How I Made Fitness and Nutrition A Lifestyle

How I Made Fitness and Nutrition A Lifestyle

The reason I study personal development and why I’m so passionate about it is because I’m a student of personal development, too.

When I create content for you, I’m learning along with you and often discuss topics I personally struggle with and am working on myself.

While I’m helping you, I’m helping me, too.

But in this particular case, I’m somewhat of an “expert,” if you will, with maintaining fitness and nutrition habits long-term.

My hope in sharing this information with you is to help you in this area.

Give or take a few pounds, I’ve managed to maintain my weight since high school. (In case you’re wondering how long ago that was, 2020 marks 20 years since I graduated-so it’s been awhile).

And I’m going to tell you how I’ve been able to do this.

First and foremost, I practice awareness.

It’s so important to have awareness of how good nutrition and an active lifestyle impact your brain and body.

If you view exercise as torture and good nutrition as depriving yourself, all with the goal of being “skinny,” you’ll never permanently adopt a healthy lifestyle, let alone lose weight long-term (if that is your goal).

I know how exercise and nutritious foods make me feel.

This knowledge keeps me consistent in practicing healthy habits.

Awareness has to come first in order for everything else I’m about to share with you to make sense.

I view exercise as a lifestyle, not torture.

Back when I was still working at my last job in an office building, I used to go up to the office gym on my lunch hour.

One day, a co-worker from another department stopped me in the hall on my way down to the gym. She told me, “you’re too skinny to be working out.”

Initially I was annoyed by her comment, but then I got to thinking: she just doesn’t understand the purpose of physical fitness. She thinks people only exercise to lose weight-she doesn’t get it.

Yes, exercise is a tool to lose weight, but it also keeps your mind “in shape.” It’s also great for heart health as well.

The impact my lunch hour workout session had on my brain was similar to an afternoon coffee break. It kept my brain sharp until 5 pm rolled around.

In fact, anytime I worked through my lunch hour and missed my workout, I suffered from extreme brain fog and fatigue.

It’s easier to stay consistent with exercise after experiencing the mood-boosting endorphins it creates that your brain comes to rely on.

On another note-from a young age I’ve struggled with depression from time to time and exercise is a completely natural remedy for that. It’s helped me tremendously in this aspect of my life.

When you’re in the habit of exercising and you miss a day, your body and brain will be negatively impacted.

There are times I’ve felt hungover (but wasn’t!) because I didn’t work out that day. My body was missing its natural hit of dopamine.

All this to say, working out has always been a lifestyle for me. I do believe in order to have success with exercise, you must view it as a lifestyle, or you won’t understand the full purpose of why you’re doing it.

If you view exercise as torture, it will be torture, and you’ll quit.

View it as a lifestyle habit that improves your body and mind, and you’ll keep coming back to it, without feeling miserable.

I seldom eat sugar.

Some of you reading this will probably think I’m crazy, but I don’t crave sweets.

I also drink my coffee black and hate soda.

No, I wasn’t born “lucky” and I think this is something anyone can teach their brain to do. I’ll explain why.

First off, if you study sugar and know it’s more addictive than crack, you may understand how easy it is for me to disregard sweets.

After going so long without eating anything sweet, my body just doesn’t crave it.

I’m not one of those people who checks ingredient labels and doesn’t eat something if it has any trace of sugar in it-I just don’t care for sweets overall, and I don’t think about eating sweets or crave them.

I vaguely remember the last few times I had a doughnut at the office. A wave of brain fog hit me afterward, and it was so easy to never eat a doughnut again because I didn’t want to feel that way.

It’s so easy for me to pass over sweets because I know the way they make me feel, like with the doughnuts. People who are addicted to sugar get a sugar high and then crash. In my case, I just get brain fog and feel miserable.

Once in a while, I do eat cheesecake, because I love it. But we’re talking maybe twice a year.

I’m not an expert on detoxing from sugar, but if you’re interested in doing so, this article from Healthline has some great recommendations-one of which is (surprise!) exercising to ward off fatigue.

I eat light during the day.

When I still worked in an office outside the home, I packed my lunches over the weekend.

I’d make sandwiches, salads and have microwavable soup and pumpkin seeds on the ready.

Even now, everything I eat from morning through 5 pm is all healthy fare. It’s not something I think about or feel deprived doing.

I just prefer to eat nutritious foods that stimulate brain power vs. heavy, greasy foods that cloud your thinking and make you fatigued.

Notice how paying attention (awareness) to how different kinds of food make me feel is a running theme.

I eat when I’m hungry and I stop when I’m full.

Growing up, my grandparents on my dad’s side of the family let me eat whenever I was hungry, and my grandparents on my mom’s side of the family endorsed the standard three meals a day and clean plate club.

Guess which side of my family struggles with their weight? My mom’s side.

I eat whenever I get hungry and stop when I’m full. If there’s food left over on my plate, I save it for later.

There is no reason to stuff yourself into a food coma. It happens to the best of us from time to time, but I do try to prevent this from happening.

I remember in college, my family used to go out for lunch at a popular local Mexican restaurant chain, and I’d eat so much I had to take a nap after. When I remember those past experiences, it’s enough to keep me from over-eating.

Enjoy those yummy leftovers later on when you’re hungry again. They will still be there for you.

I don’t do diets or deprivation.

Diet fads will come and go.

The thing about fad diets is they are hard to maintain long-term because eventually you are going to feel deprived.

You can lose weight on a diet but cannot maintain the weight loss long-term because you will go right back to eating the way you used to, unless you permanently change your poor eating habits and the underlying issues that cause them.

The key is to focus on nutrition and not deprive yourself of a specific food group altogether (except maybe the sugary stuff if you need to detox from sugar).

Of course, I’m not a nutritionist or a doctor, so you should always seek your doctor’s opinion on what is right for you.

But overall, fad diets and deprivation don’t work long-term.

I pick and choose my indulgences wisely.

I’m Italian, and I grew up in a stereotypical Italian family. Pasta, pizza, bread…

Basically, all of the carbs.

If I told you I loved carbs, that would be an understatement.

But what I’m getting at here is, it’s okay to have that “indulgence” in moderation.

Choose your indulgences carefully. What’s one thing you cannot live without?

Mine is pizza.

I usually eat it a few times a month.

But because I eat well 80% of the time, it’s okay to have that indulgence.

I don’t believe in deprivation, but I do believe in moderation and enjoying what you love most.

Life is too short to not enjoy your favorite food.

Just pick and choose your indulgences wisely.

Before You Go

If you want to be successful with health and weight-loss goals, you must come to understand why fitness and nutrition matter, and how they impact your brain and body.

Otherwise, exercise and nutrition will feel like torture, and you won’t be able to maintain good health habits long-term.

It took years to ingrain these habits into my lifestyle after learning from experience, and you can do it, too!

What health habits are you struggling with that I can help you with today?

Let me know in the comments below.

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