After 12 years of working with clients on a professional level (meaning someone invested to work with me), I’ve learned one sure thing. Without your health in place fitness is a lot further down the road. I've had the experience to work with clients who could not sweat (as a medical dysfunction) they had their partners follow them around the gym splashing water on them to cool them off, clients who were literally allergic to the sun (they had to drive with ski masks on and run on treadmills in dark rooms) and pretty much every injury imaginable from broken leg to torn bicep. Getting fit is hard if you don't have your health.
My own health took a dive over the last few years. I could say for many reasons but the truth is that I didn't make it a priority and I didn't realize how much happiness it had robbed from me.
I re-committed to my health right before Thanksgiving and in six weeks lost 16 pounds, besides being 16 pounds lighter the biggest gift to myself was the habits and the mental process I had to adapt to lose weight, especially during the holidays (where the average weight gain is at least ten pounds).
Here are top 3 closing health lessons from 2023.
For the last 3 years, I've napped almost daily! About 1 pm I would start to feel the call of my bed whispering its sweet siren song. I couldn't focus and would lose my effectiveness at writing programs for clients. I would take naps that could last for up to 3 hours. I realize I was missing two kinds of health.
My physical health.
Not enough cardio (now I aim to be active daily and start each workout with a heart rate circuit), poor nutrition (not enough vegetables and too much food in general), early enough bedtime (before ten pm) and an over-reliance on caffeine (about 3 cups of coffee a day).
My mental health.
I had disengaged from actively creating something exciting in my life and I was bored going through the motions. By changing my vision for 2023 and going forward I was able to find new meaning in my work and the lull hasn't returned. I'm doing more now and should be 4x's more tired ( I wake up at 4:30 am) but I'm not, I wake up early and feel excited!
As a business owner, I have worked in my business as little as two hours a week and as many as 60. I've been able to experience both of these situations and over the last few years, I looked more at doing the least amount of work and having the most yield (ALA Four Hour Work Week). What I found was that even though I had more time in my weeks to do what I desired I didn't desire to do much besides sit on my couch at home and watch movies. In addition to that, I isolated myself and didn't put myself into a mindset of growth or learning.
That had to stop.
I partnered with other gym owners to workout, learn and see what makes them successful. I started listening to my team when they said something and instead of seeing it as a complaint or hassle that interfered with my minimal work week looked at it as a way to improve our process.
I started looking for what was common in their success in not only business but health. Needless to say, I learned a lot.
I've never gone without health insurance but I sure have gone without flossing. Having life insurance is preparing for the worse and having dental insurance and not flossing is doing the same thing.
After two years of not making time to get my teeth cleaned, I was treated to a full examination which included a gum line evaluation, x-rays and a wonderful education on teeth care from my hygienist.
Though brushing is useful the plaque builds up from lack of flossing. The plaque sends signals to your body about bacteria which make your teeth decay and vanish and then the bones of your jaw. Everything from loss of jaw bone to brain damage is the potential futures of not flossing. I've heard other health pro's compare flossing to putting your seatbelt on and I had the pleasure of sitting next to a Dentist on a flight to a seminar once while she educated me for hours on the importance of flossing.
If those many health professionals say it, you can guarantee we need it. Brushing is great but if you could only do one I think having stained teeth is better than having NO TEETH.
My top health takeaways for 2023 are beyond just adding new habits. They're about thinking about the big picture, finding the right people to strategically add to your life and showing up and following through. If you realize that doing these three things will completely transform your day, future and life path then these three things might be the three you focus on in 2018.
If you're not sure how to make habits stick, create an empowering context for eating in a way that support your energy and fat loss, or how to surround yourself with the right kind of people to move you forward in life than set up a call with one of our Beometry coaches and make 2018 the year that you renew your physical and mental health.
