One Moment at a Time: It’s How Fitness Happens

“Things don’t just happen!”

This was the response I would hear from my father when I used to exclaim, “It just happened!” as an excuse for having done something whacky that I immediately knew would get me in trouble.

Deliberation and Decision

Whatever disastrous event I was responsible for that precipitated his stern rebuke, it all really started when I made a decision to act on my idea, didn’t it?

Resolutions

You already realize that the odds of successfully completing New Year’s resolutions are marginal.

Perhaps it’s just a comforting ritual?

Take a few minutes and watch this video on YouTube that’s been viewed over thirty six million times. It will be an important motivational tool for me in the coming year.

2016 will be overflowing with stories of achievement.

Make the decision every day to become the author and actor of your own success story.

Don’t Waste Your Valuable Psychic Energy!

I visualize mindfulness as time intersecting reality at the point of focused awareness.

Sacrificing present moments to live in regret makes no sense and is, indeed, harmful.

Forfeiting present moments worrying about things you can’t control is foolish.

The incredible power of the human mind to imagine wonderful and amazing possibilities is the same power that drives us to despair when we follow a path of regret and fear.

You choose the mental path; both are powerful.

The energy wasted on negativity depletes your psychic and physical energy–energy to productively construct the present moment–and that’s really the only moment we have, isn’t it?

All of life, of course, is lived moment by moment. Make sure you’re present and in control when it’s happening to you.

Remember, getting in shape (or any worthwhile achievement) is first an exercise of the will. And it, like your muscles, becomes stronger and more powerful as you use it.

Decide, in your 2016 moments, to become who you want to be!

Congratulations!

Steven

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Does Anyone Know What Your Dream Is?

If you left this earth tomorrow and your friends and family were paying tribute, would they be able to describe the dream that was your passion?

If the answer is no, then two possibilities present themselves. You either had no dream; or you did, but lacked the belief in yourself to act upon it.

I knew that feeling.

I also know the feeling of time running out. If no one has told you to get your act together yet, let me be the one to suggest that you do so.

Let’s not carry the excess baggage of excuses and regret any longer. At this point in time, who’s the critic living who’ll shame you? It really shouldn’t matter, should it?

It really never should have.

To Your Health and Fitness,

Steven

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The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

2 Things You Must Stop Doing Immediately

When it comes to health and fitness, there are two types of behavioral changes that can be made. First, you can start doing new things that will improve your health: a new walking program, taking the Yoga class you’ve been thinking about, etc.

Secondly, you can stop doing the things that are hurting you. What I say in the following few words is ‘to the point’. I understand the struggles and disappointments  involved in facing internal drives that propel us in the wrong direction. But you’ve got to:

Stop Smoking Now!

There are no exercises, supplements, herbs, or prescribed medications that can make up for the damage that you’re doing by smoking. You know this already and yet continue the behavior. I do not have the answers to this. I do know people who have simply quit. If others can do it, you can do it, too. Don’t tell me that you enjoy it, you’re still killing yourself slowly. Don’t tell me that Aunt Betty smoked and lived till 100. She would have lived longer and healthier if she hadn’t smoked. And that’s simply a hollow rationalization. I breathed my share of second-hand smoke as a child.

Stop Overeating Now!

Once again, there are no exercises, pills, or medications that can ‘add more health’ than you’re subtracting by engaging in this behavior. This is a difficult and controversial issue, I know, but the facts are overwhelming and there is no doubt about long-term effects. There are no miracle diets. Techniques do exist for losing weight quickly and are used by athletes ‘cutting weight’ in order to qualify to compete at specific weight categories. They utilize massive fluid loss, can be dangerous, and the body must be returned to normal hydration and weight immediately after competition. This is not for you. Permanent weight loss is a lifestyle change. Ingesting fewer calories than what your body requires results in losing weight. I’ve seen many diet ‘secrets’ recycled through the years.  New diets sell products–just like the newest style of clothing. The shoe designers decided a while back that fashionable women now wear extremely high heals. That means lots of high heel shoes have been sold the last few years, right? Fad diets are exactly the same. The newest fad diet generates new fad diet dollars. Stop spending money on the latest ‘diet style’. You must eat what your body needs…the excess is stored as fat. If anyone out there can show me that this metabolic fact is now untrue, please do. I lost 27 pounds by adopting the practice of not eating to the point of feeling full. It was difficult for me, and the weight did not disappear quickly. That’s how the body works. Respect it and understand it as it is.

Please, right now, stop doing the things that you know are robbing you of your precious good health.

To Your Health and Fitness,

Steven Siemons

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The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.