Important Health Tips

Some people learn by the school of hard knocks, while other (more fortunate) people learn by following good, sage advice.  Today's blog posting will provide you neither.  :-D

What follows is a grouping of  diet, exercise and overall wellness tips I have learned over the past couple of years and feel compelled to share with you.  Trust me, you will thank me one day.


10 Health Tips by Carly

1. Do not eat gobs of sauerkraut for dinner and then finish off the leftovers for lunch the next day when working with lots of people when you have a required afternoon meeting to attend.  Whether it's you or your coworkers, someone's going to end up very uncomfortable at that meeting.
2. Do not wear your "skinny" workout clothes because you don't want to admit you have gained weight and need a bigger size. Forget "muffin tops." When you do a deep lunge and blow out a seam it looks and feels just like opening a whole can of Pillsbury biscuits.
3. Muscle shirts at the gym are for muscles, not batwings. (I kid, I kid.  No, really...T-shirts ARE better. If you doubt me, watch yourself carefully in the mirror while jumping rope.)
4. Do not overdo the water before working out. A half gallon is too much. The sloshing can throw you off balance and you don't want to leave dribbles when you do your squats.
5. While a healthy kiss of sunshine and resulting glow (slight tan) looks wonderful and makes you look healthier, please do not try to get this look from a bottle unless you don't mind walking around looking like an Oompa Loompa or like you just rolled around in a pile of Doritos. (Got pics to back me up on this one.)

6. No one, ever, in exercise equipment history, has become fit and reached their goal weight by reading their Kindle or a trashy novel while sitting on their derriere on a recumbent bike.  Ever.
7. A friend posted this one to my wall on Facebook last year: "If you still look cute at the end of your workout you didn't train hard enough."
8. There are absolutely no calories on someone else's plate.  Whatever your kids are eating (or spouse, or friend) is THEIRS.  Keep your eyes on your own plate. Watching what you eat isn't that terribly hard.  Watching what everyone else eats is hard!
9. Try to exercise as soon as you get up in the morning, before coffee and before your brain figures out what you're actually doing.
10. There is no magic diet, no magic exercise, no magic gym, no magic DVD and no magic pill.  Eat better, move more, and don't wait for some deep, inspirational motivation to strike.  You don't need to feel motivated or inspired.  You just need to get off your ass. 

I'm going to take those last two sentences and tape them to my monitor.  Sometimes the teacher learns as she writes.

Carly (P.S., if you like my blog, please share it liberally on facebook, twitter, other blogs, forums, etc.)