SCALE NOT MOVING?

If the scale stopped moving it’s most likely because you stopped moving too!  Rainy days and quarantines can make for a very unhealthy lifestyle for weight loss and health!

DID YOU KNOW…. Based on a study of more than 220,000 people, researchers found that the longer you spend sitting down every day, the higher your risk of dying prematurely, even if you engage in regular exercise.  And if that isn’t scary enough then you should know sitting down for long periods of time isn’t just bad for your metabolism, it can also make you age quicker too.  New research has found that sitting down for long periods of time even with regular exercise can make a person’s cells age prematurely.  Yikes!

Why does this happen?…  Because you are not meant to sit you are built to stand upright.  Your heart and cardiovascular system work more effectively that way.  Your bowel system also functions more efficiently when you are upright.  You are also meant to move!  When you are moving, your overall energy levels and endurance improve, and your bones maintain strength.  Moving your muscles helps your body digest the fats and sugars you eat.  If you spend a lot of time sitting, digestion is not as efficient, so you retain those fats and sugars as fat in your body.  — Yikes again!

Interesting fact…. Your legs and gluteals, are the biggest muscles in your body and when used they burn the most calories.  That’s why runners, long distance walkers, and lower body training will always have and create leaner bodies because they are working their legs and gluteals, and burning the most calories. These large muscles are important for weight loss and overall strength to help stabilize the body.  Sitting for long periods can lead to weakening and wasting away of the large leg muscle and gluteal muscles.  What happens when your leg muscles waste away?…  you don’t burn as many calories because you no longer have the biggest muscles in your body and if that isn’t bad enough you end up with all fat and cellulite.  Because prolonged periods of sitting reduce blood flow and that creates fat and cellulite.  Just another big reason to get up and go…..

Live Longer!… Physical inactivity contributes to over three million preventable deaths worldwide each year. It is the fourth leading cause of death due to non-communicable diseases.  It’s also the cause of approx. 30  per cent of breast, colon cancers, diabetes and heart disease.   So next time you are at your desk and working 8 hours straight think about the damage you can be doing to your body.  Set the timer and make sure you are moving.  It’s something you have complete control over to change.

Feeling Sad?…  We don’t really understand the links between sitting and mental health as much as we do the links between sitting and physical health.  But we do know that the risk of both anxiety and depression is much higher in people that sit more.

Have I made my point yet?…  if not, let me make it clear — it’s time to stop sitting and start moving! And walking your plate to the sink doesn’t count.

Move More In Quarantine…..  An hour of exercise a day is just not enough in quarantine.  Before quarantine you were exercising an hour a day and then you were running errands, work, sports, shopping, kids etc…  Now you exercise and hour a day and you sit a lot more than you used too.

A SIMPLE FIX:

1. Add one extra hour a of exercise a day (walk, bike, hike, HIIT workouts, or just dance with your family around the house for an hour — so much fun and good for everyone!).  If you do it consistently for 7 days along with your current one hour you will see a big difference in your body and the scale.
2. Don’t sit for longer than 30 minutes at a time.  Get up do jumping jacks or jog in place.  Do anything to get the blood flowing and the body moving.  Just keep thinking sitting too long = loss of muscle, and lots of fat and cellulite.

Today is more challenging than ever because you are not always on the go.  Being sedentary is definitely going to play a part in how your body looks and functions. So whether you are cleaning, playing with the kids, walking, biking, jogging, …. find the time to move and make the excuses to keep moving as much as you can.  It will help you mentally and physically feel so much better today, tomorrow, next week and next month.

IT’S NEVER ABOUT HAVING THE TIME — IT’S ABOUT MAKING THE TIME

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Let’s start with the (sort of) good news:  Experiencing some amount of anxiety is an indication  that you are human.  “Just about all of us have some levels of anxiety and worry.  While it’s normal part of life to experience occasional anxiety  – especially under our current situation…. I see daily how it’s affecting so many of you in all different ways.  Some are drinking more, snacking more, and others eating less and some just completely overwhelmed.  For many anxiety is hitting daily and becoming worse by the day and others it’s randomly hitting out of the blue.  We are all out of our comfort zone.

I hope it will give you some comfort when I tell you that you are not alone in how you feel.  With all the clients that I deal with from all over the world and all levels of status the one thing everyone seems to be experiencing is anxiety.  Some more frequent than others and definitely different levels of anxiousness — but we are all feeling it.  And sometimes knowing that you not alone can help.

WHAT TO DO:

• One of the best things you can do when you feel the anxiety coming on is to accept it and recognize it… and face it head on.  Accept that you are scared and understand that it’s okay to be afraid.  But don’t let it control you.  Once it gets control that is when we lose our way.  Find healthy things that will help you with the anxiety like exercise – a bubble bath – playing with the kids or writing a journal about it.  Whatever takes you out of your present mind and takes you to a better place of relaxation.  Make sure whatever you choose you add it into your daily schedule.  For example:  watching too much News might start the anxiety.  Recognize it — shut the TV and go for a walk.  It’s simple but very effective.

• Another thing that I find so important is your food.  Do not let it get control of you.  The more you keep control of your food the better you will feel.  The more you can control your food will result in how you will feel mentally and physically.  Listen, we all know the scale right now should not be the most important thing in the world as a whole — but as a piece of your life when you know that too much snacking, too much drinking, and over eating and gaining weight is going to get you upset and give you more anxiety… that’s when the scale becomes important  — and it’s okay that it is important to you.  It should be important because it’s part of your health and when you do the right things it keeps you in a happy place.  There is a great big world with big problems and then we all have our own little world with our own problems.  You need to make sure you are doing all the right things that keep you happy and sane in your own little world so that you can deal with the things that are going on in the great big world.

There is no doubt about it when you are on program you feel good and when you are not on program it impacts your emotional state.

We shouldn’t give up on anything that keeps us happy because when you can stay in a happy positive place it will help with those moments of anxiety.  Right now we need to depend on our positive emotions.  Our emotions help us survive, thrive, and avoid danger.  When you are happy — then you can keep others happy and that is what the world thrives on together — human emotions of sharing the positive love, prayers, hope and happiness.  Change will always take place in our life and sometimes even though it’s from unfortunate circumstances we have to seek out the positive in it all.  The trees are blooming and the sun is shining so keep doing the right things, stay strong and remember that most of us all have some extra time right now — use it to your advantage.  Stay positive and think about what changes have you wanted to make in your life before the quarantine.  How you can use this time to emerge to become the very best version of yourself.  If you are lucky enough to be healthy right now it’s a great time to reflect and think about the changes you want to make.  Start by making those changes today.

Anyone who has grown mentally, physically, or spiritually

knows that growth is not found in comfort.

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick