Is Your Focus Health or Vanity?

In all of my years of working with people in fitness, unfortunately most of them have been focused on how they look as opposed to how they feel and their health. This is not uncommon in our society, and given the way our society focuses on "perfect beauty" in all that we do, it makes sense that many of us are victims of that belief.


We are bombarded with flawless bodies, beautiful faces, and perfection in the media as the norm. It is this type of hype that gives many of us a feeling that we need to look a certain way to be happy and successful.



We all know that the pictures we see in the media are not the norm, and most of them are not even reality, but super imposed and airbrushed to death, leaving us with an unrealistic, unattainable view of how we should look.


This is the place most people come from when putting a fitness program into action. It is based on how they can change their looks to get to that place of "body perfection". This is a shallow and empty place to approach your fitness and health plan from.


How you look is such a small part of what exercise and healthy eating will do for you. Take a look at some of my past blogs as evidence to what you will gain by exercise and eating right. When you are healthy, you will feel your best too.



Changing your looks for the better is a side effect of exercise and healthy eating....it will happen to you even when it is not your focus, which is a better way of approaching your fitness program.


You will reverse your aging process, ward off disease, have more energy, reduce stress, and be at your very best when you eat right and exercise, and oh yes, you will look great as a bonus!


Focusing strictly on how you look will never be enough of a motivator to keep you disciplined on your fitness regime. I have seen it a thousand times over. It is just not what keeps people exercising and eating right for a life style. Feeling good, and having quality of life is a great motivator and keeps people in the fitness game. It is about how you "feel" that really matters, not how we look.


So change your view point if you are a "vanity" exercise person. Begin to notice how much better you feel when you eat right and exercise. Doing these two things will get you looking your best anyway, no need to focus on that part.


Exercise for health, wellness, quality of life, and feeling the best you can. That is a great reason to keep doing it forever. It is not important how long we live, but how long we can live with quality. Eating healthy and exercising daily will give you quality, and you will look great too!




Till Tomorrow,
Queenie

So In Love

And it's actually not with my new hubby (although, lord knows I love him too.)  But before you gasp and wonder what the heck is going on, I'll explain...

This is the kind of love that gets you up at 5:30 every morning without complaint (ok, maybe a few complaints but only a few) the kind of love that makes you coo and squeal over every new move, a love that even makes picking up poo with a plastic bag somehow adorable.

Yes, I am in love with a dog.  And not just any dog, my dog (our dog, sorry, hubs.) I've never had a dog before, not even when I was growing up. Now I do and she's perfect.

So you can tell how happy and proud I am to tell you all that Mr Trail Mix and I adopted an 8-week-old Boston Terrier mix from a rescue shelter called Hugs for Hounds last Friday! She weighs in at 3 pounds, her name is Perri and we're so in love, it's not even funny.

I mean, good grief, how could you not love a face like this?

Oh, those eyes.  They slay me every time.

As you might be able to tell, we're pretty much head over heels and basically spend most of our days saying the most ridiculous statements in absurd voices such "Whoose da purty pup? Youuuuuu da purty wurty widdle pup." *you'll have to imagine the baby-talk voice but you all know what I mean :)

She arrived a bit unexpectedly, as we had applied for her on a Friday, not expecting to hear back until the following Monday or Tuesday.  Instead, Stephanie from Hugs for Hounds called us back about an hour after we submitted our application, saying she thought we'd be perfect for the puppy and she could bring her over at about 6:30 that evening.  If we liked her, we would keep her! After frantically puppy-proofing the apartment and going a little bit crazy at Petco, we walked downstairs to meet Perri and Stephanie on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. You know when people talk about love at first sight? Well, I never believed in it until now.  The second we laid eyes on her, it was game over and we were completely smitten.

I could watch Mr Trail Mix interact with her all day. He's so gentle and patient, it makes me totally more in love with him too (you're going to be such a good dad someday, babe.)

It wasn't until we got Perri that I started to understand what everyone was talking about when they said the real fun starts after the wedding.  As in, the marriage is the really good part, the wedding was just a big kick-off to it all. When the three of us lie in bed together, I think about how Mr Trailmix and I have truly created our own little family and I'm so happy my heart hurts.

Welcome to the family, Perrita, we love you so much!

Do you have a dog? Tell me about him or her, I'm totally obsessed with all things doggie now!

So In Love

And it's actually not with my new hubby (although, lord knows I love him too.)  But before you gasp and wonder what the heck is going on, I'll explain...

This is the kind of love that gets you up at 5:30 every morning without complaint (ok, maybe a few complaints but only a few) the kind of love that makes you coo and squeal over every new move, a love that even makes picking up poo with a plastic bag somehow adorable.

Yes, I am in love with a dog.  And not just any dog, my dog (our dog, sorry, hubs.) I've never had a dog before, not even when I was growing up. Now I do and she's perfect.

So you can tell how happy and proud I am to tell you all that Mr Trail Mix and I adopted an 8-week-old Boston Terrier mix from a rescue shelter called Hugs for Hounds last Friday! She weighs in at 3 pounds, her name is Perri and we're so in love, it's not even funny.

I mean, good grief, how could you not love a face like this?

Oh, those eyes.  They slay me every time.

As you might be able to tell, we're pretty much head over heels and basically spend most of our days saying the most ridiculous statements in absurd voices such "Whoose da purty pup? Youuuuuu da purty wurty widdle pup." *you'll have to imagine the baby-talk voice but you all know what I mean :)

She arrived a bit unexpectedly, as we had applied for her on a Friday, not expecting to hear back until the following Monday or Tuesday.  Instead, Stephanie from Hugs for Hounds called us back about an hour after we submitted our application, saying she thought we'd be perfect for the puppy and she could bring her over at about 6:30 that evening.  If we liked her, we would keep her! After frantically puppy-proofing the apartment and going a little bit crazy at Petco, we walked downstairs to meet Perri and Stephanie on the sidewalk in front of our apartment. You know when people talk about love at first sight? Well, I never believed in it until now.  The second we laid eyes on her, it was game over and we were completely smitten.

I could watch Mr Trail Mix interact with her all day. He's so gentle and patient, it makes me totally more in love with him too (you're going to be such a good dad someday, babe.)

It wasn't until we got Perri that I started to understand what everyone was talking about when they said the real fun starts after the wedding.  As in, the marriage is the really good part, the wedding was just a big kick-off to it all. When the three of us lie in bed together, I think about how Mr Trailmix and I have truly created our own little family and I'm so happy my heart hurts.

Welcome to the family, Perrita, we love you so much!

Do you have a dog? Tell me about him or her, I'm totally obsessed with all things doggie now!