Difficult But Not Impossible (2)

By Sharon Jane Akinyemi

Last week I shared Joel’s weight loss story on the fact that I can balance my body’s more important fat-burning hormones with simple (yet highly effective) dietary strategies, and can also begin using them today to help my clients  accelerate fat loss and get a flat belly fast…

Hope

First, you must be hopeful that you can live a healthy lifestyle. Zig ziglar says that hope is the power that gives a person the confidence to step out and try. Who says you can not live a healthy, balanced life with a healthy weight? Mind you when I  talk about a healthy weight, it has to do with over weight and under weight, so don’t sit there and think your slim body is a sign of good health. It’s all about “Balance”

Discipline

The act of training to improve strength and self control. Recently, my husband and I were in one of the best restaurants in Lagos. The menu was expensive with so many wonderful choices, but that wasn’t why I couldn’t seem to make a decision. It had been hours since lunch, but for some reason  I wasn’t particularly hungry. Nothing appealed to me at that very moment. I ordered an appetiser and salad just to be polite  and marvelled at the new woman who said NO to a five-course meal simply “because.”  I decided at some point in my life that “Enough is enough. Friends it takes discipline to turn your Back on an attractive five-course meal.

Perspective

As a young woman I was terribly self-conscious  about my thighs. I thought they were excessively fat and that everyone noticed my “saddlebags.” I wanted nothing more than to acquire  the long , lean, “Barbie doll” legs I had come to believe were the model of perfection. I was oblivious to the reality of my naturally  narrow waist and flat stomach. All I saw were my fat legs. Little did I know that all the girls who had thicker waist envied mine and never even noticed “my thighs”! Ahh…. the power of perspective.

Clearly, building a healthy body image is most importantly about gaining an accurate perspective of who we are. The perspective is in our hands, or, more accurately, in our heads. I am not trying to  discourage you from becoming your best lean, healthy self. But let’s be honest…. We won’t all end up looking like  Agbani Darego, former Miss World. It’s an issue of genetics. Very few of us would struggle to stretch our bodies another four or five inches in height. It’s virtually impossible (at least without platform shoes). So why do we try so hard to look like a body type that doesn’t fit our own?

Your attitude matters. Words can never  adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I love the more convinced I became that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it- Chuck Swindoll.

There are some common attitudes that sabotage your potential for lifestyle success. How many of these have you bought into?

Having done as stated above, you can be sure healthy eating and adequate exercise will help greatly.

WHAT SHALL WE EAT?

Do more of NATURALS THAN PROCESSED Foods. What do I mean by NATURALS ? Any food grown, e.g fruits vegetables and grains.  The PROCESSED are packet, boxed and most bagged foods.Then, DRINK ENOUGH WATER  everyday.

EXERCISES THAT KEEP YOU GOING

ABDOMINAL TONING

Step 1

I perform the standard crunch by lying on my back with my legs slightly bent, feet on the floor and arms crossed over my chest. Slowly lift my shoulder blades off the floor, keeping my chin off of my chest to avoid straining my neck. I hold the position for two seconds and return to my starting position. As I  lift my shoulders off of the floor, my abdominal muscles will contract, toning my stomach muscles.

Step 2

I tone my lower abdominals by doing the reverse crunch. I lie on my back with my legs straight up and feet pointed toward the ceiling. Slowly, and in a controlled motion, I  lift my butt off of the floor while keeping my legs straight up. I  hold this position for two seconds before lowering my  butt down to the floor.

Step 3

I do the V-sit. I begin by lying on my mat with my arms over my head and legs fully extended. Keeping my arms over my head and legs straight, I  lift both my upper body and feet off the floor into a V-shape. Hold for five seconds and slowly return to my starting position. As I lift my upper body and feet off the floor, both my upper and lower abdominal muscles contract to hold my body in the V position. This contraction tones my stomach muscles.

HIP TONING

Step 1

I perform the standing side kick by standing with my feet hip-width apart and slowly extending my right leg to hip height on my right side. My knee  faces forward and my inner thigh parallel to the floor. I hold the position for two seconds and return to my starting position.I Repeat with my left leg. As I  hold this position, my outer thigh and hip muscles are contracting and toning.

Step 2

I side jump by standing with my hands on hips and hopping 3 feet to my left, landing on my left foot with my knee slightly bent. I slowly bring my right foot to the floor. I repeat on my right side. This exercise uses all of my muscles from my hips down to my calves.

Step 3

I perform the hip raise. I begin by lying on the floor with my knees bent and feet on the floor. I slowly lift my hips and extend my right leg, pointing my toes to the wall in front of me. I hold  for two seconds, then move my right leg to my right side at a 90-degree angle. Hold for two seconds. Return my leg to the center and lower to my starting position. I repeat with my left leg. Holding my hips and leg off the floor contracts and tones my butt, hip and thigh muscles. Guess what? It’s working……..

For questions and answers, let’s connect @ www.facebook.com/BodyConfidenceFitnessClub