Farewell, Blogger

Hi everyone,

I've decided to shake things up and host my website and blog in the same space with WordPress.

Anything I've previously posted has been scooped up and brought over to WordPress. It'll stay here as well, but who wants to read the same posts over and over again?

Follow me to SeeMeFit.com for more health, wellness and fitness blogs.

What Motivates You?

Wow, I’m full of open-ended questions this month! My thoughts tend to come and go in clusters; hence the focus on running a few weeks ago and the current focus on WHY we do what we do (or why we don’t do things).

So, how are you motivated? If you were to make a list of goals, one goal might be to lose weight. Why do you want to lose weight?

Common answers:

• To be a healthy parent / set a good example
• To live longer
• To win big in the office weight-loss pool
• To become healthier and no longer need diabetes/blood pressure/etc. medicines
• To lose more weight than my friend

Which of these apply to you, and do you notice a theme?

Are You Ready To Change?

A seemingly dramatic, yet telling question: Are you ready to change? Most people will say yes. They're absolutely ready to change and they're willing to give 110%. They want to lose weight and lose it right now and they've got a gym membership, brand new sneakers, they just went grocery shopping for fruits and vegetables and by golly, this time it's for real!

Fast forward 4 weeks and what has changed? Well, the client is more frustrated. That gung-ho attitude they had last month has given way to excuse-itis. They did all of those things but honestly, nothing changed.

Gym membership? It was used 3 times that first week, then relegated to the bottom of the gym bag (which is floating around in the back of their trunk).

This bag is ready to go places

New sneakers? "Well they're in my car so I can go to the gym right after work" says the client. A perfectly reasonable answer, as many of us probably keep out gym gear in the same spot.

Fresh fruits and vegetables? "I did good the first week, but then I didn't have time to go grocery shopping".  Sirens are sounding in my head, because I know this story and I know where it's going: downhill, and fast.

"Then I had to finish a big project at work and had to eat lunch at my desk. I didn't have any food at home so I went to McDonalds". I know where this is going already....

"Then I got home and I was so tired I didn't work out. I didn't have any food to make so I ate ice cream. It's my go-to when I'm stressed".

I can't tell you how many times I've heard this story re-told with various excuses, foods, and seemingly logical variations. Or delusions, if you can see through the facade of excuse-itis. After hearing this story more than 2 weeks in a row I often tell clients this...


you simply aren't ready to change.

Sample Workout: Running & weight training

I can't believe it's almost October! My favorite month is days away and I'm already in the mood for pumpkin. Instead of hitting the sugar-bomb Pumpkin Lattes I add a tbsp of pumpkin pie puree to my oats in the morning (along with a pinch of cinnamon) and it hits the spot. Let's not forget Halloween, the spooky rides at Disneyland, Oktoberfest, the changing of the leaves, and the option to wear scarves and close-toed shoes in Southern California :-).

I WISH I carved these guys.

Source

I've noticed that my website SeeMeFit has been getting a lot of hits (thank you!) but not too many buyers. I think that might be due to the lack of flashy testimonials (which I couldn't legally bring with me from my last employer) and possibly due to the lack of sample workouts. You'd like to know what you're getting if you're spending your hard earned money on a service, right?

Running 101

It was a few weeks ago that I christened myself a “jogger, but not a runner”. Fast forward 5-6 weeks and I’ve run enough miles (74.5 since the Urban Dare post) and read the blogs of enough running coaches that I think I’ve got the basics down. This is a far cry from a year or two ago when I’d decide to go running once in a blue moon, covering far too many miles on my non-runner legs, and hobble back home with an injury.

A little background: I haven’t always been athletically inclined, although I did play field hockey in high school for a semester. My jock phase abruptly ended in 2001 when I was in a car accident that forced me onto crutches for about 2 months and into physical therapy for 6 additional months. I regained full range of motion but lost a significant amount of muscle, mobility, and strength as well as suffering nerve damage. On paper I was doing fine (I didn’t require any more physical therapy aside from a cortisone shot to the knee every 6 months or so), but I felt lethargic and much weaker than before.