Fitness, eating healthy, working out, feeling and looking good is a lifestyle not a diet or a temporary plan but a balanced way of living. Here at ginaaliotti.com, we are striving to find and create this realistic balance! Creating the fitness and dietary program to fit your needs can be a fun and exciting journey. Let me make one thing clear, there is no such thing as a BAD food or a food that you need to avoid forever. Food is an essential part of our lives and it surrounds us everywhere we go. Work meetings, parties, holidays, school functions, social gatherings, family reunions, sporting events, etc. Food is a staple. There is a way to enjoy foods of all types by learning how to balance your nutrients and eat for fuel and a purpose rather than for fun or out of habit. There are many effective diet and nutritional programs out there, but the best program is finding one that works for you and one that you know you can follow for the rest of your life. Do you think you can follow a diet that is low in carbohydrates, fats or sweets for the rest of your life? Absolutely not! It is about finding what is going to not only help you obtain your lifelong goals but what is going to be realistic and obtainable! It is important to discover the idea of balance and dieting as a lifestyle rather than a short term goal. Once you find the lifestyle program that works for you and is completely realistic for your particular lifestyle and needs, it will become a habit, a way of life and a unconscious way of thinking.
Changing your food habits can be fun. Think about how much your food habits can affect your life from the way you look, feel, and handle situations. When you feel good, your perspective on life changes and you become much more productive and positive. Your new lifestyle should be a program that is easy to follow, gives you flexibility, is tasty and most of all one that you can stick to. Once you get started, it may seem challenging but I promise if you stick with it, nothing will stop you from reaching your goals! The hardest part is learning how to change your behavioral and subconscious habits and patterns. There are many ways to introduce your new program into your life and make it a fun and exciting lifestyle that will change your life forever! My suggestion is you make this a gradual and fun process. The key to long-term success is being realistic with yourself and incorporating changes slowly but steadily. Baby steps, it is all about taking those small steps and making small changes that will all add up to huge changes, in the end! Maybe every week you make a change to your diet or workout program. For example, this week you decide to remove butter from your meals and then next week you decide you add an additional 20 minutes of cardio to your program. Small changes are more manageable and realistic!
YOU are in control and have all the Power to make changes. You are in control of your success. Once you acknowledge that you want to make a lifestyle change, you have 100% compete control. Acknowledging is the first step. The next step is preparing yourself for the changes that need to be made to accomplish your goals. Preparation includes pre-making your food so you are ready to eat your meals every 2-3 hours. Your body needs food or “fuel” every few hours, in order to keep your metabolism up and your body burning calories. Think of your body as a furnace and in order to keep the furnace (your metabolism) going you need to keep feeding it coals (food aka glycogen). It is easiest to prepare your food in bulk. Pick one to two days a week to spend a few days cooking so you have all your meals prepared and ready to go. It takes about an hour or two but then you are set for a few days. If your food is prepared, it is much easier to grab a meal rather than have to think about what needs to be cooked. Having your food prepared also helps avoid possible cravings or straying away from your program. It is those times when you are starving and do not have anything prepared that you may tend to lean towards those convenient foods not on your program. A good idea would be to go through your kitchen and start with a Kitchen Clean Up, removing all foods that will not be on your new plan and may cause temptation. Once you have removed all foods not on your dietary program, make your grocery list and head to the store and start cooking.
