#activenuts

[activenutfitness]

Progress is progress

I believe this is a hard thing for most people who first begin their journey to health and fitness. I know when I first tried to lose weight, the slow progress was indeed discouraging. The thing is, anything worth having takes both time, and hard work. You have to remember that progress of any kind, is progress. It’s the little things in life that keeps us moving forward, and the same thing applies here. There is another quote that goes well with this one, it’s, “Strive for progress, not perfection.” I just know from my own experience and what I’ve talked to others about, it seems that most people go for perfection out of the gate and I believe that is why most fail. It was true for me anyway. You can’t go into anything expecting near perfect results at every turn. You have to practice, have patience, and tell yourself how important what you are working for is to you. Always, remind yourself of what’s important to you. Stay focused and never give up. Treat your body and health like you would a career. Do you give up on a career just because you don’t get a raise after one month working there? Do you abandon everything you’ve worked so hard for just because you didn’t get the promotion you thought you deserved after just a few months? Things take time and hard work. There’s that again, but it’s true. If you know what you want in life, then make it happen. There is no excuse for why you can’t have the things you want in life. You are the only reason you can’t have the things you want in life. It’s time to get out of your own way, and clear the path ahead. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. The only excuse you have is you, so stop being an excuse.

[activenutfitness]

Past, Present & Future

One of my biggest faults has always been that I tend to live in the past. I spend far too much of my time pondering the what-if and what-could’ve-been. This flaw has held me back from becoming the best version of me time and again. While it’s important to retain our memories of days gone by, it’s equally as important to live in the here and now, and plan for our future.

We, as people, are creatures capable of cognitive processes, and as such, our memories are our greatest asset. Without them, we would be destined to repeat our mistakes in dreadful repetition. Yet, even with these remembrances, some of us continue to re-create previous slipups. Our memories of the past should mold and shape us, not hinder us to an existence of unhappiness. I’m aware that this is easier said than done. I still struggle with an internal conflict to relive the past in my mind on an endless loop. Most things cannot be undone, but we can still make the best out of bad situations, and move on with our lives. That’s the beauty of humanity, we are very adaptable. With willingness and perseverance, we can successfully make a new ending to our lives rather than to remain stuck in limbo.

That’s why it’s critical to learn from the past and live in the present. If we continue to live in the former, our futures will never be fully realized, or perhaps even be created at all. It is possible to become caught in a moment of our lives and never make it out. We will wake everyday with the same feelings and emotions that plagued us from that instant in time, onward. Those feelings, while unresolved, will tear at our inner selves and make it impossible to change or advance through life as one should.

Most important of all is our present. We must define ourselves with who we are today, not who we were yesterday. We must not be exemplified by our past mistakes or actions. We have all made poor choices in our lives, had lapses in judgement, made errors that affect us throughout our everyday journey. It’s from those faults that we learn to be stronger and improve upon ourselves. Thus, it is imperative to do just that. Let’s learn from our past mistakes and become stronger and wiser. Let’s peek into the approaching days ahead, and plan a brighter, more substantial future.

I have now begun to face my fears head-on, and look deep into my future, and I have been able to catch glimpses of a life that I want. I now try to live today, and day by day, I am progressing towards a future that I can call my own. A future, that I can be happy with, and proud of. I refuse to be characterized by my prior conduct, and have now begun to accept that I represent myself through my current actions, which are continuing to be shaped and formed.

So, learn from the past, live in the present, and make the choices that matter most to create a future that makes you feel alive. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. It’s vital to live rather than simply exist.

[activenutfitness]

Make Time Work for You

Time can be your best friend or your worst enemy, it depends on you which it will become. Sure, unexpected things happen that you can’t change, for the bad or even the worst, but how you perceive it and deal with the situations depends on how time works for you. Of course, I do also believe there are some life situations, that in your own mind, you can’t possibly see any positivity from, see the good in, or see how you will grow from it. That’s where you should work the hardest. When I lost my mom, it was hard to see the positive in it. It took a lot of hard work on my part to make the best of it and see it from a new perspective, but when I did, I felt better and have remained better. I still miss my mom, I loved her and will always cherish the memories we had, but as I have stated before, thanks to her, she was a big inspiration to my new way of life, and that helps me see the positive behind it. In the last few months, I’ve faced new challenges that have begun to weigh on me, and I struggle to stay positive. It’s never easy, and it never will be, but it’s important that I, or you, don’t give up or give in to the negative effects or the pressures. I am human just like everyone else and I’m far from perfect. I have been dealing with things in my own way, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I go through moments where I begin to regress to old ways and habits, and sometimes those old ways and habits start to feel as though they are taking over. That’s about the time I recognize it and then I have to make a decision, do I want to sit around feeling sorry for myself and just go back to the unhealthy, and most importantly, unhappy way of life I was living before I started my journey, or do I stand up and force myself to keep pushing forward and try to regain some form of happiness and structure in my life? It’s not always as easy as one would think, the mind is capable of being a powerful ally, as well as an even more powerful adversary. Our minds control everything that we do in our lives, including eating healthy and exercising, and when we are at our worst, it’s really hard to change your outlook, and even worse, to change your behaviors. If you are sad or depressed, it’s not as simple as just telling yourself to get up, and quit lying in remorse, but you have to find a way to make it happen. I can’t be the one to tell you how to do that, I know with me, my demeanor has become habit, a way of life if you will. Even when I don’t feel like exercising and I just want to eat a bunch of junk, my new habits begin to take form and keep me from falling back on bad decisions for too long. It has taken a lot of time for me to develop these habits to the point that they are now.  Again, I’m still not perfect and I do fall on old habits from time to time given a certain situation, but luckily, no not luckily, because of my hard work, I am able to, for the most part, bounce back fairly quickly. So, yes, time does change everyone, and everything, me included. Sometimes all you can do is let time do its thing, but you also have to learn to take charge of your own life. Listen to your heart over your mind, find ways to do things that your thoughts might normally hold you back from in the interest of keeping you fixed in your comfort zone. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. Make time work for you.  

[activenutfitness]

Weight Loss is Minimal, to What You Gain

I’ve noticed that, most people, that want to talk to me about my fitness journey, always talk about the weight loss. They ask questions like, “how did you lose the weight”, “how much did you lose”, “do you feel better now that you’ve lost weight”, and then they throw in comments like, “You look great!” and “I wish I could lose some weight”. I want to be clear, losing the weight was minimal to what I gained with my health and fitness. I don’t often use terms or hashtags like, weight loss, weight loss journey, weight loss transformation, and so on. Here’s the thing, sure I was losing weight, and if anything that was a bonus, but the important thing was, I was gaining health and fitness. Once I began eating better, I had more energy and felt better all around. It wasn’t the weight loss that started to make me feel better, it was the fact that I began to cleanse my system of all the junk I put in it and was receiving a number of minerals and nutrients my body had either not seen in a long time, or likely ever seen. You see, once I implemented the exercise, that too began to make me feel better. It helped me increase my stamina, endurance, my strength, which are all things that help us get through our day, believe it or not. Life of modern day is very fast-paced and hectic. I no longer feel fatigued from minimal activity everyday. I’m not as tired as I used to be. I feel happier and more productive, and all this, has little to nothing to do with weight loss. It has everything to do with taking better care of myself. The pictures above represent two different sides of me. Although I may look thin, perhaps even fit or healthy, in both pictures, the top picture was me in my mid 20’s when I ate junk, smoked cigarettes, and consumed lots of sugary drinks. I was thin due to a fast metabolism, but I was very unhealthy. The bottom picture is me now, and now I take very good care of my body. To me, the word health is defined by what you put in your body. Fitness, is defined by an active lifestyle. The human body is a part of nature, and the human body naturally craves the proper minerals and nutrients. The human body NEEDS, an active lifestyle to maintain the feeling of being alive. What I’m getting at is, if you notice that you tire easy, never seem to feel good, get sick often, even have negative thoughts and opinions of everything around you, then that is your body’s way of telling you that your lifestyle isn’t working. I love technology as much as the next person, perhaps more (I’m a bit of a tech junkie), and our modern society is great in many ways, but the problem is that humankind is straying very far from our natural state. It’s time to reclaim your natural self. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. Strive for a healthy and fit lifestyle, not weight loss.

[activenutfitness]

Bruce Lee was a Brilliant Man!

I have just recently, in the last few years, became a fan of Bruce Lee. Not just for his movies, but because he was a brilliant man! If there was ever a movie star to take inspiration from, it was this man. I actually follow his Facebook page, which is ran by his wife and children, and I believe his sister as well, who keep his spirit alive. He has more than a dozen inspirational quotes, that are all absolute gold! “Preparation for tomorrow, is hard work today.” Never have truer words been spoken. I remember when I first tried to lose weight, several years ago, I did it for all the wrong reasons and wasn’t willing to put in the time and effort that it required to be successful. I wanted to continue to eat and drink the way I was at the time and just go to the gym and exercise, as if that was going to be enough to make me healthy. I wasn’t getting the nutrition I needed to fuel my body for exercise and always came home feeling spent, and washed up the next day. Also, the amount of excuses to not go to the gym seemed endless. I didn’t put in the hard work necessary for a better tomorrow. While this quote applies to anything in life, from a fitness perspective, it means everything. The hard work you put in today, leads to a healthier way of life tomorrow. Don’t just find an easy way out, know that anything worth having in life is worth working for. So, prepare for tomorrow, and work for it today. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. Tomorrow is too late and yesterday is already over, but right now is the perfect time.

[activenutfitness]

Sometimes You Have to be Selfish

I can’t stress enough that when you are finally ready to make a change, you must be selfish in order to successfully make that change. I believe that applies to any change you make for yourself. I’m not saying that you can’t still be there for family and friends, or that nobody or nothing else matters except you or your desires, but simply put, you must be your number one priority. Truth is, if you can’t take care of you, how are you expected to take care of someone else, meet goals for the future, or progress through life. When I was at my worst, I was a terrible friend, brother, son, and not a very good husband. While I still may not be the best of any of those, I am aware of my faults and working to change them. Since becoming healthier, as I have stated before, my mental health has strengthened, and with that I am better able to make these changes. All this started when I decided that I was my number one priority. Honestly, I still am, and hope to always be my first and foremost priority in my life. As awful as it may sound, that even applies to my son and my wife. If I can’t be the best version of me, then they don’t get the best version me, and that is no good for anyone, because at my worst I care very little about anything and have very little motivation and ambition, and what future does that hold for not just me, but my family. Long story short, be the most important person in your life, take care of you both physically and mentally, and then you can be the person everyone else needs you to be in their life. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. Be your number one priority.



[activenutfitness]

Make the world your gym.

I just recently had an old friend ask me where I work out. I had to laugh to myself because my answer was simply, at home and work. I haven’t been to a gym in some time now. I had first attempted to go to a gym a few years ago to lose weight and get healthy, but it didn’t quite work out. For a few reasons, but I’d say the biggest reason was that it was always easy to make an excuse to not go to the gym. I’m too tired, I don’t have enough time, it’s too far a drive, I have nothing else to do in town and don’t want to waste the gas, were among the dozens of reasons (I mean excuses) that I used to not go. So, last year when I decided I was ready to shed the pounds, I decided that I would make my home my gym (as seen in the picture above on my back porch). Being that I live here, wake up here, eat here, and sleep here, I had no excuses to not workout. Sure, I didn’t have a lot of equipment, I bought some over time, but still not much, yet I relied on the traditional workouts. I went running, did push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, you name it, but I had no reliance on a gym or equipment to make sure I could exercise, and I still don’t. I had nothing to hold me back. That was what made me so successful when it came to exercising. Honestly, it makes you get creative when working out to find new and exciting ways to push yourself and get the training you need, which in turn, makes exercising quite fun! I know that may not work for everyone, and that’s fine, if you need a gym to keep you motivated, then go. Just don’t use it as an excuse why you can’t exercise, as that was my problem. I’ve said before, do what works for you, just make sure to do it. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. Find what works for you.

[activenutfitness]

Nutrition, healthy foods and meal prep.

When you begin living a healthy lifestyle, you do have to make many sacrifices. Cut back on hobbies that are inactive, lose some free time here and there, and ultimately, give up foods that aren’t good for you. Not all together, but there should never be a day that you eat unhealthy foods all day or even an unhealthy meal once a day every day. It sounds like a hard thing to do and commit to, but you’d be surprised that once you are finally fed up with your old way of life, once and for all, how easy it can be. I recently spoke with a coworker, she mentioned something she heard someone say about beginning to eat healthy, the person said, “Changing your eating habits is not hard, losing a child or family member is hard.” That person was right. Sure, it takes some adjustment, and it’s not easy either, but it’s not hard. It takes a want, a desire, a NEED, to be better, to FEEL better, and it is completely do-able. I thought it too would be hard when I first started, but I enjoyed the change initially, it was new and different. Albeit, I did make sure to start with things I KNEW I would like, since I was planning to eat raw fruits and vegetables as the bulk of my daily intake.  Of course, eating raw fruits and vegetables, isn’t the only way to eat healthy. That was what I chose to do. The most important thing to do, is research proper nutrition, what you can do to eat healthier, without completely losing your mind, and piecing together a new diet that works for you. As the saying goes, “There is no wrong way to skin a cat” (although I disagree with this statement, because anyway to skin a cat is wrong in my opinion), but the principle behind the saying holds up. Either way, whatever food choices you make, one very essential change, is beginning to prepare most, if not ALL, of the foods you eat, with the exception of an occasional restaurant meal. It is important to never get caught hungry and in need of energy, and always make the excuse that you have nothing to eat and see your only option is to go out and get an unhealthy meal. At the very least, always go for a salad, or make some kind of healthy choice when choosing a restaurant if you prefer not to prepare all of your meals, although I should say, that’ll get really expensive, really quick. Honestly, eating out for every meal gets pretty expensive, no matter what you choose to eat. Though I would also like to mention, that salads at most sit-down restaurants are typically the cheapest thing on their menus, not always, but usually. Point is, do the research, take the time. You are worth the time and effort it takes to be the best you. I don’t think anyone actively tries to be their worst selves, or at the very least not work towards being their best selves, but I do believe, most people either don’t think they are worth it, they can’t do it, or they simply don’t understand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Again, do the research, for yourself. Inspire change in yourself, make yourself better. Your body and mind come first, above all else.