I wish you and your loved ones the happiest and healthiest of holidays!
My heartfelt gratitude for your patronage and readership this past year! Here’s to a joyful, prosperous and healthy 2014. All my best, Michelle
I wish you and your loved ones the happiest and healthiest of holidays!
My heartfelt gratitude for your patronage and readership this past year! Here’s to a joyful, prosperous and healthy 2014. All my best, Michelle
Here is a hilarious version of my “Pick Your Party” post from my very talented brother-in-law. Enjoy!
“In the next twelve days there are a lot of opportunities to celebrate. And celebrating is good. Indulging is even better.
I encourage you to party. Choose one event for indulging each and every day of the holiday season. Because, it is not one holiday dinner that causes holiday happiness. It is the daily treats, late nights, changes in schedules, parade of parties and increase in alcohol consumption that leave us feeling at peace with the world. Why choose just one celebration when you can choose all of them?
Don’t deprive yourself: More drinks! More indulgent food! Longer nights! You can always hire a personal trainer to get back in shape when this holiday season is over. And in my book, that is a plan worth considering.”
In the next twelve days there are a lot of opportunities to celebrate. And celebrating is good. Indulging during every one of those celebrations is not.
I encourage you to “pick your party.” Choose one event for indulging. Because, it is not one holiday dinner that causes holiday weight gain and unhealthy routines. It is the daily treats, late nights, changes in schedules, parade of parties and increase in alcohol consumption that leave us five pounds heavier and a lot more sluggish. Choose the celebration that would be the best fit and stick with it. Be present and engaged for your other events. Enjoy the people, the conversations and the reason for the get together.
I know this may sound like you are depriving yourself. Well, you are: fewer drinks, less indulgent food and limited short nights. But, you are also depriving yourself of the work required to “get back to healthy” when this holiday season is over. And in my book, that is a plan worth considering.
I wish you and your loved ones a very healthy and happy holiday season!
I’d like you to question if you have a fear of success. I’d like you to consider if you are afraid of achieving and arriving at a healthier state. Maybe your fear involves maintaining that lifestyle once you’ve arrived? I wonder if you mistakenly believe that said journey is a lot of work.
Because the truth is, it’s not.
The actual work of living healthfully is not hard. If you believe differently, maybe the problem is not your work ethic but your understanding of the path to success. I am rightly concerned that too many people out there believe that they have to turn their whole lives upside down to improve their health. For most of us, that is untrue. Because here is the secret so many of us keep missing: it is simple, habitual behavior that delivers, selected carefully and implemented consistently. It is not sexy. It does not grab headlines. And it is not great cocktail party chatter. (I should know.) But it works. It delivers. And it pays dividends.
So as New Year’s resolutions begin to enter your mind, I most sincerely ask you to consider the small, daily, habitual habits as your secret to success. Because after ten years of Blakely Fit, witnessing success and failure time and again. My money will always be with the slow and steady, unsexy, hard-shelled tortoise at the finish line, not the hare.
“Don’t do what?” you say? Quit.
From October to January, things tend to get nuts. That’s actually why this whole Friday Quickie thing got started. The increased obligations and end-of-the-year rush are, at times, overwhelming. The indulging is everywhere, and everything seems to be vying for our time. Some of the holiday hoopla is fun. Some of it is not. If you’re feeling the pressure, I have a message for you: “Hold on!” Resist the urge to throw in the towel because life is throwing too much at you. Don’t let go of those little habits that help keep you healthy the rest of the year.
Keep your workouts (however short), your healthy breakfast (however imperfect), your positive thinking (however trying), your deep breathing (if just ten breaths), your time for movement and your health—all to the best of your ability. Don’t let go of it all because of a few setbacks. I assure you, it is far easier to hold onto the end of your rope than it is to let go of the rope now and later struggle to get a hold of it again. I understand the temptation to “start fresh in January.” But that’s 25 days away. You can do a lot of damage in 25 days. So don’t give up.
I invite you to value your small choices. For example, it’s been a year since I kicked my daily pop habit. (Yay for me.) Recently, feeling a little blue, I was about to indulge in a significant amount of bubbly sweetness with my lunch. “Why not? I deserved it.” “I’m not trying to lose weight.” “I haven’t had pop since the movies” … blah, blah, blah. And then I remembered, my teeth will not be happy about this decision and I will probably feel a pretty mean sugar crash just about the time of day my kids are their most trying. So I tipped my decision the other way and tried to go without the pop. I paused and moved to my homemade seltzer instead. Did I feel deprived? A little. Unsatisfied? Not really. In fact, halfway through my lunch I had forgotten. It was one small decision BUT IT MATTERS. Because, after ten years of Blakely Fit, I’ve noticed a trend: Little habits make a big difference.
So maybe you derailed at Thanksgiving? Maybe you wish you didn’t eat that pastry your vendor left in the conference room? Maybe you haven’t finished your workout as planned? So what—just don’t quit! Taking a ten-minute walk, passing over an extra piece of candy or getting an extra hour of sleep will serve you exceedingly well in this holiday frenzy. Don’t let little setbacks derail you; you’re too smart to throw in the towel. Hold on to what is important: your health, your livelihood and your loved ones. All your small decisions in the end WILL make a difference in your continued success. Just DON’T quit!
