"Fitness Blog World" New Post Topic Today ~ Dec.4th

  How do you keep on track through the holidays with regards to my nutrition and exercise? 
 

Well, for me this time of year during the holiday season is just like the rest of the year. I pretty much keep to my regular eating and exercise pattern right on schedule throughout the holidays.

The one thing I will do when the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons is upon us. I will check what day of the week Christmas and New Years lands on and if it does land on a scheduled workout day I will adjust my schedule to have the holiday as my rest day. This is very easy to do and it allows me to keep my training on track without interruptions or set backs taking time off. I am then able to enjoy the holiday without feeling guilty about missing a scheduled workout day.

The same thought will go for my diet for the holidays. I will save my free day for the holiday. I will continue to eat healthy and clean during the week and or prior to the the day the holiday lands on. Thanksgiving is a easy one because it always lands on Thursday. I will just trade my Saturday free day for Thursday so I am able to enjoy the Thanksgiving food freely without guilt. Then when Saturday comes up I just stay on my regular diet as normal. It's a very easy thing for me to do because I sometimes don't even take my free day on Saturday. I will some weeks skip a free day and take it when I feel the need to or I have really earned it.

I will do the exact same thing for both my diet and training on Christmas depending on what day of the week the holiday lands on. I will check ahead and adjust my training and diet to the day Christmas and New Years lands on. I have been known to train on holidays just like they were normal days in the week. Only if I have plans or something special that takes all day or more will I substitute days to have the holiday totally off.  I feel there's always time for a workout  =) 

  I feel if you allow yourself to go too far off track in taking more than 1-3 days off for holidays or special events you will get too comfortable "Comfort Zone" and for some people it can lead in to more time off. It is so easy to take that 1-3 days right in to a week off and sometimes more.. Especially during the holiday season with all the things to do and parties to go to. If you plan ahead so you don't have to take more than 1-3 days off during this special time of year, you will not get off track and be in a better place physically when the New Year hits you!

One thing I am doing this year is I started a detox cleanse in December instead of waiting till January. Most people would wait till after the holidays to do a detox cleanse, but I felt the need to do mine a month earlier. I do them a few times throughout the year to clear and rid my system of toxins and to just start with a clean slate. I wanted to try out a new detox cleanse that I have read about and researched. It just so happened to be this month I decided to try it out. The cleanse is for 10 days, longer if you choose to go more days. But, I will be able to have Christmas to enjoy some good eating like the rest of the world.

We are all different and we all have different traditions during the festive holiday season. I am sure we are all the same though in thinking we don't want any major set backs to hinder all our hard work this year keeping fit and healthy. So plan ahead for special holiday parties, family gatherings, special dates and for main holiday days! Be consistent on the days in between doing your workouts, training and eating clean and healthy. Change your schedule around if your able and if not just stay on track the days you can. Then you will feel good and be able to enjoy all the special holiday events without any guilt or major set backs. No one wants to spend all of January or even February making up for Decembers celebrations. 

Happy Holidays To All !!!

"Fitness Blog World" My Post On November 4th Topic!

My turning point or trigger that lead me to choose fitness and my healthy lifestyle~ How did my progress get me where I am today, and who or what has been my biggest influence in my fitness life.

I was a athlete early in my youth, swimming on swim teams beginning age 9 and then throughout high school too. I also loved to run and was on the track team in elementary school, and some of high school too. But my main love was swimming and I even joined a AAU year round swim team along with being on my high school swim team.

 

The one thing that hurt me was at around age 14 the summer of my freshman year in high school.. The peer pressure to be thin, and I wasn't in anyway fat, but felt I was and decided to lose some of my baby fat weight that I felt was still hanging on to my body. Other girls my age didn't seem to have and I was a late bloomer so this put more pressure on me to be skinny. In stead of having the knowledge that I have now that my body would out grow the 10 pounds of baby fat in the next year or so I wanted to excel the process, so I ate very little and at times nothing at all. The baby fat came off real quick with all the hours after school at swimming practice.

This became a habit and soon a disease. A disease that was rare and not too well known yet in the early 80's. I didn't know about it or know I was suffering severely from "Anorexia Nervosa" I soon found out what it was in my Junior year in high school as I was only 90 pounds and dropping drastically. I continued to swim for my high school team and AAU team in the summer months. I did exceptionally well taking mainly 1st and 2nd placings in my particular races. One being a favorite of mine was the 500 meter swim. This was a race of 20 laps for time against other swimmers from other teams. This was my race and I would win most every time even on maybe a apple a day.

As my senior year came I continued to be very skinny at about 85-90 pounds. Then approaching my high school graduation I hit a all time low of graduating high school at a mere 78 pounds. That summer my brother came home to visit from college and he was in shock at what he saw. He was mad that my parents couldn't see I was starving myself. He stepped in that summer and gave me the "Tough Love" talk. We were at a wedding for a family friend the summer I graduated and he watched me eat nothing the whole day. He took me home after the wedding and we had to stop on the side of the road as I was getting sick.  This is where my brother told it to me real straight. He said... You think you look good? Your skinny yes, but you look like shit and your face is gone, your body is gone and you are dying. It woke me right up, as I thought being skinny equaled being beautiful. I couldn't see what my brother saw or anyone else for that matter. I saw a fat girl in the mirror at only 78 pounds at 5'3" I was a bone wearing youth size clothing.

This was my turning point and although I was in to fitness with my swimming, and running I was not in the least bit healthy. So my turning point began that day when my brother stepped in to give me tough love and told me the truth. It took a lot of work on my own to change my thoughts, and eating habit, consuming good food and accepting my weight. I worked on my self worth, ate good food, and continued to run and swim my first year out of high school. Then  my family made our big move to the Hawaiian Islands. This is where my love for weight lifting and bodybuilding started and immediately began to blossom.  My brother introduced me to the iron, and I immediately fell in love with the whole concept of training, pumping iron and having control of sculpting my own body. Weight lifting is dear to my heart as is my brother Dana. They both saved my life in showing me a better more healthy way to live.
 

In the first 5 years of lifting weights with my brother on a hard training schedule it was suggested to me that I compete in a bodybuilding competition. I was extremely shy, and very critical of myself still so I had no intentions of competing in any bodybuilding shows. Again my brother stepped in to convince me to go for it. I have come so far in 5 years, in sculpting a perfect fit body. He said show it off Debbie, you have nothing to fear and that I should be proud of the last 5 years of hard training I put in my body. I decided to enter my first competition and got 2nd place, and it sparked my fire in full force to go back to win. I never received a 2nd place again, or any other placing but 1st place. I also got passed my shyness in winning best poser award at every competition I was in. My greatest achievement was winning light weight, and beating the middle, and heavy weight winners taking the whole show. Plus winning best poser award as well. That was the year I won Ms.Big Island and that was bittersweet as I was 4 months pregnant with my son when I won my first overall show.

My greatest influence in all these years is no secret to anyone. It is my amazing brother Dana, who is a great athlete himself. If not for my brother I am not sure where I would be?or even be alive today. He believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. He taught me how to believe in myself and be proud of my accomplishments. Always strive for being the best I can be.. Reach high and keep training hard for the biggest completion of my life.. Which is my life. That is a daily competition that I compete in and strive to be the best I can be every day!,

 

Check out the other women on Fitness Blog World and their posts on this same topic I just wrote about today. Amazing women, great fitness blogs on...    http://fitnessblogworld.com/about/ 

 

"Fitness Blog World" New Post Topic Today!

I am introducing a blog that I have been invited to join and participate in "Fitness Blog World" www.fitnessblogworld.com  a blogroll of about 20 plus women with diverse back grounds in fitness that are sharing their own interests, experiences and perspectives in order to inspire others. Fitness Blog World bloggers participate in contributing in a post every two weeks, writing about our individual perspectives on the given "shared" topic.

My first participating post is today Friday 11/4 and official positing time for bloggers to post is by 8:00 pm eastern standard time. The topic that we will be addressing in today's post: "What was your trigger or turning point that made you choose fitness and/or healthy lifestyle? How did that progress get you where you are today? What or who has had the most influence on your fitness life?

Please check out my first post later today here on my own personal fitness blog, and also check out "Fitness Blog World" www.fitnessblogworld.com for a list of the other blogs of this close group of fit, amazing women that will be posting along with me today at 8:00 pm eastern standard time on their own personal fitness blog's about the above topic. 

Come check out FBW new face book page www.facebook.com/groups/fitnessblogworld
 
Lets all... Rock Our Bodies Today!