Stop Enabling Yourself

Stop Enabling Yourself

dysfunction enabling fitness health

What comes to mind when you think of enabling someone ... healthy or unhealthy?  The recent definition refers to providing help that perpetuates a problem rather than fixes it.  You know, the reasons and excuses we make to justify a person's behavior or actions even sacrificing our own health and well-being in doing so.  It can develop into such dysfunction where we actually believe we are helping a situation.   "The reality, though, is that enabling not only doesn't help, but it actively causes harm and makes the situation worse."  When an enabler steps in to help an addict for example, they take away their motivation and desire to get help or change. According to Psychology Today, "enablers help addicts dig themselves deeper into trouble."  

What does this have to do with fitness?  Well, it happens to pertain quite a bit to health and fitness.  Are you making excuses and justifications not to start a fitness program?  Not the right time?  My spouse is keeping me fat?  My friends sabotage me?   Lying to family and friends about a "fake" fitness program? What unhealthy beliefs do you create preventing you from getting fit and why are you enabling that?  This is my point and yes, I strongly disagree with enabling behavior.  It is time to stop enabling yourself.  Being a healthy and fit person will take breaking the cycle of enabling.

When you stop enabling unhealthy behavior, you will see an improvement in your mental game, motivation to exercise and eating right.  Continuing down a path of excuses will only make things worse and illness will eventually come knocking at your door.  We have only one body and playing around thinking our behavior will not come back to bite us in the backside is well, negligent.  Life is too short to entertain enabling behavior further and it is time to make a shift toward healthy decisions.  We can no longer hide behind our justifications that keep us digging a deeper unhealthy hole.  I know this is an in-your-face blog, but it is also what I call tough fitness love.  So, are you ready to stop enabling yourself and get serious about your health and fitness?

Don't miss out on my sport nutrition and fitness articles!  Newly published this week are "Eat Dark Chocolate to Improve Your Workouts" and "Why You Should Eat White Potatoes."   Take some time to peruse the site because it is chalk full of helpful fitness and nutrition info!

Read My Sport Nutrition and Fitness Articles!

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and don't forget to subscribe below to never miss a free update!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Be Well and Stay Healthy! Darla Leal

Don't Bite Off More than You Can Chew

Don't Bite Off More than You Can Chew

fitness food health portion size

The thing about getting healthy is doing a good job balancing both healthy eating and exercise.  Nutrition plays a huge role in the equation and eating too much is off the charts for a large percentage of the populous.  Portions are out of control and people are literally biting off more than they can chew.  Super-sized plates draped with enough food to feed an army are common in restaurants and don't get me started on the "all you can eat" buffet.

I love the famous quote "eat to live, don't live to eat" because this gold nugget of information is absolutely true.  This is not saying to not indulge occasionally and doing so in proper portion size is not going to break our fitness banks.  However, stuffing our faces to the point of having to roll to the sofa in a food coma is an upsetting example of living to eat.

Calories people!  What it comes down to is the basic science of chemistry and calories.  When we eat too much, fat is stored.  Eat too little, weight is lost.  Eat just right and we maintain.  Sounds like the "Three Little Bears" but you get the drift.   The quality of calories are also important.  We may eat "junk food" in very small portions and within the calories great for our body, but our inside would look like crap.  Further, we would feel like crap.  This is called being "skinny fat".

When calories from quality "real" food are consumed at the right portions for our body, then health is realized from the inside out.  However, eating too many calories from healthy foods will result in weight gain if we are taking in more than we are burning off.  It would be more difficult of course if most of our carbs came from veggies, but let's say we are chomping down tons of oats, wheat pasta, brown rice and yams...well now that's a whole different thing.

Size does matter when it comes to any food we eat and biting off more than we can chew is not good regardless if the calories are coming from healthy or unhealthy sources.  Portion control is one of the old new secrets to achieving a healthy body. Nothing magic to shutting our mouths at the "food trough" when we feel satisfied.  Start paying attention to portion size, don't go back for seconds, and listen to body signals of satiety.

Great reads on my about.com site! I have just published an article on how "Preventing Insulin Resistance is the New Trend in Health and Fitness" even over weight loss.  It is a growing concern affecting people of all ages and until insulin levels are mastered, fat and weight loss will continue to be a struggle.

Preventing Insulin Resistance...Read the article!

Other great reads to help with fitness goals:

Why You May Need More Calories

Diet Mistakes Women Make Trying to Gain Muscle

Diet Mistakes Men Make Trying to Gain Muscle

Eat Healthy, Feel Healthy and Look Amazing

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and don't forget to subscribe below and never miss a free update!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

I Am What I Eat to a Large Degree

I Am What I Eat to a Large Degree

eatright health Motivation results

I am what I eat to a large degree and the whole "eating a sexy beast today" does not apply.  People ask me all the time about my nutrition and exercise programming outside of my working with clients.  I am a walk-the-talk trainer and maintain a fairly disciplined eating program and honestly, I would be a hypocrite if I didn't.  I am passionate about what I do helping people adopt healthy lifestyles and eating right plays the largest percentage in the fitness game.

I have maintained a healthy eating plan for several years and it is now a habit as natural as breathing.  I would feel weird if I began pounding down processed crap to feel like crap.  Eating superfoods daily and timing my nutrients is auto-pilot living for me.  I don't have to think about it or journal anymore but simply live it.  It is a process and habits do take time to develop.  All I know is I feel at my best when I eat the right things and combo that with consistent exercise.  My only downfall is not getting enough rest sometimes but disturbed sleep goes along with the whole menopausal thing.

I do enjoy teaching a simplistic and realistic way of eating right.  Nutrition should never feel like a burden but be a fun adventure of change learning how to sub out unhealthy choices for healthier alternatives.  It is true "you can't out exercise a crappy diet" and succumbing to food guilt punishment is not the path to fix that issue.  It is learning how to eat to become who you want to be and guilt is never connected to that.

Healthy food is also my preventative medicine and linked to decreased inflammation and reduced risk of disease.  Want to feel better and improve your quality of life overall?  Start eating healthy!  It may sound easier said than done, but it is a choice and working on what you really want in this life.  I blow no smoke working with clients about what it takes.  You can wish all day but if you don't apply the work, nothing happens.  The work becomes a healthy lifestyle and eventually you look back and don't even think about how hard it was but how good it feels now.  It's like giving birth and how the ultimate pain feels unbearable but the gift of a newborn is the amazing result (I would have to use a different analogy for men of course) but you get my drift.

I hope the holidays are treating you well and you are staying on track with your nutrition.  I have published a few articles on the about.com network that will be very helpful.  "Holiday Survival Tips", "Eat Healthy, Feel Healthy and Look Amazing", and you will really enjoy "100 Calories Superfood Snacks Made Quick and Easy."

           

             Read Holiday Survival Tips!

Read Eat Healthy, Look Amazing!

Read 100 Calorie Super Food Snack ideas

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and don't forget to subscribe below to never miss a free update!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Be Well and Stay Healthy

 

Giving Up is Never An Option

Giving Up is Never An Option

fitness health Motivation tips

We all have hard stuff in life, frustrations, and days we just want to keep our heads tucked under the pillow.  The thing about life and the journey is navigating through everything with our best healthy responses, attitudes, and choices.  I am not immune to feeling the tough in life and even in my workouts.  There are days I want a trainer to kick my butt and push me when I struggle with lack of motivation.  Not every day goes as I had planned and nutrition can also take a hit.  Some days, I am just tired, burned and do have to take a step back and  away from the gym.  All that is OK and in my opinion, normal.  This afternoon, I chose to take an Epsom salt bath...there ya go!

 Life is not challenge free and success comes from how we handle the discomfort.  Building muscle is an uncomfortable process for example, but I push through to achieve a positive result.  Goals are achieved through planning and working.  I have put in years of hard work to get the results I wear in the form of muscle.  Tired or not, giving up is never an option.  As long as I give my best for me, no matter what that looks like, it is good enough.  Today, my best came through taking an Epsom salt bath and right now my sore muscles are saying ... thank you.

I have published some amazing reads for you on the about.com network, "How Food Guilt Affects Getting Fit," and "How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays". 

How Food Guilt Affects Fitness
read the article!

Holiday Survival Tips to Stay Healthy
read the article!

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and don't forget to subscribe below to never miss a free update!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Darla Leal, Fit-over-50
 Stay Healthy

Fitness is Not About Having All the Answers

Fitness is Not About Having All the Answers

fitness health life Motivation

Fitness is a process and an ongoing journey of learning what works and what doesn't.  There will be ups, downs, frustrations and victories fine tuning our daily choices.  The point is to continue the uphill climb to becoming our best healthy self.  It's not about having all the answers because we never will.  During our life, our bodies will change, circumstances will happen and the pursuit of health and happiness will need to continue no matter what.  Quitting is never an option for us.

Fitness comes at a price and we do not get a free pass to good health.  Life is not that easy although many of us search around for things believing it possible and spend too much money on wasted gimmicks and unregulated supplements.  It is really OK to take things slow and enjoy the fitness ride along the way.  We are all works in progress in search of being better than yesterday.  Mistakes are not seen as failure but opportunities of learning and not repeating.  The mastery of adopting a healthy lifestyle stems from our mistakes and shows us the areas we need to change to reach our fitness goals.

We learn how to do that each day through what we eat and drink, how we exercise, time spent resting, and even the balance of work vs. play.  The opportunity is there for us and without excuse and what it comes down to is priorities. Is your fitness taking a backseat to the busy going on in your life, or negative self talk that keeps you from even trying?  As I shared, it is not about having all the answers, but it does require you to not want to stay in an unhealthy life situation. Something for you to think about.  Be well and Stay Healthy!

I have published some informative articles on the about.com network that will help with your journey of health and fitness.  My newest article titled "Holidays Call For Us to Become Food Snobs" is an entertaining read full of fitness tips on how to maintain your shred through the holidays.

Become a Fitness Food Snob for the Holidays

Don't forget to subscribe below and never miss a free update of the Stay Healthy Fitness Blog!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Darla Leal, Fit over 50

Food is Not the Enemy

Food is Not the Enemy

about.com eat to live fitness food food is not the enemy health nutrition

It would be easy to blame food for being overweight and unhealthy, but the truth is food is not the enemy.  In fact, our survival is based on our need for food and water to run our body.  If we are honest about our lives, it is about taking responsibility for our fitness and making choices to keep us healthy.  Quality of food could be part of the issue, but then again who is making the decision to eat the frozen pizzas, burgers and fries in super size portions.  Actually, getting down to the chemistry and caloric needs of our body, eating too much is the biggest factor of not being fit.  Even if we ate the crap food and kept it within the calorie portion to run our body, we could be labeled 'skinny fat people'.  On the outside we may give an appearance of being an appropriate weight, but inside we are a hot mess and feeling like it.  There is nothing good that exists in processed fake food and the damage it does to our body through inflammation and disease is alarming.

Food is our friend and turning the crap into quality is what will change our bodies into fit, healthy people.  You have heard "no-one ever got fat eating too much kale"  and not that I would sit around eating kale all day but you get the point of the statement.  If we start eating to live instead of the other way around, a huge change in the obesity epidemic would happen as the shift toward eating the right stuff would finally be taking place.  How our bodies look and feel are our responsibility and we can absolutely use healthy food to control much of that.  We are hit in the face all day long with fast food commercials, peer pressure, and even sabotage by our own hands or significant other to turn to the dark side of food.  You have the power to see food as your friend and control what you put in your face.  The donut may look appealing but that apple is going to supply the best nutrients to fuel your body and push you closer to your fitness goals.

As the sports nutrition expert on the about.com network, I am always providing fresh exciting content for you.  Check out my recent articles on white rice, eating full-fats, how salt recommendations have been challenged and so much more.  You are guaranteed to find several subjects that interest you and may even have questions about.

Don't forget to subscribe below to never miss a free update of the Stay Healthy Fitness Blog!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Be well and Stay Healthy!

It's Time to Break The Cycle of Bad Habits

It's Time to Break The Cycle of Bad Habits

badhabits breakcycles enabling fitness health

Henry Ford said it best, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got." 

Bad habits need to be broken which means hard choices are often required to create health and happiness in our life.  What we think in our heads as the way things should be or how we want them to be doesn't magically happen because the thought is there.  Bad habits are ugly and keep us trapped in a life of emotional stress, depression, repeating unhealthy behaviors, and unable to move forward into the life we are supposed to live.  We are not loving ourselves when we are repeating bad habits.  In order to create good habits, ending the cycle of what you have always done will be the start of great things for you.

Bad habit cycles can include turning to unhealthy ways of dealing with stress, enabling a loved one, or simply not accepting it is happening at all.  Turning to alcohol, drugs, smoking, binge eating or not eating are examples of unhealthy stress relief habits.  Making accommodations for a person's harmful conduct and dysfunctional behavior believing it is a help actually makes the problem worse and is an example of enabling.  Being in denial about bad habit cycles is another way of not facing what needs to be changed.

The cycle of bad habits feels horrible in life and many of us are running around living this as our "norm" daily walk.  Many times we are fat, sick and angry and not looking at ourselves as the cause of what is happening.  Instead we choose to repeat what is not working for us to get healthy and "get what we have always gotten".  It is time for us to take our heads out of the sand and begin finding our mental strong to make the tough choices that will open doors to good health.  It is time to stop doing what we have always done.

Health and fitness are about physical and emotional health and it does take making changes, removing bad habits, and remaining true to the choices that will keep us heading in the direction of our goals.  The journey will not be easy and life is not about that, but it is always about progressing and becoming better than we were yesterday.  If you really want a better, healthy life it will be up to you to break the cycle of bad habits.  Your life, your body and your choice.

Head on over to my site on the about.com network and enjoy some great reads! Did you know warnings have been strengthened for Ibuprofen causing heart attack and stroke?  Check out the FDA safety communication and my article on the subject. You will also be happy to read about the health benefits of Full Fat Foods instead of the crappy alternatives being pushed on consumers today.

Linked to Heart Attack...Read on!

Thanks for stopping by my Blog and don't forget to subscribe and never miss a free update!

             DON'T MISS MY FREE UPDATES

Be well and Stay Healthy!

Break the Cycle of Bad Habits for Health
Darla Leal, Fit-Over-50