she has to deal with, she will not be able to do all of the things that she is responsible for doing.




Exercise and good nutrition will help her feel more energy, allow her to get leaner, sleep better, handle her job and commute better, and have overall better health. If she does not focus on taking care of herself first, everything else will eventually suffer. Without good health, you have nothing, no matter what your lifestyle is.





I know it is difficult, but women especially put their needs on the back burner while they make sure everyone else it taken care of. This is wrong. Take care of your health first and foremost, then you will be able to take care of everything else with more energy and vigor.





When you are not exercising your energy levels drop, your fat percentage goes up, and this can cause a down ward spiral into couch potato land. Then you will have no energy to attempt a work out, but that is the catch. You must begin the process into exercise no matter how tired and wore out you are, so that you can get the energy to keep doing it. Eventually you will get that energy back and feel so much better, you will want to keep doing it.





Even if you only begin with thirty minutes a day, that is a start. It will help you to get into shape and add more to your exercise time when you can. Choose to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and stay away from processed, fast food, and junk food.



So make your health your number one priority if you want the rest of you life to go well. If you put yourself last on the list of things to do....you will lose. Know that you are as important as anyone else, and you need to take care of yourself if you ever want to have that full plate.



Till Tomorrow,
Queenie

1 comment:

  1. totally agree but it's so hard I guess it's all about having the right mind set.

    ReplyDelete